Why God Chose The Shepherds, Mary, Joseph & Wise Men for the Birth of Jesus

Very few people were in on the first Christmas. 2,000 years later, the entire world knows what Christmas is. Billions of people will go to worship service, will celebrate the birth of Christ, but not at the first one. So what made those people, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men, what made them so special that they got to be in on the very first one? How does God choose who he is going to bless? And I want us to just think for a second about who God chooses and uses, the kind of person that God can bless. The fact is, if you'll get blessable, God will bless you. And if you'll do the things that Mary and Joseph and the shepherds and the wise men did, if you'll do it now, this will be a blessed Christmas for you too. Because when you look at it, Joseph cooperated and the shepherds celebrated and Mary contemplated and the wise men dedicated. What does that mean? Well, let's just start with Joseph. Joseph is the most underestimated and underreported and often overlooked character in the Christmas story. He's kind of supporting cast. We don't know a whole lot about him. But Joseph was just a normal guy. He's a young guy, he's poor. He doesn't have money. He has probably a menial job in a very small village. That's about all we know about him except this, he was engaged. And one day his fiance comes to him, Mary, and says, honey, you're not gonna believe this story. I know, but it's true. And she says, I'm pregnant. Now I know we haven't had any relations, but I want you to know I've been faithful to you and I haven't ever had any relations with anybody else. Right. Oh, and there's one other part of the story. The father of my baby is God. Guys, if your fiance told you that, would you believe it? That's the most preposterous, outrageous, illogical story ever, ever given. But it was true. But here's what the Bible says. Joseph was a good man and he didn't want to publicly disgrace Mary. So he planned to quietly divorce her. Now he said, well, how can you divorce when you're just engaged? In those days, an engagement was like a marriage. It was a binding contract. You were legally, you couldn't just break off an engagement. You actually had to do a divorce to break off the engagement. It was like marriage, it's just you hadn't had relations yet with your spouse. So he planned to quietly divorce her. But an angel appeared to him in a dream. And when Joseph woke up, he did exactly what the angel of the Lord had commanded him to do. And he took Mary home as his wife. Now that took great faith to believe the most impossible, improbable story and to trust that God had a bigger and better plan for his life than he would ever imagined. Now, here's the first point I want you to get. These are quick points. If you want to be blessed by God, you want God's blessing on your business, on your marriage, on your relationships, on your friendships, on your finances, here's what you must do. You must do what Joseph did. You write this down. Cooperate with God's plan for your life. You stop following your plan for your life, you start following God's plan. This is a total U-turn in Joseph's life. He had his life all planned out with Mary. And God said, I've got other plans, but my plan's bigger and my plan's better. You cooperate with God's plan for your life. And here's the key. Even if it doesn't make sense. It would make sense later on, but it certainly didn't make sense to Joseph when the angel showed up and said, go ahead and marry the girl. I've got a bigger plan. God's got a bigger plan. The Bible says this in Jeremiah 29, 11. God says, I know what I'm doing. I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out. Good plans to take care of you, not to hurt you. God is a good God. My plans will give you the future you hope for. Okay, do you trust God or do you trust yourself? You trust God's plan or you trust your plan? If you want the blessing of God in your life, you have to cooperate with God's plan for your life. That's what Joseph did. That's why he got to be at the first Christmas and others didn't. Okay, what about the shepherds? The shepherds really are the bottom of the social ladder in the Roman Empire. And yet God went from the highest to the lowest in who he invited to his son's birth. And so he invites the shepherds and they're out there relaxing in the fields. And they're not sleeping at home. They're not sleeping in a motel. They're sleeping out on the grass every night with their sheep to protect them from the wolves and other predators. And the Bible says this, look up here on the screen. The angel shows up in the middle of the night, all of a sudden the sky lights up. And the angel said to the shepherds, don't be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy. Good news of great joy that will be for all people. Christmas is not simply for Christians, it's for all people. Jesus did not come and die for just certain people, certain class, certain ethnic background. He died for everybody. This is good news for all people. And he says, today in the town of David, a savior has been born for you. It's for your benefit and he is Christ the Lord. So what did they do? The shepherds literally run to Bethlehem. The next verse there on your outline says this. Shepherds hurried to Bethlehem and there they found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in a manger. And when they had seen him, it says they returned to their fields, singing praises and thanking God. They're having a party. They're singing praises, they're thanking God for all that they had seen and heard, which happened just as the angel had told them. What are they doing? They're celebrating. Joseph had to cooperate, but the shepherds had to celebrate. They're having a party. Christmas is a festival. It's not a funeral. That's why we say Merry Christmas, like not sad Christmas, because it's not sad. It's good news of great joy, which is for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. That's the best news. You can have your past forgiven. You can have a purpose for living. You can have a home in heaven because of Christmas. It's a party. Now, here's the second point, if you're taking notes. If you wanna be blessed, then you gotta be like the shepherds, and that is celebrate that God is here with us. Celebrate that God is here with us. It's interesting that during Christmas season, people will celebrate everything else. There'll be all kinds of Christmas parties, and Jesus is never, ever mentioned. But the whole purpose of the celebration of Christmas is God is with us. He's come to earth. We're not alone in the universe. He has a plan and a purpose for our lives. He loves you. He knows everything about you. There's a whole lot to celebrate. He loves you, and he forgives you, and he has a plan for your life. Now, not only did they celebrate, they communicated. They celebrated and they communicated and said they told everybody. Who have you told? How long has it been since you told somebody the good news? Have you ever? Have you ever, ever told anybody the best news in the world? If I had the cure for cancer and I didn't share it, that would be criminal. They should lock me up and put me in prison. If I had the cure for HIV and AIDS and I didn't share it, that would be criminal. But you and I have something even better, the good news. As I said, how your past can be forgiven, how you can have a purpose for living, and how you can have a home in heaven. Where else are you gonna get that? Have you shared the good news? It says the shepherds told everybody they came in contact with. So they celebrated just like Joseph cooperated. Now let's look at Mary. Mary had to be scared to death. What are my parents gonna think? What are my girlfriends gonna think? I'm pregnant, I'm single. Nobody has kids out of wedlock in those days. Will anybody believe this fantastic story that I'm carrying the son of God? Nobody's gonna believe that. But the thing about Mary, she didn't panic. She was young, but she didn't panic. And the reason she didn't panic because what she was thinking about was God's promises to her. And while Joseph cooperated and the shepherds celebrated, Mary was contemplating. And what she was doing was thinking about God's word. Now I want you to notice this next verse, Luke 2. Then the shepherds told everyone what had happened when the angels had said to them, what the angel had said to them about this child. Everyone else who heard the shepherd's story were amazed, but Mary treasured up all the words that she heard and continued to quietly ponder them in her heart. Why did God choose Mary out of all the young women he could have chosen to be the mother of the son of God? What did Mary do right? She paid attention to God's word. When God spoke, she listened. She didn't just listen, she wrote it down. She remembered, she pondered. That means to meditate, means to seriously think about. She continued to quietly ponder everything. Everybody else heard what the angel said and they wondered, but Mary pondered. Big difference. If you want to make your time in prayer the best it can be, then you're going to want to get a copy of the Daily Hope Prayer Journal. The theme is Growing Your Prayer Life. This vegan leather, full-color prayer journal has sections to pray for specific people and situations, as well as space to express your gratitude and personal prayer requests to God. Each page is beautifully designed and filled with inspiring Bible verses, photos, and artwork. The Growing Your Prayer Life prayer journal is a spiritual growth tool designed to help you enjoy a vibrant prayer life. Connect with the Lord, strengthen your prayer practice, and establish a consistent daily prayer time. When you give a financial gift to this ministry, we'll send you the Daily Hope Prayer Journal to say thanks. Quantities are limited, so don't wait. By the way, this month only, any gift you give will be matched up to $100,000. If you want to be blessed like Mary, you must contemplate continually on God's Word. It says she continued to quietly ponder the things she heard that God said in her heart. Contemplate continually on God's Word. Now, this is a promise not just for women. It's a promise for men. Let me show you a couple verses up here on the screen. James 1, verse 25 says this. If you keep looking and carefully study God's perfect Word, which sets you free, the truth sets you free, and if you do what it says and you don't forget it, in other words, you remember it, you write it down, you will be what? Blessed. You will be blessed by God for doing it. You get blessed by reading, studying, memorizing, meditating, thinking about, pondering, applying, and doing the Word. Anybody in this place could be blessed. You just gotta be blessable. Cooperate with God's plan, celebrate God's Son, and contemplate God's Word. Think about it. He says, if you do that, you will be blessed by God for doing it. Let me show you another verse. Joshua 1, verse eight. Study this book continually. That's what Mary did. She continually pondered what God had said. Remember it and meditate on it night and day, day and night, so you'll be sure to do everything. So it says, remember, study, meditate, do. Then you will prosper and you will be successful. Now, what about this last group? The wise men. These guys, the wise men, the magi, they're the A-list. They're the brightest people, they're the scientists, they're far educated more than everybody else is. Now, the caravan to Bethlehem from either Iraq, Iran, Persia, or Babylon would require a lot of money, but they were wealthy, and it would require a lot of their time. But they did this because it was an intellectual pursuit. They'd seen the star in the sky that God had placed there, this is a unique star, we don't even know what it was. And they studied the scriptures and they studied the manuscripts and they studied the traditions and they go, oh, this is a sign that the savior of the world is to be born in Bethlehem. So at great expense of time and money, they traveled to Bethlehem, the exact opposite of the shepherds. What are they doing? They're seeking the truth. They're seeking God. That is always a wise thing to do. Wise men still seek Jesus. Wise men always seek Jesus. It's fools who don't seek him. It's fools who go through life unprepared for something they know is inevitable, death. It's fools who go all through life unprepared for, is there a God, does he exist, and does he have a plan for my life? And don't even care enough to figure it out. Wise men still seek Jesus. Now, the Bible says this about the wise men, Matthew chapter two, verse 11. When the wise men saw the child with his mother, Mary, they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chest and they presented him with gifts of gold and incense and myrrh. And being warned by God in a dream, they, that wise men, headed home by a different way. Anytime you've been with Jesus, it changes your direction. Anytime you've been with God, it changes the way you walk, it changes the way you work. You can't have somebody as big as God come into your life and it not change you. If you think you've got God in your life and it hadn't changed you, you got something, but you didn't get God. Because God is so big, he can't come into your life without it changing your direction. Now, coming to Jesus cost him a lot. But when they saw him, they worshiped him. Now, here's the fourth lesson. If you wanna be blessed, you want your life to be blessed, you wanna be blessed, then you be like the wise men and that is this, dedicate my time and my gifts to Jesus. The seeking him and then giving my time and my gifts. They brought gifts to Jesus and he will multiply. All the things you've got in your life are given to you by him anyway. You wouldn't have anything without God. It's just giving back to God what he gave to you and then he takes it and multiplies it, gives it back. Let me show you a couple of verses on the screen. The Bible says in Romans chapter 12, offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated, there's the word dedicated, to his service and pleasing to him. So I dedicate my time and I dedicate my life and I dedicate my gifts to Jesus. Then here's another verse, Romans chapter six, verse 13. Give yourselves completely to God. I mean, what's more wise than that? Give yourself not to something that's not gonna last, give yourself something that is gonna last. God's gonna last forever. Give yourself completely to God, every part of you, for you wanna be tools in the hands of God to be used for his good purposes. Now, let me wrap this up and just ask you the question. What are you gonna give Jesus for Christmas? It's his birthday. Can you imagine going to a birthday party where you go to the birthday party, everybody gives gifts to each other except to the birthday boy. What kind of party is that? The most important gift you give this year at Christmas is the gift you give to Jesus. It's his birthday. What are you gonna give him? Have you even put any thought into it? You say, well, what do you give a gift? What kind of gift do you give the guy who's got everything? Well, he doesn't have everything. I could give you a couple hundred things he doesn't have unless you give it to him. He doesn't have your love unless you give it to him. He doesn't have your trust unless you give it to him. He doesn't have your life unless you give it to him. He doesn't have your attention unless you give it to him. What are you gonna give Jesus in this new year? What are you gonna give him for his birthday? That's the most important Christmas gift. By the way, you know, why we give Christmas gifts Because the wise men started the tradition They brought gifts to Jesus and now we give gifts to each other But the whole gift-giving thing came because God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life God gave the first Christmas gift. It was a gift to you He didn't have to give it He did it because he loves you and he wants you to know him and he wants you in his family Now of these four things that Mary and Joseph and the shepherds and the angels. I mean the wise men Did is there one there really particularly sticks out to you? Maybe you need to be like Joseph. You need me to start Cooperating with God's plan instead of trying to push through your plan For your life and maybe this Christmas you say God I'm gonna stop trying to push in my plan. I'm gonna start Cooperating with your plan For my life. You tell me what to do and I'll do it. That's a gift or maybe you need to be like the Shepherds and you need to start celebrating God's gift to you They had a party We're forgiven. We have a Savior. We're not out here in the universe by ourselves. We are loved Is a past a present in the future plan for our lives? Need to celebrate that maybe you need to have more gratitude and less griping this year. Maybe you need to have more Thanksgiving and more trusting less Complaining and you say I'm gonna start celebrating God's gift to me Maybe you need to be like Mary you start thinking about the Word of God daily start Contemplating his word. So I'm not gonna go a single day without being in this book God has spoken to you and the promises for your prosperity your success your life your health your relationships All these things are in this word But God doesn't have your attention unless you give it to him Or maybe you need to be like the wise men. You just need to seek him You know, I have not been seeking I've been seeking my own success. I've been seeking my own fame. I've been seeking my own fortune I've been seeking my own future spouse. I've been seeking all these other things. I haven't been seeking you It's wise to seek God first You say this Christmas that's gonna be my Christmas gift to you. Let's bow our heads Would you pray this prayer in your heart? You don't say it aloud. Just say dear God. I I Want to be closer to you this Christmas, I want to get to know you better and God like Joseph I want to learn to cooperate with your plan Even when it doesn't make sense Even when I don't understand it Even if it seems illogical, I'm gonna trust that you are a good God and you have a plan for my life. That is good And God, I also want to start celebrating All the good you've done for me The gift of freedom the gift of forgiveness the gift of salvation The gift that I will never go through life by myself, but you are with me the gift of your presence Then you might want to say God. I want to be a woman of the word Like Mary. I want to be a man of the word like Joseph. I Want to look to your words for guidance for direction for hope for instruction that I might be the person you want me to be and Succeed in the areas you want me to succeed and then say God. I want to dedicate myself to seeking you and Like the wise men. I want to find you and I want to know you and I want to give you the gifts of my time and my life And the talents that you've given to me Lord thank you for Christmas. Thank you for the joy that we share Thank you that it is a merry Christmas Even when so many things that are bad in the world that you shine as a light in the darkest part of the year We love you, and we thank you in Jesus name Amen Hi everybody. This is pastor Rick. I Would like to thank you. Thank you for being a part of our daily hope family I don't get to say that often enough, but your generosity is Helping us share the hope of Jesus with people here at home and literally all around the world Even in places where it's difficult and even dangerous To get the good news, you know, I recently heard from a woman named Eunice in Cameroon Cameroon is a country in Central Africa and she wrote to me. She said pastor Rick I lost both my son and my daughter In the war and now I'm raising four grandchildren on my own I was overwhelmed with grief, but then she says but through the daily hope devotionals I have found strength and comfort and peace in God's Word So thank you for helping me hold on to hope That's powerful That's powerful and that happened because you're giving is helping Eunice find the strength to carry on To raise her grandchildren and to keep trusting God even through the deep loss of her kids now right now I wanted to tell you about this because we have a special opportunity There's some generous friends Who have offered a matching grant? That will double your gift. What that means is whatever you give will be doubled. Okay, they'll match it That means whatever you give today will go twice as far to reach even more people with God's Word So can I ask you a favor? I want to encourage you and give your best gift you can today but together let's keep bringing the hope of Jesus Christ to people like Eunice and To the billions of other people who still need to hear There are still people who've never heard the name of Jesus We want to keep expanding to get the message to the whole world and I am so grateful That we are in this mission together God bless you When you give a gift today, your gift will be doubled by the matching grant up to $100,000 and we'll send you the daily hope prayer journal to say thanks