Tuesday Service (25th December, 2018) - Christmas Day Service

 

TOPIC:     BEAUTIFUL BUT COSTLY CHRISTMAS.

TEXT:  LUKE 2:11-14, MATTHEW 2:13-16

Luke 2:11-14 (NIV)
¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
¹⁴ "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

Matthew 2:13-16 (NIV)
¹³ When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."
¹⁴ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt,
¹⁵ where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."
¹⁶ When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

INTRODUCTION

It is no secret that Christmas is a very beautiful day. It is a day very many Christians eagerly look forward to. The cities get beautified and children and adults come out in beautiful attires to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Beautiful songs are rendered in churches and everywhere giving special colour to the season.

 Even at the very beginning, in Luke 2: 14, even heavenly hosts and angels appeared to render a special number to mark His birth

 BUT CHRISTMAS IS ALSO VERY COSTLY.

Costly? You may want to ask. Yes costly. Indeed very costly.

Costly for the gifts we give? Yes. For the dresses we buy? Yes. For the food we eat? Yes. But the cost of Christmas far exceeds those.

Let us look at Matthew 2 and see some of those that paid the price for the beautiful day we call Christmas

1.      JOSEPH AND MARY. These were ordinary people living their lives simply but the birth of Jesus altered that totally. Here they had to run around like criminals despite the fact that they are not

2.      MOTHERS AT BETHLEHEM. All these ones likely just woke up one day and had the ‘SSS’ badge into their houses, forcefully seized their beloved sons slaughtered for no just cause. Imagine the agony in the land.....

3.      MAGI FROM THE EAST. These ones had to travel very long distances to see the King that was born.....By the way, wise men still run after Jesus today.

4.      HEROES OF FAITH. See Hebrews 11:36-38
³⁶ Some of these ‘faced jeers’ some ‘flogging’ some ‘were chained and put in prison’. Others ‘were stoned’  ‘sawed in two’… ‘put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated--They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

5.      JESUS CHRIST. The Christ of Christmas himself paid a great price for Christmas. He had to leave his throne in heaven to come down to this earth

CONCLUSION

This beautiful Christmas that comes to us so freely is not without a price, but others paid for us. An example that comes to me is in  2 Sam 23:15-17

15 David longed for water and said, "Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!" 16 So the three mighty men broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out before the Lord. 17 "Far be it from me, O Lord, to do this!" he said. "Is it not the blood of men who went at the risk of their lives?" And David would not drink it. Though it came to him free, but he realized that it is indeed “the blood of men who risked their lives...” so he in Vs 17  “He poured it out before the Lord as a sacrifice onto His honour” will you dedicate this Christmas to God like that?

NIV