From Taxing to Treasuring

, I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be. than, than here with you. And celebrating Christ's birth. What a, what a glorious, morning and the singing was just fantastic.

Even I sounded good this morning. Well, let me invite you to turn in your Bibles to Luke 2. We'll be looking at this portion of the Christmas narrative, Luke chapter 2. We'll be looking at verses 1 through 19 this morning and if you want to give a title to the message, it would be from Taxing to Treasuring.

this, section of the Christmas story begins with taxation, as it were, and it ends with Mary treasuring. The glory of what God is doing in her own heart. Let me start on, a somewhat non-Christmassy note. How many of you would be interested in buying this couch that you see on the screen behind me?

Let's say I tried to sell you this couch for $20. How many of you would buy This couch for $20 from me. OK, a few. Well, true story, recently, some New York college students purchased this exact couch for $20 from a thrift store.

But in the days following their purchase, they noticed that the couch was uncomfortable to sit on and it felt lumpy, to sit on. So they decided to investigate the reason for the discomfort. And to their amazement, when they pulled out the cushions and looked inside the cushions of the couch, they found stuffed in various envelopes, money that totaled around $41,000. In dollar bills.

They were screaming with such excitement when they found the money that their neighbors thought that they had won the lottery. And they had pretty much been, had decided how they were going to spend the money and where they were going to travel to with this money when a further search of the couch revealed the deposit slip. With somebody's name on it. And these students realized right away that this money belonged to the person whose name was on that deposit slip, and to their credit, they realized right away that the right thing for them to do was to get this money back to this person.

So they found the person and they returned the money to her and it turns out the money belonged to a 91 year old woman. who had for years been stashing her money in that couch because she didn't trust the banks. when she was hospitalized for a broken hip, her children had taken the couch and donated it to the Salvation Army. Without asking her permission to do so.

And that's how the couch ended up in the hands of these college students. So instead of being $41,000 richer, the students got to do a good deed. That they felt really good about. They returned the money to this 91 year old woman and absolutely made her day, and she gave them a $1000 reward for doing the right and the kind thing.

By any method of accounting, that's still a great return on a $20 couch. I start on this note, this morning because Mary's circumstances in Luke chapter 1, verses 1 through 7 look an awfully lot like this couch. But verses 8 through 19 show us the treasure that was in the couch. I start on this note this morning also because I know for some of you, the circumstances in your life right now might look a lot like this couch.

Not very impressive, quite uncomfortable. Yet we will see in our passage today that God's greatest treasures come to us in humble and uncomfortable packages. And we learned that God is good to us, to give us much to treasure in the midst of our difficult and challenging circumstances that we face in life. In Luke chapter 2, Mary is in a stable, laying her baby in a feeding trough for animals.

And in verse 19, she is still in a stable, but she is treasuring in her heart the wonderful things that God is doing inside of her circumstances. So we'll have a wonderful time looking at this passage today and the way we'll break it down is we'll observe 4 stages in the account. of God giving Mary much to treasure in the midst of her humble and taxing circumstances that are described in this, chapter. And the first of these stages as Luke is recounting this story for us, is that Mary gives birth to Jesus under taxing circumstances.

She gives birth to Jesus under taxing circumstances. Guys, when you read verses 1 through 7 of Luke 2, you're, you're struck by two things, or at least this time around, I was struck by this more so than I had been before as I studied this chapter in preparation for today. First of all, you're struck by the naturalness. Of the story in verses 1 through 7.

There's nothing spiritual in the narrative of the 1st 7 verses. You don't see God mentioned anywhere. Every event in these verses seems to be merely a natural event, which is the product of a prior natural cause. Mary will end up laying her baby in a manger.

That's in a stable in Bethlehem because the city was too crowded for her to have room in a house and things are so crowded. Because Caesar Augustus, the emperor of Rome had decreed that everyone return to their city of birth for a census that he wanted taken. So there you go. If, if you ask Luke, why did Jesus end up being born in Bethlehem, and laid in a manger there, this would be a part of his answer from a purely natural standpoint.

That's the basic feel of verses 1 through 7. But secondly, we, when we look at verses 1 through 7, we also see that there's an overall feeling of misfortune that pervades verses 1 through 7. In fact, you could almost call verses 1 through 7, a series of unfortunate events. We're, we're so used to the Christmas narrative.

In Luke that it has almost a holy air about it. All we need to do is hear the words and it came about in those days. That there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, and we are instantly transported to a sacred place. But I can assure you that when Mary and Joseph and their family members heard of the decree from the pagan emperor of Rome, that decree did not feel sacred to them at all.

It felt unfortunate and it was an unwelcome intrusion into their lives, as were a number of other developments that we see in verses 1 through 7. In fact, as we work through these verses, let's, let's frame the story in verses 1 through 7 according to several unfortunate events. And the first unfortunate event is that Joseph and Mary are under the rule of the Roman Empire, to whom they have to pay taxes. Look at what the text says starting in verse one.

Now, in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. The census was obviously for the purpose of levying taxes on the citizens of Rome. We're reminded here that Joseph and Mary and all of the Jews are living under Roman rule.

Every Jew alive in this day would tell you that is a most unfortunate fact of life for them at this time. And worse than that, the Jews, like everyone else, have to pay taxes. To the Roman Empire. Even worse than that, in order to levy these taxes, the Roman government took a census in which they required people to return to their city of birth in order to register for it.

Imagine if here in America, we all had to return to the states. that we were born in, or the cities that we were born in, in order to register for a census that our government was forcing us to take part in and we had no choice. In the matter Imagine the travel and the madness. That's what's happening here.

In verse 3, the text says, and everyone was on his way to register. for the senses, each to his own city. It's at this point that the camera zooms in on a man named Joseph and his wife Mary, who are experiencing In a sense, the misfortune of having to leave their hometown and travel to a place that was about 69 miles away, right at the time when Mary was near the end of her pregnancy. Ladies, imagine having to return to your home city.

For a census right as you're approaching the 9th month. Of your pregnancy and you have to go. In verse 4, we're told that Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth to Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and family of David in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him and who was with child. I can just imagine the temptations that this development.

Presented Mary and Joseph and their family members with. I'm sure there were tough decisions for them to make. Should Mary go with Joseph, with her being so far into her pregnancy? Did she have to go based on Caesar's decree?

Or could just Joseph go? If she could stay home, should she stay with her parents and deliver her baby in Nazareth with her family and friends to help her through the childbirth? Or should she be with her husband? whom she's engaged to.

On the road somewhere when she delivered. I'm sure someone in all of the discussions that were had about what's the right thing to do here, I'm sure someone in the family at some point said, how unfortunate the timing of all of this is. Nonetheless, Mary and Joseph trust the Lord and they travel to Bethlehem in order to register for the census. And it's while they're in Bethlehem that another, we could call it an unfortunate event.

Of course, we know there's no unfortunate events in God's economy, right? God uses everything, but for the sake of our understanding of what's happening here, there was another unfortunate event that developed, which is that Mary gives birth away from home, when by all accounts, she's alone. Look at what the text says, verse 6, while they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him in cloths. It's here that the narrative.

Starts seeming a bit odd. We're told that Mary gave birth and that she wrapped her baby in cloths. Normally, a woman had a midwife or family members to help with the delivery of a baby. And when the baby was born, they would rub the baby's body down with a salt solution and then wrap the baby and give the baby to the mother to hold.

But here we're told that Mary gave birth. And that she wrapped him. In the clause. One commentator, Leon Morris, says that Mary wrapped the child herself points to a lonely birth.

She's far away from family at this point. This leads to another unfortunate development, and that is that Mary has to lay her baby. In a manger. For animals.

Look again at verse 7, and she gave birth to her first born son, and she wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger. This indicates for us that Mary gave birth to Jesus in a stable for animals. And the only place to lay Jesus after he was born was in a manger, which is basically a feeding trough. That animals would eat out of.

I'm telling you, this is, this was not Mary's dream. As a little girl and imagining having her first child and then I'll lay that child in a feeding trough for animals. This is not her dream. No mother would prefer to put their newborn baby in a feeding trough that donkeys and other animals ate out of, but that's where Mary has to lay her baby.

And if you read that and you're asking, why did she have to put the baby Jesus in such a feeding trough, Luke would say, I knew you would ask that. So I will tell you, and this leads to the final unfortunate event that Luke tells us about, verse 7 tells us that Mary had to put Jesus in a manger because there was no room for them in the end. The Greek word that is translated in, here in this passage is actually used in Luke 22:11. You can write that reference down, Luke 22:11, and in that passage, it's translated guest room.

A guest room in a house, which Jesus and his disciples used to celebrate the Passover. So the end of verse 7 could be translated because there was no room for them in the guest room of whatever house. They were at or closest to. Obviously, the houses in Bethlehem were crowded with travelers and Roman officials who were in the city to conduct the census, leaving nowhere else for Mary to deliver her baby than in a stable for animals.

And nowhere else to put her child than in the feeding trough that animals ate out of. I hope you guys are picking this up. If all we did was look at verses 1 through 7, we see that it contains, a cascade of unfortunate events. One unfortunate event leads to another, and then to another, and then to another, and the result is that the Messiah of the world is being laid in a manger by a mother who is far away from her hometown and probably feeling quite alone.

And imagine just being Mary. Imagine being Mary enduring all of this. She had to be finding this puzzling to some degree. Months earlier, the angel Gabriel had appeared to her to tell her that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and cause her to conceive in her womb, one who is the Son of God, who would be great, the Son of the Most High, and rule over all the earth.

And if, if you were Mary, and you heard that announcement from the angel Gabriel on the day of the conception, of the child in your womb, what would you expect the circumstances of the actual birth to be? Whatever Mary expected, I'm sure it wasn't this, which is her circumstances now. I'm sure Mary would have preferred to have the baby at home in Nazareth with her mom. In the room.

I'm sure she would have preferred not to have to travel 69 miles. On the back of a donkey in the very latest weeks of her pregnancy. I'm sure she would have preferred to have someone's guest room to stay in where she could have a warm and homey environment. In which to have her baby, and I'm sure she would have loved to have had some clean bed for her baby rather than only a feeding trough.

We know from the prior chapter that Mary is surrendered to the Lord in all of this, but It's likely that Mary has some perplexity. And is trying to ponder all of this and make sense of it. Maybe Mary is asking, Lord, where are you in all of this? Have I done something wrong?

Is this actually your plan? Have I lost my way somehow and gotten off the path of your plan? I'm sure she's puzzled to some degree. And if we had never read this story before, we would be puzzling too.

It seems that Mary is finding herself in the midst of circumstances that are the result of the decree of Caesar Augustus, rather than the decree of God. It seems that natural rulers and events. are shaping Mary's circumstances rather than the hand of God Almighty. If all we read was verses 1 through 7.

And so we ask, is God involved in all of this seemingly natural unfolding of events where one thing leads to another. We read verses 1 through 7 and we ask the question, Where is God? And wherever he is, does he know where Mary is? What we can know is that Mary could really use some perspective and encouragement, and God is going to provide it for her in the most amazing of ways.

And this leads us to the next stage in the story. At first, this other event that begins in verse 8 seems to have nothing to do with Mary, but in the end, we will see that it happens at least in part for Mary's benefit. In order to give her much to treasure in the midst of her humble and taxing circumstances. And so stage 2 in this story of God leaving Mary with much to treasure in the midst of her humble and taxing circumstances is that angels announced Christ's birth to nearby shepherds.

Look at the text starting in verse 8. In the same region, there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night, and an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terribly frightened. Literally, the Greek here is they feared a mega fear. This is about as strong of an expression as you will find to say that somebody in scripture is really out of their minds.

With terror In the mind of these shepherds, an angel of the Lord suddenly standing before them, means that they are as good as dead. That's their thinking. These shepherds know that there is a God, and they know that this God is holy, and they know that they are sinners who deserve God's wrath. And here the angel of the Lord is showing up and the shepherds honestly think this is it.

This is how our lives will end. This is the judgment. That we deserve. But amazingly, This angel on this day is not here to judge.

In fact, look at what happens next, starting in verse 10. But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people. To these terror-stricken shepherds cowering before this angel of the Lord and assuming what they're gonna get is death, instead they get this announcement of good news.

You have nothing to be afraid of, the angel says. You men are right now experiencing mega fear when in fact you should be experiencing mega joy. And this news I bring to you is not just for you, but it's for all the people. What is the announcement?

Why do the shepherds need not be afraid? Here it is, verse 11, for today, in the city of David, there has been born for you a savior, who is Christ the Lord. The angel is telling the shepherds the location of the birth of the Messiah. The city of David, which is Bethlehem.

Beyond the location, the angel tells the shepherds the timing of the birth. It's today, it's happening today. The angel also tells them who it is who has been born. It's Christ.

In other words, Messiah. The Lord, and the angel also tells them what this Christ will do. He says he will be a savior. And finally, he tells the shepherds whom he will be a savior for, a savior for you.

There's born for you, a savior, who is Christ the Lord. The angel then encourages the shepherds to go and see for themselves, and he tells them how they can find this savior. He says in verse 12, this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.

That's the clear sign that's very unique. You can rest assured that Jesus is the only baby that night who is lying in a feeding trough for animals. What the angel is saying to these shepherds would let them know to go to Bethlehem. It would also let them know to check the stables where the animals were kept, and it would let them know to look for a baby that's lying in a manger.

And so look at what happens next, verse 13, and suddenly there appeared with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased. These angels are giving glory to God for what he has accomplished. Their benediction is directed upward toward The highest heaven and downward toward the planet Earth. Glory to God in the highest, they say, and on earth, peace among men with whom God is pleased.

In other words, peace, wholeness among men and women with whom God is showing. That he's well pleased to save, and he's showing this good pleasure by sending his Christ, his Messiah to earth, who will bring salvation and peace. So how did the shepherds respond? This brings us to the next stage in the story that culminates in Mary having much to treasure.

In the midst of her humble and taxing circumstances, and that is the shepherds find Mary and Joseph and Jesus and share what they had witnessed. The first thing these shepherds do is they rush. To see the truth of what they had been told. Look at what the text says.

Beginning in verse 15. says, and when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, The shepherds began saying to one another, Let us go straight to Bethlehem then and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us. I love the fact that the shepherds don't say, let's go to Bethlehem sometime. Or let's go to Bethlehem tomorrow.

Or next week. No, they say, let us go straight. To Bethlehem Because they've been told there's a savior for them in Bethlehem, and they want to go straight there. Notice also that they don't say, let us go to Bethlehem to see whether or not this thing has happened.

And we'll believe it when we see it. No, they say, let us go straight to Bethlehem then and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. I also love the fact that these shepherds are not scandalized or put off by the fact that the Messiah, they're told, is lying in a feeding trough. More sophisticated men would have heard this announcement and laughed and thought to themselves, no true Messiah would ever be lying in a feeding trough.

Or they would have thought, any supposed Messiah. Who's lying in a feeding trough is no Messiah for me. That's how sophisticated people might have thought. But the shepherds are not troubled or put off by this at all.

If that's what the angel says, they believe it. And they're not troubled at all about the fact that the long awaited Messiah is being born into such humble circumstances. And so they go, verse 16, the text says, so they came in a hurry and found their way. Obviously, the image is of them going from stable to stable, looking for a baby lying in a manger.

And eventually they come to the right stable and the text says, they found their way to Mary and Joseph and the baby as he lay in the manger. There are 3 people mentioned here in verse 16. And the first of the three is Mary. God had many purposes in delivering the angelic announcement to the shepherds and telling them essentially where they could find the baby.

But one of those key purposes was that they, the shepherds would be able to find their way to Mary. And give her some meaningful encouragement for her to treasure in her heart. God wants to get word to her, as well as to Joseph. And that's exactly what happens once the shepherds arrive, look at what they do.

Verse 17, and when they had seen this, what is this referring to? When they had seen the baby lying in the feeding trough, they made known the statement which had been told them. About this child I'm sure Mary and Joseph were wondering initially, what are these shepherds doing rushing into the stable like they're doing. And then running around the stable and looking for something and going over to the feeding trough and to see if a baby was in it.

But after these babies look around and they find Mary and Joseph, but that's not good enough for them, they go find a baby in a feeding trough. Once they see that, They turn around and they look at Mary and Joseph and say, we got a crazy story to tell you. An angel of the Lord appeared to us tonight, and he told us that this one. I born for us, a savior.

He told us that this is the Messiah, the Lord. And he told us we would find him lying in. A manger, and here he is. And I'm sure the shepherds then gave Mary and Joseph a blow by blow account of what had transpired with the angels who had appeared to them.

But the text here says that their primary focus was on making known the statement. That had been told them about this child. That is the statement. That he is a savior, a savior for them, a savior for all the people, a savior who is the Christ, a Christ who is the Lord.

OK, imagine being Mary and hearing this from the shepherds. What she's hearing from these shepherds would totally assure her. That God knows where she is, and that God knows exactly where his Messiah is lying down to the very feeding trough he was lying in. Mary would know that God's eyes had been on them the whole time.

God has been in perfect providential control over every detail of their circumstances. God has seen it all, and Mary would know that heaven is rejoicing. Over this amazing event that's taken place. It turns out that Joseph and Mary are not in a stable.

In Bethlehem, away from home because of the decree of Caesar Augustus, but they're there by the sovereign providence of God. Mary also would no longer feel alone. There are shepherds now in the stable, who are in the know about what God is doing and they're speaking truth to Mary and to Joseph about Mary's son. And how good God is to give Mary and Joseph some friends away from home.

In this moment, Who share the knowledge of the truth of Jesus Christ. The shepherds would have also told any others who were around the stable and anyone else they could talk to. Verse 18 says, and all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. So they're telling everyone that they can, and anyone that's hearing the details of what the shepherds are saying are amazed.

They marvel, they wonder at these things that they're being told. But how does what the shepherds are saying impact Mary in particular? Look at what Mary does, and this leads us to the final stage in this account. That culminates with God giving Mary much to treasure in the midst of her humble and taxing circumstances.

Number 4, Mary treasures everything she heard, pondering them in her heart. Verse 19, but Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. The word that is translated treasured means to preserve something, to keep it close at hand, to keep something in a safe place, like some of you have already done this morning with your Christmas gifts. Before I left to come here, I took all the gifts that I received and moved them to a part of the house.

where they're by themselves and would not be confused with anyone else's gifts, so that no one touches my stuff. And I can go home after this service and treasure what I have received. Mary is doing exactly that with all these things that the shepherds had told her. In other words, she's making a willful decision to remember every detail of what the shepherds had told her.

She's storing every detail in her heart, and she's keeping those details close at hand so that she can recall them to mind in the moments when she needs the reminder. Statistics say that we forget 80% of what we hear. With our ears, which is really distressing for me in my line of work. 80% of everything I say this morning, you will forget.

Mary though, wants to remember 100% of everything she has heard. And she wants to remember it for the rest of her life. She wants to remember what the shepherds told her about the appearance of the angel of the Lord and the specific statement that he made about Mary's child. He is a savior who is Christ the Lord, and she's cherishing the words of the angelic multitude who were praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among men with whom God is well pleased to save.

Mary is treasuring. These details to ensure that she would remember them. Some commentators actually suggest that Luke personally interviewed Mary. When he was compiling this gospel account, and what we're hearing is the Christmas narrative essentially from Mary's perspective, and we've got all these details.

why? Because she consciously chose to treasure these details so as to never forget them. Mary is treasuring many things, but among those things, she's treasuring the fact that her humble circumstances would actually cause heaven to rejoice, redounding to the glory of God and the good of mankind. Mary's treasuring these things.

Here is this impoverished woman recovering from childbirth in a stable for animals. Far away from her family in Nazareth, and she in these circumstances, sees herself, no doubt, as the richest woman in all the world. Treasuring the details of what the shepherds have told her. Valuing each word they've shared.

And guys, the mere fact that Mary is treasuring. The words of the shepherds. Tells us how much she personally needed to hear every word they said to her. The words that they spoke.

Perfectly matched the need of her heart. They lifted her spirits and gave her the assurance that they, that she needed. how someone sometimes comes to you and they, in the course of conversation, they say exactly what you need to hear. And what they say perfectly matches the need of your heart, and you never forget that statement, right?

You never forget what they say. That's what's happened with Mary. God knows her heart, and he has sent her exactly The messengers and the message that she most needed in this moment, leaving her dazzled and just treasuring everything that's been said. Verse 19 also tells us that she was pondering them in her heart, literally putting them together in her heart.

Mary's thinking deeply about what has been told her. She's not content to just hear, but she wants to think deeply about what she has heard about her son. And I'm sure that as she looked ahead and pondered what the full unfolding of the life and the ministry of this child would end up looking like. She was dazzled by what she pondered.

If his birth was this amazing. What will his life be like? If his birth was such a crazy mixture of the mundane with the spectacular. The natural and the supernatural.

What will his life be like? Literally, we're told here that Mary is continuously pondering these things in her heart, and part of the reason that she was continually pondering These things is the fact that these were statements and things that defied easy understanding. She had to keep pondering them because she couldn't totally figure everything out. There was so much mystery here.

In spite of what Mary had come to know. There was so much mystery, and I'm sure a part of the mystery for her is how is it that God can bring about such an amazing result inside of such circumstances that I find myself in right now. Say we close this morning. Let me ponder just a A few things with you.

This story in Luke 2 reminds us that God's providence intersects with seemingly mundane and unfortunate circumstances in marvelous ways, and please don't ever let yourself forget that. Guys, whatever your circumstances, you can trust the fact That God is involved in your life. He knows where you are. And he has given you his son.

And his word, in order to give you plenty to treasure in the midst of the most taxing and the most humbling circumstances you might find yourself in today. What Luke 2 teaches us is that there is no circumstance too mundane for God to be with you inside of that circumstance. There is no circumstance so unfortunate that it cannot be used by him to redound to the glory of God and the good of other people. And there is no circumstance so impoverished that God cannot give you much to treasure inside your heart.

Christmas is a joyous time of year, but it's also A marker of time where Many people feel sadness, and they struggle. Some of you are grieving the loss of a precious loved one who was with you on Christmas Day last year. Maybe your circumstances this year have not turned out like you had hoped that they might. Maybe your circumstances look a lot like this couch.

In the picture behind me. But I'm here to tell you there's treasure in the couch. I hope that you will realize that God is doing much in your life that you can treasure. He's working all things together for your good and for His glory, just as he did for Mary and above all, God is with you.

And maybe of somebody who's hurting this Christmas. Maybe you need to reach out to that person and speak a timely word of perspective, just like the shepherds did for Mary. Maybe you can encourage somebody and leave them with much to treasure in their heart where the words you speak or the deeds you do perfectly match with the need of their heart. Just as what the shepherds did and said matched the need of Mary's heart.

Maybe you today can make someone's Christmas brighter. Just as the shepherds did for Mary. Finally, I just wanna ask you this question this morning. Do you treasure Jesus Christ?

In your heart Do you treasure the statement that there has been born for you a savior, who is Christ the Lord? How do you respond to the statement, there has been born for you? A savior Kirsten Powers is a name that some of you are familiar with. She's a political commentator who is often featured on CNN and she serves as a columnist for USA Today.

When she was in her 30s, she was as unreligious by her own description as anyone could be. She was an atheist and she says that during that time in her life, she found the idea of religion, especially Christianity, utterly preposterous. But one day she found herself seated across. The table from a date.

Who asked her the last question she was expecting to be asked on this date. He asked her the question, do you accept Jesus as your savior? Her answer was swift, she said, of course not. And in her mind she's asking, who asks people questions like this?

Who says things like what he just said. To me, She was offended by her friend's question, but it sent her by her own testimony on a search that led her to eventually embracing Jesus Christ. As our Lord and Savior. So I ask you this morning, Do you accept Jesus as your savior?

How do you respond to the statement, there has been born for you, a savior, who is Christ the Lord? You see, this is the real rub with Christianity. Some gifts. Require humility to receive them.

Right? Imagine if this morning you opened up a gift from somebody. And you unwrap it, and it's a book entitled How to Be Delivered from Selfishness. I know you like receiving gifts, but you would stop for a moment and go, wait a minute.

What? do I say thank you and wow, I received this, or ladies, if your husband gets you a treadmill and a gym membership, that you never asked for. How do you receive that? Like there's a message inside the gift, right?

That would trouble you. And that's the way it is with the gift of Christ. Receiving such gifts and saying thank you requires humility on our part, and we multiply that by infinity. And that's exactly what we have.

When God says to us, there has been born for you a savior, who is Christ the Lord. I'm giving him as a gift to you. As Timothy Keller says, there has never been a gift offered. That makes you swallow your pride to the depths that the gift of Jesus requires us to do so.

Christmas means that we are so lost, so unable to save ourselves, that nothing less than the death of the Son of God Himself could save us. That means that you are not somebody who can pull yourself together and live a moral and good life. You needed a savior to come from heaven to earth to save you. There's bad news embodied in this gift of Christ to us, who then, as God says to us, there's been born for you, the savior.

But while it is humbling to embrace that, it also means there's hope because God has provided for us a savior, if we will receive Him. And I ask you this morning, are you willing to humble yourself and to receive this gift and believe in a savior who was laid in a manger, laid upon a cross, and thereafter laid in a tomb, but whom God raised from the dead and he now lives forever to save all those who believe in him and call upon his name. If you've never called upon Jesus and received the forgiveness of your sins through Him, As an ambassador of Christ, I plead with you.

To believe in him today, to call upon his name.

I can't think of a more perfect day. To do that if you've never done that. Prior to this moment. Let's pray together.

If you've never looked at Jesus Christ and embraced him as your Lord and Savior, you can Right now where you're seated. Pray to him Call upon his name. Believe in Him. Ask Him to save you.

Embrace him as your Lord, as your Savior, as your Messiah. And if you do that, even in this very moment, God will not only forgive you of your sins and make you his child, but he will be delighted to do so. Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you for your word.

Your word is sweet, Your word is good. And you are good to us. To give us The gift of your son. What a wonderful mystery.

And what amazing love. That you would send your son into this world, that he would live the life that we failed to live. And that we could not even begin to live because of our sin. And you surrendered your son to death upon a cross.

So that he might shed his blood and atone for our sins. And I pray that your spirit's voice would echo through this room into every heart and that we would hear you say to every one of us, there has been born for you, a savior, who is Christ the Lord, and may that statement that so riveted the shepherds and caused Mary to treasure. In her heart, may we treasure that today, may that statement echo. In our ears.

Through today and every day. And give us the humility. To receive The savior And all the help and all the good and all the salvation and all of the peace. That he provides.

We thank you, Lord, for this opportunity to give of our regular offerings to you and we ask Lord that you would receive these. Funds that we give today. And do much with every penny that is given for the glory of this Savior. that we've been gazing at.

This morning. At the same time, we give ourselves to you. In the name of Jesus, and all God's people said, Amen.