Luke 2:7-12
Imagine getting ready for a big birthday party. You make all the necessary arrangements. You order a cake from the bakery. You buy decorations. You cook or cater a meal for all the guests. Make sure you have napkins and party plates, etc. The big day comes, your friends and relatives show up for the birthday celebration. But, something seems strange. Something is missing. Could it be the cake? No, we've got that. Meal? Nope, it's hot and ready. Decorations? Check. Wait! Suddenly, you realize to your great horror, you didn't invite the guest of honor you were throwing the party for! Seems ridiculous, right? Nobody would do that! Fact is, some folks do it every year for Christmas. Oh, they say it's Jesus' birthday, but He ends up not being invited to the celebration. Tonight is about pausing at manger to reflect, it's His birthday. It's why we celebrate!
If one turns on the news, one could best sum up our country up in a single phrase, “lack of peace.” Many have no peace of heart and mind because they are pursuing it in the wrong places. Be it politics, money or the bottom of a bottle. Peace eludes folks because (to borrow from an old country tune) they are looking for peace in all the wrong places. To find true and lasting, we cannot look to anything of the world. We must cast our vision back to a stable in Bethlehem, to the baby who was born to die and resurrect for the sins of the world, in order to find REAL peace. It is there the “Prince of Peace” was born. It was Jesus who said, (John 14:27)
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid”
Jesus offers a peace the world cannot; He offers peace with God (eternal life, sins forgiven) and peace within yourself, knowing you are His no matter what may come. This is a peace not dependent on temporal circumstances, but on certainty that comes from a solid relationship with God built through faith in Jesus Christ as one's savior. ONLY Jesus can give true and lasting peace.
There is only ONE mediator Between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus (I Tim. 2:5)
A mediator is one who intercedes, he reconciles or joins two parties together. The Bible tells us outright, Jesus is the ONLY MEDIATOR, the only go-between between God and man. It's true, we can intercede for one another in prayer, but we cannot obtain eternal life, pardon of sins, or inner peace for someone, only Jesus can do that.
The Holy nature God demanded a payment for sin. Sin cannot dwell in His presence. So a perfect sacrifice for humanity was offered: Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, He did it of His volition, He agreed to the Father's plan because, as Jesus Himself said, “I do only those things which please the Father.” I've said many times, Christmas is the WHOLE story; it begins in the manger, it continues at the empty tomb and culminates with His return! The message of Christmas is this: the baby in the manger is the One who purchased salvation and hope for ANYONE who will believe in Him. When we believe, Jesus becomes our intercessor, our defense attorney if you will. He tells the Father, “My client is innocent by virtue of their faith in Me!”
It used to be, in ancient Israel, only the High Priest could go to God for the people, and make intercession for them. He alone could enter the part of the temple closed off by a huge, thick curtain known as the holy of holies. But Jesus provided a a simpler method (Heb. 10:19-20) “brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain”
At the manger, we find a new and living way into God's presence. ANYONE, no matter who they are, or what they've done in their past, can enter God's presence now, by virtue of faith in the One born in the manger. Jesus MAKES us qualified, through faith.
Coming to God has NOTHING to do with being “good enough.” It has to do with simply believing in the One born in the manger so long ago. Believing in Jesus as the author and giver of eternal life, the One who died for our sins and rose again, is the requirement God asks for those who would have eternal life and true peace. It's so simple, so beautiful, so many stumble over the simplicity of it and miss it. Some just can't accept that heaven, eternal life, and forgiveness of sins which we call salvation is a FREE GIFT! But, the Bible says it is so-
(Romans 10:9-10) If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved
(I Jn. 5:10-13) “And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son....I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.”
Notice that phrase, “That you may know” not that you may “hope.” Eternal life is what Jesus came to bring when He was born in that manger. It is a surety, a certainty because it does NOT depend on you or your performance. It depends on Jesus and simply believing in Him. Do you have eternal life or not? If you believe in Him as the One who died for your sins and rose again, according to the Bible, you have it; it's really that simple.
Jesus was born in a manger to come and liberate us and give us TRUE AND LASTING hope. This is REALLY what Christmas is about: hope, peace, and life.
This world lacks peace because they don't come to the one place they can find it: the manger in Bethlehem!!!! True peace of heart and mind is found in the person of Jesus Christ. Even Christians can lose their sense of peace at Christmas when they lose sight of the manger. Still your soul in the silent night, holy night. Pause to reflect at the side of the infant in stable. Find the hope that only faith in Jesus can give.
As we sing and light the candles, do not just go through the motions, contemplate the One born in the manger. HE is Christmas, He is hope, He is our peace. And any time in life you feel that peace slipping away, simply pause at the manger and the cross, find it all over again. It's always been right there. Amen.
(This sermonette is my original work, though I'm sure thoughts I've received from others via messages I've heard over the years were in here too. I cannot remember where I heard some of the things, but my thanks and credit to those who've influenced/taught me over the years)
