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Christ's Birth and Your Birth
by John W. Yates II
Text: Luke 2:1–14
Topic: How we become born again
Big Idea: Christ's physical birth points to our need for a spiritual birth.
Keywords: Accepting Christ; Advent; Birth, new; Born again; Christmas; Christ, birth of; Christ, indwelling; New life; Rebirth; Receiving Christ; Salvation
Introduction:
- Illustration: Yates explores the joy of parents when their child is born.
- The time we were born is the big moment in our history—the time when everyone celebrated and forgot their problems just because of us.
Jesus' story
- Jesus' birth was physically similar to ours (he was wholly man), yet very different on every other level (he was wholly God).
Illustration: The words of a hymn explain the dual nature of Jesus' birth.
Illustration: Lord Nelson's statue in Trafalgar Square was too large for people to see the details of his face, and so a smaller statue was made at eye level—this is the concept behind Jesus' birth.
- Jesus is unique in history, and has changed the world more than any other person.
Our story
- In the beginning, God filled Adam with the same Spirit that filled Mary.
- Because of our sin, humans rejected God, and he withdrew his Spirit from us.
Illustration: Bernard Baruch said the only way to stop the fluctuations in America's economy would be to: "Pass a law changing human nature, and make it retroactive back to the Garden of Eden."
A new story: Christ in us
- Because of Jesus, we can be filled with the same Spirit that touched Adam and Mary.
- You can't know and experience God without his Spirit.
Illustration: Yates compares our relationship with the Holy Spirit to a lawnmower that requires both gas and oil to run properly.
Ephesians 3:16–17a
- The center of our being was made for God, and all of us choose to fill that center with him or with something else that gets in the way of him.
Illustration: Mother Theresa once said: "Pray for me, that my concern for the poor will not distract me from Jesus Christ.
- When Christ becomes the center of our lives, there is a celebration in heaven even greater than the celebration that took place after our physical birth.
Conclusion
- When you were physically born, your mother's body told you it was time, and you said yes.
- It works the same with your spiritual birth—when God tells your heart that it is time, all you have to do is say yes.
- If you've not said yes to God, and given him the center of your life, that is the most important thing you could ever do.
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