TITLE: A KING SIZE BED
SCRIPTURE: ST. LUKE 2:7
What a blessed worship experience as we celebrate this final Sunday before Christmas. We have been reminded through the early hour Life Seminar Christmas Play and all the wonderful Christmas music we have experienced this morning of the very meaning of Christmas. Bringing the Christmas message at PPWC is not a task but an absolute joy. If a Preacher can’t get excited about delivering a message on the Birth of our Savior, I would question their calling to the Ministry. I am confident great and soul inspiring sermons are being preached all around the world today celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. It is:
• A message that Never Grows Old
• A message that Transcends Time
• A message that Captures the Hearts of Believers
• A message that the children and babies here this morning will one day fully understand
• A message that Encapsulates the Love of God towards us
This morning we will consider - A SCENE THAT IS UNMISTAKABLE. This scene is so identified with the birth of our Lord, that is has been BANNED FROM DISPLAY in public places because it might offend those who do not believe it ever happened. The scene before us unfolds within the INTERNAL ARENA of some unnamed families stable.
• Mary and Joseph
• A wooden manger before them
• In which the baby Jesus is lying
• Around them are shepherds with their canes
• And with some sheep beside them
This scene touches our hearts, but what our SANITIZED SCENE does not present is the fact that the stable would have been dirty and the smells not too appealing. Jesus was actually laid in a feeding trough for animals.
• The night air must have been cold
• Not the kind of place any of us would have liked to have been born or let alone to give birth in
• Any hospital inspector would have condemned the room and closed it
It wasn’t a MARRIOTT – HILTON - RAMADA. It wasn’t even a BEST WESTERN, or a MOTEL 6 where they promise to keep the light on for you -- This young couple initially stopped by what was termed an Inn, where they would have found maybe 2 or 3 private rooms, and a common area, where most people would lay a bedroll, and sleep the night away, in front of the fire. NO SHOWERS, probably the Judean equivalent of an outhouse, and a small cooking area. The Inn would have provided a HOT – MUGGY ROOM – REEKING of the evening meal, and wine which flowed freely, and EVERY INCH CRAMMED WITH BODY’S, SWEATY AND SMELLY FROM THE DAY’S JOURNEY.
But the Bible reminds us, there was no room there - none at all. Back then, there was no Christmas celebration, it was no major holiday that had so many people travelling. It was more like April 15th, when taxes were due - and the crowds were traveling to pay the tax that was derived from the Census.
• Therefore, patience was probably short
• Many probably concerned about money
• Frustrated with time away from home
But there was no room there in the inn, none at all. As a child I often thought, IF ONLY I WERE THE INNKEEPER - Mary and Joseph would have gotten the best room, no matter who I offended, no matter what it cost. No matter what I had to do. We usually picture the innkeeper as MEAN SCOUNDREL - who takes great joy in telling them there is no room – but that they can sleep in the stable, over back by the manger. Sometimes that is the IMPRESSION THAT WAS IMPLIED during our Sunday School Christmas Play or implied during the Christmas Sermon. As I grow older, I am not as sure, for I see in the innkeeper, a picture of myself. HARRIED and HASSLED, with too many distractions, too many needs, too many things to do. TO BE HONEST, I AM NOT SURE THERE WOULD BE ROOM AT MY INN, EITHER.
Jesus doesn’t belong here. He’s the Son of God from heaven. He doesn’t deserve to be treated like a VAGRANT or a CRIMINAL. He deserves the best the world has to offer. HE COMES FROM HEAVEN TO EARTH—AND ENDS UP IN A STABLE? How can that be? Let me press the point home another way.
• God could have done better
• Think about it for a moment
• Suppose you had all power and could choose the time and place and manner of your son’s birth
• Would you choose to have him born outside, in a stable?
• That doesn’t make any sense
• What’s going on here?
• Why is this happening?
• Why is there no room in the inn?
• From the fall of Lucifer until now
• God has had a long time, thousands of years to plan this thing out
• His name should have been the first one on the reservation list at that little Inn found at Bethlehem
Jesus doesn’t belong here --
• After all - He is the eternal God
• The second person of the Godhead
• The one who rules over all
• The Author and Finisher of our Faith
We might argue that He should not even have come into our sinful world at all. But that was His choice - because of His great love for us. But since He did come He at least should have been born in a place that would represent who He is –
• Perhaps the best room at the Inn
• Perhaps the Royal Suite
• Maybe even the Presidential Suite
• Certainly a Five Star Hotel
Something seems very wrong about God being born in a stable. God could have done something about it. He could have arranged things a little differently
• After all He just has to say a word and the world comes into being
• With a word he could have made better arrangements
• Luke in his Gospel writing brings it into focus for us
• Luke tells us why Jesus was born in a stable
We can’t even suggest that perhaps there had been a mistake made with the reservation department of the Inn. We can’t even suggest that they had overbooked because of the high traffic to Bethlehem during that period of time because our Scripture text makes it very clear to you and to me - ST. LUKE 2:7 “….BECAUSE THERE WAS NO ROOM FOR THEM IN THE INN.”
Why were they turned away? NO DOUBT THEY WERE FULL THAT NIGHT. Perhaps other descendants of David had come to Bethlehem to enroll for the census. And the innkeeper would not have known Joseph because he was from NAZARETH. Perhaps because they were poor, they could not pay. And perhaps the innkeeper, seeing that Mary was very pregnant, did not want to drive off the other customers. The only thing we know for certain is that there was no room for them. Everything else is just CONJECTURE.
And that brings me back to the major point. From a human point of view – NOTHING IN THIS PICUTRE LOOKS RIGHT.
• Jesus deserved better
• God could have done better
• So why did it happen like this?
Remember with me that they came because there was to be a Census. Mary and Joseph came to an inn - a place of lodging. Because so many had come for the census there was no room left. What kind of an inn it was we do not know - Bethlehem was no tourist center so the inn probably left a lot to be desired. We aren’t told of even there being an innkeeper, but someone must have turned them away. It must have been hard for Mary and Joseph.
• I think of times when we have been on a journey and couldn’t find a room
• It seemed that every hotel we went to had no vacancies
• Nothing quite as frustrating
• But we continued in our comfortable automobile
• Drove around just a few short miles until we found comfortable accommodations
• But think of what it must have been for them that night
• After that journey to only find a stable that may have offered little comfort
As a society, even as the church, I fear we do not do any better making room for Jesus. Indeed, we should be better at it, for we know Who He is. Yet our lives are just as busy, just as taken up by work, by the business, by the preparations for celebrating the Holidays. We run from this mall, to that appointment, to this party, to that friends house, till we are so tired, so exhausted; That often, we forget the “REASON FOR THE SESON” - THE MIRACLE OF CHRIST’S COMING.
• There is little room in our hearts, for that which is truly the most important
• The fact that we live in the presence of God!
• That we are not alone, or unloved, or without hope
• We overlook the peace of God, exchanging it for the chaos of this world
So they arrived in Bethlehem, were turned away at the inn, and the BABY WAS BORN IN A STABLE —outdoors, in the cold, with the animals no doubt nearby. They had NO PRIVACY – NO SANITATION - and very little protection from the elements. WHY WOULD GOD SEND HIS SON INTO THE WORLD LIKE THIS? In his sermon on this text, CHARLES SPURGEON (“No Room for Christ in the Inn”) offers a number of answers to this question.
• First of all, Christ was born like this to show his humiliation
• “Would it have been fitting that the man who was to die naked on the cross should be robed in purple at his birth?” he asks
• The answer is no
• It would not have been fitting for Jesus to be robed in purple at his birth
• All his life he would be not much more than a peasant
• Nothing is more fitting for Christ than to be born in a manger since he had laid aside his glory to take the form of a servant
This is surely a strange way for a Savior to enter the world. Even the poorest child would not be found in a manger, but there he was, God’s appointed “sign” from heaven.
• If the world had needed Education, God would have sent a Teacher
• If the world had needed an Army, God would have sent a General
• If the world had needed more Money, God would have sent a Banker
• But since the world needed a Savior, God sent a Baby!
• And that is the surprise, and the wonder, and ultimately the delight of Christmas
• God did what we would never have done
• And in so doing, he opened the door to heaven for all of us
By being laid in a manger he proved himself A PRIEST TAKEN FROM AMONG MEN - one who has suffered like his brethren, and therefore can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities. Of him it was said “HE DOTH EAT AND DRINK WITH PUBLICANS AND SINNERS” -- “THIS MAN RECEIVETH SINNERS AND EATHER WITH THEM.” Even as an infant, by being laid in a manger, he was set forth as the sinner’s friend.
I find this an inspiring thought. The fact that there was no room in the inn turns out to be much MORE THAN AN INCIDENTAL DETAIL.
• Indeed, it is central to who Jesus is
• Now that we know why he came
• Surely we will say, “He had to be born like this. It couldn’t have happened any other way”
Can I FOOTNOTE here for just a moment? I want to make sure we catch this - The “NO VACANCY” signs were THERE FOR OUR BENEFIT.
• God could have made a room available
• He could have created a hospital
• He could have created a palace in Bethlehem if he had so desired
The sequence of events that unfolded
• The census
• The long journey
• No room at the inn
• No crib for a bed
• The feeding trough
• The “swaddling clothes"
• All of it was planned by God even though it all appeared to happen by chance
• God willed there would be no room in the inn not for the sake of Jesus
• But for our sakes
• That we might learn who Jesus is and why He came
Are we among those who have no room for him in our lives?
• Things are going quite well and we don't need the extra baggage of Christianity
• We don't need His promises because we are doing fairly well without Him
• We don't have room for his way of doing things because they don't fit in with our way
• We don't have room on the throne of our lives because we want to sit there ourselves
A story is told of little boy who was to play the part of the Innkeeper in the annual children’s Christmas play at his church. Each time during the rehearsal it came time for him to tell Joseph and Mary that there was no room, HE COULDN’T SAY HIS LINES. The director finally asked him why he was having so much trouble. He told him, "I JUST CAN’T SEND JESUS AWAY! HE CAN HAVE MY ROOM!" There is room in the inn if we will make the room for Him. The inn was too full for Christ to come in. Throughout Scripture we see that there is no room for God. Is there room in your home, your life and your heart for Him?
Let’s take a final look at the Stable because it is a permanent symbol of the fact that God sent Jesus to live in the real world.
• He was given no aristocratic Kingly advantage
• In fact, Jesus had humbler beginnings than any of us
• He was born into a poor family
• He worked a real construction job for 30 years
• So His hands were calloused and His fingernails had dirt under them
• He had no chariot like earthly kings
• No, Jesus walked everywhere He went
• So His feet were also calloused and dirty
• Jesus lived in a neighborhood
• He had friends and enemies
• He suffered hardship like the rest of us do
• That’s what we find in the Manger
--Yes, He was born in a Manger
--Yes, It appeared as though this was a tough and difficult scene
--Yes, we oftentimes wonder why a lowly manger
--Yes, we see the scene of a wooden manger filled with Hay
--Yes, we see a lowly wooden manger
--But, I’m glad this morning that is not what God saw
--That day when the angels announced the Savior’s Birth
--I believe that God looked down
--God looked at Bethlehem at the Birth of His Son
--We saw a Wooden Manger filled with small comforts
--When God looked down all He saw was – A King Size Bed
--He saw the King of Kings
--He saw the Lord of Lords
--He saw our Savior
--He saw His only Begotten Son
--Not in a Manger, that’s what we saw
--God saw His Son in A King Size Bed
--For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord
--Yes, it was a Manger
--But Born in A King Size Bed
--FOR UNTO YOU IS BORN THIS DAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID A SAVIOR, WHICH IS CHRIST THE LORD
--Yes, A King Size Bed
--FOR UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN, UNTO US A SON IS GIVEN: AND THE GOVERNENT SHALL BE UPON HIS SHOULDER: AND HIS NAME SHALL BE CALLED WONDERFUL, COUNSELLOR, THE MIGHTY GOD, THE EVERLASTING FATHER, THE PRINCE OF PEACE
--Yes, A King Size Bed
HARK THE HEALD ANGELS SING, GLORY TO THE NEW BORN KING, PEACE ON EARTH AND MERCY MILD, GOD AND SINNER RECONCILED
Because He was born in - A King Size Bed
