Sermon notes from Sunday 15 December 2017 am
Luke 2 verses 1 - 7
The bigger persective
As we consider the events taking place in this passage we are reminded that some times things come into our lives, situations that arise, difficulties and problems. Do we concentrate more on them rather than what it means in its coming into our lives? Nothing comes into our lives by chance God has allowed it to be so. We can learn that lesson from Job, see how the devil would have loved to have marched into his front room and bring him down to the depths but he hadn`t the authority Satan had to go into the presence of God and ask for his permission to test Job. nothing comes into our lives but God knows about it. Nothing happens by surprise. It is good to step back and see the bigger picture. Psalm 8 verse 3 "when I consider". Think of the letter to the Hebrews written to so many under pressure and persecution. The writer said "consider him". We want to consider him above all. We saw that in Esther`s life. A crisis came into her life. The hand of God was working in the background. He was doing that in her life. Remember again that God is still on the throne, he is still ruling and reigning. Sometimes when we get down to prayer we want to remember that. He does remember his own. In a week gone by we have seen many changes, upsets, things that humanly speaking we did not see happening. Many are anxious and concerned today. Remember God is still working out his purposes today. He has a plan this morning. In this passage a government decree went out. What did that mean to the people around?
A strategy that was unfolding. Here`s a decree going out from Caesar Augustus. He was a leading light, he had changed his name, he was a nephew of Julius Caesar and took this name to show his position and greatness. He was sitting making plans with all his delegates. The word used for "world" here means the Roman jurisdiction he had control over. The tax referred to here is similar to our census. He really wanted to see what everyone owned whether in land or property. He didn`t really think about what he was doing. God was working behind the scene. He would bring his only begotten son into the world. God was working it all out. This was spoken of 5 or 600 years before through the prophet Isaiah. Malachi the prophet also told where he would be born - Bethlehem. God had announced it years before this man made this decision. I wonder have you ever considered that God is working behind the scenes in our lives? Perhaps it is not in sickness but rather you can hear someone praising God for his blessing in their life but nothing is happening in your life. Perhaps we don`t see God working it out at present. God was working everything out before this man would come to the throne. In Daniel one night when the king Nebuchadnezzar put his head on the pillow he saw an image of a man made up of different materials. The head was made of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, the legs of iron and the feet partly of iron and clay. That image was of the various empires that would come to pass in days yet to come. This is the role God will play in this land. Each part represents a kingdom that would come to pass. The head of gold represents your kingdom Nebuchadnezzar. The breast and arms represented the Medes and Persian empire and in Daniel 5 we read they took the empire from Babylon. The belly and thighs represented the Greek empire while the iron represented the Roman empire. God was singling out every empire that would come to pass. Remember Joseph in the Old Testament who was the Saviour of the nation Israel. One morning he got up at 17 years of age and his father asked him to go and see how his brothers were doing. He didn`t know when he left that day he would not see his father for 20 years. I`m sure his father cried many nights, his heart was broken thinking of his son dead. God was working it all out behind the scenes when he would bring Joseph to be head of the nation of Israel.
The subjects that are unveiled - verses 2 and 3. All went to be taxed. Everyone. Not one left out. The light now begins to shine on Joseph and Mary Mary and Joseph would make their way to Bethlehem. It was at a time when Mary was great with child. The ordering of the decree led to Mary and Joseph being brought to Bethlehem. What is happening in your life at this moment in time? Are you a light that people are attracted to? To bring people to God? God was fulfilling the promise of Micah 7 verse 2. Can you see the picture unfolding. Joseph cannot see it. It was an awful situation for him. He had to take his wife Mary and make that journey to Bethlehem. If this had been some other time but God has allowed this to happen specifically now. It was the second time in his life that everything was turned upside down. Just before their marriage Mary told Joseph she was pregnant. She had no relationship with Joseph. He wanted to put her away quietly then the angel appeared and told him not to be afraid but to take Mary for his wife. This is now the second time when his life was turned upside down. He didn`t know what was happening. Think of the angel giving him that news. The angel did not tell him that at the end of her pregnancy they would have to make a journey like this one. Joseph handled the situaton really well. A decree has gone out. I`m sure he was thinking how is the Lord doing this? This is God`s will. God only shows him a little at a time. God is doing something in your life. Are you saying "I could do very well without this?" God has a bigger plan. David said "thy word is a lamp unto my feet." God only shows a little bit at a time. He doesn`t show us the end from the beginning. The old hurricane lamp only shows a step at a time. The lamp would only take him so far. That is what God does with us. Think of the early church and Saul of Tarsus. He had such plans to destroy the Jewish people. He wanted to take those who were Christian and imprison them, even put some of them to death. He was persecuting the Christian believers but as a result they were spread outside of Jerusalem. People didn`t realise it at the time. It was the means God used to spread the gospel to others. Today many are being persecuted for their Christian faith. They don`t ask for prayer to be taken away from persecution but rather that they might endure through those hards times and see their familes saved as a result. It took 20 years for Joseph to see the plan God had for his life. Just enough was shown to him, a little at a time.
The supreme undertaking. I`m sure Joseph thought this was bad timing. He could have said it would have been better next year. He could have done without the journey at this time. He surrendered himself to the decree. It is good to surrender ourselves to the will of God. Moses out in the wilderness - for 40 years God was preparing him for what lay ahead. One day he heard the word of the Lord out of a burning bush. God told him that he would send him back to Egypt. All those times in the desert. This is the totality of it all. I want you to go and bring my people out of Egypt. Romans 13 verse 1 surrendered to the totality of God. I wonder as Joseph picked up and got on with the journey to Bethlehem did he think God was in the plans ahead? Jeremiah "for I know the thougths I have toward you, plans for good and not for evil, plans for your future." Think of the 3 Hebrew children carried into captivity in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar asked everyone to bow before this image he had set up. The 3 Hebrew children wouldn`t do it. They made a choice. God is in this. They could see the bigger picture. Esther said "I will go before the king, if I perish I will perish." Mary and Joseph surrendered to the decree which took them to Bethlehem, to their child being born to be the Saviour of the world. What a God we have. As we look at this scene - God brought everything into being. We should want to worship and love God more and more when we see what he has done for us. Look at the bigger picture today. God is working in the background today.
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