The Christmas Story

Introduction

The Christmas narrative in the Gospel of Matthew runs a hefty 48 verses and in Luke it is longer still at 120 verses. Yet this one sentence combines all 168 verses in a powerful way.  Though it does not mention shepherds or wise-men or inns or stables, it is nonetheless profound and compelling.

I’d like to “unpack” these two verses, as they see in the business, section by section as we look forward to Christmas next Lord’s Day.

I.             When the fullness of time had come…

A.   Why did Jesus come just when he did?

B.   Why, then, did Jesus come precisely when he did?

C.   The time is precisely right for every thing that God does.

II.          God sent forth his Son…

A.   Who is Jesus Christ?

B.   He was sent by the Father with a specific errand, a specific mission.

III.       Born of a woman…

A.   Protestant Christians tend to neglect the person of Mary.

B.   But there is something more we can say under this heading.

C.   There is at least one more thing we can say under this heading.

IV.        Born under the law…

A.     Nobody wants to talk about law and guilt these days, but if we don’t we might miss something essential.

B.     Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that all human beings are in one sense or another “under the law.”

C.     Before we move on, we must acknowledge one wonderful exception to the human experience of failure before “the law.”

D.    To say that Jesus was born under the law means that he was born under the demands of the law, he was obliged to keep the law.

V.           To redeem those who were under the law…

A.    Many non-Christians today are happy to acknowledge that Jesus of Nazareth was a great ethical teacher, and some are even willing to allow that he was a miracle-worker.

B.     But did you know that Jesus’ primary mission was neither to teach nor to perform miracles?

C.    Jesus describes his mission in Mark 10:45-46.

D.    Here, referring to himself by his favorite term “the Son of Man,” he says:

E.     Did you catch that last phrase? He came…to give his life as a ransom for many.

VI.        … that we might receive the adoption as sons.

A.   With this concluding phrase the true purpose of the Christmas story has become clear.

B.   Why was the Son sent? Why did Jesus come?

Conclusion

So, there it is: the entire story of Christmas in one sentence – when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.