Jesus. What Child is This?
Part 2- Many Don’t Care- The Innkeeper’s Apathy
Luke 2:1-20
This in a nutshell is the Christmas story. Often read at church during the holiday season or at home on Christmas eve or maybe even on Christmas morning before the presents are opened. It is the story of the birth of Christ. There is so much happening in this passage that I don’t have time in one sermon to hit on everything but as I was studying for the message I hit a mental block as to what I should say about it. What more is there to say about a passage of scripture that has probably been read more than any other in the last 2000 years? What can I say that hasn’t already been said a hundred times? I hit these road blocks quite a bit when I sit down to write a sermon which is why I usually stay home, lock myself in a room and pace a lot until the thought comes to me.
So last Wednesday as I was going through my normal routine of trying to figure out what to say about this passage I finally just stared at my computer and prayed, “God please just give me something that I haven’t heard before.” As soon as I said that prayer a question immediately came to my mind. The question was, “Who am I in this story?” Which of these people do I most represent when it comes to how I treat Jesus? In this story we see basically 3 views or 3 vantage points of the same story. You have the emperor, the innkeeper and the shepherd. I am convinced that everyone in this room today will represent one of these 3 people when it comes to how we see God and what we consider to be the most important priorities in life.
This morning as I go through this message I want you to be asking yourself, “Am I like the emperor, the innkeeper or the shepherd?” Let’s take a few moments and break down these 3 characters and how they fit in the story.
1. The emperor- Represents a person of greed, pride, and selfishness. VERSE 1-5- Alright there is a bunch of stuff happening here. We start by seeing a decree made by Caesar Augustus that a census is supposed to be taken throughout the Roman Empire. This particular Caesar ruled from 31 B.C.- 14 A.D. What you don’t know about Augustus or Octavius as he is also known is that at the time of his reign he was the singular ruler of the entire known world. The Roman Empire stretched from Britain to India. Also people considered him a God. They literally looked to Caesar for the forgiveness of sins. History books will tell you that he was a leader who brought peace but how did he bring that peace? Through military might. He had a huge army and they would destroy anyone who opposed him. And he paid for that army through taxes. Some believe that Jews paid up to 80%-90% of taxes to Roman Empire at that time. Under Caesars rule Jesus was born into extremely tough economic times under a human ruler who was not only worshipped as a God but truly believed he was the son of God and a ruler who caused incredible oppression to God’s truly chosen, the Jews.
Luke is telling us what’s happening around the time Christ is born for a couple of reasons. One is because he wants to show us that even through wicked oppression and evil God will do good. Caesar held a census out of selfish reasoning. He did it for taxation purposes. He simply wanted more money. But what he didn’t know is that through his greed God was fulfilling prophecy. This census forced Joseph to return to his ancestral lands and they are called ancestral lands for a few reasons but I don’t have time today to get into all of that history. The point is that by Caesar calling for this census it helped fulfill the prophecy that the true Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. OT book of Micah 5:2 says, But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past.
That verse in Micah also reveals to us the 2nd reason Luke gives us this information. Luke wanted us to understand that the true savior didn’t come out of the Roman Empire. The true savior came from a small corner of this empire, among a heavily oppressed minority of people of different ethnicity, where Caesar is supposedly Lord there is a baby being born who brings new hope of true peace. Not a peace built through military might but peace through unconditional, sacrificial love. Luke is showing us two completely different empires here. One empire is built on crushing people, one on loving people, one is built on bondage, one built on liberation, one built on oppressing people, one built on setting the oppressed free. Jesus preached good news to the poor and the sick. Luke is showing us here that Caesar isn’t lord Jesus is lord. Caesar isn’t the one we should be worshipping, this baby born in Bethlehem is. Luke emphasizes this point in verse 11 when writes what the angels say to the shepherds, “The Savior-yes, the Messiah, the Lord-has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! Not Caesar but Jesus is lord.
When you ask yourself, “Who am I in the story?” consider if you are at all like Caesar. You will know if you are like the emperor if you are blinded by pride. If life is all about you, if you don’t care what happens to other people as long as you get your way, if you focus on getting the biggest and the best, if all you can think about is making more money, climbing more corporate ladders, owning more stuff and gaining more status then you fit the profile of this emperor. You are blind to your need for a savior because you can’t see through your pride, greed and your selfish desires and your jealousy of others. But what I love about God is that he is so funny. There are so many who live like this, yes even some here who think they are Christians, but what I love is that God still does good, even good through them despite how they live their lives. Through Caesar’s greed God used him to fulfill a prophecy, through our selfishness God will still do good to impact others.
When Paul writes his letter to the church at Philippi he briefly addresses the issue of false teachers. He says in Philippians 1:15-19, “15 It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. 16 They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. 17 Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. 18 But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice. 19 For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance.” Despite these people preaching out of jealousy, selfish and pride filled reasons, despite them openly preaching against Paul Paul still rejoiced in their preaching because the Gospel was still moving forward. It didn’t matter what they did God would still do good through even their false motives and pride filled desires.
Are you the emperor this morning? A person blind by pride, greed and selfishness? Life is about you and God isn’t even a blip on your radar? I hope you will rethink that.
2. Innkeeper- represents the person who is distracted by life and who continues to miss out on the opportunities to know Christ or to live fully for Christ. This person might represent more people than any of the 3 we will discuss. VERSES 6-7: Something that is important to point out is that their actually is never any mention of a specific innkeeper. It only says there was no room at the inn. There is no room at the inn because people have crowded the town to register for the census. But we have to assume that the inn would have had an innkeeper who oversees the checking in of guest which is why we speak about the innkeeper. It had to be crazy with all these people flooding in to find a place to stay. They had to be swamped with food to make, beds to get ready, needs to attend to complaints to handle.
They are so caught up with what’s happening around them that they completely miss out on the opportunity to meet the Savior of the world. Now in all honesty this innkeeper had no way of knowing that Mary was carrying the savior BUT we know what they don’t do is take in a pregnant teenage girl who is close to giving birth and care for her. Instead they send her out into the cold stable to give birth while possibly lying amongst farm animals. Maybe the innkeeper was stressed, busy or just wasn’t thinking but what he didn’t have was time or compassion and he missed out on an incredible opportunity because he was distracted by life. His apathy caused him to miss out on one of the greatest events in history coming in a close second to the resurrection of Christ.
Every time I read this small section I think about how I too am just like this innkeeper. How so many times I make excuses that my life is full just like the inn is full. I am just too busy, too stressed, to much happening for me to take the time to let God in and change me. Instead of offering God the best suite in the place he was tossed to the stable. Instead of giving God our heart and letting him rule our lives we shut him out completely and say, “Sorry God. No room for you.” Sorry God no time this week. Sorry God I’m busy. Sorry God, I promise I’ll spend time in prayer with you later, read the word later, go to church next week, give when my finances straighten out, serve when I have more time, tell others about you when I stop getting nervous and have a little more knowledge.
There is no doubt that Christmas continues to become more and more Christ less. People have no room in their hearts for Jesus because they are too distracted by Santa, trees, lights, black Fridays and bonuses. It’s become a time to celebrate gift receiving than celebrate the greatest gift given. It’s about us rather than him. And really it’s not just Christmas it’s every day. People are so busy today, yes even overly busy with church stuff that we’ve forgotten to make room for God in our hearts. The more distracted by life we get the further away God begins to feel. Until we stop, repent, and eliminate the clutter out of our lives so that Christ can take his rightful place, not just one room in our hearts, but overtake all of our lives we will wander through this life lost, stressed, busy and wondering why God feels so far away.
Let me ask you, if you knew Jesus was coming would you make room for Him? Does Jesus have the master suite of your life or the barn? Is the busyness of life, the distractions of life more important to you than the one who wants to give you LIFE?! Then you probably fit into the same profile as the innkeeper. Too busy and too distracted to see the miracle, the amazing gift that is standing and waiting right outside their door.
Let me say one more thing about this before we move on. This analogy doesn’t just apply to those who don’t know Christ but it also applies to us who do. Christians get very caught up in the business of the church and the idea of growing the church and the love of beginning new programs and ministries that if we aren’t careful will end up forgetting why we are part of a church to begin with. If we start falling in love with the program or the facility or keeping certain tithers happy or we become more worried about whether someone wears a tie or jeans to church rather than wondering if they know Jesus we are failing and we are guilty of telling God there is no more room. We must never forget that what we do here isn’t about making people happy it’s about sharing the Gospel of Jesus with as many people as possible in as many ways as possible that we can save some. It’s about helping the singles, widows, homeless and not just helping middle class white suburbanites. If we aren’t a church who sees people saved on a regular basis and who is meeting the needs of people as many ways as possible then we are failing as a church. Christ isn’t the center of that kind of church, boards and budgets and programs are the center of that church. We have to be careful and ask ourselves “have we become Christians or become a church too busy to let God in and transform us for his glory?”
If Jesus is truly the ruler of our lives and of our church then we will understand this. I won’t have to say it. Who are you in the story? Are you like the emperor or are you like the innkeeper?
3. Shepherd- Verses 8-20- Now I’m going to leave you hanging some because I will be talking much more about the shepherds in the last message of this series on Christmas Eve at 6:00pm. So I hope you’ll be here for that. But the shepherds are who you hope people become. They are the ones who, despite being busy in life, dropped everything when they heard about Christ. They didn’t shun God and say they didn’t have time, they didn’t say there was no room for God, they listened to the angels, they dropped everything and HURRIED to see Jesus. Then on top of that they went and told everyone about Christ being born and finally they worshipped and praised God. Their lives had been completely changed because they were willing to receive. They were open to letting God transform their lives with the truth of the real Savior being born. They were excited and they were changed forever. The shepherd is who we should all hope to be like. People who are excited about God every day. People who can’t wait to tell others about Jesus.
For us today we aren’t going to see thousands of angels appear and tell us about Christ. We don’t need to. We have his word to do that and we have the Holy Spirit doing a continual work in us showing us what it means to be a fired up believer who loves Jesus with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. It begins with each of us giving our lives to God every day. Making that conscious choice that no matter what life may bring God will continue to be the most important priority. He will be the one I turn to in time of need, he will be the one I give thanks to for all things, he will be the one I cry to in times of pain. When we keep turning to Christ we will learn that it is much easier to endure through the pain of life. When we continually trust in Christ you will begin to realize that with him all things are possible and because of him any obstacle, any trial, any tribulation can and will be conquerored.
But it all starts with letting go of the emperor and the innkeeper that resides in us. Asking God to begin to do a new work in us where that old life of sin is removed and a new life begins. Who are you in the story this morning? Are you the emperor- full of pride, greed and selfishness; are you the innkeeper- to distracted by life to give God any time? Or are you the shepherd? Open to letting God fill you with his spirit take control of your life and show you how to live for him every single day?
Wherever you are at just remember that it’s never too late to change. Until we breathe our last breath there is hope. God is waiting patiently for us to receive the gift of salvation. He waits patiently for us to give over to him that part of our lives we have struggled to let go of. He waits patiently for us to allow him to have every room in our lives not just the stable or just one room of our heart.
It may not always seem like it but the love of God for us is so huge that there are literally no words to describe it and no way for us to fully comprehend it. I want to close with a verse from Ephesians 3:12-21 which says, “Because of Christ and our faith in him,[d] we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. 13 So please don’t lose heart because of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honored. 14 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,[e] 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.[f] 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. 20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.
The love of God is so great, so huge that there is no way to fully understand it. But when we look to him he will accomplish in us infinitely more than we can think or imagine. That means that regardless of how big of a failure you feel, how far away from God you think you are and how unsavable you think you’ve become it’s not too late. It’s never too late to let the love and the forgiveness of God come and change you for all eternity.
Worship- Come to the altar if you need God’s love this morning, need forgiveness, needs to feel his presence, need to release the emperor or innkeeper profiles from your life.
