Sermon Tone Analysis

*Intro* – Bull Run.

First major battle of the Civil War.

By evening, the Union Army was in full retreat back to DC and the South was sure it was over.

One Georgian pronounced Manassas “one of the decisive battles in the world.”

A Mobile, AL paper predicted the Union would “would never again advance beyond cannon shot of Washington.”

As they watched the fleeing Union soldiers, no Confederate believed what they were seeing was the beginning of an army that would spell doom for them in the end.

Appearances lie! Things are not what they look like.

Infinitely greater is the paradox of Luke 2:1-7.

The most momentous event in human history to that moment, God becoming man, did not look very momentous.

Nothing about the birth of Christ was as expected.

You’d have thought God would enter gloriously -- clearly identified – no abiguity.

He did no such thing.

So here we have the great paradox of God’s greatness seen in “God’s humility.”

His palace is a stable; His attendants, filthy animals; His cradle, a manger; His welcoming sign – “No room.”

Absolutely nothing about this scene says, “God has arrived.”

It would have seemed preposterous.

Yet, that is exactly what had happened.

God had indeed arrived; heaven had come to earth; the Word had become flesh.

And Luke shows us that in His utter humility, if you look very closely, is also exhibited His absolute supremacy.

The world has depreciated this night in thousands of ways.

John Lennon once proclaimed that his Beatles were more popular than Jesus.

Maybe – but they sure didn’t have His staying power.

Nor did they have His divine nature or redemptive mission or power to save.

In this account we see God’s glory indelibly displayed in 4 ways.

*I.

God’s Providence (seems MIA – never is)*

What in the world is providence?

It is God’s governing all things to bring about His purposes.

It is God working His will behind the scenes of everyday life.

God’s providence is God in charge.

For believers, it is God working unseen and undetected in my life just like He worked in the lives of Moses or Joshua or David or Paul.

God’s providence often seems to be MIA (missing in action) – but it never is!

It is one of God’s least understood characteristics.

And this account dramatically illustrates God’s providence.

There is in this passage a serious unstated problem.

Mary is about to deliver a baby -- the Jewish Messiah – but the problem is she is in the wrong place by 90 miles.

What do we mean?

700 years earlier Micah issued this prophecy in Micah 5:2, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”

Micah’s prophecy refers to Messiah – Mary’s baby.

But she is in Nazareth and He is to be born in Bethlehem, 90 miles to the south.

Mary is in the wrong place!

That’s exactly why this passage starts as it does.

Lu 2:1, “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town.

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David.”

Humanly speaking, the unthinkable is about to happen.

God’s Word is about to be nullified by Mary’s wrong location.

She needs to be in Bethlehem, not in Nazareth.

A human dilemma.

But God says, “Hey, no problem.

I’ve got an emperor, a governor, and King Herod lined up to make this all work out.”

This is God’s providence in living color.

Caesar thought he was god.

What he was was God’s errand boy! Augustus was born Gais Octavius, the grand-nephew of Julius Caesar who later adopted him.

When Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, Octavius shared power for a time with Mark Anthony who was married to his sister.

But Anthony dumped the sister in favor of Cleopatra, and civil war ensued.

Octavius defeated Anthony and Cleo at the Battle of Actium and became sole master of Rome from 27 BC until AD 14.

He was a great administrator and builder though his personal life was a shambles.

When his wife Scribonia did not produce a son, he divorced her and married the Livia, the wife of a friend.

Livia had a son, Tiberius whom he wanted as successor so he forced him to divorce the wife he loved in favor of his own daughter, Julia, famous for her profligate lifestyle.

The marriage was a disaster for both.

Nevertheless, Octavius was proud that he brought peace and order.

“Dictator” or “King” was not good enough for him.

He finagled the title Augustus – thus Caesar Augustus.

He did not allow direct worship of himself for fear of backlash, but he encouraged the idea he was divine – built a temple in his honor.

By the time of Christ, Augustus was master of all he surveyed.

No one was greater than he in his eyes.

But in God’s eyes, he was strictly bush league.

God took the most powerful man in the world – one of the most powerful ever – and gave him a bit part in God’s great drama.

He prompted Caesar to mandate the census that took Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, thus protecting the integrity of God’s Word.

Augustus was merely a pawn in bringing a far greater ruler into the world.

Such is the providence of God.

He used the most powerful man in the world to correctly place the most humble birth in the empire of the One who would one day become the King of kings.

Think God has a sense of humor!?

Listen, make no mistake about it; God works providentially for those who are His.

Matt 28:20, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”

Prov 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.”

He will direct your paths toward your good and His glory.

All the time.

On September 25, 1949, Billy Graham came to Los Angeles for a 3-week crusade.

He was an unknown 30-year-old southern evangelist.

But he left 8 weeks later (5 more than planned) with a worldwide reputation that he never lost.

Newspaper coverage had a lot to do with that.

William Randolph Hearst came in disguise, liked what he saw and instructed his papers – “Puff Graham.”

The next night reporters were everywhere, covering every angle.

The crowds swelled and soon included Hollywood stars, sports celebrities and others giving their lives to Christ.

His ministry was set on fire.

Graham never met Hearst.

But he did hear about the cryptic message and said, “I should have thanked him.”

So, did William Randolph Hearst make Billy Graham?

Of course not.

He was God’s providential means of giving Billy visibility and status he never would otherwise have achieved.

But in doing so, he was just God’s errand boy.

Just like Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, when in 606 BC, new to his throne and fresh off a great victory in Egypt, he stopped by Israel on his way home almost as an afterthought and took them captive.

Little did he know that he was fulfilling multiple prophecies issued over the past 100 years through Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

He was just carving another notch on his gun.

But God saw it differently.

He said in Jeremiah 25:6, “Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant.”

Nebuchadnezzar may have been big in Babylon, and king of the known world, but to God he was a bit player.