The True Power of the Christmas Story (with Cathe Laurie)

Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here. You're listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast and my objective is to deliver, hopefully, compelling practical insights in faith, culture, and current events from a biblical perspective. To find out more about our ministry, just go to our website, harvest.org. So thanks for joining me for this podcast.

We'll be right back. This is a great little book. Sally Lloyd-Jones, a very gifted writer from England originally, takes these amazing Christmas stories and tells them in a way that kids can understand them. So here is a quote. Of all commentaries I can quote, I am going to quote from a kid's book because it helps you wrap your mind around it. Here is what Sally Lloyd-Jones writes about the first Christmas.

Isn't that great? And so that is really what happened on the first Christmas. You know, in the Christmas season, one of my favorite songs, and I already mentioned it a few moments ago, was Mary Did You Know. Incredible lyrics. Mary, did you know that your baby boy would one day walk on water? Mary, did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters? Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new? And I love this line, the child that you've delivered will soon deliver you. Wow. Great lyrics. Let's revisit that Christmas story again and so Kathy is going to read from Luke chapter two.

If you'd like to read along, that's what we are. The decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place when Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city 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 wife who was with child. So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered, and she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. So this was written by Dr. Luke. Luke was a physician by trade.

He was a stickler for detail. Luke was not one of the disciples that walked with Jesus. He came along a little bit later and sort of did a research project on this whole story. Presumably he interviewed people that were there. It is quite possible he interviewed Mary, maybe the wise men, others wanting details. And Luke not only was a physician, he was sort of a poet. And he wrote beautifully. And his description of the Christmas story has such an incredible ring to it.

Almost a fairy tale quality as I mentioned earlier. But then he put some little details that help us pinpoint this historically. He tells us that Caesar Augustus and Quirinius were ruling. Now Caesar Augustus was the first real Roman emperor.

And by that I mean where all the power now was in his hands. They had the Senate in Rome. But really Caesar was controlling everything. Hence the term Augustus. Caesar was originally the name of Julius Caesar, the first emperor of Rome.

But they took it then as a title. So this particular emperor called himself Augustus, which means of the gods. So this guy thought he was a god. This is where Caesar worship began.

Where you had to say Caesar is Lord. So it is an interesting thing to look at because historians believe that Caesar Augustus was around 5 feet 7 inches. Now I am not denigrating a guy who is 5 feet 7 inches. But can I put it delicately? He is not that tall. So it gives new meaning to the phrase little Caesar. Right? And the only recorded words we have from Caesar Augustus are simply pizza, pizza.

No. That is from a commercial. So the Lord touched. The Lord touched this little dude who was big in his own mind and used him to accomplish his purposes. You know we wouldn't even know the name of Caesar Augustus or Quirinius if it wasn't for the Christmas story. But right in the day he was the most feared person on the face of the earth. Caesar Augustus. But of course now he is just faded into the pages of history. But God needed some things to happen because Micah 5 to you said, So the Lord was saying Messiah will be born in Bethlehem.

Problem. Mary and Joseph were in Nazareth. Now He could have directed them there in many ways.

But the way He chose to do it was there was this ruling that everyone needs to be taxed. Because Mary and Joseph both traced their genealogy and ancestry back to David. They went to the boyhood town of David. Remember that was Bethlehem. That is where David lived as well.

And it just reminds us that ultimately God is in control. You know world figures come and go. Dictators come and go. Kings and queens. Presidents.

Prime ministers. But the Lord moves people the way that He wants to move them. Proverbs 21 says, The king's heart is like a stream of water directed by the Lord.

He moves it however he pleases. It has been said, History swings on the hinge of the door of a stable in Bethlehem. And the Lord had a plan to fulfill and so Mary and Joseph make their way to Bethlehem. Now obviously this is not what you want to do when you are nine months pregnant. This is a difficult journey.

They are doing it. We always see Mary on the back of a donkey. The Bible doesn't say she was. But it is probably safe to assume that is how she made the journey. But a difficult journey.

A dangerous journey. And she gets into town with Joseph. And they are looking for a place to stay.

And there is no room. And no room in the inn was sort of indicative of the treatment Jesus received when He walked on this earth. You know there is an interesting statement that says that everybody went home to their house.

And then it says, And Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Jesus effectively was homeless when He walked this earth. Now He would stay in the homes of people. But He just sat and slept out under the stars on the Mount of Olives. I mean here is the one who created heaven and earth who said, In His Father's house there are many mansions that left His home in heaven so we could have a home in heaven. But here in this earth there was no room for Him in the inn. And you know you sort of think, How could this be?

I mean there is a knock at the door and the innkeeper opens it. We always think it is a guy. What if it was a girl? It could have been a girl. You know girls aren't perfect.

Ok. Come on. And I bring this up because Kathy brought that up in her message. I thought, I never thought of that.

What if it was a girl? It really doesn't matter if it was a man or a woman. But here is the holy family of you. Mary and Joseph. Now when we see them in religious art they always have halos. If two people came to my door with halos I am letting them in.

Ok. Or maybe if they sort of glowed in the dark you know. A little background music as they are there. Music sort of swells. Yeah. Yeah.

You can come in. Well there was no background music. There were no halos. They just looked like two real poor people. And this innkeeper is not portrayed in the Bible. We don't know his name or her name. He is not portrayed as wicked.

He is just more portrayed as preoccupied. Well yeah you know I don't really have room and you don't seem to have any money. But this is all ultimately part of God's plan for our Savior to be born in the most humble of settings. But at the same time boy did He miss out on an opportunity.

You want to talk about opportunity knocking. God Almighty is about to enter the human race and it can happen in your home or in your hotel or whatever His lodging was. But He didn't have time. And that is how a lot of people are right now. Even in Christmas. Oh yes we are so busy shopping for Christmas and talking about Christmas we can't even go to church. Or we can't even take a moment to pray. It is amazing how full our schedules are until crisis hits.

And isn't it incredible how quickly our schedule opens up. And all of a sudden we are at church and we are asking for prayer and we are asking for other Christian brothers and sisters to stand with us. But you need to make room for Him because each of us is an innkeeper. And we decide if there is room for Jesus. You know the inn is your heart.

You decide. I don't mean by just asking Him in. But I mean making time for Him each and every day.

You know opening the Word of God in the morning and praying and being involved in church. And that is why we say to you make harvest your home. We are here for you.

We are here to help you. Because we are part of a family. And so here is Mary now ready to give birth to the very Son of God. You know I think one of the problems of Christmas is we have made it too beautiful. You know we have so almost deprived it of its original meaning with our horse drawn carriages and sleigh bells in the night and snow gently falling and all of the great things and chestnuts on an open fire and everything else we do. We have sort of stripped the story of its real power. Even the nativity scene as we see it portrayed in art it is so pretty. But it wasn't pretty.

It was pretty bad is what it was. I mean who wants to give birth to a child in a barn. That is what a manger is.

Probably a cave. And Jesus was probably laid there in the manger which also could have been a feeding trough where you put the food for the animals so they are laying this precious newborn in that place. But to me that does not diminish the story of Christmas. In fact it enhances it to realize the great sacrifice that God made to come to this earth making Himself small.

To be born in the most humble and difficult of circumstances. Why? Because He loves us. And because He longs for a relationship with us.

Listen to this. Jesus was born so we could be born again. He came not so we would have an excuse to go into debt because of all the shopping we do. He did not come so we could go to endless Christmas events and sing Christmas songs though there is nothing wrong with that. He did not come to teach everyone how to be good or to love our neighbors though that is a good thing to do. To be blunt He came to die an agonizing death and to ransom us from an eternal death sentence. The shadow of the cross lay over the beauty of the first Christmas night.

Let me say that again. The shadow of the cross lay over the beauty of the first Christmas night. It was there from the very beginning. And so He did this for us. And that is why red is the color of Christmas. Not because Santa wears red or because sometimes we wrap our gifts in red. Red is the color of Christmas because red is the color of the blood that Jesus shed for us on the cross.

So I think when you wear red and you wrap your gifts in red it is really a reflection of that. Even the poinsettia. Or is it the poinsettia.

I don't know how to pronounce it. But whatever you want to call that special flower of Christmas it is red. And it is a reminder that Christmas is about a tree.

Yes. A family tree. And not a Christmas tree but a tree that Christ hung on. Because the Bible says, Cursed is every man that hangs on a tree. And that is what He came to do. He went voluntarily to that cross.

He could have gotten out of it if He had chosen to. But He laid His life down for us. Hey everybody. Greg Laurie here. Thanks for listening to our podcast. And to learn more about Harvest Ministries please subscribe and consider supporting this show. Just go to harvest.org. And by the way if you want to find out how to come into a personal relationship with God go to knowgod.org. That is K-N-O-W-G-O-D dot org.