I'll Be Home For Christmas Series

(Singing this acapella) “I'll be home for Christmas, you can plan on me. Please have snow and mistletoe and presents on the tree. Christmas Eve will find me where the lovelight gleams. I'll be home for Christmas if only in my dreams.”

That Christmas song was written back in 1924, but it was years before it became popular because many singers wouldn’t sing it. They felt it was too sad to be sung at Christmas. But then along came Bing Crosby who recorded it in 1943, and it became an overnight sensation. It was so popular in the US that it became one of the top-10 favorite songs that year.

But in spite of that, the BBC (British Broadcasting Co) refused to play it. Britain was at war with Nazi Germany and the BBC felt the words of the song would demoralize their troops.

But amongst American troops… things were different. “I’ll be home for Christmas” was such a POPULAR song that when the USO came and entertained the troops at the front, it was the most requested song every time they performed.

But, would this song appeal so much to American soldiers? Well… they weren’t home. And they weren’t sure WHEN (or even IF) they ever would get home. They longed for home; they longed for Christmas with their families. And so for our soldiers it WAS a sad song…

But the song was also a declaration. It was a declaration that spoke of their hope that ONE DAY they would be home for Christmas.

On sermoncentral, I found there were several preachers who preached “I’ll be home for Christmas” as a Christmas sermon, and a couple of them made this interesting observation:

Almost NO-ONE in the story of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem was home for Christmas. Mary and Joseph weren’t home. Their home was in Nazareth, but they had to travel for about 2 days to read Bethlehem. The Shepherds weren’t at home. They were at work in the fields. The Wisemen weren’t home - they traveled for months until they found Jesus. And, of course… Jesus wasn’t home either.

THERE WASN’T EVEN ANY ROOM FOR HIM AT THE INN!

Philippians 2:6-8 tells us that “Though (Jesus) was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Jesus emptied Himself of His Godhood. He came down from Heaven (which was His home); He became human and allowed Himself to be nailed to a cross and die for us.

I recently saw a meme on the internet that said this: “A 1000 times in history, a baby has become a King to rule mankind. But only one time in history has a King become a baby to save mankind.

Now why would He do that? Well, He did it for the same reason American soldiers fought in WWII… Jesus VOLUNTEERED. He didn’t have to do what He did. But He left His home in heaven because He chose to. He stripped Himself of His Majesty because He chose to. He became human because He chose to. AND He died on the cross because He chose to. He chose to do all that … for YOU & ME

Someone else noted that “Jesus removed His crown of glory, so He could give us crowns of life. He put on the rags of our sins, so that we could wear robes of righteousness. And He came from His home in heaven so that He might take us with Him to heaven.” (adapted from a quote by W. Dyer)

Jesus did all that … voluntarily. He did that so He could take us home with Him to live with Him for eternity. So, essentially – that’s the message of the birth of Christ:

Jesus left HIS HOME (in heaven) so He could ultimately take us HOME with Him.

And now (in our story this morning) he’s in Bethlehem. And the only folks who come to Bethlehem to worship Him were the shepherds and the wisemen.

Nobody else seemed to want to show up. They had other priorities; other things were more important than Jesus. They were just… busy.

ILLUS: I read of a mother who was on a “last-minute” shopping run. Time was running out to buy presents, and she was frantic. She’d taken her 3-year-old son and was going furiously from store to store. And then, suddenly she realized that her little boy’s hand was no longer in hers. She began to frantically look around and then began to quickly retrace her steps. She found him standing at a store window, gazing at a manger scene. Hearing his mother the boy turned and shouted, “Look Mommy! It’s baby Jesus – baby Jesus in the hay.” But Mommy didn’t care. It’d been a long day and she was tired and worn-out. Indifferent to his joy and wonder of her son, she jerked him away saying, “Come on! We don’t have time for that!”