The Significant Things of Christmas -- Luke 2 Christmas Season, 2005

Sermon by Pastor Dennis Gleason  -- December 18, 2005

In Elmer Bendiner's book, The Fall of the Fortresses, he describes a bombing run over the German city of Kassel:

Our B-17 (The Tondelayo) was barraged by flak from Nazi antiaircraft guns. That was not unusual, but on this particular occasion our gas tanks were hit. Later, as I reflected on the miracle of a twenty-millimeter shell piercing the fuel tank without touching off an explosion, our pilot, Bohn Fawkes, told me it was not quite that simple.

On the morning following the raid, Bohn had gone down to ask our crew chief for that shell as a souvenir of unbelievable luck. The crew chief told Bohn that not just one shell but eleven had been found in the gas tanks--eleven unexploded shells where only one was sufficient to blast us out of the sky. It was as if the sea had been parted for us. Even after thirty-five years, so awesome an event leaves me shaken, especially after I heard the rest of the story from Bohn.

He was told that the shells had been sent to the armorers to be defused. The armorers told him that Intelligence had picked them up. They could not say why at the time, but Bohn eventually sought out the answer. Apparently when the armorers opened each of those shells, they found no explosive charge. They were clean as a whistle and just as harmless. Empty? Not all of them.

One contained a carefully rolled piece of paper. On it was a scrawl in Czech. The Intelligence people scoured our base for a man who could read Czech. Eventually, they found one to decipher the note. It set us marveling. Translated, the note read: "This is all we can do for you now."

Our text for today is found in Luke 2:

¹At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. ²(This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³All returned to their own towns to register for this census. ⁴And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. ⁵He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was obviously pregnant by this time.

⁶And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. ⁷She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the village inn.

⁸That night some shepherds were in the fields outside the village, guarding their flocks of sheep. ⁹Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terribly frightened, ¹⁰but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news of great joy for everyone! ¹¹The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David! ¹²And this is how you will recognize him: You will find a baby lying in a manger, wrapped snugly in strips of cloth!”

¹³Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God:

¹⁴  “Glory to God in the highest heaven,

       and peace on earth to all whom God favors.”^

¹⁵When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Come on, let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this wonderful thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

¹⁶They ran to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. ¹⁷Then the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. ¹⁸All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, ¹⁹but Mary quietly treasured these things in her heart and thought about them often. ²⁰The shepherds went back to their fields and flocks, glorifying and praising God for what the angels had told them, and because they had seen the child, just as the angel had said.

The central fact of our text today is this:  “There is born…a savior.”  It was at this time that Heaven came down and entered the stream of human history to provide a way in which we might be reconciled to God.

There has been much said and written lately about the political correctness of greeting one another with “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays”. President Bush has even taken it on the chin for sending out a Christmas Card that does not contain the word “Christmas”. Of course, having seen one first hand, what is often overlooked is the scripture verse that appears directly above the words “Happy Holidays”. When one considers that the holiday season contains both Christmas and New Years, it might be OK to consider the season as a whole.

Leonard Pitts, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune, had a commentary printed in the December 13, 2005 issue of the paper titled:  “The season of forbidden good cheer”.

He begins it with writing the forbidden words “Merry Christmas” and wonders if the sky cracked or the oceans turned to blood or an angry horde of Jews, Muslims or Buddhists stormed the gates. Or he wonders if the world looks pretty much the same as it did before he uttered (wrote) the words.

He goes on to say that the greeting that matters is the one spoken by angels as found in the Book of Luke:  “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”  He goes on to add: “Linus said it best: ‘That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

We will come back to all of this in a few moments, but for now let’s consider our text for today:

The first thing we note is that about that time there was a decree from Augustus Caesar that all the world was to be counted in a census. Caesar Augustus was the first real Roman Emperor. His real name was Caius Octavius. He was the grand-nephew of Julius Caesar. The word Augustus is significant. That was his title. He took the name Caesar by courtesy and adoption. In the process of time the title Augustus was dropped and he was simply called Caesar.

When he came to power, there was some discussion about what title he should assume. He declined the title Dictator as it suggested a temporary office. He also declined the title of King, as it did not signify enough. The name Augustus was created for him in consultation with the Roman Senate. It came from the Latin Augur which implied a religious sanction. He began the movement towards what ultimately happened…the claim of being deity…God on the part of the supreme ruler of the Roman Empire.

The power of government had been taken away from the people and vested in military governors until this man gained supreme power.

What all of this means is that in those days in the Roman Empire, of which the nation Israel was a part,  power, world mastery, became vested in one man. And that man decided to count everyone in the Empire and issued a decree to that effect.

Augustus Caesar issued a decree and it was done. There was no appeal.  It was in those days that Jesus was born.

It was a period in which there was no war. There was no war because people had been bludgeoned  into submission, so that no man, woman or child dared utter a peep, or call his soul his own. There was a despot on the throne and he was the most powerful man on earth.

He was the significant man in the world right?

There were two people at the eastern end of the Empire, a man and a woman, two individual among the multitudes in Judea and Galilee and that whole region, whose lives were touched by the decree. As to their earthly existence they were entirely insignificant, and yet touched by Roman authority.

For you see, the decree of Augustus Caesar reached Nazareth. Joseph must go to Bethlehem and register because he is of the line of King David. He must go to the city of his family and enroll. He had to go and when he did he took his wife Mary with him. Two people whose lives were affected by the decree of someone far, far away. Nobody really knew about them, except perhaps a few friends and family members. And yet they did not know much about what was to take place.

Let’s look again. Things are not always what they seem to be. Here we have two individuals marching under the orders of Caesar Augustus. Look at the woman. She is pregnant. The child born of Mary is the Savior of the world. Look at the man. His one passion in life is to protect this woman and her child.

They are going to Bethlehem because Caesar Augustus in some psychic moment issued his decree that all the world be enrolled. Every one had to go, even Joseph and Mary.

But notice this:  Our Bible contains this prophecy written six hundred and fifty years before the issuing of the decree by Caesar Augustus: Micah 5:2-5

 ²But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village in Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past. ³The people of Israel will be abandoned to their enemies until the time when the woman in labor gives birth to her son. Then at last his fellow countrymen will return from exile to their own land. ⁴And he will stand to lead his flock with the LORD’S strength, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. Then his people will live there undisturbed, for he will be highly honored all around the world. ⁵And he will be the source of our peace.

When we read this, we recognize that the really insignificant person in this drama is the little puppet in the city of Rome called Caesar Augustus.

The significant people are Mary and Joseph and the child to be born there in Bethlehem.

They went up to Bethlehem because Caesar Augustus issued the decree. Why did he do it? It is because of the prophecy of the will of God that this child be born in Bethlehem. This was merely the means of getting Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem so that God’s will might be done. It happened in fulfillment of prophecy given by God through the prophet Micah

The prophecy tells us that the one who is to be born “will be great unto the ends of the earth.” This is world mastery. Caesar Augustus thought he had it , but he did not. This One, this child to be born will have that world mastery.

When they arrived in Bethlehem, this stupendous event took place. “And it came about that while they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her first-born son; and she wrapped him in cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Last week I suggested in passing that the word for inn is not pandocheion which would be something like a hotel with rooms to rent, food and entertainment. No, it was the kataluma which was an enclosure for livestock to be kept in. At times there might be a room in the enclosure for the people who had their livestock in the kataluma. Our text tells us that they were not in the hotel and that there wasn’t even a room in the enclosure for the livestock. It was there that Mary gave birth to her first born son.

What a bleak experience. She did not even have simple necessities when her time came. All she had was Joseph to care for her. And she had to do the delivery and the wrapping of the new born child herself and she laid him in the manger. There was no one to do it for her. There you have it: No room in the hotel, no dwelling place for her, not even a room in the kataluma. I can’t imagine a baby being born any lower than this baby of Mary.

This child is her first-born. He is first in time, first in place, first in order and first in importance. He is her significant child. This one who is called  the First born of creation; the first born of many brethren, the first born of the dead.

Who is this child? He is the Son of God. There in that little town of Bethlehem, in the shadow of Jerusalem, the Son of God in human form entered the stream of human history. And as far as the world was concerned there was merely a ripple of the water. Nothing of any significance was happening in Bethelehem on that night.

But Angels from Heaven came down and surprised the shepherds in the fields. Heaven could not keep silent but burst forth with praise. They had to tell the shepherds not to be afraid. And then they announced: There is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

He will confront sin and deal with it once and for all time. He will provide the way of reconciliation with God for all who will believe him and receive him.

He will confront the chaos of the world and will one day establish his Kingdom and bring about peace for all those who have God’s favor. That is true world mastery. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.

There is no peace on earth, except among those people in whom God is well pleased. Peace will only come to the earth when men are like Jesus. There is no other way.

Jesus came into our world, in order that people like us who displease God because of sin, revolt and spiritual pollution may be made pleasing to God. He is the Savior of the World. Trust Him. Believe in Him.

He is the significant one.

Let me close with these thoughts:

The Czech prisoners who made the munitions to shoot down bombers over Nazi occupied Europe were insignificant pawns in the plans of Hitler for world domination. And yet in their insignificance, they made it possible for at least one bomber crew to survive because they did what they could by leaving out the fuses of the shell they were making for the Germans. Who would have ever known if no one had thought to look at the shells to find their note. It was certainly significant to the bomber crew.

When Henry Norris Russell, the Princeton astronomer, had concluded a lecture on the Milky Way, a woman came to him and asked, "If our world is so little, and the universe is so great, can we believe God really pays any attention to us?" Dr. Russell replied, "That depends, madam, entirely on how big a God you believe in."

How big is your God? 

He does pay attention to us.

He sent his son into our world to save us.

That is significance…the significance of Christmas.

Enjoy it.

Share it with someone who needs to hear it this Christmas season. Don’t hesitate to wish them a Merry Christmas. They might just need to hear it from you.

 --Dennis Gleason