Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How to Welcome Jesus | Advent | Luke 2:1-7

Episode Date: December 20, 2022

What made Jesus so unlikely? Do you delight in Jesus? Where do you find your value? In a world that prioritizes might, Tanya shares the importance of dependency. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Luke 2:1-7 Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmeth. Our culture isn't making it easy to get older. I can't speak for the guys, but for us gals, it's a lot of work to keep up. I don't know if I should be offended or flattered when my girls tell me my outfit is cute for a mom. We live in a college town, so a yoga class can make me feel like a geriatric. Hollywood compounds the problem.

It wasn't lost on me that Tom Cruise's feet. female co-star Kelly McGinnis didn't make it into the Maverick sequel. She says she was never even approached about a role. It seems like the world wants us to fight against the things that actually make us better, the bumps and bruises of life that add to our perspective and compassion. As I wait for the return of the king, I find more and more value in the women ahead of me in the wait. The ones who are doing purposeful things to teach the Bible or serve their families or their clients. The ones who aren't fighting for glory but are making the world a more compassionate and beautiful place. The ones delighting and living an ordinary life of loving purpose and value,

doing what God places before them patiently and consistently. I think they glow because of their delight in the true king. The one who came to earth a baby. The one who showed us how to serve. The one who set aside his glory to live among us and die for us. Of all the ways they could have described the birth of the true king, and all the details they could have chosen, the gospel writers were purposeful about the words they used to tell us about the coming of Jesus. Luke's gospel especially highlights the way Jesus

came to turn the thinking of the world upside down, to show us the extraordinary glory in surrendering our lives to Jesus. Listen to the first few verses Luke writes to describe the birth narrative, And as you listen, think about who seems to be in charge of the situation. Who would you have thought held the power if you were a Roman citizen during this time? From Luke chapter 2. In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Corinius was governor of Syria.

And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee from the town of Nehoun. Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house of lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Luke explains that Caesar decreed that all the world should be taxed, so this Roman census was necessary as an enrollment of persons and property by tribes and households.

Joseph was living in Nazareth at the time, but since his ancestral home was Bethlehem, he had to travel there for the census. Bethlehem was about five miles south of Jerusalem. It looks like Caesar is in charge of this situation, that Caesar set in motion through his decree, the events that led Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem where Jesus would be born. But let me take you back to the Old Testament, to Micah Chapter 5, where we read this prophecy.

But you, O Bethlehem, Ephra Ta, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah. From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from of ancient of days. In the tiny town of Bethlehem in the region of Ephrata, God ordained his son to be born. Efforto was the place where David was born.

The unlikely choice of David is king foreshadows the unlikely choice of Bethlehem as the birthplace of a greater king. At first sight, it looks as though where Caesar commands, Joseph goes. And where Joseph goes, Jesus goes. But it's really the opposite, isn't it? If Jesus has to be born in Bethlehem, then Joseph must travel to Bethlehem with Mary.

It's not the hand of Caesar that dictates where Jesus will be born. It is the hand of God. This is called God's sovereignty, and it gives us a lot of comfort when we understand it. The way Jesus came into the world is revealing about what he came to do. He laid his glory aside and took on flesh, that could be wrapped in swaddling clothes, flesh that needed warmth and nurturing from human parents, flesh that would be bruised and torn for the sake of sinful humans.

Our flesh fights against dependency and vulnerability. Yet, that is how Jesus chose to come for us. Let's do a little thought experiment for a minute. If you were living during the time when Jesus was born, do you think you would have been more willing to accept an invitation to dinner from Caesar and his political posse or have dinner with Jesus and his followers. Do you think you would have been more apt to welcome Caesar into your home or Jesus into your home? Do you think you would have spent more time and energy talking and persuading people about Caesar and his political agenda

or spreading the news about the things Jesus taught and the way he said to live? I think we know the answers to at least some of those questions are revealing. they show our bent to seek glory and honor and power. But Jesus has the tendency to turn our thinking upside down. Where we look for a king, he is born in a stable. Where we look for political power, he comes to die on a cross. Where we look for a savior who will love us for our good works, he comes to love us in our sin.

And Jesus himself taught that to share in his life is to share in what happened to him. In John 15, he says, if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you're of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Joseph and Mary's experience shows what it's like to welcome Jesus into your life. It means that you will share in what happens to Jesus. You share in his suffering and in his glory. your life takes on a shape that looks upside down to the rest of the world as you are transformed into his likeness.

Luke's gospel challenges us and comforts us. It challenges us because to understand salvation, we have to see that Jesus came for the week and we are the week. He came for sinners and we are the sinners. His greatest moment was his most vulnerable. This is the life in which we follow. What looks like power to us today isn't lasting. Luke's gospel also comforts us because Jesus doesn't just accept us as we are, but he delights in us. He delights to work through us. He delighted to come to us. He delights to be with us no matter how ordinary our lives may seem.

When we understand this, we are free to find our glory in serving the true king. We are free to associate with people who don't have social influence. We are free to love those who can give us nothing in return. We are free to be vulnerable, to show our age, to admit our mistakes. We are liberated from the quest for extraordinary, and find delight in waking up to do the ordinary things Jesus puts in front of us today. Before you forget, sign up for the brand new TMBT newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes, and you'll get an email every Wednesday that will help you beat

the midweek slump and go deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.