The poverty of baby Jesus - God's gifts sometimes come in very humble packaging

The details of Christmas remind us a lot about how we should live too. God managed to present us with an object lesson through all the different details of the Christmas story.

And in verses 6 and 7 of chapter 2 of Luke, speaking of the going of Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem to be registered, that very old word that means: the Roman empire had decreed that all the Jews should go to their lands Where their ancestors came from to be part of a census that would then allow the Roman Empire to have to pay taxes, they wanted to know how many people there were, what their names were, their addresses so that they could then go and collect their taxes.

José and María were part of that process and they go from Nazareth where it was their village where they lived, to Bethlehem to be registered and there they are surprised by the birth and birth of Jesus Christ. So in verse 6 the story begins.

It says that: "It happened that while they were there in Bethlehem the days of their birth were fulfilled." Now this is interesting because it seems that it took them by surprise, huh? the birth of Jesus there in Bethlehem, they were not expecting that He was going to be born there exactly, but there was a detail about that and that is that already Micah, I think it is the prophet Micah had predicted hundreds of years before that the Messiah was going to born precisely in Bethlehem, the city of David.

King Jesus descendant of King David fulfilling a promise that God had made to David that his kingdom would have no end and God was thinking at that moment of that descendant of David who was going to be Jesus whose kingdom would certainly have no end, then when they go there they do not know that they are part of a whole prophetic plot and that God has in mind that it is there in Bethlehem that his son is born. Because we see again that everything was coldly calculated as the Chapulín Colorado says, right? God had everything, God is a God of much detail.

Then it says that: "It happened that while they were there the days of the birth of Mary were fulfilled" the time came for her to give birth, "and she gave birth to her firstborn son" means her first son, which probably means, not probably, certainly if it says firstborn there would be a second, a third, there would be several in fact that the Bible mentions, other brothers that Jesus had sons of Mary and Joseph.

"She gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes." When we say diaper, people have pampers in mind, right? They went to the CBS store there to buy a box of diapers. It wasn't like that, diapers were a very humble wrap, the wrap of poor people. It was a fairly large square of cloth, the baby was placed diagonally in that square of cloth and the ends were wrapped around the baby, and then it had a little ribbon that was tied to the baby and it was there well tucked in its roll of a small sheet. Those were the diapers he received, it was the poor man's wrap and that tells us something about the circumstances doesn't it? of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It says: "She gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger." Manger place of animals, that one is surprised by this circumstance of the birth of the Son of God. "He laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn" at the city hotel.

Many pilgrims arrived in Bethlehem to do the same thing that this couple was doing to be registered or registered, and all the public places where people could go were taken, the houses with their guests and all the places where people, the pilgrims could go with their animals and their little donkeys or whatever they used to get to the city there of Bethlehem but when Mary and Joseph arrived there was no place for them nor was there a hospital where she could give birth, everything coldly calculated by God, everything had a raison d'être, a message that God wanted to give to humanity, which is the very essence of this story.

Then remember that, the circumstances of Christmas. And let's go to another passage found in John as I said chapter 3 verses 16 and 17, try to keep these two themes in your mind together, it says: "Because in such a way" this was the size of God's love, "Of God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son so that everyone who believes in Him" everyone, every man, every woman who believes in Him, what does it mean to believe in Jesus? Does it mean that He is the that He says that He is.

"Everyone who believes in Him does not perish" underline there say: do not go to hell, do not go to eternal perdition, do not be excluded from the Presence of God eternally as we spoke the other days, right?, "I don't know lose but have eternal life." And this other verse 17, also very intentional, says: "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him."

As we have seen brothers, the physical circumstances of Jesu s' birth is one of the most amazing details of Christmas, everything that surrounds His birth as we have pointed out. The Son of God, the Savior of the world, was born under one of the most painful and unpromising conditions that we can imagine. A poor family with no comfortable place to be found, suitable for His birth of baby Jesus in a place for animals, smelly surely, uncomfortable, unworthy without a comfortable bed under Him, not at all suitable for the one who was to be the Savior of the humanity, the King, the most exalted being that has ever existed and will never exist in the entire universe.

As I said before we know that God is a God of details. God had a message, a spiritual, ethical lesson to give us through the details we just read, the birth of His Son. I would like to point out three things that invite us to meditate and to be part of that Christmas story. In the first place, brothers, Christmas tells us about sacrifice, the sacrifice so great that God carried out to save us from eternal death, from perdition, from eternal exclusion from the Presence of God.

John has said it very clearly: "Because God so loved the world" is an inconceivably great way, God's love for humanity brothers is so immense that it led him to strip himself of His glory, of His infinite privileges to assume the form of a humble and fragile baby so that through that incarnation, through that entry into the world, through that human form God could within His Plan and His Lordship, His entity He as a moral being who does not forgive sin but He had to figure it out designed this birth to prepare the conditions for Christ's atoning death on the cross.

The one who died on that cross had to be a man, a human being primarily representing humanity, God had said: the soul that sins, that soul has to die and then God had to respect that, because then He designed this incredible plan of Himself because the price was so great that only an infinite and pure being could pay the price of humanity. Then Christ assumed the price of our fallen humanity and entered the world in the form of a child, a member of the human race, born there into these circumstances, divested of His Glory, of His eternity, of inconceivably glorious, His unlimited power. and is born as a humble child preparing for the atoning death for us on the cross.

All of that is part of the mystery of Christmas. God so loves the world that he made an incredibly great sacrifice for us. The life of Jesus was a life of deprivation and hardship, loneliness, betrayal, discomfort in the world. No one recognized him, his followers left him at the last minute despite everything he did in front of them and all the teachings. His people for whom he came to humanity did not recognize him, they did not accept him. All things, he went through temptation, all the discomforts of a man, he says he was tempted in everything like us without sin.

But all these discomforts the Son of God went through because God's love is so great, so great and Christmas invites us to remember that, brothers, God loved us in such a way that He gave His only begotten Son. The birth of Christ, of Jesus in these painful circumstances announces to us the type of life that Jesus would lead. Discomfort, deprivation, offal, sacrifice, why? because God wanted us to be saved.

And you know which brothers? that God calls us also to embody that same spirit that was in Jesus Christ. God loves the world, God loves humanity. This could be surprising, there are many evangelicals who would like God to throw lightning at the world and destroy it completely, and many times the Bible says not to love the world but when the Bible says not to love the world it is referring to the vanity of the world. world, the sin of the world, the betrayals of the world, the deceits of the world but there is something in the world that God loves and it is his creation, his creatures. God loves every man, every woman and you know what? we are supposed to love people the same way.

This city of Boston where God has placed us, we have to love it. We have to pray for the city of Boston. Can you say amen to that? We have to sacrifice ourselves as Christ sacrificed himself for this city. There is a great mission that God has entrusted to this Church, brothers, as he has entrusted it to many other Churches, but I can speak today of my Congregation, this Congregation where God has given us the privilege of remaining and militating in the Christian life.

God has placed the Lion of Judah and again I add that we are not unique, there are many good Churches, but God has placed you, He has placed us here in the city of Boston so that we can be light and flavor for this city, amen ?. And we have to love this city as God loved it. If God loved the world in such a way that he gave His Son, what can I give so that my city knows Jesus Christ?

I shared with the brothers this morning that God has spoken to me clearly in recent months about what should be the slogan for León de Judá this coming year, and it should be to evangelize this city for Christ, you know?, it should be of proclaiming the Gospel in all possible ways, it must be that we aim to fill that sanctuary twice as we filled this sanctuary twice. How good it would be brothers if we soon had that sanctuary full as this one is here, that one can fit twice and a bit more than this one and we are going to fill it twice, that is to say that four times the Lion of Judah can fit there in one day, one Sunday with two services.

Brethren, how about we conceive a great vision? to say we are going to redeem the city of Boston, we are going to fill it with the Gospel everywhere, eh? we are going to bother Say: glory to God even if it's to scare you a little bit, amen? believe it God can do it brothers. God can do it.

Just a little question here for a moment, how many people visit us today, how many new people do we have here? Raise your hand, don't be afraid, don't be shy, raise it high, we have a beautiful group and by the way we bless you, how happy we are to have you, you can lower your hands. But I want to tell you, brothers, look: there are thousands and thousands of people out there. We can talk about Hispanics only; Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, Marapan, Roslindale, High Park, South End, East Boston, Chelsea, hey, how many Hispanics are there?

There are so many that we could very easily fill that building several times each Sunday and still be short of so many people in need. God wants us to pay the price, God wants us to be uncomfortable, to love the city, to love the people of this city, to love the world as God loves this world. I believe that the Christmas story is that, right? that we have to bother, that's the word. Our love must be so great for people that we envision a great vision of evangelizing Boston for Christ.

I plan to make myself uncomfortable, I hope you will accompany me. We are already getting uncomfortable with that building there because I know it costs us and the leadership of the Church has had to pay a great price. The engine of this Church is red hot, all the turbines are working financially, materially, the Church's program, all of that right now is running out to finish that sanctuary for the Lord because we want to see it continuously full.

And I want to encourage you, brothers, to continue to be uncomfortable this year, okay? Bring people, invite them to Church. Make a plan to be an evangelist yourself. I want us to pray for God to give us wisdom on how to develop a sacred methodology to bring people to the knowledge of Jesus and I need you to be a people who are willing to shed your privileges. People say: well I work a lot so I need to stay at home.

Knows? God needs warriors, God needs a militant Church, God needs people with commitment who give their money, give their time, give their efforts, that nothing is too small to bring Jesus Christ to the world. We are going to be uncomfortable this year as Christ was uncomfortable, amen? We are going to live only one thing and it is to bring many people because God loves the world, God loved the world in such a way that we see how He bothered for His creation to be saved.

Secondly, Christmas reminds us that I have already said God's primary desire in a way, but let me emphasize this, brothers, do you know where the heart of God resides? God's heart resides in the fact that he does not want any person to be lost. I think that was what motivated him. People sometimes think like God has a quota, a limit on how many people can be saved, that it is not possible for everyone to be saved, maybe it is true because that is human nature but you know what? God has a great purpose and it is for everyone to enter, proceed to salvation. Those who are not saved disqualified themselves.

We have to conceive a great vision that there are many people out there that God wants to be saved and we have to be like God that we want everyone to enter salvation. The Lord suffered and died on a cross so that we could be saved. Jesus was born in a cradle that was not his, he was buried in a tomb that was not his either because He wanted everyone to proceed to salvation. And that is very important because many people think that, people say: a good God would not allow people to go to hell, a good God would not condemn anyone to eternal suffering.

And I say that: yes amen, that is true. Knows? God does not condemn anyone, God did not come into the world to condemn the world says John 3:17, God came so that everyone would be saved. Do you know who is missing? the one who does not believe in Jesus Christ, the one who rejects the Lord. The condemnation comes from the people themselves, God does not want to condemn anyone on the contrary, God is working hard so that everyone is saved. All that is required is to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.

John 3:17 says, "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him." How great is the love of God. God wants everyone to proceed to salvation, I say to myself: Lord we are going to fill our Church with people and we are going to please Your generous heart, and we are going to make sure that the greatest possible number of people come to know Jesus Christ.

Thirdly we have seen then, firstly the Lord loved us in such a way that He became uncomfortable, stripped Himself of His Glory so that we might be saved, secondly that is because God wants everyone to proceed to salvation and that no one be lost, and we have to have that same heart, that same love. Third and last, the smallness and poverty of the child Jesus remind us that God's gifts sometimes come in very humble, very simple packages. The gifts of God, the greatness of God sometimes come in very small ways. The Christmas story, what we have just read reminds us of that fact.

We must never despise the humble beginnings of God. We must never let ourselves be dazzled by big things, big packages, but like God we must learn to appreciate small things. That baby wrapped in swaddling clothes in the manger is an image of the smallest, the thinnest, the most fragile that can be conceived. However, in that little child was all the greatness, all the deity of God. That tiny little baby had the greatness of God within him. There was a great future that the Lord Jesus enclosed there in his littleness.

And this is a call brothers for all of us as a Church, Christians do not allow ourselves to be dazzled by the flashy or luxurious things of the world. We have an eye that can see beyond the superficial. Christians must learn to value and appreciate humble people, the poor, the weak. Sometimes those are the ones that God uses to carry out His great purposes. And I ask the Lord to make us a brother Church that is capable of appreciating humble people.

I saw our children this morning for example and in my mind I saw the potential that these beautiful children have. Out in the world our young people are not graduating from high school, let alone graduating from college. The rate of births to single mothers is very high, all the indicators in our community are very poor, very bad.

And I told him: Lord, allow these children to be blessed and prospered by You and become great men and women of God. That this humble and small community, which is a lot of the people of our Congregation, that You take Your Power, instill it in these children and that powerful, prosperous, professional men and women can be born from this community, people who can give them many beautiful things. to the world.

And God loves our community and we have to work so that these children, these little ones become something great and powerful. God wants to raise up the children, the poor of our Church and God is willing to prosper and bless us, and make us a great community. And we have to appreciate the little things.

You have to appreciate yourself by example. Don't look at what you are right now, look at what God wants to do through you. Begin to believe that God is committed as a small, humble community and that God wants to take us to great heights. Parents: start investing in your children more and more. Buy them good books, buy them toys that stimulate their intelligence, believe that God is going to lift them up, he is going to take them very high because God appreciates this community.

God wants to show the world that when a community like ours receives Him, He then begins to work and transforms it into something great and wonderful. I believe that God is going to do something extraordinary through us and one of the things that I feel precisely speaking about these next few months, look: out there the devil is wreaking great havoc, he is serving himself with the big spoon and we have What to say to the community out there, I believe that the theme of our evangelistic effort should be asking people to take refuge in Jesus Christ.

These times are difficult times. Our people are not progressing, this small community is not reaching everything that God wants from it and we must then tell the people: you know what? God wants to prosper our community. God wants to bless us, God wants to lift us up, God wants to take us from smallness to greatness. Come to Christ, put the values of the Kingdom of God in your heads and in your hearts, begin to live according to the values of the Kingdom and God will prosper us and will lift us up greatly because God loves the humble of condition. All God needs is for us to receive Him.

Why did God send the shepherds to visit that poor child who embodied all the plans He had for humanity? Those pastors were despised and scorned by the people, working as a pastor for the Jews was something very, very demeaning. But to whom does the Lord reveal himself that night there in the desert and on the mountains of Bethlehem and Galilee? He reveals himself to the pastors, little people, poor people, despicable people and tells them: I want you to go and witness the birth of My Son because God loves small things, God loves humble people.

God wants to make an example of our Congregation and of this community. The potential is incredibly great and we have to work and cooperate with Him by valuing the small things. God did not choose to place His Son in the bosom of a rich or distinguished family, but in a poor and humble family. Rather, he sought the moral values of José and María, he did not care about the social or economic details.

It's something else I thought. We as a Church, brothers, have to reach a people with solid values; family values, work values, discipline values, study values, integrity values, honesty with each other, trustworthy people. We don't have to be with great boasting of anointing. Look: what God wants is for us to eat the Gospel, eat the values of the Gospel and live honest lives, lives filled with the Spirit, exemplary lives, lives that inspire people to come to Church because they say: there is a community of people who live the Gospel, and that is what is going to revolutionize our community.

What was it that motivated God to look at Mary and Joseph so that they would adopt His Son so to speak? Their character, it was not their wealth, they did not have any, it was not their studies, Mary was a humble virgin from around Nazareth but God saw their hearts and that is what God visits, when God sees a heart humble and simple God falls in love and does great things through them.

So when José thinks that María has betrayed him and that she has been unfaithful to him, José says: you know what? I am not going to humiliate her, I am not going to condemn her and she decides to leave discreetly, but the angel tells her: no, don't worry, she has not been unfaithful to you, it is the Son of God who is inside her, the Holy Spirit is who made her conceive. What great courage that man had, what moral integrity he had.

Mary when the angel tells her: hey God has chosen you for, many sisters say: oh glory to God I wish I were, but you know what? it was a high price. I think that for the rest of her life people were criticizing María because they thought: this woman was unfaithful to her husband. But Mary said: Lord, Your Will be done, I am Your servant, do with me what You want, and it was with such people that God fell in love. He did not look at their greatness, he looked at their moral, spiritual greatness and that is what He wants us to be too.

Because what God is looking for is the heart and we have to do the same not only with ourselves but also with others. I ardently hope that León de Judá becomes a Church that stands out for the love that we have for one another and for the care that we give to the little people of the city. I rejoice when I see my brothers on Saturday mornings preparing sandwiches and juice and coffee to run out in the cold and give food to hundreds of people there on the street, there on Massachusetts Avenue and preach the Gospel to them.

There are people here in our Church who have been doing it for years now and now many more people have joined, God is using that to bless many. Yesterday we had a wonderful little party here for the children who are at the Shriners Institute, children who have suffered very, very terrible burns and many have been disfigured by those burns, and God has touched Marta Garzón and many brothers who have come together to attend to those children, and yesterday there was a precious little party here where little gifts were prepared for them where nothing was missing, a well-done party for those little children and their mothers who are here from different Latin American countries, because we love the little ones of the world.

And we could say many other things that the heart of God does through us, I am not going to say our Church. I encourage you brothers to conceive that image of God who loves the little ones and the humble and that actions of good works multiply among us, that we appreciate poor people, simple people. In this Church there should be no preferences for anyone, the rich and professionals have as much value as the humblest worker in this Church and thus they always have to be brothers (applause). There should not be any kind of preferences between us.

We also have to take care of each other, you know? Always watch over there for the person who arrives at Church and looks a little lost, and looks lonely, and sometimes I say: brothers, let's greet each other and always from up here I can see three or four who are there like wet chicks, and no one is going to greet them because they kind of got lost in the crowd. And I need you to have a pastoral eye, and to always be watching out for the visitor, the person who perhaps seems a little lost, the person who is sometimes less than pleasant.

God brings all kinds of people to our Church. And we have to be such a Church of good works. There are single people from our Church who are here working, their families are in other Latin American countries, invite them to their homes for dinner. Let's be people of tenderness, let's be people, let's worry, right? for the fragile, the simple, the people who are going through difficulties. Because God did that, God took the simple; He took His Son, made him incarnate in an undistinguished family, born in undistinguished circumstances to leave us a message, that is the message of Christmas, the message of generosity. God's generosity towards humanity and a God who tells us now: pass it on, be people of the same love, the same good will, the same good intentions.

The people of God ended with this, they must be distinguished by their love for others. For his protection of life, for his compassion, for his attitude of protecting and providing for the smallest and weakest in the world. That is why children must be so important to us. That is why the disabled, those with cognitive and physical limitations, these people must be very precious to us. We must not only attend to those who are capable of everything, those who can give us something in return. Our hearts must leap to those who cannot give us anything in return, and we must go out of our way to do so. We must be a family of good works, a family of love and tenderness.

I end with the words of Colossians chapter 3 verses 12 and 13, with this I invite the group of praise brothers to come here, this is God's call for you my brothers this Christmas, he says: "Dress yourselves then as chosen from God, holy and beloved, of tender mercy" says as God, "of kindness, humility, meekness, patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as Christ forgave you so do you also."

Brother, may the Lord bless you this Christmas, may the love of God be manifested through us, may the appreciation of simple and humble things, of the poor and needy people of a community out there, of a world that needs God, they can't distinguish between their right hand and their left hand, we have to love them as God asked Jonah to love Ninibe, we have to love our city, be bothered by it and love the poor and the weak in our community. May that Christmas spirit incarnate your heart and mine and our Congregation. May the Lord bless you.