Christmas Day 2009 - Time to Ponder

Christmas 2009 – A Time to Ponder...
Sermon Notes – Ps. Jim White
Friday 25th December 2009
• For me personally, this is one of the most meaningful and special meetings or gatherings that we share together, out of the whole year. There are couple of reasons for that – one is that we are all here because we want to be. Well, I speak for myself anyway... We could all be sitting at home with a cup of coffee, relaxing with the family... doing all the stuff... which we will still be able to do later anyway – but each one of us has chosen to be here instead.

• We didn’t have to have a Christmas service this morning. We are not doing this for any religious reason. The bible doesn’t say you must have church on Christmas Day. Some might do it for religious reasons – but that’s not why we are here.

• The one thing that I love most about this time, is that we are taking a small part of this day to celebrate Jesus – the true meaning of Christmas. Thousands of people have a party today without even considering why it is a holiday or why they are celebrating.

• But I love it because it gives us an hour to gather together as Christ’s body – the church – the family of God, to remember, to be thankful, to rejoice, and to seek God’s heart in the midst of all the other stuff we like to do at this time of the year.

• I just want us to take a few moments this morning, to consider the lead up to the very first Christmas – from Mary’s perspective.

• We’re not here to worship Mary – but to learn from her.

• Firstly she has a visit from the angel Gabriel. Mary is a young girl – a virgin – but she is betrothed to a young man named Joseph. To be betrothed in those days was even more of a binding agreement than an engagement. But they still weren’t quite husband and wife.

• And this angel tells Mary that she is blessed among women – and that she will conceive a child by the power of the Holy Spirit – and His name will be Jesus. Gabriel says that He will be great, and called Son of the Most High. We’ll come back to that bit, and to Mary’s response, later.

• Mary goes off and visits her relative – Elizabeth – and finds out that even though Elizabeth is in her old age, and has been unable to have children all her life – she is now pregnant – and has her own story to tell about a visit from an angel. Elizabeth’s husband can’t talk, because he questioned and doubted what the angel told him...

• Elizabeth’s son, John, was born – to the amazement of all the people in the village – and it says in Luke 1:66 – that many things were being talked about throughout the hill country of Judea regarding this little child, and all those who heard and spoke of these things “kept them in their hearts.”

• (By the way, today’s message is actually about what we keep in our hearts.)

• We can only begin to imagine the sorting out that Mary and Joseph had to go through when she began to look obviously pregnant. Joseph knew it was nothing to do with him – and he considered how he could let go of Mary with the least amount of shame for both of them.

• But Matt Ch 1 tells us that Joseph also gets a visit from an angel – and the angel confirms everything that Mary had tried to tell him. I think I’d need an angel too at a time like that.

• Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem for a census, and Mary ends up having the baby in a manger – which has a kind of romantic feel about it – except that in reality it was a stinking shed full of dirty, noisy animals.

• A bunch of shepherds have a visit from a whole host of angels – and this is where we pick it up in Luke 2:16. “And they [the angels] came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. 17 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. 18 And all those who heard it marvelled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

• Other versions say that she treasured all these things – she held them dear to herself – deep within – she weighed them... to ponder means to put one thing with another in your mind...

• She treasured all that had been happening and all that had been said – deep in her heart.

• This morning, I want you to take the time to treasure and ponder on the reality and the meaning of Christmas – to allow your heart to be filled with the wonder of the birth of Jesus – and the wonder of how one thing fitted together with another.

• Consider, if you can, something of what must have been going on in Mary’s heart. How did a young teenage girl – all set to be married – cope with an angel, a pregnancy, a distraught and confused husband to be – a family that would have been totally turned upside down with one woman pregnant in her old age, and another pregnant before she’s married – there was a donkey trip to a strange city while she was nine months pregnant – shepherds who seemed to know everything because of their own angelic experience – wise men from the East with expensive gifts... and on top of all that, a baby who she was told a number of times, would be the Saviour of the world? How do you think she went, pondering all that, and putting it all together in her heart?

• But Mary didn’t get overwhelmed – or frightened – or stressed. In fact, she treasured all these things – and kept them in her heart.

• There is something very special that we can learn from Mary this morning. And it’s to do with her response to all the radical things that happened to her at that time of her life.

• When the angel said to Mary that she would become pregnant – her response was not so much one of doubt and unbelief – as wonder... How will this be? I’ve never been with a man before...

• And the angel said – you will be overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. It’s actually the same Greek word that is used in Acts chapter 1, where Jesus tells the disciples that the Holy Spirit will come upon them in the upper room...

• And Mary’s response in Luke 1:38 – “Behold, the maidservant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.” In other words – here I am Lord – my life is not my own – it’s yours... I’m here to serve You, and You alone.

• Do you think Mary had it all worked out? Do you think she understood everything that was going on? She might have been treasuring these things in her heart, but how on earth all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle fitted together, she would have had no idea. We’ve know the end of the story – but Mary didn’t. But what she had was a sense of wonder about it all. And her peace and her amazement was in the simple statement made by the angel – in Luke 1:37 – “...with God nothing will be impossible.”

• I’ve preached before at this time of the year, about the miracle of Christmas. The true miracle is that nothing is impossible for God. And I think there is a lesson for us here – and God is saying to us this morning – I want you to have the same kind of heart as Mary – and for our response to be as hers was – let it be according to your word. Let Your purposes become a reality in my life. Let me serve You with my whole heart. Let the impossibilities begin...

• Regardless of the circumstances – the things we see with our natural eye – the things we know with our head... there’s something even greater than all of that. And Mary had to come to that place of faith and trust and acceptance in the midst of the all the radical things happening around her at the birth of her Son.

• Imagine the wonder that Mary had as she looked at this tiny baby in her arms – and yet she had been told that He would make atonement for her sins and for all the sins of her people. How would that work?

• The angel had said He would be great – the Son of the Most High. But here He was, laying at her breast – just as dependent upon her as any other baby would be to their mother.

• Here He was, cradled in a manger – a feeding trough – and yet He was to rule on the throne of David. What a giant leap that would be.

• No doubt, Mary would have been pondering on the prophecy recorded about the coming Messiah, from Isaiah 9:6 – “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Her baby Son? Mighty God? The government on His shoulder?

• How could Mary really understand, that all the redeeming power and purposes of God Almighty were focussed on that little stable in Bethlehem. She wouldn’t have known – and yet she was full of wonder and amazement about all these things that were happening to her.

• You mightn’t understand all that is going on around you right now. You might have things that you treasure in your heart – things that you ponder – pieces of a puzzle that you try and put together – and yet you can’t seem to do it – it’s too hard to understand. It doesn’t even make sense from a natural perspective.

• Well, I believe God is saying to us this morning that it’s OK not to have it all worked out. In fact, if we had it all worked out, where would be the need for faith and for God’s supernatural hand upon our lives? Our job is not so much to understand – but to wonder – to be amazed – to consider and meditate on the goodness of God and all the things He is revealing to us – but don’t be overwhelmed in trying to figure it all out.

• The call Mary had on her life would cause her to continually have to keep things in her heart.

• Remember the time when Jesus was twelve, and Mary and Joseph and all their family were heading back home from Jerusalem after the Passover? Jesus’ parents presumed He was with the group somewhere, but they later realised He was missing. They found Him back in Jerusalem listening to the teachers in the temple, and asking them questions.

• This was another time where it says that Mary did not understand what was happening, or why her Son said to her that He was about His Father’s business – but again it says, she kept all these things in her heart (Luke 2:51).

• Can you imagine the things that Mary kept in her heart as her Son grew, and stepped into the fullness of His destiny as the Son of God and the Saviour of the world?

• Charels Spurgeon said in one of his famous sermons: “Infinite, and an infant. Eternal, and yet born of a woman. Supporting a universe, and yet needing to be carried in a mother’s arms. King of kings, and yet the reputed son of Joseph. Heir of all things, and yet the carpenter’s despised son.”

• Mary was the only human at Jesus’ birth, who also witnessed His death. She saw Him arrive as her baby Son, and she watched Him die as her Saviour.

• What must Mary have pondered as she looked upon her Son on the Cross of Calvary – dying for the world’s sin? Would she have thought about the time when she kissed His face for the first time in the manger? Did she understand then that she had kissed the face of God?

• What about those hands that now had the spikes driven through them? Covered in blood. These were the same hands that healed and blessed people. The same tiny hands that she held when He was only a baby in her arms.

• What about those first words that He ever spoke as a little boy? And the words that He shared later as a man that were like no other? He was the greatest teacher the world would ever know. And now she hears His last words – words of forgiveness and hope.

• What about His first steps? And then later the journeys across Palestine – bringing the good news of the Father’s love? And finally, taking the journey to the cross?

• I said up at Mullumbimby last Sunday, it’s really impossible to separate the story of Christmas and the story of Easter. But we need to ponder and consider the whole life of Jesus Christ – because He was born as a baby in Bethlehem, because our heavenly Father had a plan to redeem us – a plan that included the sacrifice of His Son on behalf of us all.

• This morning – these are the things we need to be pondering – the things we need to be holding and treasuring in our hearts - just as Mary pondered them and treasured them.

• Because there is a revelation to be had. The glory of God is being revealed still today through His Son. The more we give ourselves to pondering the truth and meaning of Christmas, the more the glory of God will be revealed in our lives.

• The glory doesn’t come through understanding – it comes through relationship – through revelation of who Christ is – through the supernatural power and presence of God, as we submit ourselves to Him.

• John 1:14 – “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

• The glory of God is revealed in the Son – as we behold Him.

• That’s all Mary could do. She would behold Him. And it was more than enough for her. She treasured what she experienced and beheld – and it filled her heart.

• Don’t let the frustrations of life and the striving to understand everything rob you this Christmas of filling your heart with the treasures that come from pondering the glory and presence and goodness of God.