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Christmas Day 2022
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Good morning, and happy Christmas to you all. This is a pre-recorded talk shared especially for those who are housebound or unable to attend church in person today. As we gather, we remember that Christ has been born, and we celebrate Jesus Christ as the light of the world.
I have a Christmas message for you today. When we receive a Christmas gift, it often comes with a tag—sometimes we're so eager to open the present that we skip reading the message. But the tag tells us something important: who the gift is from, and why it was sent.
The gifts that truly touch our hearts aren't just labeled "to Matthew from Fred." The ones that matter say "with love"—they speak not just to the mind, but to the heart.
When God sent Jesus that first Christmas, He came as a gift with a tag from God that simply said: with love. This is what John 3:16 declares: "God so loved the world that he sent his only son Jesus." God sent Jesus because He loves us, and He wants us to know it, to grasp it, and to experience this love.
But we're so distracted, aren't we? The world fills our ears with so many competing voices that drown out the most important message of all: we are loved. We are the beloved of the Lord.
So what does God do to get our attention? He sends a baby. Imagine a knock on your door—an unusual sight. But imagine if it were a baby in a crib on the doorstep with a tag saying "with love." That would certainly make you stop and wonder: what is this?
A baby is so vulnerable, so tiny, so fragile. When God created Adam and Eve in Genesis, He made them as grown-ups—ready and able to thrive. God could have sent Jesus the same way—as an adult. But instead, God chose to send Him as a baby, exuding vulnerable love and asking to be loved. What a gift of love that is.
That first Christmas, there were probably many babies around. So what does God do to let everyone know that this baby is the special one—the gift of love from heaven? He sends signs.
We read in Matthew's account how the star guided the Magi. This heavenly sign pointed to the birth of the new king—the baby king.
Angelic signs were given throughout the story. Angels spoke to Mary and Joseph, and a whole company of angels sang in the heavens to the Shepherds.
Many in the story received prophetic dreams—the Magi, Joseph, and others. These dreams guided them toward the truth.
The angel told the Shepherds: "This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby lying in a manger wrapped in strips of cloth." Finding a babe in a manger would be pretty unusual. You don't see many of those. But look deeper—these signs point to something greater.
The manger itself—where they laid this baby's body—was probably made of stone, not wood. It was a feeding trough. And this detail is profound: it points to the stone tomb where, 33 years later, they would lay His body again. Even in His birth, we see signs of His coming sacrifice and His forgiving love.
