These Illustrations are based on Matthew 1:18-25
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Sermon Opener - The Christmas Promise: God With Us - Matthew 1:18-25
G. K. Chesterton, the noted British poet and theologian, was a brilliant man who could think deep thoughts and express them well. However, he was also extremely absent-minded and over the years he became rather notorious for getting lost. He would just absolutely forget where he was supposed to be and what he was supposed to be doing. On one such occasion, he sent a telegram to his wife which carried these words: “Honey, seems I’m lost again. Presently, I am at Market Harborough. Where ought I to be?” As only a spouse could say it, she telegraphed back a one-word reply “HOME!”
This is precisely what this classic passage in the first chapter of Matthew does for us… it brings us home…
-- Home to the real meaning of Christmas
-- Home to the most magnificent truth in the entire Bible
-- Home to our Lord’s greatest promise
-- Home to the reason we celebrate Christmas
Namely this: “GOD IS WITH US!” When we accept Christ into our lives, nothing, not even death, can separate us from God and His love. It is what Christmas is about. God is with us. The great people of faith have always claimed that promise. Just think of it:
-- Moses caught between the Pharaoh and the deep Red Sea in a seemingly hopeless situation believed that God was with him and he went forward and trusted God to open a way and He did!
-- Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego went into the fiery furnace into a seemingly hopeless situation and they trusted God to be with them and He was!
-- Little David stood before Goliath. What chance could a small boy with a slingshot have against this giant of a warrior? But David believed that God was with him and it made all the difference!
Now, it’s interesting to note that when the writer of Matthew’s gospel wanted to capture the meaning of Christmas, the meaning of the Christ event, the meaning of Jesus in a single word, he did a very wise thing. He reached back into the Old Testament, pulled out an old word, dusted it off, and used it to convey the message. The word was Emmanuel…
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Joseph, When Did You Know? - Matthew 1:18-25
We are just days away from Christmas, and I hope that this season has been full of hope, joy, love and peace for you. I hope that you have had time to reflect on the promises of the Advent season, the season in which we prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus.
It’s funny that the modern Christian church spends four weeks—the season of Advent—preparing for Christ’s coming, because the first Christmas was a total surprise that sort of snuck up on everyone involved. And it’s funny that this fourth Sunday of Advent is usually thought of as the Sunday of Peace. It wasn’t very peaceful for at least one of the story’s leading figures, a humble and righteous man named Joseph.
Michael Lindvall, a Presbyterian pastor and outstanding writer, tells a story which he calls simply “The Christmas Pageant.” It is about a mythical Second Presbyterian Church in the mythical town of North Haven, Minnesota. One year, the young mothers of Second Presbyterian surprised the whole church when they decided they would not do the annual Christmas pageant in the traditional way.
Alvina Johnson had directed the church Christmas pageant for forty-seven years. In all that time, there had not been a single change to the script, which came, by the way, straight from the King James Bible. For generations, the pageant narrator had read the story of Jesus’ birth from Luke 2 in this way: “And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.”
The first step the women took in revamping the Christmas pageant was to expand the number of angels and shepherds and animals in the script so that every child could have a part. We can appreciate why they did that. All the children would be involved. Great!
On the morning of the pageant, however, the mothers decided to make one more change—one that caused a little more excitement. They decided to take the script for the pageant not from the King James Version, but from the Good News translation of the Bible so the young kids would understand it better. So there was no more quaint and beautiful language about Mary “being great with child.” As Mary and Joseph walked up the aisle of the church, the narrator read the words of the Christmas story from Luke 2 from the Good News translation which reads like this: “Joseph went to register with Mary who was promised in marriage to him. She was pregnant.”
At these words, the little boy playing Joseph stopped in his tracks, looked at Mary and said….
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His Name Says It All
Matthew doesn't want Joseph or any of us to get stuck in the dream. Matthew wants to bring us back down to earth, back to our waking reality, by invoking the name of Immanuel. Because if the Jesus, whose name was given to Joseph in a dream, is to do us any good, he'd better meet us and be with us in all those times when dreams end and when the crushing weight of a miserable world comes crashing down around our shoulders again. If he is only Jesus, the one who saves us from our sins, it would still be too easy to turn him into the one who also saves us out of the real world. But if he is Immanuel, then we realize we don't have to go anywhere to meet him other than the hurly-burly reality of our Monday mornings and our Thursday afternoons. We don't have to go find him in some other realm because he has already found us in exactly this realm and this world.
Immanuel is God-with-us in the cancer clinic and in the Alzheimer’s ward at the local nursing home. Immanuel is God-with-us when the pink slip comes and when the beloved child sneers, "I hate you!" Immanuel is God-with-us when you pack the Christmas decorations away and, with an aching heart, you realize afresh that your one son never did call over the holidays. Not once. Immanuel is God-with-us when your dear wife or mother stares at you with an Alzheimer's glaze and absently asks, "What was your name again?"
Ever and always Jesus stares straight into you with his two good eyes and he does so not only when you can smile back but most certainly also when your own eyes are full of tears. In fact, Jesus is Immanuel, "God with you" even in those times when you are so angry with God that you refuse to meet his eyes. But even when you feel like you can't look at him, he never looks away from you. He can't. His name says it all.
Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations
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God Does Not Desert Us
I find it strange that God has never deserted me. I don’t understand that kind of grace frankly. I do not deserve his eternal presence, nor do you. Yet, God has forever identified with the human dilemma. There may not be a soul in the world who truly understands your feelings. God understands. All in your life may fall away. God will never fall away.
In Tom Brokaw’s book The Greatest Generation, a story is told of Mary Wilson, presently of Dallas, Texas. You would never know by looking at this modest woman that she was the recipient of the Silver Star and she bore the nickname “The Angel of Anzio.” You will recall that when the Allies got bogged down in the boot of Italy during World War II, they attempted a daring breakout by launching an amphibious landing on the Anzio Beach. Unfortunately, the Allies got pinned down at the landing site and came dangerously close to being driven back into the ocean. It looked like another Dunkirk was in the making.
Mary Wilson was the head of the fifty-one army nurses who went ashore at Anzio. Things got so bad that bullets zipped through her tent as she assisted the surgeon in surgery. When the situation continued to deteriorate arrangements were made to get all of the nurses out. But Mary Wilson would have none of it. She refused to leave at the gravest hour. As she related her story years later, she said: “How could I possibly leave them. I was a part of them.”
Our God is a good God. He does not desert us in our hour of need. He hears the cries of Israel. He hears the cries of the church. He hears the cries of His children. Christmas is about God’s eternal identification with the human dilemma.
Staff, www.Sermons.com
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A Tough Question
When I meet with a couple in preparation for their baby's baptism, I always ask this question: Have you prepared a will and have you specified in it who would rear your child if you were removed from the picture? Young parents don't like to even think about such a possibility, but life's uncertainties make it necessary. It's a tough question. Whom do you trust enough to rear your precious child? God had to answer that question when he decided to send his son Jesus to planet earth. God had to select a mother and a stepfather for his son.
Bill Bouknight, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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Mary, Let's Go To The Barn
I love this story: A grade school class was putting on a Christmas play which included the story of Mary and Joseph coming to the inn. In that class was one little boy who wanted very much to be Joseph. But when the parts were handed out, his biggest rival was given that part, and he was assigned to be the inn keeper instead. He was really bitter about this.
So during all the rehearsals he kept plotting in his mind what he might do the night of performance to get even with his rival who was Joseph. Finally, the night of the performance, Mary and Joseph came walking across the stage. They knocked on the door of the inn, and the inn-keeper opened the door and asked them gruffly what they wanted.
Joseph answered, "We’d like to have a room for the night." Suddenly the inn-keeper threw the door open wide and said, "Great, come on in and I’ll give you the best room in the house."
For a few seconds poor little Joseph didn’t know what to do, and a long silence ensued. Finally though, thinking quickly on his feet, Joseph looked in past the inn-keeper, first to the left and then to the right and said, "No wife of mine is going to stay in a dump like this. Come on, Mary, let’s go to the barn." And once again the play was back on course.
It is obvious that Joseph cared deeply for Mary. He would not have risked his own reputation and protected hers if he did not. But his love was deeper and grounded on more than love for his bride to be. For you see he understood that obedience to God, even in the most dire of circumstances creates a life of substance and character.
Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com. Adapted from a Story by John Simmons.
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Obedience and Compassion
There is a lot of talk today about what makes Christmas. Newspaper and television advertisements coax people into believing that they can have a real Christmas by going to a festive shopping center, eating at trendy restaurants, or watching glittering "Christmas programs" on television. Others believe that Christmas is made by the fastidious keeping of time-honored family rituals, such as, sentimental ornaments on just the right tree, eating food from a menu which has been handed down from generation to generation, or by visiting the same relatives at precisely the same time on Christmas Day. Some believe that Christmas is made by purchasing a uniquely special gift for every relative, friend, and acquaintance. To be sure, all of these contribute to our cultural understanding of Christmas.
But the answer to "What makes a real Christmas?" must be found in human history. That is what Joseph did. And, in a very real sense, it was the theology of Joseph which made possible the first Christmas. If Joseph had not cooperated with God’s action in human history, the birth of Jesus would have been quite different.
The witness of Joseph calls us to cooperate with God’s work in today’s world. It calls us to respond to God’s action among us.
Joseph, not having all of the evidence and knowledge of the future, decided to do more than law and custom required. He elected to do more than was expected of him. He let justice and compassion guide his decision about his pregnant betrothed. He was pulled, not by the strength of custom, but by the law of love.
Joseph Pennel Jr., From Anticipation to Transfiguration, CSS Publishing Company, p. 34.
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Emmanuel (God with Us)
The Stunning Impact of Christmas: An old pioneer traveled westward across the great plains until he came to an abrupt halt at the edge of the Grand Canyon. He gawked at the sight before him: a vast chasm one mile down, eighteen miles across, and more than a hundred miles long! He gasped, "Something musta happened here!" A visitor to our world at Christmas time, seeing the lights, the decorations, the trees, the parades, the festivities, and the religious services, would also probably say, "Something must have happened here!" Indeed, something did happen. God came to our world on the first Christmas.
James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited, Tyndale, p. 86.
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It Is Easy for You
The great writer Max Lucado tells about his neighbor who was trying to teach his six-year-old son how to shoot a basketball. They were out in the backyard. The father shot a couple of times, saying, "Do it just like that, son; it's real easy." The little boy tried very hard but he couldn't get the ball ten feet into the air. The little fellow got more and more frustrated. Finally, after hearing his father talk about how easy it was for the tenth time, the boy said, "It's easy for you up there. You don't know how hard it is from down here."
You and I can never say that about God. When Jesus became man and lived among us, he walked where we walked, he suffered what we suffer, he was tempted as we are tempted. He was Emmanuel which means "God is with us."
Bill Bouknight, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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Problems and Obedience
Sooner or later, every one of us comes up against the rough side of life, and we have to face big problems. Dr. J. A. Hadfield, noted British psychologist, commented on this when he said, "When people run up against life and find it too much for them, one swears, one gets a headache, one gets drunk, and one prays" (J. A. Hadfield, Psychology and Morals [Robert Hadfield Co., 1935], p. 55).
When life gets hard, what do you do? Do you give up? Do you swear? Do you lash out in hostility? Do you try to find someone to blame? Do you give in to bitterness? Do you run away? Do you hide behind some illness? Do you drug yourself? Or, do you pray? Do you consider the problem prayerfully and then listen for God? That’s what Joseph did, and it worked.
What a great lesson to learn from Joseph: the art of listening! Maybe this is why Jesus went often into the wilderness alone to do some praying and listening. Perhaps he learned from father Joseph how to listen for God’s will. Joseph was big enough to listen. What a wonderful quality!
Joseph Was Big Enough to Obey
Even when it was hard to do, Joseph listened and heard God’s command. Then he had the courage to act, to obey, to do God’s will.
When I think of obedience to God, so many dramatic images flood into my mind.
-There is Job, facing pain and disaster, saying, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him!" (Job 13:15 KJV).
-There is Moses, confronting the awesome power of the Pharaoh and saying, "Let my people go!" (Exodus 5:1).
-There is the missionary Elizabeth Eliot, who went back to work with the Auca Indians after they had brutally murdered her closest loved ones. She is reported to have said that she was certain of one thing: that she must obey God.
-There is George Frederick Handel. Every time I hear the "Hallelujah Chorus," I think of how it almost didn’t get written. Handel was beset with great troubles. His health and his fortune had reached the lowest ebb. His right side had become paralyzed, and all his money was gone. His creditors seized him and threatened him with imprisonment. For a brief time, he was tempted to quit, to give up the fight; but then, like Joseph, his obedience to God welled up within him, and he rebounded to compose his greatest work, the epic Messiah, the second part of which ends majestically with the powerful "Hallelujah Chorus."
The best example of obedience is Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. In the shadow of a dark, looming, painful cross, he prayed, "Not my will, Father, but your will be done!" (Matthew 26:42, author’s paraphrase).
If love was the key quality in Jesus’ life and character, then obedience ran a close second. We are touched by his compassion and mercy and kindness, but at the center of his life was a tremendous, unswerving obedience to God’s will.
It is often said, "Like father, like son." Joseph, too, is the picture of obedience. Despite shame, uncertainty, and fear, Joseph had the courage to do what God asked him to do. Joseph was big enough to obey. What a wonderful quality!
James W. Moore, What Can We Learn From The Christ Child, Abingdon, 1977, pp. 24-26.
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ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS NOT IN OUR EMAIL
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Have a Jolly Imperfect Christmas This Year! By Leonard Sweet - Matthew 1:18-25
Some Christmas’s stay forever in our hearts and minds because they were so beautiful, so magical, so perfect.
*You got your Red Ryder BB gun or Malibu Barbie.
*The time the Christmas pageant went off without a hitch.
*The year when everyone got to come home.
*A blanket of snow on Christmas Eve draped everything in white and wonder.
But other Christmas’s are forever etched in our memories because they were so IMPERFECT.
*The year it flooded and Christmas was spent at the neighbors who lived on higher ground.
*The year no one noticed the oven turned off and the turkey ran with blood-red juice when carved.
*The year it snowed TWO FEET and a family of happy relatives became a snarling, surly captive audience for a full week.
Christmas disasters!
Maybe. Maybe not. Sometimes it may be those Christmas’s where everything seems to go wrong that we find the most authentic of our Christmas experiences, where we discover the Christ child most firmly in our midst.
The first Christmas would never make it into anyone’s family photo album of perfect holiday moments. In Luke’s gospel there are a lot of details about everything that went wrong when Jesus was born. Joseph and Mary had to hit the road for Bethlehem. There was no room at the inn. The baby was born in a barn. Some random bunch of smelly shepherds horn in on the new family.
In this week’s reading of Matthew’s gospel we learn that things were “messed up” way before Jesus was even born…
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Keep Watching, Keep Warning, Keep Chasing - Matthew 1:18-25
When you turn sixteen, what’s the most important thing in the world? Any 16-year-olds here? Anyone want to take on that question?
That’s right. Getting your driver’s license. In most states, if you are under the age of eighteen, you now need to take “Driver’s Ed” before you can qualify for a driver’s license. That means students have already had to learn all the “rules of the road,” those traffic signs and signals that foretell and forewarn about what lies ahead on the highway.
Reading the signs — those written on walls and windows, and those written upon the winds of a changing world -- is a hard-earned skill to some and a gift to others. One of the 12 tribes of Israel, the Tribe of Issachar, was known as the tribe that “knows the signs and knows what to do” (1 Chronicles 12:32). Jesus also instructed his disciples to learn how to “read the signs.” Or in his words, “You know how to read the signs of the sky. I want you to learn how to read the signs of the times” (Luke 12:56).
There have always been some people who just seem to “know” what is coming next for our future…
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An Angel Came to Joseph
We too often forget about poor Joseph. Every year, we tend to focus on the story of Mary. But this year, it's Joseph.
Now, if the angel can appear to Mary, and then also appear to Joseph, there's a lesson in that. That means that the angel can appear to you and me, too. In the Bible, the annunciation does not occur only once, but twice-not just to a woman, but also to a man.
The Bible, then, carries an implicit message that God does appear over and over again, to various sorts of folks. Matthew and Luke both have it right, but they are different stories. God continues to come into the world, but we have to trust other sources!
What are you giving for Christmas this year? I do not mean what are you getting. We all want something wonderful, I am sure. But what are you giving for Christmas?
The greatest gift you can give this year is to believe in someone's dreams. The greatest gift you can give is to have faith in someone else; believe in their dreams. Believe in the dreams of the person you love. Believe in the dream of your husband. Believe in the dream of your wife. Believe in the dreams of your children. Believe in the dream of your hero, your leader, your friend. Believe in their dreams!
Samuel G. Candler, Believe in the Dreams of the Person You Love
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Are You Ready
Are you ready? Ready to get down on your knees before the manger, ready to stoop down to the level of a child so you can have the proper perspective from which alone you can see this miracle in a manger?
In most any fast food store children now have playgrounds, two floors of tunneled mazes. They had nothing like that when I was a kid, and I'm pretty sore about it. Admittance to these tunnels depends on the ability of the child to pass the height test. They can be no taller than 48 inches. In other words, their size is their ticket.
And so, your size, too, determines whether or not you can have Christmas--and the kingdom of heaven this lowly Baby would bring you.
"Remember this!" Jesus said. "Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it" (Luke 18:17). This is the only way.
Adapted from Donald Deffner, Seasonal Illustrations, Resource Publications, p. 12.
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Virgin Birth
We call it the virgin birth, and it is one of the most incredible ideas that was ever introduced to the world. Many of us may accept the virgin birth of Jesus on the basis of biblical authority, but we do not understand it. I have a beautiful little friend in the seventh grade whose name is Kristin. She is a very bright and sensitive girl, but she does not understand everything she hears in church. (I am sure that many of us can identify with that!) One day when Kristin was in the cafeteria at school, one of her curious friends asked her, "Are you a virgin?" Well, Kristin was really on the spot because she did not know what a virgin was. But she did some quick thinking that went like this: The only virgin she had heard of was Mary, and everyone knows that Mary had a baby. Therefore, a virgin must be a woman who has had a baby.
Thus armed with that conclusion, Kristin announced loudly to her friend in the cafeteria, "No! I am not a virgin!" As several people nearby registered their shock, one little boy leaned over and whispered in her ear: "Kristin, I don’t think you know what you are talking about!"
Many of us, adults included, do not know what we are talking about when we are tasking about the virgin birth, but as I understand it, the virgin birth means that Jesus came from God. He is God’s Son. The emphasis is not primarily on Mary, but on the creative life-giving power of Almighty God. As Reginald H. Fuller, the theologian, expresses it, Jesus is not the product of human evolution, the highest achievement of the human race, but he is the product of the intervention of a transcendent God into human history.
John Thomas Randolph, The Best Gift, CSS Publishing Company, pp. 24-25.
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Humor: Bad or Good
In a syndicated newspaper cartoon, Santa Claus is pictured at his work bench putting a new toy together. From his nearby TV set, he hears a reporter saying, "We continue our look at the real meaning of Christmas – sales indicators. Consumers have dramatically cut back their borrowing which could slow the economy, but which might be a healthy development after their earlier borrowing which boosted the economy but added to concerns of low savings and over stimulation, but could result in sluggish sales leading into the all-important Christmas sales period."
Whereupon, Santa looks up and says to himself, "It used to be a lot easier to know if they've been bad or good."
Leonard Sweet, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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The Meaning of Christmas
A television interviewer was walking the streets of Tokyo at Christmas time. Much as in America, Christmas shopping is a big commercial success in Japan. The interviewer stopped one young women on the sidewalk, and asked, "What is the meaning of Christmas?"
Laughing, she responded, "I don't know. Is that the day that Jesus died?" There was some truth in her answer.
Donald L. Deffner, Seasonal Illustrations, Resource, p. 16.
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Impossible Is Nothing
One of the most popular college religion texts, Phil Zuckermann’s Invitation to the Sociology of Religion (2003) says that the truth claims of religion are “mind-boggling, implausible,” “fantastical,” “manifestly unbelievable.”
I say: Now you’re talking, Dr. Zuckermann. For the very category of “impossible” is God’s category. The impossible is the very definition of God. So if you tell me, the truth claims of Jesus are “impossible,” I say...Hallelujah! It’s only when you cross the border from the possible to the impossible that you’re in God’s territory. Faith does NOT stand to reason.
Or to quote Adidas, who stole one of our lines like the t-shirt company “No Fear” stole another one (and owes Christianity massive royalty payments): “Impossible is Nothing.”
You tell me -----the incarnation is “impossible.”
I say: Impossible is nothing. For “impossible” is the canon of faith, not the category of logic. It’s the “madness of the impossible.”
Leonard Sweet, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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Santa Claus
In some lands it is the Christ Child who is believed to distribute gifts and blessings, although the name Kris Kringle, a popular variation of the German word "Christkindel"—which means "Christ Child"—is now commonly associated with Santa Claus.
The real prototype of the modern Santa was a fourth-century bishop of Myra in Asia Minor, St. Nicholas. Little historical information concerning him has been preserved, yet about his name has clung a wonderful world of lore and tradition. Legend tells us that he was a young man of considerable wealth who gave himself to the work of the Lord and generously bestowed his worldly goods upon those whose needs were greater than his own. Usually he preferred to receive no credit for his benevolences, desiring rather to make his visits to the homes of the poor and unfortunate under the cloak of darkness so that no one would know who he was.
This venerated man, we are further told, suffered tortures and imprisonment when the Emperor Diocletian was striving ruthlessly to destroy the Christian faith. During the reign of the Christian emperor, Constantine the Great, St. Nicholas was released, and he later is said to have attended the important Council of Nicaea.
St. Nicholas has long been associated particularly with the interests of scholars, mariners, and especially children. He is the patron saint of Greece and Russia. Centuries ago, December 6 was designated as the day when he should be honored. The proximity of his day to the birthday of our Lord made him an obvious representative of the charitable character of Christmas. In colonial America the Dutch name Sant Nikolaas was mispronounced as Santa Claus. It is by this name that St. Nicholas is best remembered.
Charles L. Allen and Charles L. Wallis, Christmas, Fleming H. Revell Company, pp. 90-91.
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The Saving Power of a Baby
Harry Emerson Fosdick told the story of General Pickett’s baby. It was during the last slaughterous days of the Civil War when the Confederates locked horns with the Union soldiers outside of Richmond. It was the cruelest time of the whole war. Then one night the Confederate lines were lighted with bonfires, and the Union guards discovered that the Southern troops were celebrating General Pickett’s newborn baby, word of whose arrival had just reached the army. General Grant was so moved by the event that he ordered the Union lines to help the Confederates celebrate the birth of Pickett’s baby by lighting up the scene with additional bonfires. The next day Grant’s officers sent a graceful letter through the lines under a flag of truce, communicating to General Pickett the congratulations of his enemies!
Isn’t that incredible?
For a moment, at least, the insanity and slaughter of war stopped, and good will and peace prevailed — and it was all because of a baby! We cannot hear that story and not think of the baby who was born in Bethlehem. "His name will be called Jesus," announced the angel, "for he will save his people from their sins." We cannot draw closer to the Christ-child without also drawing closer to God, his Father, and as we draw closer to God, our sinfulness decreases and the spirit of peace and goodwill toward others and God increases.
John Thomas Randolph, The Best Gift, CSS Publishing Company, pp. 26.
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What Is the Answer?
Perhaps you have heard the one about the attractive young woman who boarded a plane in Los Angeles heading toward New York. The young woman was tired. She knew it would be a long flight, so immediately she asked the flight attendant for a pillow and a blanket. She hoped to be able to sleep most of the way to New York.
Her head had just nestled into the pillow when an obnoxious man with a loud, booming voice boarded the plane… and sat down beside her. He tapped her on the shoulder and said, “Hi there. It’s going to be a long flight, so to pass the time, would you like to play a fun game?” Politely, she declined and rolled over toward the window to take a nap. However, the obnoxious man persisted saying the game is really easy and lots of fun. He explained how the game works: “I ask you a question and if you don’t know the answer, you pay me, and visa-versa.” Again, she politely declined and settled into her pillow. The chauvinistic man figured that since she was an attractive young woman (and blonde at that) he would easily win the math, so arrogantly he made another offer. “Okay, how about this? If you don’t know the answer, you pay me only $5.00, but if I don’t know the answer, I will pay you $500.00.” This caught the young woman’s attention and she figured that there would be no end to this moment unless she played, so finally she agreed to play the game.
The man asked the first question. “What’s the distance from the earth to the moon?” The young woman didn’t say a word. She just reached into her purse, pulled out a five-dollar bill and handed it to the man. “O.K., O.K,” the man said. “Now it’s your turn. Ask me a question, any question.” She said, “What goes up the hill with three legs and comes down with four?” The man looked at her with a puzzled expression. But then he grabbed his laptop computer and searched all his references. No luck! Next, he tapped into the Airphone with his modem and searched the net, and even the Library of Congress. No luck! Frustrated, he sends E-mails to all his co-workers and friends. All to no avail.
After an hour or more of searching for the answer he finally gave up… he tapped the young woman on the shoulder to wake her up… and he handed her the $500.00. Politely, she took the money, put it in her purse and turned away and nestled back into her pillow.
“Wait a minute,” said the man. “What is the answer?” Again, without a word, the young woman reached into her purse, handed him $5.00, and went back to sleep!
Now, that’s what you call “rising to the occasion”… and that is precisely what we see Joseph doing in our scripture lesson for today. With the help of God, Joseph rises to a most difficult occasion.
James W. Moore, Collected Sermons, eSermons.com
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Don’t Forget Joseph
As you arrange the Nativity scene on your coffee table or on your fireplace mantle or underneath your Christmas tree – wherever you place it – put the Wise Men and the shepherds around the Christ child, for there is the center of sanity in a large, crazy world. But don’t forget Joseph. Put him even nearer to the Christ child. He’s earned his place there. Because Joseph – the forgotten one, who just sort of hangs around the stable like a doorman or something and doesn’t have any lines in the Christmas pageant – has much to teach us about the Christmas story, and about unwavering faith.
Johnny Dean, Staff
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The Central Truth: God Became Human
According to a recent book, The Agony of Deceit, published by Moody Bible Institute, the doctrine of the incarnation is distorted into heresy by some televangelists. One claims, "I am a little god." Another preaches, "Man was designed or created by God to be the god of this world." A third says, "You don't have a god in you. You are one!" Still another, "You are as much an incarnation of God as is Jesus of Nazareth." Years ago the truth of the incarnation was written by Emil Brunner, "The central truth of the Christian faith is this: that the eternal Son of God took upon himself our humanity." It is not that we humans have become God, but that God became human in Jesus. And that took a miracle which is related in today's Gospel lesson: Matthew 1:18-25.
John R. Brokhoff, Preaching the Miracles, CSS Publishing Company
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A Revealing Reflection
In Rome's Barberini Palace there is a great painting by Guido Reni. It is a masterpiece showing the chariot of the sun coming through the clouds, horses and clouds, and darkness and light. The painting is very difficult to see because it is on a ceiling. The problem has been overcome by placing a long table with a mirror top underneath the painting. The mirror reflects exactly the painting on the ceiling. People gather around the table and look into the mirror to see the painting. Jesus is the mirror who perfectly reflects and reveals God the Father.
John R. Brokhoff, Preaching the Miracles, CSS Publishing Company
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God’s Toughest Job
Dr. Al Lindgren of Garrett Seminary tells of taking his junior high school son fishing. While waiting for the fish to bite, they got to talking. The son asked, "Dad, what was the toughest thing God ever tried to do?" His father answered with a question, teacher style! His father asked, "What do you think was the toughest job God tried to do?"
The son replied, "In science class, I thought that creation was God's toughest job. Later in Sunday School we were talking about miracles and I thought that maybe the resurrection was the toughest. But then I got to thinking. No one really knows God real well. Now I think the toughest thing God ever tried to do is to get us to understand who he is and that he loves us." His dad responded, "You're right, son. And it took God's Son to do it."
John R. Brokhoff, Preaching the Miracles, CSS Publishing Company
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A Christian Christmas?
When you think about Christmas, what comes to your mind? Most, if not all, of us have celebrated Christmas in the traditional fashion since we were born. From my earliest memories, Christmas was presents, presents, and more presents. I can remember my brother and I staying up all night waiting for the appointed hour when we could rush to the living room and open our presents. One year my brother and I figured up the dollar amount of all of our gifts to see if our parents had spent the same amount on both of us. Laurie was very young then and we didn't care what she got. In my memory, Christmas is opening a lot of gifts and spending the day playing with them. Thoughts of Christmas bring different things to the minds of different people. Many things are associated with Christmas: lights, trees, presents, food, Santa Clause, family gatherings, and sometimes even the birth of Christ.
How much of Christmas is Christian? We associate it with the birth of Christ, and in some way see it as a celebration of His birth, but does it honor His birth? Is there really anything Christian about Christmas?
David B. Curtis, Emmanuel – God with Us
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What to Give Jesus
There was a Director of Christian Education at a church who organized a Children's Christmas pageant. She let the children decide what gifts they'd give the baby Jesus in the pageant. Some wanted to give him stuffed animals. Others wanted to give him toys. One little girl named Sally had several conversations with the Director before she admitted what she wanted to give the baby Jesus. Finally the Director asked, "Sally, what do you want to give Jesus?"
"Oh, I'm too embarrassed," said Sally. "I shouldn't tell you."
"That's O. K. What is it?"
"A kiss," she said. And the night of the pageant, that is what she gave him. All the other angels brought their gifts of toys and animals. But Sally bent over the manger and gave the little baby a kiss.
A loving sigh went up from the congregation as they watched. Sally knew the secret of giving. And she gave the baby Jesus exactly what God was giving us when God gave us Jesus in the Cradle, something that matters, something that summed up God's Hopes and Dreams, something from the heart.
That's what God gave, something from the heart. God gave us Himself, when He gave us His Son.
Billy D. Strayhorn, From the Pulpit, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
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The Christ Child
In 1979 a Roman Catholic nun, Mother Teresa, was given the Nobel Peace Prize. Most of her adult life was spent ministering to the poor and diseased in Calcutta, India. She accepted the prize with the comment, "I am unworthy." The humble person receives at Christmas the greatest prize of Christ and responds likewise, "I am unworthy." Our humble God comes to humble people like the shepherds who know they are outcasts because of their sins. It is a paradox that the best people consider themselves the worst sinners. The greatest leader of Israel, Moses, was told by God at the burning bush to remove his sandals for he was on holy ground. His sandals represented his sinfulness. The great prophet, Isaiah, confessed, "I am a man of unclean lips." The great Christian, Paul, confessed that he was "chief of sinners."
When the funeral cortege of Charlemagne came to the cathedral, they were shocked to find the gate barred by the bishop. "Who comes?" shouted the bishop. The heralds answered, "Charlemagne, Lord and King of the Holy Roman Empire!" Answering for God, the bishop replied, "Him I know not! Who comes?" The heralds, a bit shaken, answered, "Charles the Great, a good and honest man of the earth!" Again the bishop answered, "Him I know not. Who comes?" Now completely crushed, the heralds say, "Charles, a lowly sinner, who begs the gift of Christ." "Him I know," the bishop replied. "Enter! Receive Christ's gift of life!" It is only when in humility we see ourselves as nothing that God can create something out of nothing. When we stop and think that God in Christ loves us by coming to earth to make us good, we are overwhelmed with gratitude.
John and Barbara Brokhoff, There's Always Hope, CSS Publishing Company
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Ordinary Tasks
Like most people today, Joseph and Mary spent most of their lives just going about the ordinary tasks of keeping themselves and their families clean, fed, and alive with a roof over their heads. They didn't travel hundreds of miles planting churches. As far as we know, they never left Israel. They didn't preach fiery sermons in which thousands of people were saved. As far as we know, they never preached at all. They didn't write any great letters or gospels to encourage other Christians, except that Mary did write one really great song. They didn't lead the nation; they didn't guide the military in victory over the nation's enemies. As far as we know, they held no political office at all. They were just plain folk.
There are just two things that lift these ordinary people out of the ordinary. And both of these things that lifted them out of the ordinary are available to you and me too. Joseph and Mary were called by God, and they were faithful to God.
Mark Stephenson, Joseph: the Holiness Stream
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Sermon Opener: For He Shall Save His People
I have a Christmas dilemma. When I was a kid there was no Christmas dilemma. You filled out your wish list and you waited for Santa to fulfill it on the 25th. That was pretty awesome. The rest of the year didn’t work like that so it made Christmas a strange and wonderful time. But you know what happens… Slowly the tables get turned on you until one day you’re being handed the wish list. Such is life!
This is when the dilemma enters in too. Not for everyone. There are still some sad sacks out there who are 40 years old still filling out their wish list like their 4. But for those who are keenly aware and can read between the lines, you will take note that when the Angel meets the shepherds out abiding their fields he says, “Peace good will toward men.” That’s well and good and fits my four year old concept of Christmas. But the second part of the verse never gets quoted. Our culture curiously ignores its presence. Here is the whole verse: Peace, good will toward with men, with whom he is pleased.”
What does that mean? It makes me want to run and hide more that it makes want to sing Jingle Bells. Look at our text in Matthew 1:21. The same strange thing occurs. The angel tells Joseph, Don’t be afraid to take Mary 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…” Sounds like the Christmas we all know. But then there’s the matter of another unfinished verse which ends, “You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
That’s the dilemma. That baby is the greatest gift ever given. But it’s as if someone handed you a beautifully wrapped gift and said, John, I am giving you this because I love you. And when you open it it’s a copy of Alcoholics Anonymous, or When Bad Things Happen To Good People, or a new copy of Miss Manners. You can’t miss the message that someone is trying to tell you something. Christmas tells me that God has launched a great rescue mission. That is the message that is presented in the Advent story over and over again. In fact, the name Jesus (which is, of course Greek because the New Testament was written in Greek) is the Hebrew equivalent of Joshua, which translated means: The Lord will save.
The Advent message says to us that in the midst of our depressions, our fears, the mundane of living, a rescuer is coming because we need rescuing. The church teaches that sin is like quicksand. You know what happens when you get stuck in quicksand and try to get yourself out. You only end up getting in deeper and deeper. The Unitarian church affirms that man is capable. If he is just shown the right way and is properly motivated he will do what is right. The Christian church says just the opposite. It says that man is not capable of extricating himself from the messes that he gets into. He is in need of a rescuer, and that is precisely what God has given us in the person of Jesus. Someone to save us. And the price of the rescue mission is a costly one. Blood is shed. Christ who was born in Bethlehem was also born to die. That is why one of the gifts that the wise men bring the Christ child is the gift of Myrrh. It was an embalming agent. It is to remind us always that the child was sent to die.
But the great tragedy is that after this costly rescue mission has been launched, so often our response to it is thanks but no thanks. We don’t want to be rescued. We did not ask for a rescuer and we do not want one. That is the dilemma that we find ourselves in. God has sent us a Savior, and there are a whole lot of people who don’t want to be saved.
Well, you say, how ridiculous. Everyone wants to be saved. On an intellectual basis, perhaps, but on an emotional basis where decisions are really made ( and I am convinced that most of our decisions in life are emotional ones and not intellectual ones—I think studies prove this). I am not so sure that we do want salvation. Indeed, I think that we even resist salvation. Oh, it is true that we sing songs in church like Rescue The Perishing but the problem is that we usually don’t have us in mind when we sing it. We have someone else in mind. Who of us wants to be counted among the fallen, the erring, the perishing. We rebel at the thought of being snatched in pity from sin. That is the truth of the matter. This morning I would like for us to look at several reasons why we reject this great rescue mission that God had given to us. We reject it because...
1. We have a misconception of what salvation really means.
2. We believe we can save themselves through their own cleverness.
3. We are uncomfortable with the Biblical image of power--power through vulnerability.
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Historical Data about Christmas
What did December 25 originally celebrate?
For some time before the coming of Christianity, December 25 was a time of pagan celebration. The pagans knew that at this point in their calendar the shortest day and longest night had passed, that little by little the sun would rise higher and remain longer in the sky, bringing with it the promise of spring.
Prior to this day occurred the week-long Roman feast called Saturnalia (December 17-24), held in honor of the deity Saturn. This festival brought hopes for peace, happiness, and goodness that supposedly occurred during Saturn's reign.
How did December 25 gain its Christian emphasis? For more than 300 years after Jesus' time, Christians celebrated His resurrection but not His birth. Evidently, sometime during the early fourth century, Christians began searching for the proper day to celebrate Christ's birth.
Some churches had been celebrating Jesus' birth on January 6, others April 20, May 20, March 29, and September 29. Finally so much confusion reigned that Saint Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, about the middle of the fourth century, inquired of the Roman bishop, Julius, regarding the correct date.
Julius wrote Cyril and reported that he personally favored December 25. Obviously refusing to accept this date as valid, Cyril and the Jerusalem church continued celebrating the event for many years on January 6.
In A.D. 354, two years following the end of Saint Julius' reign, the new Roman bishop, Liberius, ordered all his people to celebrate December 25 as the correct day of Christ's birth.
With the passage of time this date became the more popular and was soon adopted by most of Christendom.
Adrian Dieleman
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Sermon Intro
Historically, Joseph is much less significant than Mary. But it is interesting to me to see that modern Christmases now emphasize the role of men perhaps more than the role of women. Fathers play a more significant role than mothers. This is the season when fathers, in their role as providers for their families, give gifts. The figures that are popular in our contemporary culture are Father Christmas in Europe and Santa Claus in this country. We sing of God’s rest to merry gentlemen and good King Wenceslas. Annually we hear the account of Ebenezer Scrooge being transformed from a hardhearted miser into someone who appreciates the spirit of the season. All of the main figures in our contemporary celebration of Christmas are men. Since our modern thinking gives men a significant place in this season as providers for those they love, it may be helpful for us to consider what Christmas meant to Joseph. What part did he play in the story?
Steve Zeisler, The Carpenter’s Son
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Facing Your Fear
One time there was a rancher named Lexy, in Montana, who was having trouble with Coyotes killing her sheep. She used electric fences, odor sprays and even tried placing battery-operated radios near them. She tried corralling them at night and herding them by day. Nothing worked and in one year she lost over fifty of her sheep. Finally Lexy purchased some llamas, aggressive, funny looking animals which mostly dwell in South America. She put them in with the sheep and they grazed alongside them.
Llamas are fearless. They aren’t afraid of anything. When they see something, they put their heads up and walk straight toward the source that is attempting to frighten them. The coyotes wouldn’t have anything to do with the llamas so therefore the sheep were spared. What is scarring us can also be overcome when we face our fears with determination and courage.
Keith Wagner, Good News for those Who Fear