Tell people the true meaning of the birth of Jesus, the miracle of whom he came, and how he came, and to whom he came, and why he came.
It is the celebration of an invasion from God, dividing history into AD and BC. This was God coming to earth. Colossians Chapter 1 verses 15 and 16.
God was invading this world, and that’s what the growing battle is all about right now.
Many are willing to admit that Jesus was a good man, but Jesus never claimed to be a good man.
He claimed to be God. If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen God. The Scriptures bear witness to that.
The Son of God was there at creation: read the opening words in Genesis and the opening words in the Gospel of John.
John Chapter 10 Verse 30: This is the benchmark for everything we do. “I and the Father are one.”
This was God coming to earth.
God became a man – Philippians Chapter 2 verses 6 through 8 – and you cannot become smaller than a baby.
God could have revealed himself in various ways, but he entered our world in the same way that we enter this world: by birth.
God came to save us and not to scare us.
God became one of us. He was a real man, and Jesus went on to change the world, changing and transforming people, and we are still involved in that transformation.
He was born like us. He grew up like us. He grew in wisdom and stature, physically and socially.
He was tempted like us. He faced the same pressures that we face, and he did not sin.
Jesus Christ is not a distant figure.
We can’t say: God, you don’t know what it’s like to live here.
He did. He knows. He suffered as we suffer. He suffered pain – disappointment – criticism – rejection – grief – tiredness and weariness.
God made you – to love you – and He wants you to love Him too.
It was reduced to ordinary people, not a select few. He came for all of us.
He was born in a very common place and his first visitors were shepherds.
Shepherds weren’t heroes these days, they were zeros, the outcasts of society, and yet who can see Jesus first? The pastors.
Jesus came and moved into the neighborhood.
We couldn’t reach God, so God came down to reach us, you, me.
Luke Chapter 2 verse 7 – there was no room. We have to make room for Jesus.
We would like that to spread to the nation, but it has never been so, but there have been a few in all ages that have made room for Jesus.
A few months later, wise men came with frankincense and myrrh, spices to prepare bodies for death, and also gold, symbolizing their royalty.
Why did Jesus come? Jesus came for your benefit, for my benefit, so that I could have life and have it in abundance, and also to be saved from my sins and be forgiven.
Jesus came to tell us the truth. This same risen living Jesus, having been crucified, calls us to know that truth about Him and to share that truth.
“Help us, loving Father, to draw closer to you during these days. We have much to tell and share, but we need your help. We pray for courage and grace to speak and teach, in the name of Jesus. Amen.”