Sermon - Christmas, Do Not Be Afraid - Luke/Matthew - Littleby Baptist Church - December 9, 2018

Kicking off the first of our Christmas themed messages this morning. Which is also the beginning of a series of messages that will carry us past Easter. For roughly the next 6 months we will focus on Jesus. Here in December we will focus on His birth and the things leading up to it, then we will move onto His life and ministry, followed by His death and the meaning of the empty tomb. Then we will wrap up with a look at His second coming. 

This morning we are going to look at things leading up to Jesus’ birth.

From the end of the Old Testament until we see God at work before Jesus’ birth in the Gospels is roughly 400 years and knows as the years of silence in which there are no documented cases of God speaking through prophets.

Then, without anyone knowing, God began to work behind the scenes.

Luke 1:8-17

“⁸ When his division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, ⁹ it happened that he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰ At the hour of incense the whole assembly of the people was praying outside. ¹¹ An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. ¹² When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified and overcome with fear. ¹³ But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. ¹⁴ There will be joy and delight for you, and many will rejoice at his birth. ¹⁵ For he will be great in the sight of the Lord and will never drink wine or beer. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb. ¹⁶ He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ And he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to make ready for the Lord a prepared people.”

The angel Gabriel appeared, and Zechariah was afraid. Great news followed, Zechariah was going to have a son. God was at work preparing the way for the birth of our Lord, but Zechariah was afraid.

A few months later Gabriel appeared again, but this time to young Mary.

Luke 1:26-30

“²⁶ In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And the angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you.” ²⁹ But she was deeply troubled by this statement, wondering what kind of greeting this could be. ³⁰ Then the angel told her: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”

Mary was troubled, confused, and afraid about what the Angel was saying. She was a young girl who had lived a pretty normal life up until then. She was engaged and probably wondering what life would bring for her and Joseph.

Now here is an angel telling her that everything is about to change. We have all had unexpected things hit us in this life that have troubled us and many times it is easy to panic and to be afraid of the unknown.

Joseph, a hard-working young man was looking forward to settling down with Mary. It was normal for a young man to build a home for him and his soon to be wife before they would be united in marriage. Joseph was most likely working hard to build that home for his soon to be wife and their children, a home that their kids would grow up in. Then, out of the blue he gets slapped in the face when he sees that Mary is pregnant.

Matthew 1:18-21

“¹⁸ The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way: After his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered before they came together that she was pregnant from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ So her husband Joseph, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly. ²⁰ But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Joseph planned on marrying Mary and now she was pregnant with a child that was not his. He probably felt betrayed and afraid that his dream of a family with Mary was lost. Thankfully, as usual, God had other plans and they were already in motion.

Zechariah was afraid when the angel Gabriel appeared to him.

Mary was troubled and afraid about what Gabriel told her.
Joseph was afraid that he was about to lose out on everything he was dreaming of and working towards.

I think we have all been there. When we think we have missed something important, get hit with something unexpected, or it appears everything we have been working for is lost… fear takes over. This fear can paralyze us and keep us from taking that next step. We can be afraid of taking risks, we can be afraid we are going to lose our sense of security, we may be afraid of rejection, we may be afraid that something bad is going to happen, and we may be afraid that things are going to change.

Fear can be crippling! Whatever you are afraid of can paralyze you from moving forward. It can keep you from doing what you need to do. Fear can kill your happiness.

The angel Gabriel appeared to 3 people and all were afraid and each time he told them ‘Do not be afraid,’

Zechariah was not to be afraid, as he was going to be blessed with a son who was going to prepare the world for the coming of the Lord.

Mary was not to be afraid about what was going to happen as she had found favor with God and her child was going to be a blessing to all mankind.

Joseph did not need to be afraid as his life with Mary was going to change, but Joseph was going to be the earthly father to our Lord Jesus. 

All three of them were going to be blessed more than they ever imagined as they let go of their fear.

On the day of Jesus’ birth there was another group of people who were afraid.

Luke 2:8-10

“⁸ In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. ⁹ Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:”

All of a sudden, these lowly shepherds were in the presence of an angel and ‘the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.’

These guys had every right to be afraid. They realized they were in the presence of God’s messengers and they were sinners. By the very nature of being a shepherd they were considered unclean and if that was not bad enough, they worked on the Holy Sabbath taking care of their sheep. They were sinners in the presence of ‘an angel of the Lord’ and ‘the glory of the Lord’. They knew they violated the Law and were afraid of paying for their sins. These guys were shaking in their sandals because they knew they deserved judgement not grace.

Are you sitting here this morning, saying you can relate to Zechariah, Mary, Joseph, or the shepherds? Are you afraid of meeting God? Are you afraid of your life being tossed upside down? Are you afraid of change? Are you afraid of the unknown? Are you afraid that you will miss God completely or even that your sins are too great to be forgiven?

Let’s pick back up at verse 10.

Luke 2:10-12

“¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: ¹¹ Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.”

Don’t be afraid!

Do not be afraid about meeting God. Do not be afraid of your life being tossed upside down. Do not be afraid of change. Do not be afraid of the unknown. Do not be afraid that you will miss God completely. Do not be afraid that your sins are too great to be forgiven.

Do Not Be Afraid, a Savior, our one and only Messiah, the Lord God, was born for you. You have no reason to be afraid.

Deuteronomy 31:6

“⁶ Be strong and courageous; don’t be terrified or afraid of them. For the Lord your God is the one who will go with you; he will not leave you or abandon you.”

When Gabriel appeared to Joseph, he mentioned that the baby was to be named Immanuel, which means God With Us.

Your Lord is with you. He will never leave you or abandon you. No matter what you are facing, no matter what you are going through, no matter how alone you feel… Jesus is with you. He loves you so much that He came down to earth so that He can spend an eternity with you.

When you are struggling, remember that God is With You.

If God is with you, you have absolutely nothing to fear.

Gabriel said, Do Not Be Afraid. Your God is bigger than any mountain you face. Your Savior is greater than all of your fears.

As we celebrate Christmas remember that your Savior loves you and His message to you this morning is ‘Do Not Be Afraid.’

May the Lord be with you during this season.

R