Born for the Forgotten

Luke 2:1-7 December 20, 2020 Pastor Ricky Alcantar
Thesis Though circumstances may make it appear that God has forgotten his people, the incarnation and birth of Christ in Luke 2 demonstrates definitively that God always remembers his people, coming to the lowly, fulfilling his promises in greater ways than imagined, and lifting up the cast-down through the mission of his Son.
Series
Type
Textual
Tone
pastoraldidacticcelebratory
Method
grammatical-historicalredemptive-historicalapplicatory
What's in this sermon

The shape of the argument

15 units across exposition, application, illustration, theological claim, and conclusion. The pastor's argument is built from these moving parts.

Doctrinal loci· 6 surfaced
Christology · 5 Anthropology · 2 Bibliology · 1 Covenant Theology · 1 Hamartiology · 1 Providence / Sovereignty · 1
Bible citations· 6
Luke 2:1-7 | Luke 2:1 | Luke 2:7 | Luke 2:4 | Luke 2:5
Illustrations· 2
  1. cultural reference · unit #3 — The pastor introduces the film 'It's a Wonderful Life' through personal confession of his mixed feelings about it, describing the movie's stressful narrative arc and his anxiety about the annual family tradition of watching it, setting up a tension between appearance and reality.
  2. personal story · unit #11 — The pastor uses a humorous personal story from his wife's labor to illustrate the human tendency to feel disregarded even in minor delays, then pivots sharply to ask what Mary and Joseph must have felt in their far more serious situation of actual abandonment.
Theological claims· 2
  1. The core human fear that 'It's a Wonderful Life' addresses is the fear of being forgotten. unit #4
  2. There is a contrast between what Luke 2 appears to show (a forgotten couple) and what it actually reveals (God's active remembrance). unit #6
Read it

Full transcript

14,982 characters 15 units ~17 min reading time Listen instead →

0 · The pastor welcomes the congregation, addresses a minor technical interruption, and frames the familiar Luke 2 passage with a call to receive fresh insight from God's living word, noting that this year's circumstances create unusual potential for deeper understanding of Christmas

Awesome, guys. Well, Merry Christmas. It is so great to be gathering the week of Christmas. If you heard some random beeping in that video, that may have been the construction project in the back. So if you haven't seen any progress there lately, there is stuff happening back there now, and it is cool and big and loud and interrupts our videos.

So it's great though, it's going forward, I love it. Turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 2. Oh man, we have such a privilege this morning, guys. We get the privilege to gather together, to sing about the birth of the Savior, to open the word. And this is a familiar passage.

I'm going to warn you, this is a passage that perhaps if you're not even familiar with the Bible, if you don't usually go to church, you may be familiar with this passage. Nothing else from Linus, has probably read it to you at some point. So here's what I'm gonna pray. As we read these words, let's remember that these are the living and active words of God, and let's pray that we get a fresh vision and a fresh glimpse of who God is through this as we celebrate Christmas this year. I think this year we need Christmas more than ever, but I think this year also has the potential that Christmas will become, will begin to mean much more to us than it ever has before.

1 · The pastor reads the primary text aloud from Luke 2:1-7, presenting the biblical account of Caesar's decree, Joseph and Mary's journey to Bethlehem, and Jesus's birth in a manger

So Luke chapter 2, verse 1, this is God's word. 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 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. This is the very word of God.

2 · Brief opening prayer asking God to speak and open eyes

Lord, may you speak to us and open our eyes today. Amen.

3 · The pastor introduces the film 'It's a Wonderful Life' through personal confession of his mixed feelings about it, describing the movie's stressful narrative arc and his anxiety about the annual family tradition of watching it, setting up a tension between appearance and reality

Well, how many of you are fans of the classic holiday movie, It's a Wonderful Life?

Who likes the movie "It's a Wonderful Life"? Okay, now that was easy to do. Here's what I want you to do. Be honest if you do not like "It's a Wonderful Life." Like somebody's made you watch it at some point and you're just, and you dread the holiday movie time where everybody's sitting around and everybody goes, "Let's put on a holiday movie." And you're thinking, "Not 'It's a Wonderful Life,' not 'It's a Wonderful Life.'" And I have to confess, Sometimes I am in that category. Look, most of the time I'm in that category.

And now here's the problem though. My dad makes us all watch "It's a Wonderful Life" every year. So as November rolls around, my anxiety begins to grow that like, okay, here it comes, "It's a Wonderful Life." Now listen, listen, listen, hear me on this. I love "It's a Wonderful Life." the last 10 minutes of "It's a Wonderful Life." But the previous movie to that is the most stressful, like, hour and a half you can spend in front of a screen. It's the charming holiday story of war, disability, bankruptcy, and suicide, right?

Like, that's not what you want to turn to. Like, "What do we— I want a holiday film," you know? And everyone's like, "Oh, let's just gather around to watch it." And I realize something happens. My dad and I have different experiences watching "It's a Wonderful Life," okay? And my experience is one of anxiety, fear, and dread.

4 · The pastor identifies the core human fear exposed by the film—the fear of being forgotten—and traces how the movie's narrative tension revolves around whether George Bailey has truly been forgotten or not

And I realized this week that actually "It's a Wonderful Life" gets at one of the core fears I have as like a human. And here's the core fear. I fear being forgotten. Forgotten. I hate the moment in the movie where they— the bank has run out of money, everybody's demanding their money back.

He, you know, George is turning, like, where can he find help? Nobody's there to help him. Nobody seems like is there for him. Even his family, there's distance and isolation, and he ends up utterly alone on this bridge, totally seemingly forgotten by everybody. Except for perhaps one person upstairs who sends him a reminder, right?

But that moment of being forgotten is the worst. And then you sort of live in that moment in suspense until the very end of the movie where you finally answer the question, was George really forgotten or not?

5 · Explicit transitional question signaling the connection between the illustration and the biblical text

Now, where am I going with that?

Where this fits

Recent preaching context

The three sermons immediately preceding this one in the preaching schedule.

Nov 8, 2020
The church must recognize that our true enemy is not political opponents, ethnic groups, or cultural adversaries, but Satan and demonic forces, and we fight this enemy not through political activism or division but through the chain-breaking power of the gospel proclaimed.
Mark 5:1-20
Nov 22, 2020
The thing we are most waiting for in our seasons of longing and uncertainty is not changed circumstances but God himself, who has already come to us in Jesus Christ and will one day close the remaining gap when he returns.
Isaiah 40:9-11
Dec 6, 2020
Christ was born for those far off, and the church is called to be faithful messengers who carry the gospel to unlikely people, confident that God will gather a glorious multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language.
Revelation 7:9-10
December 20 · This sermon
Born for the Forgotten
Though circumstances may make it appear that God has forgotten his people, the incarnation and birth of Christ in Luke 2 demonstrates definitively that God always remembers his people, coming to the lowly, fulfilling his promises in greater ways than imagined, and lifting up the cast-down through the mission of his Son.
Luke 2:1-7
Take it further

Discuss · apply · pray

Small-group discussion

6 questions for your group this week

  1. When you read Luke 2:1-7, what details in the story seem to suggest that Mary and Joseph were forgotten or overlooked by the world around them?
    Luke 2:1-7
    → How do you think Mary felt in those moments—not knowing what God was doing, only seeing the circumstances closing in?
  2. The sermon says there's a contrast between what Luke 2 *appears* to show and what it *actually reveals*. From the sermon, what was God doing while Mary and Joseph seemed abandoned to circumstance?
  3. Where in your own life have you felt forgotten—by people, by circumstance, or even by God? What was that season like?
    → Looking back now, can you see ways God was actually remembering and working, even when it didn't feel that way?
  4. The sermon emphasizes that Jesus was born *for the forgotten*—that his mission was to rescue the cast-down and lift them up. How does knowing that Christ came specifically for people in your position change the way you understand his birth?
    Luke 2:7
  5. If God's covenant promises to his people are *always* being fulfilled, even in ways we can't yet see, how should that shape the way we pray when we feel forgotten right now?
    → What would it look like to pray like Mary—trusting God's remembrance even when the circumstances don't prove it yet?
  6. What is one specific circumstance in your life or in someone else's life where you need to be reminded that God has not forgotten?
    → How could you carry that truth into this week?
Draft · pending review
Daily readings · Monday–Friday

5-day reading plan

This week we walk through the truth that God remembers his people—not because circumstances look favorable, but because Christ himself is God's definitive promise kept and his love made flesh.

Monday Isaiah 49:14-16

Zion cries out, 'The Lord has forsaken me'—the ancient fear that God has moved on, left us behind. But Isaiah's answer cuts deeper than sentiment: God has tattooed us on his palms, and he cannot forget what is written there. When we read Luke 2 this week, we'll see that fear answered not by argument but by presence—God himself becoming human, entering our lowliness, proving by his flesh that we are written on his heart.

Tuesday Micah 5:2-4

Micah prophesied a ruler from Bethlehem whose 'greatness will reach to the ends of the earth'—but then adds the surprise: 'he will give them up until the time when she who is in labor bears a son.' The nations expect a king who conquers from a palace. God's covenant-keeping looks like a mother in a stable, a child born in obscurity. His greatness is revealed not in power withheld but in power surrendered for the cast-down.

Wednesday Philippians 2:5-11

Paul tells us that Christ, though he was God, did not grasp at equality but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, born in the likeness of humans—and humbled himself further still. Every detail of Luke 2's seeming insignificance—the stable, the manger, the displacement—is Christ's voluntary descent into our forgotten condition. His exaltation depends on his willingness to become what the world considers forgettable.

Thursday Romans 5:6-8

We were powerless, ungodly, sinners—and Christ died for us anyway, not for the righteous but for the weak. The birth in Luke 2 points toward a death that proves we are not forgotten: he came into our condition so that he could take on our sin, our shame, our separation. God's remembering reaches all the way into death itself to bring us back.

Friday 1 Peter 1:3-5

Peter reminds us that we have been born again into a living hope through Christ's resurrection—not because we deserved it, but because God chose to remember us and give us an inheritance that cannot perish. The stable was not the end of the story. The child born there rose from the dead, and everyone united to him is lifted from shame into an inheritance that will never fade. We are not forgotten; we are remembered for eternity.

Draft · pending review
Pray together this week

Prayer: God Remembers the Forgotten

Father, we come before you with hearts that sometimes fear being forgotten—cast aside, overlooked, pushed around by forces beyond our control. We confess that we live as though the circumstances of our lives tell the final story; as though displacement and humility mean you have abandoned us. We forget that you see what the world does not, that you regard the lowly, and that your purposes move forward even when we feel most forgotten.

And yet, Lord, the birth of your Son in that stable declares the truth we need to hear: you have never forgotten your people. In the incarnation, you came to us in the lowest place, in poverty and obscurity, proving that you remember even those the world dismisses (Luke 2:1-7). You fulfilled your ancient promises in ways far greater than we imagined. You took on our sin and shame—the deepest forgottenness—so that we would be remembered forever in your love.

We ask, Father, that you would write this truth on our hearts this week. When we feel overlooked or displaced, remind us that we are seen by you. When our circumstances seem small or insignificant, help us to remember that you are sovereignly orchestrating all things for your glory and our good. Give us the grace to live as the remembered children of God, secure in the knowledge that nothing can separate us from your care.

We commit ourselves to you, Father, trusting that you remember us, that you regard us, and that in Christ you have proven your faithfulness forever. To you be glory and honor, now and always. Amen.

Draft · pending review
Sunday-evening family table

Who Remembers When We Feel Forgotten

For the parent

This card invites your family to move from the Christmas story's humble details (the stable, the census, Mary and Joseph's displacement) to the comfort of knowing God sees and remembers even when circumstances feel like abandonment. Listen for where your kids recognize times they've felt overlooked or small.

In the sermon, we talked about Mary and Joseph being pushed around by the census—moved from their home, no room at the inn, born in a stable. It could look like God forgot them. But the birth of Jesus showed that God was remembering them the whole time, working out his promises in ways they couldn't see. Can you think of a time when you felt like nobody was paying attention to you, or like things weren't going the way you hoped? What helped you remember that God was still there?
works for ages 8+ — younger kids can listen and share simpler examples; teens and adults can dig into bigger moments of feeling displaced or overlooked
Draft · pending review
Couples · three questions over coffee

God Remembers Us

  1. What circumstance in your life right now tempts you to feel forgotten by God—and how did hearing about Mary and Joseph's displacement shift that fear?
  2. Where do we as a couple need to trust that God is actively remembering us and working through our circumstances, even when we can't see his hand?
  3. What is one way we can pray for each other this week to remember that we are not forgotten, and to help each other believe it when circumstances suggest otherwise?
Draft · pending review
Memory verse this week

Luke 2:7

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.

Why this verse: This verse is the visual proof of the sermon's central claim: what appears to be abandonment and forgetfulness is actually God's sovereign remembrance. The manger—the place of humiliation—becomes the place where God definitively meets the lowly and forgotten, fulfilling his promise to remember and restore his people through Christ.

Draft · pending review
Where this was preached

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Cross of Grace Church
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# Cross of Grace Church

A church preaching expository sermons through the books of the Bible.

## Sermons
- [Fighting the Right Enemy (Mark 5:1-20, 2020-11-08)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2020/11/fighting-the-right-enemy)
- [The Waiting, the Wolves and the Good Shepherd (Isaiah 40:9-11, 2020-11-22)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2020/11/the-waiting-the-wolves-and-the-good-shepherd)
- [Born to Those Far Off (Revelation 7:9-10, 2020-12-06)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2020/12/born-to-those-far-off)
- [Born for the Forgotten (Luke 2:1-7, 2020-12-20)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2020/12/born-for-the-forgotten)

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