Sermon for Christmas Sunday, December 28th, 2025 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC)
Old Testament Reading:
[Micah 5:1-6 ESV] 1 Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek. 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. 3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. 4 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. 5 And he shall be their peace. When the Assyrian comes into our land and treads in our palaces, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princes of men; 6 they shall shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod at its entrances; and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian when he comes into our land and treads within our border.
New Testament Reading:
[2 Corinthians 8:8-15 ESV] 8 I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. 10 And in this matter I give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. 11 So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. 12 For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. 13 For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness 14 your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. 15 As it is written, “Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.”
Gospel Reading:
[John 7:40-52 ESV] 40 When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 43 So there was a division among the people over him. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. 45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” 46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” 47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? 48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, 51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” 52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
Sermon Text:
[Luke 2:1-20 ESV] 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, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. 8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” 15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
Introduction
We get a substantial part of a chapter here dedicated to TELLING of the birth of Jesus. On Christmas Eve was saw “the birth of Jesus FORETOLD.” Now we have “the birth of Jesus Told.”
This is the story itself – the actual story – told in our text. The secular world dismisses it. You’ll even find that they suggest what they think actually happened. But the reality is we have not only the ONLY accounts in the Bible, but they are from people who knew Jesus, his family, and the events that occurred. These are early accounts written just decades after Jesus’s death. And, to top it off, they are divinely inspired accounts. This is the real story of the birth of Jesus Christ.
Matthew has a shorter section. Mark skips the birth of Jesus entirely. And John, writing later, apparently felt no need to repeat the story.
It is Luke who tells us the most. And this is in accord with his stated objective to “write an orderly account” “having followed all things closely for some time past.”
He tells us of the census, of the angels, of Joseph and Mary, of the Inn without room, and of baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling cloths (“swaddling CLOTHES” in the KJV) and lying in a manger. He tells us of shepherds and their joy in celebrating the birth of Jesus. These are the incidentals, the people and things that are present at the birth of Christ. And it makes a beautiful scene.
But what I want to look at is something in addition to or “on top of” those incidentals. We’ll look at 3 points of truth that Luke emphasizes. 3 things Luke is telling us about the impact of the birth of Jesus Christ:
I. The Savior of the World is Here.
II. The Angel Gabriel is Proven Right.
and
III. Many Praise God Because of the Christ.
I. The Savior of the World is Here
First, “the Savior of the World is Here.”
Luke emphasizes the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.
Naturally, this fulfills the prophecy of Micah who said:
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.
And Luke explains the circumstances, the reason why Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem. This was was town of David, and Joseph is of that lineage – of the house of David. So he needed to be registered there.
I love the phrase “in those days.” That really “takes you back.” Of course, Luke is only looking back some 60 years or more to “those days,” while we have to be transported back over 2000 years.
“Those days” are not the glory days of Israel – the Romans are in charge, as they still are when Luke is writing his Gospel. Luke’s reference is hearkening back to a time of another emperor of Rome. Caesar Augustus. He reigned from 27 BC to 14 AD which is a pretty wide window of time. We can narrow down the date of Jesus’ birth a bit further knowing that Herod the Great was alive at the time. And since Herod died in 4 BC, it is generally thought that Jesus was born in something like 7 or 6 B.C. The person who created the BC/AD system got it wrong. Then the time of Quirinius is a more complicated problem. He is thought to have been governor of Syria too late for the birth of Jesus, but there are some ways around that supposed problem. It may be that he held the governorship at two periods of time, or that there were two censuses, or the secular dating of Quirinius (from the historian Josephus) could be wrong, or some other solution.
The exact Chronology just isn’t that important to Luke, and so need not worry us either. The point he wishes to make is not that Jesus was born on a Thursday in a certain year, but simply the JESUS WAS BORN. THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD IS HERE.
That is the line in the lyrics of “Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gate!”
“The King of Kings is drawing near, the Savior of the World is Here.”
So all that anticipation is now a reality.
The desire of “God with us” (Immanuel) is now fulfilled.
The people of Old had the presence of God in the Ark of the Covenant, but now they have the 2nd person of the Triune God in flesh, living with them.
“The Savior of the World is Here.”
And though Christ departed at the ascension and will not be HERE again until HE COMES AGAIN, yet Christ sent “another counselor,” the very Holy Spirit to be with us in the intervening time.
There is a very real sense then in which God is still “with us.” He has not left us or departed from us. He is present indeed.
And like we say of Jesus “He IS Risen” at Easter, rather than “He WAS Risen,” so we can say of Christ’s birth “The Savior of the world IS HERE,” not just “the Savior of the World WAS HERE.” Christ came and changed everything, and we have His Holy Spirit living in us, our bodies a temple of the Holy Spirit, and we have the presence of God whenever we gather, and we have the almighty God looking over us at all times. And we have His Word WITH US. The Savior of the world IS here!
So we indeed remember and rejoice in the coming of Christ —his birth — but we are not to despair in thinking Jesus is no longer with us. He is with us in profound ways. And he promises a fuller “with us” status in the world to come.
But the celebration of Luke is that “the Savior of the World is here.” That which has been so long waited for; for hundreds of years; praise the Lord that the messiah has come.
And above all things Jesus does, that is the greatest – he is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He came to save his people from their sins. He came to seek the lost sheep.
Then, there is something else that Luke is saying here. Not directly, but if we compare chapter 1 and chapter 2 we find that “the angel Gabriel is proven right.”
II. The Angel Gabriel is Proven Right
There is overlap with chapter one. Mary was there. She is here again. And an angel (Gabriel) was there, and an angel is again here.
The FORETELLING of the Angel Gabriel comes to take place, confirming the truth of the prophecy.
And an angel brings another message from God:
“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
It was previously “you WILL BEAR a son.”
Now it is “unto you IS BORN this day.”
The promise has become a reality!
We can say “The angel Gabriel is proven right.”
But really, the angel is just a messenger. It is God who is proven right. And such is always with the case with the Lord; he knows all things including the future. Some people have trouble with that; they don’t like the idea that God can know the future. But of course he can, he’s God. And we see His power in each case where prophecy, foretelling, is fulfilled.
III. Many Praise God because of the Christ.
Now, there is a third point that we get to in our text: “Many praise God because of the Christ.”
I think THIS has been a sermon topic entirely for me on other Christmases. It is such a great thing – MANY praise God because of the Christ. Not just Joseph and Mary, but the shepherds, the angels, and all God’s people in the course of time.
In verse 19 we return to Mary, who was spoken of much in chapter 1. She continues to be spoken of in a strong positive light: “Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.”
But now, she’s not the only one. The shepherds too. They glorified and praised God for all they had heard and seen. They too had had an angel come to them. So that’s angelic revelation to Elizabeth (the mother of John the Baptist), then to Mary, then to the angels, and again to Mary before finally those many host of heaven appeared.
So there is an expansion from chapter 1. This is better. MORE are glorifying God. This is no longer just a personal event for Mary, it is a public event for many to see. The savior is born! The savior of the WORLD is come!
And then, it is not just Mary and the Shepherds, but even ANGELS! A MULTITUDE of the heavenly host praising God and saying “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.”
That is the natural result of the coming of Christ: praising God.
Conclusion:
Now this is what we are to take away above all else:
God loved his people in this way: He SENT his Son.
Yes, Jesus came to die for the sins of God’s people.
But even before that – making that even possible – he came to earth.
He came into the world not to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be save through him.
Such is God’s love for us. That is the story of Jesus’s birth. The details are interesting – the angels, the shepherds, the manger – but our attention is to be brought above all else to Jesus.
No doubt God is pleased with Mary. She “found favor with God.” But who else is God pleased with? None others are specified in the text.
It says: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
It must be that “those with whom he is pleased” are all the people of God; all of those for whom Christ came and died; the very people of God. God is pleased with them, not for anything of their own doing, but for the sake of Jesus Christ. Though Jesus had not yet died for the sins of the people, God knew that Jesus would do so, and that death yet to come retroactively blessed the people of God, making God pleased in them.
Jesus came for His people; past, present, and future.
I pray that we remember love of God this Christmas season, and that it propels us to love one another.