[ Matthew 1:18-25; 2:1-6 - Read at start of worship ]
I want to again express a special welcome… especially to those who may have come for the first time. I know it’s no small thing to come to a gathering with people you don’t yet know. I’d like to reassure you that most of those here are relatively normal… but I’m not sure any of us are best thought of as normal. From God’s perspective I suppose we are all a little eccentric… and exceptional.
I know that for a lot of us… Christmas can bring an interesting mixture of feelings. It’s a season in which the world stops to celebrate so right… something that seems to bring a peace and hope like at no other time. Yet we also sense that it’s hard to grasp and get hold of.
Many of us struggle to feel we become too busy at Christmas… and we wonder if the traditions are overtaking what is central. I share those feelings. But I also find I love the traditions… and wonder if the real challenge isn’t deeper than just being busy.
Our household began its Christmas season with a little irony. Out 7 year old daughter Cate begins to get the nativity scene out…. I’m in the other room and suddenly here her scream… Lucas our dog has grabbed something…sure enough… he grabbed the baby Jesus… and I’m prying it out of his mouth…. Yelling… give me “Jesus.’ A part of me thought maybe it was a rescue mission… after all… Lucas is a retriever. But what struck me more is that maybe it just reflects the problem that we make Jesus too small. Maybe the fact that Jesus can be so easily snatched is that he is reduced to such a symbolic icon.
I believe the greatest illusion we face is that we can reduce God to a manageable deity.
This may be especially true at Christmas… where it’s as if our culture has mastered the ability to reduce Christ to a small and sentimental figure… who is safe for us to look upon and handle. If we are going to make room for true Christ of Christmas.. the Christ-Mass… we may need to start with piercing the illusion that he can be reduced to a sentimental symbol that we can manage… and icon of inspiration.
I believe that making room for the Christ of Christmas is less about what’s around us… and more about making room within us within us.
One of the disciples who wrote one of the Gospels… which are the first hand accounts of Christ…was named John…and he describes the coming of Christ into this world with a more cosmic perspective. The apostle John said this.
John 1:9-14 (NLT)
9 The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. 14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
John 3:16-17 (NLT)
16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
John steps back and declares the cosmic truth… Christmas is about a collision…the very source of life has come as a light for all… but it is a threat to the darkness.
The very light that is essential is also exposing. It comforts and confronts.
This is precisely what we see in the lives of those who surrounded the birth of Christ. If we consider the events of Christ’s birth we realize that the stable wasn’t the only place that didn’t have room…
• King Herod – didn’t have room
• Religious culture didn’t have room.
• Roman Empire didn’t have room.
We discover that nobody made the mistake of reducing him to a sentimental symbol that was safe.
When we consider all that came into contention when Christ entered our world… we can begin to realize what making room for Christ involves. I want to help us consider the reality of what’s involved in receiving the one whose birth we celebrate.
Making room for Christ involves…
1. Making room for His sovereignty… His ultimate reign and rule over life.
Sovereignty refers to supreme authority.
This child was nothing less than the restoration of God’s reign.
What was promised through the prophets was a child being born whose would be the PRINCE of peace. I tend to think we hear the ‘peace’ in that declaration more than ‘prince.’
> But those who controlled the world at the time didn’t miss it.
Consider Herod… a fragile ego who feels they must desperately keep control. This was a man that history records to have killed anyone who he felt threatened by… including is own family members. He appears to know about the prophecies of a child who would be born as a liberating king of these people… a Messiah and savior from God. When he discovers that such a child had apparently been born… and great men from Persia have traveled to find him… he inquires about the timing… and then has all the children that were born since that time slaughtered. It’s a horrific reminder of how far one might go to remain king.
The whole Roman Empire… whose identity lies in the ruler being a god… Caesar.
In Hoc Anno Domini…
“There was one state, and it was Rome. There was one master for it all, and he was Tiberius Caesar. What was a man for but to serve Caesar?
Then, of a sudden, there was a light in the world, and a man from Galilee saying, Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.
And the voice from Galilee, which would defy Caesar, offered a new Kingdom in which each man could walk upright an bow to none but his God. It was a truth that set men free.
> Herod and Caesar knew there is only room for one god… one king. Perhaps they understood better than we do. They simply had no room for another… and unless they would surrender their sovereignty… they wouldn’t have room for Christ.
But then there were the magi. They were the wise counselors to the king of Persia. There among those who surrounded the birth of Christ… there are those who had room.
Came and bowed… why? They weren’t part of the Jewish religion nor religious in the typical sense. These were men who embraced the true spirit of seeking truth… wherever it leads them. Through both the sacred writings and sciences they sought the signs.
And unlike many today they sought with the humility.
Unlike many today… they were able to bow because they were looking for a KING … a king to make their own..
This challenges our own cultural trend toward spirituality today… wit our extreme individualism in which we simply define what we want… a narcissistic spirituality which is ceneterd in ourselves… in which we each get to be kings and queens.
The same Scriptures that foretold of his coming, tell us that every creature in heaven, on earth, and in the world below will kneel. (Philippians 2:10 (MSG) “…all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, “)
When the ruler of eternity is before us…there is only one thing we can do… BOW.
In bowing… they placed their life into the posture of reality. They were not the sovereign rulers of life. They didn’t make him king anymore than we can. He is king. It is about recognizing that.
Making room for the Christ whose birth we celebrate may mean that a lot of little kings and queens will need to step down from their thrones. If not, there simply is no room.
But not just the ruling powers who had a hard time making room for Christ… it was also the religious powers. In fact…the entire life and ministry of Christ seems to be one of constant conflict. These were men who tried so hard to be good… well at least to be right. the problem… was that they presumed they could… they would stand firm on their own merits… no need for grace.
2. Making room for His righteousness.
If you really believe that you are good enough to stand before God… or should be… you aren’t going to get too excited by some guy who challenges you… and whose sheer goodness exposes you.
Many of the religious leaders… became lost in false righteousness and self righteousness.
The problem was not in being good… but the problem was the pride of being good enough that they didn’t need grace….didn’t need a savior. This can be a pride that lies subtly in the religious and non-religious alike.
But God invites a group to provide great contrast. The shepherds. Those deemed outside of spiritual cleanliness. No pretense. They had room for a righteous savior.
These SHEPHERDS were more than simply lowly, poor shepherds.
Shepherds were despised by the orthodox good people of the day. They were quite unable to keep the details of the ceremonial law; they could not observe all the meticulous hand-washings and rules and regulations. Their flocks made far too constant demands on them; and so the orthodox looked down on them. It was to simple men of the fields that God’s message first came. They were sinners who had no doubt of their need; no opportunity for self righteousness.
But these were in all likelihood very special shepherds.
We have already seen how in the Temple, morning and evening, an unblemished lamb was offered as a sacrifice to God. To see that the supply of perfect offerings was always available the Temple authorities had their own private sheep flocks; and we know that these flocks were pastured near Bethlehem. It is most likely that these shepherds were in charge of the flocks from which the Temple offerings were chosen.
> They had birthed, raised, and cared for countless lambs taken for constant sacrifice. It is a lovely thought that the shepherds who looked after the Temple lambs were the first to see the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. (Barclay)
How sober these shepherds must have been to the great cost of sin …by the great cost of sacrifice.
Common perception that Christmas is for religious people.. but the entire event pronounces that it’s for receptive people… often those considered outsiders by the traditionally religious.
What did the angels bring as good news? “Today in the town of David a SAVIOR has been born to you.”…a SAVIOR
> How often our modern joy has been reduced, substituting a sentiment for a savior. (Wanting to rewrite heavens great work “Today a sentiment has been born to you.”)…
One man has said it this way…
If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent an educator.
If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent a scientist.
If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent an economist.
If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent an entertainer.
But our greatest need was forgiveness, so he sent us a Savior."
Will I accept His righteousness as Savior?
Do I have the humility to accept that I need grace… a savior?
Then… and perhaps only then… as we recognize his authority... begin to recognize the appropriate humility of our need… can we make appreciate what he bears that is beneath it all. Love
3. Making room for His love
This may sound simple enough. Who doesn’t like the idea of Christmas being a time of love? But this isn’t just a general sense of warmth.
It is nothing less than the boundless love that lies behind all creation.
God IS love.
And it is this love that Christ represents.
1 John 4:9-10 (NIV)
“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
Christmas is a great reminder that we’ve not been forgotten. We live on a visited planet.
This child is the love of God made known.
Hebrews 1:3 (NIV)
“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being…”
We are meeting the full representation of God…
He was preexistent…always and fully God…
> What has been revealed of such love is not the exception to what God is like… it is the essence of what God is like. When God wanted to show a sinful world that he cared, he came in person.
It’s a love that comes to live with us.
This past week we had our staff and elder Christmas party at our home. Our four year old son Cole saw over 30 people in our home as he went to bed. … waking up the morning first thing he said… “Did they have sleepover?’ In his childlike connection… if you welcome people into your life… you welcome them to stay with you.
> I wonder if we welcome Christ to come visit for a bit… but really intend for him to go home when it’s over.
John 3:16 - “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
“Everyone”…“whoever …” That’s the greatest “whoever” ever stated. It means every man and woman. Every culture and color. It doesn’t matter what religious background you might have. WHOEVER.
Some of us may wonder “Who would have me?” God will !! Can God really accept me? You don’t know the thoughts I’ve had or the things I’ve done? God said ‘whoever.’.
It can be so difficult to think God really WANTS us… that perhaps we kind of imagine we might get in on the group thing…. but nothing very personal about it. But Jesus would make very clear, God is a God of individuals… like a shepherd who knows every sheep and would leave ninety nine to go after even one. It is the most intimate and pursuing of loves.
Mary is a good reminder. She received the news… and actually bore the very being of God within her. It can’t become any more personal than that… any more intimate than that. And Jesus said that is what he is ushering for… for when His bodily life is done.. he sent his Spirit… the Holy Spirit to live in us. The very presence of God would now live within all who receive Him.
Amazing… I hope we let our hearts leap a little… hearts lighten a little… as we are reminded that we are loved by a God who cares that much for us.
Perhaps we just can’t imagine why. It just doesn’t seem like a good deal for God.
> God doesn’t need a good deal, he’s only after what’s lost.
• God doesn’t have a list. He’s not checking it twice to see if we’ve been naughty or nice.
• He knows all that. All He wants is to get back what was His.
• He’s out to redeem us.
> The love of Christmas is not about how good… or capable… or beautiful you are. The love of Christmas is about the simple fact you were meant to be God’s.
As Helmut Thielicke wrote:
"Jesus gained the power to love harlots, bullies, and ruffians. . . he was able to do this only because he saw through the filth and crust of degeneration, because his eye caught the divine original which is hidden in every way - in every man!. . .
When Jesus loved a guilt-laden person and helped him, he saw in him an erring child of God. He saw him as God originally designed and meant him to be.”
In her book “The Whisper Test,” Mary Ann Bird writes:
I grew up knowing I was different, and I hated it. I was born with a cleft palate, and when I started school, my classmates made it clear to me how I looked to others: a little girl with a misshapen lip, crooked nose, lopsided teeth, and garbled speech.
When schoolmates asked, “What happened to your lip?” I’d tell them I’d fallen and cut it on a piece of glass. Somehow it seemed more acceptable to have suffered an accident than to have been born different. I was convinced that no one outside my family could love me.
There was, however, a teacher in the second grade whom we all adored -- Mrs. Leonard by name. She was short, round, happy -- a sparkling lady.
Annually we had a hearing test...Mrs. Leonard gave the test to everyone in the class, and finally it was my turn. I knew from past years that as we stood against the door and covered one ear, the teacher sitting at her desk would whisper something, and we would have to repeat it back--things like “The sky is blue” or “Do you have new shoes?” I waited there for those words that God must have put into her mouth, those seven words that changed my life. Mrs. Leonard said, in her whisper, “I wish you were my little girl.”
Do you hear the whisper of Jesus this Christmas? “I wish you were my little girl. I wish you were my little boy. I want you to be my son or daughter. I wish you were in my family.”
The good news this Christmas is that you can be…if you will receive Him into your life.
John 1:12 - “…to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
Notice the three key words.
Believed. It involves more than just intellectual assent or an emotional response. To believe means to put our trust completely in Christ by committing our lives to Him.
Received. - It literally means, “to take, or to seize.” Those who receive Christ are those who take hold of him in their lives.
Right. This word means “honor” or “privilege.” The moment you receive Christ into your life, God gives you the honor of becoming a member of His family. We are given permission to become a child of God when we believe and receive.
Believe, Receive, and Become.
I want to conclude this morning by giving you an opportunity to be a receiver by accepting the greatest Christmas gift of all time.
Prayer of invitation
