Standing, let's just bow our heads in prayer.
Father, we give you thanks and praise that you have spoken to us in your word.
And Father, we know that you have spoken to us in your word, desiring us to understand your word
and to allow your word to come into our lives to form us.
And so, Father, we ask for your help because we need your help.
We ask that your Holy Spirit would help us to use the best of who we are to listen and pay attention.
But you would do that greater work of bringing your word deep into us and forming us.
And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
So, I have a confession to make. I made a big mistake between yesterday and today.
So, many of you have probably heard the old rule of thumb.
Never try a recipe for the first time when you have company coming.
You've all heard that rule?
Don't try a completely new recipe when you have company coming.
So, those of you who know me know that when I preach, you might not know this.
I use an outline. I don't actually use a written text. I use an outline.
But I thought to myself, I think this time for Christmas Eve, I'm going to do a written text for my sermon.
So, it could be really, really well organized.
And, well, here's the problem.
I did the service at 2 o'clock in the afternoon.
And that sermon soared like a lead balloon.
Just didn't get off the ground whatsoever.
And I had company this afternoon.
So, I now have a semi-useless written text for my sermon.
So, just bear with me.
I'll do the best I can.
Sort of looking at my text a bit, but also just doing my points.
At the end of the day, we have a wonderful story.
And part of the big point of my whole sermon this morning, this evening,
is that the Christmas story is a story.
And if we think about it for a second, it will help us to understand both what seems sort of weak about it,
but what its true glory and beauty is.
Not only the content of the story, but the fact that it's a story itself.
You see, for most Canadians, and I think Canadian Christians as well,
you know, so if we were going to, I don't know,
if we were going to figure out whether or not to become the 51st state of the United States of America, let's say,
something which would be a very, very big decision for us to make,
we'd want something pretty substantial before we made a decision like that.
What we wouldn't want is a story.
We think, like, really? A story?
We're going to make a decision on something as big as becoming a 51st state in the United States on the basis of a story?
Well, if you think about it for a second, Christians are making these very, very, very large and far-reaching claims
that God, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity,
took on human nature and was born as a baby boy to live a fully human life in space and time in history,
and that the entire fate of humankind, each human life, depends upon how you react to it.
Well, that's actually a far bigger thing than becoming the 51st state of the United States of America.
How do we know about it? A story.
The nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, is told as a story.
It's a very short, simple story.
I just read it. We're going to read it again in a couple of minutes.
It just takes a couple of verses.
It can be drawn quite, if you had that ability, you could draw it quite simply
and maybe draw it if you had that skill.
It would be an interesting, I wish I had that skill.
If you do, you should try sometimes, maybe with your kids or others,
just going from line drawing to line drawing to line drawing
and just having the story unfold before you.
But, as I said, with a question like the 51st state,
for many Canadians, both those who are Christians and those who are not,
Christians just don't want to acknowledge it, okay?
That's the thing about Christians.
We're not always as honest about ourselves as we think,
and Canadian Christians are way more Canadian than we realize.
If you don't think about it through, we have some people who are immigrants to Canada
and just ask them if they get comfortable with you.
How Canadian are Christians in Canada?
And they might tell you just how Canadian we actually are.
And so for Canadians, the whole category of story sounds weak,
not very serious, not even third best.
Why can't we have a catalogue of facts?
That would be better.
Why don't we have a flawless philosophical argument?
That would be better.
Why don't we have a thoroughly documented academic work of history?
Why don't we have a summary of scientific findings?
Why don't we have a fact-checked autobiography?
Why don't we have something like an authoritative report
from the most eminent scholars and experts in Canada
and have them give us this authentic, authoritative report?
That's what we Canadians think would be far more substantial and meaty
than a story that can be shown and told quite simply
just with some lights and some little bit of artistic work.
Because if you think about it for a second,
a story is something that you read to children.
A story is something that the busy businesswoman picks up
to pass the time on her flight from Ottawa to Los Angeles,
or the harassed dad brings to the beach in the summer
when he's supposed to be looking after the kids.
But the triune God in his wisdom saw fit to communicate to us,
at least in regards to the nativity of Jesus
and the key doctrines of the Incarnation,
primarily in the form of a story or several stories,
all telling one story.
What on earth was he thinking?
Didn't he know that when it comes to far-reaching claims,
we advanced, modern, well-educated Canadians
who know how to use TikTok and Instagram
and demand something far stronger than a story,
or at least something which has good vibes?
Hold that thought.
The next thing about the story is this.
It's a very unique claim,
is that the story of the nativity of Jesus is a true story.
I used to read stories to my children.
Full disclosure, my wife was the overwhelming principal reader
of stories to our kids,
but occasionally I would read stories to my kids.
And after reading something about PJ Funny Bunny
or something by Dr. Seuss,
I would read them a Bible story.
However, I always said something like this to the children
before I read the Bible story.
I'd say it's, you know, good to read these stories,
Santa, PJ Funny Bunny, whatever.
But you need to know that this story
that I'm about to read to you is a true story.
I want them to understand the difference
between the two stories.
Because we, for too many Canadians,
we have Santa stories and Jesus' birth stories,
and they are both equally just stories.
But Matthew tells us that he is telling a true story.
In fact, Matthew put his,
I was going to say his money where his mouth was.
He did, he put his life where his mouth was
because at the end of his life,
he died, he died sort of by torture
because the authorities wanted him to recant
and say that the stories that he had written,
the story he had written about Jesus wasn't true.
He'd made it up.
And Matthew went to his death
rather than denying the truth of the story.
Regrettably, in our life,
we know many people will die for causes,
but not many people will die for facts.
But Matthew died for a fact.
Now, of course, the story of the nativity of Jesus
being true, the virgin birth and all of that,
is, of course, highly contested.
And that sometimes really bothers Christians
when we find out that something's highly contested.
It makes us go,
oh, I don't know what I should be thinking about this.
It's highly contested.
But we should really just say, so what?
Not to be flippant about people who don't agree with this,
but just to think, if you think about it for a second,
one of the things that defines a human being
is that they can contest anything whatsoever.
So just because it's contested doesn't mean anything.
Anybody who reads Matthew and Luke,
the two places who tell the stories of Jesus' birth,
if they read it in an open-minded way,
they'll see that they both claim to be writing
an eyewitness-based biography of Jesus,
something which actually happened.
And they wrote these eyewitness-based biographies of Jesus
when many, many, many eyewitnesses were still alive.
So people can say that the stories aren't true
because they're impossible,
but they shouldn't ever say
that the authors didn't intend to write a true story.
I think the evidence is there that the story is true,
that it is historically, factually, emotionally,
morally, spiritually, and aesthetically true.
The truth in the nativity stories is multifaceted and deep.
If you have a chance to watch on YouTube,
there is a woman by the name of Ayaan Hirsi Ali,
and she's been a very fascinating woman for a long time,
growing up as a devout Muslim,
in fact, what we would call an Islamicist.
And she ends up fleeing her Islamic background.
She enters into Europe.
She becomes an atheist.
She was a good friend of all of the atheists,
Christopher Hitchens, Dawkins, all of them.
And within the last year, she has become a Christian.
And there's some very interesting interviews
between Dawkins,
one of the leading atheists in the world,
talking to her.
And it's very interesting
because she captures this aspect of the truth
very beautifully, if you listen to her.
He presses her on something like the virgin birth,
and he's quite contemptuous.
Like, how can you believe something
like the virgin birth is even true?
And she remains...
She has this very, very quiet
and profound dignity about her.
And she says,
well, I don't entirely know
how to answer all of your questions.
But then she goes on to talk about
how the truth of the stories
are emotionally, morally, spiritually,
aesthetically, culturally true.
And she believes, and she has some reasons
to believe that they're also historically true.
And that's the fundamental claim of this story.
These stories are true.
Christians say,
God, the Son of God,
actually did take into himself
our human nature.
And he actually was born as a human being
and walked among us.
That's what we claim
is being told in these stories.
But the death of Jesus
isn't just like this weird,
random thing that happens.
It happens in the context
of centuries of laws
and worship and poetry
and prophecy
and profound wisdom,
like the books of Ecclesiastes
and the Psalms and poetry
and Song of Songs.
It's in the context
of this profound history
of teachings
out of which science emerged
and the belief in human rights emerged
and human dignity emerged
and the idea of progress emerged.
And all of these things
emerge out of that
and it's in this context
of this long story
that the nativity of Jesus happens.
And you can see that
if you go back later on,
most people when they read
the Gospel of Matthew,
they sort of skip over
the first 17 verses
because it's all these,
you know,
then there was this
and then there was this
and Hezron was the father of Aram.
But what Matthew is telling you
is he's telling you
there's this long story
that all these things
that God has done
and then at this culminating time
there's the birth of Jesus.
And it's not just a true story,
it's a true story about God.
Like listen again to the story
if you have your Bibles,
Matthew chapter 1, 18 to 25.
Now the birth of Jesus Christ
took place in this way
when his mother Mary
had been betrothed to Joseph.
Before they came together,
she was found to be with child
from the Holy Spirit.
Now it's going to be said twice
that the baby within Mary's womb,
Mary had never sexually known a man.
And you go back and read in Luke,
you'll see the story about it,
that God comes and asks her
if she is willing to allow
the Holy Spirit
to do a miracle within her
where God by an act of creation
creates a zygote
within the womb of Mary.
He creates it out of nothing,
in a sense,
not out of nothing
in that it reflects
Mary's physiological heritage.
If you were able to go back
in a time machine
and you saw Mary
and you saw Jesus,
you would see the family resemblance.
You might say,
oh look,
he has Mary's nose.
And oh, look at that.
Like, you know,
he has Mary's eyebrows
and stuff like that.
You would see
that that's that connection there.
But that God creates
within the womb of Mary
this zygote
that goes through normal gestation.
We'll talk about that in a moment.
That's the claim
which is being made here.
And then it continues.
And her husband, Joseph,
being a just man
and unwilling to put her to shame,
resolved to divorce her quietly.
Just to make it a bit,
you might not know this,
but an Anglican,
the way Anglicans work,
if you get ordained as a deacon,
most Anglicans
who are ordained as deacons,
it's called the transitional deacon.
And so the moment
you're ordained a deacon,
you can be called reverend.
But you're only a deacon
for six months to two years,
depending on where you are.
And then you get made a presbyter.
I'm a presbyter.
So I was ordained
in May 15, 1985,
100 million years ago,
I was ordained a deacon.
And I could call myself
the Reverend George Sinclair
at that moment.
But the implication was
that within,
in my case,
it was about seven months later,
I was made a presbyter,
which is what I am today.
And that's how engagement worked then.
In a sense,
Mary could have called herself
Mrs. Joseph
at that point in time.
But they weren't actually married.
It was a transitional state.
And that's why
Joseph had to divorce her.
But here's the thing.
Verse 20.
But as he considered these things,
behold,
an angel of the Lord
appeared before him
in a dream,
saying,
Joseph, son of David,
do not fear to take Mary
as your wife,
for that which is conceived in her
is from the Holy Spirit.
The second time,
it's said that the baby
within Mary's womb,
the incarnation happened.
God created out of nothing
this baby within the womb.
Mary never had any sexual knowledge
of a man.
And it continues.
Verse 21.
She will bear a son,
and you shall call his name Jesus,
for he will save his people
from their sins.
To even say save his people,
you can't say that about me.
I couldn't save my people
throughout the world.
I can't save people in China
and Kenya
and Rwanda
and Singapore
and Taiwan
and Buenos Aires.
Like,
only,
that can only be said of God,
that he could have people
all over the world
and all over time.
But that's the claim
which is made here.
And then in verse 22,
all this took place
to fulfill what the Lord
had spoken by the prophet.
Behold,
the virgin
shall conceive
and bear a son,
and they shall call his name
Emmanuel,
which means God with us,
for the third time.
It's emphasized
that that's what God is doing.
That's what this story,
that's this
huge claim
that is being made
in this story.
The nativity story
is a true story
about God.
Now,
you know,
here's the thing
about this story.
I'm going to use this phrase.
You might not have heard of it.
I call it
the normal human
religious imagination.
And for the normal
human religious imagination,
this cannot possibly
be a story
about God.
Like,
what's just being described here
cannot possibly be true.
It's implausible.
People might say
the science doesn't work.
That's not true.
The science has nothing
to say about this.
It doesn't contradict
a single tenet of science
properly understood.
the normal human
religious imagination
projects onto God
what we would do
if we were God.
Like,
imagine if all of a sudden
one of you
became a billionaire.
Would you buy
the cheapest,
crappiest Fiat
you possibly could
to drive around in?
Very unlikely.
Some of you,
being very good Canadians,
say,
well,
okay,
I don't think I'll go
for the flashy,
hot,
pink Lamborghini.
But I'll go for a
sedate,
respectable,
gray,
Bentley,
or something like that.
Or maybe if you weren't
even that much into cars,
you know,
you'd at least get
a Subaru
or something like that.
Not the crappiest
little
Fiat.
I have no idea,
by the way,
what the cheapest car is.
Some of you can tell me afterwards.
I should have looked it up
before I came to this.
So you see,
here's the thing.
We can't imagine
that we would do anything
like this
if we were God.
We would not belittle
ourselves
and become little.
God becoming a zygote?
God going through gestation?
God having to go through birth?
God being a baby?
God being poor and human
and unrecognized
and part of a conquered people?
No self-respecting God
would ever act like this.
I wouldn't act like this.
How can something
so outrageous
and counterintuitive
be true?
You see,
it's not that anything
in the nativity story
is opposed
to reason or evidence.
The story is just
implausible to us.
And so even then for,
if you're talking to somebody,
you can say,
I can deal with that.
You know,
Dawkins says,
it's absurd to talk about a virgin.
No, I can give you
a simple explanation
for the virgin birth.
No, no,
I can simply,
you're making a mistake.
I can simply clarify this.
And you could go on
and on and on
and on and on.
But at the end of the day,
it just,
it just cannot,
it's just completely
and utterly implausible to us.
Another thing
that our skeptical friends
will say,
well,
here's the thing they'll say.
They love to harass
people like us
and say,
oh yeah,
you all,
all you religious people,
you have your Bibles,
your scriptures.
Yeah,
I mean,
why do you think
your Bible is more true
than some other scripture?
You know,
the people,
Muslims think
the Quran is true.
Some Hindus think
the Bahava Gita is true.
Some Buddhists,
the Tibetan Book of the Dead,
you know,
et cetera,
et cetera.
And,
you know,
just think about it
for a second.
They will say to me,
how on earth
do you think
a puny person
could ever describe
a no God
or even a God
with a small g?
How can someone
see the invisible?
And then they'll pause
and say,
you do realize
that invisible means
it can't possibly be seen.
How can you hear
the inaudible?
You do realize
inaudible means
it can't literally
be heard.
You know,
you can't even
figure out yourself.
You can't figure out
your wife
or your friend
or your kids.
What makes you think
you could figure out God?
Well,
Christians believe
that the nativity story
is a true story
from God
about God.
That's what we believe.
In fact,
to the surprise
of skeptics,
I often tell them
I agree with virtually
every single thing
they said.
In fact,
I feel like saying
amen to them.
The fact is
that the aunt
about to read
a nativity story
to her niece
can clearly say
amen to most of that
because the biblical claim
is the same
as the claim
made by Jesus,
that the Bible
is not a repository
of human words
about God,
but is God himself
speaking to human beings.
Only God
can understand God.
I accept that.
I believe that.
Only God
can understand God
and I will only
understand God
to the extent
that he makes it
clear to me.
The Bible
is ultimately
from each word
to the whole
the triune God
speaking to us.
Why believe this?
Well,
I can give you
lots of reasons
but very simply put,
the resurrection
of Jesus
changes everything.
The resurrection
of Jesus
changes everything.
The death
and resurrection
of Jesus
authenticates
and vindicates
who he is,
what he accomplished
on the cross
and his teaching.
I believe in him.
I believe him.
I believe what he says
and he is the one
who teaches us
to come to understand
that the Bible
is a true story,
the nativity story
is a true story
come from God
ultimately
about God.
He used Matthew.
So,
this,
we're almost finished.
The nativity story
is both true history
and it's also miraculous
from start to finish.
I don't know if you noticed
when I was reading
this story,
God drives the action.
Angels speak
as God's messengers.
A young woman
who has never sexually
known a man
becomes pregnant.
And it's,
we Christians
shouldn't be embarrassed
about miracles
in the Bible.
We should revel
in them.
We should meditate
upon them.
We should delight
in them.
We should be excited
about them.
I remember,
it's so,
my wife will remember
this as well.
My grandfather
who was quite elderly,
I guess this would be
four or five years
before he died,
and I remember
being in the house
when he was sitting
reading the Bible.
And all of a sudden
he would start reading,
stop reading the Bible,
he'd look up
and he'd just chuckle.
He'd say,
look at this,
this tells you
that God did this,
isn't that?
And he'd just have
this big smile
on his face.
He just delighted
in the miracles.
We should delight
in the miracles.
They're wonderful.
Christianity
is the only religion
that does things
in history
to help vindicate
its truth.
It not only has
profound philosophy,
profound poetry,
profound worship,
profound stories,
but it has
these miracles.
You can look
and there is
much historical evidence
to accept
that the grave
actually was empty
on Easter morning.
Jesus really did
rise from the dead.
They never found
his body.
He appeared alive.
He rose.
And if that happened,
it changes everything.
It's why we read
this story.
Why I believe
in the virgin birth.
Why I believe
in the nativity story.
It's a wonderful story.
It's spectacularly true.
And it's a story
about God
coming
to save
you and me.
Canadians think
that the best stories
are the ones
where the hero
or the heroine
gets to save
themselves
and others.
We look down,
in a sense,
on the person
who has to be saved
by somebody else.
They should save
themselves.
We think that
as Canadians
that the best thing
that God could do
for us
is to get out of the way
while we save ourselves.
Or if necessary,
he can provide
a few pointers
or maybe a magic wand
or something
so we can save ourselves.
And this,
of course,
feeds into the normal
religious human imagination
which determines
not only what is plausible
but also what is best.
The best religion
is the one
where I save myself.
Frankly,
it is a disappointment
to the average Canadian
to discover
that God
does not really care
about your criteria
for plausibility.
He doesn't give a hoot.
Your criteria
for plausibility
is your problem,
not his.
You think about it
for a second.
How many people
care about
the plausibility structures
of people
500 years ago?
Well,
you think
they're ridiculous.
They think
you're ridiculous.
Why do you think
God should care
what you think
about those types
of things?
But on the other hand,
we all agree
that the best stories
have a twist.
In this case,
the twist
is the joyful news
that you can never
save yourself
and that salvation
comes as an undeserved
and unforeseen gift
when you lay aside
the burden
of being your own savior.
It's crushing.
It only depresses
you to be your own savior.
It is so much lightness
to get that burden
and throw it away
and to allow God
to do what only
he can do,
which is save those
who trust in God,
the Son of God,
the Lord Jesus Christ,
who was born
of the Virgin Mary
in a simple stable.
That's the wonderful news
of this story.
Look again.
We see it in the names.
Look at what the name is
that they were to give
the boy,
verse 23,
Emmanuel.
It's such a wonderful thing.
It says that God
is with us.
You know,
the Down syndrome child
can put their faith
and trust in Christ
and God is with him.
The elderly person
who'd lived
maybe a very full life
but is now lost
in dementia,
God is with that person.
The person who's born
with severe handicaps,
God is with that person.
The person captured
in sexual slavery
or some prison camp
by some corrupt routine
and they give their life
to Christ,
God is with that person.
The billionaire
who gives their life
to Christ,
the soccer mom
who gives her life
to Christ,
God is with them.
God,
the Son of God,
came and went
through the normal process
of birth and life.
He is with us
in our mess.
He is with us
in our sin.
He bears the sin
upon his body.
He dies in my place
so that I can be made
right with him.
He is with us.
He does not despise us.
He does not think
we smell.
He does not think
we stink.
He does not think
we are losers.
He does not think
we are filled with shame.
He looks at us
and he loves us.
He came from heaven
to seek us.
He is with us.
He is with you.
That is the story
of Christmas.
And it is seen
in Emmanuel
and it is seen
in his name.
His name,
Jesus,
means the Lord saves.
The Lord is salvation.
He is with us
to save you
as undeserved gift.
So friends,
as we come to the end,
we are going to have
one more video.
Praise God
from whom all blessings flow.
Yes,
stories are weak,
easily mocked,
and easily dismissed.
But the weakness
of God
is stronger
than all human strength.
And the foolishness
of God
is wiser
than all human plausibility
and reason
and wisdom.
The triune God
himself
chooses to impart
these profound
and necessary truths
in the form
of a story.
A story so simple
but so profound
that a parent
can read it
to their two-year-old,
their 18-month-old,
to their PhD neighbor,
a street person,
or a soccer mom,
and all can receive
the story
and be formed
by the profound truths
in it.
Stories form you
in a way
that nothing else
forms you.
And God chose
the weak
and the lowly
to shame the wise.
He is with us.
Father,
we thank you
for the story
of the birth of Jesus.
We thank you
for Mary,
for her being willing
to allow God
to do that miracle
within her womb.
We thank you
for Joseph,
that he believed you
when you spoke to him
through the angel.
But most of all,
Father,
we thank you
for Jesus,
that God,
the Son of God,
would take on
our human nature,
would come
and enter our world
as a zygote
in the womb of Mary,
and that he would live
a normal human life
except without sin,
culminating in his death
upon the cross.
to reconcile us to you
as he bore the sin
and shame
which is properly
ours in himself.
Father,
we thank you
that he has done this
for us.
We ask,
Father,
that you grant us
a true confidence
in Christ.
And Father,
thank you
that he came
in meekness
and weakness.
And we ask
that as we think
about this weak
little baby
being born
so many years ago,
Father,
help us to know
that you are with us
in our weakness
and that we have
all of the weakness
we need
for you to work
within us
with all of your strength.
And we ask these things
in the name of Jesus,
your Son and our Savior.
Amen.