Simply Christmas | Calvary Church

Listen to the story of Christmas as we

just take a moment to pause in our crazy

life and enjoy the simplicity and power

of Christmas. In the sixth month of

Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent an

angel, the angel Gabriel, to Nazareth, a

town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to

be married to a man named Joseph, a

descendant of David. The virgin's name

was Mary. The angel went to her and

said, "Greetings, you who were highly

favored. The Lord is with you." Mary was

greatly troubled at his words and

wondered what kind of greeting this

might be. But the angel said to her, "Do

not be afraid, Mary. You have found

favor with God. You will conceive and

give birth to a son, and you are to call

him Jesus. He will be great and will be

called the Son of the Most High. The

Lord God will give him the throne of his

father David. And he will reign over

Jacob's descendants forever. His kingdom

will never end. How will this me be?

Mary asked the angel. Since I am a

virgin, the angel answered, the Holy

Spirit will come on you and the power of

the most high will overshadow you. So

the Holy One to be born will be called

the Son of God. Even Elizabeth, your

relative, is going to have a child in

her old age. And she who was said to be

unable to conceive is in her sixth

month. For no word from God will ever

fail. I am the Lord's servant, Mary

answered. May your word to me be

fulfilled. Then the angel left her. At

that time, Mary got ready and hurried to

the town in the hill country of Judea,

where she entered Zachariah's home and

greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard

Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her

womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the

Holy Spirit. In a loud voice, she

exclaimed, "Blessed are you among women,

and blessed is the child you were bear.

But why am I so favored that the mother

of my Lord should come to me? As soon as

the sound of your greeting reached my

ears, the baby in my womb leaped for

joy. Blessed is she who has believed

that the Lord would fulfill his promises

through her." And Mary said, "My soul

glorifies the Lord, and my spirit

rejoices in God, my Savior, for he has

been mindful of his humble servant. From

now on, all generations will call me

blessed, for the mighty one has done

great things for me. Holy is his name.

His mercy extends to those who fear him

from generation to generation. He has

performed mighty deeds with his arm. He

has scattered those who are proud in

their inmost thoughts. He has brought

down rulers from their thrones, but has

lifted up the humble. He has filled the

hungry with good things, but sent the

rich away empty. He has helped his

servant Israel, remembering to be

merciful to Abraham and his descendants

forever, forever, just as he promised to

our ancestors. Mary stayed with

Elizabeth for about 3 months and then

returned home. This is how the birth of

Jesus the Messiah came about. His mother

Mary was pledged to be married to

Joseph. But before they came together,

she was s found to be pregnant through

the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph, her

husband, was faithful to the law and yet

did not want to expose her to public

disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her

quietly. But after he had considered

this, an angel of the Lord appeared to

him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of

David, do not be afraid to take Mary

home 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,

because he will save his people from

their sins."

All this took place to fulfill what the

Lord had said through the prophet. The

virgin will conceive and give birth to a

son, and they will call him Emanuel,

which means God with us. When Joseph

woke up, he did what the angel of the

Lord had commanded him and took Mary

home as his wife. But he did not

consummate their marriage until she gave

birth to a son, and he gave him the name

Jesus. In those days, Caesar Augustus

issued a decree that a census should be

taken through the entire Roman world.

This was the first census that took

place while Corinius was governor of

Syria. And everyone went to their own

town to register. So, Joseph also went

up from the town in Nazareth to

Bethlehem, the town of David, because he

belonged to the house in line of David.

He went there to register with Mary who

was pledged to be married to him and was

expecting a child.

Uh over the last several weeks, uh if

you've had the opportunity to be here,

we've kind of looked back at the

Christmas story, but this year we've

looked back and we've looked at people

that were either in the story or had

wrote about the story. So, we looked at

John and then we looked at uh this other

couple, Zachariah and Elizabeth, last

week. And what we wanted to do was just

look at Christmas from their eyes, like

what they experienced, what they saw,

and and how the story impacted their

life. And today, we're going to look at

a very special young couple in Mary and

Joseph. And so, just to kind of prepare

you uh for this, we're only going to do

this for a little bit, and then we're

going to spend some time celebrating

Christ and what he's done. But with the

story of Mary and Joseph, if you don't

know, we we just kind of read through

that. So, we we heard some songs sung.

We've also heard scripture read about

this this story of Christ being born to

this couple. And so, uh I want to just

unpack a little bit of their response to

the incarnation. And so, what we see

here is we see uh Mary and Joseph

being given this great news, but it was

lifechanging, but it was also an

interruption. So, imagine uh for those

of you that are married, um imagine

you've got your plans laid out for you,

and these are this is a young couple

and God invades their life with this

life-changing news of the incarnation.

And so, let me start by saying the word

incarnation, you're probably going,

"Brad, I don't know what that word

means." It's a it's a Latin word that

means in flesh. And so really what it

is, it's a word depicting what Christ

did by coming to the earth, being born a

baby, but he didn't stay a baby. He was

born, he grew up, he lived the perfect

life, and he died on the cross for you

and for me. And so, uh, this this God

being born man, we we read in John 1:1

John 1:1

where John says, "In the beginning was

the word, and the word was God, and the

word was with God.

But later, John says, a couple verses

later in John 1:14, it says, 'The Word

John 1:14

became flesh, the incarnation,

and he made his dwelling among us.

And so when we look at this, Mary and

Joseph have been given this great news,

but it's it's significant news for their

life. What I love is their response, and

we just heard a little bit of their

response. In Matthew, Joseph hears from

God that, "Hey, listen. This is what's

going to happen to Mary." But not only

for Mary, but this is what it means for

you.

And Joseph being a man of obedience and

wanting to follow after God, Joseph's

simple step was, I'm going to obey what

God has said.

And then we look at the story of Mary.

The angel tells her, this is what's

going to happen, Mary. And as a young

woman,

Mary's response is praise.

But her praise is an incredible story.

And if I could do this real quick, and

hopefully this this is fair. I Aren't

they not typical? Joseph being the guy,

he just responds

in obedience. Mary turns it into a song.

I mean, she just depicts God's goodness

and faithfulness. Joseph is succinct.

And Mary just goes on this incredible

doxology of the goodness of God, just

praising him. But you look at Mary's

response,

it's it's looking back at what God has

done for Israel, what God has done for

her.

But here's the interesting thing about

Mary's response.

Mary has yet to hold the baby. Mary is

yet to even see the baby, but she trusts

in what God has already promised.

And so that's the good news today is not

that we we have hope, which we do, not

that we're looking forward to a God that

will come, but we look to a God that has

come, that became a baby,

that was born, that lived a perfect

life, and that died on the cross for us.

And what's interesting about this story

is as we look at the good news of Jesus,

the good news is that God did not stay

distant,

but instead God invaded our world. He

interrupted our whole entire world with

the lifechanging news of his son. And so

today, I want to ask you, so we saw

Joseph's response.

That was a response of obedience.

Mary's response was of of praise and

celebrating and remember all that God

had done.

I'm going to talk for a moment about

what our response should be. So So

what's your response to the interruption

of the incarnation?

Maybe for some of you

your first step is to place your trust

in that that Jesus that came, the Jesus

that we read about today, that we heard

about, that we sang about. And if you've

never placed your trust in him, friends,

let me let me encourage you after the

service. We would love to walk you

through and explain what God's word says

about who he is and what he has done

because it is not only lifechanging for

Mary and Joseph, but it's life-changing

not just for you, but it's for our

entire broken world that so desperately

needs to hear it.

But for us that have placed our trust in

Christ, that have trusted in him as the

way, the truth, and the life, today

we're going to spend some time

remembering who he is and what he's

done.

And as Mary remembered his faithfulness,

we have the opportunity to do that now.

You see, communion is a time for us to

not only remember, but reflect on what

God has done as he has invaded our own

lives. as he has saved and changed us,

we have the opportunity to not only look

back but also look ahead to what we have

in him. So, in a moment, we're going to

we're going to take the elements and let

me say if you've trusted Christ as your

savior, we want to give you that

opportunity to do that. We have ushers

in the back. So, if you need the

communion elements, uh they would love

to get that to you. Just put your hand

up or as they come down

But as we prepare for this time,

what I want to do is I want to I want to

read some scripture, but I want to go

back beyond the beginning of the New

Testament.

I want to go further back

to the Old Testament where God talks

about these promises.

And this will set up just our time of

prayer as we kind of remember and

reflect on what Christ has done.

So this is from the prophet Isaiah.

He says this in Isaiah 53. Some some

select verses here. He says, "But he,"

looking towards the Messiah, looking

ahead, "but he was pierced for our

transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities.

The punishment that brought us brought

us peace was on him.

and by his wounds we are healed. For he

bore the sin of many and he made the

intercession for the transgressors.

this morning as we as we remember

as we look to

uh the hands that initially when when

the baby Jesus was born and wrapped in

swaddling clothes that those small

precious hands,

we know that in the future as he grew up

and he was placed on the cross for us as

he willingly obediently did that those

those same hands were pierced for us. I

want to give you just some time to

remember to reflect and and maybe as

Mary did, maybe respond with a just a

time of thanking God for what he has

done for you. Uh praising him for his

salvation that he has provided through

his son Jesus. Father, we're grateful

grateful for your promises,

God. We're thankful for the the reality

of your word and that it is true. That

it provides

uh us not only an incredible story but a

a real story of what you did to invade

humanity with an incredible gift, an

indescribable gift in your son, Jesus.

Lord, we thank you for wrapping yourself

in human flesh. Thank you for coming.

But I know not only coming, but the fact

that you would come to this earth

and and God, you did what what no one

else could do. Uh what we so desperately

needed was a savior to save us from our

sins.

Jesus, we thank you for your life. We're

so grateful for your death, but yet in

your resurrection,

we have hope. We have purpose. and we're

so thankful for what you've done. We

love you. In your name we pray. Amen.

The Apostle Paul says these words as

Jesus had resurrected from the dead,

ascended into heaven. The Apostle Paul

tells a group of believers this and this

comes out of Jesus also with his

followers saying, "Do this in

remembrance of me." He says 1

Corinthians 11, the Lord Jesus on the

night he was betrayed,

he took a loaf of bread and when he had

given thanks, he broke it and said,

"This is my body that is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me. Take and

eat.

In the same way, he took the cup,

saying, "This covenant, this cup is the

covenant in my blood. Do this as often

you drink it in remembrance of me. Take

and drink."

He says,"For often as you eat this bread

and drink this cup, you proclaim the

Lord's death until he comes."

Let's pray.

Father, we we receive this bread and

this cup with hearts

that are so desperately in need, but are

so grateful. Uh as we acknowledge the

savior, we celebrate God the

the profound truth

that you not only save but God that you

provide all good things.

God during this season may we may we

remember may we reflect on what you've

done. I pray that as a church we we not

only remember and we reflect, but as

your people, we go out and we share the

news that not only invaded, interrupted

and changed the life of Mary and Joseph.

But God, it has changed the entire

world. It has changed our lives. God, I

also just pray for my friends here today

that maybe have not placed their trust

in this message, in this person, this

good news. Help them to see their their

need, their brokenness, the brokenness

in the this world. And may they see that

God, you did not stay distant, but you

provided the word. You provided Jesus

who became flesh for us so that we could

have eternal life through him. Father,

we thank you and we're so grateful for

what you've done. In your name we pray.

Amen.