2018 Christmas Message: The Mysteries of Christmas

Christmas Message 2018 at Koto YMCA

December 3, 2018

Theme:  The Mystery of Christmas

Pray:  Pastor Gordon’s opening Prayer

Sing:  Joy To the World

Key Verse:  Mark 10:27, “Looking at them, Jesus said, ‘With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.’”

My theme for this time is “The Mystery of Christmas.” 

What is a mystery?  A mystery is anything that is kept secret or remains unexplained, unknown.”

There are many mysteries about the Christmas story.  There are many things that are difficult to understand or to explain.  So let’s talk about some of them.

The first mystery has to do with the supernatural appearance of Angels.

I.  ANGELS appear throughout the story from beginning to end.

         First, the angel Gabriel appears to a young virgin named Mary and tells her she is chosen by God to give birth to His Son.

         Second, when Mary’s fiancé, Joseph, hears she is pregnant he is thinking about calling off the wedding.  An angel appears to him and explains what is happening.  Joseph believes the angel and decides to marry Mary even though she is pregnant.  He knows the child is not his.

         Third, the night Mary gives birth to the child the heavens are filled with angels singing, “Joy to the World,” the song we just sang.

The second mystery has to be the Wise men who said they have seen a new star and followed it many months to Israel.

II.  WISE MEN FROM THE EAST, probably modern day Iran, arrive to see the child.  They say they have seen a STAR appear in the sky signaling a King is born in Israel.  They have followed this mysterious STAR to find the new king. 

         When they find the child, they give some very unusual gifts.  Each gift symbolizes something about this child’s future.  [Matthew 2:11]

         In the movie, マリア, when each wise man presents his gift he says what it represents. 

The first says,       GOLD—for the King of Kings

The second says,   FRANKENSINCE—For the Priest of All Priests

And the third says, MYRRH—To honor His sacrifice

         This little baby, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas will one day be called, The King of Kings, and our Great High Priest.  His sacrifice on the cross will be for the sins of the world.

But probably the most difficult mystery to explain has to do with Mary.

III.  Possibly the Greatest Mystery is the Virgin Birth.

         When the angel Gabriel appears to Mary and tells her she is going to give birth to God’s Son, she asks an important question, “How is this possible since I have never had relations with a man?”  He tells her the Holy Spirit of God will come upon her and she will conceive.  The Father is God so her child will be called the Son of God.  Then Gabriel says, “For with God nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment.”  (Luke 1:37 Amp. Bible)

These mysteries are difficult for our normal, human minds to understand. 

It is difficult to explain.

But many things in life are difficult to understand or explain.

48 years ago I was a freshman in a small college in Alabama. 

I remember very clearly what happened one day in October.

I was in the student center (gakusei hall).  I saw a young girl walk into the room.  She was wearing a satin blouse with green crushed velvet pants and vest.  She had a matching choker with cameo around her neck.  She had very long, brown hair and she had a bouncy way of walking.  When I saw her I couldn’t turn my eyes away.  I watched her walk across the student center and my heart was going “bong, bong, bong.”  I turned to my friend Dale and said, “I’ve got to meet that girl!”  For me, it was love at first sight.  She didn’t even notice me.  I was just another face in the crowd.

   3 years later I married her.  And, 15 years later, Micah was born in Japan!

Can you explain my falling in love the first time I saw that girl? 

Was it something I ate for breakfast?

Was there some chemical reaction in my brain?

Why didn’t my friend, Dale, have the same reaction?

Love is often a mystery!

Let’s get back to the Christmas story. Before you can understand all the questions you may have about the mysteries of Christmas, you need to answer another, more basic question.

DO YOU BELIEVE THERE IS A GOD? 

Is there someone or something who exists outside our understanding of nature?

         I DO.  There are just too many mysteries that nature and science cannot explain.

AND, IF THERE IS A GOD, then HE MUST BE GREATER THAN US.

         I DO believe there is a God who is far greater than us. 

         I believe he created the entire universe.

         Everything we see and hear and smell and touch and taste was made by HIM.

         I believe He is ALL POWERFUL, ALL KNOWING AND ALWAYS PRESENT.

         I believe He is outside our Time so He sees Past, Present and Future.

AND, WHAT IS A MYSTERY TO US

 IS KNOWN AND UNDERSTOOD BY HIM.

When this little baby who’s birth we celebrate at Christmas grew up, He explained why he was born.  He said, “God, my Father, loved the world so much He sent me, His only Son, into the world so that everyone who believes in me will be saved.”

God looked into the Future and He saw you and me.  And He said, “I love you.  And I’ve got to make a way for us to be together.” 

So he decided to send his son,

to be born of a woman,

to be like us

and to show us the way to have a relationship with Him.

When I was 6 years old I was running through a field in America on a bright, sunny Sunday afternoon.

I remember I suddenly stopped and looked up into the clouds. 

At that moment I knew God was real. 

And I knew Jesus Christ was the way to God.

That was 60 years ago. 

Since then I have thought and questioned and tested that moment of understanding.  And today, I am more certain than I was then that there is a God who is far greater than all of us.  And, that He loves each and every one of us.

As we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ this Christmas,

I pray that you will come to know and believe that that little baby was God’s very on Son. 

I pray you will have a moment of insight like I did. 

I pray that you too will believe that God loves you personally.

Pray:  Closing prayer by Pastor Gordon

2018Sing:  Silent Night