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Celebrating with the Angels
Luke 1:26-37, 2:1-20
Every person should celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ because of the facts the angels tell about him.
Introduction:
In just a few weeks a new president will be sworn into office.
There will be festivities going on to celebrate this momentous occasion.
There will be a parade.
There will be the ceremony.
There will be private times and there will be public times.
Fact I.
He is great
A. On the History Channel they sometimes have a show called mega movers.
They usually show big machines that do big jobs.
On one show they had this giant mining machine that had a foot print that was probably about as big as a football field.
When it was compact it was probably as tall as a five story building, and this machine had to be moved several miles to a different mine.
It was amazing to see all that was involved in moving this machine from one location to another.
It was worth the effort because it was such an efficient machine.
B.
I tell that story because the word used in v. 32 is translated for us “great”.
It is the word that the angel uses to describe Jesus Christ.
In the Greek the word is “megas”.
Jesus is said to be great or megas.
The mining machine was moved because it did such a good job of what it did.
Jesus is called great because he is the only one who is able to do what he does.
If we think of great men in history, none of them can make the claims that Jesus has made.
There is no one who is great like Jesus.
The angels recognized who Jesus was and they wanted the shepherds to realize what a great blessing he was.
They wanted the shepherds to pass the word along that Jesus was great.
C.
If we are Christians we can celebrate anytime because we are a part of this greatness.
If we are not Christians then it could be pretty frightening to know that Jesus is great and we really don’t belong to him.
You might think of it like being on the winning team.
We can call ourselves winners as Christians because we have Jesus and he is great.
He is greater than any person the world has ever known.
Fact II.
He is of God
A. One reason that Jesus can be called great is because of who he is.
In the second half of the sentence we just read it says, “(He) will be called the Son of the Most High.”
Jesus Christ is the Son of the Most High.
He is the son of god, and as we looked at last week this means that Jesus Christ is God.
He is not some sort of a Jr. Version of God.
He is God.
This was addressed to Mary.
Perhaps this was so that Mary did not become proud about the son she would give birth to.
She was the physical vessel that God used to bring this child into the world.
His birth certificate might read that Mary and Joseph were his parents, but she would know without a doubt that Jesus was the son of God.
His origins came from God and not from a human act.
B.
I am sure that I have told you about the Christian Athiest I met in England.
He believed that Jesus Christ was a good teacher and leader, but there is no such thing as God.
According to an Atheist there is no God and there is no higher power.
He wanted Jesus but he did not want God.
When you take God away from jesus you really don’t have much.
Much of what Jesus said was focused on God.
One of the most powerful statements from jesus is "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”
John 5:19.
Without God Jesus really does not amount to much.
He had to be God in order to have the impact that he had.
C.
Jesus is so much more than a good teach or a fine example.
He is God and we need to accept him as God.
If we try to take anything away from him we lose everything about Him.
He must always be God.
He will not stop being God, but he can stop that in our minds.
We must always allow him to share that position of God in our minds and our hearts.
We can celebrate with the angels because we have a God who cares enough about us that he sent Jesus to this world for us.
Fact III.
He is eternal
A. We are accustomed to things coming and going in our world.
In v. 32 we are told that he will have the throne of David.
This could just mean that he will be the king of Judah.
This would not really be a big item.
This is something that people would expect.
He was of royal lineage, so he would become a royal himself.
This would be a very earthly understanding of what was being said here.
In v. 33 the angel shifts the focus from something physical to something much greater.
It says that he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.
It would be humanly impossible for Jesus to reign over Jacob forever, and for his kingdom to never end.
This is something that only God would be able to do.
The reign of Jesus is something that is taking on a much larger significance than an earthly king.
His kingdom is going to exist like none before and ever to come.
B.
When the people of Jesus day were looking for the Messiah it seems that many were looking for a man to come as king and overthrown the Roman rule they were under.
You might imagine them talking about a king who would rally the people together like no one else had been able to do.
He would amass a great army and they would teach the Romans a lesson and they would win back their freedom.
The message the angel is giving to Mary is a very different one.
He is speaking of a man who will come and rule forever.
His kingdom will not be marked by the downfall of Rome.
His kingdom will extend far beyond the rise and fall of a nation.
C.
We can rejoice with the angels today because we have a savior who is eternal.
In the play we saw a baby in a manger about 2000 years ago.
Sometimes we get stuck in that 2000 years ago.
The truth is the Jesus is still alive and active today.
Those who have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior can know for certain that he is eternal in their lives also.
Our savior is still alive.
Fact IV.
He is King
A. Kings can come in all forms.
You can have good kings who really seem to look out for the welfare of their people.
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