The countdown to Christmas calls us to love all as an act of worship that reveals and reflects God’s love for all...

In the days leading up to Christmas, we had spent our time looking at an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in our Bibles called the gospel of Luke, which records what happened that first Christmas. Today, I would like to look at what is without a doubt the most popular passage of the Bible that is read or referred to during Christmas. If your family has a church background, you may have read this passage on Christmas morning before opening your presents. And it is in this passage of the Bible that we will discover a third way that we can be challenged to worship fully during this Christmas season. So let’s look at this passage together beginning in Luke 2:1:

Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child.

Like any great story, Luke begins the Christmas story by providing us the context for the story. At this time, the land that belonged to the Jewish people was under the control of the Roman Empire, which was the dominant military and political power in the world. And as part of their military and political dominance, the Roman Government required that every person who lived in the Roman Empire over the age of 20 pay a tax that was called the poll tax. 

So to make sure that they were receiving the maximum amount of taxes that they were able to gather, the Roman Empire called for a census. This census required every Jewish family to travel to their ancestral home town to register for the census so that they would be counted for tax purposes. Every Jewish person, in essence, needed to travel to the place where their family tree was planted. And for Joseph and Mary, that meant traveling to Bethlehem, as Joseph came from the family tree of David, who as we have talked about during this series, was the most famous king to ever ruler the Jewish nation. So Joseph and Mary left Nazareth and made the trip to Bethlehem.

Now to understand the significance of this trip, we first need to understand some things about this journey. First, the distance between Nazareth and Bethlehem was 80 miles. Second, there are no cars, buses, or airplanes. So Joseph and Mary walked 80 miles, which would take approximately five days for an average person to travel. But as Luke tells us, Joseph and Mary are not average; Because Mary is with child. When Luke says that Mary is with child, she is with child. Delivery could occur at any moment. Most scholars believe that this trip would have taken at least one week to accomplish. And as we see next, however, Mary is not just with child:

While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

 After arriving in Bethlehem, Mary discovered that she was not just with child; it was time to have the child. There was a problem, however. You see, Bethlehem was not a bustling metropolis filled with hotels and motels; Bethlehem was a small rural community that was busting at the seams as a result of all the out of town visitors that were required to come to register for the census. Bethlehem was not a destination that up and coming people moved to in order to start their careers; Bethlehem was a departure point that people left as soon as they grew up.  So there was no place for people to reside, unless there were close family that still lived in town.

Bethlehem was so crowded that the only place that they could find for Mary to give birth and stay in was with domesticated animals. Most likely this was in a cave on the outskirts of town where animals where kept for their safety. Instead of a crib, all Mary could lay her newborn in was a manger, which was a feeding trough for animals.

Now imagine yourself as Joseph and Mary. How would you be feeling right now? You are in a cave, 80 miles from home, where you have placed your firstborn son in a box that a few minutes ago, farm animals were slobbering in as they ate. And if that is not enough, your son is God in a bod. God, who has taken on flesh, is lying in a feeding trough. And where do you think they got the cloths to wrap baby Jesus in? How would you be feeling? What would you be thinking? Was this how you think Mary envisioned giving birth to her first child?

Now, you might be thinking to yourself “what was God thinking? I mean what would drive God to send His Son Jesus into such a situation? What would motivate God to come up with such a strange way to reveal Himself to humanity? And if Jesus is God in a bod, then what would motivate Jesus to agree to being put in such a situation? What would motivate Jesus to enter into humanity in such a strange way? ”

If those questions are running through your mind, I want to let you know that they are great questions to be asking. And we discover the answers to these questions from the mouth of Jesus Himself. You see, in another account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible, called the gospel of John, Jesus makes a statement that is probably the most familiar verse in the entire Bible. And it is in this single verse that we see Jesus reveal the motivation that drove that first Christmas and that provides for us what Christians call the message of the gospel. So let’s look at this verse together:

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

In this verse, not only do we see what motivated Jesus to enter into humanity that first Christmas: in this verse we see Jesus reveal for us we need to know and what we need to do in order to respond to what Christmas calls us to when it comes to how we can enter into a relationship with God. First, Jesus says for God so loved the world. God sent His Son Jesus to earth that first Christmas not because He was mad at the world; God is in love with the world.

Jesus then tells us that God did what people, who are in love, do. God gave. God sent His Son Jesus because He loved the world. You see, while God created humanity to experience a relationship with Him and a relationship with one another, all of humanity selfishly rebelled and rejected that relationship, instead choosing to love ourselves and do things out of that selfish love that hurt God and others. That selfish love and rebellion is what the Bible calls sin.

God responded to that selfish love and rebellion by giving what was closest to Himself to rescue what was furthest away. God’s love and interest in us was made known and shown in the most powerful way when He sent His unique, one and only Son to earth that first Christmas, who later allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives, so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life.

Jesus then explains that God loved and God gave so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish. Now this little phrase believes in, in the language that this letter is written in, is the same word that is translated trust in our Bibles. This word literally means to entrust oneself entrust to someone with complete confidence. To trust is a lot like this stool, while I could say that I believe that this stool can hold my weight, it is only when I sit on the stool that I demonstrate that I trust the stool to hold my weight.

And for the person who believes, trusts, and follows Jesus, Jesus explains that they shall not perish, but have eternal life. Now eternal life is not simply living forever. You see, everyone lives forever; we are created as eternal beings. The question is not whether or not you are going to live forever, the question is where are you going to live? When Jesus uses this phrase, He is revealing to all humanity that the person who places their confident trust in Jesus life death, and resurrection will not be separated from God as a result of their selfishness and rebellion, but will experience forgiveness of sin and the relationship with God that we were created for.

And that is the good news of the gospel: That first Christmas God loved, God gave, so that those who believe and place their confident trust in Jesus would receive life in relationship with Him.

And it is in the story of Jesus entry into humanity that we see what the countdown to Christmas calls us to. And it is in the response of Jesus in perhaps the most famous verse in the entire Bible that we see what the countdown to Christmas is all about.

You see, Advent, the countdown to Christmas calls us to love all as an act of worship that reveals and reflects God’s love for all. You see, what motivated Jesus to leave the riches of the glory and majesty of Heaven to live life on earth was love. What drove Jesus to enter into humanity as a baby in a feeding trough for animals was His love for all. What motivated Jesus to experience humanity and grow up in a blue collar home of a carpenter was His love for all.

What drove Jesus during His earthly ministry as a homeless itinerant preacher that relied on the support of others for food and shelter was His love for all. And what drove Jesus to allow Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life was His love for all.

And that is what Christmas is all about. Christmas is about responding in worship to God’s love that is most fully revealed by His Son Jesus by revealing and reflecting the love of God to others. Christmas calls us to love all by focusing on placing others before us by worshipping God fully. Christmas calls us to love all by placing others before us by spending less on the things that will be so easily forgotten so that we can give more of ourselves in a way that impacts others.

Christmas calls us to love all in a way that reveals and reflects God’s love that drove Him to give what was closest to Himself to rescue what was furthest away, so that all humanity might have the opportunity to experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that they were created for by responding to God’s love by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader. You see, Christmas reveals the reality that love is a verb.

So, what are you going to do this Christmas season to make love a verb? What are you going to do to respond to God’s love in a way that loves all as an act of worship that reveals and reflects God’s love? What are you going to do to respond to God giving what was closest to Himself to rescue what was furthest away by spending less at the altar of consumerism and instead giving more to those around us who are less fortunate than us in a way that reveals and reflects the love of Christ and the message of Christmas?