The first century Greco-Roman world of the New Testament was highly stratified into classes.
From Caesar down to slaves, everybody had their role. It was into this stratified world that Jesus was born. A chorus of angels heralded the fact that to everyone in that world there was now a reason for joy. Today, part three in our series on The Greatness of Christmas. From Chicago, welcome to The Moody Church Hour with Pastor Philip Miller. Stay with us for a time of worship and teaching as we continue an Advent series that leads us to the celebration of Christmas. From Luke's Gospel, chapter two, we'll look at great joy, thoughts on why no one is excluded from experiencing this wondrous joy. Here now is Pastor Philip and worship leader Tim Stafford. Well, good morning everybody and welcome to The Moody Church.
We're so glad you're here. You know, one of the things that amazes me about Jesus is that he came all the way down to rescue us from the heights of the glories of heaven to the everyday life of a Jewish carpenter's home in the middle of basically nowhere. He came all the way down to rescue and redeem us. It's a miracle.
It's amazing. So we want to gather around that truth and realize what the incarnation means for each and every one of us this morning. So would you join me in prayer as we begin?
Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you loved us enough to send us Jesus Christ, the greatest gift the world has ever known, and that he would be willing to volunteer to come all the way down into obscurity, into poverty, into the middle of nowhere, to redeem us, to make us your children by grace through faith in Christ. This is amazing. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful story, his humbling for us, and then the glory that is due his name as a result.
This is amazing. So we pray that you would magnify Christ in our hearts today. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Shepherds bow before the lamb Gazing at the glory Gives the lamb a disturbance From the sign of glory For the King is born today In since God is with us Glory's been made away By his blood, he'll win us Son of man, Son of man Given as a ransom Second son of God and man Christ the mighty champion Once a baby met the heaven And the Lord of history Gloria, in excelsis Deo Gloria, in excelsis Deo Gloria, in excelsis Deo Come to Bethlehem and sing Him whose birth the angels sing Come at our understanding Christ the Lord, the new morning Gloria, in excelsis Deo In excelsis Deo And Mary said, my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant For behold from now on all generations will call me blessed For he who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation He has shown strength with his arm He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent empty away He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours Searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the spirit of Christ in them was indicating When he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glory It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you In the things that have now been announced to you to those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven Things into which angels long to love Though you have not seen him, you love him Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory For you are obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls Soon falling in the mowing Christ the baby star of all Swift are we, angels we, tidings we, tidings we Christ the baby, Lord of all Fox were sleeping, shepherds keeping, vigil till the morning moon Saw the glory, heard the story, tidings of the gospel true First rejoicing, free from sorrow, praise his voice singing, rain of sorrow Christ the baby, Lord of all of you Christ the baby, Lord of all of you Joy to the world, the Lord is come, let earth receive her King Let earth receive her King, let earth and nature sing, let earth and nature sing Joy to the earth, the Saviour reigns, let men their songs employ The fields and floods, the hills and plains repeat the sounding joy Repeat the sounding joy, repeat, repeat the sounding joy, joy Hear the joyful sound of our offering As your saints bow down, as your people sing We will rise with you lifted on your wings And the world will see that our God saves, our God saves There is hope in your name Oh Lord of sins and sorrows, for those who first are gone, he comes to make his blessings known For as the curse is found, for as the curse is found, for as, for as the curse is found Oh, he rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove His righteous face, and wonders of his love, and wonders of his love, and wonders, wonders of his love Oh, the joy Hear the joyful sound of our offering As your saints bow down, as your people sing We will rise with you lifted on your wings And the world will see that our God saves, our God saves There is hope in your name One is right to suffer praise, our God saves, our God saves Joy to the world, the Lord is come Oh, joy to the world, the Lord is come Oh, joy to the world, the Lord is come Joy to the world, the Lord is come Oh, behold, the mystery now unfolds See the star shine on the virgin foretold Angels sing and light up the sky Hope brings out in a newborn's cry Swing wide, you ancient gates For Christ is born today Prepare him room, prepare him room Let the King of glory enter in Come with us, the promise has come to be There's no one, prophets were longing to see In the darkness a blazing light To the hungry waters of life His kingdom now is near For those with history Prepare him room, prepare him room Let the King of glory enter in Prepare him room, prepare him room Let the King of glory enter in Oh, our heart's as busy as Bethlehem Hear him knock to say there's no room in the end Through the cradle cross and rain See the love of God displayed Now he's risen and raised Raised and made from all our ways Prepare him room, prepare him room Let the King of glory enter in Prepare him room, prepare him room Let the King of glory enter in Prepare him room, prepare him room Let the King of glory enter in Prepare him room, prepare him room Let the King of glory enter in Let the King of glory enter in Let the King of glory enter in Lord, we do need to stop being busy.
Lord knows I know it today. Help us to look for you in these moments when things are rushing by. To look for you, Lord, prepare room for you in our hearts.
In Jesus' name, Amen. Krista and I enjoy reading in the evenings when we're winding down after a long day, usually with a cup of tea, just side by side in bed. And I'm currently rereading Emma by Jane Austen.
Don't make too much fun of me. But as I'm rereading Austen, and it's not just Emma, but it's in all of her books, I'm struck once again at just how socially stratified the world was, the British world in which she lived. There were these clearly delineated social circles prescribed by people's wealth and societal consequence.
Who could dine with whom and who was invited and who was excluded, who were eligible matches or not. Everything was largely determined by the level of your social class. Now, here in America, our class structure is somewhat less stratified than 18th century Britain. There's certainly a lot more mobility within our class structure. But we do have levels, don't we? We have levels and circles of society. Here in Chicago, you can tell block by block whether you're in a wealthy part of town or not, right? I mean, just as you move throughout the city.
Why do I bring all of that up? Well, the first century Greco-Roman world in the New Testament was a highly stratified one, very class conscious. So you had at the very top, you had Caesar and the political ruling class. Then you had the landed estate owners, decorated military leaders. Then below them, you had generally Roman citizens, which were, of course, way higher on the status ladder than non-Roman citizens. You had regional officials, educated professionals, trades people, manual laborers. And then you had the manual laborers with the dirty jobs.
And then even below that, you had slaves. And it is into this highly stratified world that Jesus is born. And in our passage today, Luke goes out of his way to point out, make sure we don't miss, that Jesus' origins were particularly lowly. They were lowly origins. Jesus is born to a blue collar family from a one horse town in Nazareth, out in the sticks of Galilee, in the Roman oppressed nation of Israel. He is found lying in a feeding trough, surrounded by a raft of smelly herdsmen in the middle of the night.
This is not the story we would have expected. Who would have ever thought that when the King of Heaven came to town, he would move in on the wrong side of the tracks? But he shows up this way on purpose, because this is the best way for Jesus to show the world, and us, who He really is. So grab your Bibles. We're going to be in Luke chapter 2, verses 1 down to 20 this morning. And in these very familiar verses of the Christmas story, we will see this morning three things about our Lord. We'll see His sovereignty, His extravagancy, and His modesty.
His sovereignty, extravagancy, and modesty. Let's bow our heads and pray together as we turn to God's Word. Heavenly Father, we gather here today amazed at who You are. This is not the story we would have expected or even written. If we were to try to tell a believable story of God coming to earth, it wouldn't look like this.
And yet this is how You chose to come in the person of Your Son. And so we marvel and wonder at these things. Help us to see Jesus. This morning we pray. Fill us with great joy. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Amen. So the first thing we see here is the Lord's sovereignty. The Lord's sovereignty. Luke chapter 2 verse 1. In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration while Quirinius was governor in Syria and all went to be registered each to his own town.
Just pause there for a moment. Mary and Joseph we know are from Nazareth which is up north in Galilee in Israel. But that is not the place where Jesus will be born. Jesus will be born in Bethlehem in Judea.
This is the story of how Jesus got born in Bethlehem instead of the place where He is from up in the north. Caesar Augustus issues a decree requiring people of the Roman Empire everywhere to register in a kind of census. This is of course so that he will know how many taxable families he has in the empire so he can fill his coffers and keep the glory of Rome intact and so people are required to go to all the places where they herald originally their family roots run deepest to satisfy this registration. Now let me tell you a little bit about Caesar Augustus. He was born in 63 B.C. His name, given name was Gaius Octavius and when his maternal great uncle Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C. on the Ides of March Caesar's will named Octavius as his legal son and heir. And so this great nephew ends up ascending to the throne.
Of course there was a great civil war after Julius Caesar's death if you know your history, massive unrest but in 31 B.C. Octavius ascends to the throne. He takes the name Augustus and through his conquest expands the Roman Empire to control virtually all of the known world.
He taxed very heavily but then turned around and gave lots of resources to the people and ingratiated himself to others that way. His era is known in history as the era of the Pax Romana, the Roman peace because no one dared oppose him and he conquered all. Caesar Augustus became known at that time as a kind of god.
He was called savior of Rome, the lord of the earth who had brought peace to all mankind. This is an image of the Praene calendar inscription. This was discovered in 1868 and 69 by Richard Poland who was leading an archaeological dig in the ancient Greek city state of Praene which is now located in modern day Turkey. And he was digging in the precincts of the temple of Athena Polias. He unearthed two tablets and on this one and the other one this is the statement that is read.
Listen to these words. I share this to help you understand how Caesar Augustus was viewed in his day. All the cities unanimously adopt the birthday of the divine Caesar as the new beginning of the year.
This is September 23rd by the way. Since providence gave us Augustus whom she filled with virtue that he might benefit humankind sending him as a savior both for us and for our descendants that he might end war and arrange all things. And since he, Caesar, by his appearance excelled even our anticipations surpassing all previous benefactors and not even leaving to prosperity any hope of surpassing what he has done and since the birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning of the good news for the world that came by reason of him.
I want you to see Luke is situating this text. Luke chapter 2 in the days of Caesar Augustus. In the days when Caesar was considered savior and lord who brought peace to the earth. In the days when Caesar's birth was heralded as good news of joy for the world. In the days when Caesar was worshipped as the divine son of providence.
In the days when Caesar made everyone register so that he could hike their taxes and enhance the glory of Rome to the ends of the earth. It is in those days that the real savior was born. It was in those days that the true king arrived. It was in those days that the lord of all stepped in to space and time. The prince of peace, the son of god, the glorious one was born.
It is in these days of the man who made himself out to be a god that god himself became a man, you see. Verse 4. 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. So Joseph and Mary head south to Judea which is up in elevation to the town of Bethlehem. Bethlehem means house of bread.
This is the small little town of the great king David of old. Joseph is of his lineage, a long and distant relative and so he goes to Bethlehem. Mary's with him and of course as we know she is pregnant. Now to the casual reader this seems very run of the mill, ho-hum, nothing big going on here but this is a massively significant moment because Jesus had to be born in Bethlehem. He could not have been born in Nazareth, not if he were to be the Messiah. There's a prophecy in the Old Testament, Micah 5 verses 2 to 5.
Let me read it to you. But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth and then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel and he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God and they shall dwell secure for he shall be great to the ends of the earth and he shall be their peace. So it's a good thing, isn't it, that Joseph and Mary just happened to be in the right place at the right time, isn't it? Verse 6, and while they were there the time came for her to give birth.
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 them in the inn. Of course these events are not coincidental, they're not haphazard. God works all things according to the counsel of his will and he is providentially at work bringing all of these things to pass. Here's what's amazing to me. God used an emperor with an ego who made himself out to be God to issue the very edict that required Joseph and Mary show up in Bethlehem.
It just happens to be the exact time when Mary will go into labor so that God's son might be born the Messiah in the right place and at the right time. Luke wants us to see. Caesar Augustus may be calling the shots but it is the Lord who reigns over all. It is the Lord who reigns over all.
Psalm 115 verse 3 says Our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases. Proverbs 21 verse 1 The king's heart is like a stream of water in the hand of the Lord.
He turns it whatever way he wills. The Lord God Almighty reigns over the affairs of men. Nothing can thwart the advent of his redemptive plan. Caesar Augustus plays right into the hand of God.
Here you see this. The Roman Empire, the census, ushers in the kingdom of heaven. There's no room in the city of David and so David's heir is laid in a manger in a cattle feeding trough and all of this is under the sovereign hand of God.
It's no accidents. The Lord's sovereignty, that's the first thing we see. Secondly, we see the Lord's extravagancy, his extravagancy. Look at 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.
Of course they were. The Son of God has been born and God is like an eager daddy. He just wants to tell the world. He's bursting with pride. He's got to send out a birth announcement, you know.
So he pulls out all the stops. He sends this angel to herald a royal proclamation with a battalion of angelic warriors clad with lightning right on his heels in a crescendo making the grandeur of this cosmic moment real and he dispatches this regal entourage so that the world might know what has happened that his Son has been born and he sends them. The first people on his list are shepherds. Shepherds? Yes, shepherds.
Not Caesar. Not the religious leaders. Not the educated.
Not the elites. Shepherds. Low class, uneducated, poor shepherds who smelled a lot like sheep.
Don't you see? God chose Mary lowly, humble, nobody Mary to bear the Son of God. God chose a manger, a slobbery, chewed on feeding trough to be the bassinet for the Son of God. And God chose shepherds a bunch of third shift herdsmen to be the first to hear of His coming.
It's amazing. Verse 10. The angel said to them, fear not for behold I bring you listen to these words 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 and this will be a sign for you you will find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased. I hope you see that. Do you see the parallels with the praying calendar inscription that I read you earlier?
Did you catch them? Here again is good news of great joy for all people a Savior who is Christ the Lord who will bring peace on earth and glory. Don't you see what's going on here? God picks the greatest most powerful most worshipped and feared person on earth on the planet Emperor Caesar Augustus himself who whenever he says anything people do it. And he says this baby born in Bethlehem Jesus Christ the Messiah the Son of God will be even greater than Him. Unto you is born this day a Savior not just from the enemies of the empire but the greatest enemies the world has ever known sin, death and Satan He will conquer them all. He is Christ the Lord the Messiah the Lord of all the earth not through conquest or intimidation but by becoming the servant of all. And He will bring peace on earth not by destroying His enemies but by laying down His life for them. This baby who was born in a manger will grow up and lay down his life on a cross. He will bear all of our sin and shame and rise again to make us right with God forever that we might have peace with God and be adopted as His sons and daughters forever. And if that is true then Jesus coming friends is good news of great joy not just for Roman citizens but for all people. And His coming means glory not for Rome but for God in the highest. Do you want to know that heaven is broken in shepherds?
You will find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. If these guys knew anything it was mangers, right? They knew exactly what they were they knew exactly where they were in town.
Don't you see? This is all for them. This is for them. They would have been intimidated if they had been invited to a palace.
They would have felt out a place like they had to clean themselves up if they had to go to a comfortable inn. But this baby, this Savior is lying in a manger. They're going to be right at home. And Luke wants us to see the Lord comes for all. The Lord comes for all. Jesus comes, friends, for shepherds and wise men. For wealthy and poor. For the overweight and the skinny. For optimists and pessimists.
For those who are trending and those who are canceled. He comes for you and for me. Friends, if shepherds were invited to the presence of Jesus then perhaps, just perhaps you and I can come too, you see. How extravagant of God to invite all of us. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever, whoever should believe in Him might not perish but have everlasting life. This is the Lord's sovereignty, His extravagancy and now finally, His modesty. The Lord's modesty, His modesty. Verse 15. 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 and the baby lying in a manger. I can't imagine Joseph. Can you imagine Joseph's conversation with Mary? You know, he comes in. He's like, hey, I hate to bother you. Sweetie, I know you did a great job.
You had the baby and everything and I know you're exhausted and we just got the baby asleep. I understand that but there's a, there's a bunch of shepherds that want to come in. And she's like, you know these people, right? Like these are long relatives, lit distance, this is your town, right? You know these people? And he's like, no, I've never seen them before. Okay. An angel sent them. We're listening to angels a lot recently, right?
Alright, send them in. And so these stinky, smelly shepherds from the fields come traipsing in to this makeshift maternity ward slash nursery. Verse 17, when they saw it, ooh, weird word, it, not him, it.
When they saw it, what did they see? The manger. A baby in a manger.
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 had been told them. Who puts their child in a manger? God does. Who invites shepherds into the nursery? God does.
Who intends for their son to live as a vagabond on earth? God does. Remember Jesus said foxes have holes, birds have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head? Matthew 8.20. Who sends their son to be the good shepherd? To lay down his life for the sheep?
God does. Luke wants us to see the manger and realize that the Lord humbles before all. The Lord humbles before all. That Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. And being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and given him the name that is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Friends, Jesus is the Lord exalted above all because he humbled himself before all.
Do you see that? Mark 10.45, Jesus says, Even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Friends, don't you see Jesus was laid in a manger because he came to be devoured.
He was born to be swallowed up by death. He came to be a shepherd, a good shepherd who will lay down his life for the sheep. If you want to find the real Lord of the earth, you will find him in a manger. If you want to find the true king of kings, you will find him on a cross.
If you want to find the son of God, you will find him kneeling with a towel washing feet, the servant of all. Friends, don't you see Jesus is good news of great joy for all people. Jesus is good news of great joy for all people.
You don't have to be a Roman citizen to step into the benefit of his rule and reign. You just need to be a child of God. And anyone, anywhere, at any time can come to Jesus and have life, abundant life to become a son or a daughter of God. Yet to all who receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
That is what we are. It's as simple as A, B, C, coming to Jesus. A, we admit, we admit that we're sinners far from God. B, we believe, believe that Jesus has done everything to make us right with God when he died on the cross and rose again.
And C, commit. We commit our lives to him. We say, come be my savior, be my Lord, be my everything. And the good news of great joy for all people will be yours if you will believe. What's amazing about Jesus is that you don't have to have it all together.
You don't have to be renowned. All are welcome at his manger. Come to his cross. Come, share his crown.
Let's pray. Father this story which of course is more than a story. It is a history of space and time when you sent your son to break into this broken world to redeem it from the inside out. And it catches us off guard.
Even as familiar as it is, it's surprising, shocking, scandalous. Who would come like this? And to realize that Jesus came for us. For smelly old us with nothing much to our name.
That you would move in on the wrong side of the tracks so that everyone would be welcome. You're amazing. We worship you. We receive you. Thank you for coming for us, for all.
You bring great joy to the world. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. To the highest name of all. Hallelujah.
Amen. This is what God did to change the world. 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. 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 host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased. And friends do you realize in Jesus Christ God is pleased with you. As He is pleased with Christ now covered in His righteousness, His blood God is pleased with you.
He loves you more than you know. So now go and be the church. Have a great Sunday. On today's Moody Church Hour we heard Pastor Phillip Miller telling us about great joy. The proclamation that everyone in the world could experience the life of God through the birth of a child to be named Jesus. Next week we retell the story of Simeon a man in the temple. He had waited his entire life to see the child brought to him by Mary and Joseph.
It was he who looked into heaven thanking God for the great light that had come into the world. The Moody Church Hour is a listener supported ministry. We count on the ongoing financial support of listeners like you. Together we share solid biblical teaching that transforms lives across America and around the world. You can call us at 1-800-215-5001.
That's 1-800-215-5001. Online you'll find us at moodychurchhour.com. That's moodychurchhour.com. Or write to us at Moody Church Media, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60614. This broadcast is a ministry of The Moody Church.
