Is There Room In Your Inn

D. Rom. 10:9-10. What does it mean to confess with our mouth "Jesus is Lord"? I know it is more than just offering the stables of our life instead of a room in the inn of our hearts.

E. Jesus said, "Not everyone who says, ’Lord, Lord’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my father who is in heaven." (Matt. 7:21) Listen to Jesus speak as recorded in Luke 9:23-27. Lordship is not putting Jesus in your heart on Sunday and removing him from you life the rest of the week. It is not singing praises to his name and then cursing your neighbor. Jesus was born in a manger because there was no room in the inn. Is there room in the inn of your heart? Are you willing to let him come into your life and be both Lord and Christ? Lordship is so difficult for many to give to Jesus. Don’t let this Christmas story of his birth be a symbol of your hardness of heart to let the Savior in.

Conclusion:

A. Wally was a 7th grade student who was bigger than any of the other students in his Sunday school class. His mother had been an alcoholic when he was born, and as a result, Wally just did not have all the mental capabilities that the rest of his classmates had. But somehow he managed to get by.

B. Christmas time came and his class decided to put on a Christmas pageant. Since he was the biggest, Wally was selected to be the innkeeper. After all, the innkeeper is kind of a villain in the Christmas drama. So they coached Wally to be just as mean as he possibly could be.

C. Well, the night came for the Christmas play. And in it, Mary and Joseph came to Bethlehem, went to the Inn and knocked on its door. Wally opened the door and said, "What do you want?" just as mean and gruff as he could possibly be. Joseph said, "We need a room. We need a place to stay tonight." "Well, you’ll have to stay someplace else," said Wally, "because there’s no room here."

Joseph said, "But my wife’s expecting a baby any time now. Isn’t there someplace where we can stay, where we are protected from the cold and where she can deliver her child?"

D. Then silence. Wally had forgotten his lines. From behind the curtains you could hear someone saying, "Be gone. Be gone." Finally, Wally managed to say, "Be gone." Mary and Joseph sadly turned to leave. But just as they did, Wally said, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You can have my room."

E. Maybe Wally, better than anybody else communicated the real spirit of Christmas. "You can have my room." I look around the stable and ask myself, would I give Jesus my room? Maybe the better question is, will I give Jesus my life? Jesus did not come to live in a stable; he did come to live in me. It may be Christmas time. There may be a nativity scene on your coffee table. But the question is where is Jesus? Don’t leaven him in a manger.