THE BIRTH OF JESUS

Luke 2:1-16

 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

Let us learn another faith lesson from the birth of Jesus from our text above.  God’s ways are different than man’s ways. People expected the Saviour to come as a king but He came as a babe born in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes. Too many times people are expecting God to come through for them through some predictable means and so miss out on God. You need to understand that as the heavens are higher than the earth so are God’s ways higher than man’s ways. The obvious ways are not usually God’s ways. We walk by faith and not by appearances.

We also see that though Jesus came as a babe born in a manger, He became King of kings and Lord of lords. You cannot judge your end by your beginning. The scripture says though your beginning was small your latter end shall greatly increase. This why the Scripture say, do not despise the days of small beginnings. I like what somebody said, there is nothing wrong in starting small but to stay small is what would be wrong.

The other thing we see from our text is God does not choose as man choses. The Scripture says, God had chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise and the weak things to confound the things that are mighty and things which are base and despised to bring to nought things that are. God bypassed the religious hierarchy and the political hierarchy to announce to shepherds in a field that the Saviour is born. Don’t look down on yourself; God does not look down on you. Man may despise you but God does not despise you. It is not about your natural environment, it is about what God has put in you. There is a king in you about to come forth.