Luke 2:7

Luke 2:7

Sermon preached on December 24, 2006 by Laurence W. Veinott. © Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. Other sermons can be found at http://www.newlifeop.org/.

Many people think that where you come from is important. I'm always a bit amused when the announce the lineups in pro football and basketball and they tell what college they're from. It makes me think to myself, "What does that matter?" It must be because I'm Canadian and they didn't do that with the hockey stars when I was growing up. That was partly because hardly any of them had attended college. Most of them played junior hockey and went straight to the pros. For many of them, high school graduation was their last graduation. It would have been kind of strange to mention what high school they graduated from. They do that sometimes in the NBA with some high school players who skip college and go straight to the pros. Al Jefferson of the Boston Celtics did that. When they introduce him they mention that he's from Prentiss High School, which is in a small town in Mississippi. That almost seems unfair to him since most of the rest get their colleges named. Back when I was playing hockey I think that a lot of hockey players were glad they didn't announce the last school you graduated from. I mean, I played hockey with guys whose senior year was sixth grade. They never got beyond that. They were terrific hockey players but not so good in school. It would seem really ridiculous mentioning the school they graduated from—I can just picture it, the announcer naming all these guys and the colleges they graduation from and then coming to one of my buddies and saying, "Fairview Elementary School". It would be unfair to them.

Most people want to have a good background, to come from someplace special, someplace that is respected and esteemed. Yet isn't it interesting that when Jesus came to earth God decided that He would be born in a stable. How unusual. God could have arranged it so that there was lots of room in the inn. He could have arranged it so that some rich person in Bethlehem opened their home to Joseph and Mary. But He didn't. He arranged for Jesus to be born in a stable.

I know that there are some people who think that Jesus wasn't really born in a stable because the word that is used here can just refer to a 'room' in a house and they take it that way, having it refer to a lower room, where animals were sometimes brought into the house. But the reference to the inn being full and the reference to the manger both imply that Joseph and Mary were relegated to a stable and that that Jesus was not born in a house, but in a dwelling made for animals. The early church father, Justin Martyr (c. A.D. 150) tells us that this stable was a cave. It seems likely that he was reflecting early church tradition. Around the year 330 the Roman Emperor Constantine build a church over this cave and today it is regarded by many as the birthplace of our Lord. It could very well be that Joseph and Mary were treated with such contempt that they were relegated to a cave.

The great question is—Why? Why did God arrange it that way? What did God intend to teach us from the fact that Jesus was born in a stable? Let's consider some of the implications.

The first thing that Jesus being born in a stable and being placed in a manger shows is that

He is accessible to all, especially the poor and ill-treated.

If he was born in a palace he would not be accessible to all. If you visit London and go to Buckingham Palace you'll find that there is a wall around it with big iron gates that are closed, with guards all around. We were there many years ago and looked at it from the outside. We didn't even think of asking if we could go inside because we knew that they wouldn't let us in.

But anyone could go to a stable. There are no guards there. Outcasts could go there. Even shepherds could go and see Jesus after he was born. There was no security. He was accessible. They were welcome to come and worship Him.

This is significant. Shepherds were at the bottom of the social scale. One description of them I read said they were 'poor, uneducated and dirty'. But isn't it interesting that God chose them to be among the first to worship Jesus. Lowly shepherds had the great honor of being the first, besides Joseph and Mary, to worship Jesus. What a privilege was bestowed on them. So this shows us that Jesus was sent to lowly people. He was sent to the poor, to people who were of little regard in they eyes of the world.

But the humble circumstances of the stable and the lowly social condition of the people point to the fact that

Jesus was sent to sinners.

Jesus is accessible to sinners. He is accessible to you. It doesn't matter what kind of sins you have committed, it doesn't matter how long you've been a sinner. As Paul emphatically stated in 1 Timothy 1:15,

"Here is a trustworthy saying
that deserves full acceptance:
Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners—
of whom I am the worst."

He was born in a stable to show that all may come to Him. He stooped to save the lowest sinners.

If you're not a Christian this means that

there's hope for you!

Jesus is available to sinners. Jesus stooped to save those who are sinners and who have been despised and rejected, who have been down and discouraged, who have been shunned.

Jesus came for you. Jesus was born in a lowly stable. He came to share your rejection and poverty and to save you from it. His being born in a stable shows that He is accessible to you. There are no walls, no guards between you and the One who can save you. He is there for you to go to. Go to Him and ask Him to save you. Make room for him in your life. Norval Geldenhuys writes, (Luke, p. 102)

"What the inhabitants of Bethlehem did in their ignorance is done by many today in willful indifference—they refuse to make room for the Son of God. They give no place to Him in their feelings, their affections, their thoughts, their views of life, their wishes, their decisions, their actions or their daily conduct. And thus they deny themselves the greatest privilege of all and incur the greatest loss to their lives."

Make room for Jesus. He is the King who has stooped to save sinners. How can you refuse Him? Such love is not ordinary. Such love is so astounding that it is right that it should be celebrated 2000 years after it occurred. Such love should not be despised. Take advantage of such amazing and incredible love. Go to Jesus today. Find deliverance from your poverty, your sin, your sorrow.

You can find deliverance from such things because the second thing that Jesus being born in a stable and being placed in a manger shows is that

He came to take our sufferings.

When Adam and Eve sinned they deprived themselves of many riches. They could not longer walk with God in the cool of the day. They lost the riches of paradise. They were put out of the Garden. Hardship and difficulty became their lot. They became poor. All of their descendants became poor.

What we see in Jesus being born in a stable is that

Jesus stooped to share in our poverty.

An essential part of Jesus' work was becoming poor for our sakes. This was the heart of His work. It began with His birth in a stable and ended with His death on the cross. Philippians 2 describes it this way, (verses 5-8)

"Your attitude should be the same
as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God
something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!"

Such love He has for us. He left heaven's glory in order to come down and take our suffering upon Himself. From the very beginning He knew cold, He knew hardship, He knew suffering. He was born in a stable. Here in the stable in Bethlehem we see part of the truth that is expressed in 2 Corinthians 8:9,

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though he was rich,
yet for your sakes he became poor,
so that you through his poverty
might become rich."

He came to do a wonderful work for us. He took our poverty in order to make us rich. Jesus came to share in our poverty. He came and embraced it fully.

Even in His birth Jesus experienced rejection.

There was no room for Him in the inn. At His birth He was rejected by men. I. H. Marshall writes about Jesus being born in a stable, (Luke, p. 107)

"The point is… that at his birth Jesus had to be content with the habitation of animals because there was no room for him in human society."

His birth was thus a fulfillment of the first part of Isaiah 53. In verses 2-3 we read,

"He had no beauty or majesty
to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance
that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows,
and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised,
and we esteemed him not."

That was certainly true in His birth. They esteemed Him not. They regulated Him to a stable. He was despised and rejected by men.

His being born in a stable was the beginning of His taking our sorrows upon Himself.

His birth in a stable was a prelude to what life would hold for Him. His would be a life of suffering. He came to be made like us and to suffer for us. His birth in a stable shows that He was being made like us. As we read in Hebrews 2:14-18,

"Since the children have flesh and blood,
he too shared in their humanity
so that by his death
he might destroy him
who holds the power of death—
that is, the devil—
and free those who all their lives
were held in slavery by their fear of death.
For surely it is not angels he helps,
but Abraham's descendants.
For this reason he had to be made
like his brothers in every way,
in order that he might become
a merciful and faithful high priest
in service to God,
and that he might make atonement
for the sins of the people.
Because he himself suffered
when he was tempted,
he is able to help
those who are being tempted."

At the center of Christianity is the substitutionary atonement of Jesus. He became our substitute. He took the punishment that was due to us. He suffered and died in our stead. His being born in a stable was the beginning of that process. Such love Jesus has for sinners. He was not born in comfort, in a heated palace, but in a cold stable. He was sharing our sufferings. Even in His birth He was showing that. Isaiah 53 continues,

"Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace
was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people
he was stricken.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the LORD'S will to crush him
and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand."

Even in His birth He was beginning to take up our infirmities. There He was showing what His work would be like. He stooped to share our poverty in order to make us rich. John Calvin writes,

"When he was thrown into a stable, and placed in a manger, and a lodging refused him among men, it was that heaven might be opened to us, not as a temporary lodging, but as our eternal country and inheritance, and that angels might receive us into their abode."




The third thing that Jesus being born in a stable and being laid in a manger shows us is

the greatness of the Father's love for us.

John 3:16 says,

"For God so loved the world
that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life."

God gave His Son. Here we see an aspect of the Father's giving. He gave Him to be born in a stable, to be laid in a manger. How vulnerable He was. There was no protection there. There were no walls to protect Him. There were no guards to safeguard His life. No. He was completely vulnerable. There in the stable we see that the Father was giving Him over to suffering, to eventual death.

Jesus, even the baby Jesus, knew all about danger.

He was in danger from King Herod who killed all the male babies in the area of Bethlehem, in an effort to kill Jesus. The baby Jesus knew about exile, being forced to flee to Egypt in the middle of the night. The baby Jesus knew about danger, about suffering, about death.

The baby was in danger even before it was born. There was such a battle going on—a battle between God and Satan. In Revelation 12:3-5 we read,

"Then another sign appeared in heaven:
an enormous red dragon with seven heads
and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads.
His tail swept a third of the stars
out of the sky and flung them to the earth.
The dragon stood in front of the woman
who was about to give birth,
so that he might devour her child
the moment it was born."

Satan did everything he could to destroy Jesus before He accomplished everything that was necessary to save His people. What a world of danger Jesus was born into. What a world of danger the Father sent Him into. The Father gave His one and only Son to suffering and eventual death. Jesus being born into a stable shows us an aspect of the Father's great love for us.

Christians,

marvel and be in awe at the great love of God for you and how He saved you.

Can you believe that the King of Glory, the Creator of all things, became poor for you? What grace. Rejoice in it. Love Him. Serve Him. Lift His name high!

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though he was rich,
yet for your sakes he became poor,
so that you through his poverty
might become rich."