The Unsafe Savior Series

As long as people can keep Jesus in a manger¡K they can think of Him as being safe. As long as Jesus remains a baby, He can’t threaten their sense of self-righteousness.

But once He grows up - once He becomes a man - He causes the falling and rising of many, and He becomes a sign to be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.

Or as 1 Corinthians 1:23 puts it:

"... we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles."

The idea that God would take our place and die for us is not a comfortable one for many people. It runs counter to what every other world religion teaches.

All other world religions teach that WE must pay for our own sins. WE must balance our bad deeds with good

* That’s what lies at the heart of the concept of Karma.

* That’s what Islam teaches

* That’s what most cults teach

In fact that’s what most non-Christians believe

ILLUS: I once had a conversation with a very nice non-Christian woman who was offended by my stories about God. I was just telling the stories about God I would tell anybody. I told of the times I’d seen God acting in my life, and in the live of others. And I just enjoy telling others about these events because they speak to me of a living and powerful God.

But my stories offended her. She complained that she didn’t want to hear those stories anymore. And then she concluded the conversation by saying the oddest thing: She said "I am a moral person."

I hadn’t said anything about HER morality. I’d been talking about God. But in her mind, if the God I was talking about was real... then she wasn’t moral anymore.

AND that’s why Jesus ISN’T safe.

His very existence is a threat to the self-righteous.

His very message is condemnation of the idea that we can be good enough to be good enough.

But that’s also why Jesus is GOOD.

Most of us have messed our lives up so badly that we KNOW we NEVER could do enough good to offset that bad things our lives.

But Jesus can (and did) step in and take our sins upon Himself. Jesus can do that because He is God. He is the Lion of Judah, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is powerful, and omnipotent. That is why He has the authority to take our sins from us.

But if that is true. If Jesus is all-powerful, and all knowing, etc. why would God bother to not only send Jesus as to earth a child... but dedicate the opening chapters of Matthew and Luke to tell the story. Obviously, God thought this part of the story was important enough to tell that He wanted you and I to know about His birth and the heavenly tumult that it created.

ILLUS: In last Sunday’s Comics section (December 18th, 2005) "The Family Circus" had a great take on this question. The cartoonist had a little Billy praying in church to the grand God in the heavens. And then (in another frame) Billy was on his bed praying to the baby Jesus in the manger. And then he told his mother: "Praying is easier when I’m talking to the Baby Jesus."

There’s something about the story of the Christ Child that makes God more approachable. The Manger story is all about God becoming accessible to us.