A MANGER WASN’T IN THE COMFORT ZONE
Text . . . Luke 2:1-20
Things got uncomfortable in Nazareth before they got to Bethlehem . . .
Joseph, an eligible bachelor and business owner, is engaged to a lovely young woman he had probably known all his life.
Mary becomes pregnant, but it isn’t Joseph’s child. The angel Gabriel explains it to Mary.
Mary leaves Nazareth for a hurried trip 60 miles south to visit relatives. Her parents and Joseph didn’t make much of it.
Mary returns home in three months and probably showing. Joseph finds out she is pregnant.
Joseph plans for a quiet divorce. (Being engaged was equivalent to being married.)
Angel in Joseph’s dream explains Mary’s pregnancy.
Joseph arranges a quick marriage ceremony.
Joseph and Mary are married and living in Joseph’s house. They have no sexual relations until after Mary’s child is born.
Bethlehem was 70 miles and several nights travel from Nazareth. With his parents in guest lodging and living out of a suitcase, Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
1. It isn’t the comfortable place they had planned for the birth – it was the place God planned.
Luke 2:7b -- There was no room for them in the inn.
2. It wasn’t with the people they were comfortable with – it was with people God had invited.
Luke 2:10, 15 -- But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people…When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
3. It wasn’t with the things they were comfortable with – it was with the things God knew would work.
Luke 2:7a -- ...and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger.
4. Have you figured it out? If you hang out with God, he will take you out of your comfort zone.