Markham Baptist Church Sermon

Preached in Markham Baptist Church, December 12 & 19, 2004

The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you; you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

And so we are brought again at this season to that grand announcement from the heavenly messenger. It is a universal message, a message intended for all the earth, for every generation in every age. “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for ALL the people.” And in case we miss the grand scope of this message a great company joins the lone angel and sings, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men, (or as rather as it means) on earth peace to all people on whom his favour rests.”

But today, I want us to look not at the universal message but at the personal message that is here for you and for me, because there is a very strong personal message here in the angel’s announcement - a message that is intended for you and you alone. The angel is speaking to you as an individual this morning.

Just as the message was for the shepherds on the hillside long ago, so the message is for you and for me today. To be sure, those shepherds were standing in a group, but this message was meant for each individual in the group. And even today God is seeking to speak to you as an individual.

Listen to the announcement of the angel again: “Do not be afraid. I bring YOU good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to YOU; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to YOU; YOU will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

You, you, you. Yes, I know it also means “you” plural, “you, group of shepherds”; “you the nation of Israel”; “you, the people of the earth”. But it also means you singular.

This Christmas don’t let the universal message of God’s love and the fact that Saviour has been born obscure the personal message that is here for you. God is speaking to you individually, then to us corporately, and then to the world universally. It is never the other way around in God’s Kingdom. God always deals with us as individuals first.

During this time of year it is possible to let the massiveness of God’s love for the whole world, obscure the fact that He loves you and me as individuals first.

Please take it in that God loves you as an individual. That He knows your name, He knows your character, He knows your history, and that He loves you as an individual. It is not good to think of God loving the world generally if you have not grasped the fact that God loves you specifically. It is not good to think of this wonderful message of peace for all the earth if it’s not a wonderful message of peace for you in your heart.

On a wintry Sunday afternoon my father would often say to the 5 of us kids, “Let’s go to the cottage.” It was only 40 minutes away, and we’d all be happy because there were some great toboggan hills there and we knew we’d have a lot of fun.

But I can tell you that announcement paled in comparison to my dad saying to me, “Let’s you and I go to the cottage and go tobogganing, just the two of us.” That is a world of difference. It was great because this meant that Dad was all mine. His attention, his laughter, his playfulness, his words were all mine for the day. To know that I was the center of his attention for the day – well, there was nothing like that feeling.

And I know that there are some in the world who did not have dads like that, but the truth is that while you may not have had a father like that, you have a God like that. Who is interested in you, who loves you, who is there for you, who sends his angel from heaven to tell you of good news, "A Saviour has been born to you.”

Leslie Weatherhead, a preacher from the previous generation, tells of how he went with his father-in-law to the Royal Albert Hall in London at Christmas time to hear a performance of Handel’s Messiah. There was a great massed choir and when the Hallelujah Chorus was sung, as is the tradition, they all stood up. The choir sang that great crescendo, “King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. And He shall reign forever and ever. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.”

And when they sat down, Leslie Weatherhead saw that his father-in-law had tears streaming down his face. He leaned over to Leslie and said, “That is my Saviour they were singing about.” Leslie Weatherhead said he never forgot, could never forget that emphasis on the “MY Saviour.”

O the wonder of it all that we are actually able to say that we know Jesus Christ, the King of all, as our Saviour, as our friend.

There are many who can say that, but I am aware of the fact that there are some who are not able to make that claim. There are some who know about Jesus Christ. But that’s not the same as knowing Him; it’s not the same as having a relationship with Him.

And you do know how that begins, don’t you? You realize how a personal relationship with Jesus Christ begins?

It begins with a revelation of who Jesus Christ is. The revelation may not be as spectacular as what the shepherds received – a choir of the heavenly host. It may not be as instant as what the shepherds received. But the content of the revelation is the same. It is the person of Jesus Christ. This revelation may come to you through a singing of a song, or an act of kindness done to through the hands of a believer, or it may come after a long series of incidents that finally open your eyes to the person and work of Christ. But the content is always the same. Jesus Christ is the Saviour of your soul, and He was born for you so that He might die for you.

This is the revelation that is ours today as we hear the angel’s announcement. The whole thing points us to the person of Jesus Christ. Think of it for a moment. The angel says, “Today in the town of David”. And God is always giving us signs, saying to us, Do you see who Jesus is? Do you see who Jesus is? He is born in the town of David.

We know from verse 4 of our text that the town of David is called Bethlehem. Now the town of Bethlehem held an important place in the minds of God’s people – it was rich in history and important in prophecy.

It’s history begins with Jacob, (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) back then it was called Ephrath and was the burial place for his wife Rachel. Later in history it was called Bethlehem-Judah. And it was home of Ibzan, the tenth judge over Israel. Again, as we go through history we discover it was the home of Boaz who purchased, or redeemed Ruth so that she could be his bride. Here their great-grandson David kept his father’s sheep and was anointed by Samuel here as king – so it received its name, “The city of David.”

So think of those three images, a judge lived there, a redeemer, and a king. And you think of who Jesus Christ is and do you think it’s a mistake that He is born in a town associated with a judge, a redeemer and a king? No! It is a sign, pointing us to who He and what He will do.

Always God is giving us signs to open our eyes to the reality of Jesus Christ. But Bethlehem is important in prophecy too. We read in the book of Micah: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.” (Micah 5:2)

It is important to see here that this town has two names, Bethlehem - Ephrathah.

The name Bethlehem means, “house of bread” while the name Ephrathah means “the fruit field”. Even the town in which Jesus is born tells us of who He is. The Lord Jesus was born in a town called the house of bread – so that He might take bread and break it and say, “This is my body broken for you.” He was born in a town called the field of fruit so that He could take the fruit of the vine and hold it in a cup and say, “This is my blood which is shed for you.”

“Coincidence, all of it coincidence.” You could say that. Or you could say, “Isn’t God wonderful, He is always trying to get us to see with the eyes of faith that today in the city of David is born to you a Saviour.”

God is always giving us signs of His love for us and His desire to have a personal relationship with us. Not only has He given us Jesus Christ, His Holy Spirit, and His living Word, but He gives us signs all the time in the form of answered prayers, in blessings we receive day after day. All of them are signs of His constant love for us and desire to have a personal relationship with us.

And this is why Jesus came! “Today in the town of David a Saviour had been born to you.” Jesus did not come to simply educate us, Jesus did not come to simply encourage us. Jesus did not come to simply enlighten us, or engage us. He came to save us. So we read in I Timothy 1:15: “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance; Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”

He came to reclaim us for His own. We had been lost in sin and unable to find forgiveness – Jesus shed His blood so that we might find forgiveness. He came to rescue us from the result of sin, which is death; He came to restore the relationship between ourselves and God that was broken because of sin. He is our Saviour.

And that’s where it all begins, with a revelation of who Jesus Christ is. Which leads us to the second stage in our journey toward a personal relationship with Jesus. First there is a revelation and then there needs to be a decision.

The shepherds faced a decision after they heard the announcement about Christ’s birth. They could stay where they were. “Do you want to go?" "No, I don’t want to go. It’s probably not true anyway.” “Do you want to go?" "No, if you’ve seen one baby you’ve see them all.” “Do you want to go?"

They had a decision to make. They could stay or go. They made the great decision of commitment – “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” It is a personal decision in response to the revelation that God has given you in Christ.

It is essential that you make a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. The only way to prove whether or not Christ is all He claimed to be is to cease being a spectator and become a participant. We must dare to go to Bethlehem, so to speak, to follow Him and take the step of belief and commitment.

During WWI Lord Cherwell who was professor of physics at Oxford University did something that was quite astounding. At that time any pilot who got into a spin crashed and lost his life. Lord Cherwell studied the problem and managed to convert the aerodynamics of a spinning dive into a mathematical formula. He argued that if a pilot acted in a certain way, he could correct the spin. The authorities were interested but felt unable to ask any pilot to test the theory on the strength of a mere formula. "So," said Cherwell, “Teach me to fly, and I will prove to you that the theory is true.” Within three weeks of qualifying he flew up to a great height alone, deliberately put himself into a spinning dive, and demonstrated that the formula worked. He went on to show that it also worked in a counterclockwise direction.¹

We have the Christian formula. There is evidence enough for you. You have been given revelation after revelation about God’s love for you, God’s care for you, God’s victory over sin for you, and God’s conquering death for you and now it’s time for you to make a decision to commit your life to Him.

But there is this left to say. If we left it at the decision stage, we would be falling short of all that God wants for us and has for us. We need to be living a life of obedience. It does no good if having received the relation of who Jesus Christ is and having made our decision to make Him your Saviour if you are not daily following Him in obedience.

There are many in our churches today, many people here today who have received Christ as their Saviour. They’ve stepped into the door of salvation – Hallelujah – but have failed to explore the rest of the house.

Many of you assure me that you have made a decision for Christ, which is wonderful and good. But that’s not the end of your relationship with Christ. You need to move in past the doorway of salvation and into the house of obedience. Some of you need to take your Bibles and crack them open in the living room of His presence.

Some of you need to go downstairs into His workshop and pick up your spiritual gifts that He has given you and utilize them for the building of the Kingdom. A revelation, a decision, a walk of obedience.

Do you know one of the terrific results of a personal walk with Jesus? It is that we ourselves become His agents, revealing Him to the world around us. Having received the revelation and acting upon it, we become revealers. Look at the text. The Shepherds receive the revelation, they made the decision to go and they come back in verse 20: “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”

When, by an act of commitment to Christ, we receive him as Saviour and Lord, and He imparts Himself to us, dwelling within us by His Spirit, we become living testimonies of the truth that has been revealed to us.

My friends, God is speaking to you today. Have you received Him personally as Lord and Saviour? There is no such thing as inherited Christianity. Everyone must discover Christ personally, relate to Him personally by repentance and faith. When we call him Lord Jesus we are not just repeating what others have told us, but what has been revealed to us personally, what we have felt and seen and known.

And if you have received Him personally, then are you walking with Him daily? Are you daily glorifying and praising God for all the things that have been revealed to you?

Did you know that John Wesley, the great evangelist of previous century, before his conversion was a parish priest and missionary? Here is a man who gave his life to God, but was utterly defeated in his Christian life. He felt cold, frustrated and useless. He was returning to Britain from the United States where he was a missionary among the Indians when his ship was caught in a storm. Fear gripped him. The only people on board, he noticed who were not terror-stricken were a little group of Moravian missionaries.

When the storm subsided, Wesley asked one of them, "Weren’t you afraid?" "Afraid?" said the Moravian. "Why should I be afraid? I know Christ." Then looking as Wesley, he asked boldly, “Do you know Christ?" And Wesley realized he didn’t - not like that. On the evening of May 24^th 1738 he attended a meeting at the little Moravian Chapel at Aldersgate street, London. He listened to the reading of Luther’s preface to Paul’s epistle to the Romans.

And he recorded in his diary, "About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for my salvation. And an assurance was given me that He has taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."

Someone upon reading that account, has said that it is the me, and my and mine which made all the difference.”²

And so it is as we are able to see Christ as MY Saviour, and we decide for Him and live in obedience to Him, it makes all the difference.

ENDNOTES:

1. John Gladstone, The Valley of the Verdict (Toronto, Ontario: Welch Publishing Company, 1968) page 80.

2. John Gladstone, All Saints, All Sorts (Nova Scotia: Lancelot Press, 1982) page 69.