1 He is the Messiah (Luke 2:1-21) Christmas Day This morning we ll be looking at Luke chapter 2 from verses 1 to 21 - and 2 verses

Transcription

1 1 He is the Messiah (Luke 2:1-21) Christmas Day 2015 This morning we ll be looking at Luke chapter 2 from verses 1 to 21 - and 2 verses from Isaiah chapter 9 verses 6 and 7 You can take notes in the sermon outline if you wish Let me ask for God s help in understanding His Holy Word! Intro Some people don t celebrate Christmas! In fact - some Christians don t even celebrate Christmas In fact some Church denominations don t even celebrate Christmas (pause) Why? Well there s various reasons! Some don t believe in Jesus they d be the non-christians one would think? (pause) Some see that Christmas is all so commercialized and that the real reason for Christmas has been lost so they d rather not get caught up in all that commercialism Others see Christmas as not being as important as Easter they see Jesus death and resurrection as far more important than His birth So why do we celebrate Christmas? And should we celebrate Christmas? (pause) Page 1 of 11

2 2 A television interviewer walked through the streets of Sydney at Christmas time and stopped one young woman in the street - as she was doing her Christmas shopping - and asked her What s the meaning of Christmas? She laughed and asked: I don t know? Is that the day that Jesus died? There s probably more truth in her answer than we might think You see if we don t celebrate Christmas at all or if we forget the true meaning of Christmas and get sucked into the commercialism there s a chance we ll just forget about Jesus altogether and He won t be part of our lives anymore and we ll dismiss Him as a character in a book who lived and died a long time ago and the real reason for Christmas will have died! Well I want to argue that we should celebrate and remember that very first Christmas because Without Jesus birth we miss God s amazing love and grace in giving us a free gift And - without Jesus birth there can be no Easter! Introducing the Messiah So this morning I d like to focus on the words that the angel says to the shepherds in the fields in Bethlehem from Luke 2:10-11 special words about baby Jesus born in a manger in Bethlehem here s what the angel says: [Powerpoint 1 Luke 2:10-11] Page 2 of 11

3 10 Do not be afraid. I bring you good news [Evangelize] that will cause 3 great joy [mega joy] for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah [Chosen/Anointed One], the Lord And you ll notice there are 4 things highlighted Good News: It literally means I bring you a Good Message it s where we get our English word evangelize from So it s like the angel is saying Don t be afraid shepherds I m evangelizing to you I m giving you the good news in fact it s the best news anyone could possibly hear! [Great Joy]: It s such good news it will cause great joy literally mega-joy or mega-gladness or mega-cheerfulness greater joy than all the Christmas presents you received over all the years rolled into one! And it s mega joy that s available to all people should they choose to accept! Why is it such Good News and such Mega Joy? Because this baby Jesus being born is a Saviour literally the one who delivers people from danger and saves people s lives And that s what this baby is destined to do Because each one of us is in danger of receiving God s punishment for our rebellion and disobedience against Him. But this baby being born was born to save us from Page 3 of 11

4 that punishment and give us forgiveness that s what we remember and 4 celebrate at Easter But without remembering and celebrating His birth we miss what an awesome act of love it is on God s part to allow His Only Son Jesus - to come to this earth and be that Saviour for us and take our punishment what a precious gift we have! You ve probably heard the slogan the gift that keeps on giving it s used for lots of gifts like for example a cooking book so you can learn to cook over and over - or a gift of a plant that blooms year after year - But Jesus as our Saviour is a gift that keeps on giving forever because as more people come to hear and believe in Jesus as their Saviour more people are saved and all who believe in Jesus will enjoy him forever so He is literally a forever gift more than just for our lifetime on Earth but life in eternity with Him [Messiah]: Messiah is the last word highlighted. Messiah is a Hebrew Word and Christ is the Greek equivalent - And they both mean God s anointed or chosen One the Son of God - the One that God promised to send as a Saviour for the people - in the OT. And so the angel is saying here He is this Promised One is here right now, shepherds! the wait is over He s come! No wonder it s Good News of Mega Joy! So what was promised about this Messiah Jesus? What does He bring? Page 4 of 11

5 5 Well for that we need to look at our OT passage because the prophet Isaiah gives a detailed description of what this baby brings in Isaiah 9:6-7: [Powerpoint 2 Isaiah 9:6-7] 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. And again you ll see some words highlighted: The government will be on his shoulders are the first words highlighted And government here literally means the rule of an empire but it s no ordinary Empire it s God s Empire Page 5 of 11

6 God s Empire is different to any earthly empire earthly empires they come and 6 go where s the Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman Empires now? in fact where s the British Empire now? and the American Empire s on its way out too! But this Messiah, Jesus, rules an empire that won t come and go it s here to stay it s an Empire that covers the whole of Heaven and Earth and this Empire is on His more than capable shoulders The prophet Isaiah also gives this Messiah Jesus some great names too! He s a Wonderful Counsellor it literally means a supernatural counsellor How is Jesus a supernatural counsellor? Well his wisdom is not like human wisdom His wisdom is way higher We only have to read the Gospels to see how wise Jesus was He outsmarted the Pharisees and the teachers and experts of the Law He answered their questions with his own questions He taught us to go the extra mile to turn the other cheek to forgive 70 x 7 times to love your neighbour as yourself to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you he taught that there was no greater love than laying down your life for your friends and went ahead and did it to prove it! The people marveled at his teaching Why? Because it was Heavenly teaching not earthly teaching He said His kingdom was not of this world Where do we find this supernatural counselling of Jesus? Page 6 of 11

7 Simple in His Word the Bible [that would be a good Christmas present btw - 7 wouldn t it?] And we find Jesus supernatural counselling from The Holy Spirit too who makes God s Word come alive and have meaning in our lives? What a wonderful counsellor Jesus is! But how often do we rely on our own wisdom and experience instead of His? All the time? Sometimes? Never? (pause) The next name Isaiah gives Jesus is Mighty God Mighty can also mean strong and brave here like any ruler should be but no ruler or king that ever lived can really claim to be God (they might think they can) but here Jesus is described as God This should put paid to any claims by people that Jesus was just a good bloke with great teaching Here Isaiah states clearly Jesus is fully God and His might and strength does not come as human s would expect by military power but through the power of His Word God s Word changes hearts and minds it changed the persecutor Saul to the apostle Paul it changed the Roman Empire which persecuted Christians to the Roman Empire that made Christianity its religion of choice! Jesus the Mighty God uses His Word as a double edged sword which penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; and it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Heb 4:12) Page 7 of 11

8 The next name Isaiah gives Jesus is the name Everlasting Father 8 This gives us the encouragement to know that Jesus rule of this Earth is not temporary but permanent everlasting - forever and ever he s not going to be dethroned or succeeded - And the term Father speaks of his care and concern for His people. He cares for His people like any good father would care for his children Isaiah also calls Jesus the Prince of Peace Prince makes him royalty and Peace is the Hebrew word Shalom which gives the idea of completeness, wholeness, healthiness, wellbeing and contentment It means much than our English word peace And ultimately we can only have all of this by being in a right relationship with God and believing that Jesus is the Son of God, who came to bring peace between God and humankind by being born to die for our sins so we can be forgiven. Regardless of what s happening in this world right now and there s lots of problems that we hear daily on the TV news - If we have that right relationship with Jesus that brings us out of darkness into the light that relationship with the one who gives us rest and carries our burdens then we have that ultimate peace shalom that surpasses all understanding And it will mean then that we will be part of His forever kingdom which is how Isaiah describes Jesus kingdom Page 8 of 11

9 A kingdom which Jesus rules with justice and righteousness because He is 9 perfect in every way and he s brought justice by paying the penalty for sin himself by dying on the cross to make sure God s justice is done perfectly - and he s got rid of death too by rising again and to make sure that those who believe in Him are treated just like Jesus as though we haven t sinned That s a gift we haven t paid for or worked for it s a freebie from God So if we don t celebrate and remember that 1 st Christmas it s easy for us to forget the Good News that we have a Saviour Messiah it s easy to miss that Great Joy we have because God s Son came to Earth to save us It s easy for us to continue thinking earthly instead of heavenly and to forget we are part of a heavenly eternal Empire ruled by an everlasting King, a supernatural counsellor, a mighty God who is the Prince of Peace And instead we focus on this world and its many problems and we don t see the joy and hope we have at our finger tips (pause) Responding to the Messiah So how can we respond to the Messiah this Christmas morning? Well I reckon we have two wonderful examples of a proper response in our passage from Luke: First - there s the shepherds response see v15 [Powerpoint 3 Luke 2:15] Page 9 of 11

10 10 Let s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about. The shepherds response is to go and check out Jesus and see what the Lord has told them about Jesus the Messiah And we can do the same like the shepherds we can go and check out Jesus go to Bethlehem in our hearts and minds by absorbing this Christmas Story and believing it and embracing it and understanding its full impact understanding that Jesus birth is a life changing event for us And once we have absorbed this Christmas story we can follow the shepherds next response in verse 17 [Powerpoint 4 Luke 2:17] 17 When they [the shepherds] had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child Spread the word here literally means: publish abroad or made known thoroughly Now we can t make the Christmas story known thoroughly if we don t celebrate it or remember each year can we? The kids at school won t hear it, your kids and grandkids won t hear it our local community won t hear it - unless someone spreads the word? And I don t believe anyone is going to understand fully the life of Jesus without starting at his miraculous birth? The second response I want us to look at is - Mary s response in verse 19 Page 10 of 11

11 [Powerpoint 5 Luke 2:19] But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. So the event and meaning of this remarkable birth Mary treasured it literally means kept or preserved in her mind so it wouldn t be forgotten. And that my friends is what we must do never forget how important this birth of our Saviour is and treasure it! And Mary also pondered this remarkable birth in her heart and it literally means bringing all the facts together in her heart and again that s what we must do if we bring all the facts and prophecies from the OT together with the birth of Jesus in the NT we can t help but come to the conclusion like the angel said to the shepherds in v11 [Powerpoint 6 Luke 2:11] 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. The question for all of us this morning is Is He your Messiah, your Lord? Let s pray Page 11 of 11