There are a few things I think it would be cool to see:
• A train ride across our grand nation, in one of those double decker cars with the glass panorama roof
• The inside of a huge submarine
• The sunrise and sunset on a remote Pacific island
• Even, maybe,
• Baseballs “hidden ball trick,” performed twice by 3rd baseman Mike Lowell in the Majors:
"There was plenty of hitting, good pitching by the kid . . . but the key to the game, I thought, was Mike Lowell’s hidden-ball trick," Marlins manager Jack McKeon said.
After seeing their 6-1 deficit trimmed to one run in the seventh inning, the Diamondbacks threatened off Jones in the eighth inning. Terrero opened the eighth with a bunt single, and after he went to second on a sacrifice bunt, pinch-hitter Tony Clark singled, putting runners on first and third.
Terrero was held at third as Lowell received the cutoff from left fielder Miguel Cabrera. Detecting that Terrero and third base coach Carlos Tosca were not watching, Lowell figured he would try catching the Diamondbacks napping.
To execute the sandlot play, the pitcher has to be off the mound, and Jones was.
• For his performance, Jones was a strong supporting actor, doing his best to sell the play, stalling slightly behind the mound, picking up the rosin bag, motioning to catcher Matt Treanor.
As Jones stayed clear of the mound, Terrero took a few steps off third, and then Lowell slapped on the tag. Third base umpire Ed Rapuano, well aware of what was going on, immediately pumped out Terrero.
Added [pitcher] Jones: "I knew I couldn’t go anywhere near the dirt. I could go near it, but I couldn’t touch it. It was like one of those Venus Fly Traps, and he walked into it.
"That’s the coolest thing I’ve done on the field in a while."
http://florida.marlins.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20050810&content_id=1165621&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=fla
Hayden: “I see, I see, I seeeeeeee, Daaaaadddy!”
• Tomato soup being stirred
• Coffee beans being ground,
• The screw being loosened
• The presents mommy is wrapping
Nothing, absolutely NOTHING is off limits to his desire to see: Hayden will follow you absolutely everywhere, and whatever you are doing, WHATEVER, “I see, I see, I seeeeeeee. . . .”
What do you like to see?
All about your perspective, isn’t it?
• If you’re feeling overwhelmed at work, it is nice to see the extra shift people coming on board
• If you are having a problem with a school assignment, it is nice to see the teacher walk your way
• If you have spent all day getting ready for prom, it is great to see your date
There are many things, on many occasions, that we all would like to see. Even TV stations try to get our attention by claiming they have “Must See TV.”
The DeVilder children and Daddy were studying the “must see” event of history a while back: (show page of “someone’s coming”—a stick figure timeline that shows Adam/Eve, Abraham, David, etc. Each was given a portion of the promise, detailed below)
All eyes of wisdom were trained on a point in history where God would carry out a top secret plan, hatched before the beginning of the world. Every now and then he’d spill out a few of the beans and say something like:
• Psssst: Eve, one of your great great great, etc grand children is gonna take care of that evil Serpent . . . for good! Then, a few thousand years later he’d say:
• Pssst: Abraham, one of your family members is going to do something really cool for the whole world!
• Pssst: King David: one of your family members will become the Anointed One, the king over my people forever
• Pssst: Isaiah, a special King will be born of a virgin!
• Pssst: Micah, my special one will be born in Bethlehem, that tiny, tiny, town!
And so it had gone for thousands and thousands of years. And then: silence! For 400 years not a word was heard, or written down. And then it started again:
• Pssst: Zechariah: old man, you and Elizabeth are going to have a son that will prepare the hearts of the people for my special one who is about to come!
• Psst: Mary, God is going to give you a special baby, the very Son of God!
• Psst: Joseph: Don’t give her a hard time! Take care of her and the baby! Oh!, and name his name, Jesus!
And then it was kind of quiet for a few days, until:
• . . . somewhere, in a manger, two people named Mary and Joseph heard the sweet sweet cry of their new born baby, Jesus. (and maybe a few cows and donkey’s too!
• . . . but it was still relatively quiet around Bethlehem, but then . . .
• . . . out in a field, some guys were quietly watching some sheep munching on grass . . . munch munch munch . . . . when . . . .
9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy. It is for all the people.
11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord. 12 Here is how you will know I am telling you the truth. You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger."
. . . but if they thought that was crazy . . .
13 Suddenly a large group of angels from heaven also appeared. They were praising God. They said,
14 "May glory be given to God in the highest heaven!
And may peace be given to those he is pleased with on earth!"
Something had happened. Something had happened that the Shepherds had to go see!
Sometimes we have a hard time understanding what Christmas is all about:
A little girl came home from Sunday school waving a paper for her mother to see. "Look Mommy," she exclaimed, "Teacher says I drew the most unusual Christmas picture she ever saw!"
Her mother took one look and had to agree with the teacher. Hoping her daughter could explain her creation, the mother asked, "Why are all these people riding in the back of an airplane?"
"Well, Mommy, that’s the flight into Egypt."
Accepting that, mother asked another question: "Who is this mean-looking man in the front?"
Her daughter answered quickly and knowingly: "That’s Pontius, the Pilot."
Looking at the picture even more closely, the mother said, "I see you have Mary and Joseph and the baby. But who is this large man sitting behind Mary?"
"Can’t you tell?" the little girl asked, beginning to shake her head in disappointment. "That’s Round John Virgin." (www.preachingtoday.com Submitted by John Beukema, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania)
There is so much to say about how God became man (and still stayed God!).
• Why did he do it?
• How did he do it?
• What happened when he did it?
If you read in the four Gospels, two present different details of the actual story, one doesn’t say much about it at all (except referring later to mother Mary), and one says some odd sounding things like:
1 In the beginning, the Word was already there. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 All things were made through him. Nothing that has been made was made without him. 4 Life was in him, and that life was the light for all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness. But the darkness has not understood it.
14 The Word became a human being. He made his home with us. We have seen his glory. It is the glory of the one and only Son.
He came from the Father. And he was full of grace and truth.
There we learn Jesus was called “God’s Word.” That he made everything. That he became a human being. That the Father’s glory shines out from Jesus.
In the book of Titus, Paul the Apostle said very simply:
11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.
And again a few verses later:
4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us
Big Idea: When Jesus Came to Earth, He Showed Us how Wonderful God Is!
What can we learn about God, from Jesus, in these two, short little verses?
1. God keeps His promises!
God doesn’t go back on his word!
• Remember how God kept telling people “someone is coming, someone special is coming?”
o He told them whose family tree they’d be in
o He told them where he would be born
o He told them who would give birth to him
o He told them even that he would die for their sins
• . . . and he kept his promise!
If God already proved to us over and over that he keeps his promises: we can trust him.
• So when he says: “I will forgive all the people who love me”
• When he says: “I have a beautiful home in heaven for the people who love me”
• Or “whoever believes in my son, Jesus, will live with me forever”
• Or, “Jesus will come back again to get all my people who love me”
• Or, “Those who don’t love me will not get to live with me forever”
. . . then we can trust Him.
We can also trust him to
• Hear our prayers
• To be with us always
• To tell us the truth
God keeps his promises.
Another thing that Jesus shows us about God, is how
2. God’s Love Cost Him a LOT:
The meaning of Christmas might be well illustrated by:
Father Damien was a priest who became famous for his willingness to serve lepers. He moved to Kalawao—a village on the island of Molokai, in Hawaii, that had been quarantined to serve as a leper colony. For 16 years, he lived in their midst. He learned to speak their language. He bandaged their wounds, embraced the bodies no one else would touch, preached to hearts that would otherwise have been left alone. He organized schools, bands, and choirs. He built homes so that the lepers could have shelter. He built 2,000 coffins by hand so that, when they died, they could be buried with dignity. Slowly, it was said, Kalawao became a place to live rather than a place to die, for Father Damien offered hope.
Father Damien was not careful about keeping his distance. He did nothing to separate himself from his people. He dipped his fingers in the poi bowl along with the patients. He shared his pipe. He did not always wash his hands after bandaging open sores. He got close. For this, the people loved him.
Then one day he stood up and began his sermon with two words: "We lepers…."
Now he wasn’t just helping them. Now he was one of them. From this day forward, he wasn’t just on their island; he was in their skin. First he had chosen to live as they lived; now he would die as they died. Now they were in it together.
Now, you might be asking, what does this have to do with Christmas, and Jesus? Hear what the Apostle Paul had to say about Jesus:
5 You should think in the same way Christ Jesus does.
6 In his very nature he was God.
But he did not think that being equal with God
was something he should hold on to.
7 Instead, he made himself nothing.
He took on the very nature of a servant.
He was made in human form.
Then there is the story about Victoria Ruvolo, a 44-year-old collection agency manager, and 19-year-old Ryan Cushing. Mr. Cushing and his friends stole a credit card and then took off on a shopping spree…for no reason.
They stole a 20-pound frozen turkey and proceeded to throw it from their speeding vehicle headlong into the windshield of the automobile driven by Victoria Ruvolo. The result: the victim underwent surgery for six hours as metal plates and other pieces of hardware were fitted together in an effort to rebuild her face….
The prosecutor in Ruvolo’s case stated that for crimes such as this one, victims often "feel no punishment is harsh enough." In fact, "Death doesn’t even satisfy them," the attorney stated.
How did Victoria react to what had happened to her? She was primarily concerned with "salvaging the life of her 19-year-old assailant." She did not seek revenge in any way. She sought information about the youth and how he was raised, insisting that he be offered a plea deal. He could plead guilty to second-degree assault, be put in the county jail for six months and placed on one year’s probation. He could have been sent to prison for 25 years, returning to society middle-aged with no job skills or prospects.
According to editor Evensen, "this is only half the story. The rest of it, what happened the day this all played out in court, is the truly remarkable part."
The young man walked "carefully and tentatively" to where his victim was seated in the courtroom. With tears and in a whisper he apologized, "I’m so sorry for what I did to you." He and Victoria embraced, both weeping. She stroked his head, patted him on the back, and comforted him. "It’s OK," she said. "I just want you to make your life the best it can be." It was reported that "hardened prosecutors, and even reporters, were choking back tears."
(www.preachingtoday.com, Ted DeHass, Bedford, Iowa; source: Jay Evensen, "Forgiveness has power to change future," Desert Morning News (8-21-05)
In Victoria’s actions we also see a bit of the Christmas meaning.
Something similar to what Father Damien and Victoria Ruvolo did, The Bible calls “Grace, Kindness, Love”.
• Like Father Damien, who got close to the lepers—and even became a leper, Jesus got close to us, even becoming one of us, and it cost his life.
Grace, kindness, love
• Like Victoria whose face was mashed by Ryan’s careless prank and lack of love, Jesus—whose body was beaten, mashed, and hung to die—chose to forgive us.
Grace, kindness, love—three words that are used to describe Jesus, when he appeared on earth (refer to the Titus passages, again)
Jesus chose to die, because our sin is that bad.
• Even if you can say: I never nailed Jesus to the cross,
• Even if you can say: I was never a murderer
o Or a robber, or terrorist, or drug dealer
• Can you say: “I am as good as God?”
• Can you say: “I have no evil in my heart?”
Whenever we
• Tell a lie
• Do something behind our parents’ backs
• Make fun of someone
• Slack off at work when we are pretending to work hard
• Even complain, criticize, disobey, and be selfish
We do things that God could never do, things that God calls sin.
We are guilty, we have disobeyed God, and there is nothing we can do about it.
Like Ryan, we are completely at the mercy of the One we have wronged
And yet, God then does something for us we can’t do ourselves.
Max Lucado—What a God!!
“Ponder the achievement of God.
He doesn’t condone our sin, nor does he compromise his standard.
He doesn’t ignore our rebellion, nor does he relax his demands.
Rather than dismiss our sin, he assumes our sin
And,
Incredibly, sentences himself.
God’s holiness is honored. Our sin is punished . . . and we are redeemed.
God does what we cannot do
So we can be what we dare not dream: perfect before God.
(from: the Glory of Christmas: Inspirational Writings from Chareles Swindoll, Max Lucado, and Charles Colson: 1996, Word Publishing.)
Another man said it like this:
I was having breakfast with my dad and my younger son at the Real Food Café on Eastern Avenue, just south of Alger in Grand Rapids. As we were finishing our meal, I noticed that the waitress brought our check, then took it away, and then brought it back again. She placed it on the table, smiled, and said: "Somebody in the restaurant paid for your meal. You’re all set." And then she walked away.
I had the strangest feeling sitting there. The feeling was helplessness. There was nothing I could do. It had been taken care of. To insist on paying would have been pointless. All I could do was trust that what she said was actually true and then live in that—which meant getting up and leaving the restaurant. My acceptance of what she said gave me a choice: to live like it was true or to create my own reality in which the bill was not paid.
That is our invitation—
• to trust that we don’t owe anything.
• To trust that something is already true about us, something has already been done, something has been there all along.
• To trust that grace pays the bill.
(Rob Bell, Repainting the Velvet Elvis (Zondervan, 2005), p. 151-152; submitted by Chris Maxwell, Royston, Georgia)
And to trust God, when He says He NEEDS to pay the bill, so we can BE with Him, (even In Him, and He with and in us!) now & forever.
3. God’s love reaches around the World!
11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.
There is no place on earth where we can run from God, or his love.
• No people he thinks too strange,
• No country he won’t visit
• No leader he won’t talk to—no matter how bad
• No child he won’t visit, on Christmas day, or any other day.
God doesn’t play favorites, but he does show mercy on whom his favor rests:
CONCLUSION:
When we leave the church building, what are we going to see?
When we gather around the Christmas tree, what are we going to see?
When we go back to class, or get wrapped up in work, get tempted to, once again, do the wrong thing: whom are we going to see?
We need to take our cue from the shepherds.
15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.
“They went with haste . . . and found Jesus.”
When we see Jesus, we see God. When we find Jesus, we find God. When we love God, we find that He has already loved us. And His love will stay with you and me, forever.
1 In the past, God spoke to our people through the prophets. He spoke at many times. He spoke in different ways. 2 But in these last days, he has spoken to us through his Son. He is the one whom God appointed to receive all things. God made everything through him. 3 The Son is the gleaming brightness of God’s glory. He is the exact likeness of God’s being. He uses his powerful word to hold all things together. He provided the way for people to be made pure from sin. Then he sat down at the right hand of the King, the Majesty in heaven. 4 So he became higher than the angels. The name he received is more excellent than theirs. (Hebrews 1:1ff)
(. . . . pause . . . . )
Now, THAT is something I gotta see!
