The Greatest Gift, Part 7.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, I love Christmas.

[0:06] And if you don’t love Christmas as much as I love Christmas, [0:11] I’m not the problem, okay? [0:14] Just want you to understand that. [0:16] Now some people complain all year, [0:17] Steve, why don’t you ever dress up? [0:19] Why don’t you ever wear a suit?

[0:22] You’re welcome. [0:23] Not only am I wearing a suit, [0:24] but I’m also wearing a bow tie to be super classy. [0:28] Because that’s how much I love Christmas. [0:32] And the big thing that we’ve got to deal with [0:34] when we’re talking about Christmas,

[0:36] when we’re talking about the season that we are in, [0:40] is why is Christmas such a wonderful time of year? [0:43] Why is Christmas so great? [0:45] And I love every part of Christmas. [0:47] Yesterday I took my family out. [0:49] We had nothing left to buy.

[0:51] We had no reason, and we went to the mall. [0:53] Just because I enjoy walking around [0:56] in the hustle and the bustle, [0:58] watching everybody else stressed out. [1:00] I have no stress. [1:02] I love driving in the traffic.

[1:04] This past week, Milothian Turnpike has been like Mad Max. [1:07] It’s been apocalyptic out there. [1:10] And I love driving down the road. [1:11] And if you want to know what makes people angrier [1:14] than giving them obscene hand gestures, laugh. [1:18] And that really doesn’t bring the Christmas spirit

[1:20] out of anybody, but it was out in me. [1:22] So I had a good time, and that’s really all that matters [1:24] to me at the end of the day. [1:27] But Christmas is this great thing. [1:29] But I do have one question. [1:31] Which one of you were at Kohl’s at 3.30 in the morning?

[1:34] Why would they be open? [1:36] That doesn’t make any sense to me. [1:37] But if you were there at 3.30 in the morning, [1:39] kudos on you. [1:40] I thought about setting my alarm [1:42] and going and seeing who that was,

[1:43] but I chose not to because I slept. [1:47] But Christmas is gonna be over in a couple of days. [1:50] The wrapping paper’s gonna be in the trash can. [1:53] The kids are gonna be more enamored with the boxes [1:55] than they are the gifts. [1:57] The lights are gonna be down.

[1:58] The trees are either gonna be in the attic [2:00] or they’re going to be in the dumpster, [2:02] one or the other. [2:03] And this season where we seem to have [2:06] a little more happiness, [2:08] we seem to be a little more rejoiceful

[2:12] of the things that are going on, [2:13] that’s going to be over, [2:15] and you’re just going to settle into every day. [2:19] And the question is, why can’t you have [2:22] the same type of joy, [2:24] the same type of happiness in January or February

[2:27] or March or April, [2:29] that you’re either A, having right now, [2:31] or B, pretending to have to everyone around you. [2:36] And the reality that I want to talk with you [2:38] about this morning is that you not only can have [2:41] that type of joy all year,

[2:43] but you should. [2:45] Because this time of year, [2:47] specifically for a Christian, [2:49] Christmas means more, [2:51] because this is the time that we celebrate [2:53] what I believe is the greatest miracle

[2:55] that ever happened. [2:56] The miracle of God literally becoming [2:59] of his creation. [3:01] That this time of year is about the inauguration [3:04] of a mission that God went on [3:06] that’s greater than any mission

[3:08] that the world has ever known, [3:09] and that is the mission to save sinners [3:12] of which we all are. [3:15] And that’s what Christmas is really about. [3:19] And so I want to read the Christmas narrative [3:21] for us this morning,

[3:23] and then I want to talk just for a few minutes [3:24] about the Christmas narrative, [3:25] and then I want to really kick off [3:27] the celebration that’s awaiting us [3:29] for the rest of the day, [3:30] that’s awaiting us tomorrow morning,

[3:32] and that’s awaiting you the rest of your life [3:35] if you will choose to live by faith. [3:39] Here’s what it says in Luke chapter two. [3:42] In those days of decree, [3:43] Caesar Augustus, [3:45] that all the world should be registered.

[3:47] This was the first registration [3:49] when Carinius was governor of Syria, [3:51] and all went to be registered, [3:52] each to his own town. [3:54] And Joseph also went up from Galilee, [3:56] from the town of Nazareth,

[3:59] to Judea, to the city of David, [4:01] which is called Bethlehem, [4:04] because he was of the house and lineage of David. [4:07] To be registered with Mary, [4:08] his betrothed, who was with child. [4:10] And while they were there,

[4:11] the time came for her to give birth, [4:13] and she gave birth to her firstborn son, [4:15] wrapped him in swaddling cloths, [4:17] laid him in a manger, [4:18] because there was no room for them in the inn. [4:21] And in the same region,

[4:22] there were shepherds out in the field, [4:24] keeping watch over their flock by night. [4:26] And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, [4:28] and the glory of the Lord shone around them, [4:30] and they were filled with great fear. [4:33] And the angel said to them,

[4:34] fear not, for behold, [4:36] I bring you good news of great joy [4:39] that will be for all the people. [4:41] For unto you is born this day [4:43] in the city of David a Savior, [4:44] who is Christ the Lord.

[4:46] And this will be a sign for you, [4:48] you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths, [4:50] lying in a manger. [4:52] And suddenly, there was with the angel [4:54] a multitude of heavenly hosts, [4:56] praising God and saying,

[4:58] glory to God in the highest, [5:00] and on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased. [5:04] So what I want you to understand, [5:05] really, is just two simple things this morning. [5:07] And the first one is that Christmas [5:09] is about the gift of God.

[5:11] Christmas is about the gift of God. [5:14] So if we look through the Old Testament, [5:16] you see all of these promises. [5:18] You see all of these things happening because of sin. [5:21] But then, in light of everything that’s happening, [5:23] God continues to come in,

[5:25] and he continues to make promises to people [5:27] that there is coming a day [5:29] where there will be a king [5:30] who is unlike any other king that the world has ever seen. [5:33] He will reign like no other king [5:36] has ever reigned on this earth.

[5:37] And he will be about more [5:39] than just defeating other nations. [5:41] He will be about more [5:43] than just ruling over a specific people, [5:45] that this king that God was going to send [5:47] would be the forever king.

[5:50] And this king that God was going to send, [5:52] he would redeem for himself a people, [5:54] not at the cost of the people, [5:56] but at the cost of his own life. [5:59] And this king would not be content [6:02] to just have for himself one nation,

[6:05] one ethnic group, one race, one people. [6:08] But instead, this king would come [6:11] to bless the nations, [6:14] the entire world, everyone.

[6:19] In Isaiah chapter nine, verse six, [6:21] the attributes of this promised king start this way. [6:26] For to us, a child is born. [6:29] See, Luke two uses the same narrative [6:32] when it says unto us. [6:34] It says, to us a child is born, to us a son is given.

[6:37] And note, he’ll be the king [6:38] because the government shall be upon his shoulder, [6:41] and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, [6:44] Mighty God, Everlasting Father, [6:46] the Prince of Peace. [6:49] You see, that was written over 400 years

[6:51] before the birth of Jesus Christ. [6:54] But in Luke two, the text goes into detail [6:56] about the birth of Jesus and shares with us [6:58] the extraordinary aspects of the birth of Jesus. [7:01] And the first thing we note [7:02] is something that we usually pass over,

[7:04] and that is that a census was called, [7:07] and Caesar Augustus said that this census needs to happen, [7:09] and we usually look at that, and we say, [7:11] oh, that’s to show the historical evidence [7:13] of the birth of Christ, and I would say, in part. [7:16] But there’s more than that.

[7:18] You see, Christ was promised to be many things [7:21] and about many things, and he fulfills every promise [7:25] of the Old Testament, even nine, six. [7:27] But in Micah five, two, it is promised [7:30] that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. [7:33] You see, what you see with Caesar Augustus

[7:35] is that God bent the will of the most powerful ruler [7:40] of that day, who basically ruled over the entire world [7:44] so that Mary and Joseph would have to go to Bethlehem, [7:48] so that Jesus could be the fulfillment [7:51] of that one promise in the Old Testament [7:53] to show us the gateway that he is the fulfillment

[7:56] of so many more promises. [7:59] You see, the Lord will accomplish his will, [8:01] and the Lord bent nations so that his son [8:04] could be born, so it shows us the power of God. [8:09] But beyond the power of God, we also see the reach of God. [8:15] You see, Jesus was born in a stable.

[8:18] That doesn’t seem very royal, it doesn’t seem very regal. [8:21] I mean, we don’t typically see kings born among the animals. [8:25] They’re usually born in palaces. [8:28] You see, the humble birth of Jesus is by design. [8:32] You see, how could a forever king be placed [8:34] in a manger as a bassinet, and for us to accept his rule?

[8:39] Well, see, Jesus did not come simply to be earthly royalty. [8:43] He did not come to rise to power [8:45] simply by the world standards, and so his birth [8:48] was of humble estate to show us, yes, God is powerful, [8:52] but yes, God is for more than just the royal. [8:56] Yes, God is to redeem kings.

[8:58] Yes, God is to redeem the religious elite. [9:01] But God is also here to humble himself, [9:04] to be the wonderful counselor, [9:07] to be the everlasting father, to be the prince of peace. [9:13] And so his birth shows that his reign does not just go [9:18] to the palace, his reign goes to all peoples,

[9:22] from all places and all backgrounds. [9:26] We see that again in the people [9:28] that Jesus’ birth was announced to. [9:32] You see, the shepherds were not people [9:34] that we might think they are, [9:35] because we think about a shepherd,

[9:37] and if you know anything about the Bible, [9:38] the scriptures tell us that God is our shepherd, [9:41] and so we think, well, these must have been good people, [9:43] but not in this day. [9:44] You see, the shepherds always stayed [9:46] on the outskirts of town.

[9:47] They always kept their flocks outside of town [9:49] because they were not welcome inside of town. [9:51] They were known as thieves. [9:54] They were known to be filthy, to be dirty, [9:56] to be the most crass and vulgar of society, [10:00] and so you kept away from them.

[10:02] You kept your children from them, [10:04] and then we would expect the king then, [10:07] in his birth, to be announced from the throne. [10:09] We would expect his birth to go from the royal sectors, [10:14] and yes, it does come from an angel band. [10:16] Let’s not forget, this is God the Son after all,

[10:20] but the recipients of the message are not the royal court. [10:25] It’s the shepherds. [10:27] It’s those people that were pushed out. [10:30] You see, the shepherds show us the reach of God’s love. [10:33] You see, for many of us, we look to religion, [10:36] and we look to God, and we see a type of person

[10:39] that God made before, and then we always, [10:42] every one of us has some definition of a person [10:45] that is too far from God, [10:48] a person that is unreachable from God, [10:51] a person for whom he’s gone so far away from civilization, [10:56] he’s gone so far away from what is the accepted norm

[10:59] of morals, God cannot reach that person, [11:02] and God sent angels to the shepherds to show us [11:05] God is not just for the kings, God is not just for society, [11:08] God is not just for our standards of morals. [11:11] There is no one out of reach of the love of God. [11:19] We must know that, we must trust that,

[11:22] but then we must personalize that. [11:25] You see, Jesus came for all of us, [11:28] and number two this morning, understand that God wants [11:30] to give you his life of joy. [11:33] See, everything I’ve told you so far [11:35] has been great in theory, it’s a great thing

[11:38] to give a thumbs up to or even nod our heads to, [11:41] but it’s all completely worthless until you personalize it, [11:44] until you look at the power of God [11:46] and say God is powerful, he can bend nations to his will, [11:51] you look at the reach of God and say God can reach even me, [11:55] but then you look at the love of God,

[11:57] and you say he loves not just someone else, [12:01] not just other people, God loves me, [12:05] and you can have in your life the joy of God’s love. [12:10] See, the gift of Jesus is a gift that makes [12:12] every theme of Christmas something that can become [12:15] a reality for your entire year in life.

[12:19] This is the only season that you think [12:20] about the love of God. [12:23] Friend, I tell you it is greater than any season, [12:25] it is greater than any life, [12:27] but it is enough for every single life, [12:30] it’s enough for you, and it’s enough for me.

[12:33] And that love can really give us God’s peace. [12:37] See, you know, God wants you to have the joy of his peace, [12:39] I mean, is this not a chaotic life that we live in? [12:43] Are there not stresses on us? [12:45] That quite often we think we cannot bear [12:48] another moment of that stress,

[12:51] the stress that my pants are handling [12:53] are almost too much for my red suspenders to bear.

[12:59] But you see, the love of God comes in [13:01] and it gives you this amazing thing, [13:02] because he’s the prince of peace. [13:05] And it says you can know the peace of God [13:08] in the face of amazing circumstances. [13:10] You see, this life can be very hard,

[13:13] this life can be so difficult [13:14] that there are times that you question [13:16] the love of God for you. [13:19] But see, what Jesus does in coming to this world, [13:21] in humbling himself to become part of humanity, [13:24] then going and dying on the cross for your sin,

[13:28] for my sin, and then rising from the dead [13:31] to show us power over sin and death, [13:33] is to show us that there is no chaos [13:35] so great in this world that we cannot look [13:38] at the objective reality of who Jesus is [13:41] and who God is for us and say the Lord is strong enough

[13:45] to handle even the greatest of anxieties. [13:49] See, the Lord wants you to know his peace. [13:52] But it’s even greater than that. [13:54] The Lord wants you to know his hope. [13:57] You see, it’s one thing to have love in this life, [13:59] it’s another thing to have peace in this life.

[14:03] But if at the end of this life, [14:06] that love and peace don’t go past this life, [14:09] then ultimately they’re meaningless. [14:12] You see, Jesus came to give you hope. [14:14] You see, that’s why the resurrection [14:16] of Jesus Christ is so vital.

[14:18] You see, Jesus was born to the Virgin Mary [14:20] and he lived a perfect life. [14:22] And he lived that life so that he could die for your sin. [14:25] But then if Jesus had just died as every other man, [14:29] it would have disproven everything [14:30] that the Bible says about him,

[14:31] and it would have disproven everything [14:33] that he said about himself, but he didn’t stay dead. [14:35] You see, three days after Christ died on the cross, [14:38] he rose from the dead. [14:42] You see, the shepherds are amazing people [14:44] to receive that type of hope.

[14:46] See, the angels come and they say, don’t be afraid, [14:49] I have good news of great joy for you. [14:52] I mean, if angels showed up on my front doorstep tonight [14:54] and said anything like that, I would be terrified. [14:57] And so would you, just as the shepherds. [14:59] But how did they have the audacity to say,

[15:02] I have good news, you filthy sinner.

[15:07] You see, for God to come to sinners shows us [15:10] that there is something that sinners have to fear. [15:13] And that is that we’ve sinned [15:14] in front of a holy and righteous God, [15:15] and when we stand before him, there’s some wrath. [15:20] There’s even condemnation there

[15:22] unless God does something to stop it. [15:24] You see, you have to understand not just the love of God, [15:27] you have to understand the mission of God. [15:29] You see, Jesus came with a mission to save. [15:32] And the hope that he gives us, [15:34] the reason that it’s vital that he rose from the dead

[15:36] to show his power over sin [15:39] is because Jesus came to forgive your sin. [15:42] He came to forgive my sin. [15:44] The reason it’s important to know [15:45] that Jesus has the power over death [15:49] is because I know one day

[15:51] it’s going to come knocking on my door. [15:54] And I need hope in the face of death. [15:58] You see, nothing can defeat Jesus. [16:01] The greatest hope is the hope of trusting God [16:04] with your life and your destination. [16:07] But here’s the key, Jesus gives you evidence for that hope.

[16:12] Jesus proves that my hope is not just some pie in the sky, [16:16] mystical hope and nothingness. [16:18] Rather, Jesus came and he lived a real life. [16:21] Jesus came, he died a sinner’s death, [16:23] of which he had no sin to die. [16:24] And then he rose, and I look at that,

[16:27] and I say the power of God is proven. [16:30] I say the reach of God is shown. [16:32] I say the love of God can be known. [16:35] And then I say the hope that God gives is real. [16:41] And it’s enough to bank my entire life on. [16:44] As the band comes forward,

[16:47] friends, 2 Corinthians 9 calls Jesus

[16:52] an inexpressible type of hope. [16:55] You see, the reality that you need to deal with [16:56] in your life is that God has called [16:58] each and every one of you to live a life of his making. [17:02] But the only way that you can do that [17:04] and have the joy of it rather than the fear of it

[17:10] is if you know the salvation [17:11] that’s available in Jesus Christ. [17:14] You see, Jesus came to save you. [17:17] And if you will trust him today, [17:19] if you will say, yes, Father, [17:21] I know that I have sinned against you,

[17:23] but I see your power, I see your reach, [17:26] I see your love, and I want to turn from my sin. [17:30] And I want you to forgive me. [17:32] And I know that you can do that in Christ. [17:34] Friend, I tell you, if you will do that, [17:35] you will be saved.

[17:37] You will have a relationship with God [17:39] that will last an eternity.

[17:41] And for those of you that are in here [17:43] and you already know that hope, [17:46] friends, I want you to celebrate that hope. [17:48] Not just today, not just tomorrow, [17:50] but for the rest of your life. [17:51] Know that in light of Jesus,

[17:53] you can walk into the future [17:56] that God has made for you. [17:57] And you can do it without fear, [17:59] but instead, you can do it with faith [18:02] that there is a God that not just knows your name, [18:06] but he loves you.

[18:08] And he’s in your life through it all. [18:11] Now stand and let’s celebrate and let’s sing.