Christmas Message

[Michael Shanlian Ph.D.]

                                                                      BANK ON THE BABY

 

Luke 1:26-38

“For with God nothing will be impossible.

Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.”       

                                                                                                                       Luke 1:37-38.

A group of Bible scholars have unanimously agreed that Jesus had a human father, but they are uncertain who it was. Thus, according to these scholars, Jesus was not born of a virgin, was not conceived by the Holy Spirit, was and is not literally the Son of God, but is in the same category with other great religious leaders who were conceived and born in the usual manner. The article states that the birth narratives found in Matthew and Luke are fictitious. The church fabricated the story about the virgin birth of Jesus in order to give Him more status, according to these scholars. The seminar admits there is some uncertainty concerning who the father of Jesus was. Some say Joseph, some say Mary was raped, but none are willing to accept the Biblical narrative at face value. The Biblical account of Mary’s miraculous conception by the power of the Holy Spirit is dismissed by these scholars as a theological statement having no historical validity.

 

 

1.  THE BABY OVERCAME IMPOSSIBLE CIRCUMSTANCES.

Luke 1:26-33.

 

*Jesus would establish His Kingdom in a hostile environment.

 

When Michelangelo was ordered to decorate the walls of the Sistine Chapel, he refused. He had never done any work of that kind, and said he could not do it. But he was told his refusal would not be accepted. When he discovered that there was no alternative without some very unpleasant consequences, he mixed his colors and went to work. And thus came into being the world’s finest painting. There are few who realize what possibilities are locked up within them until some necessity compels them to attempt something they have always considered impossible.

 

2.  THE BABY WAS CONCIEVED IN AN IMPOSSIBLE MANNER.

Luke 1:34-37.

 

Dr. Luke describes the birth of two unlikely babies, John the Baptist and Jesus. He is the only Gospel writer to record John the Baptist birth.

 

THE TOUCH OF GOD AT CHRISTMAS This is from a 60 Minutes broadcast from a few years ago. It’s an excerpt of what Harry Reasoner said around Christmas time that I want you to hear. Listen carefully – he said:

Eleven years ago I did a little Christmas piece and it seemed like a good idea to repeat it. The basis for this tremendous burst of buying things and gift buying and parties and near hysteria is a quiet event that Christians believe actually happened a long time ago. You can say that in all societies there has always been a midwinter festival and that many of the trappings of our Christmas are almost violently pagan. But you come back to the central fact of the day and the quietness of Christmas morning, the birth of God on earth. It leaves you only three ways of accepting Christmas. One is cynically, as a time to make money and endorse the making of it. One is graciously, that’s the appropriate attitude for non-Christians who wish their fellow citizens all the joys to which their beliefs entitle them. And the third, of course, is reverently. If this is the anniversary of the appearance of the Lord of the universe in the form of a helpless babe, it is a very important day. It is a startling idea, of course. The story proclaims a virgin was selected by God to bear his son as a way of showing his love and concern for man. It’s my guess that in spite of all the lip service given to it, it’s not an idea that has been popular with theologians.

It is somewhat an illogical idea and theologians like logic almost as much as they like God. It’s so revolutionary, a thought that it probably could only come from God that is beyond logic and beyond theology. It is a magnificent appeal. Almost nobody has seen God and almost nobody has any real idea what he is like, and the truth is that among men the idea of seeing God suddenly and standing in a very bright light is not necessarily a completely comforting or appealing idea. But everyone has seen babies and almost everyone likes them. If God wanted to be loved as well as feared, He moved correctly, for a baby growing up learns all about people. And if God wanted to be intimately a part of man, He moved correctly, for the experience of birth and family-hood is the most intimate and precious experience that any of us will ever have.

So it comes beyond logic. It is either a falsehood or it is the truest thing in the world. It is the story of the great innocence of God the baby. God in the power of man has such a dramatic shock toward the heart that if it is not true to Christians, then nothing is true. So if a person is touched only once a year, the touching is still worth it. And maybe on some given Christmas some final quiet morning, that touch will take. The touch of God coming into this world as a vulnerable baby.

 

3.  THE BABY INSPIRED IMPOSSIBLE FAITH.                                                                        

    Luke 1:38. 

 

I like what Dr. V. Raymond Edman says about faith: "Faith is dead to doubts, dumb to discouragements, blind to impossibilities, knows nothing but success. Faith lifts its hand up through the threatening clouds, lays hold of Him who has all power in heaven and on earth. Faith makes the uplook good, the outlook bright, the inlook favorable, and the future glorious."

AN EPITAPH TO GRACE In a small cemetery of a parish churchyard in Olney, England, stands a granite tombstone w/ this inscription: “John Newton, clerk [pastor], once an infidel & Libertine, a servant of slavers in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the Faith he had long labored to destroy.” You may not remember his name, but all of us know the song he wrote as a testimony of his life: “Amazing Grace.”

AMAZING GRACE, HOW SWEET THE SOUND THAT SAVED A WRETCH LIKE ME! I ONCE WAS LOST, BUT NOW AM FOUND, WAS BLIND, BUT KNOW I SEE.

TWAS GRACE THAT TAUGHT MY HEARt TO FEAR, AND GRACE MY FEARS RELIEVED; HOW PRECIOUS DID THAT GRACE APPEAR, THE HOUR I FIRST BELIEVED!     

THRO’ MANY DANGERS TOILS AND SNARES, I HAVE ALREADY COME; TIS GRACE HAS BROUGHT ME SAVE THUS FAR, AND GRACE WILL LEAD ME HOME.

THE LORD HAS PROMISED GOOD TO ME, HIS WORD MY HOPE SECURES; HE WILL MY SHIELD AND PORTION BE, AS LONG AS LIFE ENDURES.

YES, WHEN THIS FLESH AND HEART SHALL FAIL, AND MORTAL LIFE SHALL CEASE; I SHALL POSSESS, WITHIN THE VEIL, A LIFE OF JOY AND PEACE.

THE EARTH SHALL SOON DISSOLVE LIKE SNOW, THE SUN FORBEAR TO SHINE; BUT GOD, WHO CALLED ME HERE BELOW, WILL BE FOREVER MINE.   

                                                                            

BIG IDEA: WE CAN BANK ON THE BABY BECAUSE HE AND HIS FATHER SPECIALIZED IN THE IMPOSSIBLE!