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to start, and then they had to follow the yarn all the way around the house from gift

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to gift.

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And I thought to myself, what an unusual and special way to present gifts.

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You know, God has presented a gift to us in a most unique and special way.

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I'd like you to open your Bible with me to Luke chapter 2.

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The long-promised and awaited gift of God was presented to you and to all on the first

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Christmas.

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In the first 14 verses of Luke chapter 2, we learn how God presented His gift.

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First God presented His gift with an historical context.

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Notice what Luke says.

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In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire

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Roman world.

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This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.

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And everyone went to his own town to register.

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So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem, the town

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of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.

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And he went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting

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a child.

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While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her

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firstborn, a son.

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She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them

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in the inn.

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I want you to notice the narrative, the historical narrative that Luke includes as he records

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to us the presentation of God's gift in His Son.

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Many times when we read a book to our children, the book begins by saying, once upon a time,

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or in a land far, far away.

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And immediately you know that this story is a fable.

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It may be a wonderful story, a story children love, but it's a pretend story.

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It's made up.

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I think of stories that boys and girls here probably know, like Cinderella and the Seven

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Dwarfs, or Little Red Bo Peep.

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Have you heard of those stories?

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You haven't heard of those stories, huh?

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Well those kinds of stories are made up stories, aren't they?

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But here is a different kind of story.

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Here we have a story that is tied to history.

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You see, Luke, who wrote this book, whose name is on it, Luke was a scholar and a researcher.

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He was a careful historian who gathered his details together, and in these verses we have

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read there are at least seven details to record God's giving His gift to history, to real

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life.

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First of all he says that Caesar Augustus ruled over the Roman Empire.

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Now we talked a bit about Caesar Augustus last week, but let's just remind ourselves

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that a century of crises and war had destroyed the Roman Republic, and then in 31 BC a man

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by the name of Octavian defeated his rival powers and within four years had consolidated

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all of these scattered peoples into an empire called the Roman Empire.

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He took a new name.

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His name was Augustus because he saw himself as being a very august and royal person.

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So he was Caesar Augustus.

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He ruled until 14 AD, and so as Luke tells us about the birth of Jesus, he says it was

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during that period of time that Caesar Augustus was alive and ruled the Roman Empire.

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Finally he tells us that Caesar Augustus ordered a census of his empire.

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Now the taking of a census in those days was a very complicated procedure.

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Most recently our government has sent out questionnaires that we returned, and in that

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way in 1990 a census was taken of the United States, and even that was very complicated.

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But imagine in those days when there was not the kind of communication and transportation

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today.

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The order went out from Rome that a census should be taken.

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It actually took years, years for that census to finally be made.

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It's interesting that Luke, who also wrote the book of Acts in the New Testament, tells

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us in the book of Acts about another census.

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He records the words of a man by the name of Gamaliel who was speaking to the Jewish

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Sanhedrin in the city of Jerusalem.

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And Gamaliel talks about a census that was taken in the days of a man who was a Galilean

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revolutionary, not Jesus of course, but a man who had lived in the early part of that

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decade, in probably 5 or 6 AD there was a census made by the Roman Empire.

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That was not the same census that was taken here in Luke chapter 2.

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The census was taken about every 14 years.

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And so if we subtract 14 years from 6, let's say 6 or 7 AD, we come backwards to 6 or 7

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or 8 BC, depending upon how you calculate it.

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If the order went out, let's say in 7 BC, it probably took a couple of years for that

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census order to arrive in Palestine and to be carried out because there was a particular

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problem in Palestine and that was the Jews.

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They did not cooperate very well with the Roman government.

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And so we believe that the census actually took place in Palestine in 4 or 5 BC.

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And so we have that period of time when the census was taken as when Jesus was born.

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Now Luke also gives us another piece of information.

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He tells us the name of the governor of Syria.

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That was that general area.

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It was called Syria and there was a governor who was appointed by Rome.

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His name was Quirinius.

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A secular history tells us that Quirinius in fact was governor of Syria, but it was

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6 or 7 AD.

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But Luke tells us that he was governor of Syria in 4 or 5 BC.

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And so there are those who have attacked the accuracy of Luke from that standpoint.

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There are several ways that that can be answered.

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The most accurate way to answer it probably is that Quirinius was governor of Syria another

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time besides the one in 6 and 7 AD.

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That earlier also he had been appointed as governor in Syria probably to carry out the

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census because Quirinius was a military man.

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He had proved his loyalty to Caesar.

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He was much rewarded by Caesar for that and because this area of the empire was so rebellious

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it's likely that Caesar ordered Quirinius to go to Syria, be governor there for a period

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of time while this census was taken.

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Then we have a fourth detail of history that Luke records for us.

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He tells us there was a man named Joseph who left the town of Nazareth to go to Bethlehem

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and we understand why.

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He had to go to the city where his ancestry was so that he could be taxed or the census

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could be taken.

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The census by the way was just the first step toward a tax.

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So taxation is nothing new to the world when it came to America.

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In those days the census was the first step toward a tax upon the people and Joseph had

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to go to Bethlehem.

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And then fifth, Luke tells us that his fiancee Mary went with him.

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Now that wasn't required by the decree from Caesar.

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It is unknown exactly why Mary went with him except that we also know that Mary was expecting

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a baby and it's probably in order to shield her from the talk in Nazareth that he took

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Mary along with him.

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That is the sixth detail that he gives us that Mary was expecting a baby.

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By this time she is at least six months along, probably a little bit closer to full term.

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And that may have been another reason why Joseph wanted to take her along although it

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was a very arduous trip, a very difficult trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

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And then the seventh detail that Luke tells us is that there was a baby born in Bethlehem

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who was wrapped in cloth in the traditional way but who was laid in a manger not into

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a cradle.

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And so all of these historical details Luke gives to us.

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He tells us that what happened on that first Christmas involved real people, real places,

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and real world events.

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You say, so what?

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It means that our faith rests upon solid historical facts, not myths or legends like other religions

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in the world, all of which have their stories and their legends as to their beginnings and

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to the people who initiated the religions.

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But these stories are so outrageous as to be on the face, mythological.

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Not so with Christianity.

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Christianity stands unique among the religions of the world in that it rests solidly upon

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facts that took place in human history.

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And so God presented His gift, first of all, with an historical context around it.

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And Luke records that context.

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Secondly, God presented His gift with supernatural contrasts.

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In verse 8 it says, there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over

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their flocks at night.

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An angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and

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they were terrified.

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But the angel said to them, do not be afraid.

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I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

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Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you.

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He is Christ the Lord.

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This will be a sign to you.

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You will find a baby wrapped in claws and lying in a manger.

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Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and

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saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests.

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I want you to notice in these verses the supernatural contrasts that God presented His gift with.

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There are at least three of them.

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First of all, we have the humble circumstances of the birth of Jesus.

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These were circumstances that involved the lowest kinds of events.

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We have Him being born not in a safe place but apparently in a stable.

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He is laid not in a crib or in a special cradle for a baby, but He is laid rather in the feeding

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manger of the animals.

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These are not normal circumstances that others enjoyed.

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We have here humble circumstances in the birth of Jesus, but that is contrasted to the glorious

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announcement of the angel.

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It says that the shepherds were terrified.

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So glorious was this event.

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The appearance of the angel was one thing, but it seems that that which really caused

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them to be terrified was this glory, as it is called, that shone around them.

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Now remember, these are people living 2,000 years ago.

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They are not accustomed to light except as that which comes from fire.

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Undoubtedly the shepherds had a campfire on that hillside outside of Bethlehem.

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But suddenly there is light all around them.

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It shines everywhere and it is brilliant.

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It is brilliant.

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It is the shekinah of God, such as was visible on occasion in the Old Testament when God

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manifested His presence.

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The brilliance of this light and the glorious announcement that the angel made stands in

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contrast to what was taking place only a little distance away in the city of Bethlehem where

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a mother and father laid their baby into a manger.

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The second contrast that we see is that of a helpless infant as opposed to a powerful

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angel.

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Here we have God Himself incarnate, born into the world and wrapped in those claws that

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they used in those days so that the baby felt secure and warm.

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Nothing wrong with these claws.

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That was typical.

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But they held Him tight.

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And there He was in Mary's arms.

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The mighty God.

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And yet the mighty God as a helpless infant.

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In contrast to that we have an angel of the Lord.

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We have a being, a creature from the spirit realm who manifests Himself in order to carry

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out God's assignment to announce the birth.

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We have a being that is human-like in form but that is from another dimension.

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A powerful angel appears.

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Isn't it interesting that that little helpless infant, that it was that one who created that

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angel.

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And now this powerful angel comes to announce the birth of this baby who is the mighty God.

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There is a third contrast that Luke draws and that is between the lowly shepherds and

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the heavenly hosts.

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Shepherds.

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We romanticize the idea of shepherds.

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But in that day shepherds were not considered romantic.

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Shepherds were outcasts.

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Shepherds were nobodies.

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If you couldn't get a job you became a shepherd.

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And the work they did was ceremonially unclean.

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And here they are living out there in the fields with their sheep in their low estate.

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And it is to them that the heavenly host appears.

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Along with that angel there suddenly came a host of innumerable angels who were all

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around them.

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And together they began to sing out glory to God in the highest.

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I like that Christmas song that I have heard now several times again this season.

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How should a king come?

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In the chorus it says, Earth was silent so the heavens rang.

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Men were dumb so the angels sang.

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Glory, glory to God.

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Here we have just plain shepherds who were in their fields doing their work.

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And this heavenly host appears to them.

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What an amazing set of contrasts Luke records here as God presents His gift to the world.

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And finally God presented His gift with salvational content.

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For there is a content to that message of the angels.

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It is made clear from the very first Christmas that this event is not about commercialism,

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the buying of presents.

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This first Christmas is not about family gatherings as wonderful as they may be.

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Christmas is about God coming into the world to save the lost race of Adam.

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Christmas is about God fulfilling His promise that the seed of the woman would come to redeem

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the fallen race.

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There are really three parts to the good news here.

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First the good news is for everyone.

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It is for everybody, not just the shepherds and not just for the Jews.

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It is for the world that the Savior has been born.

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Then the fact that the Savior has been born.

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He's come, it's over.

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The long awaited promise has been fulfilled.

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He is here.

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Third, the Savior is Christ the Lord.

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As Luke records what the angels said, there are at least seven terms that Luke then uses

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over and over again in his gospel.

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As he goes on to tell the good news of salvation in this book, Luke seems to go back again

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and again to what the angels said to draw upon them, upon those words.

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For example, the angels said, I bring good news.

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There is the word evangelism as we use it in the English.

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You on Galizomai.

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It is the speaking out, the telling forth of that which is good news.

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That is a concept that Luke weaves throughout his writings.

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Also talks about joy.

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Luke mentions joy more times than either Mark or Luke, or Mark and Matthew rather.

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And in fact, he mentions it more than both of them put together.

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When he writes the book of Acts, he uses the idea of joy 47 times.

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So again and again he goes back to talk about joy.

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To all the people said the angel.

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This word people, Luke uses 35 times in this gospel.

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Matthew uses it 14 times.

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Mark doesn't use it at all.

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He talks about this event happening today.

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That word is used more in Luke than in both the other synoptic gospels, Matthew and Mark.

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He speaks of the Savior being born.

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That word is used only by Luke, not by Matthew or Mark.

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He is Christ the Lord.

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The title Lord is used in the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, 166 times, 95 of

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those times by Luke.

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And the idea of glory is distinctive to Luke.

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As you see over and over again, Luke comes back to the content of what the angel said

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as he begins to fill out what salvation is all about.

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It is marvelous that this salvation message came to those who were considered misfits

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by society, those who were nothings.

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And down through the history of the last 2000 years, more often than not, it has been the

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shepherds of this world.

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The nothings, the misfits of this world that have been more open to the gospel than those

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who were thought to be somebody, to be something.

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God presented His gift with salvational content.

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Christmas in 1994 brings us to three timely conclusions.

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First of all, that God is still at work in history today.

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History is truly His story.

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Just as God was working in history in that day to bring about the first coming of Jesus

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Christ, He is working in history today to bring about the second coming of Jesus Christ.

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God is at work in the history of the world today.

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You know, it's much easier to see it when you're away from it at distance, when you

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can look back and reflect upon it.

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It's more difficult to see it when you're living through it.

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But let's try to see the fingerprints of God upon the events of our world today, which

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are surely preparing the scene for the second advent of Jesus Christ.

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God is at work in history today.

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Believe it.

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Trust it.

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Trust it in your own life that God is at work in your personal history too.

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Secondly, angels truly exist.

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The 20th century world has just rediscovered angels, as you probably know if you read anything

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at all.

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Our world is fascinated by angels all of a sudden.

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The problem is they're discovering angels on the wrong side.

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They're being deceived by dark side angels.

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The fact is that angels of God truly do exist and they serve the purposes of God today as

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they did then.

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Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who shall be the heirs

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of salvation?

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Indeed, they are.

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And angels minister to you and to me every day.

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Though we're not aware of it, nor should we focus on them.

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Our worship is of God and of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

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But don't ever forget that God has assigned angels to minister to you if you're one of

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His children.

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They carry out God's purpose in your life.

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The third observation I make is that the gift God presented 2,000 years ago is still the

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only good news in the world for Adam's race.

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There isn't any other good news.

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There is no other gospel in all the world but the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Unfortunately, in our world, at Christmas time at least, this gospel seems to get covered

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up with all kinds of other things.

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All of the trappings of society, of commercialism, are heaped on top of the whole idea of Christmas

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and it gets easily lost.

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In his book, God With Us, John MacArthur tells the story that was recorded in the newspapers

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a number of years ago about a wealthy Boston family that had a christening party for their

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new baby.

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They invited their friends and relatives to their magnificent home to celebrate the birth

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of their precious infant.

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A half hour into the party, when it was time to bring the infant out, the mother made a

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tragic discovery.

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The large bed where she had left the baby asleep was piled high with the coats of gas.

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The baby was lying dead beneath the mound, suffocated by carelessly discarded wraps.

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Doesn't that pretty well picture what happens to Christmas in our world?

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The whole story gets suffocated under the load of the wrappings of the 20th century

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celebration of Christmas.

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But let's cast off those wrappings and remember on this Christmas day that it's about God.

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God presenting his gift of salvation to the world.

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And the person of his son, Jesus Christ.

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In this article the question is asked, who was Jesus?

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So life interviewed eminent thinkers including scholars, historians, theologians, clergy,

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and an atheist.

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Who better to tell you who Jesus was than an atheist, right?

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It is interesting not one verse of scripture is quoted in the whole article to answer the

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question who is Jesus.

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But the last two sentences in the introduction I think summarize the whole deal.

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Talking about all of these people and their scholarly contributions.

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Their testimony makes one point clear, says the author, whether he lived or not, died

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on the cross or not, ascended or not, Jesus is alive in our time.

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And then here's the sentence that I think hits the bell.

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To believers and non-believers alike, Jesus matters.

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That my friend is true.

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To believers and non-believers alike, Jesus Christ matters.

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Let's pray.

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And he matters because he is the Savior who came.

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Have you received God's gift into your heart?

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If not, would you on this Christmas day receive him?

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Would you invite him to come into your life as an act of faith and say, oh Lord Jesus,

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I believe that you died for my sins and rose again from the dead.

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I ask you to come into my heart and cleanse me of my sin and give me the gift of eternal

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life.

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And in that moment, my friend, you will receive the gift that God gave just for you 2,000

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years ago.

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And if we have received that gift, let our hearts be filled with wonder and joy of what

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God has done at this Christmas time.

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Amen.

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Up in the attic, down on my knees, lifetimes of boxes, timeless to me.

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Letters and photographs yellowed with years.

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Some bringing laughter, some bringing tears.

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Time never changes the memories, the faces of loved ones who bring to me.

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All that I come from and all that I live for and all that I'm going to be.

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My precious family is more than an heirloom to me.

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Wise men and shepherds down on their knees, bringing their treasures to lay at His feet.

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Who is this wonder, baby, yet King?

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Living and dying, He brings life to me.

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Time never changes the memory, the moment His love first pierced through me.

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Telling all that I live for and all that I come from and all that I'm going to be.

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My precious Savior is more than an heirloom to me.