Mark Batterson - The Wonder of Christmas, The Christmas Story
Well, Merry Christmas. You look wonderful. Wasn’t that a beautiful telling of the story? And we may have had a donkey spend the night at the Capitol Turnaround. I would recommend not going into that room. You gotta love a donkey named Bear, right? If you didn’t get a chance, such a sweet donkey, you can say hi afterwards. Hey, I am very aware that we’ve got kids, little kids and cows and shepherds and angels. This will not be the longest message I ever preach. You can add in amen right there by faith. Well, what a joy to be together. I’m so grateful God gives us not just a biological family, but a spiritual family. And if you’re a guest, we would love for you to be a part of this family. In fact, I’ll just say it, welcome to the family, A joy to have you. Those who are maybe parents or grandparents, or maybe kids visiting parents or grandparents, what a joy to have you at National Community Church. I wanna read the Christmas story out of Matthew’s Gospel. Matthew chapter two, verse one.
«Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 'In Bethlehem in Judea', they replied, 'for this is what the prophet has written, „but you Bethlehem, in the land of Judah are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel“'. Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, go and search carefully for the child as soon as you find him report to me so that I too may go and worship him. After they had heard the king, they went on their way. And the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house they saw the child with his mother, Mary. They bowed down and worshiped him. They opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh».
Now, I’m not sure how to say this, so I’ll say it how I see it. The Christmas story is a beautiful story, but if we’re being honest, everything about this story seems wrong, which seems wrong to say on Christmas, but hear me out. The story starts with a virgin getting pregnant. So there’s that. If you’re doing a casting call for the lead actress, I’m not sure we choose Mary as the mother of God. For starters, she was a teenager. Like there’s no way she’s ready for this kind of role. Plus she and Joseph aren’t even married. So it seems to me like God chooses the wrong foster parents and they live on the wrong side of the tracks. If you were God, wouldn’t you wanna put your only begotten son in a stable home? I’ll keep going as soon as I think you’ve appreciated it.
There was nothing stable about this situation except for a stable. I mean, last time I checked, kings aren’t born in stables to peasants. Kings are born in palaces to royalty. So it’s the wrong set. And besides that, the role of king of the Jews is already taken. That part is played by Herod. So it’s the wrong parents at the wrong time in the wrong place. And honestly, it’s the wrong people that are invited to the gender reveal party. Instead of appearing to rabbis in the temple in Jerusalem, the angels appear to shepherds in fields outside Bethlehem. Instead of being found by Jewish priests in the pages of scripture, Messiah’s found by Eastern astrologers who follow a star and they bring the wrong gifts, right? I have yet to meet a kid who wants frankincense and myrrh for Christmas. I mean, give the kid an ancient Jewish action figure, right?
Our kids are now in their 20s, but I remember when they were very young. It’s pretty high stakes, right? Trying to find the right gift, the gift that’s gonna make it a memorable Christmas. And so I remember one Christmas we got Josiah, you know about this tall, we got 'em a book and we got him a book I loved as a kid. And that’s what we do, right? We give gifts to other people that we want. And so we gave him «Clifford the Big Red Dog», you know, thinking that they would be, you know, pretty excited. And you gotta love just the brutal honesty of kids. Josiah said, and I quote, «I like Batman». That gift was a swing and a miss, right? Just a little outside. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh seem like the wrong gifts.
But that’s where I wanna flip the script because maybe this story seems wrong because we read it wrong. If you are the savior of the world, not just the Jewish people, why not write some wise men into the story? If you’re gonna have to flee to Egypt as refugees, then you know what? These might not be the the wrong gifts. Gold is the gift that keeps on giving, right? That’s gonna help you get where you need to go. If you intend to use ordinary people like us, why not start with Mary and Joseph? If you’ve got good news for the poor, why not let the Messiah be born in a stable? If you’re gonna set captives free, why not come during the Roman occupation of Israel? And if earth is your footstool, it doesn’t really matter where you’re born because it all belongs to you.
Max Lucado said, «If the angels had gone to theologians, they would’ve first consulted their commentaries. Had he gone to the elite, they would’ve looked around to see if anyone was watching. Had he gone to the successful, they would’ve first looked at their calendars. So he went to shepherds, men who didn’t have a reputation to protect and ax to grind or a ladder to climb. Men who didn’t know enough to tell God that angels don’t sing to sheep and Messiahs aren’t found wrapped in rags and sleeping in feeding troughs».
Everything about the story seems wrong, but that’s what makes it so right, so good, so true, and so beautiful, and it reveals who our God is, doesn’t it? This is a God who didn’t come to be served but to serve. He came to wash feet. There was a meekness and a gentleness, and a humility about him didn’t come with pomp and circumstance. In fact, didn’t ride a a horse into Jerusalem, right? Rode Bear, the donkey, into Jerusalem. And then he died on a cross, which seems even more wrong than the Christmas story, but it’s what allows us to be right with God. And that is the gift that God gives us at Christmas. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
I love the way Dick Faux captures the Christmas story. He said «that God left his place. He came to our place. He took our place on the cross, and then he says, let’s go back to my place». It’s this invitation that all of us can receive at Christmas. Jesus is the reason for the season. He puts the Christ in Christmas. Jesus is the gift that God has given to each one of us.
It was about a hundred years ago that James Allen Francis wrote a poem published all around the world. It’s titled «One Solitary Life», and it reads like this. «He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He worked in the carpenter shop until he was 30. He never wrote a book. He never held office. He never went to college. He was only 33 when the tide of public opinion turned against him. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. Executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he owned on earth. He was laid in a borrowed grave. 19 centuries have come and gone, and today Jesus is the central figure of the human race. All the armies that have ever marched, all the navies that have ever sailed, all the parliaments that have ever sat, all the kings that have ever reigned, have not affected the life of mankind on earth as powerfully as that one solitary life».
Can I just say he’s changed my life? I’m singing these songs and just thinking to myself, where would I be and who would I be without Jesus in my life? It changes everything. There is a peace that passes understanding that can guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. There is a joy unspeakable that defies circumstances. There’s a forgiveness that feels so good. There is a grace that is sufficient for your life. There is a God who loves you, who has a plan and purpose for your life. He began a good work in your life and He’s gonna carry it to completion.
You are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, prepared for you in advance. He’s the God who works all things together for good to them who love Him and are called according to His purpose. And so on Christmas Day, we’re gonna open gifts, and I hope you get what you want, but I hope you also appreciate what you have and it is the gift that Jesus has given to each of us, to as many as have received Him. To them, He gave the power to become children of God. I am in Christ. Christ is in me. And that is the hope of glory. That is the gift that God gives to each and every one of us in Jesus' name, amen.