The Apologetics of Christmas

 

This morning we are doing the apologetics of Christmas.  We are going to explore how the birth of Jesus is an amazing argument for the existence of God.  Throughout this year we have been looking for the reason for our hope.  Is there a greater reason for hope than the incarnation; God becoming human?  The birth of Jesus brings hope.  The birth of Jesus brings faith.  The birth of Jesus demonstrates there is a God.  This morning I will advocate that the "story" of Jesus, itself, confirms that we serve a mysterious God.

 

The thing about God is that he does what God wants to do.  He rarely does what we expect him to do.  He has his own style.  God moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform.  Do you know what I am talking about?  When you look back on your life and you have that 20/20 vision, you have those ah ha moments, "Wow, that was what God was doing."  I can see his handwriting all over my life.  That is what we are going to do this morning.  We are going to look back on the Christmas story to identify the unique handwriting of God… all over it. 

 

Let's begin looking way back; before time.  Let's go back to the very beginning of the idea of incarnation. 

 

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1 Peter 1:18-21 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.  He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.  Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

 

There was a plan hatched in the mind of God before there was any time on earth.  God conceived of the incarnation before the creation of the world.  God knew what he was going to do before there was any Big Bang or whatever.  This plan involved our redemption by the death of the perfect Lamb of God.  Because of this plan, we believe in God and have hope!  Wow!  While the universe was just a gleam in the eye of God, the plan was in place for Jesus…

 

Philippians 2:6-8  Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped (held on to), but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!

 

The plan was for Jesus, who is one with God, to humble himself and become one of us. 

 

Doesn't this look like the handwriting of God?  Who but God could even conceive of such a notion?  Every part of this plan rings of God:

-God becoming one of us.  Could we have ever thought of such a thing?  We can't even get our heads around what the idea of Trinity even means.  And one of those Three then became one of us.  What does that even mean?  We can figure it, much less have come up with it.

-Jesus came to this earth with the notion of death, death on the cross, death on the cross for our forgiveness.  Why?  We want to earn our salvation.  All manmade religions seek to find God, but that is not the plan.  In God's plan, He came to find us.

 

That is, to me, proof positive there is a God.  We believe we have to do something to find God.  We would never have come up with God seeking us.  Go through all the worldly religions you can think of… Buddhism,  Hinduism, Islamic, whatever; all manmade religions seek to find God through our accomplishments.  But in pure Christianity, we don't DO something to find God; he came to this earth to find us.  This whole crazy idea of the incarnation has God's handwriting all over it!  

 

Let's move forward with His plan.

 

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Matthew 1:18-25 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.  But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."  All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:  "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"--which means, "God with us."  When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.  But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son.  And he gave him the name Jesus.

 

Before the creation of the world God had made the decision to become one of us.  So, how was he going to do this? 

-He could have appeared on the top of a mountain and poof became man. 

-He could have appeared in the Temple on top of the Ark of the Covenant as the smoke of his glory and the smoke could have formed into one of us.  That would have been really cool. 

-He could have done the Adam trick again and been formed from the dust of the ground. 

 

But God chose to come through the birth canal of a virgin named Mary.  "What?  You are going to do what?"  Surely, there was more spectacular ways to do it then the way all the rest of us have done it.  God entered the world the same way we enter the world.  Well, except for the virgin part.  He humbled himself and took on the nature of a man by being born into the world.

 

God's handwriting?  "Let's do the ordinary way."

 

It gets even stranger the further you go in the story.

 

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Luke 2:4-7  So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.  He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.  While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 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 inn.

Let's not glamorize this by calling it a manger. "Ow, it's a manger."  Jesus was born in feeding trough.  "What?  If you are going to be born into this world, just like all the rest of us, at least pick a nice place to do it." 

 

For example, the Baylor Medical Birthing Center.  That was a very nice place to have a baby.  They have all the right doctors and nurses.  They have all the coolest equipment.  It was good enough for Taylor Jo.  Why not Jesus?  Instead Jesus was born in a barn. 

 

Why such a terrible place to be born?  There may be a theme here. 

-God humbled himself to become a man.

-He was born in the ordinary way, just like the rest of us.

-Jesus was born in a barn.

 

That is God's plan.  His handwriting almost always is the opposite of what we would expect.  In the birth of Jesus there is a symbolism thing going on here, which has to do with being humble.  Sure sounds like a God thing to me. 

 

And then, who are the first people notified that the Savior of the World; the Christ; the Lord of all, is born into the world?  Who gets told first?

 

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Luke 2:8-16  And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."  Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."  So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.

 

Why shepherds?  We kind of glorify these shepherds.  They are in all the nativities.  But it was a lousy job.  Shepherds were some of the poorest of the day.  These guys were out in the fields in the middle of night watching the sheep.  I got to think that is a pretty boring job.  They watch the grass grow.  Then they watch the sheep eat it. 

  

But that is the plan; it is all about doing it God's way.

 

Jesus would later say, "Many who are first will be last, and the last first."

 

God's mysterious plan, to save the world, is all about the first being last and the last being first; which is not the way we think. It is not the way we would have written the Christmas story.  I see God's handwriting all over it.    

 

Let's look at the next part of the story and see God's plan continuing.

 

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Somewhere about two years later, after the birth, the wise men show up.  What are they thinking about the birth of the new king of the Jews?  They were thinking what you and I would be thinking; the king of the Jews would be born in the house of a king.  So, they show up at King Herod's palace.  These magi are looking for the new king.  They discover the same mysterious reality we have been uncovering; this king of the Jews was born in a barn in Bethlehem to a couple of peasants.

 

Matthew 2:10-11 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.

 

Here are a couple of observations about how God works:

-God's plan, which was conceived before creations, was for all the peoples of the earth to be blessed by his Son.  The incarnation is about saving the whole world.  These wise guys are, most likely, Persian astrologers.  What?  God surely wouldn't use them?  But God did!  His plan was for the whole world.  Once again, that is not the way we think.  Persia is Iran today.  Do we want the Iranians to have anything to do with our baby Jesus?  God did.

-God works in weird ways.  Why a star?  Why not just tell them were the baby was.  Like he told the shepherds; look for the baby in the barn in Bethlehem.  Instead he uses this strange star to guide them to the place.  How weird is that?

-God knows that King Herod is going to be jealous.  King Herod the Great actually killed members of his own family to keep them from taking over his throne.  He is not going to hesitate to eliminate some random baby in Bethlehem.  How does God protect his Son?  God could have just zapped King Herod, like he did one of King Herod's descendants.  Remember who? 

 

Acts 12:23  Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

 

God had a more elaborate plan in mind for Herod the Great.

 

Matthew 2:13-15  When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."  So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt,  where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."

 

Here is the interesting part.  How could the peasant poor Joseph and Mary survive in Egypt for a couple of years?  Someone just gave them a pot of gold, incense and of myrrh.  Isn't that way cooler than zapping Herod?  Then Matthew can say, "Just like the children of Israel came out of Egypt, the new Moses came out of Egypt as well!"  Doesn't that read like a story God wrote?  The handwriting of God is all over this story. 

 

What do we take away from the Christmas story?  What are the apologetics of Christmas?

 

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-God had a plan.  His plan was to send one of the Three, of them, to earth to save it.  He did it in a way that was way different from anything we as humans would ever have thought of. 

-God becoming human; inconceivable.

-God being born in an ordinary way; what?

-God being born to a couple of peasants in a barn: why in the world?

-God sending birth announcements to bored shepherds; unbelievable.

-God bringing pagan Iranians to give them money so they could escape a jealously insane King; unimaginable.

 

The story of the birth of Jesus proves there is a God.  It is unlikely we could, would ever, have made up such a crazy story. 

 

So, this year, as you are putting up your Christmas tree, playing dirty Santa or roasting chestnuts on an open fire, whatever you do to celebrate Christmas, I want you to occasionally think this thought:

 

The Christmas story has God's handwriting, all over it, just like the story of your life has God's handwriting all over it.

 

Los Alamos Church of Christ

December 5, 2010