IN THE MANGER

 

“HOPE IN THE MANGER”

 

Luke 2:21-32

 

What is the focus of Christmas?  Christmas draws our attention to the manger of Bethlehem.  Nativity displays have Mary & Joseph & shepherds gathered around the manger in adoration of the Christ-Child.

 

This Advent Season I want us to gather alongside Mary, Joseph & the shepherds and look IN THE MANGER.  We’re going to see 5 things IN THE MANGER.

 

ADVENT is a season of expectation and celebration.  It is a SEASON OF HOPE.  Hope is the first thing we will find in the manger.

 

Have you ever stopped to grasp the significance of when we celebrate the birth of Christ?  We celebrate Christmas during the winter season.  Winter.  It is the coldest of seasons and the darkest of seasons.  The trees are barren, the grass is brown and the sky is bleak.  Everything seems dark, dreary and dead.

 

Yet, in the midst of such gloominess, we await, with great expectation, the happiest of all seasons- the Christmas season.  Cutting through the cold dark night with laser precision is the warm ray of HOPE that Christmas brings.

 

Christmas is THE SEASON OF HOPE.  That is good news and may be really good news for you at this season in your life right now.  You may be in a winter season in your life at this moment in time.  You may have lost your job….received a bad test result from your doctor….struggling with a broken marriage…wrestling with loneliness or depression.  You need this season of hope.  You need the warm light of hope shining brightly in your heart.  We all do.  We all need hope, regardless of our circumstances.

 

Our need for hope is the main reason why we celebrate the birth of Christ.  Jesus’ birth gives us the hope that we need deep down in our souls.

 

We will begin our celebration of Christ’s birth by picking up the story of our Savior 8 days following His birth.  I want to introduce the theme that Christmas is the Season of Hope by looking, for a moment, at a Christmas character that is rarely mentioned- SIMEON.

 

LUKE 2:21-32

 

It is interesting how people are remembered in the Bible.  Abraham- TRUSTING; Moses-LEADING; John- LOVING; Paul-WRITING.

 

But Simeon is remembered for LOOKING….for his waiting….for his hoping for the coming of the Messiah. 

 

Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the temple on the Day of Dedication to present the Baby Jesus to the Lord.  But this Day of Dedication was a Day of Celebration for Simeon.

 

The Holy Spirit had revealed to Simeon that he would not die until He laid eyes on the Messiah.  So Simeon waited in hope. 

 

On the day that Mary and Joseph go to the temple, Simeon is prompted by the Holy Spirit to go to the temple.  When he arrives, he witnesses in the presence of the Christ-Child, the fulfillment of what he had been waiting for and hoping for, the Messiah, the Lord’s salvation for all people.

 

It is in the salvation that Jesus brought into the world that we find our everlasting hope.  In Jesus, we have……

 

1. THE HOPE OF SINS FORGIVEN

 

Several years ago, there was a big story in Chicago about how the Baby Jesus figurine had been stolen from the nativity at Daley Plaza.  Eventually the police recovered the Baby Jesus figurine at a bus station following an anonymous tip they had received. 

 

After that, they started securing the Baby Jesus figurine with a cord and bolt and a padlock to the manger scene to prevent anybody from stealing it again.

 

It didn’t work.  The Baby Jesus was stolen again.  A 19-year-old college student somehow managed to figure out a way to remove the figurine of the Baby Jesus from the manger scene.  The law caught up with him 2 days later and he was charged with a misdemeanor.

 

But the city upped the security measures again.  A team of people, known as the God Squad, is responsible for making sure the Baby Jesus doesn’t get stolen anymore from the Nativity at Daley Plaza.  The God Squad is very tight-lipped about the security measures they have put in place.  The goal of the God Squad is to make sure that Jesus never leaves the manger again.

 

During this time of the year it is normal for us to think of Jesus as the sweet baby in the manger. But, Jesús had to leave the manger in order to give us hope.  The Baby Jesus had to leave the cradle of Bethlehem to become the Son of Man on the cross of Calvary.

 

Jesus was born to die.  The angel told Joseph to name Mary’s child Jesus because He would save His people from their sins.  The angel announced to the shepherds the good news that unto them was born a Savior.

 

The message of hope that Christmas brings is that the forgiveness of sins is available to everyone no matter who you are or what you may have done.

 

Turn with me to the 1^st Chapter of the Gospel of Matthew (just 2 books back; 1^st book of NT).  Matthew introduces the birth of Jesus by giving us the ancestry of Christ.

 

Now when we go to Matthew to read about the birth of Christ, we might be tempted to skip the first 17 verses that deal with Jesus’ genealogy and go to verse 18 where Matthew starts to write about the birth of Christ.  We might be tempted to skip the genealogy for a few reasons. 

 

One it is a long list of names, 42 to be exact. A second reason is that some of the names are hard to pronounce.  But the third reason may be the question that comes to mind when you start wading through this list of names.  The question is- what does Jesus’ ancestry have to do with His Advent?

 

But Matthew, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, inaugurates his teaching of the Advent with a reminder of the ancestry of Jesus Christ.  And as we examine it more closely, we will see that this genealogy contains some helpful and important theology. 

 

This genealogy of 42 names is broken down into 3 groupings of 14 names each.  I want us to look at the first list today.  READ MATTHEW 1:1-6

 

In this list of 14 names, reference is made to 4 women.  That is interesting because Jewish society in Matthew’s day was not female friendly.  Women could not own property.  Under Jewish law, they were treated like property.  Women had no voice and no vote. 

 

The only time women would ever be listed in any one’s genealogy would be to authenticate the bloodline and the 4 women listed in Jesus’ genealogy don’t do that.  Let’s look at these 4 women and their significance in Jesus’ ancestry. 

 

A word of warning.  Brace yourselves.  3 of the 4 were shady ladies.

 

There was Tamar who disguised herself to look like a prostitute.  She pretended to be a prostitute in order to seduce her father-in-law, Judah, into having sex with her.  You can read why she did that by going to Genesis 38.

 

The next shady lady listed in Jesus’ genealogy is Rahab.  Rahab didn’t have to pretend to be a prostitute.  Rahab was one.  Rahab was a madam who ran a brothel in the red light district of Jericho.  In the NT, Rahab is held up as a model of faith because she protected the Israelite spies who came into Jericho.

 

The 3^rd female is Ruth.  Ruth was a foreigner.  She was a Moabite.  A pagan.  The Jews put the Moabites at the lowest rung of the social ladder.

 

The 4^th woman is one who Matthew doesn’t mention by name.  She is simply referred to as “the wife of Uriah”.  But we know her name.  Her name made the front pages of the gossip tabloids in Jerusalem because Bathsheba was King David’s illicit lover.

 

WOW!  Four bad girls of the Bible!  Why not list more respectable women?  Why exclude the likes of Sarah, Rebecca and Rachel?  Why did Matthew choose to list the bad girls and omit the good girls in Jesus’ genealogy?  Do we really need to know that Jesus’ family closet has some scandalous skeletons in it?

 

You do if your own life has been soiled by moral failure.  You do if you have ever felt excluded because of your race or your gender.  We need to know this in order to know that God’s message of hope is international, inter-racial and most of all it’s merciful.

 

God is forgiving.  He used sinful people just like you and me to bring hope into the world through the birth of His Son

 

Dale Bruner wrote- “One gets the impression that Matthew poured over this OT records until he could find the most questionable ancestors of Jesus in order to preach this Gospel- that God can overcome and forgive sin and He can used soiled but repentant persons for great purposes in history.

 

The birth of Jesus communicates to us the hope of God doing for us what we fear He won’t.  Namely, that He will forgive our sins because Jesus was born to be our Savior.  Peter wrote about this hope:

 

“…set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” – 1 Peter 1:13

 

Set your hope fully on God’s grace beloved.  We are saved by grace.  Jesus’ death brought about the forgiveness of our sins.  Set your hope fully on that. 

 

Christmas is the season of hope…the hope of sins forgiven.  It is also…..

 

2. THE HOPE OF A RESURRECTED BODY

 

Do you think it odd that I would be talking about Easter at Christmas?  Charles Wesley, the Methodist Pastor, didn’t think it odd to anticipate the Resurrection when celebrating Christmas.  Wesley wrote Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and part of the 3^rd verse has a reference to the hope of the Resurrection:

 

Mild He lays His glory by, Born that man no more may die;

Born to raise the sons of earth; Born to give them second birth

 

When we talk about the hope that Christmas brings, we have to include the hope of the Resurrection.  Jesus was born to bring us eternal life.

 

I would like for us to say John 3:16 together, although we will recite it from a different version than the King James Version so that we can sort of hear it with fresh ears.  This version is the Holman Christian Standard Bible and the verse will appear on the screen.  Let’s say it together:

 

“For God loved the world in this way:  He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”- John 3:16

 

Jesus was born so that you and I could have life eternal.  Eternal life will involve the resurrection of our bodies.  That is our hope as Christians, as Peter wrote:

 

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a LIVING HOPE through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” – 1 Peter 1:3

 

We have a living hope because we have a living Savior.  And this means that we will live forever in a resurrected body!

 

We all want to live forever.  That’s a part of our spiritual DNA.  That’s why death is such an unwelcome thought to us.  The Bible calls death our enemy.  The human spirit wants to live forever.  The Book of Ecclesiastes says that God has planted eternity in our hearts.  We have this desire for immortality.

 

That would explain what one guy said when he and his buddies were sitting around talking about what they would want said about them at their funerals.  One guy said- I hope people will remember that I loved my family.  Another guy said I hope people will talk about all the times I helped the poor and the homeless.  When the third friend was asked what he hoped people would say at his funeral, he replied- “I hope they look in the casket and say, ‘hey look, he’s still moving!’”

 

We all want to keep moving don’t we?  And we will.  Jesus promised:

 

“I am the Resurrection and the Life.  He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.” –John 11:25-26

 

People talk about buying a cemetery plot.   We don’t actually buy a cemetery plot.  We only rent it until the Resurrection!

 

 At the graveside some ministers will talk about committing the body of the deceased to its final resting place.  Now if they say final earthly resting place, that’s ok.  But if they say final resting place, don’t buy that.  Our graves aren’t permanent dwelling places.  They are only temporary housing.

 

One day God will once again work the miracle of the Resurrection.  Our physical bodies will be resurrected and restored.  They will be immortal, incorruptible, imperishable.  That is the Christian Hope that we can, yes, celebrate at Christmas.  Christ our Savior was born so that we no more may die!

 

After seeing the Baby Jesus, Simeon said- “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace.  For my eyes have seen your salvation.”  Simeon could face death with peace because the hope of salvation was in his heart.

 

Likewise, as Christians, we can face death with peace, with a calm assurance, because we know, that when we die, that we will go be with the Lord and that one day, we will receive the fulfillment of the hope of a resurrected body.

 

Christmas is the season of hope…the hope of a resurrected body.  Christmas is also……

 

3. THE HOPE OF A HOME IN HEAVEN

 

Once, during the Christmas season, I was walking into Mary Immaculate Hospital to visit a church member. Something on the top of the car port caught my attention.  It was the Nativity Scene set on the roof top.  You have to look up to see the Nativity Scene.

 

Ultimately, the birth of Christ causes us to look up to heaven.  The Nativity points us heavenward.

 

The 3rd verse of Away in the Manger goes like this:

 

Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay

Close by me forever, and love me, I pray;

Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care,

And fit us for heaven to live with Thee there.

 

It’s been said that the Son of God became the Son of Man and came to earth so that the sons and daughters of men could become the sons and daughters of God and go to heaven.

 

That’s the ultimate hope we have as Christians.  As Peter wrote about our living hope through the resurrection of Jesus, he continued on to proclaim the hope of heaven:

 

“….He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, kept in heaven for you.” – 1 Peter 1:3-4

 

Peter refers to our salvation in heaven as an inheritance.  Heaven is a gift.  Paul wrote:

 

“…the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” –Romans 6:23

 

Heaven is a free gift.  You don’t earn your way into heaven.  Heaven is God’s gift to us.  We are saved by grace, not by works so that none of us can boast, “hey I’ve earned my spot, I paid my own way.”  That’s not how it works. 

 

We have to throw ourselves on the mercy of Heaven’s court in order to gain admission.  Here’s the Good News.  God is merciful and He is gracious to all who trust in the Lord Jesus as their Savior.  God’s Christmas gift to us is our inheritance, our heavenly riches.

 

Peter said that our inheritance will never perish, spoil or fade.  No one can take it from you.  Your inheritance is going to be there for you.  I love how Peter phrases it- our inheritance is KEPT IN HEAVEN FOR YOU.

 

As a Christian, because of grace, there is a place for you in God’s heaven.  Your reservation is guaranteed.  You can have confidence regarding your salvation.  Those are not my thoughts.  That’s the promise of Jesus who gave us this reassurance about our home in heaven:

 

“Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God, trust also in Me.  In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am.” –John 14:1-3

 

Jesus has your room ready for you in your heavenly Father’s mansion.  There will be a place set for you at the dinner table.  Ultimately, Christmas is the season of the hope of a home in heaven for us.

 

The Christmas Carol, O Little Town of Bethlehem speaks about the Christmas Season being a season of hope.  It has this phrase in it-“the hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight.”

 

The fulfillment of hope is found in Jesus Christ.  That’s why we have to receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior if we are going to experience the hope of having a home in heaven.  The Bible declares: “…Christ in you, the hope of glory.” –Colossians 1:27

 

At this time we are going to offer you the opportunity to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior…….