← ArchiveAdvent 2017Sunday, December 24, 2017DateDecember 24, 2017Speaker—TextLuke 1Passages in this sermonLuke 13:21Isaiah 78:15Numbers 248:24John 19:18Luke 212:12Revelation 316:58Luke 2:820:48TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00Well, good morning. My name is Josh Burnham, lead pastor here at Bethel. And thank you for joining us today for our Christmas Eve service. Growing up, I always thought and still do that Christmas Eve is only at night, but that's not true. Today, right now, is Christmas Eve. So let me kind of walk us through what this service is going to look like, because it's going to be uncomfortable for almost all of you, because it's not what we normally do. And that's okay. It's okay that you're uncomfortable, because I am also. So this is what it's going to look like.0:29At the very end, you should have picked up a candle on your way in. We're going to end with a candlelight service, a song of response. And so if you don't have a candle, you have time, they'll be at the end of the service. Also at the end of the service, we will have our ushers collect the offering as you leave. But that's not only a time for our covenant members to give and display God's faithfulness. It's also a time if you need to respond to the gospel, you can fill out a green connect card in your pew, and you can put that in the offering at the end. And we will follow up and encourage you as you need.0:59Also, we are voting for our deacons. And at the very end, you can put your vote in those buckets or the members table out in the foyer. You can have a chance to do that. So please encourage your deacons to vote for them as they serve the bride of Christ. Now we're going to add another different element here this morning, and it's called children. So you hear voices. Some of you who are moms or dads, you're nervous right now because you're thinking this is not going to work. So not only have we shortened, hopefully, the service, but we're going to give you three sermons today.1:28So we're going to help our children participate that with this. So first, Colton, where are you, buddy? Is Colton here? I need Colton's help. Now this is Colton. Come on, Colton. Awesome job. You make it? Okay. You can stand here for me real quick. Now, Colton, tomorrow is Christmas, right? And what are you expecting tomorrow under your Christmas tree? Are you expecting gifts? A lot of gifts?1:58Okay. Like this many or this many? This many. Okay, Mom. Right? Thank you. Okay. You heard that right, Mom. So I want you to help get a gift from me, and you're going to open it because truly the greatest gift that we have is Jesus Christ. So I want you to participate. So this gift right here, Colton, if you could grab that gift for me. Yes, sir. You can put it right here on this table, and you can open it up. Okay, and you can get that. What is it? So you can open.2:27It's a card, and let's open that card.2:37Awesome. Now, what do you think is on this card? I know we're not to the point where we're probably reading yet, but what is this, you think? This is the Christmas story from the book of Luke. So thank you, Colton. Let's give Colton a big hand for me. You can go have a seat now. Thank you, Colton. We're going to read this to everyone else. Awesome job. If you have your Bibles, you're welcome to join me in the book of Luke, and we're going to read Scripture today.3:02And the reason we want to have gifts under the tree, we want to make the connection for all of us that the greatest gift that we have is nothing that we buy. The greatest gift is something that was given to us in Jesus Christ. So may we not lose focus. And we recognize it in Luke 1, verse 26, that the greatest thing that could ever happen to us in the history of humanity happened on that night or morning in Bethlehem.3:21So read with me in Luke 1, verse 26. Luke 1, verse 26. I'm reading from the Christian Standard Bible. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph of the house of David.3:48The virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came to her and said, greetings, favored woman. The Lord is with you. But she was deeply troubled by the statement, wondering what kind of greeting this could be. Then the angel told her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.4:14Now listen, you will conceive and give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end. And Mary asked the angel, how can this be since I have not had sexual relations with the man?4:39And the angel replied to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. Therefore, the Holy One to be born will be called the son of God. Consider your relative Elizabeth. Even she has conceived a son in her old age. And this is the sixth month for her who is called childless. For nothing will be impossible with God.5:06And Mary said, I am the Lord's servant. May it be done to me according to your word. Then the angel left her. I want to make several thoughts here in this scripture. The first is it's hard for us to read this passage in Luke without seeing the fingerprints of God all over the Christmas story. Look at it with me very quick in Luke chapter 1.5:34Look at everything that God is doing. The fingerprints of God on this story. Verse 26. The angel Gabriel was sent by God. Now, if the angel Gabriel descends on us right now, we're all going to rise up and say, that is God. To a town called Nazareth. This is the same town that one of the disciples himself, Nathaniel, said, can anything good come from Nazareth? Yes, Nathaniel, his name is Jesus.6:03And he is God and he is good. Verse 27. So how can this woman have a child? This is of the Lord. To the house of David. The woman's name was Mary. The angel said, greetings, favored woman. And you know what Mary did? Greetings, favored woman. She said, no, not me. It's that person. And God, every step of the way, is showing us that he is living and active and nothing is impossible.6:33Verse 30. The angel told her, do not be afraid. Why? Because I will give him a new name. A name in verse 31. His name will be Jesus. Because he will save the people from their sins. You see, Mary and Joseph didn't name him that. God himself gave him that name. Look at verse 32 and 33.7:03The Lord will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. Over and over, again, we see that God has his fingerprints in the birth narrative. So how does that work in our life? God is at work among us right now. God is actively working in our lives. Are you seeing God work in you? Are you opening your eyes for God to work and live through you in a way that you say, Lord, I want to make room?7:32And not only that, not only do we see God working, but we see God's faithfulness here in Luke chapter 1. Over and over and over again, we see the promises of God fulfilled in Luke. You see, in the town of Bethlehem, prophesied in Malachi, you see that the child was born to who? A young woman named Mary. And what was different about this woman?8:02She was a virgin. She was never to have relationships with a man. Well, that doesn't happen, right? That's of God. And prophesied in Isaiah 7 that the Messiah, the Messiah, the one who is anointed to save the people, to redeem the world, would come from a virgin. We see in Numbers 24 that one day from Jacob will come a star and he will rule the people, fulfilled here in the scriptures.8:24We see in Jeremiah that one day a righteous branch would come from the line of David. We see that our God, this God, is the God who keeps his promises. Every promise that God has uttered in his word has been fulfilled. There is not a single promise that is broken. Now, why is that important for us?8:55Because the promises do not stop here in Luke 1. Look at the promises for those in Jesus Christ. In verse 37, for nothing is impossible with God. Church, what is impossible with God? Nothing. We need to hold on to that, that nothing is impossible. What are God's promises to us? We see in John 1, 12, that to all who receive him, he has given us the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name.9:18The last thought I want to leave you here right now is that God is pursuing you. God is pursuing you this morning. You say, well, how do you know that, Pastor? Look at God's pursuit of Mary. Look at God's pursuit of the world. He sends his angels to announce the birth to who? A young virgin. A virgin named Mary. God is fulfilling his promises.9:48And she says, I am not the one. I am deeply distressed. And God says, I have chosen you. See, God is pursuing you. In 2 Corinthians, we see that in Jesus Christ, that Jesus has a ministry of reconciliation. Reconciliation is that Jesus brings two enemies who are once apart together again. Jesus Christ is pursuing you this morning. And would you pause and say, Lord, I thank you that you love me, that your promises endure, and that you are in pursuit.10:13And Father, I thank you that you love me first. Sharers, let's say that. Think about that. God loves me. Say that. God loves me. Not only does he love you, though, he loves me first. God doesn't love us because we love him. He loves us because he is God, and he is pursuing you. And through his son, Jesus Christ, he calls us who are on earth to go to heaven and have a relationship because he sent his son from heaven to earth.10:42And we thank God for that gift. Colton, I thank you that you reminded us of the gift of Jesus Christ. God, the faithful promise keeper, the one who is pursuing us, the one who loves us to no end. Let's pray. Well, we know that God pursuing us and loving us first is not the end of the story.11:06If you've never heard that, I want you to know that God loves you unconditionally, and he sent his son to take your place. But that's where we get to part two of this Christmas scene. And I'm going to ask another helper, Eli, if you would come up.11:36So this is gift number two, right there with a snowman, if you can get this. Okay, let's keep our dress down. There we go.11:53We didn't practice that, by the way. Okay. Aaron, if you could get the gift. Okay. So thank you. You can go back and see your mom now. Awesome job. Eli, can you hold her hand when you go down the stairs? Yes. There we go. If you have your Bibles with you still, we're going to read Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2. Beginning in verse 4. Luke 2, verse 4 through 7.12:24Luke 2, verse 4 through 7.12:31And I asked Colton this. So Eli, do you expect gifts under the tree? A lot or a few? He said, a few? That's my boy. Job is done. But as we were reminded with the gift that Colton opened and Eli and Aaron opened, the greatest gift we have is nothing that we purchase. It is the one that was given to purchase our redemption and our salvation.12:57Look at Luke 2, verse 4. Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem. Because he was of the house and the family line of David. By the way, just as the Lord had said hundreds of years ago. To be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was pregnant. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.13:25Then she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. Joseph had one job. And Joseph and I shared this part of our stories. Eli was too young to remember this. Our oldest, they wanted to schedule Casey to be induced for our first child on Monday in June.13:50And so we woke up with this eager expectation on Monday, and they just told us, look, wake up early, call the hospital. So we woke up early. This is awesome. So we had all the bags packed, and we woke up. And you know what they told us on the phone? We're full, call back later. So as any, as the perfect parents we are, you know what we did? We fell back asleep. We're like, we're not going to get sleep for the next 18 years.14:20We might as well get sleep. And so really, Eli's birth ushered in this idea for us that we kind of struggled, because the hospital told us, we cannot take you right now. There is no room. And that began to really burden my heart and ask this question. Why would God the Father send his son into a world, into a town that had no room? Why would God do that?14:51Joseph had one job. And dads, you know, you know with dread, you're thinking if I were Joseph, I would be, Mary would kill me right now. You made us journey with God's child, and you don't have room. That was not a happy day for Joseph. But what does that tell us about our lives? I believe this was told and presented this way, in truth, because Bethlehem is a picture, a symbol of really our lives. You know, God is pursuing us, yes, but he sent his son into the world15:22that basically said, we don't have room for you right now. And not only do we not have room, we're not going to make room. Martin Buber said it this way, that there is no room for God in the life that is full of self. There is no room for God in the life that is full of self. So how does that apply to our lives right now? I believe there are people here today that you're here because someone drugged you,15:47and they said, this Christmas, you have to worship. And right now in your life, in your heart, in your mind, there is no room for God. I want you to know that he loves you and he is pursuing you. I believe there are people here right now that you said, I'm going to give God one more chance. This is it. Would you make room? Would you make room for God in your life? I believe there are people here right now that this is a dark season of your life.16:16You're facing a death in your family or someone has recently passed away. And really Christmas brings more sadness than light and joy. Would you make room for Jesus? Would you make room? And if you do, you will find that he is life and he is light. And you will find that before you ever thought of God, he was pursuing you because he loves you through his son, Jesus Christ. Would you make room today and say, God, it's a clean slate.16:46I'm willing to give it one more try. I'm willing to trust you. You know, I believe there's a second group here, and that's those of us who are religious. If you go to the end of the Bible, if you see the conclusion of the book in Revelation chapter 3, there's a church there that receives a letter from God. And it's a church in this town called Laodicea. And this is what the Bible says. This is what Jesus says about this church. He says, you are neither hot, you're not hot enough to take a bath in this water, and you are neither cold, you're not drinkable, you are useless.17:13And Jesus says this to the church. He says, behold, in chapter 3, verse 20, I stand at the door and knock. Anyone who hears my voice and calls out to me, I will eat with them and dine. Those are cultural Christians who are playing the religious game, and Jesus says, it's time to quit playing.17:37Do you have room? That's truly what this season is about. It's not about giving gifts or celebrating family. It is, God, let us make room in our hearts for you. May we not be like Bethlehem. And may we today declare, Lord, you have full control of my life. Can you trust this child? The child that one day would grow old and say, if you have faith like a child and believe in me, I will give you eternal life.18:07Will you have faith like a child this morning? I think of several things when I think of children. One, children are quick to make room, aren't they? Have you ever seen a child sitting on the bench and you ask, hey, can I sit there? What do they almost always say? Sure, sit right here. Would we be a people who are quick to make room for Jesus because he loves us? Children are also quick to trust. If you say, here, jump to me, what are they going to most likely do if they're young?18:37Here, catch me. Do you trust God that way? Do you trust God to catch you in your time of need? And also, I know this about children. They are quick to give control. Are you today willing to say, Lord, I will make room and give you and you alone control of my life? Church, as we continue to worship through song, would you spend time praying and say, Lord, let me make room. Let me make room for this child who brings light and life into the world.19:07He is the answer. His name is Jesus. And we want to make room for the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Well, we have one more gift under the tree. So that means I need one more child to come and help. So Emma-Kate, are you awake? Okay. This is Emma-Kate. She is going to help us. This third.19:39And thank you for helping us, Emma-Kate. So there's one more gift. I put it way back there. Can you grab it? There we go. Thank you. If you could open it. Awesome job. This is our third scripture this morning. Before you leave, thank you, Emma-Kate, for helping us. Are you expecting any gifts tomorrow under the tree? You are. A lot? Are you expecting more gifts than your sisters and brothers? You are.20:09You are. Okay, that's what I'm talking about. Thank you, Emma-Kate. You heard that mom and dad, right? I think, coming from me, I think she deserves it. Good job, Emma-Kate. Again, the reminder that the greatest gift we have is Jesus Christ, our Savior. Our last scripture reading is, again, from the book of Luke. And we're going to pick up in verse 8 this time. So we are reading through the Christmas story. The story that if we have placed our trust in Jesus Christ is now our story.20:39It's my story. It's your story. Luke chapter 2, verse 8. In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid.21:06For look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today, in the city of David, a Savior has been born to you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be the sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger. Suddenly, there was a multitude of the heavenly host, with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to people he favors.21:35When the angels had left and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let's go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger. After seeing them, they reported the message that they were told about this child. And when they heard it, all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds had said to them.22:03Now, pay close attention to verse 19. Do you treasure Christ among all other things in your life?22:15Mary, we see in verse 19, when they told her that this child was the child, the one who we were waiting for,22:36treasured up all these things in her heart. Reminds me of a story by an author named Robert Fulgham. Robert tells a story about a time that his seven-year-old daughter gave him a gift. And the gift was in a brown paper sack. And she gave this to him and said, Daddy, take this to work. I made it just for you. And so Robert took it to work hurriedly.23:05And he didn't have time to look at it until it was lunch. And so as he was eating lunch, he spread it out on his desk table with his lunch. And he poured the contents on his desk. And this is what he found. One dinosaur, half a pencil, used lip gloss, two Hershey kisses, two ribbons, three stones, and 13 pennies. And he said, you know what? That's nice. She loves me. And after he ate, he dumped everything in the bag and threw it in the trash can.23:35Well, when he came home later that afternoon, his daughter said, Daddy, Daddy, did you like my gift? And he said, well, honey, to be honest, I really couldn't use it. And her eyes began to fill up with tears. She said, Daddy, you didn't lose it, did you? He said, no, no, no, I did not lose it. I did not lose it. So after he tucked her into bed, he hurriedly rushed back to work and was digging through the trash. And as often happens in these cases, guess who comes by his desk when he is rummaging through the trash?24:03The janitor said, have you lost anything? He said, well, my mind. And he began to think as his heart overflowed with emotion and tears welled up, he found the gift. And one by one, he put them all back in the now crumpled brown paper sack. And he said, this is the thought that came to him. He said, she gave me what she treasured the most. And not only did I miss it, I threw it away.24:33Not only did I miss it, I threw it away. So that morning when she woke up, he found the sack and brought it to her. He said, Molly, honey, can you tell me the story about every single gift that you gave me? And they were able to share the love of a father and a daughter. Several days later, she gives them the gift again, the brown paper sack. And on the way to work, he begins to cry again. He weeps. And this thought came to his heart. He said, I knew when she gave me the gift again that I had been forgiven.25:02That I had been forgiven. Fast forward several days later and several weeks turned to months, months turned to years. And she would often give him the bag and say, Daddy, this is for you today. Well, as she grew up, one day she finally gave him the bag and she said, Dad, I don't need it anymore. I'm old. I'm grown. You can have it. And you know where the bag sits today? On his shelf. And this is the profound statement that he made.25:31I don't want you to miss this. He said, when she gave me her treasure, I missed it the first time. He said, but now that treasure is mine. But now that treasure is mine. I believe for everyone in this room, there's been a time in our life where God has offered us the treasure of his son, Jesus Christ. And we missed it. We missed it. It's called sin. It's called self. And I believe right now, today, that God is offering some the second chance to put your trust in Jesus for the first time.25:59Don't miss it. You know what sin is? Sin is us telling God, God, I don't need your treasure right now. And not only are we going to miss it, we're going to throw it in the trash. But yet our God loves us enough to say he is constantly pursuing us. And would you not open your heart and make room for the King of kings? That is the gift and the invitation of Christmas.26:26That today we can leave here differently than we came in. We can leave, although dead in our sin and trespasses, we can now leave with eternal life in Jesus Christ if we would treasure him above all else. And I leave you with this thought. John Piper says it best. He said, that which you treasure is that which you love. And what you treasure the most, you love the most. My prayer is that we would say this Christmas season, Lord, we want to stop and pause and treasure you among any and everything else.26:54Because you are good and you are worth it. And that we can say, Lord, we are not good and we are not lovable, but you loved us first. God, there's nothing that I can do today that makes you love me more because you love me first. And God, there's nothing that I can do today to make you love me less. That is the gift of Jesus Christ.27:22Would you not accept that gift and treasure him? Christians, if you have followed Jesus Christ, take time and treasure him above everything else and say, God, you have complete control. You have room in my life and I will now seek you and serve you for the glory of the Father. May we not miss the gift. And may we now look on our shelves of our life and point to the gift and say, I missed it the first time.27:48But now he is mine and I am his. That is the glorious story of Christmas. That is a story that if you believe, it is your story. The story of redemption and hope forever and ever. To God be the glory. Let's pray.← Previous in Advent 2017Sunday, December 17, 2017Next in Advent 2017 →Sunday, December 31, 2017More sermons on Luke →
