Christmas Eve • Luke 2:1-20

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Amen. It is a long story, but it is a good one. Amen?

Amen. Well, good evening and Merry Christmas.

We're excited for you guys to be here with us tonight as we celebrate the birth

of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

A lot of you are here, and you call Willow Ridge Church home,

and you know us, and we're grateful, and we're glad that you're here,

but a lot of you don't.

And so whether you came because some friends invited you,

and you live here in the area,

or maybe you're in town visiting friends and family,

and so you came with them,

we're just glad that each and every one of you are here

as we celebrate together.

A couple of things as we kind of go through the service.

If you've been around Willow Ridge,

you know all the things that I'm talking about,

but if not, I want to make sure everybody's aware of what we're going to be doing tonight.

First off, at the end of this service, or toward the end of the service,

we're going to celebrate Lord's Supper together.

And so hopefully you're able to go back as you came in

and grab you one of these Lord's Supper cups.

Got the bread on top and the juice underneath.

If you didn't get one, I promise we won't think less of you.

You can go back right now and grab one of those.

We want you to have that so you can take part in the Lord's Supper together.

But then also at the end of our service,

something that we started doing during the month of December

was above our normal tithes and offerings.

We decided that we were going to look to bless Hope Valley Church,

which is in West Jordan, Utah.

We've been working and partnered with the Stotman family now

for a little bit over a year.

We've sent a missions team out to work with them

and they are planting a church outside of Salt Lake City

to reach that community with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And so over the course of this month,

we've been collecting an additional offering

to bless the Stotmans and to bless Hope Valley Church.

And so as you leave, there's a box right here.

You could come up and you could put it right here.

But then as you leave also,

right straight at the back of our auditorium underneath the exit sign,

there's another box that looks just like this with a hole in the top of it.

And so if you wanted to drop an additional offering in that as well,

all the money that we raise will go directly to them.

Well, tonight as we take part in this exciting service,

we want to start off by reading about the birth of Jesus Christ.

And so I'm going to read starting in Luke chapter 2,

Luke 2 · chapter mention

starting in verse 1.

It says,

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the world should be registered.

And this was the first registration when Canerius 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 clothes

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

In verse 8,

In the same region there were shepherds out in the field,

keeping watch over their flock 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 said to them,

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, who is Christ the Lord.

And this will be a sign for you.

You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts,

praising God and saying,

Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.

And when the angels went away from them into heaven,

the shepherds said to one another,

Let us 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 in the baby line 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 has been told to them.

As we look at this Christmas narrative,

I want to connect with us some of the things and the traditions that we've brought into this Christmas season.

And one of them, and it kind of adds to the excitement in the room, right,

especially with kids in the room,

is Christmas is filled with exchanging.

Maybe even before today or tonight,

more than likely tomorrow,

and even maybe in some days after tomorrow,

you're going to exchange things with one another,

and you'll exchange things with others.

You'll exchange gifts.

You'll exchange hugs.

You'll exchange cards and greetings and so many more.

And even some of my favorite, you'll exchange baked goods as well, right?

And the story of the birth and life of Jesus,

and what we want to draw from this before we take in the Lord's Supper,

is it's filled with exchanges as well.

And what you and I have in Christ is to stand in the benefit of that exchange.

And so I want us to look at, just quickly tonight,

a handful of these that we can draw from this telling of the birth of Christ.

And the first one that I want us to look at tonight is the exchange from a throne to a manger.

Luke begins his telling of the birth of Christ by giving us a historical time stamp.

And this isn't the first time that this is done in Scripture.

It's not the only time that this happens and takes place.

It's done in other books of the Bible as well,

where the author of the writing of a passage of Scripture

will want to give us some evidence about when it was written,

so that we'll know the validity and the truth of what is being told.

And Luke gives us some of these.

Luke tells who the rulers of the empire and who the governor is,

so that as people would read this in a historical account,

there could be truth that was brought to the narrative

because of the specific time in which these occurred.

Luke gives historical events to align with conceding events in the history

so that we can affirm and know that these things are true.

Luke tells the historical journey of a family,

and it would have made sense to know where this family was coming from

and the reason that they had to go and register to the place that they were going

so that it would resonate the truth of what's there.

And in this, we can see the historical accuracy of Christ,

of those things that would be made known.

But then from the throne to a manger,

he gives this wonderful, beautiful detail in verse 7.

And it says,

Then she gave birth to her firstborn son

and wrapped him with swaddling cloths

and laid him in a manger

because there was no place for him in the inn.

From a throne to a manger,

stepping out of the established of the kingdom of what was there

to step into, as the kids told us beautifully,

into the stable where the animals were,

where our Savior, Christ the Lord, would be born.

And in this, we see the humility of Christ,

of which he came to display.

When we think about the rule and reign of Jesus Christ,

of our Lord and Savior,

we see the victorious king oftentimes

of what we look at and picture in Revelation and his return.

We see the rule and reign of what he has in our hearts and our lives.

We see the rule and reign in which he establishes for us.

But he came in humility.

He came in humility and obedience to which he obeyed the Father.

He came in humility to those that he would serve that came across his path.

And he came in humility to save all that would call upon his name,

exchanging his life for ours from a throne to a manger.

Another exchange that we see is from fear to joy.

I want to ask you a question.

Have you ever been startled?

We all have.

We've all been startled.

And I love the fact that I just heard a kid say me, right?

I love that.

We've all been startled.

But have you ever been startled at night?

Outside?

It's a little different, right?

And when we see this passage of Scripture,

we find the shepherds are in a field,

watching over their flocks, doing what shepherds do.

And I have to imagine that what they were hoping for

was not a night that was filled with action,

but an uneventful night.

And late in that night, as they were watching over their flocks,

probably like, hey, man, you got this watch tonight,

so we're going to drift off, you know, back and forth with that

as they worked all the way through the night

as they would take care of what they need to take care of.

Looking for wolves, thieves, and any that would seek to attack.

And all of a sudden, the angel of the Lord appeared to them

and shone with the glory of God.

And verse 9 says that they were afraid.

They were afraid.

But the exchange of the gospel from fear to joy.

And the angel said to them,

Fear not.

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.

Let's understand something very quickly this evening.

Fearing God and being afraid of God

are two completely different things.

This past week, as we gathered in here on Sunday morning

and worshiped together,

we talked about what it meant to fear God,

which is what the Bible calls us to do,

which is to stand in awe of Him.

But that's not what the shepherds are experiencing in this moment.

When out of nowhere, the glory of the Lord shone.

The angel of the Lord appeared.

And they were afraid.

And what the angel wanted to communicate in the very beginning of this,

of the unfolding of the gospel that will be the Savior for all of the people,

was fear not.

Because the message of the gospel eliminates fear.

But instead, what we bring to you

is a message of great joy

that is going to be found in Christ.

Because the message of the gospel

is not one of fear.

The message of the gospel

is one of joy.

And so for the shepherds then

and for us today,

you no longer need to be afraid of God,

but because He came to save you.

You don't need to be afraid of God

because He is for you.

You don't need to be afraid of God

because He did not send His Son to condemn you.

But the beauty of the gospel,

what we're reminded of,

is because He sent His Son to save you.

And what the angel of the Lord

proclaimed to the shepherds

on that night,

the Word of God proclaims to us today.

We've got a lot of different people here

and a lot of different backgrounds

and a lot of different views or thoughts of God.

And if you're here tonight

and you feel like,

because of all the things that you've done,

because of all the things that you've been a part of,

because of who you are,

and so there's a fear of God within that,

because of who I am,

then understand that the gospel of Jesus Christ

greets you with fear not.

I bring you a message of great joy

that's found in salvation

because of who He is.

In the Christmas story,

another exchange that we see

is from conflict to peace.

So the angel tells the shepherds

how to find Jesus.

And then a multitude of angels appear.

And in verse 14,

they say,

glory to God in the highest

and on earth peace

among those with whom He is pleased.

You know,

in Rome during that time,

as Rome was seeking to spread

their power and their influence,

they sought to have a culture

of peace.

But their peace was a different peace.

It came through war.

It came through fear of the sword.

And so as the angels proclaim,

they're proclaiming a different peace.

A peace that is made between God

and all of mankind.

Glory to God in the highest

and on earth peace

amongst those

with whom He is pleased.

There are many different people

with many different views

and perspectives

of God.

With the way they view God

and how they believe

that God views Him.

But the Bible is very clear

and it tells us

that there's two types

of relationships

that people can have with God.

And one relationship with God

is a relationship

that is formed in conflict,

separated by sin,

because God in His holiness

cannot tolerate sin.

And the problem

for all of humanity,

for us,

is that we're all sinful

by nature.

And so we're in conflict.

We're broken.

We're separated.

The Bible tells us

that we're objects of wrath.

We're enemies of God.

And so the gospel comes

to make a way.

The gospel comes

to mend.

And so the story

of Christmas

is what we think

is peace.

And so it's either

conflict

or peace

made by the work

of Christ.

Glory to God

in the highest

and on earth

peace

among those

with whom

He is pleased.

Those who were

found in Him.

Those who have surrendered

their life to Him.

those who long

for Him.

Those who love Him.

Those who have been

saved by Him.

And we could end

the story here.

We could end

the story

with the shepherds

going

and the shepherds

seeing

a baby

in the manger.

We could end

the story

with talking about

how the shepherds

left and began

to proclaim

what they had seen

and what they had

experienced.

We could end

tonight

by the verse

that we love

that we talked

about in our

staff meeting

for so long

this week

verse 19

but Mary

treasured up

all these things

pondering them

in her heart.

But the story

as those kids

told us

it's a long

story

and the story

continues

and we begin

to see another

exchange

as the narrative

unfolds

from Bethlehem

to Calvary.

In a day

and a time

and a season

where we think

about Christ

as a baby

come to us

brought into

this world

it's important

to remember

the full story

from Bethlehem

to Calvary

that Jesus

who came

and as a baby

would grow

into a man

would spend

roughly about

three years

as an adult

preaching

performing miracles

calling a group

of individuals

to follow him

and he would die

on a cross

for the sins

of mankind.

And in fact

Luke chapter

Luke 9 · chapter mention

9

Jesus tells

his followers

this

he says

the son of man

must suffer

many things

and be rejected

by the elders

and the chief priests

and scribes

and be killed

and on the third

day

be raised.

You can't tell

the story

of Jesus

and end in Bethlehem

because Jesus

came not just

to be born

but Jesus

came to die.

he came

to take on

the punishment

and the death

that you

and I

deserved

and he

bore it

so that you

and I

may have life.

And if we

ended with his death

then it would be

both tragic

and incomplete

because the last

thing that I want

us to look at

in the story

of the understanding

of the life

of Jesus

whom's birth

we celebrate

is the last

exchange

from death

to life.

That Jesus

came

to defeat

and undo

death

and he

himself

died

and rose

again.

The beauty

of the hope

of the gospel

and he promises

that

for not

only

himself

but for

us.

In Luke

Luke 9:23

9

verse 23

scripture

says

and he

being Jesus

said to

all

if anyone

would come

after me

let him

deny himself

take up

his cross

daily

and follow

me.

Verse 24

for whoever

would save

his life

will lose

it

but whoever

loses

his life

for my

sake

will save

it.

The death

that Jesus

endured

three days

later

he rose

again

and in

his death

he calls

us to

identify

in his

death

so that

we are

crucified

with Christ

when we

are found

in him

and it's

not no

longer I

who live

but it's

Christ

who lives

within me.

And so

just as

Jesus

defeated

death

he defeated

death

not just

for himself

but for

you and

for me

and just

as Jesus

came to

undo

death

he undid

death

not just

for you

but for

you and

for me

so that

for all

of us

who are

found

in him

for all

of us

with whom

he is

pleased

should have

life not

just here

but for

all of

eternity

with him

tonight

tomorrow

maybe

earlier

you've

exchanged

or

will

exchange

gifts

there's

no

greater

exchange

that you

could ever

make

in the

course of

your life

than

exchanging

your sin

your shame

your death

for the

hope

and peace

and life

of Jesus

Christ

so I have

this question

for you

tonight

would you

exchange

would you

lay down

your sin

and tonight

receive

forgiveness

would you

lay down

your throne

and instead

bow down

before his

and then

tonight

as we

celebrate

the birth

of a baby

who came

to be our

savior

would you

surrender

your life

and find

life in

his

thanks again

for listening

to the

Willow Ridge

Church

weekly

podcast

we hope

that you

enjoyed

listening

to this

week's

message

if you'd

like to

learn more

about who

we are

or explore

additional

resources

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www.willowridgechurch.com

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Thank you.