Today we
close out our sermon series on Old Testament prophecies of the coming of Jesus.
We’re looking at the Savior being born in the town of Bethlehem.
Now, that’s something that just
about everybody knows. Even a lot of people who are not Christians could
tell you that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. And as you heard, it does
fulfill an Old Testament prophecy, the prophecy of Micah. Micah says,
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins
are from of old, from ancient times.”
If you’re wondering about it being
called “Bethlehem Ephrathah”, what I read is that this term was used to
distinguish the town from another town called Bethlehem. Sort of like
referring to “Gettysburg, South Dakota” so people know you’re not talking about
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. And of course, as we know, Jesus, the Savior,
was in fact born in Bethlehem.
Have you ever wondered why
Bethlehem? I mean, yes, it fulfills the Old Testament prophecy, but why
did God tell Micah to say Bethlehem? Why did God decide the Savior should
be born there?
When Jesus was born, Bethlehem was a
town of less than a thousand people. It was smaller than Gettysburg.
It may have been smaller than Onida. When we sing “O Little Town of
Bethlehem”, we’re getting it exactly right. Bethlehem was a “little
town”. It’s no wonder there was no room at the inn for Mary and Joseph.
There probably were not very many inns at all. With lots of people
coming to town for the census, and with not very many rooms available even
under normal circumstances, one suspects Joseph and Mary were not the only ones
who were not able to find much housing at that time.
But that does not answer the
question of why God would have Jesus be born in Bethlehem. In fact, it
makes it even more strange, that Jesus would be born in such a small town.
Why not Jerusalem? It was a city. It had forty thousand
people. Besides, that’s where all the major religious festivals were
held, so the people there were used to handling crowds. And Jerusalem was
only about six miles from Bethlehem. Seems like it would’ve been a lot
easier to have Jesus born there. Or, for that matter, why not have Jesus
be born in Nazareth? Think of all the trouble Mary and Joseph would’ve
been saved, if they could’ve just had Jesus be born in their home town.
Well, we’ve talked before about how
hard it is to know the mind of God. But even though we can never fully
understand God, we need to try. And you know, as I think about this, it
seems to me that God’s choice of Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Savior is
perfectly consistent with the way God works. It seems like most of the
time, God uses people and places that were otherwise insignificant and does
great things through them.
Think about Moses. Who was
Moses? He was a nobody. He was a Hebrew born to slaves in Egypt.
He was not even supposed to live. His mother put him in a basket
and set him out in the Nile River to try to hide him from the Egyptian
authorities that were trying to kill all the Hebrew male babies. And God
took him and made him the greatest leader the Israelites ever had.
Think about David. Who was
David? He was a nobody, too. He was a shepherd. When the
prophet Samuel was told to go to David’s father, Jesse and select one of his
sons to be the next king, Jesse did not even bother to include David as one of
the sons Samuel could choose from. He was the youngest son. He was
a nobody. Jesse assumed one of his other sons would be chosen, not David,
of all people. But God chose David, and God made him a great king who
ruled over Israel for years and won all kinds of battles.
We could go on and on with this sort
of thing. Think about Mary and Joseph? Who were they? They
were nobodies. We really don’t know much about either of them, except
that they’re the earthly parents of Jesus. We know Joseph was a
carpenter. We know they came from Nazareth and that Nazareth is where
Jesus grew up. And Nazareth was basically no place, too. Remember
when Jesus was choosing the disciples? This is in the first chapter of
John. Jesus chooses Philip, and Philip goes to get Nathanael. He
tells Nathanael ““We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about
whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph!” And Nathanael’s
reaction is “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?”
I think it
fits right into God’s pattern to have Jesus be born in little Bethlehem.
Think of all these people we’ve talked about. All these nobodies
from nowhere. God turned them into somebodies who are remembered
thousands of years later. And the places they lived are now considered
historic shrines.
None of this
happened because they were so great. All of it happened because God is so
great. And that brings me to this.
You know
that we’ve had a prayer emphasis on the unchurched children and the unchurched
parents or our parish. And we’ve had some success. If you were here
a couple of weeks ago, you saw all the kids at our Christmas program. For
a church this size we’re doing quite well.
But of
course, we can always do better. So think about this. Maybe you
consider it a dream. Maybe you consider it a fantasy. And maybe it
is. But that’s okay. It’s good to dream sometimes. So just
think about this.
What if--what
if--what we’ve seen so far is just the very beginning of what God wants to
do with this church? What if our prayer emphasis not only succeeds, but
succeeds far more than we ever thought it would? What if we start
reaching all kinds of kids, and all kinds of parents, with the gospel of Jesus
Christ? And what if those kids and those parents then go to other towns,
and do the same thing there? What if what we do here starts a movement
that expands all over the state, and then all over the conference, and then all
over the country, and then all over the world?
Now, some of
you are probably hearing that and thinking I’m nuts. Well, you would not
be the first people to think that. But seriously, think about it.
Every great movement has to start someplace with somebody, right?
If God could start a worldwide movement that’s lasted for two thousand
years in a little town like Bethlehem, why could God not do it here? We
always say that nothing is impossible for God. So why do we put limits on
what God can do and where God can do it?
But maybe
you don’t believe that could happen. Maybe you believe this is just a
dream, a fantasy of mine. Okay. But even if you don’t think
something like that could ever happen here, think about this. What would
happen if we all started behaving as if we thought it would?
What would
happen if each one of us in this church started behaving as if we believed that
God was going to do something incredible, something special, something
wonderful, in this town, and that God was going to use our church to do it?
Do you think that would give us more confidence? Do you think that
would give us more enthusiasm? Do you think that would encourage us to
take some steps out in faith? Do you think, maybe, we’d make more effort
to find people who are not going to church anywhere, and invite them to come to
church here? Do you think, maybe, we’d be more determined to spread the
gospel of Jesus Christ? Do you think we just might be more willing to
look for chances to show God’s love and to share God’s word with people?
Now, don’t
get me wrong. I know there are a lot of people here who do a lot of
things for this church. Some of you have been doing them for many years.
And I know there are people here who do take steps out in faith, who do
invite people to come to church, who do look for chances to show God’s love and
share God’s word. Please don’t hear this as a criticism of anyone,
because that’s not my intent at all.
This church
has done great things. This church is doing great things. But the
point is, this church can do even greater things. As great as this
church’s past has been, it’s future can be even better. There’s no reason
it cannot be. Our best days can be yet to come. If we all open
ourselves to God’s leadership and God’s guidance, and if we all follow where
God is leading us to go, all kinds of amazing things can happen.
All
throughout the Bible, God chooses nobodies from nowhere to be great. No
reasonable human being would’ve chosen Bethlehem as the birth of the Savior.
But God did. Probably no reasonable human being would choose Onida,
or Agar, or Gettysburg for greatness either. But God might. If we
all trust God, and if we all follow where God leads us to go, anything can
happen. After all, as Jesus said, all things are possible with God.
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