Scripture XXXXXXX
John 1:1-3, 14 (GIDEON)
In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the
beginning.
Through him all things were
made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and
that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the
darkness has not understood it.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. (That is what Christmas is about, when God became one of us). We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (He was born in Bethlehem and his name is, Jesus)!
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Matthew 1:18-25 · The
Birth of Jesus Christ
Sermon by James W. Moore
The Christmas Promise: God With Us Jewell Woodard
Matthew 1:18-25
G. K. Chesterton, the noted British poet
and theologian, was a brilliant man who could think deep thoughts and express
them well. However, he was also extremely absent-minded, and over the years he
became rather notorious for getting lost. He would just absolutely forget where
he was supposed to be and what he was supposed to be doing.
On one such occasion, he sent a telegram
to his wife which carried these words: “Honey, seems I’m lost again. Presently,
I am at Market Harborough. Where ought I to be?” As only a spouse could say it,
she telegraphed back a one-word reply: “HOME!”
This is precisely what this classic
passage in the first chapter of Matthew does for us… it brings us home:
Home to the real meaning of Christmas
Home to the most magnificent truth in
all of the Bible
Home to our Lord’s greatest promise
Home to the reason we celebrate
Christmas
Namely this - “GOD IS WITH US!”
When we accept Christ into our lives, nothing,
not even death, can separate us from God and His love. “God is with us” that’s
what Christmas is about. “God is with us” the great people of faith have always
claimed that promise. Just think of it:
Moses, caught between the Pharaoh and
the deep Red Sea in a seemingly hopeless situation, believed that God was with
him and he went forward and trusted God to open a way and He did!
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego went
into the fiery furnace, into a seemingly hopeless situation, and they trusted
God to be with them and He was!
Little David… stood before Goliath. What
chance could a small boy with a slingshot have against this giant of a warrior?
But David believed that God was with him and it made all the difference!
Now, it’s interesting to note that when
the writer of Matthew’s gospel wanted to capture the meaning of Christmas, the
meaning of the Christ event, the meaning of Jesus in a single word, he did a
very wise thing. He reached back into the Old Testament, pulled out an old
word, dusted it off, and used it to convey the message. The word was Emmanuel.
That’s what Jesus is about, “His name shall be called Emmanuel” which means,
“God is with us.”
The impact of that Christmas promise is
incredible. When you believe that, when you accept that, when you claim that
promise… it will absolutely change your life. Let me show you what I mean by
bringing this closer to home. Let me underscore three ideas relating to this
great promise of God’s presence with us. I’m sure you will think of others, but
for now please consider these.
2 “GOD IS WITH US.” WE CAN CLAIM THAT
PROMISE FIRST OF ALL, WHEN WE ARE FRIGHTENED.
Gary Rader
All of us get frightened or scared
sometime. Jesus sensed this and consequently He talked about this quite a lot.
The words fear, anxious, troubled, fretful, afraid were often in His speech,
“Fear not,” “Fret no more,” “Don’t be anxious,” “Let not your hearts be
troubled,” “Don’t be afraid.” He spoke words like this often because He saw
lots of fears and anxieties in the lives of those He loved.
Some years ago Basil King wrote a book
called “The Conquest of Fear.” He prefaced the book with these words:
“When I say that during most of my life
I have been the prey of fear, I take it that I am expressing the case of most
people. I cannot remember the time when a dread of one kind or another was not
in the air. In childhood it was the fear of going to bed; later it was the fear
of school; later still a feeling of dismay at the amount of work to be done
before night. And then there’s the mother afraid for her children, the
executive afraid for the business, the clerk afraid for his job. And there’s
the fear of failure, the fear that someone will do us harm, and the fear that
we may lose what we love most. In one form or another, fear dogs every one of
us.”
But then along comes Christmas with the
great promise that calms our fears and enables us to celebrate life. Emmanuel.
“God is with us.”
Phyllis Martin, a schoolteacher in
Columbus, Ohio, tells of the day when the storm clouds and strong gusts of wind
came up suddenly over the Alpine Elementary School. The school public address
system blared tornado warnings. It was too dangerous to send the children home.
Instead, they were taken to the basement where the children lined the walls and
huddled together in fear. She said the teachers were worried, too.
To help ease the tension, the principal
suggested a sing-along. But the voices were weak and unenthusiastic. One child
after another began to cry. The children could not be consoled and were close
to panic. Then one of the teachers, whose faith seemed equal to any emergency,
whispered to the child closest to her, “Kathy, I know you are scared. I am too,
but aren’t we forgetting something? There is a power greater than any storm.
God will protect us. Just say to yourself, ‘God is with us,’ then pass the
words on to the child next to you, and tell her to pass it on.” Suddenly that
dark and cold basement became a sacred place as each child in turn whispered
around the room those powerful words, “God is with us,” “God is with us,” God
is with us.” A sense of peace and courage and confidence settled over the
group.
Phyllis Martin said, “I could hear the
wind outside still blowing with such strength that it literally shook the
building, but it did not seem to matter now… Inside the fears subsided and
tears faded away… When the all-clear signal came some time later, students and
staff returned to the classrooms without the usual jostling and talking.
Through the years I have remembered those calming words. In times of stress and
trouble, I have been able again and again to find release from fear or tension
by repeating those calming words: ‘God is with us!’ ‘God is with us!’” (Thanks
to Rod Wilmoth for this story.) When we are frightened, we can claim that great
Christmas promise. That’s number one.
3 WE CAN CLAIM THAT PROMISE WHEN WE ARE LONELY. Carmen Zwiefel
There are lots of lonely people in the
world who need desperately to hear the good news of Christmas.
Her name was Margaret Waage. It was
Christmas Eve. After getting off her typing job at noon, she stood dejectedly
in the crowds waiting for the subway train. Margaret had worked by herself all
morning, since all her fellow workers had been given the day off. Many people
around her were talking happily about their trips home to their families. Some
had little children with them. It all made her feel so sad and blue. She had no
home, just a rented room, no plans, no husband, and no children. And in that
moment Margaret had never felt more lonely.
But then suddenly she heard the crystal
notes of two flutes interweaving. Down the platform were two young girls
playing Christmas carols. In their serene young beauty, they looked like angels
in disguise. Margaret added her quarter to the pile of change in their open
flute cases. The train came and went, but she lingered, fascinated by the
people who came forward to drop coins, even bills, into the flute case. Most
were shabbily dressed, but their faces seemed alight with happiness. These were
the poor -- the people Christ had greatly loved.
On that cold, noisy subway platform they
were joined, without knowing one another, in the great Christmas feast of love…
that Margaret had lost sight of… in her own self-pity. Finally she heard the
girls play “O Little Town of Bethlehem”… and she found herself remembering the
words:
“O Holy Child of Bethlehem
Descend to us we pray.
Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born in us today.”
And suddenly there in this bleak subway
station, everything changed! Margaret described it like this: “Of course I had
a Christmas feast to go to! The Lord’s Supper at church that very evening. Of
course I had a home and family. Our Lord said, ‘For where two or three are
gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them.’ (Matthew 18:20)
Of course I had a child! The Holy Child could be born in me every day as I
sought to love Him above and beyond anything else. I took the next train
feeling warm and contented. I knew that those two young strangers with their
flutes had given me a magnificent Christmas gift. They had put Christ back
where He belonged – in my Christmas, in my life, and in my heart, and I didn’t
feel lonely anymore.”
When we are frightened and when we are
lonely, we can claim the Christmas promise of God’s presence with us.
4
WE CAN CLAIM THAT PROMISE WHEN WE ARE IN SORROW. Faith Blasiman
It seems like it would be easy to feel
the presence of God when we are on top of the world and all the breaks are
going our way, but actually the reverse it true. God is never nearer to us than
when we are hurting. There are two reasons for that… First, I think we are more
open to God when we are in need; and second, I believe God is like a loving
parent who wants especially to be with His children when they are in pain.
Recently I was with some friends who are
experiencing a very difficult and grievous situation and they said, “This is so
hard to take. Our hearts are broken, but we’re going to make it because God is
with us as never before. He is with us giving us the strength.”
Some time ago I ran across a powerful
true story that has both sadness and great truth in its message. Possibly, some
of you have had a similar experience. An 85-year-old woman with a large family
had a crippling stroke. As a result, she was unable to speak, unable to walk,
and unable to care for her basic needs. Reluctantly, her children placed her in
the care of a nursing home. She was there for 5 years, mostly content. They had
no indication that she even knew them when they came for visits. One Christmas
season the family was gathered for their family Christmas celebration. They
decided to reenact a tradition of their childhood and gather around the piano
to sing carols.
After they had sung a couple of
Christmas carols, one of the daughters suddenly said, “Let’s go get Mom.” Two
family members drove to the nursing home and brought Mom back to the house.
Swiftly they wheeled her to the piano and they began singing carols again. When
they came to Silent Night, they could not believe what happened. Their mother,
who had not spoken a word in 5 years, started singing Silent Night along with
them. It was amazing.
The daughter telling the story described
it like this: “mom was singing, too. Her voice was soft, but she was on key and
she knew the words. Everybody was stunned, but they kept on singing. They
smiled at her and she nodded. They sang other carols and she sang them all. It
was a moment of incredible warmth and joy, blessing and almost magical beauty.
Even when she couldn’t recognize the faces of her own children, even when she
seemed incapable of laughter or tears, the songs of Christmas faith were still
alive deep within her spirit, well below the frost line of illness and loss --
the Christmas carols survived.”
Deep within her soul, the songs of
Christmas faith were alive and well, and somehow miraculously she was able, as
the Christmas carol puts it, to “Repeat the sounding joy.”
I think I know why… I think it’s because
each one of us has deep down in our souls...
...An incredible hunger to come home to
the good news of Christmas,
...An incredible hunger to come to the
manger,
...An incredible hunger to feel and
celebrate the redeeming, forgiving, sustaining love of God,
...An incredible hunger to be in the
presence of God…
And that is why Christmas is so special
because it reminds us that God is indeed with us.
In every circumstance of life, even when we are frightened or lonely or in sorrow, that’s the Good News of our Christian faith. God is with us… Love came down at Christmas.
Luke 2:1-20
And it came to pass in those days, that there went out
a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was
governor of Syria.)
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own
city.
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the
city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called
Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great
with child.
6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days
were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped
him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room
for them in the inn.
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding
in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and
the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for,
behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David
a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find
the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude
of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
good will toward men.
15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away
from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even
unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath
made known unto us.
16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and
Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad
the saying which was told them concerning this child.
18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things
which were told them by the shepherds.
19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them
in her heart.
20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
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Wally
was big for his age--seven years old. Everyone wondered what role the teacher
would give him in the annual Christmas play. Especially considering the fact
that he was also a slow learner. Perhaps he could pull the curtain. To everyone’s
surprise the teacher gave Wally the role of the innkeeper. The boy of course
was delighted. After all, all he had to learn was one line: “There is no room
in the inn.” He had that down in no time.
Then
came the night for the program. The parents took their places. Every seat in
the auditorium was filled. The children entered singing "Oh come all ye
faithful." The lights dimmed. A hush moved over the audience. The curtain
opened on Scene One. Mary and Joseph entered the stage and walked up to the inn.
"Please sir, my wife is not well. Could we have a room for the night?”
Wally was ready for his line. He had rehearsed it all night. He began, there
is…and he hesitated. He started over again. There is. . .and again his mind
went completely blank. Everyone was embarrassed for him but poor Wally just
didn't know what to do. Joseph thought he would improvise and started walking
away toward the stable on stage left. Seeing him walking away Wally in
desperation called out: “Look, there's plenty of room at my house, just come on
home with me."
That
seems a rather delightful twist on a familiar story. Over the years the
characters in the Christmas story have become clearly defined for us. The
issues all seem so clear cut. Herod was a villain and the wise men were heroes.
The shepherds were heroes and the Innkeeper--well, the poor innkeeper has gone
down as one of the heavies in the story. In our minds eye, we envision him as a
crotchety old man with a night cap on his head sticking his head out a second
story window and tersely shouting: Take the stable and leave me alone.
But
perhaps the innkeeper has received bad press. Preachers over the centuries have
had a field day with the poor fellow. But was it his fault that the inn was
built with twelve rooms instead of thirteen? Was it his fault that Caesar
Augustus had issued a decree that the entire world should be taxed? Was it his
fault that Mary and Joseph were so late in arriving?
But you know something; this simple little statement about there being no room in the Inn becomes a symbol for Luke. As he writes his gospel it almost becomes a theme. Luke takes this one line, “There is no room in the inn,” and shows us how this phrase was recurrent throughout Jesus’ ministry. The question that Luke leaves for us is--will there ever be any room for him?
I
There was no room for Jesus in the economic world. Luke records
that one-day Jesus and the disciples stepped off a boat at Gadara. A mad man,
screaming wildly and tearing at himself, suddenly approached them. Jesus walked
up to the man and asked his name. "I am legion, for we are many,"
came the response. He was right. This poor, tormented man was so confused,
pulled in so many different directions, that he was no longer one personality
but many. Jesus then commanded the demons to come out of this man and into a
nearby herd of swine. The pigs immediately stampeded and ran off a cliff and
were killed. The man was healed.
But what was the response of the community. Did they sing praise
God from whom all blessings flow? Did they cry out Praise be to Jesus? Did they
build a hospital in the community and name it after the Nazarene? No, none of
these things. What they did was to send a committee to Jesus and kindly ask him
to get out of town. You see, they weren't so concerned about that poor demoniac
man. He had been around so many years that he had simply become a part of the
landscape. But what really got to them was the fact that Jesus destroyed a herd
of swine to heal him. That was hitting them right where it hurt--in the pocket
book. It was quite clear to them that if Jesus stayed around the local economy
would be disrupted. What they wanted was business as usual and not some
itinerant miracle worker.
So the local delegation asks Jesus to kindly leave. Exactly how they worded this to him we don't know, but I would like to venture a guess. I suspect that the conversation went something like this: Jesus, our lives were doing quite well before you came into town. We don't think that we need you, and we know that we don't want you. So Jesus, do us a favor and go try to save the world in some other place. We have to work too hard to fool around with a do-gooder. You see, there was just no room for Jesus in the economic world.
II
There was no room for Jesus in the legal realm. The law was cut
and dried. It had been codified centuries earlier--all the way back to Moses.
The law was clear. And I don't doubt that some of them said that tired old
cliché, "They may not be good rules but they’re all that we have.” One of
those laws read: Whosoever commits adultery shall be stoned to death. There it
was in black and white. It was even one of the Ten Commandments: Thou shalt not
commit adultery. They came down harder on the enforcement of this law (at least
on women) than any other. But so be it. It was the law. The penalty was death
by stoning. There were no loopholes. No plea-bargaining.
Thus when the crowd brought to Jesus a woman one day who had
clearly been caught in the act, they were ill-prepared for his response. He
refused to join their little lynch mob. Didn't he know the Torah? Oh yes, he
knew it, But he also knew something about grace. And that was higher than the
law--even the great Law of Moses. The crowd was astonished to say the least.
They dropped their stones and walked away but you had better believe that they
didn't like it one bit. A person who has had his mind changed against his will
is a person whose mind hasn't changed. They didn't do anything about it right
away. They were just biding their time. Jesus had said in effect: people are
more important than rules. They didn't buy that for one minute. To them the law
was the law and it was clear that there was simply no place for Jesus in this
whole matter.
III
There was no room for Jesus in the realm of the religious order.
That may sound strange but it was true. People like Annas and Ciaphas already
had all of the high positions that were available. Israel had all the high
priests that they needed and then some. Who was this new man on the scene who
called himself teacher, rabbi. Where did he go to seminary? Who were his
parents? Where does he get his authority?
Nowhere is there any hint that the chief priests were accommodating to him. They didn't stretch out their arms and welcome Jesus into their clerical profession. In fact, they did everything they could to keep him out; they weren't about to adjust their comfortable life styles and position in the community because of the claims of Jesus. But it went far deeper than that. They earnestly thought that he was wrong and it was their duty to oppose him. They organized themselves and like politics, religion can also create some strange bedfellows. Their plan climaxed when Jesus was hanging on a cross at Calvary. There was just no room for Jesus in the world of the ecclesiastical.
IV
There was no room for Jesus in the world of politics. Oh, the people wanted him to be King. Some of his disciples became so enthusiastic that they even asked him (prematurely though it was) for positions when he came into power. But Jesus wouldn't play by the rules. He told them that his Kingdom was not of this world. When he rode into Jerusalem and walked into the temple on Palm Sunday, the crowd was prepared for a coronation ceremony. But Jesus disappointed them once again. He refused to play the game of politics: I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine. He shunned the smoke filled rooms and spent his time with people who did not have their hands on the levers of power in society. Oh, they gave him a popular mandate all right. They all agreed that he should be crucified. So his earthly crown was exchanged for a crown of thorns. There was just no room for Jesus in the world of politics.
V
In Economic, legal, religious, and political realms--wherever
Jesus turned there was no room for him. What began first in Bethlehem when the
innkeeper turned him away was to become a recurrent theme. Let’s look at us
today--to you and to me. Do we have room for Christ in our lives? When the
innkeeper was presented with this unexpected situation that night, he faced
what I call our universal dilemma. At that point he became every man. Every man
is asked: Do you have room for the Messiah?
The fact is that the Messiah comes knocking at the door of our
hearts many times in life, in various ways, through various people, in various
events. Well, you say, I am not a preacher and I am not a theologian. How am I
supposed to recognize these times? That's precisely the point. You are given no
more preparation for revelation than the innkeeper that night. He was just an
ordinary layman like you. He could have said: If I had only known that this was
the Messiah I would have gladly opened the door. But if he had known that, he
would have responded out of awe, fear, or courtesy not out of compassion. So
the Messiah comes to us just as he came to the Bethlehem innkeeper. Not in the
form of a King with his entire splendor, but in the form of people in
need--like Mary and Joseph. And whether or not we receive Christ in depends on
how we respond to these people.
The innkeeper claimed that he had no room. Isn't the crowded inn
a rather appropriate symbol of our lives? So cluttered (not with important
things but with things that don't amount to a hill of beans) that there is just
no time, no energy, no money, no room left over. There is just no room in our
lives for the Messiah.
And invariably, just as in Bethlehem, the Messiah comes to us
when we so often least expect him. You'll notice that Mary and Joseph did not
make their appearance at the beginning of the rush season but late in the night
when the poor innkeeper was tired and irritable after a hard day’s work. Then
comes the knock on the door…the unexpected knock of destiny.
So the advent message to us is to watch and wait. Keep our minds and our hearts open for his coming. For the hour approaches when Messiah will come to you and to me. And like the Bethlehem innkeeper we will be forced to make a decision. Will our lives be so cluttered with incidentals that there will be no room for God? Or will we open the door and gladly welcome him in. To the innkeeper, the knock that came that night was just another of a long series of bothersome interruptions. That is how some respond to God in their life. Yes. Take the stable! Do anything; just leave me alone. God knocks at the door of every person. The question is--will there be room enough in your life to let him in.
