HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
Text: Luke 2:1 - 7
Luke 2:1-7 In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. (2) This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. (3) All went to their own towns to be registered. (4) Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. (5) He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. (6) While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. (7) And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn (NRSV).
“ On December 17th, 1903, after four attempts, the Wright Brothers flew their “flying machine” for the first time. Wilbur rushed to the local telegraph office and sent the following message: “We have flown for 12 seconds – will be home for Christmas!” Upon receiving the telegram, their sister Katherine went to the newspaper office and told them the news. Two days later, the local paper placed the following headline on page six: “Wright brothers home for Christmas.””https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/home-for-christmas-brian-bill-sermon-on-christmas-130008 Joseph was going back home to his hometown the city of David called Bethlehem. Joseph was there for the very first Christmas. Micah 5:2 even prophesied about the Messiah being born in Bethlehem 700 years before Christ was born.
Most people want to be home for Christmas don’t they? Why do they long for home at Christmas time? Do they hunger for the good old days of Christmases past? What about those who avoid going home because of pain or bad memories?
A good friend of mine named Bob has in his home an item that says, “Because someone we love is in HEAVEN there’s a little bit of HEAVEN in our home”. God sent us His only begotten Son Jesus to help make heaven our home. Could it be that is the real home that people hunger for--- a home in heaven? How is that even possible? Its possible because Jesus’s birth brought heaven to us!
Today we will explore longing for home, coming home and home in heaven.
LONGING FOR HOME
What is one of the most common elements to just about every Hallmark Christmas movie and a lot of Christmas movies in general?
1) Guess: In a few words what would your answer be? Is it the commercial side of Christmas? Is it the joy of Christmas? Is it the dreams of a white Christmas? Is it the exchange of gifts? Is it the Christmas parties?
2) Cliche: What do they call it when an idea is used again and again and again making it use almost boring in movies and books? Have you ever noticed how many movies that they re-make? Is it because they ran out of ideas---a cliche or is it the idea of remaking an old classic for a new generation?
How many people wrestle with the idea of going home for Christmas? Why do you think people struggle with this in movies and even in real life? How have you or how are you struggling with it? How many know the real meaning of Christmas?
1) Give us light: “The highlight of the Christmas play was to show the radiance of Jesus. An electric bulb was hidden in the manger. All the stage lights were to be turned off so that only the brightness of the manger could be seen. At the appropriate time all the lights went out! Silence was broken when one of the shepherds said in a loud stage whisper, “Hey! You turned off Jesus!” (Michael Hodgin. 1001 Humorous Illustrations. Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1994, p. 62). How many people struggle because they have failed to turn on the light of Christ in their lives? Jesus is the reason for the Christmas season! The season bears His name because through Him God’s love came down at Christmas!
2) Longing: Don’t we associate a longing with an unfulfilled desire? How many people at Christmas time have a yearning to fill the emptiness that they feel? The problem is that too often too many place worldly things and ideals in the God-shaped space in their lives.
There is something of a homing pigeon instinct that God has placed in every one of us. Our heart is a metaphor for the Inn because its full of everything but Jesus!
Jeremiah 31:33 says,”But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people”. Yet we tend to have wandering hearts, don’t we?
Again, the problem is that too often too many place worldly things and ideals in the God-shaped space in their lives that only God can fill.
COMING HOME
How many of you have used OnStar or a GPS system? Navigating apps or systems are a common built in feature of many smart phones today. But, what about the days before they became a feature on your smart phone? My wife and I were traveling one day when she was competing with the old GPS inserting her suggestions of which route to take. and not the GP. I said, “I cannot listen to two female voices giving directions at the same time”. God forbid if you got off course, while the Garmin GPS says, “Make a u turn,” when the wife is saying “listen to me”.
Getting lost in travel is one thing, traveling the wrong way in life is another!
What was it that made the prodigal son come home? Wasn’t he homesick? As I once heard, he got sick of home, went away from home to the far country and then got homesick and came back home.
Have you ever been homesick? What made you want to come home for Christmas? Was it sentimental memories of the past? Was it unfinished business? Was it to make peace and be reconciled with someone?
How many have gotten lost listening to the wrong voices? Through the birth of Jesus God is saying to the world … ” To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all that live” (Proverbs 8:4 NRSV). “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16 NRSV). Jesus came to seek to save the least, the lost and the last. “ And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14 NRSV). Jesus came to give us peace on earth and good will among each other (Luke 2:14)!
Is there someone with whom you need to be reconciled? Pray for them. Call them. Write them a letter. It is along those lines that Chuck Swindoll gives us some suggestions …. (Growing Strong, pp. 400-1)
Some gifts you can give this Christmas are beyond monetary value:
• Mend a quarrel, dismiss suspicion, tell someone, “I love you.”
• Give something away—anonymously.
• Forgive someone who has treated you wrong.
• Turn away wrath with a soft answer.
• Visit someone in a nursing home.
• Apologize if you were wrong.
• Be especially kind to someone with whom you work.
• Give as God gave to you in Christ, without obligation, or announcement, or reservation, or hypocrisy. Galaxie Software. (2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press. God so loved the word that He gave us Jesus His only begotten son to reconcile us to Himself and each other (John 3:16)!
HOME IN HEAVEN
Did God intend for this world to be our enteral home?
1) Declaring war: In the Garden of Eden, Satan tempted Adam and Eve in order to taint their relationship and our relationship with God in Genesis chapter 3.
2) Crushing the enemy: It was in that same chapter that God told Satan his fate was sealed putting enmity between Eve’s offspring his by the coming of the Savior. Satan would strike at our heels---our weak spots but the Savior would crush his head (Genesis 3:15 paraphrased). 1 John 3:8 says “Everyone who commits sin is a child of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil” (NRSV).
3) Sovereignty: The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29) became a lion---the lion of Judah (Revelation 5:5). The lamb image symbolizes the humility of our Savior, The lion image illustrates the authority, power and the unlimited strength of Jesus Christ! Jesus conquered the works of the devil, sin, death and the fear of death giving to all who will believe the gift of eternal life through what He did for us on the cross.
Remember the song Lord, I Lift Your Name on High? “[He] came from heaven to earth to show the way, from the earth to the cross, my debt to pay; from the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky, Lord I lift your name on high”. Without Jesus we would not know the truth; Without Jesus we would not know the way; Without Jesus we would not have a way back to God our Heavenly Father (John 14:6).
Remember my friend Bob whom I mentioned in the beginning? Remember that plaque that I mentioned that he has in his home? “Because someone we love is in HEAVEN there’s a little bit of HEAVEN in our home”. We probably all have loved ones who have preceded us to heaven in the church triumphant. We are still running the race that God carved out for us to run until we finish our race (Hebrews 12:1). God wants us to share the Gospel for those who have not received the Savior in the inn of their hearts. God sent us His only begotten Son Jesus to help make heaven our home.
In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!
