The Greatest Kind of Christmas is Still the Simplest
Luke 1 & 2
Dec 22, 2019 AM
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
Bible Baptist Church, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland
I. Introduction (Luke 2:1-7)
A. Sometimes, we make things so hard – so complicated – so overworked
B. Especially at Christmas time!
1. So much cooking
2. So many expensive and unnecessary gifts
3. So much planning
4. Trying to take care of so many details to keep everyone happy
C. Not that we shouldn’t do some special cooking, and buy some gifts and give them
D. But Christmas is SUPPOSED to be simple – like it was 2019 years ago
E. It doesn’t matter that that first Christmas is so out of step, so irrelevant to people today – so different. You do realise that Christmas is NOT what you see going on today?! (The movies, the alcohol, the money, the stress, the shopping, the piles of gifts)
F. Christmas should be much simpler, and I believe, it is always much better, when we experience it the way we find it in the Bible!
II. Message - Christmas Only Needs to be Simple to be Enjoyed…
A. A Great Christmas is Full of Surprises and Wonder (Luke 1:5-13; 26-34)
1. Christmas today is far too predictable
a. Children get what they ask for – not many surprises on Christmas morning
b. And when people DON’T get what they wanted, they are upset! Shame
c. Some people can’t stand not knowing what they are getting – they have to go snooping around the house trying to find their gift before Christmas day!
2. But SURPRISES are what Christmas is all about
a. Not expensive surprises – like a traip to Australia
b. But the miraculous ones – answers to prayer
3. Surprise! Zacharias… you are going to be a Daddy! (Luke 1:5-13)
a. Didn’t expect THAT, did you now ol Zechy?
b. But God heard your prayers a long time ago, and was answering them when you least expected it! AMEN
4. Surprise! Mary… you are going to be a Mommy (Luke 1:26-34)
5. Surprise! Joseph… you are NOT going to be the daddy! God is, and it will be okay!
6. Surprise! Shepherds, a baby will be laying in one of your feeding troughs (Luke 2:12) and that baby will be the Shepherd of men’s souls!
7. Surprise! Mary and Joseph, ALL the gifts will be gifts FOR Jesus (Matthew 2:11)
8. But surprise of surprise… THE GREATEST GIFT was that baby in a manger
a. 1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
a. Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
9. Unfortunately, God doesn’t seem to surprise people anymore
a. A simple Christmas is Ho hum – nothing to it unless there are loads of expensive things under the tree, more lights, more excitements than last year
b. But the truth is, Christmas should be a big surprise to us all
1) Surprise, God hasn’t forgotten you – He came HERE for you
2) Surprise, God knows all about you – And yet He still came for you
3) Surprise, God actually wants you – YOU are what He wants for Christmas!
10. Why not YOU surprise someone this Christmas with love, and kind words, and some of your time, and the gift of just your undivided attention?
B. Full of Faith (Luke 1:18-20) – Not Doubting!
1. This is not “a story” we are reading
a. Like Hansel and Grettle
b. Or like the Three Little Pigs
c. Or like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
2. The pages of the Bible are HISTORY – it records actually what happened in a little town called Bethlehem 2019 years ago
a. God had written about it 4,000 years earlier in Genesis 3, and Numbers 24, and Deuteronomy 18, and Ruth, and Job, and Psalms, and Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, and Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Micah, and Jonah, and Malachi!
b. And God promised to come into the world to save the whole world Himself in Genesis 22 “God will provide himself a lamb…”
c. You have got to believe it, and receive it for it to work though
3. Zacharias obviously was SCEPTICAL of such a miracle as his old wife having a baby – but he was sceptical to a fault – too sceptical
a. He refused to believe – and it cost him his voice for the next 9 months
b. Thank God, that God went ahead and did the miracle anyway and gave his wife a son named John the Baptist!
4. So, the important thing for us to do is…
5. Believe God’s words as He wrote them – he spoke them to US for us to trust in
6. Zacharias finally believed God’s words! (Luke 1:67-73)
a. Luke 1:67-73 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied [AGREED WITH ALL GOD’S PROMISES], saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham.
b. One day you WILL believe this Book and all its promises
c. But if you wait too long, you will for sure miss the wonders of Christmas, and maybe miss heaven altogether
d. Rom 10:9,10 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
7. What are YOU struggling with?
8. Just believe God dear Christian! Believe that what HE says can be trusted!
9. Count on God’s promises for today
a. No matter how hard it is to believe them (Luke 1:34-38)
b. No matter how far away you have gotten from God
c. God made promises to just you
1) To save you from your sins (Matt 1:21)
2) And then to be with you always
3) To never leave you or forsake you
4) To never stop loving you – even when chastening, and correcting you
5) To carry you through every valley and heartache
6) To be your strength when you are weak
7) And when you die, to come and get you and take you with Him home to heaven
C. A Great Christmas is Full of Family more than it is full of THINGS
1. I don’t know if you noticed it, but…
a. The entire Christmas story is all about family
b. Not about being all alone, but having family around and being with them
c. No matter how messed up they are!
2. We will find loads of different kinds of families at the First Christmas
3. Broken families (Luke 1:15-17)
a. One of the purposes of the birth of John the Baptist was to help broken families
b. All over the world, there are broken families – with children and parents at odds
c. That first Christmas started to heal broken homes
d. Christmas today is supposed to bring stubborn and broken hearts back home!
4. Unfulfilled families like Zacharias and Elizabeth (Luke 1:7,13,14)
a. Couldn’t have children – no matter how hard they tried
b. Always felt incomplete without a child in their home
c. Yet, that very first Christmas, Zacharias and Elizabeth were going to be holding a baby! Baby John!
d. They were going to be a family like they so wanted to be
e. And it was Christmas that brought them together
5. Unprepared families (Luke 1:30,31,34,35)
a. Like Mary and Joseph were
b. Probably had looked forward in time to having children
c. But even before they came together in marriage, Mary was already pregnant by the Holy Ghost, and had to start preparing for a baby coming into their home
d. But Christmas was going to be worth it
6. But these were all families, none-the-less
a. These were husbands and wives
b. And cousins and babies
c. And New Babies being born
d. And crowded houses and hotels and inns with all the people
7. Make sure you get together with as much of your family as possible – THAT is what Christmas is
a. Because Jesus said, except YE be converted and become as little children, you will miss the entire meaning of Christmas yourself!
8. And get together with as much of your CHRISTIAN family as possible too!
9. Be back tonight for our Christmas Carol Service
10. And Wednesday morning from 11-Noon, right here
D. A Simple Christmas is Spiritual
1. It was a holy time. Pure, clean – not soiled with what the world thinks of X-mas
a. No drink anywhere to be found that first Christmas
b. No all night shopping
c. No fights or arguments going on
2. Just a small family gathered around a newborn baby in absolute awe
3. They had nothing – far from home, unwelcomed, unable to do anything that WE might think is necessary to have a great Christmas
4. Everything was just SPIRITUAL, and that made it special
a. Set apart from everything else that was going on at that day – the taxation, the economy, the politics of the day
b. Everything being celebrated and enjoyed that day was of God
c. Not presents and trees and batteries and wifi and movies and food
d. Everything was from a whole other world
5. Not religious, but focusing on the Holy Spirit
a. No priests were there, no Pharisees, no religious leaders of any kind
b. Just believers, who were filled with the Holy Spirit of God!
c. Luke 1:15 For he [JOHN] shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.
d. Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her [MARY], The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
e. Luke 1:41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:
f. Luke 1:67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,
g. Luke 2:23 (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)
h. Luke 2:25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
6. Christmas 2019 should be the same
a. With all of God’s people seeking to be full of the Holy Spirit of God (Eph 5:18) And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit
b. Full of the joy of the Lord
c. Full of love for Jesus - the desire of all nations!
d. Full of thankfulness for every gift God has already given you and me!
e. We don’t need more STUFF – more THINGS – more TOYS
f. We need more of God!
E. A Simple Christmas is Full of Worship
1. That little family soon became surrounded by
a. two dozen shepherds crowding into that barn
b. And then townspeople from Bethlehem squeezed in
c. And then later, Mary & Joseph & Jesus were surrounded by wise men from the east
2. And all of them falling to their knees and worshipping the baby
a. Mat 2:1,2 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
b. Mat 2:11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
c. Not a little icon, or statue, but the living Son of God
d. The Word of God that had miraculously become flesh
e. The Immanuel – God with us
f. The Prince of Peace
3. THAT is what Christmas must still be all about
4. The WORSHIP of Jesus
a. Where we stop what we are doing and drop to our knees and lift our hands in absolute worship of the King of kings who came for us!
b. Thanking Him for life and breath and family, and jobs and food and health
c. Praising HIM for loving us, and most of all…
d. For SAVING us from our sin!
F. A Simple Christmas Actually Changes Everything and Everyone (Luke 1:15,16)
1. A real and simple Christmas DOESN’T leave us the same
a. All the foods and the sweets and the cakes and pies… changes our weight
b. All the shopping and amazon buying and ordering… changes our bank balance
c. But Christmas is meant to change US – change our HEARTS! Change our homes!
2. A simple Christmas was designed by God
a. to turn hearts away from sin and unto the God who can free anyone from sin
b. Christmas was designed to do that
c. And it turns fathers back to their children and families
d. And it turns children back to their parents, and to wisdom instead of hormones and social media
e. It turns mothers back into soft, loving examples of Christ’s love for sinners
f. It turns hearts into forgiving powerhouses instead of bitter graveyards
g. It makes anger die instead of your enemy
h. It makes self sacrifices easy
3. Because all the events of Christmas prepares the believer to live differently for God after its is all said and done!
III. Conclusion
A. No need for a fancy, expensive, stressed-out Christmas
B. Just work hard to have a simple Christmas – this year (and every year)
C. Not everyone wants a simple kind of Christmas
1. That’s okay
2. Keep spending yourself into oblivion and create more spoiled brats in your home
3. Keep trying to outdo everyone else with your new Christmas jumpers, and your fancier dinners and bigger presents
D. But for those of us who love the first Christmas, here is how to keep it simple today…
1. Explore and enjoy God’s Surprises that he brings into your life everyday – look for them, like you do for all the gifts people give you at Christmas! They are THERE!
2. Be Full of Faith, fully trusting that God’s ways are the best
3. Get Around Your Family – and do your best to get along with them - no matter how flawed and messed up
4. Keep everything Spiritual – less and less materialistic, and seek to be full of the same Holy Spirit that filled the First Christmas
5. Be Full of Worship – of Jesus, the Lord of your and my life!
6. Allow God to Change YOU and make you a better man or woman or teenager!
E. All of that will make for a better Christmas than any amount of money could ever buy