Luke 2:10-12; Micah 5:2. December 19, 2021. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner.
Here are some great quotes on humility. Sir J.M. Barrie, “Life is a long lesson in humility.” C.S. Lewis, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.” It has been also said somewhere that “Pride is about my glory; humility is about God’s glory.”
Today, we are going to take a deeper dive into the idea that God requires humility from us, not in order to keep us down (i.e., that is beneath Him), but rather so that He can lift us up. In short, God is not proud; He never has been, period. Therefore, Jesus the Son of God did not begin to be humble at the incarnation. Don’t get me wrong. It is an incredibly humble act, and yet, he chose it. Only a humble person chooses a truly humble action. Jesus has been eternally humble just as the Father.
This may sound like a small point at first. However, it is huge. It is the context of our hearts, minds, and the hearts and minds of the world around us that gets us all mixed up on pride. It just doesn’t sink to us that the only being in the universe that “deserves” to be proud isn’t.
This world needs a Savior and the good news is that God has already sent us one. The reality is that the world is still looking around for someone to save us, or some group. “Yeah, we’ve heard of Jesus, but he just doesn’t cut it for us,” is the attitude that this world has, and many Christians as well.
Let’s look at the birth of Jesus and focus on the humble nature of it all.
Everything in the natural about the birth of Jesus smacks of humility. God did not pick the great Roman Empire, nor even the greatest city in Israel. This would be the equivalent of God ignoring the united States of America today. We might even say that He had to use Israel because they had been given the prophecies. Yes, but that is exactly the point. God overlooked all the great countries that existed and created a new country out of one man, Abraham. God spoke to this small people in ways He didn’t with far greater empires. Why would God do this? Of course, He has a purpose, but it also goes to the heart of God’s own nature. He is the kind of Being that is neither drawn towards our great prideful works, nor willing to draw near to those things.
Jesus is born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem was a small town that was 6 miles south of Jerusalem. We don’t have population figures from that time, but scholars believe it to be from 500 to 1,000 at the most. Even its name is quite humble. It means “House of Bread.”
If there is any distinction for Bethlehem, it is that it was the hometown of King David. Of course, the only town that cares about things like that is the hometown, especially a small one. People from small towns who go on to do great things, almost always do those great things somewhere else, often in the great cities of the world.
Bethlehem was also a place of humble occupation, which David had learned as well, shepherding. Just as David come from humble origins, so too would the Savior of Israel, and the Savior of the world. Being so close to Jerusalem, Bethlehem was a place that supplied sheep for the temple sacrifices. This is an honorable thing, and yet, I am sure that no one in Jerusalem were thinking that this made Bethlehem something great. Bethlehem was a humble place with humble people. However, it had a calling upon it; a calling that was from God.
Let us always remember that our greatness does not come in the scope of the things that we do. It comes from the God who calls us to live according to His purposes. Anything done in response to the calling of God is great because He is great. We must never forget this.
So, what about Bethlehem’s calling? The prophet Micah prophesied in Micah 5:2, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”
It is unclear whether Ephrathah is an older name of this town to distinguish it from another Bethlehem in Israel, or if it is the name of the area that Bethlehem was in. Regardless, God showed Micah that the Messiah would come out of Bethlehem. This verse is the main reason that the priests and teachers of the law pointed to Bethlehem when the Magi asked about the birthplace of the King of Israel. Though Bethlehem was small, a great ruler for Israel would come from it.
The phrase “whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting,” has a double meaning. First, the prophecies about this anointed king went back even before Israel. From the very beginning in Genesis 3:15, we see the promise that one from the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head. However, knowing what we know about Jesus now, these words also point to his pre-existence. These prophecies did not point ahead to someone who would exist in the future, but looked ahead to the intersection of The One who was with the Father in the beginning and a particular time when God would help Israel, and all the nations. God loves to call the small and humble to big things!
Enough about the city in which Jesus chose to enter the world. Let’s look at Jesus the child.
The shepherds are told that they would find a baby in swaddling clothes. This is not an intimidating picture for a Messiah to save Israel. The Magi coming out of the desert with soldiers and their entourage would have been impressive. These were not actually kings, but rather king makers. They came from the Parthian Empire, which Rome was unable to subdue. Yes, Jesus coming out of the desert as a mature man with angelic armies, that would be intimidating. Or perhaps, Jesus could have descended on a cloud with the angelic armies during one of Israel’s feasts and touched down in the temple compound. Yet, God did not choose such for his entry. If He didn’t, then can we not see that it is because He is humble and not proud? Those are the kind of things that we gravitate towards and desire. Our politicians have signs the size of a school bus with their name and the music blasts as they come on the stage. This was not the way of our Lord. He is not proud and neither will he play to our pride.
This baby would also be lying in a manger. This was not normal even for those days. God knew there would be no room in the inn. Why didn’t He fix that? Maybe He did “fix it.” Perhaps, we wouldn’t know a fix if it slapped us in the face. In fact, that is part of our problem. Our need for pride is like a junkie needing a fix. Our cries for God to fix things are often just the cries of junkies wanting another “fix” from the Lord, wanting something that we think will get us right, but God know is just slavery. He has a better vision for us than eternal junkies begging Him for another fix. It was more fitting that Bethlehem would have no room for its most famous child to be born because that is our problem. We just don’t have room in our proud lives for the humility of God.
There are many things that God doesn’t “fix” because our definitions are selfish. Maybe God has fixed you life; maybe the things you want rid of are the very things that are necessary to bring you to see the truth. Can you trust Him?
Something that we often overlook is that the multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men,” happened somewhere else in the fields, not at the manger. It is not like the angels wouldn’t have done that if commanded to do so, but that was not the command. This was a journey that Jesus had to take without them. They reveal the news to shepherd and then send them to attend the baby Jesus. Yes, shepherds are what every new mother wants right after they have given birth. Jesus didn’t need the fanfare and sycophantic mob crying out his praises. He is a humble savior who is looking for some humble repentant people, who will wait for the proper time of exaltation.
Think about it. God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble. He puts down the proud and lifts up the humble. How much clearer must He be? Let us join the Lord in this time of humility (I mean that in the sense of being humble). If we suffer with Him than we will doubtless be glorified with Him and be exalted in the proper time.