CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE
DR. JIM DIXON
LUKE 1:26–2:20
1978
The scripture this evening is taken from Luke’s account of the birth of our Lord Jesus. Starting with chapter one, verse 26. “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you!’ But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
“And Mary said to the angel, ‘How shall this be, since I have no husband?’ And the angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.’ And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her” (Luke 1:26-38).”
The story continues in the second chapter, the first verse, “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
“And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, ‘Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!’
“When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.’ And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they saw it they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child; and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”
May God add his blessing to this reading from his holy word. How many of you have already opened your Christmas gifts tonight? How many of you are waiting for tomorrow morning? How many of you opened your Christmas gifts sometime earlier during the week?
It’s hard to know what to buy. Barb told me to buy her nothing, but I know, of course, that she does not mean it. I was looking around for something. I found a $10 certificate at May D & F, but I am afraid to give it to her for fear that she might use it as a down deposit on a $200 item. I asked Barb if I could say that, and she said, “No.”
It’s hard to buy for our kids, too. My brother last year bought his boy a train, a battery-operated train, a battery-operated ray gun, and a battery-operated tank. His boy really liked it. He likes to build towers by stacking the batteries on top of each other. You really never know. That is the problem when you buy presents for your kids. You really never know exactly what they are going to like. We buy Heather all these expensive toys from Fisher Price and send her out into the yard. She finds a mud puddle and an old popsicle stick and has at it, It is amazing how kids seem to find things to do, and sometimes they do not include the most expensive toys that we would buy.
I am really thankful for Christmas tonight. I am really excited and look forward to tomorrow morning. I hope and pray that you are, too. Now, before we hear from God’s word, let’s have a moment of prayer. Father, thank You for Your presence in this place. Thank You for that beautiful music that could only have come from You. Speak to us now by Your Holy Spirit. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight. In Jesus name. Amen.
Many years ago in a stable in Bethlehem, God came into the world. The Creator came unto the creation. Jesus Christ was born, and that is really what Christmas is all about. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father” (John 1:14).
Yet many times, even as Christians, when we think of Christmas, we think primarily of good food or good times around the table with family and friends and loved ones. We think of Christmas trees all decorated with gifts placed under the tree. All those things are good, but Christmas has primarily to do with Jesus Christ who came into this world. The Bible gives us many explanations as to why he came. I want to share a few of those with you tonight.
First of all, the Bible tells us that Jesus was born into this world. That he came into this world to show us what God is like. The Bible says that no one “has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known” (John 1:18). The Bible tells us that the Lord Jesus reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of His nature. That in Him all the fullness of deity is pleased to dwell bodily. That He is the visible image of the invisible God.
He came to show us what God is like, and who could ever have imagined what God is like apart from Jesus Christ. Who could ever have imagined the depth of God’s love, the wonderful qualities that He possesses apart from Jesus Christ. We look at the Lord Jesus, and we see God calming the Sea of Galilee. We look at the Lord Jesus, and we see God feeding 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish. We look at the Lord Jesus, and we see God raising Lazarus from the dead. We look at the Lord Jesus, and we see God reaching out to the poor, to the blind, to the maim, to the sick. We see God willing to forgive the woman who was an adulterous. We actually see God willing to wash the disciples’ feet. Who could ever have imagined that the living God was like that?
We look at the Lord Jesus, and we see God wanting to gather little children into his arms. We see God deeply moved over the hurts and the needs of men and women. We look at the Lord Jesus, and we see God agonizing over the city of Jerusalem in the unbelief that is in the world. We look at the Lord Jesus, and we see God willing to feel and experience what we feel and experience. We see God willing to come and live among us, to be one of us and to walk with us, willing to experience what it is like to be hungry and thirsty, willing to experience what it is like to be rejected and to be lonely. We look at the Lord Jesus, and we see God willing to experience what it is like to be born and to grow up on this earth. We see God actually willing to experience what it is like to die for you and for me. No one ever could have imagined that the living God was like that.
Jesus shows us what God is like. Towards the end of his earthly life, He was sharing with the disciples. “Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me?'” (John 14:8-10a). Jesus shows us what God is like.
The Bible says that “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son (Hebrews 1:1-2a). That is what Christmas is all about. “His name shall be called Emmanuel, (which means God with us)” (Matthew 1:23).
But Jesus was not only born into this world to show us what God is like. He also came to start his church. The scriptures say, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace . . . there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it” and order it from this day fourth and forevermore” (Isaiah 9:6-7). He came to establish His kingdom. He said to Peter, “’But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.'” (Matthew 16:15-18).
Jesus came to build His church, and I marvel at the way in which our Lord went about to build His church. If we had been He, we would never have done what He did. We would have done it totally differently. He is the eternal Son of God come to earth. He had only 33 years, and he waited 30 years before he even entered into public ministry.
If it had been us and we had been the Son of God, we would have barged onto the scene as a teenager performing signs and wonders and various miracles, calling the nations unto ourselves, hoping to establish an instant church. But in His infinite wisdom, He waited for the fullness of time. At the age of thirty, He entered into three years of public ministry. Now, if we only had three years of ministry on this earth, we never would have done what he did. We would not have had time for individuals. We would have spent all of our time with the multitudes. And if we spent any time with individuals, it would have been with kings and queens, people in high places.
The mind of Christ is infinitely greater than the wisdom of men. He chose twelve simple men with big hearts through whom to build his church. He taught them how to love Him and how to love each other, how to care for each other, how to laugh together, how to live together, how to work together, how to play together, how to be the church so that when He left this earth and the Holy Spirit fell upon them, they were ready. They could look back at the times they walked with our Lord Jesus throughout Palestine. They could look back at the nights they spent with him around the fire sharing and asking questions and drawing closer to each other. They could look back at the times they went into the crowded cities to minister together. They could look back at the times they got into the boat together and went out into the Sea of Galilee to escape the crowds. They could look back and remember the times they went together into the garden of Gethsemane to pray so that they were ready to go into all the world and call men and women into the fellowship of the church. They knew what it was like.
They were the seed planted in the world. He came to build his church, and we who sit here today are testimony to the fact that that seed has borne fruit. Yet our Lord Jesus did not only come to build His church. He did not only come to show us what God is like. Undoubtedly, the greatest purpose, the greatest cause for which he came was to be the Savior of the world. He came to give His life for you and for me. The angel said to Joseph, “You shall call his name Jesus, for He will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). John, who is the disciple of our Lord Jesus, said, “You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin” (I John 3:5).
Again, in another place, John says, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). The author of Hebrews says, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage” (Hebrews 2:14-15). He came to deliver us from sin and death, to set us free from sin and death. His birth in Bethlehem was only the beginning of a pilgrimage to the cross. He knew that before he ever came into this world. When he came, he said, “the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45) The gift of forgiveness of sin. The gift of eternal life. The gift of salvation.
When I was growing up, I had many Christmases with many gifts under the tree. I am sure you did, too. At least I hope you did. My parents were always very generous to my brothers and me. They are still very generous. We had many gifts under the tree. I remember what an exciting time it was. We opened our gifts on Christmas Day in the morning. The night before my brothers and I were always very nervous. We did not want to go to sleep. We would stay up most of the night. We would get up very early and slip into the hallway and peek into the living room to see if there were any more gifts placed under the tree.
I remember I always wanted toys. I never wanted clothes. I figured that my mom and dad had to give me clothes. Why waste Christmas on clothes? I got a lot of toys. I have a lot to be thankful for over the years, for all the things the Lord has given to me through other people. But one thing that we would all agree upon and that is no matter what gifts we received, they do not do us any good unless we open them, and that is true of the gift of Christmas, too. That is true of the gift of Christ, the gift of salvation, the gift of eternal life. You must open it, and that gift is only opened through faith. It is only opened through belief.
God loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish what have everlasting life (John 3:16). If we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, and we believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved (Romans 10:9). That is the gift of Christmas. He says, Behold, I stand at the door to your heart and I knock. If anyone opens the door, I will come into him (Revelation 3:20). It is really very easy to become a Christian. You only need to humble yourself and say, “Lord Jesus, I need you. Come into my life. I want to live for you.” And He will do it. That is the promise of Christmas. That is the gift of Christmas. You might not hear bells ring or trumpets blow, but if you ask Him in, He will come in. He has promised you. It is not enough to stand back and look at the One who was born in Bethlehem. You must be willing. You must be desiring that He be born in your life, as well.
Shall we pray. Father, thank You for this wonderful night when we come together in Your name to celebrate Your birth. Thank You for Your presence with us. Thank You for Your many gifts that You have given to us—the gift of family and friends and loved ones and homes and food and all the wonderful things that You give to us. And yet, Lord, we thank You most of all for the gift of Your Son, our Lord Jesus who gave His life that we might have life, who came and walked among us that we might see what You are like, that we might love You, and that loving You, we might give ourselves to You. And that giving ourselves to You, we might become part of Your eternal church and live with You forever and ever. It is in his great name we pray. Amen.