WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.100 Okay, well, really simple question for you this morning. 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:06.339 Where were you born? 00:00:07.500 --> 00:00:09.320 Here's what I thought we'd do, if you have interest. 00:00:10.099 --> 00:00:13.919 See if we can find the person this morning who was born the furthest away from this building. 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:16.140 Okay, I'll start the bidding. 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:17.839 I'll start with Glasgow. 00:00:18.519 --> 00:00:21.080 Okay, a wise man from the West, fittingly today. 00:00:21.719 --> 00:00:23.100 Who else? Where were we born? 00:00:23.500 --> 00:00:24.820 I know we've got someone from Wales. 00:00:25.379 --> 00:00:25.800 Is that right? 00:00:26.260 --> 00:00:28.300 Wales, getting a bit more exotic here. 00:00:28.300 --> 00:00:29.500 Okay, anyone else? 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:32.560 South Africa, brilliant. 00:00:32.700 --> 00:00:35.520 This is lovely actually to see what God has done in bringing us together. 00:00:35.640 --> 00:00:36.439 Anyone else want to go? 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:38.799 South Africa's winning it just now. 00:00:41.659 --> 00:00:43.120 Nigeria, excellent. 00:00:44.340 --> 00:00:47.140 Australia, okay, Glasgow is not looking so impressive now. 00:00:47.379 --> 00:00:47.760 What? 00:00:48.500 --> 00:00:49.879 New Zealand, wow. 00:00:50.140 --> 00:00:51.840 Southern Hemisphere, rocking the joint. 00:00:52.019 --> 00:00:52.379 Excellent. 00:00:52.939 --> 00:00:54.439 Well, here's what I love. 00:00:55.140 --> 00:00:59.980 I love hearing questions, sorry, hearing stories about babies that were born in a New 00:00:59.979 --> 00:01:00.799 unusual places. 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:01.279 Okay? 00:01:01.719 --> 00:01:03.619 Now let me clarify what I mean by that. 00:01:03.719 --> 00:01:04.679 Here's an unusual place. 00:01:04.719 --> 00:01:05.359 Here's my favourite. 00:01:05.500 --> 00:01:09.959 Did you hear about the one, about the lady down in Cambridgeshire who gave birth to her 00:01:09.959 --> 00:01:12.899 baby in her local post office? 00:01:13.939 --> 00:01:14.340 Okay? 00:01:14.340 --> 00:01:21.280 Opportunistic shop owner took the baby, weighed it, discovered that it would cost £8.22 to 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:22.900 send us a first class package. 00:01:23.300 --> 00:01:24.280 Gets better than that. 00:01:24.380 --> 00:01:25.180 This is why I love it. 00:01:25.219 --> 00:01:27.400 The headline the next day in the local newspaper. 00:01:28.060 --> 00:01:32.500 Now that's what I call a special delivery. 00:01:32.500 --> 00:01:34.879 Sometimes these jokes just write themselves, don't they? 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:35.340 Excellent. 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:40.560 Did you hear about the one, about the lady who gave birth in a stable in Bethlehem? 00:01:41.060 --> 00:01:41.280 Right? 00:01:41.340 --> 00:01:45.219 I'm sure that would have made a cracking joke story back in the first century. 00:01:45.379 --> 00:01:50.560 You can imagine the story going around about this baby who was born in a stable. 00:01:50.980 --> 00:01:55.740 Is the birth of Jesus just another tale of a child being born in an unusual place? 00:01:56.120 --> 00:01:59.280 A great story for Mary and Joseph to tell in the years to come. 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:05.560 A great conversation starter, but if we're honest, absolutely zero relevance for my life 00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:08.620 in 2022 beyond that. 00:02:09.219 --> 00:02:12.740 Well, whoever you are here today, whatever you think about the God of the Bible, whatever 00:02:12.740 --> 00:02:19.860 understanding you have of this Christmas day, I want to take 10 minutes this morning just 00:02:19.860 --> 00:02:23.620 to show you why Jesus being born in Bethlehem is so utterly profound. 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:28.560 And it really is good news of great joy for all people. 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:33.840 But if we're to get it, we need to travel back to the old little town of Bethlehem. 00:02:33.960 --> 00:02:35.360 Here's the reality of it. 00:02:37.259 --> 00:02:43.300 No one gets time off work in the first century and thinks to themselves, I got to get myself 00:02:43.300 --> 00:02:44.159 to Bethlehem. 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:45.719 Right? 00:02:45.819 --> 00:02:47.120 That's where the party's at. 00:02:47.500 --> 00:02:49.060 That's where the good times roll. 00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:53.860 I'll be missing out in life if I don't get my selfie in Bethlehem. 00:02:53.860 --> 00:02:58.660 Bethlehem is a no one's bucket list of places to visit before they die. 00:02:59.620 --> 00:03:04.580 And if you remember back to that reading in Luke, as Luke tells it, remember Caesar Augustus 00:03:04.580 --> 00:03:06.300 had declared that he wanted this. 00:03:06.300 --> 00:03:12.600 He wanted this census to be carried out so that he could understand and fathom how many people 00:03:12.600 --> 00:03:13.660 were in his kingdom. 00:03:13.820 --> 00:03:19.420 What we need to understand is that he's not sitting up all night in the palace, desperately 00:03:19.420 --> 00:03:21.640 waiting on the news to come from Bethlehem. 00:03:21.740 --> 00:03:23.800 How many people live in that place? 00:03:24.180 --> 00:03:30.480 Out with the popcorn, out with the Red Bull, set on pulling some kind of election night all 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:31.519 nighter. 00:03:32.699 --> 00:03:34.659 He doesn't care about Bethlehem. 00:03:35.939 --> 00:03:39.039 Rome isn't batting an eyelid here about this birth. 00:03:39.379 --> 00:03:44.879 Historians generally agree that in this day, Bethlehem is a town with most likely under 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:46.079 1,000 people. 00:03:46.899 --> 00:03:47.000 Right? 00:03:47.659 --> 00:03:51.179 Some historians even put that figure as low as 300 people. 00:03:51.180 --> 00:04:00.980 And yet, as the world doesn't take notice at all about a birth in a lowly place, in a little 00:04:00.980 --> 00:04:05.879 place like Bethlehem, two things are wonderfully happening here. 00:04:07.200 --> 00:04:08.080 Here's the first one. 00:04:08.219 --> 00:04:12.580 Firstly, an old promise is falling into place. 00:04:13.580 --> 00:04:19.040 You see, despite the many things that are going against it, Bethlehem has one thing that 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:21.379 is massively going for it. 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:25.879 So Bethlehem is the birthplace of King David. 00:04:27.700 --> 00:04:32.240 Israel's finest, their most celebrated king, this is his patch. 00:04:33.780 --> 00:04:38.879 And God made David this binding promise in 2 Samuel 7 as Israel's king. 00:04:39.900 --> 00:04:43.960 More accurately, not to David per se, but to his son, someone who's going to come down 00:04:43.960 --> 00:04:44.680 his line. 00:04:44.680 --> 00:04:52.439 God is promising David in that moment that God will establish his kingdom and his rule 00:04:52.439 --> 00:04:53.300 will be forever. 00:04:54.240 --> 00:05:00.899 And through the work of his reign, his work, he will bring his people peace. 00:05:01.340 --> 00:05:03.579 He will bring his people rest. 00:05:04.199 --> 00:05:08.899 And God says, I will be a father to him and he will be a son to me. 00:05:08.899 --> 00:05:14.899 That's a huge promise God has made to somebody coming from David's line. 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:23.159 But as the Old Testament timeline carries on and this baton is passed generation to generation 00:05:23.159 --> 00:05:28.439 down the line and his men come and go, sit in David's throne until one day that baton 00:05:28.439 --> 00:05:29.199 falls. 00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:34.399 You're left wondering what has happened to God's promise that he made about the king 00:05:34.399 --> 00:05:34.959 par excellence. 00:05:35.740 --> 00:05:38.899 The king, he was going to bring in all those things for his people. 00:05:40.199 --> 00:05:45.300 And the whole time that sweet smelling prophecy from Micah hangs in the air like some kind 00:05:45.300 --> 00:05:46.959 of Christmas scented candle. 00:05:47.419 --> 00:05:48.120 Do you know the words? 00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:54.540 But you Bethlehem, Ephrathath, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you 00:05:54.540 --> 00:06:00.639 will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:02.360 ancient times. 00:06:05.220 --> 00:06:08.280 You see, Rome might not bat an eyelid at this birth. 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:13.240 God's people might be disillusioned about this birth, but God's not forgotten his promise. 00:06:13.240 --> 00:06:21.340 And in Thunder's look at verse 4 that we read just earlier, placing Jesus through his earthly 00:06:21.340 --> 00:06:28.720 father Joseph, having traveled back to Bethlehem because of this census, he places Jesus squarely 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:30.960 in the line of David. 00:06:33.139 --> 00:06:37.579 Here in Bethlehem is an old promise that's fallen into place. 00:06:37.660 --> 00:06:41.639 And here in Bethlehem is a new king rising up to take his place. 00:06:41.639 --> 00:06:46.539 God's kings, the one who's stepping into those promises. 00:06:47.539 --> 00:06:49.060 This is God's king here. 00:06:49.919 --> 00:06:52.099 Bethlehem was surprising and lowly enough. 00:06:53.300 --> 00:06:57.519 But the thing is, where he was born in Bethlehem was even lower. 00:06:57.779 --> 00:07:02.120 It's not like Mary and Joseph took the best suite at the Bethlehem Ritz, is it? 00:07:03.219 --> 00:07:04.500 No, they had a stable. 00:07:04.779 --> 00:07:08.139 And not just a stable, the baby is placed in a manger. 00:07:08.620 --> 00:07:10.659 How inappropriate for God's king. 00:07:11.639 --> 00:07:15.860 And yet how fitting, because this was the shape of his life. 00:07:16.659 --> 00:07:19.319 The one who left heaven's glories. 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:22.379 The one who shared eternity with his father. 00:07:22.899 --> 00:07:24.759 In this moment he is born. 00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:27.979 The shape of his life is downward. 00:07:28.120 --> 00:07:29.199 It would carry on. 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:33.459 And it needed to be that shape to win the things for his people. 00:07:33.579 --> 00:07:34.439 The things that were promised. 00:07:34.620 --> 00:07:36.360 Peace, rest. 00:07:37.379 --> 00:07:39.699 The son of God not born into privilege. 00:07:40.300 --> 00:07:42.620 The son of God born into poverty. 00:07:43.879 --> 00:07:46.199 The son of God puts on our skin. 00:07:46.620 --> 00:07:49.139 The son of God steps into our mess. 00:07:49.139 --> 00:07:57.819 Jesus, the eternal son of God who knew heaven's riches, came into the world to show us what God the father is like. 00:07:58.699 --> 00:08:01.399 If you're thinking that this morning, who is this God? 00:08:01.479 --> 00:08:02.159 What is he like? 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:03.659 The Bible would say, look at Jesus. 00:08:04.519 --> 00:08:05.240 Look at him. 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:12.819 And he came in order to seek, to serve, and to save the lost. 00:08:14.259 --> 00:08:16.060 He lived the perfect life. 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:17.460 Right? 00:08:17.540 --> 00:08:19.199 Driven by a love for his father. 00:08:19.800 --> 00:08:23.720 You look at Jesus and you think there is a man who knows life to the full. 00:08:23.720 --> 00:08:27.960 And the shape of his death. 00:08:29.020 --> 00:08:31.540 He would shed his blood and dies for us. 00:08:31.780 --> 00:08:36.200 A sacrificial and substitutionary death on the cross. 00:08:37.100 --> 00:08:45.720 And if we trust in him, this baby who we celebrate being born today, who would grow up to be the man who would give his life on the cross. 00:08:47.160 --> 00:08:49.960 The man who would die for the sins of the world. 00:08:50.060 --> 00:08:50.720 The man who would rise. 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:51.240 Arise. 00:08:51.500 --> 00:08:55.460 Meaning that if we trust in him, our death will not have the final say. 00:08:55.600 --> 00:08:57.000 He will have the final say. 00:08:57.360 --> 00:09:00.980 We can know the truth of those six words that Micah spoke. 00:09:01.580 --> 00:09:06.519 About what the ruler who would come from Bethlehem would do and be for us. 00:09:07.800 --> 00:09:09.040 Those six words. 00:09:09.940 --> 00:09:13.519 And he will be our peace. 00:09:15.779 --> 00:09:16.879 Peace with God. 00:09:17.019 --> 00:09:18.180 The God who created us. 00:09:18.279 --> 00:09:20.200 The God who we've rebelled against. 00:09:20.200 --> 00:09:23.040 The God whose punishment against us hangs over us. 00:09:23.980 --> 00:09:26.040 We get peace with him because of Jesus. 00:09:26.560 --> 00:09:28.259 And peace with one another. 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:35.160 It's the wonderful truth about what God's done in bringing people from all over the world together to be part of his family. 00:09:36.420 --> 00:09:39.700 That where many things in the world would divide us. 00:09:40.220 --> 00:09:40.580 No, no, no. 00:09:40.640 --> 00:09:43.660 God brings us together in Jesus and says you are one. 00:09:44.660 --> 00:09:45.560 Peace with God. 00:09:46.560 --> 00:09:47.500 Peace with one another. 00:09:47.500 --> 00:09:48.340 Peace with one another. 00:09:48.340 --> 00:10:02.120 And how fitting then, isn't it, that in many respects a group of shepherds should be the first ones to know about, celebrate, and declare the news about the birth of God's Lamb. 00:10:02.120 --> 00:10:06.000 The good news as it dawns in Bethlehem. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:13.419 This gospel is good news of great joy for all people. 00:10:13.500 --> 00:10:21.799 No wonder the angels in glorious unison declare, can't get enough of what God is doing in this ordinary yet so spectacular moment. 00:10:21.799 --> 00:10:25.039 It's all kicking off in Bethlehem. 00:10:26.479 --> 00:10:27.620 So where were you born? 00:10:28.979 --> 00:10:29.759 Where were you born? 00:10:31.399 --> 00:10:34.379 Here is the birth in little Bethlehem, the city of David. 00:10:34.539 --> 00:10:38.639 Here is one born, the greatest king of all. 00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:42.419 Oh, holy child of Bethlehem. 00:10:42.519 --> 00:10:44.019 Descend to us, we pray. 00:10:44.860 --> 00:10:47.939 Cast out our sin and enter in. 00:10:48.019 --> 00:10:49.199 Be born in us today. 00:10:50.059 --> 00:10:53.860 We hear the Christmas angels, the great glad tidings tell. 00:10:54.620 --> 00:10:55.799 Oh, come to us. 00:10:56.120 --> 00:10:57.220 Abide with us. 00:10:57.620 --> 00:10:59.679 Our Lord, Emmanuel. 00:11:00.460 --> 00:11:01.120 Let's pray. 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:13.460 Oh, our Father, thank you, Lord, that because of Jesus, our faith in him, our trust in him, that you hear our prayers. 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:18.299 The one who is at your right hand right now, the risen king. 00:11:20.019 --> 00:11:22.960 Father, thank you that you hear us because we pray in his name. 00:11:23.259 --> 00:11:26.399 Lord, we just come to you this morning thinking about what Ian prayed earlier. 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:34.399 All the different things on our hearts and our minds leading up to today, perhaps today, and going on from here. 00:11:34.600 --> 00:11:37.220 Father, we just offer them to you in the silence now. 00:11:41.419 --> 00:11:49.100 And we thank you for Jesus, the one who it was said, it was prophesied of him, that he is the Prince of Peace. 00:11:49.100 --> 00:11:57.320 And so, Father, we thank you for being able to celebrate, living in a country where we have the freedom to celebrate this, the most special of days. 00:11:58.159 --> 00:12:05.240 And so, Father, we just ask as we close our time together this morning, that just the wonder of Christmas, 00:12:06.519 --> 00:12:10.060 help us enjoy all the things that go on, all the good things that you have given us. 00:12:10.059 --> 00:12:21.379 But, Father, help us to savor your salvation plan as it comes to pass in the arrival of Jesus. 00:12:22.819 --> 00:12:25.759 So, Father, thank you for him. 00:12:26.659 --> 00:12:27.779 In his name we pray. 00:12:28.619 --> 00:12:29.000 Amen.