Random Christmas

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. How are we going to share something that actually is something that people might actually grow from? And so today, we're going to come up with, I think, a little unique twist. I heard a message about a year ago from Andy Stanley up in Atlanta who talked about the randomness of Christmas. And so, it's seeing the story through the eyes of both Mary and Joseph as they experienced it and how our days feel pretty random and chaotic, yes, no? And you're trying to figure out what the meaning is and all of this stuff that's going on in your life. And so today, we're going to be looking at that through Luke chapter 2 as well as through a passage from Ephesians later on in the message. But let's begin with prayer. And I mentioned at the beginning, we've got a group of young adults that are going to be heading up to Atlanta this week for the Passion Conference. We'll be praying for them and for one of our dear members, 2D, who is still in the ICU in South Carolina as she was traveling over Christmas. Lord God, this day, we just praise and thank you that you are with us and we have you in our midst as Emmanuel and that the first Christmas, even though it's a familiar story, is still miraculous in and of itself. We thank you, Lord, that this day, you are also with 2D and that you've been with her through this last week of touch-and-go times in the ICU. We pray that you continue to clear her lungs and strengthen her body, that she may glorify you. We thank you, Lord, she is a witness to you and to your goodness in her life and that you are with her. We lift up to you our college students and others who are attending the Passion Conference this week. We pray, Lord, that you give them safe travel on the way up, that they would experience more of your goodness and grace in amazing ways as they are there, and a safe travel on the way back so that they begin the new year, Lord, with your new perspective for their lives. And we thank you, Lord, across this whole area. You've got many Christian churches sharing your gospel, your good news, your truth in Jesus. And we pray, Lord, that you would bless all those who are proclaiming your word today and that you would create through your church in a variety of ways across this place, Lord, a movement of your spirit to truly reach more people with your love and mercy and truth. All this we pray in Jesus' name, amen. So a random Christmas, you ever feel like your life is a bit random, just one thing after another, not quite sure how it fits together? We're going to be looking at that then through this Luke chapter 2 and also then in the first chapter of Ephesians, and we're going to be learning three things about our lives as well, and that is ordinary randomness, attempts at meaning, and then promises that make the difference, okay? So let's look at Luke 2. Sorry, I'm taking these out of order, Deborah, I just was messing you up, okay? It's random today. You're going to have to guess where I go next. Luke 2 verses 1 through 7, in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius 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 Nazareth to Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and the 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. So but today we're looking at a random Christmas, and you realize what we just read, Luke chapter 2 verses 1 through 7, just that section of it, seems like it's just a random event, especially if you were Mary and Joseph, all of a sudden you're just, you have to get to Bethlehem, because Caesar just decides he wants to know and register everyone, take a census of the whole known world, while you're pregnant, you know? And I'm sorry, there's no donkey mentioned in this story, maybe she rode a donkey or maybe she just had to walk the 120 miles to Bethlehem. And when they get there, what do you think happens? Of course, she's going to give birth to this child, it wasn't like it was planned to happen this way in her mind, and then there's no place for them to live, she has to use a manger for a maternity ward. Just think of the randomness that it seemed like to her in the midst of her life, right? And for Joseph too, a random Christmas. Now what's interesting about this story, if you read the Gospel of Luke, is how it just seems so ordinary in some ways. The verses that we wrote, there's nothing miraculously happening, there's no fairy dust, there's no heavenly glow that ...