“The Gift Of Christ”
The Gifts Of Christmas – part three
1At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2(This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3All returned to their own towns to register for this census. 4And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5He took with him Mary, his fiancé, who was obviously pregnant by this time. 6And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 7She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the village inn. That night some shepherds were in the fields outside the village, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terribly frightened, 10but the angel reassured them. "Don’t be afraid!" he said. "I bring you good news of great joy for everyone! 11The Savior--yes, the Messiah, the Lord--has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12And this is how you will recognize him: You will find a baby lying in a manger, wrapped snugly in strips of cloth!" 13Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others--the armies of heaven--praising God: 14 "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to all whom God favors." 15When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, "Come on, let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this wonderful thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." 16They ran to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17Then the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19but Mary quietly treasured these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20The shepherds went back to their fields and flocks, glorifying and praising God for what the angels had told them, and because they had seen the child, just as the angel had said. 21Eight days later, when the baby was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel even before he was conceived.”
Can you believe that Christmas 2003 is almost here? In just 4 days people all over the world will be opening presents, sipping egg nog, eating turkey and gathering with family and friends.
QUESTION – what kind of day do you think you are going to have, on THIS December 25th?
YOU KNOW – I’m convinced that DESPITE all the awesome food (the turkey, the dressing, the mash potatoes, the pumpkin pies with cool whip, lots of cool whip); DESPITE all the clothes, the games, the toys, the electronics, the jewelry – DESPITE all the boxes & bags, ribbons and tags…
I am convinced that DESPITE all the frills and all the bills… that many, on A day, when we celebrate - good news of great joy for all people… I’m convinced that many (maybe even some here in this room) will not be having such a good time.
Like I said a few weeks back… the ‘Christmas Season’ really evokes strong emotions, Very strong emotions at all ends of the spectrum. I MEAN – this time of year we see;
· people who are joyful and people who are sad
· people who feel loved – and people who feel alone
· people who are excited and people who couldn’t care less
· people who are full of enthusiasm and people we are empty and drained
LISTEN - people (even believers) can sometimes feel bored, empty, drained and deflated during this time of year?
AND – do you know what? That is not how it is supposed to be. UNDERSTAND (boredom, sadness and emptiness) – are not how God wants any person to feel during a time when we celebrate the birth of his son. AND – that is why on December 7th we began a sermon series that is designed to pump you up – that is designed to get you all lit up and jazzed about this season…
A message series where we are reminding ourselves of what Christmas is all about…
UNDERSTAND – in a very real way, the world is right… Christmas really is all about gifts. BUT – it’s not about gifts that you will find under your tree OR that you can buy at the Mall of Georgia. NO – Christmas is about gifts from God…
LISTEN – 2,000 years ago God put some gifts under our tree… (awesome gifts for you, and awesome gifts for me..) AND – we have spent the last few weeks unwrapping some of them.
In week one - we unwrapped an incredible gift… The gift of significance…
FRIENDS – the bottom-line is, that many people don’t feel very significant. Do you? (some of you don’t?) AND – do you know why you don’t?
BECAUSE – you are listening to the world… AND – the world is telling you; that you are not pretty enough, that you live in a big enough house, that you don’t have the right kind of job, that you don’t drive a nice enough car and that your bank account is much too small…
BUT – on December 7th we unwrapped the gift of significance… 2 weeks ago we looked at the Christmas story, and as we looked at;
The parents of Jesus (Joseph a poor carpenter and Mary a teenage girl)
The place of Jesus birth (Bethlehem – a poor insignificant town full of blue collar workers)
The people who first received the message of Christ’s birth (Shepherds – guys standing at the bottom wrung of the career ladder)
We discovered that God’s ways are not our ways and that His thoughts are not our thoughts… AND – we discovered that true significance is within the reach of all of us…
Heart of faith
Servants heart
Heart of passion (to see & tell)
A heart where the king lives….(no place is insignificant if the king lives there)
GUYS – you are significant… YOU – matter to God.
YOU – are the reason for the season.
AND - last week Mark Moore unwrapped for us the gift of Victory. Mark showed us in Revelation chapter 12 how 2,000 years ago – at Christ first coming how satan was defeated and how death & sin can no longer touch the believer….
The battle is over…
The victory has been won
Christ is coming again (soon)
AND – because of Christmas, He is coming to take us home!!!
Christmas is all about gifts!!! Gifts from God!
TODAY – I want to unwrap another gift, the gift of Christ…. Which is the ultimate gift of Christmas (despite what Buffalos says)…
NOW – Christ is an obvious gift to unwrap this time of year. BUT – this morning I want to unwrap this gift in a different way. This morning as we unwrap the gift of Christ; as we pull off the ribbon, the paper and bows we will see that God has an awesome gift there… A gift that perhaps you never realized came with Christmas…
AND – perhaps it is just the gift that you need… IN FACT – I’m pretty sure that it is the gift that you need… QUESTION – do you know what that gift is…? I’m not going to tell you…. AT LEAST, NOT YET…
OKAY – what I want do now is to show you a video clip from the most popular movie in 2003… Anyone know what movie that is…? “Finding Nemo…”
Nemo is a young clown fish and His father’s name is Marlin… NOW – this movie (like Bambi) really starts of bad.
Marlin and His wife are waiting to give birth to about 1,000 little fish. They just moved into a new home. Things are looking great. THAT IS UNTIL. A shark shows up, and when the shark is through Marlin’s wife is dead and every egg is destroyed except for Nemo.
AND SO - Marlin and Nemo go on with life together… They are very close, except for the fact that Marlin is a little over protective (with good reason), he is afraid of losing Nemo (he has already lost so much.
BUT – one day Marlin’s worse nightmare becomes reality. Nemo swims out into the open water and is caught in a net by a diver. Who jumps back into His boat with Nemo… Nemo is dumped into a cooler and eventually winds up in a fish aquarium at a dental office in Sydney Australia.
AND – from the moment of his son’s capture, marlin’s life becomes consumed by one passion… “Finding Nemo.” [in the clip I am about to show you Marlin and his friend Dori, are after much adventure nearing Sydney]
Show the clip…
[55 minutes 03 seconds to 59 minutes 54 seconds…}
QUESTION – why were all of those sea creatures amazed? Why was Marlin and his quest such a topic of discussion? BECAUSE – of all the effort, because of all the things that Marlin endured and went through in his effort to find his son.
NOW - Nemo for awhile thought that his dad had forgotten Him… BUT – he didn’t. AND – when he heard of all his dad had done… He exploded with joy… BECAUSE – his dad was doing things that were totally contrary to his nature in order to find Nemo…
QUESTION – why do you think this movie was so popular? Why do people watch over and over again? Sure it is incredible computer animation. AND – yes it is really funny in parts… BUT – there are other shows that are funny, other shows that have great animation.
LISTEN - I believe that part of what makes this movie so popular – is that the storyline really connects to something inside of us. YOU SEE – deep down we all like Nemo want to know that there is someone out there that believes that we are really worth finding.
WE LONG FOR – someone to believe that we are worth looking for, that we are worth the effort, that we – (who we are, not what we do, can give or look like) is worth going through all kinds of obstacles (Like Marlin), just to be with…
FRIENDS – deep down, we all want to feel like we are worth pursuing.
In a very real way we want to feel like Helen of Troy… You remember her, right? The face that launched, what? [1,000 ships]; CHECKOUT – what John Eldredge writes in his book, ‘The Sacred Romance’
Helen of Troy must have been something. Two Kingdoms went to war over her; thousands of men gave up their lives so that one might have her. Hers was “the face that launched a thousand ships.” Helen was the wife of Menelaus, King of Greece, in the 9th century BC. Their home was a peaceful Mediterranean kingdom until the arrival of Paris, Prince of Troy. Paris fell in love with Helen and, depending on the version of the story you’ve heard, she with him.
Under the cover of night, Paris stole away with Helen and took her back to Troy. It was the beginning of the Trojan War. Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon amassed a mighty Greek army and set off in 1,000 ships to lay siege on Troy, all to win Helen back.
Few have ever felt so pursued. Sometimes we wonder if we’ve even been noticed. Father was too busy to come to our games, or perhaps jumped ship all together. Mother was lost in a never-ending pile of laundry or, more recently, in her own career.
We come into the world longing to be special to someone and from the start we are disappointed. It is a rare soul indeed who has been sought after for who they are – not because of what they can do, or what others can gain from them, but simply for who they are.”
QUESTION – do you feel pursued? Do you feel sought after by others? NOT – for what they can get from you but for who you really are inside? Can you recall the last time when a significant person in your life – sat down with you for the sole purpose of wanting to know you, wanting to know your heart more deeply and fully expecting to enjoy what they found?
Eldredge writes; ‘More people have climbed Mt Everest than have experienced real pursuit…”
AND LISTEN – if most people never experience genuine pursuit, what are they left to conclude?
That they, are not really worth pursuing. That they, are not really worth knowing. IN FACT - most people conclude that if they are not pursued then there must be something wrong with them… “I must be really messed, there must be something not right about me because no one really pursues me…”
AND FRIENDS – this is where a very difficult and almost unbearable tension is born in us… YOU SEE – on the one hand, we have a desire to be pursued… we long to be known… BUT – at the same time we fear it because we are afraid that when someone actually catches up to us they would not like what they find.
THE TRUTH BE KNOWN – most people (even believers) rarely feel like Nemo or Helen of Troy. INSTEAD – they feel a whole lot more like Cinderella [BPC; ‘Before Prince Charming’]
NOW – we all know the story of Cinderella. She had a wicked stepmother and some very wicked & ugly step sisters who put the ‘N’ in nasty and the ‘C’ in cruel. These wicked women, made Cinderella a her servant, they constantly put her down… I MEAN – they were so relentless – that they were able to convince Cinderella that she would never be anything more then a hand-maid.
NOW – I don’t know about you but when I looked at Cinderella (even as a child), I couldn’t help but think… “Doesn’t she see how beautiful she is? Can’t she see how different she is from those ugly step-sisters both inside and out? Why doesn’t she just look in the mirror, and see who she really, see that she is beautiful?”
BUT TRAICALLY – the voices of her step-sisters were much too loud. THEREFORE – Cinderella believed that she was not good enough, and that she would never be anything more than a servant. AND – she also believed that the only chance she would have to go to the ball was if she had some costume to hide behind, to cover up who she really was. An outfit to put on. (Her ‘fairy god-mother’ provides just the costume…)
BUT – the whole time Cinderella was at the ball she was watching the clock. AND when it struck midnight, she ran out of there, as fast as she could for fear of being exposed for the homely house maid she believed that she was.
FRIENDS – like Cinderella we have an enemy that whispers in our ears and shouts deep in our hearts that we are not worth pursuing… That we are not worth going after. AND – who is more cruel then those step-sisters who shouts in our hearts all we are and can ever hope to be is in a homely hand maiden. AND – just like Cinderella we cover up, we hide, we pretend – we find outfits to put on. SO THAT – we can attend the ball of this life. (because we are not good enough to go as we are).
Frederick Buechner writes;
“…we try to make ourselves into something that we hope the world will like better than it apparently did the selves we originally were. That is the story of all our lives, needless to say, and in the process of living out that story, the original, shimmering self gets buried so deep that most of us hardly end up living it at all. INSTEAD – we live out all the other selves which we are constantly putting on and taking off like coats and hats against the world’s weather.”
THINK – about the part you find yourself playing, the self you put on like a costume. Who cast you in this role? Most of us are living out a script that someone else has written for us. We’ve not been invited to live from the heart, to be who we truly are, sow e put on these false selves hoping to offer something more acceptable to the world, something functional.
SINCE – I’m not worth pursuing for who I am… PERHAPS – I can make myself worth pursuing for what I can do or give others…
· I’m the one who will make you laugh
· I’m the one who is dependable
· I’m the one who always ahs it together
· I’m the pretty one, the smart one, the ones who gives you stuff
QUESTION – do you ever hide? Do you put on a mask? Cover up who you really are? SO – people will like you? find you more acceptable? Pursue you?
OKAY – by now you maybe thinking, what does all of this stuff have to do with Christmas?
REMEMBER – as I told you back on December the 7th, ‘Christmas is all about gifts.’
AND FRIENDS – there is one gift, that I am convinced that God really wants you to open this Christmas…
The gift? Christ….
AND – if you walk over to the box and look at the tag… You’ll see that it reads;
From; God
To; The Pursued One (with a picture of you)
NO – your face did not launched a thousand ships…
BUT – who you are, (not what you can or give) BUT who you are - launched the heart of God and sent His love on the greatest pursuit of all time…
THIS MORNING – in our time remaining, I want to talk about this pursuit… God’s pursuit of you… LISTEN – my goal this morning is very simple… I want you to walk out those doors today knowing and feeling – pursued and sought after…
“So long as we imagine it is we who have to look for God, we must often lose heart. But it is the other way around – He is looking for us.”
- Simon Tugwell
Prayer
The Pursuit Began; Before Creation
Once upon a time… Actually once before time… there was God.
Or as John words it; ”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning.”
YES – before time began, before all that we see (Mts, seas, start) were ever spoke into existence, there was God… God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit… AND – they were in perfect community, perfect relationship, perfect love, perfect fellowship…
Eldredge writes;
“The trinity is at the center of the universe, perfect relationship is the heart of all reality. THINK – of your best moments of love or friendship or creative partnership, the best times with family or friends around the dinner table, your richest conversations, the acts of simple kindness that sometimes seem like the only things that make life worth living. Like the shimmer of sunlight on a lake, these are reflections of the love that flows among the Trinity.”
Like the shimmer of sunlight on a lake, these are reflections of the love that flows among the Trinity.”
That is awesome! LISTEN - those good, pure, joyful, intimate moments that we all occasionally experience…[with our spouse, our family and friends – you know what I’m talking about]
God the Father, Son & Spirit have always experienced them… even before time began…
QUESTION – if God has always had PERFECT; ‘community, fellowship, relationships and love’ THEN – why are we here? Why did God create us? Why did God create me? Why did he create you…IF - He already had all he needed?
LET ME – try to explain. Suppose a man and a woman get married. AND – it’s an awesome marriage, an intimate relationship… I MEAN - their love is real and it’s deep. They enjoy each other, they laugh, have fun and just love being together. IN FACT – they’d rather be with each other THEN – be anywhere else or be with anyone else.
AND - after a few years – they decide to have a child. Why? UNDERSTAND it is not because something was lacking in their love… NO – it’s because they want to share their love with someone else. FRIENDS – the best things in life are meant to be shared… AND – before time began God decided… TO - share his love with us… YOU SEE – God wants us to be a part of the love, community and fellowship that has always existed between the Father, Son & Spirit…
Tim, Laurie… LIKE - Marlin in ‘finding Nemo,’ LIKE – Helen of Troy’s Husband; LIKE – Prince Charming in Cinderella… Almighty God is pursuing you. He is seeking after you – in order to have a love relationship with you…in order to make you a part of his life…
In Ephesians chapter one; Paul lets us in on a little secret: We’ve been noticed. FRIENDS , God has pursued you from further than space and longer than time. AND – our romance is far more ancient than the story of Helen of Troy. LISTEN – God has had you in mind before the foundations of this world. He has loved you before the beginning of time… [Tim, Laurie) HEAR – these words from the one who pursues you…
Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. 5Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) 6He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son. 8He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, 9letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, 10a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth. 11It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, 12part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.
- Eph 1:4-7, 9-12
He has his eye on you
You are the focus of His love
He wants His love to make you whole and holy
God has designs on you for glorious living…
QUESTION – why does God pursues us…ANSWER - love
AND LISTEN – God is very passionate about this pursuit… CHECKOUT – what Jesus prayed in the garden…
20I’m praying not only for them But also for those who will believe in me Because of them and their witness about me. 21The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind— Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, So they might be one heart and mind with us.” I in them and you in me. Then they’ll be mature in this oneness, And give the godless world evidence that you’ve sent me and loved them in the same way you’ve loved me.” Jn 17:20,21,23 (Msg)
The pursuit began before creation… because God want you and I to be ‘one and heart and one mind with Him.’
The NEXT point…
The Pursuit – Continues After The Fall
As I said earlier in the movie, ‘Finding Nemo,’ Marlin (Nemo’s dad) endured a lot to find His son. (Hanging out with an absent minded fish, dealing with deadly sharks, underwater mines, huge jelly fish, being swallowed by a whale – and hungry seagulls to name a few…
AND – if you have seen the movie you know that all of that could have been avoided if Nemo had obeyed his dad… YOU SEE – his dad told him to never swim out into the open waters… THEN – one day he decided to do it anyway… and he got caught.
BUT UNDERSTAND – Marlin loved his son, sure he was ticked that he disobeyed him…BUT – this did not keep him from, going after him.
IN – Genesis chapter one God creates man… IN ORDER - to share their love with man. SO – that as Jesus; ”…they might be one heart and mind with us.”
YOU SEE – God was so in love with community that he wanted a world full of people to share it with…
AND – what an awesome world He created for them… I love how one writer describes it…
“God begins our courtship with a surprise. Taking the blindfold off, he turns around and reveals his handmade wedding present. ‘Here,’ he says ‘It’s yours enjoy yourselves. Do you like it? take it for a spin.’
A lavish gift indeed. What’s he up to? Flowers, chocolates, exotic vacations, dinners at the finest restaurants – any person would feel pursued. But what are His intentions? Surprisingly we see the first glimpse of God’s wildness, the goodness of His heart – he gives us our freedom. YOU SEE – in order for true love to occur, we have to free to reject Him…”
AND - in Genesis chapter 3 man choose to reject God – Adam & Eve, doubt God’s love and they turn their hearts from Him… LIKE – Nemo despite their father’s warning they chose to swim out into the open waters and are caught and carried off by the enemy…
BUT – fortunately as in the movie, “Finding Nemo” the story does not end there… ACTUALLY – this is where the real story begins as God (because of His love) with great passion pursues man…goes after him
UNDERSTAND – as you flip the pages of the bible from genesis three to the very last page of the Old testament … you see a lover in a relentless pursuit of the one he loves… AND - you ALSO see Almighty God enduring a lot of difficult things in this pursuit… UNDERSTAND - man, you & I are not so easy to pursue… FRIENDS - it cost God much to pursue you. The truth is we are more than a little fickled.
LET ME – try illustrate our fickleness from God’s perspective…
IMAGINE – you are with someone. You are dating. And from the moment that you meet you know that they are the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. Every moment you are together your love just grows deeper and stronger… I MEAN – from the very moment your eyes meet.. your heart and soul came alive in ways you could not even imagine. YOU NEVER – dreamed that you could feel this way…
NOW – imagine the shock and pain you would feel – to find out one day that the one you have loved so deeply, the one who you have given your heart to, the one who you thought loved you just as passionately… has been dating other people behind you back. AND - to make matters worse they are spending more and more time with you worst enemy.
How would you feel?
What would you do?
UNDERSTAND – that is exactly what man, what you & I have done to God….
QUESTION – how does that make God feel? AND – what is God going to do?
NOW - we don’t have to wonder… about the answer to those questions… BECAUSE – the prophets…tell us. GUYS – in the OT prophets we see so clearly the heart of God as he pursues us with great passion… we see how our rejection makes him feel…
“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: " ’I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through a land not sown. 5 This is what the LORD says: "What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me? Jer 2:2,5
6During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, "Have you seen what fickle Israel does? Like a wife who commits adultery, Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill and under every green tree. 7I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me. But she did not come back. And though her faithless sister Judah saw this, 8she paid no attention. She saw that I had divorced faithless Israel and sent her away. But now Judah, too, has left me and given herself to prostitution. 9Israel treated it all so lightly--she thought nothing of committing adultery by worshiping idols made of wood and stone. So now the land has been greatly defiled. 10But in spite of all this, her faithless sister Judah has never sincerely returned to me. She has only pretended to be sorry," says the LORD. Jer 3:6-10 (NLT)
19I have always wanted to treat you as my children and give you the best land,
the most beautiful on earth. I wanted you to call me "Father" and not turn from me. 20But instead, you are like a wife who broke her wedding vows.”
Jer 3:19,20 (CEV)
“What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it?
When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?” – Is 5:4
”I’ve made myself available to those who haven’t bothered to ask. I’m here, ready to be found by those who haven’t bothered to look. I kept saying "I’m here, I’m right here’ to a nation that ignored me. 2I reached out day after day
to a people who turned their backs on me, People who make wrong turns,
who insist on doing things their own way. Is 65:1,2 (Msg)
“Then the LORD said to me, "Go and get your wife again. Bring her back to you and love her, even though she loves adultery. For the LORD still loves Israel even though the people have turned to other gods, offering them choice gifts”
Hosea 3:1 (NLT)
”People of Israel and Judah, what can I do with you? Your love for me disappears more quickly than mist or dew at sunrise.” Hosea 6:4 (CEV)
FRIENDS – that’s how God feels… AND – what does God do? He keeps on coming after us… LISTEN – God will continue to endure (rejection, betrayal & pain) BECAUSE – He refuses to stop loving us…/’loving you
LISTEN – I want you to hear this… IF – there is one thing that rebellion of God’s people in the OT teaches us is that God is serious about loving you/ about pursuing you… HE – will not be swayed or deterred in this pursuit..
NOW – you may have given up on loving Him. BUT – he has not given up on loving you. UNDERSTAND – no matter what you’ve done or where you are his love just keeps on coming… He just keeps pursuing
YES – the pursuit continue even after the fall… AFTER – Adam’s fall, after Israel’s fall… AND – after our fall…
I want to close of this point in our study with these words from Isaiah.. As God looks forward to Christmas, he has Isaiah write;
“No more will anyone call you Rejected, and your country will no more be called Ruined. You’ll be called Hephzibah (My Delight), and your land Beulah (Married), Because GOD delights in you…They will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the LORD ; and you will be called Sought After, the City No Longer Deserted.” - Is 62:4,12 (Msg, NIV)
LISTEN – despite our sin and rebellion God’s love is unrelenting…
QUESTION – who is this king of glory who pursues us with his love….
The LAST point in your outline is;
The Pursuit; Catches Up To Us At Christmas
NOW – all good stories have a happy ending… IN - ‘Finding Nemo’ – Nemo is found. Marlin’s pursuit has a happy ending.
AND – so does God’s pursuit of us… BECAUSE – on Christmas God’s pursuit catches up to us. AND PLEASE UNDERSTAND THIS - Christmas is meant to remove all doubt that man, that you, that I – are worth pursuing.
QUESTION – is God stupid? Is He naïve? Is He deluded? Easily fooled?
LISTEN – if God the Father, would give His Son… AND IF – the Son would willingly set aside all the glories of heaven, put on human flesh and become one of us…
NOW – let’s stop here for a moment, BECAUSE - I don’t think we realize just how far a step down, that was for God to become one of us in this pursuit… LET – me try to illustrate with an analogy…
IMAGINE – that for some reason you had an intense love for maggots…(I don’t know why you would but just pretend) WOULD YOU – be willing to become a maggot in order to express your love to them? I don’t think so….
YOU KNOW – a lot of people say they are dog lovers, BUT – I don’t think that any of them one become a dog in order to express that love…
NOW – if it was possible AND - you chose to become a maggot… There would only be 2 possible explanations for it;
#1; you’ re nuts, crazy..
#2; DESPITE – what we think or have heard - maggots are creatures of extreme worth and value…
2,000 years ago… God took a huge step down to become one of us…
He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. 7Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! 8Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death--and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion. Phil 2:6-8
AND – let me make one thing perfectly clear… Almighty God is not crazy, dumb or stupid… WHICH – leaves us with only one explanation for God doing something so radical…as becoming one of us… living a selfless obedient life and dying a selfless obedient death..
We are worth it!!! YOU –are worth it… LISTEN – there is a beauty, there is a value in us that is so deep, so real – that is caused God to pursuer us with reckless abandoned…
FRIENDS – there is something about you… THAT CAUSES - Almighty to act like a jealous lover, THAT CAUSES – Him to launch the greatest campaign in the history of the world to get you back… THAT CAUSES – God to send his prophets to tell of this and send his son to die for this love… THAT CAUSES – Him to lay siege on both the kingdom of darkness and our own idols as if on Troy… NOT – to destroy but to win you back for himself…
MAN – I pray I am making sense here. I pray that I am getting across exactly what God wants me to get across THIS day… I pray that you understand that the greatest thing about you is not your fall… it’s your glory, it’s your heart, it’s you…
LISTEN – too often we have heard and we have spoken the wrong message. ‘All message that says – at the core we are sinners, traitors, rebels, worthless, depraved wretches – pond scum… BUT – God in order to show the world what a great guy he is let’s us in anyway… [kind of like Prince Charming having to marry one of the ugly step sisters…]
UNDERSTAND – you are not a booby prize that God gets stuck with for eternity…
NO – you ARE;
The pursued one
The sought after one
The one - worth stepping down for
The one – worth fighting for
The one worth dying for…
YES – you are the one that God pursues in order to love…
HEY – I know that is seems; remarkable, unbelievable, incredible and too good to be true… BUT [Tim, Laurie…] there is really something precious, awesome, desirable and good about you… SOMETHING the king of the Universe… SOMETHING the King of Glory has AND will continue to move heaven and earth to get at…
It’s True!!!!
QUESTION – how does that make you feel? I hope it makes you feel like Nemo in that fish tank when he heard his dad was coming, like Helen of troy when she looked our her window and saw all those ships.. like Cinderella when the prince came for her…
FRIENDS – God the Son, laid in that manger 2,000 years ago because you are the pursued one… AND UNDERSTAND – Christmas makes it possible for us to be as Jesus prayed one in heart and mind, with God…
1 John 1
1From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in--we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. 2The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we’re telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us. 3We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ.
FRIENDS – the step sisters are wrong
Marlin is right
You are worth pursuing
The prince of peace has come
And you don’t have to run inside to find something to cover up with
He will slide the slipper on just as you are…
