The Christmas Story for: History Lovers

Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would fall upon us afresh, that your Holy Spirit

would fall upon our minds, our memories, our images, the wounds of our minds, the longings

of our minds, that your Holy Spirit, Father, would fall upon our bodies, our emotions,

our wills.

Father, may there not be any part of who we are that your Holy Spirit does not fall upon.

Father, may there not be any part of who we are that your Holy Spirit would fall upon

and he's been to some of the different Christians, I should talk to several people this week,

have been to some of the classical music concerts that go on during Christmas season.

And one fellow in particular was really struck by the fact that some of these performances

of classical music around the Christmas and Advent season, how they're completely packed.

And the different words of Isaiah and of the gospel texts are very, very powerfully sung.

And yet it seems to be that it's completely, nobody's moved by it.

I mean, people are moved emotionally by it.

But it doesn't seem as if it makes any type of a difference to them, as if hearing these

powerful things about God doing miracles and the birth of Jesus, and it seems as if for many

people when they're listening to it, it's just an aesthetic and emotional experience.

But it doesn't seem to change them spiritually.

And it was sort of puzzled as to how that can happen in a country like Canada.

I had a bit of an answer to it last night.

I did not attend, not that I'm opposed to it, a classical music concert.

I watched The Furious 7 with my son Tommy.

That's the seventh installment of the Fast and Furious movies.

And, you know, as I'm watching it, I kept laughing all the way through.

I know it's not a funny movie.

There are jokes.

But it's such an overwhelming young man's fantasy of powerful muscles with no working

out, fancy cars with no job.

And you can just do all of these things.

You can roll out of cars and have your car go all the way up so it can hit helicopters.

And nobody's ever hurt.

None of the good guys die.

It's such a young male fantasy, at least some young men.

And I would just keep laughing because, of course, it's completely and utterly unrealistic.

And, but, you know, it sort of fulfills the type of fantasy and emotional needs.

I'm not putting it down.

You know, it's fun.

But, you know, in some ways, how most Canadians hear the Christmas story is really the same

way people watch Furious 7.

It's, it maybe is more high class to go to watch, to be part of a classical music concert

or sing the Messiah.

But it's just really fulfilling different emotional needs for people.

And it doesn't really seem to be connected to history or reality, so to speak.

And I forgot to set my clock, which is not a good sign at the beginning.

So, so, so for many people, it's just sort of like the Christmas story or really hearing

Isaiah 9 or Isaiah 7 or Isaiah 53 and Matthew and Luke.

It's no different than watching Furious 7 or hearing stories of Santa.

So, so the question is, is this really what, is this sort of a fair way to hear it?

Or is, is, is there a deeper claim being made that if we recognize the deeper claim, it would

make us mad or maybe excited?

So, it'd be a great help to me if you could get out your Bibles and we're just going to

sort of look and see whether at least the original writers of the Gospels were thinking that they

were writing something that would merely be inspiring or give some type of enjoyment or

fun to people or whether they were making, in fact, some claim very, very, very different.

And if you don't have Bibles, there's always a few Bibles up here at the front that you can

come and take if you'd like to use them.

And actually, we're going to not just, you know, we're going to not look at Luke 2 at

first.

We're going to look at Luke chapter 1.

Luke 1 · chapter mention

It's the beginning of the, of the Gospel.

And if you look at Luke 1, in this particular Gospel, it gives you an idea about what Luke

thinks he's doing when in a few verses on, a few lines on, he talks about the birth of Jesus.

Like, what does Luke think he's doing?

And by the way, there's very good reasons to believe that what we see here isn't written

by a person who was born a Christian, and he wasn't born Jewish.

He was born a pagan and Greek, probably from Syria, and he was a doctor.

And sometime after the birth and death and resurrection of Jesus, he became a Christian.

And he probably wrote this in the mid to late 60s.

That's the 060s, not the 1960s or the 1860s.

And here at least, listen, what Luke thinks he's doing or is trying to do, and we'll just

hear it in his own words.

And in his own words, he says this, Luke 1, 1.

Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished

among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word

have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely

for some time past, to write an orderly account to you, for you, most excellent Theophilus,

that you may have certainty concerning the things that have been taught.

And if you just sort of go on later, if you actually turn to the book of Acts and look

at the first few verses of the book of Acts, that's Acts chapter 1.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

If you don't have Bibles, you can just listen to it.

And when you hear this, you'll realize that Luke, when he was writing this, he actually

wrote sort of two books, what we now see of his two books, but they were linked.

And in the beginning of the book of Acts, chapter 1, the first few verses, he says this, Luke

Acts 1 · chapter mention

says this, in the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do

and teach until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands to the Holy Spirit,

to the apostles whom he had chosen.

He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them

during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

So it's very interesting.

If you're just listening to it, you'll see that Luke believes that he's telling a story

of Jesus, things that have happened to Jesus and other people who came into contact with

Jesus, that it's based on eyewitness reports, and that things actually happened, that he's

not writing a fantasy novel or a fiction novel, that he's not like in many modern movies.

At the beginning of the movie, they'll say something like, inspired by true events, or say something

like, yeah, inspired by true events, or based on true events, which are Hollywood wiggle words,

which means that there might be one tiny little dollop of actual truth in it, in terms of what

happened, and the rest was just creative license.

No, Luke actually doesn't say anything like that.

He says that he's really saying that, you know, I've done a lot of research, and I've

talked to eyewitnesses, and I've looked at other documents, and I want to tell you about

the things that Jesus actually did, and that he actually said, and what people said when

they actually saw Jesus.

That's actually what he claims to be doing.

And so he's claiming that this is, in fact, historical events.

So when it comes to the text that we're going to really look at today, if you turn back in

your Bible to Luke chapter 2, verses 1 to 7, Luke is claiming that this happens in history.

Luke 2:1–7

And in fact, one of the things, as I start to read, is that he actually, he doesn't sort

of say, I'm going to talk about history, and then he sort of says, in a land long ago, in

a time far away, and as if it's just like a bit mythical, and he doesn't sort of give any

historical details.

Already, prior to this, he's referred to historical personages that other historians and documents

and monuments talk about, and then when he gets to the story of the birth of Jesus, he

specifically locates it by well-known historical figures, historical figures that we know existed

from historians like Josephus and Tacitus, and we know from coins that had been found and

other types of historical records.

And Luke begins his story by placing the birth of Jesus firmly in Roman and Jewish customs,

and the world.

He goes like this, in those days, not long ago or once upon a time, but in those days,

a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all of the world should be registered.

This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria, and all went to be registered,

each to his own town.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of

David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to

be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.

And she gave birth to her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid

him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

And so Luke is claiming that he's writing what we would call history.

Now, at this point in time, we start to run into some trouble.

And people want to say, okay, George, listen, everybody knows.

And in fact, if you were probably to go to a local Starbucks, or a local Tim Hortons, or

a hipster coffee place, or no coffee place at all, and you were just to say, do you think

the things in the Gospels actually happened?

Do you think the things in the New Testament actually happened?

And that we can sort of know that they happened?

And people would say to you, probably all is one, we all know those things didn't happen.

We all know that you can't trust the documents.

We all know you can't trust the Bible.

We all know that it's just not historical.

That's one of those things the Canadians just know.

And it's basically told us when we read the National Post, or we read the Ottawa Citizen,

or we watch the CBC, or watch Hollywood, we just all know that, I mean, Luke might say

these things, but it can't, he can't, you can't take it, like, it's just, don't, don't,

like, don't believe him.

Like, just listen to it in a religious or spiritual way.

Don't actually listen to it like the way you would listen to instructions about how to,

how to, you know, install Netflix on your, you know, so you can watch Netflix.

Don't listen the same way.

That's what everybody would tell you.

So let's just look at this question for a second.

Andrew, could you put up screen one, please?

So, for instance, these are two significant ancient historians for New Testament times.

People, when they want to know about what was going on, they will refer to those.

If you take courses at University of Ottawa or Carleton in classics or antiquity, these

are two of the principal historians of the New Testament times that people would use so

that we could understand it.

And if you went there, people wouldn't say, oh, yeah, you know, Josephus doesn't know

anything, or Tacitus doesn't know anything.

We would just, you would just be taught who the different governors and emperors were and

all the different things, and they would be depending upon these two people.

So the question would arise, well, if this is the case, then obviously if you can't trust

the New Testament, if you can't trust Luke, it must be because Luke was born, like, way

after this, because Jesus was probably born in very late the year 5 BC or early in 4 BC,

and he died either in the year 30 or the year 33.

There's a bit of, it's not quite clear.

But so obviously if Luke can't be trusted, he must be far born a lot after that.

Andrew, could you put up the next slide?

That's when Luke was born and died.

You go, one moment.

You said Jesus died in 30 or 33, and the two other historians, some of whom mentioned Jesus

and Christians, they actually were born way later.

There's question marks because we don't know precisely when Luke was born or when he died.

What we do know is that he was already a medical doctor in the year 49, and we also know for

sure that he was still alive in the late 60s.

And so I just put a question mark beside it.

He might have been born a little bit earlier, a little bit later, died a bit earlier, a bit

later.

There's an old Christian story that he lived to the year 84.

But that's sort of a bit surprising for considering what all Canadians know.

So then maybe we could say, well, the problem is actually not that Luke wasn't at the right

time, but maybe what it is is that whatever Luke wrote, like whatever the real Luke wrote,

probably what is the case is that he must have written...

Sorry, I'm out of place in my thing.

Maybe the problem is that...

You know how they didn't...

So they wrote something at some point in time, but then maybe the...

Maybe there's not very many manuscripts around what, you know, these...

Because nobody has the original document they wrote.

So maybe what happens is that, you know, there's hardly any copies of ancient copies of Luke's

writings, and we have a lot more copies of Josephus and Tacitus.

Could you put up the next screen, Andrew?

I didn't sort of say that very well.

So, you know, when people want to figure out what Josephus actually wrote, there's...

You know, archaeologists have found copies of what Josephus and Tacitus have actually written.

And they're ancient manuscripts, like ancient copies.

And this is how many copies of Josephus, either all of his work or part.

Tacitus actually, even though nobody doubts Tacitus' writings, there's actually no complete

one finding in ancient copies of Tacitus.

It's all bits and pieces, and from the three different copies, we have what we understand

Tacitus to have written.

So the question must be, if gosh, if that's the case, then obviously it must be that there's

only like one or two copies of the New Testament.

That's why people can't trust it.

Next screen, Andrew.

That's not a typo.

5,700 ancient manuscript copies.

5,700.

What's not counted there, if you were to add copies of the New Testament that were translated

into Latin or Syrian or other languages, there would be over 10,000 extra ancient manuscripts.

And if you were to add writings of early Christians where they quote sometimes big passages of the

Bible, there would be over 100,000 extra.

100,000.

Compared to 3 and 133.

Well then, okay.

So we all know that Luke can't actually be trusted.

So it must be the case that the Josephus and Tacitus documents are written really close

to when they wrote.

And maybe those 5,700 New Testament documents are all like four or five, six hundred years

later and there's a big gap.

And that's why we can't trust them.

Andrew, could you put up the next screen, please?

That's the gap between the earliest copy of Josephus and when he would have written and

the gap for Tacitus.

And yet, remember I told you that if you take courses at University of Ottawa or Carleton,

you won't see professors saying you can't know anything about the ancient world from

Josephus or Tacitus.

They won't say anything like that.

So it must be, since every Canadian knows what's true, it must be then that, gosh, they

have all those extra manuscripts, but it must be a lot later than 1,000 years.

Could you put up for the New Testament?

It's not a typo.

Now, that's for the Gospel of John.

And depending on how you do the carbon dating, it could be as close as 20 years to when Gospel

of John was written.

20 years compared to those other figures.

And I'm sort of, you know, I'm using the New Testament because generally people just

don't focus on Luke, but the New Testament in general, at least the Gospels in general.

In fact, if you were to put there the gap between when Luke wrote and when the earliest part of

Luke has been found, the earliest copy, it's 100 years, about 105 years.

And that ancient document not only contains almost all of Luke, but very interestingly,

and very interesting, it actually has on one of the pages that they found, Luke comes to

an end, and then they start the Gospel of John. And then there's a large part of John.

It's actually quite stunning.

I'm just going to sort of stop with this for a second. If you could put up the last

screen, at least for this. If you're interested in getting more information on this, you can go to

that, and this will be on the webpage if you don't have time to write it down right now, but you can go to

Dig and Delve, or you can Google Dig and Delve YouTube, especially 2014,

and there's a whole range of talks. If you don't want to watch the videos, you can speak to our

sound guy afterwards. He has the audios of them, and he can give them to you if you'd like to listen

to them. And actually, before we go any further, this is for our Muslim friends. Our Muslim friends

often say that you can't trust the things in the New Testament that the Koran tells you, the true story.

And listen, even if you take for granted, and Christians aren't necessarily going to disagree,

that God can give somebody a prophetic vision, but the fact of the matter is that Luke isn't

equivalent to Muhammad. Muhammad wrote in the 600s. 600 years. Over 600 years after the death and

resurrection of Jesus. And so you can't, you have to compare what the Koran says with the historical

documents. And when you compare it with the historical documents, you realize that the Koran

is not correct. It's just not correct. It can't, you see, if Luke was writing at the same time as

Muhammad, you could just say they're battling visions or prophecies, but they're not equivalent.

Luke is writing eyewitness report that fits in with all of the known fact in the culture. And

if the Koran doesn't mesh with that, then the problem is with the Koran, not with the history.

And so some of you might say, George, go back to that text that you just read a moment ago.

Isn't it the case that Luke is wrong? He's not trustworthy. But isn't it the case that Quirinius

wasn't the governor at the same time that Augustus Caesar? Like it's a very, very common thing that

this sort of proves that Luke isn't trustworthy. I'll just read you the text again. Look at this

in verse chapter one. I mean, chapter two, verse one. In those days, a decree went out from Caesar

Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius

was governor of Syria. And George, isn't it true that the historical records show that Quirinius

was the governor of Syria in the year 6 AD and that Caesar Augustus died in, I think it's April of 4 BC?

That's a 10-year gap. Ha ha. Told you you shouldn't go the history route, George.

Well, that's a very, very interesting, it's a very, very common objection. And I don't have time to go

into all of it, but I'll just say a couple of things. If you go and look at some of these videos,

one of the things you'll see is that one of the archaeologists who speaks tells, quite frankly,

that in Israel, Jewish, not Christian, but Jewish archaeologists use gospels like Luke to make more

archaeological discoveries because they found Luke's and the other gospel writers' accuracy

helps them to know where to look to find things. And when they look, they often find things there.

In fact, in the Gospel of Luke, he mentions 32 different countries, like Luke and Acts, 54 different cities,

nine islands, and dozens of ancient officials. And in every case, archaeology has found him to be accurate.

So on one level, if he made only one mistake out of all of that, let me tell you,

Josephus and Tacitus make far more than Luke does. But in this particular case, it's not even obvious

that Luke has made a mistake. And I won't go into the technical answers, but it basically comes around

to two particular things. First of all, while we know that Quirinius was not the governor of Syria in 4 BC,

the word governor also can mean administrator. It's another completely valid way to understand it.

And the fact of the matter is, is that Quirinius is a historical figure. There's historical documents

that talk about his existence. Luke knows that Quirinius, if you go on and read the book of Acts,

Luke knows that Quirinius was the governor of Syria in the year 6 AD, and that his census caused a riot.

So he understands that. But when you actually go, there's a big gap in terms of what we know of

what Quirinius was doing. And during this time period of 5A BC and 4 BC, there's no historical record

separate that tells us what Quirinius was doing. In other words, if the word can also mean administrator,

there's no historical evidence that says that Quirinius wasn't the administrator in 5 BC or 4 BC.

It's not contradicting anything in history that we know of from any other source.

So here's the point. Andrew, if you could put up the...

I had to make Andrew run all the way back down. If you could put up this first point.

The other points will be briefer, by the way.

But I want to just see, Luke gives a true historical account

of the life, birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

That there is very, very good reason.

Not a mystical reason. Not an emotional reason.

Just there's actually good archaeological, historical reason to believe

that Luke gives a true historical account of the birth, life, death, and resurrection

of Jesus of Nazareth.

Now, this is deeply troubling to Canadians.

Because, you see, for Canadians, religion and spirituality is not about truth.

Not a historical truth.

It's all about...

It's about emotions and having peace and having meaning.

It's about higher things and spiritual things.

And it's about...

You know, when I...

In Anglican churches, when I was part of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa,

and the kids would make a noise in the service,

people would complain about it, and they'd say,

You know, the kids are making a noise.

I just want to have that hour or hour quarter

on a Sunday morning of peace and quiet

where I can just have a moment of reflection

and some uplifting thoughts.

And these irksome children are irritating me.

And that's a very, very Canadian view.

It's, in fact, to talk about history and truth,

it's almost...

It's offensive.

It's like native spirituality.

Okay, like, are you...

If you start talking about this, George,

it's going to mean that you're going to start saying to native spirituality

that there can't...

The world wasn't made by turtles or bears

or, you know, ravens pooping

or whatever the...

You know, whatever the myths are.

And it's going to be deeply troubling

about hard questions about other types of faiths.

And so Canadians, part of us, on one hand,

want to recoil against it,

and part of us also want to have a bit of a...

Well, we're...

Well, here's a perfect example,

another perfect example.

Back when I was like this,

about 15 years ago,

and I was still in the Diocese of Ottawa,

we used to have these things called clergy days.

It would be like a continuing ed day.

And in one of the continuing ed days,

we had this guest speaker come,

and he was talking about demons.

And it was a very well-attended one,

and it was a very civil conversation

as he was going through different things

about possession and attack and all that.

And then about halfway,

two-thirds of the way through the presentation,

a person put up his hand and said,

one moment,

this has been really, really, really fascinating

and very helpful,

but what you just said,

are you actually saying that demons really exist?

Like, actual have ontological,

actual existence that can affect,

like, actual things that are real?

Is that what you're saying?

And the speaker said,

yeah, of course.

And then,

he wasn't able to fulfill

any of the rest of his talk.

The entire room erupted

in attacking him.

Because as long as demons

were just ways of talking about evil

or mental illness

or sociological

or political types of processes

the way theologians like Walter Wink

would talk about it,

as long as it was just talking

at a symbolic level,

you know,

then it was all fine.

But when it actually gets to be real,

it's actually deeply offensive

to many people in Canada.

And so the problem with this statement,

Luke gives a true historical account

of the birth, life, death,

and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth,

is if you read past verse 7.

Because when you go past verse 7,

all of a sudden,

God appears in a way

which is deeply troubling.

God appears as non-tame,

authoritative,

planning,

powerful,

acting,

and intrusive.

And Canadians don't like it

when God shows up

not tame

and actually acting

and intrusive.

Let's read from verse 8 on.

So verse 7 is like

the actual Christmas story,

and she gave birth

to her firstborn son

and wrapped him

in swaddling cloths

and laid him in a manger

because there was no place

for them in the inn.

Verse 8,

And in the same region

there were shepherds

out in the field

keeping watch over their flocks

by night.

And an angel of the Lord

appeared to them,

and the glory of the Lord

shone around them,

and they were filled

with great fear.

And the angel spoke to them

in words,

in Aramaic.

He speaks in Aramaic,

Fear not,

for behold,

I bring you good news

of great joy

that will be for all the people.

For unto you is born this day

in the city of David

a Savior who is Christ the Lord.

And this will be a sign for you.

You will find a baby

wrapped in swaddling cloths

and lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel

a multitude of the heavenly host.

Lots of angels.

angels.

Praising God

and saying,

Glory to God

in the highest

and on earth

peace among those

with whom

He is pleased.

How dare

Him only be pleased

with some.

That's not Canadian.

When the angels

went away from them

into heaven,

the shepherds

said to one another,

Let's go over to Bethlehem

and see this thing

that has happened

which the Lord

has made known to us.

And they went with haste

and found Mary and Joseph

and the baby lying in a manger.

And when they saw it,

they made known the saying

that had been told them

concerning this child.

And all who heard it

wondered at what the shepherds

told them.

But Mary treasured up

all these things,

pondering them in her heart.

And the shepherds returned,

glorifying and praising God

for all they had heard and seen

as it had been told

to them.

the meaning of the birth

in the manger,

the birth and the baby

in the manger,

the meaning and significance

is given by God

to the angels.

Andrew, could you put up

the slide?

Luke gives a true historical account

of God communicating

the meaning and significance

of the birth, life, death

and resurrection

of Jesus of Nazareth,

the Messiah.

Now just a very, very little

brief aside.

When people say that miracles

aren't historical,

what they're doing

is actually almost always

arguing in a circle.

They'll say history

is the study of things

that aren't miraculous,

in a sense.

And then when you study history,

you don't find any miracles

because historians say

if there's a miracle,

it can't be historical.

But that's just not actually,

that's not being open-minded

to inquire.

If you start off

by assuming that all miracles

are non-historical,

and then you go and look

historically to see

if miracles happen

and you don't find any,

all you've done is

you're just following

what you've assumed.

But if you just look,

and it's beyond the scope

of this because it's

an Easter sermon,

the evidence

for the resurrection

of Jesus

is quite strong

historically.

And it ultimately

is the reason why

I trust,

and Christian people

who've looked into it

trust Luke on everything.

But if you see this text,

it describes

a non-tame God,

a God who intrudes,

a God who is authoritative,

a God who plans,

a God who is powerful,

a God who is present,

a God who can act.

And this causes

a bit of a dilemma

for Canadians.

Because you see,

on one hand,

our understanding

of religion and spirituality

cloaks despair.

because it's really

just saying

that there's not,

you know,

in a sense,

history is,

and forgive me

for saying this,

I'm just quoting

how it's said,

history is just

one damn thing

after another.

It doesn't really

mean anything.

And, you know,

if a story about Santa

gives you some meaning

and some pleasure,

if listening to Bach

or listening to Handel

gives you some meaning

or pleasure,

if Jack Daniels

gives you meaning

or pleasure,

then it's all

sort of basically equal.

Because you just

have to grab

whatever will amuse you

until you die

and then that's the end.

But on the same time,

we're sort of,

we understand

at the same time

that there has to be

some type of meaning

to life.

We stop short

of the abyss.

On one hand,

we want to just

sort of have the meaning

that we can sort of

grasp or create

for ourselves.

But on the other hand,

we have some type

of sense

that there must be

some type of meaning

to our lives,

our real lives,

not just our emotional lives,

but our real lives,

our embodied lives.

It's why we're always

trying to find meaning

in human actions

when other people act.

We don't want to just say

it was just one thing

happening after another.

We want to understand,

well, why did they say that?

Why did they do that?

Why did they say that to me?

Why did that happen to me?

On one hand,

we want to ask

these types of why questions

about our real life

really lived.

But on the other hand,

on the other hand,

we basically have

an understanding

that if there is

true meaning,

not just meaning

that we've made

for ourselves,

that it not only

has to be in a sense

personal,

but it has to be

more than personal.

There has to be

something transcendent

about it.

In other words,

that real meaning,

if there's real meaning

in human life,

it not only has to be

part of human life,

but it has to be

in a sense outside

of or beyond human life.

So, you know,

on one hand,

we're stuck as Canadians,

as human beings,

that we're committed

to this project

of being like God.

And we don't like

anything that interrupts

or intrudes upon

being like God.

And if there really

is a God,

and He really can speak,

and He's really

authoritative,

and He really can intrude,

and He really can act,

then our whole project

of being like God

crumbles.

Yet at the same time,

there must be meaning.

And so on one hand,

to start to have

a glimmer that there's

actual historical evidence

of God speaking

and communicating

and giving meaning,

on one hand,

for some,

is an answer

to the longing

and yearning

of our hearts.

Yet at the same time,

there is great fear.

There is great fear.

In fact,

we worry,

we instantly go to

saying that it,

instantly,

thinking that this

actual story,

that this,

that there could be

a story like this

which is actually true,

that it's inherently

imperialistic,

that it's imperialistic

to spiritualities,

non-traditional

spiritualities.

It's imperialistic

to religion.

It's imperialistic

to atheists

and agnostics,

that it's somehow

imperialistic

and forceful

and not good.

But that's just,

that's just our fear,

that the true

and living God

also has our

God project

at work.

That the real God

is going to act

in a way that we would act

if we really had power

to be God.

I mean,

just be honest,

you know,

sometimes I get mad

at drivers.

If I had God's power,

there'd be a lot

of dead drivers.

And maybe driving's

not your thing,

maybe it's cutting

in a line.

How many people

would be dead today

if they cut in line

of you and you

had God's powers?

And that terrifies

us about God.

But listen to the story

again.

Look at verse 7.

Look at this.

If the things

in verses 10 to 14

are true,

look at it.

He doesn't come

with power.

He doesn't come

looking like

the furious seven.

He doesn't come

looking born

out of nowhere

like the rock,

like Dwayne Johnson

with unbelievably

bulging muscles

and a negative

body fat count,

who's able

to just flex

his muscle

and the cast

explodes off

his arms.

And then he can

pick up heavy

guns and have

ambulances,

knock predator

drones out of

the sky.

I mean,

this guy,

no,

verse 7,

and she gave birth

to her firstborn son

and wrapped him

in swaddling cloths

and laid him

in a manger

because there was

no place for them

in the inn.

The king and king

and lord of the

lord's first throne

was a feeding trough

for animals.

And look at

verse 10 and

following.

What the angels

say,

and the angels

said to them,

fear not,

fear not,

fear not,

fear not,

for behold,

I bring you

good news

of great joy

that will be

for all the people,

for unto you,

ordinary people

like you in Ottawa

in 2015

is born this day

in the city of David,

a savior

who is Christ,

the Messiah,

the promised one

of God,

the Lord.

And this will be

a sign for you.

You will find a baby

wrapped in swaddling cloths

in line in a manger

and suddenly there was

with the angel

a multitude of the

heavenly host

praising God

and saying glory

to God in the highest

and on earth

shalom

among those

with whom he is pleased.

And he died.

So when we put our faith

and trust in him,

he is pleased

with ordinary people.

Ordinary people.

Here's the message.

Luke tells us

of the humble birth

of the humble Lord

who will save

ordinary people

that humble themselves

and humbly receive him

as savior

and then humbly

follow him as Lord.

The world is filled

with proud Christians

but God does not

call us to pride.

Come to me

all who are labor

and are heavy laden

and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you

and learn from me

for I am gentle

and lowly of heart

and you will find rest

for your souls.

For my yoke is easy

and my burden is light.

The words of Jesus

as recorded in Matthew.

Luke tells us

of the humble birth

of the humble Lord

who will save

ordinary people

like you and me

that humble themselves

and humbly receive him

as savior

and then humbly

follow him

as Lord.

Just sort of

in closing,

when we realize

that this is actually

historically true,

it, it, it, it,

it, it, it,

as this grips us,

it revolutionizes

and revolutionizes

our lives.

Why do I pray?

When I pray

at the beginning

of the service

for the Holy Spirit

to fall,

I pray to a God

who does exist

who can listen

and who can do that.

When I pray

for somebody

to be healed,

I don't know

if God will say yes

or no

or how he will heal them,

but I pray to a God

who can do that.

How can it make a difference?

Why should anybody

like stand at the door

like Owen

and get cold

to serve people?

Why should anybody

look after snotty-nosed,

sniveling little kids

and not get any thanks?

It's because there's

a meaning and purpose

to life

and I'm humbly

following the Lord

and I'm following

a trajectory

that will lead

to an eternal life

in the new heaven

and the new earth.

Why is it that I should

take the risk

of forgiving people

while I,

Jesus, my Savior

and my Lord

has told me to do this.

He died

so that I might be forgiven.

He died

so my enemies

might be forgiven

and out of that

as I'm gripped

by the gospel

it makes sense

to try to forgive.

And why is it that,

I don't know,

we should take,

like why is it

that we have people

from our congregation

who decide

to leave

very profitable jobs

or careers

to go to

closed nations

to share the gospel

with them?

Why is it that

we take stands

and take risks

with budgets

and other types

of things?

Why is it that

we have people

going to places

like Turkey

and other places

like Asia?

Why is it,

well,

it's because

if you go to bed

every night

thinking that it's

just one damn thing

after another,

it's very hard

to have courage.

If you believe

there is a God

who actually exists

who's sovereign

and can act

in human history,

who has received

you as his own

when you put

your faith

and trust in him,

well,

why don't we

try something?

If God is leading,

if God is for us,

let's go for it.

Please stand.

You know,

there's,

this isn't a myth,

it's not a fable.

And,

on one hand,

to know that

there really is a God,

an untamed

but good God

who really exists,

who can really act,

who humbles himself

as a child,

this is the end

of our longings

and of our yearnings.

And it opens

a whole new life

of courage

and a whole new life

of prayer

when you put

your hand

in the hand

of the one

who came as a baby

but died on the cross

and rose triumphant

over sin and death.

Let's bow our heads

in prayer.

Father,

may you know

that there might be

people here this morning

who have not yet

put their trust

in Jesus.

You know,

Father,

you know,

Father,

deeply the fears

that they have

about making

such a step

of faith in Jesus.

I ask,

Father,

that your Holy Spirit

would fall gently

but deeply upon them

and deliver them

from fear

and fan into flame

within them

a longing

and yearning

to call out

to Jesus

to be their Savior

and their Lord,

that they would do

that today.

And,

Father,

for those of us

who are followers

of Jesus,

you know how easy

it is that our culture

seeps away

our confidence

that you are sovereign

or that you hear

our prayers,

how our culture

seeps away

our life of prayer

or calling out

for you to move

and act.

Father,

may your Holy Spirit

fall upon us

with gentle

but deep power

that we might

once again

know how big

and awesome

and true

and real

you really are

and that you

are not

a distant God

but our Father

who loves us

and that Jesus

is not just

a fable

or a story

but that he

can be my Savior

and my friend

that he died

for me

to make me yours

and he rose

from the dead

and conquered

sin and hell

and all hostile

spiritual powers

in his resurrection

and that I can walk

with him

and in him

day by day

as I face my life.

Father,

build and grow

in me

a deep and humble

trusting confidence

in Jesus

and in you.

Pour out your Holy Spirit

this we pray

in Jesus name.

Amen.