Sermon Central
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The Miracle Of The Message
Contributed by Scott Spencer on Dec 12, 2011 (message contributor)
Summary: God loves us so much and wants to reveal Himself to us in ways that we can understand. He sent His Son to communicate His message in a way that we can understand. That is the miracle of Christmas.
Scriptures: Hebrews 1:1-3
Introduction
God loves us so much and wants to reveal Himself to us in ways that we can understand. He sent His Son to communicate His message in a way that we can understand. That is the miracle of Christmas. That is the miracle of the message.
Hebrews 1:1-2 records this miracle of the message from God: "Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways, this doesn’t mean that this is a fairy tale, but that it is historical, factual which took place many years before.1 “In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son. God has appointed Him heir of all things and made the universe through Him" (Hebrews 1:1-2 HCSB). The miracle of the message is that God speaks to us today so that we can know Him and draw near to Him!
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 crude manger. Each child was given a small paper square, cut from yellow napkins that they had brought with them since no coloured paper was available in the city.
Following instructions, the children tore the paper and carefully laid strips in the manger for straw. Small squares of flannel, cut from a worn-out nightgown an American lady was throwing away as she left Russia, were used for the baby’s blanket. A doll-like baby was cut from tan felt which the missionaries had also brought with them.
It was all going smoothly until one of the missionaries sat down at a table to help a 6 year old boy named Misha. He had finished his manger. 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 manger scene, Misha began to repeat the story very seriously. For such a young boy, who had only heard the Christmas story once, 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 did.
"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.
The last days have begun. God, through his Son, has fully revealed his nature, and his purpose which stretches back through the prophets to creation. The Son has made it possible for sins to be purged away. He has been exalted to God’s right hand, and has been given a supreme title, higher than that of angels.
