Gtcotr/ss122621
Luke 2 NKJV
8 ¶ Now there were in the
same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock
by night.
9 And behold, an angel of the
Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they
were greatly afraid.
10 Then the angel said to
them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy
which will be to all people.
11 “For there is born to you
this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
12 “And this will be
the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a
manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a
multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth
peace, goodwill toward men!”
15 So it was, when the angels
had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another,
“Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the
Lord has made known to us.”
16 And they came with haste
and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger.
17 Now when they had seen Him, they made
widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child.
18 And all those who heard it marveled at
those things which were told them by the shepherds.
19 But Mary kept all these things and pondered them
in her heart.
20 Then the shepherds
returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard
and seen, as it was told them.
21 ¶ And when eight days were
completed for the circumcision of the Child, His name was called JESUS, the
name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.
22 Now when the days of her
purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to
Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord
23 (as it is written in the
law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the
LORD”),
24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”
It’s Sunday, the 26th day of December 2021, the day after Christmas. Christmas celebrates such an exciting event. Christmas is the quintessential holiday of the year. Christ is what all of creation waited for ever since the Garden of Eden. Christmas changed everything!
Christmas is the day we choose to celebrate the birthday of Jesus.
It’s not always easy to remember that Jesus was born into an Old Testament world that was still subject to the Laws of Moses and the traditions of the elders of Israel. It was a time when animal sacrifices for sin and purification were still required by God and the Temple was the one and only Holy Place on earth.
Jesus came to change things. The world into which He was born did not understand Him. The world into which Jesus was born was unaware things were changing. They did not realize that Jesus was to be the fulfillment of all they had been taught to observe and all they had been declaring since the days of Abraham.
Jesus came to change everything … only the people were unaware, and many were even without hope that anything substantiative would ever change. Yet, Christmas changed everything.
The
Bible teaches that life begins at conception and that God knows us before we
are born. The Bible teaches that life begins at conception and that once it
begins, it never ends. That’s the nature of life … existence … the birth of a
soul.
·
The
birth of a soul does not begin with the birth of a baby from a mother’s womb,
but rather …
·
The
birth of a soul begins at conception.
·
Once life begins … it never ends …
·
That’s
the nature of life.
o God knew you before
you were fully formed in your mother’s
womb.
·
Just
as the life of the soul begins at conception, so also eternal life in Christ
begins at conception.
·
Life begins at conception and life does not depend on this world.
· Life begins at conception and life never ends.
This morning I want to survey this passage left to us by the Holy Spirit which we read in Luke 2 and shed some light on what happens after Christmas. What happens after the day Jesus comes into your life. What happens after life begins.
You know what happens after Christmas? The same thing that happened after Jesus was born … More Life! If you will allow me, I’d like to call it “The After Life”.
Describe
the passage in Luke 2:8-24
·
Jesus
was born in Bethlehem, presumably in a stable, wrapped in cloths, and laid in
an animal’s feeding trough which was used as His cradle.
·
A
little time went by … with the birth and the swaddling …
·
That
night angels appeared to shepherds in the field and announced the birth of the
Messiah, Christ the Lord.
·
Then
the angels directed the shepherds to go into town and see the babe.
·
The
shepherds arrived and saw the babe and Mary and Joseph just like they had been
told.
·
The
shepherds went out and made it widely known.
o They glorified God and
told everybody.
o Probably not all that
same night but reasonably over the next few days.
·
Then
the account jumps to 8 days later …
o Jesus is circumcised …
§ Do you think it hurt?
§ Do you think He cried?
§ Of course He did …
§ It’s life … and life
can hurt … even if your name is Jesus!
§ And that’s what they
named Him at His circumcision … Yeshua – Jehovah is
Salvation … even when it hurts!
o Then, with the next breath, the Holy Spirit jumps forward to 40 days after Christmas …
Luke 2:22 Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord
·
Under
the Jewish Law it took 40 days after the birth of a male child for a woman to
be purified. She could not leave her dwelling until that time then she has to
present herself and the child before the Lord and offer the prescribed
sacrifices and offerings.
·
Every
firstborn male child had to be dedicated to the Lord as a continuing priest
over the family for the next generation. They were responsible for keeping the
family covenant and for teaching and guiding the family to worship and serve
Jehovah.
o This is what happened
in the life of Jesus after Christmas.
·
If
we continue to follow the Christmas story, we find that there were wise men who
most likely came months, maybe even up to two years, later, after Christmas …
·
Then
there was that journey to Egypt when Joseph took his family on an extended
self-imposed exile for perhaps a year or two.
·
Then
the family along with the young child Jesus returned to Bethlehem for a season.
·
Then
the family moved to Nazareth in the Galilee where Joseph worked as a carpenter
and Jesus grew as a boy and learned to read and write and work with His hands.
·
Then
we catch another glimpse of Jesus when He was about 12 years old on an annual
pilgrimage with His family and friends to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover.
· Then years later, perhaps 30 years after that first Christmas, we see Jesus leave home and begin His ministry which finally took Him to Calvary.
You know what happens after Christmas … more life … Life and destiny … one day, one event at a time … Life happens … even if your name is Jesus.
Christmas is wonderful. The day when you accept Jesus into your heart and are born-again by the Holy Spirit is wonderful and an exciting day.
You
know what happens after Christ comes into your life? More life!
·
Sometimes
it hurts …
·
Sometimes
you’re the hero in the eyes of others, and
· Sometimes you’re the zero
Christmas is exciting, but it leads to life which often is not so exciting. However, life is still necessary for us just like it was for Jesus.
Jesus could have been born of a virgin, died a martyr’s death in that manger in Bethlehem and He would have still been the perfect sacrifice as God’s only begotten Son. Why did life have to unfold and Why did Jesus endure such contradiction? For others … so you could have a Christmas.
That’s the reason why we were also chosen to endure such contradiction as we live this mortal existence is this world of sin … it’s all about others … so that others might experience their very own personal Christmas and be Born-again by the power of the Holy Spirit.
There was a time when Jesus was God’s only promise of Immanuel … God with the people. Now, we are that promise. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior of all mankind, lives in you. And it is Christ in you that is the hope of God in the world today. Colossians 1:27 Christ in you, the hope of Glory.
God hopes you will let the light of Christ so shine in your life that others will see that light and glorify Him by making Yeshua their salvation.
This
is the day after Christmas, and it should remind us that we have a lot of life
to live for Christ so that others can experience their Christmas. The best life
is the after life … life after the birth of Christ in our hearts. Real life begins the day after Christmas.
