Christmas Surprises

I don't know about you, but one of the most exciting elements of Christmas is the element of surprise. What is in that package under the tree? What is that cooking on the stove today or what is in that tin that Jeanne put out in the in the living room today? Or wonder what Christmas cards will come in the mail today? Or if you're a child or a child of any age, what will be in my stocking? on Christmas morning. The element of surprise isn't that part of the fun of Christmas time? I think it's one of the most exciting elements of Christmas. And it's also to me one of the most exciting and intriguing elements of the first Christmas. Because on the first Christmas, the very first Christmas, God had a few surprises of His own. As He introduced His Son into the world, He did it in a way that we probably would not have thought of. We would not have considered the way His Son is introduced into the world is in a way that we wouldn't expect. After all, this is the introduction of the Son of God. We're introducing the Son of God to the human race, to the world. If we were in charge of how that would be done, we would want it done right. We would want to make sure everything is first rate. We would want to make it like a royal coronation. With plenty of publicity and press releases ahead of time, the stage set exactly right, the whole world aware of what's happening and invited to view the proceedings, we would want it to be like a royal coronation or maybe like we've seen recently a royal wedding, where it would be the event of the world and everybody would be tuned in to what's happening. That's the way we would want to be it. Want it done? The way God did the first Christmas was well, surprising, surprising. This morning, I want us to focus and we will explore four of God's own Christmas surprises. Four things about that first Christmas that really are, to say the least, surprising. One, surprise number one is this, that he would become one of us. That Christ would actually become one of us. That's a surprise, a Christmas surprise. Were there not other options for delivering salvation to the world? Could not have an omnipotent and an omniscient God one who knows all things and has all power, could he not have devised another way to introduce salvation to the world? Couldn't the angels have announced from heaven God's wonderful plan to save mankind if man would look to him? Couldn't Christ have been displayed in the heavens and people ask to simply bow to him as an acknowledgement of who he is? Or couldn't he have come maybe in all of his glory, a dazzling display of his deity so that everyone would recognize who he is? Wouldn't that be a better way? Or were there other options? But to come as a man, becoming like us, taking on a human body, starting as a baby, becoming human so that he would have human limitations, he would express an experience human life, surprising, surprising. But you know what the Bible teaches? It was absolutely necessary, not just a cute little story, absolutely necessary that it happened that way, that he would become one of us. Would you please locate in your Bible Hebrews chapter 2? In a few moments we'll get to the gospel story of the birth of Christ. But for now we're going to start in Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 2, where we find three times the writer of Hebrews says, so that. There are three so that's in this passage. He talks about Jesus becoming man so that, so that, so that, three purposes, three reasons why it was necessary for Jesus to enter the human race and to actually become human. Three reasons why it's necessary. Reason number one, verse nine, to suffer death. In the verses just before verse nine, the writer of Hebrews has been talking about mankind. Man kind was created a little lower than the angels, but he was created to have all things in subjection to him, but that's not true. We don't see that happening because of man's sin. All things are not under subjection to him. Things are a mess. Man is a mess. The world is a mess. Nature is a mess. Everything's a mess. So we don't see that as God designed it happening in the real world that we live in, but verse nine, but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels. Okay, he joins mankind who has made a little lower than the angels. He becomes man. He was made a little lower than the angels. Now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death so that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone. Why was Jesus made a little lower than the angels? Why did he become like mankind? Why did he become man in a human body with a human nature? Why? So that he might taste death for every man, everyone. The word taste meaning to drink fully, not just to take a little sip, but to experience fully death for us. Jesus came as a person, as a man to this earth. He took on human flesh so that he might die for us. That's the reason, at least first reason. You see, death is the penalty for our sin. The Bible teaches the wages of sin, what we deserve, received because of sin, is death. Physical death came into this world through Adam. Paul says it this way in Romans 5, for by one man, sin entered the world and death by sin. And so death passed upon all men for that all of sin. So death is the penalty for sin. Adam's sin and our own sin. Physical death and spiritual death separation from God. The result of our sin, that's the penalty. So in order for the penalty to be paid, either we pay it, and if you've never trusted Jesus as your Savior, you will pay the penalty for your own sin. You will be eternally separated from God. But God loves you so much, He doesn't want you to pay the penalty for your sin. So He sent His son as a spotless Lamb of God, as one who would live a perfect life, who would not disqualify Himself by His own sin. But one who could then because of His purity, because of His perfection, one who could become a substitute for you and me, one who could take our penalty. What is the penalty? Death. And so in order to pay for our sin, in order to pay the penalty of our sin, He must die. In order to die, He must have a human body. God can't die. So God must now become human. In order to offer Himself as a substitutionary sacrifice for you and for me, to give His body, to die, to suffer the penalty. Death for us, for you and me. And so that's why He became human. So that He might taste fully drink the bitter dregs to the full of death for everyone. So why? Why does He become one of us to suffer death? Second, so that. Second reason in this passage is in verse 14, to defeat Satan is the second reason why Jesus must become human, to defeat Satan. Look at it in verse 14. Since the children, that's mankind, since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that. Jesus takes on humanity so that by His death He might destroy Him who holds the power of death, that is the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. You see, the devil, Satan, has seized upon the fact that man must die, that man will die, to engender fear and suspicion. Travel the world, look at all cultures, and you'll find fear and suspicion of death, superstition, fear of death, which then keeps people in bondage, keeps them in bondage to all kinds of different religious things, to try to overt death, to try to get away the spirits of death, or whatever it may be. The devil uses that as a form of keeping people in bondage. So in order to defeat Satan's program and take away the cause of that fear, Jesus comes, He must die, and then He conquers death three days later when He comes forth out of the tomb, and in so doing by suffering death for us with the consequent resurrection from the dead, He defeats death, He conquers death, He conquers Satan, and Satan's power over mankind is defeated so that when people know Jesus Christ there is no longer fear of death. If you know Christ there is no need to fear death. Death has been robbed of what Paul calls it sting. It has no more sting. It's like a bee without a stinger, can't hurt you. Death now simply is the entrance into the presence of God for the believer. So Jesus had to die, He had to become man so that He might die, to pay the penalty for our sin, but also in so doing to defeat Satan. But there's a third reason why God must take on human flesh, and Jesus must come to this earth, and the third reason is to understand human experience. You see it in verse 17. For this reason, He had to be made like His brothers in every way, that's an expression for He had to take on a human body and become human, yet He had to be made like us in every way. In order that, here's the third, so that. In order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make a tonement for the sins of the people. Now, the writer of Hebrews goes back to Old Testament teaching here. He's writing to Hebrews to Jews. They understand this, so they have this Old Testament background. The image of a high priest is one who is one of them, He's human, but He represents them to God, and He represents God to them. Jesus becomes the ultimate high priest, the one who came not only to offer a sacrifice for sin, like the Old Testament priest did, but gave Himself for our sin, and thus as the verse says, to make a tonement for our sins, to make satisfactory payment for our sins, but also in being human, in experiencing human life as a high priest who has paid the sacrificial price and now sits in heaven at the right hand of the Father, praying for you, representing you before God, like a priest does. As He does that, He is able to do it not only faithfully before God, but in a merciful way. You know what that means? It means that He has mercy on those that He's representing to God. He fully understands human life by experience, and so He is able to mercifully with feeling, with passion, with understanding of what you go through, human frailty, human limitations, human weaknesses, human difficulties, and trials and troubles. He's been through all of that. He knows that by experience, so that none of us can ever look at God and say, you're up there in heaven, you don't understand, that's a perfect place. You don't understand what it's like down here, and in the incarnation in Jesus becoming man, He forever dispels the opportunity to look God in the eye and say that because He does understand. He has been through it. He knows, and so as He represents us before God, He can do so not only as a faithful high priest, fulfilling His duty faithfully, but also as a merciful high priest, understanding those He represents to God, understanding fully what it's like to live in this sin-curse world. I am so thankful that the one who prays for me at the right hand of the Father looks down at me and says, I'm representing you and I understand exactly. I understand where you are. I know what you're going through. He is a faithful and merciful high priest. That's the reason God must become man. To suffer death and in so-tuing to defeat Satan, but also to become a merciful high priest, to understand by experience human life. Now God knows all things. God knows human life anyway, but so that we will understand, so that we will grasp, so that we will be comforted by the fact that He knows. He knows what it's like. Jesus must become man. In short, the lesson is this. God loves us. God loves us. And He loves us so much that He is willing to become one of us totally for our benefit, to pay the penalty for your sin, which requires death. To defeat Satan, which requires death and resurrection, one who conquers death and then to experience human life and its full so that he might be a faithful and merciful high priest. God loves us enough to send his son to be one of us, to represent us and to die for us. One of my favorite Christmas songs is a song that's not easy to find anymore. It was sung on Christmas recording by Wayne Watts in a contemporary Christian artist back in 1992. He came out with this Christmas album. He's kind of moved off the scene of Christian music now as far as popularity is concerned, but this is one of my favorite songs. It's the song called One Christmas Eve. And if you can picture the scene of a man who is an unbeliever who is really quite skeptical of all this virgin birth stuff, Christ dying for our sin stuff, he's skeptical of that. But his wife and children are all believers, and on Christmas Eve he finds himself alone at home with his wife and children at the Christmas Eve service at the church. And this is how Wayne Wattson pictures what happens. He was a loving father, gentle master of his home, but all alone against their love for God, no savior of his own. Unmoved and softly cynical of those he thought naive, God come to earth, a virgin birth, no. How could anyone believe? His Christmas evening solitaire, beside the fires glow, out of the window, tiny sparrows in the spell of a chilling snow, and moved with deep compassion, with a redeeming plan he rose, he tried and vain to gather them to a shelter from the killing winter cold. Oh, but simple creatures seldom comprehend the ways of men. Sometimes love expressed is met with doubt and fear. He thought, if I could only fly among you, I know I could make you understand just for a moment, walk beside you. I know it would all be clear. It would all be clear. And even before the thought had left his mind, Christmas bells from far away reminded him of simple truth he denied until that very day. How Jesus, born the savior, walked this earth with mortal man, another soul brought safely home, and Christmas would never be the same again. It would never be the same. I wish I could sing that song like Wayne Watson does, but what a beautiful story. Could this be the Christmas that you finally get it? That you finally understand why he came? That you finally grasp, that like that man wanted to become like the sparrows so that he could make them understand and help them and rescue them from their plight, God came to us in our need, became one of us so that he could rescue us, so that he could pay the penalty for our sin, so that he could feed Satan, so that he could experience human life and we would know he understands. Christmas surprise number one makes sense now, doesn't it? That he would become one of us. But God had other surprises on that first Christmas. The second Christmas surprise was that he would be born in Bethlehem. That he would be born in Bethlehem. Why Bethlehem? Of all places, why Bethlehem? Why not Jerusalem? After all, Jerusalem is the capital. Jerusalem is the political center of the Jewish rule, even of Roman rule in that part of the world. Jerusalem is the religious center. Why not Jerusalem? That's what the Magi thought, right? The wise men? Remember they saw the star in the east. All they knew is that a king of the Jews had been born, so they come to look for him. Where do they go? Jerusalem, Matthew 2 tells us they showed up in Jerusalem and they say to King Herod and all the others gathered there, we have come to see the king of the Jews, the one who's born King of the Jews, for we have seen his star in the east, and they figure if any place, the place to start looking is in Jerusalem. That's what they thought. That's what we would think after all. Jerusalem is the place where everything happens. Jerusalem is where the movers and shakers are. Jerusalem is where the courts hand down their decisions. Jerusalem is where all the political action committees have their stuff done. Jerusalem is the place where the lobbyists pursue their agenda. Jerusalem is the place where the governor lives, where the king lives. Jerusalem is the place where official pronouncements are made. Jerusalem is the place of political gatherings. Jerusalem is the place of after work, parties by political leaders making backroom deals to get stuff done. This is where the action is. Jerusalem, if a king's going to be born, why not Jerusalem? Why a little insignificant unknown village, five or six miles south of Jerusalem, called Bethlehem. But again, the Bible says it must happen there. And the reason is the way Jerusalem or Bethlehem, rather, is described in the New Testament. It is Bethlehem, the city of David, the town of David. That's the reason why it must be Bethlehem. Oh, yeah, there are Old Testament prophecies to be fulfilled too. Micah chapter 5 and verse 2 says, but you, Bethlehem, effort to distinguish it from another Bethlehem that was in the north in Galilee, actually near Nazareth, where Jesus would grow up, but you, Bethlehem, effort to the one in the south near Jerusalem, though you are small among the clans of Judah, an insignificant little village hamlet, although you are small, out of you, will come from me one who has been or will be ruler over Israel whose origins are from evolved from ancient times, the Hebrew word literally mean Olam, meaning ancient times, or sometimes used forever, who's going forth, whose origin is from forever. He must be born in Bethlehem to fulfill Old Testament prophecy, but why the prophecy? It's because Bethlehem is the city of David. Now, let's find our way to the birth narratives in the Gospel's Luke chapter 2, Luke chapter 2. The familiar story, but maybe there's something that hasn't really stuck out to you before about this story. I know we hear it, we read it, it's on our Christmas cards, we hear it preached, every year, for several weeks, this time of year, Luke 2 does not escape our attention. Has this caught your attention yet? Verse 1, in those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census that took place while Carineus was governor of Syria, and everyone went to his own town to register. It was important that you go to the town of your ancestors, your own town. Town where your ancestors are from, in order to register for this census. I'm not going to go any further with the explanation of that, but verse 4 says, so Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea to Bethlehem, notice the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. So he goes to the town of David, Bethlehem. That's where his ancestors are from. He lives in Nazareth, married lives in Nazareth, but God relocates them to fulfill the Old Testament prophecy, but also to position them for what he will emphasize at the birth of Christ, and that is his kingdom and not man's kingdoms, because it is the city of David that is more important than the city of man than what man's power centers are. Have you ever noticed the emphasis on David in the birth stories of Jesus? I mean, look at how the shepherds were introduced to the announcement of Jesus' birth in verse 11. Verse 11 says the shepherds are told by the angels. Today, notice in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord. Why didn't they just say, hey guys, we're here in the town of Bethlehem. I mean, that's what the town was known as. That was its name. They would know that. They were close to that. Why didn't they say that? Because God's not concerned about just knowing it's Bethlehem. He wants us to know this is David's town. It's interesting to me that when the angel Gabriel made the announcement to Joseph, understanding, to explain the birth of Jesus in Matthew chapter 1, he addresses him this way in Matthew 1, 20, Joseph son of David. Oh really? I mean, the genealogies just given right before that and we know that Joseph's father was named Jacob. But you see, God is concerned to impress upon us that it's David that is of concern here and here's the reason why. In the angel's explanation to Mary of what would happen in Luke 1, again, the emphasis is on David. Since we're there, let's look at it. Luke chapter 1 verse 32. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will rule reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end. The reason for all the emphasis on David, the reason why he must be born in the town of David, the shepherds are told he's born in the town of David. Joseph is referred to as the son of David. The explanation is given to Mary about him ruling on the throne of David. The emphasis for that is that God's concern is for us to understand Jesus is the rightful heir to David's throne. He is the Messiah. He is the son of God come to earth to rule to reign and here's the lesson. God is not impressed with man's power. Listen, God is not near as impressed with what happens in Washington, London, Paris, or Moscow, or any other capital in this world as to what's happening in his kingdom. And so it's not Jerusalem that's important in God's mind when his son will be born. It is Bethlehem because it is David's throne and David's kingdom that is uppermost in God's mind when his son is born, not Jerusalem, not the power centers, not the religious centers. God's kingdom is what's important to him, not man's kingdoms. And the priority, the emphasis for God will be on God's kingdom, on his kingdom, the kingdom of David. Now we know that that kingdom was rejected by the Jews and it's been postponed. It's awaiting a future fulfillment literally on this earth when Jesus will come at his second coming and will reign on this earth. The Bible says in Jerusalem, from David's throne. But right now there is a mystery form, a form of the kingdom unrevealed in the Old Testament which is operating through his church. And that must be our focus and our emphasis if we have the heart of God. Let me make this very clear. We're ending into an election year. Have you realized that yet? You haven't drawn Mars or something. A lot of people's efforts will be on what's happening in Washington or what could happen in Washington. Please don't misunderstand me. As Christian citizens we need to be concerned, we need to be faithful and consistent in our moral duty to fulfill the commandments of Scripture, to honor our leaders and in our form of democracy to take our part in choosing them. So don't misunderstand what I'm going to say. But a lot of people's focus over this next year will be Washington when God wants it to be his kingdom. The only thing of eternal value is not the pronouncements of Washington. It is the pronouncements of heaven. And what happens in the hearts of people as we reach them with the gospel and grow them up to be able to be mature enough to reach others with the gospel? That's what matters to God. His kingdom, not man's kingdoms. It is Bethlehem, David's kingdom that's more important to him than Jerusalem, the power center of the world. If we would put half the effort into advancing God's kingdom that we do our own political agendas, we could shake this world for Christ. It is God's kingdom that is priority in his mind and that's why he was born in Bethlehem. That's why Bethlehem is so important. Surprise number two makes sense now. He must be born in Bethlehem. But there's another surprise. And this one really catches us off guard that he would be born in such poverty. Why? What's the reason for that? Why would he be born in such poverty? And I want you to really get a feel for the poverty into which Jesus is born. We need to understand and see this because there's a theological and a moral reason for it. And we need to grasp this. We need to understand the poverty into which Jesus was born begins with his parents. His mother, Mary, and the man who will become a human father figure to him, although Joseph is not his father, God is, God the father, but the one who will become a human father figure to him in his upbringing. Joseph, Mary and Joseph, very poor people. We know that from Luke's story in Luke 2. Look at Luke 2, verse 22. When the time of their purification according to the law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. Luke chapter 2, now verse 23, as it is written in the law of the Lord, every first born male is to be consecrated to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the law of the Lord a pair of doves or two young pigeons. Now there were two Old Testament mosaic laws that were being fulfilled on this observance in the temple when Jesus is 40 days old. The first is the ceremony of redeeming the first born. You see the law of Moses said that every first born is automatically dedicated to the Lord. Every first born male automatically dedicated to the Lord to be a priest. And then that was superseded later by God choosing the tribe of Levi to be priests. So in order now to release your first born son from serving as a priest so that now only the Levi tribe serves as priest, you would take him to the temple when he was 40 days old and you would pay a purchase price to redeem him back so that he would not be dedicated to the Lord as a priest. So that's one thing that's happening here. The second thing that's happening is a purification ceremony. See when a woman gave birth according to the Old Testament mosaic law and it has to do with blood and so forth, a woman was considered ceremonially, religiously, unclean for 40 days. Could not attend the temple and be a part of the ceremonies there. So in order to provide a sacrifice to release her from that ceremonial uncleaness after 40 days she was to appear in the temple and the law said she was to offer with her husband, she was to offer first of all a lamb and then either a pigeon or a dove. But the law made this allowance in the law of Moses if you are too poor to afford a lamb, you can bring two doves or two pigeons. Now we know from verse 24 that they brought what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of doves or two young pigeons. Now I realize, I played devil's advocate here, I realized they'd only been in Bethlehem 40 days or so, I realized they had to leave their home in Nazareth, I realized all of that, but if they were wealthy enough they could have bought a lamb in the temple that was available because people came from all over the world and bought animals there to sacrifice. They could have done that but they could not afford a lamb. So they used the allowance that was made for those who were poor. So his parents are very poor. I hang on to that for just a moment and we'll see what God is doing there, but not only are the parents poor, the circumstances into which he is born speaks loudly of poverty. If you look at the circumstances, remember the familiar story back in chapter 2, verse 7, and she gave birth to her firstborn a son, she wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no room for them in the end. We hear that all the time at Christmas and so it kind of just goes over our head. There's no room for them in the end. Okay, so they had to go to a stall where animals were kept. Would you please try to get in your mind what was actually happening here? She's ready to deliver the baby, she can feel the birth pains, the labor pains coming on, she's ready to deliver. There's no room for them to stay in the end and so they are taken to the only place they can find or that is provided for them which is not a beautiful barn freshly painted with signs on the side of it. It's probably a cave which is typically where animals were sheltered for guests in and in. And so they are given some space in this cave. There's no indication that any effort is made to remove the animals, to clean the clutter, to sanitize the floors, to paint the stall, hang up a banner and hire a band. No indication any of that's done. There's no time for that. She's having the baby and it is quite literally in squalor. And so what happens? The Bible says it very plainly. She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in cloths. That's so easy for us to miss that. You know what that indicates? That indicates there was no attending physician on call to help deliver the baby. Probably no midwife. Maybe no one else at all. Because the first thing that would be done for a Hebrew baby when it was born after cleaning it would be to wrap strips of cloth around its entire body, legs all the way up to the shoulders. The purpose for which in their thinking was to straighten the limbs. That's the reason they did that. So they wrapped the baby tightly in strips of cloth. Mary did that. The Bible says indicating to me there was no one there to help her except Joseph. She wrapped him in those strips of cloth. And then she lays him in a manger. Oh, the travesty, our Christmas cards have done with that. Our Christmas cards paint the manger as a beautifully wooden carved bassinet. That's not at all what it was. It was a feeding trough, probably not of wood of stone. Probably a place, an outcropping of rock that was chiseled out enough to have a place to throw hay in for the animals to feed. It was not a beautiful little wooden bassinet filled with hay and nice cloths. Not at all. It was a rough-hewned stone receptacle for hay. Everything that's happening here speaks of poverty. You know, in the... That breaks all of our rules. That just breaks all of our rules about how things should be done. I mean, if we're introducing a new line of designer clothing by Versace or Dior or whatever other group of people who do that kind of thing, we fly all the jet-setters into Paris and a grand announcement is made. If we're introducing a new line of automobiles, it's Detroit's Kobo Hall. It's New York City's Madison Square Garden. It's Houston's Ashtradome. Some grand arena for this to take place in. If the president is making an important policy announcement, careful attention is given to the room that's chosen the backdrop, the scenery. An army of press corps is there to record and report on what is said. You know why? Because we're all about silence. We're all about style over substance. We're all about how things are staged, how they look, to wow, to impress. You know the early church, not the book of Acts, but a couple hundred years later was evidently embarrassed by the account of Jesus' birth, and so they began to embellish the account with myths and legends. Like Mary suffers no pain as she bears the child. Listen, this was a normal childbirth. Miraculous in its conception, but the actual birth was normal. I'm sure she did have pain. Myths and legends like a heavenly light from Christ filled the room. Nonsense, that's a myth, that's a legend. Jesus came fully human. He looked like a baby. He was a baby. There was no halo glow that filled the room from him. If there wasn't in your delivery room, there wasn't in his either. He was fully human, okay? Legends like the baby utters no cry away in a manger, you know? That's a legend. I'm sure Jesus, as he grasped for his first breaths and his little human body, cried like every baby does. No need to embellish the account because God wants us to see it for what it is. And what's the lesson? God places higher priority on the spiritual over the material. That's the lesson. God is not at all embarrassed by how his son was born. This was intentional. The choice of Mary and Joseph is intentional because God's not concerned with how well Jesus will be provided for. He's not even concerned that it be a beautifully handmade bassinet in which his son is laid. That's not the issue with God. The issue with God is to find two people who will have such a passion and devotion to his word and to what he tells them that they will obey no matter what the cost. And listen, the cost is going to be high for them. And so these are people that are deeply passionate about obeying God. That's why in verses 21 to 24, four times in those four verses you find obedience to God emphasized. Verse 21, the naming of their son is done using the name, the angel had given him before he had been conceived. They were obedient to what God revealed to him through the angel. Verse 22, when the time of their purification according to the law of Moses, verse 23, as it is written in the law of the Lord, verse 24, to offer a sacrifice in keeping what is said in the law of the Lord. These are people who are going to obey God no matter what it costs them. That's the kind of people God's looking for. And I would suggest to you those are still the kind of people God is looking for. He places value on that over any material possession. Now please don't misunderstand, it's not wrong to have material possessions. God sometimes blesses people in that way so that they can use that for his glory. Nothing wrong with that at all. But what God values in people and what God values in a home is far more than material stuff. It is the hearts of the people who are in that home, the husband and wife who make up that home and what they're going to build into their children. You know at this time of year maybe we need to worry less about keeping up with the Joneses and more about keeping up with Mary and Joseph and putting the focus on the spiritual over the material. The circumstances, poverty that he's born in, God's not embarrassed by that. God doesn't try to hide that. Extreme poverty that Jesus comes into the world in, laid in a feeding trough, roughly chiseled out of stone. And why? Paul captures the essence of it in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 later when he says this on the screen, you'll see the verse, 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, otherwise he had all that heaven had to offer, though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that through his poverty you might become rich. You see Jesus gives up everything physically, outwardly to become physically, materially poor, so that through that huge leap from heaven's riches to earth's poverty you might be made spiritually rich. And that's the riches he's talking about at the end of the verse because it is through Jesus coming to this earth that we get what? Material wealth? No, that we get salvation, eternal wealth, eternal riches. That's the reason and what better picture, what better way to start than in extreme poverty, to illustrate that Jesus left all of that riches so that you might have spiritual riches. That's the lesson. The lesson is that God's main priority is the spiritual over the material and we would do well to learn that lesson especially at this time of year. One more lesson quickly. One more surprise that Jesus' birth would be announced to Shepherds. What a surprise. When you consider the reputation of Shepherds in the first century, as a class, Shepherds were looked down on. I mean, they're very work. Usually kept them from any religious observances in the temple. They were out in the fields all the time. As a class, they were considered thieves. As a class, they typically had the unfortunate habit of confusing what yours with what's mine. They were considered just in general thieves. In fact, they were considered so unreliable they were not allowed to get testimony in court in the first century. Shepherds. Now, please understand, I can't vouch for the personal character of these individual shepherds that heard the announcement of the angels. Maybe they were fine-upstanding citizens of their community. But couldn't God have chosen a better class of people? Couldn't they have at least announced Jesus' birth to priests? Aren't they the ones that are doing the work that Jesus came to fulfill? That sounds like a good class to me. Or maybe scribes. They're Old Testament scholars. They're the ones that have pulled together and unpacked the meaning of every Old Testament verse that prophesied the coming of Messiah. Surely they ought to get this announcement. Or maybe Pharisees. They're supposed to be concerned about righteousness, aren't they? Or maybe political leaders. They will welcome someone who can straighten out the political mess. You think there'd be another group that he would choose, but he didn't. He chose shepherds. Why? These are normal people. These are people. Maybe we would even consider a lower class if you're into classifying people. And they are in the normal course of their lives where God comes to them and crashes into their life. And the lesson is this. God is no respecter of persons. God is not concerned about impressing people with big names. God is not concerned about a guest list that he drew up to be invited to see his son, the son of God, the king, into the world. And look at this guest list. Look at all the dignitaries on this list. Look at all the important people. Look at all the well-known people. God is not concerned about impressing anybody. And so he demonstrates that here, God does not favor the wealthy, the highly educated, those of higher social standings. Again, nothing is wrong with any of that. Please don't misunderstand me. God is not concerned about impressing anyone. So he's not concerned about drawing up a guest list that will, wow, anybody. He's not concerned about that. In fact, in order for you to come to him, the Bible says you have to become poor in spirit. Read Matthew 5, the Beatitudes sometimes. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. I've often wondered where would Jesus or where would God through the angels make the announcement of his son's birth today? If it were happening in 2011, where would he do that? Maybe a prison? Although it might be a little hard for them to go see where Jesus was born. So, okay, let's, but I think maybe that's what God might think. Maybe a homeless shelter? Maybe the poorest part of town? Maybe a downtown city mission? That's what the shepherd represented. And I think God is simply telling us, I don't do things the way you do them. I'm not concerned about impressing people. I'm not concerned about red carpets with high profile people, well-known names on my guest list. And so you know what that does? It offers hope to any of us that we can be saved because Jesus entered this world and the first invitation is given to the people who are considered the lowest class of people. That doesn't mean other people are excluded. Nobody's excluded. But it offers hope to anybody, whoever you are here today, wherever you come from, wherever you've been, whatever your life has been like, whatever mistakes you have made, whatever mess you've made of your life. Jesus came for you. He came for you. He didn't come just to gather a group of well-known stars. He came for you. And he came for me. Any of us can be saved. And that's why the announcement is made to shepherds. Could I encourage you, this Christmas, to allow God to still surprise you? Be open to how God may surprise you in 2011 Christmas. Be on the lookout for ways that He may show up, places, ways that You may see Him that You wouldn't expect it. Be on the lookout for ways that He may be at work in Your life that You could have never anticipated. And maybe even this Christmas would be the Christmas where You never expected it, but finally you understand. You get it. You grasp it. Why He came. And why He died. And what that means for you. And surprise of all surprises. You didn't think about it. You never realized this would be the Christmas where you would place your faith in His Son, Jesus, and get the best Christmas gift of all eternal life. Surprise. Let's pray.