Dr. Bradford Reaves
Crossway Christian Fellowship
Hagerstown, MD
www.mycrossway.org
One of the things I loved most about Christmas Eve was when all of my family came together. I remember going to Church that evening with my mom and my sister. It was a beautiful and nostalgic time. When I think of being home for Christmas, I always think back to what it was like to have family come together. I remember the first year Andrea and I was in Dallas for Bible College in 1996. That year we flew from Dallas to Charleston, SC where Andrea’s Dad left a car in the lot so we could then meet everyone up here in Hagerstown. Our plane landed at almost midnight and we drove through the night, arriving early in the morning. It was wonderful to see everyone after being gone for so many months. After a few years, those homecomings were just as special. Even though would be exhausted after a few days of visiting, it was always a joyous time.
For some in the room, Christmas isn’t as nostalgic. Maybe the idea of being home for Christmas actually brought with it a lot of pain and anxiety. There are some in our church that Christmas is a reminder of loved ones who are no longer with us. There are people I know who have painful memories growing up in homes that offered little joyful Christmas memories. Maybe for you, being home for Christmas was not something that was accompanied by warm feelings and happy memories, but anxiety.
Both experiences are valid. And I think both experiences teach us something about the tremendous joy of celebrating the birth of Jesus and the overwhelming love of God.
I. THE HEART OF GOD IS REVEALED THROUGH THE ARRIVAL OF JESUS
The fact is we are all longing to feel like we belong—like we are loved just as we are—like everything is okay, at peace, and all is well. Eventually, however, our longing meets the reality of the world. All around us is brokenness, There are wars, turmoil, increasing immorality, and wickedness, and many of us feel like we are alone. There is a reason why we often feel like we don’t quite fit in. There is a reason why it seems like there is a void within. The reason is that this world is not our home. We were made for something more, something Divinely rooted that goes beyond what this world can promise. God’s heart is for us to awaken to this fact.
"And do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed." (Romans 13:11 LSB)
There is a price that we pay when we awaken from this kind of slumber, and that is the reality of the condition of the world around us and the call to let go of the temporal promises of the world for the eternal promises of God. What we believe in our hearts must also make sense in our minds. It is said that the longest distance in this world is the distance between the heart and the mind. I think that becomes the sum total of why God chose to come to us as a baby.
You see, if God is the Author of life, then there must be a Script, and what better way to provide the script than for the Word to become flesh? God could’ve arrived with an army of angels, furious flashes of lightning, and peals of thunder. Instead, he came at the very instant of life, conceived in a virgin’s womb, an embryo, totally dependent on the ones he came to save. Born into this world in the same manner that all of us have arrived, with the cry of life. And this same helpless infant would one day carry the weight of your sin on his shoulders to Calvary’s Cross.
The purity of man is the absence of something. The purity of Jesus is the presence of something. The Christmas story is the ultimate connection between God and man, knowing that through Jesus we can never be too far from God’s grace.
"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. 19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. 20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the One who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 “And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” 22 Now all this took place in order that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled, saying, 23 “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which translated means, “GOD WITH US.” 24 And Joseph got up from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, 25 but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus." (Matthew 1:18–25 LSB)
It took an angel speaking to Joseph in a dream to convince him that Mary’s pregnancy was not a reason to call off their wedding. Rather, Mary’s pregnancy was something that was divine and would change the world forever. The author tells us two very important pieces of information in this passage that reveals the heart of God for us and the heart of Christmas for the world.
The world makes Christmas about so many other things, but its true meaning falls squarely on God’s dealing with our greatest limiting factor. Sin is any way that we miss the intention God had for the world when he created it. Greed, gossip, unfaithfulness, hatred, racism, etc. all fall short of the glory of God. All of us have been subject to sin’s evil influence and have felt the effects of sin’s rule and reign. God’s heart of compassion moved Him to send Jesus as a way of rescue for the world.
You see, it was not the volume of sin that sent Christ to the cross, it was the fact of sin. Sin will take you farther than you want to God, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. Apart from the intervention of the Almighty, we are bound by the power of sin, the penalty of sin, and the presence of sin in our lives. Until those chains are severed will protect that sin that ultimately separates us from God now and for eternity.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
Jesus was given the name Immanuel which means God with us. This was a revolutionary thought at the time of Christ’s birth. Every culture surrounding Bethlehem saw their gods as angry deities who punished and corrected their subjects from afar. But this God so loved his broken creation that he wanted to come near. He became one of us, with flesh and blood, to mourn when we mourn, hurt when we hurt, and weep when we weep. God identifies with us so that we are given the opportunity to identify with Him.
If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator.
If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist.
If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist.
If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer.
But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.
A savior is one who eliminates any barrier between us and God. A savior welcomes us into a safe place alongside a God who loves us. This love of God is spoken of in a passage that is a bit of an unconventional Christmas narrative. The book of John gives us a new perspective of what took place in Bethlehem on that Christmas night.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16 LSB)
II. JESUS LEFT HIS HOME TO SHOW US THE WAY HOME
Jesus gave up the splendors of heaven to walk in the brokenness of earth. Jesus laid aside his divinity to put on humanity. He did it all for one reason and that was to make a way for us to return home to God.
Have you ever been lost? It is an unnerving feeling. I read a story about a sheep in New Zealand, named Shrek. He was lost and evaded capture for 6 years. When he was finally discovered, he was almost unrecognizable as a sheep. The first thing his rescuer did was pin back his wool so he could see to walk.
There was such an interest in Shrek’s return that the owner kept him in a pen for weeks so reporters and television stations could broadcast the amazing return of the lost sheep. And then, on live television, world champion shearer Peter Casserly shaved off 6 years of matted wool. As the shearer worked, he laid Shrek on his side with a foot of wool as his bed.
How much is Shrek’s story like our story, for "we all like sheep have gone astray." But Jesus’ birth and his sacrifice on the cross removed all of our sins and guilt that make us unrecognizable as children of God and restore us from death to life.
Far too many of us are living our lives with no direction, carelessly making decisions that put us in danger and keep us far from God. Christmas is God’s way of pointing us back to the place where we belong. Christmas is God’s way of leading us by his grace to our eternal family. We don’t have to live our lives lost and broken because God’s great love has made a way.
John says the key to finding our way back home is belief in Jesus. When we believe in him, we save ourselves from perishing or being lost forever, and we are given a new life that will last into eternity in our true home which is heaven. The Greek word for believe is pisteuo, which means “to be persuaded by someone or have confidence in someone.” A belief in Jesus is more than an intellectual exercise. Belief in Christ is to be so persuaded and confident that our lives are transformed, and our words, actions, and thoughts become dictated by our faith, hope, and trust in him. This is a work of the Spirit of God and not something we can do on our own.
III. BELIEF IN CHRIST ALLOWS US TO LIVE TODAY AS WELL AS FOR ETERNITY
At the heart of Christmas is Jesus’s invitation to join him and experience the full life that is available through him. The mission began thousands of years ago in a small Bethlehem town but continues on to this very day. Of all the gifts you could possibly receive and give over the coming days, this gift is by far the most valuable because it can save your soul.
In 1994, two Christian missionaries answered an invitation from the Russian Department of Education to teach morals and ethics in a large orphanage. About 100 boys and girls who had been abandoned, abused, and left in the care of a government-run program were in the orphanage.
It was nearing Christmas and they decided to tell them the story of Christmas. It would be the first time these children had heard the story of the birth of Christ. They told them about Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem. Finding no room in the inn, the couple went to a stable, where the baby Jesus was born and placed in a manger. Throughout the story, the children and orphanage staff sat in amazement as they listened. Some sat on the edges of their stools, trying to grasp every word.
When the story was finished, they gave the children three small pieces of cardboard to make a manger. Following instructions, the children tore the paper and carefully laid strips in the manger for straw. A doll-like baby was cut from some tan felt.
One of the missionaries sat down at a table to help a 6-year-old boy named Misha. He had finished his manager. When the missionary looked at the little boy’s manger, she was startled to see not one, but two babies in the manger. Quickly, she called for the translator to ask Misha why there were two babies in the manger.
Crossing his arms in front of him and looking at this completed manager scene, Misha began to repeat the story very seriously. He related the happenings accurately until he came to the part where Mary put the baby Jesus in the manger. Then Misha started to ad-lib. He made up his own ending. He said, "And when Maria laid the baby in the manger, Jesus looked at me and asked me if I had a place to stay. I told him I have no mamma and I have no papa, so I don’t have any place to stay. Then Jesus told me I could stay with him. But I told him I couldn’t because I didn’t have a gift to give him like everybody else.
"But I wanted to stay with Jesus so much, so I thought about what I had that maybe I could use for a gift. I thought maybe if I kept him warm, that would be a good gift. So I asked Jesus, 'If I keep you warm, will that be a good enough gift' And Jesus told me, 'If you keep me warm, that will be the best gift anybody ever gave me.' So I got into the manger, and then Jesus looked at me and he told me I could stay with him--for always."
As little Misha finished his story, his eyes brimmed full of tears that splashed down his little cheeks. Putting his hand over his face, his head dropped to the table and his shoulders shook as he sobbed and sobbed. The little orphan had found someone who would never abandon nor abuse him, someone who would stay with him--FOR ALWAYS.
Conclusion
I think one reason we struggle is that we are as lonely as Misha. We’re lonely and long for something to give us the nostalgia we find at Christmas, and that is the allure and trap of sin that Jesus came to deliver us from in our lives. And his call to us is the same as it was in Misha’s story, to remain with him always.
And that is the call tonight. Will you join Jesus? Will you trust him with your life and unapologetically believe in him? God so loved the world that he sent Jesus in the form of a vulnerable baby to begin a powerful movement that is still active today. What began in an unassuming cradle led tragically to a Roman cross, but it ended victoriously with an empty tomb.
