“No Room”
Luke 2:1-7
You may not want to know that there are only two weeks left until Christmas. Hopefully you have been getting ready, you have made your list and checked it twice and you will even have some time to slow down and enjoy the season. I am of the belief that may people, probably most people, actually go right through the entire month of December at full speed, not having a moment to unwind, to relax and actually enjoy what the season is really all about.
Let me try and give you a few words/phrases that may describe how you feel at this time of year. Rushed. Broke. Out of time. Stressed. Hurried. Tired of Turkey sandwiches. Tired of leftovers. Crowded. Overextended. If Christmas is about anything I believe it is about Making Room for Jesus in our busy, hectic lives.
When Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem after a lengthy trip, they were no doubt tired……exhausted. After all Mary was pregnant; at full term and had just ridden a donkey for 80 long, dusty miles. Likely a 4 day journey. They, like everyone else in that area had been ordered to come to Bethlehem to pay their taxes. They had no choice but to go. Mary couldn’t call in sick; she couldn’t apply for medical leave; there was no way to postpone any of this so she and Joseph made their way to Bethlehem. The angels had spoken to her; she was fully convinced and was very much aware by now that she was about to give birth to the Son of God. Joseph was aware also and he trusted Mary and he trusted His Lord that Mary was a virgin and this was all a part of God’s big plan for their lives. So they arrived in Bethlehem, very much in need of rest, wanted to take care of their taxes and return to their home. So the last thing they wanted to hear when they arrived were these words….”we have no room in the inn.” Now maybe we should not be surprised that this was the response of the innkeeper; I mean after all thousands of people were making their journey there, no way of going to GOOGLE and making an early reservation. But it still surprises us when we hear the words the innkeeper spoke…we have no room for you. We have no room for you, Virgin Mary, husband Joseph and the King of Kings. We would think that if anyone had any clout/any pull at all that it would be God and that they would not be forced to stay in a stable. But they were. Because there was simply no room.
I would guess that many of us can identify with this statement because we feel the same way at this time of year. We have no room. There are several things that begin to happen when we get to this point. None of them are good. When our lives become too full, we can (1) Lose our time alone with God. Making time for Him is the last thing we have on our mind. In a season that is set aside to honor Jesus, He is often the last thing on our minds. And there is a reason for that.
(2) When our lives become too full if Christ is not the first thing in our lives He will usually be the last. He doesn’t come in 2nd. He doesn’t want to be 2nd by the way. He wants to be first. But because of our schedules and all of our endless activities He ends up in last place. He takes last place in our giving, in our commitments and in our priorities.
(3) When our lives become too full and we lose our time with God, we can also lose our relationship with God. It is a fact of life that we make time for the things that matter. We make time for the people that matter. We make time for the things and the people we love. But we somehow have this mistaken idea that God understands. Trust me, He doesn’t. From the beginning of His life Jesus has been told by too many of us that there is no room for Him right now. Think about it.
• The innkeeper told Mary and Joseph flat out there is no room for you in the inn.
• When Jesus told that rich young ruler he needed to sell all he had and give it to the poor, the young man walked away very sad and gave nothing. He basically said, Jesus I don’t have time for this kind of thing.
• When Peter said to Jesus, I don’t even know you, he was saying I don’t have time for you right now.
• When Judas sold Jesus to the highest bidder for 30 pieces of silver, he was saying Jesus you don’t matter to me. Money is more important.
• When they nailed Him to the cross the soldiers were saying we have no time for you. We don’t need you here.
And the truth is we do the same. Now I know what you’re thinking here…Pastor, “I never denied Jesus, I never sold him to the highest bidder; I never crucified Him. That was the Jews, the soldiers….that was Herod.” Whomever we choose to blame it on.
Let me give you several truths we need to understand here. (1) First of all, all of us have sinned and all of us have fallen short of God’s standard for our lives. God does not put us into categories according to our sin. There are only two categories of sinners…lost, saved. That’s it.
(2) ALL of us have inherited a sinful nature. From generation to generation, sin nature was passed down to all of us, “Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.” Romans 5:12. Further Paul reminds us that the wages of this sin is death. Wages are payment. Because of our sin we must die. There is only one Person in the history of the world who did not have a sin nature: that is Jesus Christ. His virgin birth allowed Him to miss the Curse of Adam. He was not only born without this nature but He also continued to live without ever committing a sin. Paul said He was the only One who had NO sin.
(3) There is no way out for us except through Jesus. It is our sinful nature that has put us in this predicament and it is our sinless Savior who must get us out. It is as though we have fallen into a pit. We try and try to dig ourselves out. We go this way, we go that way. We try every way possible except the one Christ has offered to us through His Son. We think you know I figured out how to get myself into this rut, I can surely figure a way to get out! But we can’t. No matter how hard we try. NO matter how much we work at it. There is only one way out. Jesus.
(4) It is only through Christ that we can be born again. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” John 3:6. When we are born of Adam, we inherit his sin nature; but when we are born again in Christ, we inherit a new nature. That’s the good news. Now here is the not so good news.
(4) When we receive Christ we inherit a new nature but we also keep our old nature. The Bible says that sin remains in us and that our struggle with that old nature will continue as long as we are in this world. It is the very thing that caused Paul to say …, “Why do I do the things I don’t want to do and the things I want to do…. I can’t do?” Sound familiar? It does to me. As believers we now have two natures living inside of us and we must decide daily which one we are going to allow to control our lives. This is what I mean.
(5) Daily we must give control to Jesus. We must allow Him to gain more control over our lives every single day. You see, when I receive Christ I don’t get more of Jesus than you do. And when you receive Christ you don’t get more of Jesus than I do. It’s not how much of Him you get, the question is how much of YOU does He get?
I would suggest to you today that what most of us need is a brand new start. The ability to simply erase the past and start all over again. Kind of hit the refresh button. A do over.
And we can. It’s not easy but it is simple. You see when the Lord Jesus came into this world, the Bible tells us that there was no room in the inn. And 2000 years later, not much has changed. Many of us still have a no “vacancy sign” hung over our hearts. Can’t stop here Jesus, keep moving. Surely someone will have an opening.
According to historical records there thousands of people who gathered for this census, possibly as many as ½ million. It was done every 14 years for tax purposes. And the prophet Micah prophesied that the birth of Jesus would take place in Bethlehem. And the census is what God used to get them to the right place. None of this happened by accident.
There were some who were actually ready. The angels were. The shepherds were. Mary and Joseph were. But not the innkeeper. But all of that is history now. We cannot change any of it. The question now is do you have room? Let me tell you if you don’t have room you need to kick somebody or some thing out of your life. Because you are missing the most important thing. You are missing the only thing that really matters and ever will matter.
In the fall of 1775, the manager of Baltimore's largest hotel refused lodging to a man dressed as a farmer. The manager thought felt like if he allowed him to stay there it would give a bad image to the inn. So the man left and found a room in another place. Shortly thereafter, the manager discovered that the man he had refused lodging was none other than Thomas Jefferson, then Vice President of the United States. So immediately he sent a note to Jefferson and invited him to return as his guest. Jefferson instructed his messenger to relay this message: ''Tell him/tell the innkeeper that I have already engaged a room. I value his good intentions highly, but if he has no place for a dirty American farmer, he has none for the Vice President of the United States.'' If today you have no room for the one who was born in a manger, the one who the Bible tells us never even had a place to lay his head. The one who was despised and rejected then you have no room for the Savior of this world. I want to ask you to make room today….right now. Will you do that?
