A Classic Christmas: Preparing for Christmas
In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. 8 Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, 9 according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. 11 And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
Luke 1:5-17
Christmas wasn’t born in a day. You don’t make a legacy overnight. It would be easy to read these opening verses and think, “Ok, the story starts in the days of Herod.” But the story doesn’t start there; it started way before.
Often, when we think of a classic Christmas, we think of waking up, running downstairs (or patiently waiting until we were allowed), eating treats, and excitedly opening up presents from under the tree. We don’t often think about all the work that happened in advance, especially as kids. That classic kid’s Christmas didn’t happen in a night… but over weeks, months, and sometimes years.
We go to Luke 1 when we think of the classic Christmas story. We see that it seemed to start with Caesar Augustus issuing a decree, Mary and Joseph riding to Bethlehem on a donkey, no room at the Inn, the angels singing, the shepherds being afraid, the Wisemen traveling, and the baby being born, wrapped in swaddling cloths, and lying in a manger …but we forget about all of the work that happened in advance. This first classic Christmas was prepared for over the course of weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, and millennia.
Watch the full sermon to learn four points of preparation we can all take from this passage in Luke to make our hearts and minds ready for Christ and the call of Christmas.
You can follow along with this week’s sermon notes here.
We invite you to return next week as we continue our “A Classic Christmas” series with a message on The Miracle of Christmas. Know someone who could use some encouragement? Make sure to share this sermon with them!
