Our family grew up at the First Baptist Church in our small town in Oklahoma. One year, my sister was an angel in our Christmas program, but right in the middle of the nativity, she fainted and crashed down on top of the manger scene — just as they were singing, “And the angel of the Lord came down …”!  Perfect timing, or the worst nativity ever?

We want our Christmas nativities to be “perfect,” but when Jesus was born, it wasn’t some “model” scenario. It was a very “messy” situation with a lot of “real-life” problems.  The Luke 2 Christmas story was indeed a “Real Life Christmas”: a real place, with real life difficulties — but in it God gave us a real Savior who would really change our lives. 

The First Christmas was a REAL-LIFE Story.

Some years ago, I was in a boat on the Ganges River, and the guide shared a traditional Hindu story about how the Ganges River originated: one day, a female goddess stubbed her toe in heaven, fell, and on the spot where she hit the earth, the Ganges River sprang forth. I said to him, “Do you really believe that happened in history?” He acted like he never heard me, but the story is obviously a myth. There’s absolutely no scientific or historical basis for it.

Some accuse Christianity of being a “myth” — but only those unaware of the facts would do so. Christianity is very firmly grounded in history. Notice all the historical elements mentioned in Luke 2:

— Caesar Augustus in :1 is a real, historic figure.

— Quirinius, governor of Syria in 2, is mentioned by numerous ancient authors, including Josephus, Suetonius, Pliny, and others.

—:4 says Joseph left Galilee, the city of Nazareth, and went to Bethlehem in Judea, all real places which still exist, which emphasizes that these things really happened, in real places, in real history.

The truth of the Bible has been substantiated repeatedly:

— William Mitchell Ramsey, a professor at Oxford, went to modern Turkey to write a book demonstrating how the Book of Acts could not possibly have happened as the Bible outlined it. When he finished following Acts through Turkey, he wrote a different book than he intended: “St. Paul The Traveler and Roman Citizen,” which demonstrated the historical and geographical accuracy of Acts!

— Frank Morison set out to disprove the Resurrection of Jesus. But HE ended up writing a book, Who Moved the Stone? on how the Resurrection is actually the BEST explanation for what happened to Jesus!

— Andrew Parker, a British scientist, was lecturing on bioluminescence when someone told him, “That sounds like Genesis!” He wasn’t familiar with Genesis, so he bought a Bible and read it, and was amazed at how accurately Genesis 1 follows his scientific understanding of the universe’s origin! He wrote yet another book: The Genesis Enigma: How the First Book of the Bible Is Scientifically Accurate.

All this bolsters our confidence that the events of the Bible really happened, to real people, in real history.

The First Christmas also came amid REAL LIFE Events.

God worked His heavenly plan amid what one might describe as earthly chaos:

— Mary’s pregnant, and she and Joseph weren’t married yet. They know this is God’s child, but no one else believes that!

— Joseph had to go to Bethlehem because of Caesar Augustus’ decree to pay taxes.

They made a long, dangerous trip to pay taxes, she’s pregnant, they aren’t married — the whole episode was very messy and chaotic from an earthly perspective.

Sometimes we think our Christmas schedules are chaotic, and wonder if we’re missing “the real spirit of the season.”  But when you read the Christmas story, perhaps our “chaos” isn’t that far from the “real spirit of Christmas” after all!  God brought about the birth of Jesus amid difficult, “real-life” events — a reminder that He can help us in our real-life situations today too!

We might think, “When things settle down, I’ll get back in church and get right with God.” But things never settled down! If you’ll come to the Lord, it won’t be when all the “real world” stuff in your life stops; it’ll be right in the MIDDLE of all that stuff — because that’s where your life really IS! And that’s where God will meet you — in your “real-life chaos” — if you’ll turn to Him.

The First Christmas Brought Us a REAL-LIFE Savior!

After Jesus was born, the angels told the shepherds, “For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (:11). In this real lifetime and place, with real people, amid “real life” problems, God sent a “Real Life” Savior!

Jesus Christ is a real Savior, one of the best-attested figures in all history. He lived a “real life”:

— He grew up poor

— His own family didn’t believe Him

— One of His best friends betrayed Him

— He was mocked, spat on, and beaten.

— He was nailed to a real wooden cross and died a “real-life death.”

Then more than 500 real-life people saw Jesus alive again and died testifying to it. Jesus died and rose again in “real life” so we can be forgiven and have real, eternal life forever with God in heaven — a fact so real it will impact your real life right now, and give you confidence as you face death, that you really do have a very real eternal life.

John Newton was the former slave trader who wrote the hymn, “Amazing Grace.” He shared the story of a young lady he visited in England who was dying of consumption:

“A few days before her death, I had been praying by her bed-side, and in my prayer, I thanked the Lord that He gave her now to see that she had not followed cunningly devised fables (II Peter 1:16). When I had finished, she repeated that word, ‘No,’ she said, ‘not “cunningly devised fables”; these are REALITIES; indeed, I feel their truth, I feel their comfort. O! Tell my friends, tell my acquaintances, tell inquiring souls, tell poor sinners, what Jesus has done for my soul. Tell them, that now in a time of need I find Him my beloved and my friend, and as such I commend him to them.’” (The Letters of John Newton, pp. 100-101)

On her deathbed, that young lady could testify: NO; these are NOT “cunningly devised fables;” she said, “I feel their truth” — and the truth of Jesus carried her through her last hours, to eternity. THAT is what the Gospel is all about. That’s what Christmas is about: that a real-life God came to a real-life Earth, as a real-life Man, to save real-life people like you and me. That is a “real-life Christmas”! 

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About the Author
Shawn Thomas is a retired Southern Baptist pastor with nearly 40 years of ministry experience. He and his wife, Cheryl, relocated to Norman, Oklahoma, in March 2025. Shawn continues to serve the church by providing a weekly overview for Sunday School teachers using Lifeway’s Explore the Bible curriculum, along with sharing sermon texts and other biblical articles. You can read more from Shawn here.

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