The Personal Nature Of Christmas…
“Many times in history, a baby has become a king
Only once in history has a King become a Baby” (anonymous).
Luke 2:1-20: HERE
Did you notice in Luke 2:
The angel appeared…to them (verse 9)
The glory of the LORD shone…around them (verse 9)
The angel said…to them (verse 10)
I bring…you…good news (verse 10)
A Savior has been born…to you (verse 11)
This will be a sign…to you (verse 12)
You will find a baby… (verse 12)|
Let’s go and see what the Lord has told…us (verse 15)
Imagine a loved one told you, “I think.”
- Great, you might say (it’s about time! 🙂 )!
Now imagine they told you, “I think about you.”
- What a difference the prepositional phrase makes!
Do we forget, or fail to realize, the personal nature of Christmas,
of the Incarnation, of God becoming human?
Not just that it happened (which it did), but that it happened to and for sinners like me…
This makes all the difference:
to you…for you…to me…for me…
So much happens in life & we are mere spectators,
we’re not often “in on the action”:
- our favorite team wins the championship,
- laws are passed in Washington,
- we hear about a funny situation,
- we watch a cool movie.
But those things don’t happen for us personally.
If they did, oh how it would change/enhance
the meaning & the impact…
Over 300k homeruns have been hit in major league baseball.
But one of the most famous is one that Babe Ruth hit
in the 1926 World Series for a specific child who was in the hospital;
Ruth told the child he’d hit a homerun for him
in the next game. And he did! (he actually hit three).
- Many cheered (and booed!) those three homeruns, but only thatboy had the thrilling joy of knowing they were hit for him.
What an impact it must have had on the shepherds—
the personal nature of God becoming human.
It didn’t just happen, it happened “to you, for you,
the glory of God shone around you…”
Do we make this personal connection?
Christ came to seek and to save the lost, sinners…
not just in general, but us! Dear Christians, before you chose Christ,
He chose you personally (John 15:16)! Staggering!
“For TO US a child is born, TO US a son is given…” (Isaiah 9).
He knows the number of hairs on your head…each of us personally!
He knit you together in your mother’s womb—you personally!
“This is My body, which is for you…” (1 Corinthians 11:24).
Dear non-Christian, you’re hearing the Gospel/
Good News of Jesus Christ…this message is for you—
- When you were kids, what did you likely do to the presentsunder the tree with others’ names on them?
- You likely looked past them to find the ones with your name.
—receive Him, unwrap this present of
new life/forgiveness/rebirth/adoption…
you must claim it by faith, you don’t get the benefits
just because it happened, claim this personal Jesus by faith!
The Lord Jesus held out His arms
to individual sinners in Jerusalem,
He desired to gather them under His wings
as a hen gathers her chicks,
but they were not willing (Matthew 23:37).
Are you willing?
The Lord Jesus once asked His followers,
“Who do people say that I am?” (Matthew 16:13-17)…
A question of people in general.
Then He asked the disciples, “But who do you say that I am?”
A personal question for individual persons
about the identity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He puts that question to you, dear non-Christian.
Not that Jesus is whatever we decide He is,
but our answer to that question
has eternal consequences for each of us.
Christmas deserves a response.
The shepherds responded: they hurried off to find this Savior,
believing He COULD be found…
they told others this good news,
they returned to shepherding different,
glorifying/praising God for all they heard/saw,
which were just as they’d been told.
They responded, sought, believed, trusted, celebrated—
will you?