Matt. 1:18-25 "The Christmas Story is a Story"

Standing, let's just bow our heads in prayer.

Father, we give you thanks and praise that you have spoken to us in your word.

And Father, we know that you have spoken to us in your word, desiring us to understand your word

and to allow your word to come into our lives to form us.

And so, Father, we ask for your help because we need your help.

We ask that your Holy Spirit would help us to use the best of who we are to listen and pay attention.

But you would do that greater work of bringing your word deep into us and forming us.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

So, I have a confession to make. I made a big mistake between yesterday and today.

So, many of you have probably heard the old rule of thumb.

Never try a recipe for the first time when you have company coming.

You've all heard that rule?

Don't try a completely new recipe when you have company coming.

So, those of you who know me know that when I preach, you might not know this.

I use an outline. I don't actually use a written text. I use an outline.

But I thought to myself, I think this time for Christmas Eve, I'm going to do a written text for my sermon.

So, it could be really, really well organized.

And, well, here's the problem.

I did the service at 2 o'clock in the afternoon.

And that sermon soared like a lead balloon.

Just didn't get off the ground whatsoever.

And I had company this afternoon.

So, I now have a semi-useless written text for my sermon.

So, just bear with me.

I'll do the best I can.

Sort of looking at my text a bit, but also just doing my points.

At the end of the day, we have a wonderful story.

And part of the big point of my whole sermon this morning, this evening,

is that the Christmas story is a story.

And if we think about it for a second, it will help us to understand both what seems sort of weak about it,

but what its true glory and beauty is.

Not only the content of the story, but the fact that it's a story itself.

You see, for most Canadians, and I think Canadian Christians as well,

you know, so if we were going to, I don't know,

if we were going to figure out whether or not to become the 51st state of the United States of America, let's say,

something which would be a very, very big decision for us to make,

we'd want something pretty substantial before we made a decision like that.

What we wouldn't want is a story.

We think, like, really? A story?

We're going to make a decision on something as big as becoming a 51st state in the United States on the basis of a story?

Well, if you think about it for a second, Christians are making these very, very, very large and far-reaching claims

that God, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity,

took on human nature and was born as a baby boy to live a fully human life in space and time in history,

and that the entire fate of humankind, each human life, depends upon how you react to it.

Well, that's actually a far bigger thing than becoming the 51st state of the United States of America.

How do we know about it? A story.

The nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, is told as a story.

It's a very short, simple story.

I just read it. We're going to read it again in a couple of minutes.

It just takes a couple of verses.

It can be drawn quite, if you had that ability, you could draw it quite simply

and maybe draw it if you had that skill.

It would be an interesting, I wish I had that skill.

If you do, you should try sometimes, maybe with your kids or others,

just going from line drawing to line drawing to line drawing

and just having the story unfold before you.

But, as I said, with a question like the 51st state,

for many Canadians, both those who are Christians and those who are not,

Christians just don't want to acknowledge it, okay?

That's the thing about Christians.

We're not always as honest about ourselves as we think,

and Canadian Christians are way more Canadian than we realize.

If you don't think about it through, we have some people who are immigrants to Canada

and just ask them if they get comfortable with you.

How Canadian are Christians in Canada?

And they might tell you just how Canadian we actually are.

And so for Canadians, the whole category of story sounds weak,

not very serious, not even third best.

Why can't we have a catalogue of facts?

That would be better.

Why don't we have a flawless philosophical argument?

That would be better.

Why don't we have a thoroughly documented academic work of history?

Why don't we have a summary of scientific findings?

Why don't we have a fact-checked autobiography?

Why don't we have something like an authoritative report

from the most eminent scholars and experts in Canada

and have them give us this authentic, authoritative report?

That's what we Canadians think would be far more substantial and meaty

than a story that can be shown and told quite simply

just with some lights and some little bit of artistic work.

Because if you think about it for a second,

a story is something that you read to children.

A story is something that the busy businesswoman picks up

to pass the time on her flight from Ottawa to Los Angeles,

or the harassed dad brings to the beach in the summer

when he's supposed to be looking after the kids.

But the triune God in his wisdom saw fit to communicate to us,

at least in regards to the nativity of Jesus

and the key doctrines of the Incarnation,

primarily in the form of a story or several stories,

all telling one story.

What on earth was he thinking?

Didn't he know that when it comes to far-reaching claims,

we advanced, modern, well-educated Canadians

who know how to use TikTok and Instagram

and demand something far stronger than a story,

or at least something which has good vibes?

Hold that thought.

The next thing about the story is this.

It's a very unique claim,

is that the story of the nativity of Jesus is a true story.

I used to read stories to my children.

Full disclosure, my wife was the overwhelming principal reader

of stories to our kids,

but occasionally I would read stories to my kids.

And after reading something about PJ Funny Bunny

or something by Dr. Seuss,

I would read them a Bible story.

However, I always said something like this to the children

before I read the Bible story.

I'd say it's, you know, good to read these stories,

Santa, PJ Funny Bunny, whatever.

But you need to know that this story

that I'm about to read to you is a true story.

I want them to understand the difference

between the two stories.

Because we, for too many Canadians,

we have Santa stories and Jesus' birth stories,

and they are both equally just stories.

But Matthew tells us that he is telling a true story.

In fact, Matthew put his,

I was going to say his money where his mouth was.

He did, he put his life where his mouth was

because at the end of his life,

he died, he died sort of by torture

because the authorities wanted him to recant

and say that the stories that he had written,

the story he had written about Jesus wasn't true.

He'd made it up.

And Matthew went to his death

rather than denying the truth of the story.

Regrettably, in our life,

we know many people will die for causes,

but not many people will die for facts.

But Matthew died for a fact.

Now, of course, the story of the nativity of Jesus

being true, the virgin birth and all of that,

is, of course, highly contested.

And that sometimes really bothers Christians

when we find out that something's highly contested.

It makes us go,

oh, I don't know what I should be thinking about this.

It's highly contested.

But we should really just say, so what?

Not to be flippant about people who don't agree with this,

but just to think, if you think about it for a second,

one of the things that defines a human being

is that they can contest anything whatsoever.

So just because it's contested doesn't mean anything.

Anybody who reads Matthew and Luke,

the two places who tell the stories of Jesus' birth,

if they read it in an open-minded way,

they'll see that they both claim to be writing

an eyewitness-based biography of Jesus,

something which actually happened.

And they wrote these eyewitness-based biographies of Jesus

when many, many, many eyewitnesses were still alive.

So people can say that the stories aren't true

because they're impossible,

but they shouldn't ever say

that the authors didn't intend to write a true story.

I think the evidence is there that the story is true,

that it is historically, factually, emotionally,

morally, spiritually, and aesthetically true.

The truth in the nativity stories is multifaceted and deep.

If you have a chance to watch on YouTube,

there is a woman by the name of Ayaan Hirsi Ali,

and she's been a very fascinating woman for a long time,

growing up as a devout Muslim,

in fact, what we would call an Islamicist.

And she ends up fleeing her Islamic background.

She enters into Europe.

She becomes an atheist.

She was a good friend of all of the atheists,

Christopher Hitchens, Dawkins, all of them.

And within the last year, she has become a Christian.

And there's some very interesting interviews

between Dawkins,

one of the leading atheists in the world,

talking to her.

And it's very interesting

because she captures this aspect of the truth

very beautifully, if you listen to her.

He presses her on something like the virgin birth,

and he's quite contemptuous.

Like, how can you believe something

like the virgin birth is even true?

And she remains...

She has this very, very quiet

and profound dignity about her.

And she says,

well, I don't entirely know

how to answer all of your questions.

But then she goes on to talk about

how the truth of the stories

are emotionally, morally, spiritually,

aesthetically, culturally true.

And she believes, and she has some reasons

to believe that they're also historically true.

And that's the fundamental claim of this story.

These stories are true.

Christians say,

God, the Son of God,

actually did take into himself

our human nature.

And he actually was born as a human being

and walked among us.

That's what we claim

is being told in these stories.

But the death of Jesus

isn't just like this weird,

random thing that happens.

It happens in the context

of centuries of laws

and worship and poetry

and prophecy

and profound wisdom,

like the books of Ecclesiastes

and the Psalms and poetry

and Song of Songs.

It's in the context

of this profound history

of teachings

out of which science emerged

and the belief in human rights emerged

and human dignity emerged

and the idea of progress emerged.

And all of these things

emerge out of that

and it's in this context

of this long story

that the nativity of Jesus happens.

And you can see that

if you go back later on,

most people when they read

the Gospel of Matthew,

they sort of skip over

the first 17 verses

because it's all these,

you know,

then there was this

and then there was this

and then there was this

and then there was this

and Hezron was the father of Aram.

But what Matthew is telling you

is he's telling you

there's this long story

that all these things

that God has done

and then at this culminating time

there's the birth of Jesus.

And it's not just a true story,

it's a true story about God.

Like listen again to the story

if you have your Bibles,

Matthew chapter 1, 18 to 25.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

Now the birth of Jesus Christ

took place in this way

when his mother Mary

had been betrothed to Joseph.

Before they came together,

she was found to be with child

from the Holy Spirit.

Now it's going to be said twice

that the baby within Mary's womb,

Mary had never sexually known a man.

And you go back and read in Luke,

you'll see the story about it,

that God comes and asks her

if she is willing to allow

the Holy Spirit

to do a miracle within her

where God by an act of creation

creates a zygote

within the womb of Mary.

He creates it out of nothing,

in a sense,

not out of nothing

in that it reflects

Mary's physiological heritage.

If you were able to go back

in a time machine

and you saw Mary

and you saw Jesus,

you would see the family resemblance.

You might say,

oh look,

he has Mary's nose.

And oh, look at that.

Like, you know,

he has Mary's eyebrows

and stuff like that.

You would see

that that's that connection there.

But that God creates

within the womb of Mary

this zygote

that goes through normal gestation.

We'll talk about that in a moment.

That's the claim

which is being made here.

And then it continues.

And her husband, Joseph,

being a just man

and unwilling to put her to shame,

resolved to divorce her quietly.

Just to make it a bit,

you might not know this,

but an Anglican,

the way Anglicans work,

if you get ordained as a deacon,

most Anglicans

who are ordained as deacons,

it's called the transitional deacon.

And so the moment

you're ordained a deacon,

you can be called reverend.

But you're only a deacon

for six months to two years,

depending on where you are.

And then you get made a presbyter.

I'm a presbyter.

So I was ordained

in May 15, 1985,

100 million years ago,

I was ordained a deacon.

And I could call myself

the Reverend George Sinclair

at that moment.

But the implication was

that within,

in my case,

it was about seven months later,

I was made a presbyter,

which is what I am today.

And that's how engagement worked then.

In a sense,

Mary could have called herself

Mrs. Joseph

at that point in time.

But they weren't actually married.

It was a transitional state.

And that's why

Joseph had to divorce her.

But here's the thing.

Verse 20.

But as he considered these things,

behold,

an angel of the Lord

appeared before him

in a dream,

saying,

Joseph, son of David,

do not fear to take Mary

as your wife,

for that which is conceived in her

is from the Holy Spirit.

The second time,

it's said that the baby

within Mary's womb,

the incarnation happened.

God created out of nothing

this baby within the womb.

Mary never had any sexual knowledge

of a man.

And it continues.

Verse 21.

She will bear a son,

and you shall call his name Jesus,

for he will save his people

from their sins.

To even say save his people,

you can't say that about me.

I couldn't save my people

throughout the world.

I can't save people in China

and Kenya

and Rwanda

and Singapore

and Taiwan

and Buenos Aires.

Like,

only,

that can only be said of God,

that he could have people

all over the world

and all over time.

But that's the claim

which is made here.

And then in verse 22,

all this took place

to fulfill what the Lord

had spoken by the prophet.

Behold,

the virgin

shall conceive

and bear a son,

and they shall call his name

Emmanuel,

which means God with us,

for the third time.

It's emphasized

that that's what God is doing.

That's what this story,

that's this

huge claim

that is being made

in this story.

The nativity story

is a true story

about God.

Now,

you know,

here's the thing

about this story.

I'm going to use this phrase.

You might not have heard of it.

I call it

the normal human

religious imagination.

And for the normal

human religious imagination,

this cannot possibly

be a story

about God.

Like,

what's just being described here

cannot possibly be true.

It's implausible.

People might say

the science doesn't work.

That's not true.

The science has nothing

to say about this.

It doesn't contradict

a single tenet of science

properly understood.

the normal human

religious imagination

projects onto God

what we would do

if we were God.

Like,

imagine if all of a sudden

one of you

became a billionaire.

Would you buy

the cheapest,

crappiest Fiat

you possibly could

to drive around in?

Very unlikely.

Some of you,

being very good Canadians,

say,

well,

okay,

I don't think I'll go

for the flashy,

hot,

pink Lamborghini.

But I'll go for a

sedate,

respectable,

gray,

Bentley,

or something like that.

Or maybe if you weren't

even that much into cars,

you know,

you'd at least get

a Subaru

or something like that.

Not the crappiest

little

Fiat.

I have no idea,

by the way,

what the cheapest car is.

Some of you can tell me afterwards.

I should have looked it up

before I came to this.

So you see,

here's the thing.

We can't imagine

that we would do anything

like this

if we were God.

We would not belittle

ourselves

and become little.

God becoming a zygote?

God going through gestation?

God having to go through birth?

God being a baby?

God being poor and human

and unrecognized

and part of a conquered people?

No self-respecting God

would ever act like this.

I wouldn't act like this.

How can something

so outrageous

and counterintuitive

be true?

You see,

it's not that anything

in the nativity story

is opposed

to reason or evidence.

The story is just

implausible to us.

And so even then for,

if you're talking to somebody,

you can say,

I can deal with that.

You know,

Dawkins says,

it's absurd to talk about a virgin.

No, I can give you

a simple explanation

for the virgin birth.

No, no,

I can simply,

you're making a mistake.

I can simply clarify this.

And you could go on

and on and on

and on and on.

But at the end of the day,

it just,

it just cannot,

it's just completely

and utterly implausible to us.

Another thing

that our skeptical friends

will say,

well,

here's the thing they'll say.

They love to harass

people like us

and say,

oh yeah,

you all,

all you religious people,

you have your Bibles,

your scriptures.

Yeah,

I mean,

why do you think

your Bible is more true

than some other scripture?

You know,

the people,

Muslims think

the Quran is true.

Some Hindus think

the Bahava Gita is true.

Some Buddhists,

the Tibetan Book of the Dead,

you know,

et cetera,

et cetera,

et cetera.

And,

you know,

just think about it

for a second.

They will say to me,

how on earth

do you think

a puny person

could ever describe

a no God

or even a God

with a small g?

How can someone

see the invisible?

And then they'll pause

and say,

you do realize

that invisible means

it can't possibly be seen.

How can you hear

the inaudible?

You do realize

inaudible means

it can't literally

be heard.

You know,

you can't even

figure out yourself.

You can't figure out

your wife

or your friend

or your kids.

What makes you think

you could figure out God?

Well,

Christians believe

that the nativity story

is a true story

from God

about God.

That's what we believe.

In fact,

to the surprise

of skeptics,

I often tell them

I agree with virtually

every single thing

they said.

In fact,

I feel like saying

amen to them.

The fact is

that the aunt

about to read

a nativity story

to her niece

can clearly say

amen to most of that

because the biblical claim

is the same

as the claim

made by Jesus,

that the Bible

is not a repository

of human words

about God,

but is God himself

speaking to human beings.

Only God

can understand God.

I accept that.

I believe that.

Only God

can understand God

and I will only

understand God

to the extent

that he makes it

clear to me.

The Bible

is ultimately

from each word

to the whole

the triune God

speaking to us.

Why believe this?

Well,

I can give you

lots of reasons

but very simply put,

the resurrection

of Jesus

changes everything.

The resurrection

of Jesus

changes everything.

The death

and resurrection

of Jesus

authenticates

and vindicates

who he is,

what he accomplished

on the cross

and his teaching.

I believe in him.

I believe him.

I believe what he says

and he is the one

who teaches us

to come to understand

that the Bible

is a true story,

the nativity story

is a true story

come from God

ultimately

about God.

He used Matthew.

So,

this,

we're almost finished.

The nativity story

is both true history

and it's also miraculous

from start to finish.

I don't know if you noticed

when I was reading

this story,

God drives the action.

Angels speak

as God's messengers.

A young woman

who has never sexually

known a man

becomes pregnant.

And it's,

we Christians

shouldn't be embarrassed

about miracles

in the Bible.

We should revel

in them.

We should meditate

upon them.

We should delight

in them.

We should be excited

about them.

I remember,

it's so,

my wife will remember

this as well.

My grandfather

who was quite elderly,

I guess this would be

four or five years

before he died,

and I remember

being in the house

when he was sitting

reading the Bible.

And all of a sudden

he would start reading,

stop reading the Bible,

he'd look up

and he'd just chuckle.

He'd say,

look at this,

this tells you

that God did this,

isn't that?

And he'd just have

this big smile

on his face.

He just delighted

in the miracles.

We should delight

in the miracles.

They're wonderful.

Christianity

is the only religion

that does things

in history

to help vindicate

its truth.

It not only has

profound philosophy,

profound poetry,

profound worship,

profound stories,

but it has

these miracles.

You can look

and there is

much historical evidence

to accept

that the grave

actually was empty

on Easter morning.

Jesus really did

rise from the dead.

They never found

his body.

He appeared alive.

He rose.

And if that happened,

it changes everything.

It's why we read

this story.

Why I believe

in the virgin birth.

Why I believe

in the nativity story.

It's a wonderful story.

It's spectacularly true.

And it's a story

about God

coming

to save

you and me.

Canadians think

that the best stories

are the ones

where the hero

or the heroine

gets to save

themselves

and others.

We look down,

in a sense,

on the person

who has to be saved

by somebody else.

They should save

themselves.

We think that

as Canadians

that the best thing

that God could do

for us

is to get out of the way

while we save ourselves.

Or if necessary,

he can provide

a few pointers

or maybe a magic wand

or something

so we can save ourselves.

And this,

of course,

feeds into the normal

religious human imagination

which determines

not only what is plausible

but also what is best.

The best religion

is the one

where I save myself.

Frankly,

it is a disappointment

to the average Canadian

to discover

that God

does not really care

about your criteria

for plausibility.

He doesn't give a hoot.

Your criteria

for plausibility

is your problem,

not his.

You think about it

for a second.

How many people

care about

the plausibility structures

of people

500 years ago?

Well,

you think

they're ridiculous.

They think

you're ridiculous.

Why do you think

God should care

what you think

about those types

of things?

But on the other hand,

we all agree

that the best stories

have a twist.

In this case,

the twist

is the joyful news

that you can never

save yourself

and that salvation

comes as an undeserved

and unforeseen gift

when you lay aside

the burden

of being your own savior.

It's crushing.

It only depresses

you to be your own savior.

It is so much lightness

to get that burden

and throw it away

and to allow God

to do what only

he can do,

which is save those

who trust in God,

the Son of God,

the Lord Jesus Christ,

who was born

of the Virgin Mary

in a simple stable.

That's the wonderful news

of this story.

Look again.

We see it in the names.

Look at what the name is

that they were to give

the boy,

verse 23,

Emmanuel.

It's such a wonderful thing.

It says that God

is with us.

You know,

the Down syndrome child

can put their faith

and trust in Christ

and God is with him.

The elderly person

who'd lived

maybe a very full life

but is now lost

in dementia,

God is with that person.

The person who's born

with severe handicaps,

God is with that person.

The person captured

in sexual slavery

or some prison camp

by some corrupt routine

and they give their life

to Christ,

God is with that person.

The billionaire

who gives their life

to Christ,

the soccer mom

who gives her life

to Christ,

God is with them.

God,

the Son of God,

came and went

through the normal process

of birth and life.

He is with us

in our mess.

He is with us

in our sin.

He bears the sin

upon his body.

He dies in my place

so that I can be made

right with him.

He is with us.

He does not despise us.

He does not think

we smell.

He does not think

we stink.

He does not think

we are losers.

He does not think

we are filled with shame.

He looks at us

and he loves us.

He came from heaven

to seek us.

He is with us.

He is with you.

That is the story

of Christmas.

And it is seen

in Emmanuel

and it is seen

in his name.

His name,

Jesus,

means the Lord saves.

The Lord is salvation.

He is with us

to save you

as undeserved gift.

So friends,

as we come to the end,

we are going to have

one more video.

Praise God

from whom all blessings flow.

Yes,

stories are weak,

easily mocked,

and easily dismissed.

But the weakness

of God

is stronger

than all human strength.

And the foolishness

of God

is wiser

than all human plausibility

and reason

and wisdom.

The triune God

himself

chooses to impart

these profound

and necessary truths

in the form

of a story.

A story so simple

but so profound

that a parent

can read it

to their two-year-old,

their 18-month-old,

to their PhD neighbor,

a street person,

or a soccer mom,

and all can receive

the story

and be formed

by the profound truths

in it.

Stories form you

in a way

that nothing else

forms you.

And God chose

the weak

and the lowly

to shame the wise.

He is with us.

Father,

we thank you

for the story

of the birth of Jesus.

We thank you

for Mary,

for her being willing

to allow God

to do that miracle

within her womb.

We thank you

for Joseph,

that he believed you

when you spoke to him

through the angel.

But most of all,

Father,

we thank you

for Jesus,

that God,

the Son of God,

would take on

our human nature,

would come

and enter our world

as a zygote

in the womb of Mary,

and that he would live

a normal human life

except without sin,

culminating in his death

upon the cross.

to reconcile us to you

as he bore the sin

and shame

which is properly

ours in himself.

Father,

we thank you

that he has done this

for us.

We ask,

Father,

that you grant us

a true confidence

in Christ.

And Father,

thank you

that he came

in meekness

and weakness.

And we ask

that as we think

about this weak

little baby

being born

so many years ago,

Father,

help us to know

that you are with us

in our weakness

and that we have

all of the weakness

we need

for you to work

within us

with all of your strength.

And we ask these things

in the name of Jesus,

your Son and our Savior.

Amen.