MISSION WOODS CHURCH
Worship, Wednesday, December 24, 2025
      • Bible Trivia
        Loading...
      • Bible Trivia
        Loading...
  • O Come, O Come Emmanuel
  • O Come, O Come Emmanuel
  • O Come, O Come Emmanuel
  • O Come, O Come Emmanuel
  • O Come, O Come Emmanuel
  • O Come, O Come Emmanuel
  • O Little Town Of Bethlehem
  • O Come All Ye Faithful
  • Joy To The World

      • Luke 2:1-3ESV

      • Luke 2:4-6ESV

      • Luke 2:7-8ESV

      • Luke 2:9-11ESV

      • Luke 2:12-14ESV

      • Luke 2:15-16ESV

      • Luke 2:17-20ESV

  • We hear this story every year from either the Gospel of Matthew or Luke, the two gospels that have what we refer to as the birth narratives. If you’re like me you also hear it from the Charlie Brown Christmas is a holiday favorite, you hear it again from Linus telling Charlie Brown what Christmas is all about.
    If we were to back up into chapter 1 we would first come to a priest named Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth. They were righteous before God, Luke says, but they had no child and both were well advanced in years. One day while serving in the temple Zechariah is visited by an angel and told he and his wife will have a son.
    Well, that was unexpected.
    That sounds familiar, though.
    It reminds me of Abraham and Sarah way back in Genesis, they too were well advanced in years when they Abraham was visited and told they would have a son. They named him Isaac, and he became the father of Israel. That was unexpected too.
    Zechariah and Elizabeth were told when the time came to name their son, John.
    As we continue to read in the Gospel of Luke we find an angel appearing to Mary who happens to be related to Elizabeth but on the opposite end of the spectrum. Mary is not old like Elizabeth, she is young, and she’s never been with a man. She’s not even married yet, though she’s engaged to be married to a man named Joseph.
    The angel tells Mary, “you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus.”
    Well, that was unexpected.
    The angel continued, he will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
    The angel told her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy — the Son of God.
    Well, that was unexpected.
    The angel told her that her relative Elizabeth had also conceived a son and was now in the sixth month. Mary goes to visit Elizabeth and Zechariah. When Mary enters the house and greets Elizabeth the baby in her womb leaps!
    John is born a few months later, and Mary returns home.
    Then Caesar Augustus issues a decree that all the world should be registered in their own town.
    Well, that was unexpected.
    By this time Mary is definitely with child. Nevertheless they make their way to the city of Bethlehem, because Joseph was of the house and lineage of David. When it came time for her to give birth there was no place for them in the inn, and so the one who would be called holy - the Son of God was laid in a feeding trough for his first bed.
    Well, that was unexpected.
    So far, Zechariah, Elizabeth, Joseph, and Mary have all been blessed by the unexpected. The very old, and the very young. The story is not over.
    Out in the fields there were shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night. One of the things we need to be mindful of when it comes to shepherds, these are the people who mind other people’s flocks. In other words, they do the work that no one else wants to do. The duty was sometimes relegated to the younges in the family as you might remember David (who would become king over Israel) was tending the flock when the prophet Samuel came to annoint the next king of Israel).
    Shepherds were typically poor. They spent a lot of time with the sheep and not so much with people, which meant they smelled more like sheep. They slept on the ground, often the same ground of the fields that the sheep spent their time in. I don’t think I need to explain that any further.
    And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.
    Well, that was unexpected.
    It’s the middle of the night, so of course they are afraid. The angel tells them not to be afraid, for unto you is born this day “Christ the Lord.” The Messiah, the Lord!
    For nearly a millennium they have been waiting for the Messiah, one who would save them from their enemies and from the hand of all who hated them, all as part of the covenant once made with Abraham. And he’s here!!
    But wait, what did the angel say?
    Is born this day?
    Well, that was unexpected.
    And where will I find the Messiah? In a feeding trough.
    Well, that was unexpected.
    Luke 2:13–14 ESV
    And suddenly there was with the angel 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!”
    Well, that was unexpected.
    The shepherds go and find the baby just as the angels had said. And when they saw Him, they made known all that had been said to them about the child and the people wondered at what the shepherds told them.
    But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.
    The shepherds were the first on earth to announce the birth of the Messiah.

    Well, that was unexpected.

    You know the story. I doubt that there was anything unexpected in what I shared with you. But had you never heard the story…
    Ah, then there is wonder.
    Then there is surprise.
    Then there is mystery.

    Have you ever considered that our God is the God of the unexpected?

    Think about it. Think about the Bible stories and how very little of it happens the way that the people “expect” it to unfold. God doesn’t choose a young athletic couple to give birth to a nation.

    God called Abraham and Sarah

    God didn’t call a man of eloquence to petition Pharaoh to let his countrymen go.

    God called Moses

    God didn’t call a flawless man to lead Israel into it’s greatness -

    God called David

    God didn’t choose to have his son born of a great powerful queen in a palace of authority

    God called Mary

    a young girl, and laid him in a manger - a feeding trough - for his first bed.

    The problem with faith

    The problem with our faith is that God is a god of the unexpected.
    Our problem is that we “expect” God to do what we want.
    Hear that again, “we expect God to do what we want.” In that case, whose really God? Who’s really in control.
    Illustration of young man who built very detailed model car. A teacher picks it up and it crashes to the ground, why? Because the creation was taken out of the Creator’s hand.
    We expect God to do what we want, and when God doesn’t we choose to believe God can’t be all powerful, God can’t know what’s right, God can’t know what I’m going through, God can’t love me.
    God does not measure up to our expectations. And you know what? You’re right, because our expectations are so often wrong. We’ve got it upside down.

    God of the Unexpected

    It is my experience that God is closest in the unexpected. The unexpected call, or gift. The unexpected kindness of a friend or even a stranger. The unexpected is where God’s blessings are because the unexpected is seldom dependent upon us.
    Perhaps tonight or for others tomorrow morning you will gather with family and friends and exchange gifts. Some will be exactly what you wanted and some will be entirely unexpected.
    Perhaps you might respond with
    Well, that was unexpected.
    And however you choose to respond, remember, God meets us in the unexpected.

      • Luke 2:13–14ESV

  • A Communion Hymn For Christmas
  • Silent Night
  • What Can I Give Him
  • Go Tell It On The Mountain
MISSION WOODS CHURCH
info@missionwoodschurch.org
(253) 922-5555
http://www.missionwoodschurch.org
33 members • 1 follower