Presented December 18, 2011 at
Shelbourne Street church of Christ, Victoria, BC, Canada
Based on Radical Christianity: Peace and Justice in the New Testament
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor,
so that you through his poverty might become rich. – 2 Corinthians 8:9
Introduction
In my own life, I’m trying to move more in the direction that God does act, than that God does not act. If asked to speak again, I want to invite you to send me your ideas to include in the message, because I believe God gives ideas and thoughts to his people that can be encouraging to the whole community of believers. So as you hear these words today, listen for thoughts, ideas, and feelings God may be bringing to your conscious awareness.
Some Christmas Stories
Anthony is about 35 years old staying in a homeless shelter this Christmas. He is dressed in black clothes with a hood pulled over his head. At age 11 he left the foster home and began living on the street. He became addicted to crack cocaine and speaks with a kind of harsh voice because his vocal chords are damaged. Anthony fathered several children over the years and keeps contact with them. He has difficulty getting work because of a criminal record. When I asked him what people don’t know about him that he would like them to know, he said through tears, “That I’m not as tough as I look. I am really a very kind and caring person, and I want to support my family.” When I asked him what he wants for Christmas, he listed his children’s ages and chose items for them. You can read his story and hundreds of other homeless people and their Christmas wishes at homelesspartners.com
As some of you know, our daughter Phoebe contracted cerebral malaria in Mozambique and had a medical debt of over $84,000. God answered prayers to save her life. On Thursday, after many daily prayers since June, we received word that the Aventura Hospital in Miami has forgiven her debt. I remember the persistent widow. "Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up." Luke 18:1
Let’s pray.... God thank you for answering prayer. Help me disappear so that you may appear to bless those gathered here today. In Jesus name, Amen.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son............John 3:16
What are you aware of right now as you hear those words? What ideas, thoughts, and feelings are coming up inside you when you think that God loved you and gave Jesus for you?
How Did God Love Us?
A favourite old song says, “Why did my Saviour come to earth, and to the humble go? Why did He choose a lowly birth? Because He loved me so!”
God saw that humanity is hurting....and so in love reached out by first entering our existence as a helpless unborn child in the belly of an impoverished unwed mother living in the despised region of Galilee. The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
The one who made all things, the Lord of all Creation, came into the body of an unmarried virgin teenage girl. When we hear the words “unwed mother,” a part of you may feel a sense of shame about it. Who wants their own unmarried daughter to get pregnant?
Yet God chose this way to come into the world, and I remember when Peter said, “Surely not, Lord!” the Lord replied, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
The Angel Comes to Mary
Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And he approached her, and said, Be filled with joy, you who are highly favoured, the Lord is with you. But she was very upset by what was said, and wondered what kind of message this might be. And the angel said to her, Don’t be afraid, Mary: for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive and deliver a son, and you will call his name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High: and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David: and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. And Mary said to the angel, How will this happen, since I am a virgin? And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you: and for this reason the holy thing that is born will be called the Son of God. And behold, Elisabeth your relative, she also has conceived a son in her old age; and she who everyone thought was infertile is six months pregnant. For no word from God shall ever be without power. And Mary said, Now I am the servant of the Lord; be it unto me according to your word. And the angel left her. -Luke 1:26-38
This divine holy miraculous conception was foretold by the prophet Isaiah over 700 years before Jesus was born.
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right...... -Isaiah 7:14-15
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things deemed of little value—to bring to nothing the things that are. -1 Corinthians 1:27-28
What are you aware of right now as you hear those words? What ideas, thoughts, and feelings are coming up inside you when you hear that God came as a helpless baby?
The Response of Mary
And Mary said, My soul does magnify the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he has looked upon the low estate of his servant: For now, from now on all generations will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things to me; And holy is his name. And his mercy is for generations and generations on those who fear him. He has showed strength with his arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their heart. He has put down princes from their thrones, and has exalted the poor and powerless. The hungry he has filled with good things; and the rich he has sent away empty. He has given help to Israel his servant, that he might remember mercy as he spoke to our fathers: toward Abraham and his seed for ever. - Luke 1:46-55
And in your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed; because you have obeyed my voice. - Genesis 22:18
Mary remembers the obedience of Abraham, and she is part of the promise, so she wants to be obedient too and says, “Now I am the servant of the Lord. Be it unto me according to your word.”
What are you aware of right now as you hear those words? What ideas, thoughts, and feelings are coming up inside you as you think that God entered humanity inside a poor unmarried girl?
Mary Marvels That God Chose the Poor
God chose a lowly, poor family to raise the Saviour of the world. Yet Mary was rich in her love and devotion to God, and she knew well the promise to bless Israel and the world through the seed of Abraham, and she rejoices in the fulfillment of those promises. The proud and powerful imagined they would bring the Messiah to rule with armies, but Mary is full of praise because now God has done the opposite.
When the angel went away, Mary praises God with all her heart, and she declares the heart of God to attend to the poor, to feed the poor, to favour the poor. The day Mary conceived Jesus, is the day God became poor. It is the day God became human flesh, born of flesh, an innocent child as we all begin.
Throughout his life on earth and fully human, Jesus would be subject to the same desires and temptations as we are, yet he would remain without sin so that he could be a pure sacrifice for our sins and for the sins of the whole world. Holy God became sin for us that we might become holy for God.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. - 2 Corinthians 5:21
This is the God we worship: the God who first became poor and who chooses the poor; the God who was conceived and lived in holiness and who became sin that we might become rich.
Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? -James 2:5
What are you aware of right now as you hear those words? What ideas, thoughts, and feelings are coming up inside you when you think that God chose the poor and became poor when he was conceived in the virgin Mary?
Amazing God
What amazing love....what a surprising God that he would appear in the poor and lowly, things despised and rejected. God was, and still is, determined to make himself known through the humble and powerless. How could poor shepherds come near to worship him if he was born in a gated guarded palace? Yet in a stable, all could come.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. -2 Corinthians 8:9
God comforts the poor with true riches of forgiveness and hope of life everlasting, and with caring gifts and messages from his people.
The holidays are upon us....think of those who may be hurting, and reach out in love by entering their troubled lives. God entered our troubled lives. Now renewed by God, we can reach out to those in trouble. Show your caring and God’s caring through you.
You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. -2 Corinthians 9:11
When we told people about Phoebe’s debt being forgiven, praises and thanksgiving went up from scores of people all over the world.
What are you aware of right now as you hear those words? What ideas, thoughts, and feelings are coming up inside you when you think that God became poor?
What Child Is This?
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from now on even forever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this. -Isaiah 9:6-8
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose origins are from of old, from everlasting. -Micah 5:2
When he (Herod) had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ” -Matthew 2:4-6
Who Knew?
Who knew the Lord of Creation, the one called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, the Anointed King and Prophet of Israel, the Saviour of the world would choose a lowly birth among the poor?
The Hebrew prophets longed to know what we now know. We can look back at his incredible life, death and resurrection, and we can see clearly how the one conceived inside Mary would go on to command the wind and waves, to heal the sick, make the blind see, the lame walk, and preach good news to the poor. His conception and birth cry out mercy and compassion for the poor and suffering, and this is the theme of his life.
Even in his death, this God joins all who suffer injustice, wrongfully accused, executed in the most dishonourable way by crucifixion.
He fulfills the message of the law and prophets who said true worship is to care for the poor. Jesus brings good news to the poor and he says we should lay up treasure in heaven, not on earth. He says, “Whoever does not forsake everything he has, cannot be my disciple,” and “Whoever leaves lands and houses, father and mother, brothers and sisters, shall receive a hundred fold in this life and eternal life to come.”
So Jesus said, “The foxes have holes, the birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” We celebrate this time of year in memory of the birth of the most famous homeless man who ever lived. He bids us to come and follow.
What are you aware of right now as you hear those words? What ideas, thoughts, and feelings are coming up inside you when you think God came as a homeless man?
Is It A New Thing?
Is it a new thing that our God would side with the poor and suffering? Remember Egypt, remember the cry of God’s people in slavery for hundreds of years. Remember Moses pleading God’s word that Pharaoh should let the people go. Remember the parting of the Sea and the people entering the promise land. Remember the waters of baptism where we cross over from death to life and are freed from slavery to sin, to serve the living God.
God still reaches out to those in trouble.
A young man in prison shared that he was an atheist when he was sentenced for heinous crimes. Then he saw how others who follow Jesus’ teaching have happy and stable lives. He now thinks there may be a superior intelligence behind the teaching.
I told the story of this young man when talking to the Humanist Association a few weeks ago. The topic was: “Are the teachings of Jesus relevant today?” I passed around a handout and presented the teaching of Jesus from the gospels, and during the discussion that followed, one of the atheists spoke up and said: “We cannot deny that the teachings of Jesus are relevant today.”
Conclusion
The prophets foretold that Jesus would be a ruler on a throne. So where is this throne and where does he rule? Yes, he rules at the right hand of God. Where is his kingdom? And what about the rod of iron?
Our God of surprises says to us, “The kingdom of God is inside you.”
After 2000 years, Jesus still lives and rules in sincere and open hearts. Jesus still transforms lives, reaching out with words of life, calling people of all nations to love one another, to love their enemies, to care for those in trouble, to be forgiving, to be merciful, understanding and compassionate, to not judge others. The God we worship has overcome the world and reigns and rules in the kingdom of the heart.
This mighty and powerful God who was laid in a manger says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” -Matthew 11:29-30
Jesus never wrote anything down, never owned property or had a wife and kids, never had a mortgage, walked everywhere he went except for one time this King of Israel rode a donkey into Jerusalem. But look at the result of this one life. Two thousand years later, the multitudes are still pressing in to see him, to touch him, to hear his amazing words that we still struggle to make real in our lives.
“He will be called son of God, and they will call him son of the Most High.... Until the people of God arises and makes everyone rest from the sword. His kingdom will be an eternal kingdom, and all his paths in truth and uprigh[tness]. The earth (will be) in truth and all will make peace. The sword will cease in the earth...” Son of God Scroll 4Q246.
These words were found in a cave outside a settlement destroyed by the Romans in 68 AD. They tell of one who would be known as the son of God, Son of the Most High, one who would bring peace and an eternal kingdom. Yet he does not rule by force but by your free voluntary choice to follow his teaching. Does he rule and reign in your heart today?
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. -Colossians 3:15
The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, that said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever.” -Revelation 11:15
And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he has looked upon the low status of his servant. -Luke 1:46-48
What thoughts and feelings come up inside as you consider this God who became poor and calls you to follow?
