Wednesday
12/24/14 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s
Sermon Title: “They will come
and adore him”
(“Signs He is coming” series: Part 5 of 5)
New Testament/Gospel
Lesson: Psalm 96
New Testament
Scripture Lesson: Titus 2:11-14
Gospel Lesson: Luke
2:1-20
Brothers and
sisters, friends, I want to welcome you again to this our Christmas Eve
Candlelight Service. We come together tonight, to worship, to pray, to
anticipate, and to hope. We gather together to hope and pray for a better
world. A world filled with love, joy, peace, mercy, and justice. We gather to
celebrate the birth of a baby. Yet how can a mere baby be the source of such
hope, anticipation, joy, and praise? After all, what different can one mere baby
make?
I think that for many of us the first time that we held our
own children, or any baby for the first time, we looked at that child with awe
and wonder. We looked upon that child, and we were amazed at the power of God
to make such a beautiful and heavenly creation. Then the baby cried, and we then
handed it back to its mother.
When we gaze on a
new born baby though, don’t many of us have hope? Don’t we look at that child
and think about or talk about what that child could become one day? Could that
child become a great scientist? Could that child find cures for cancer? Could
that child win the Nobel Peace Prize one day? Could that child become the
President of the United States one day? Perhaps that child will be delivered by
his mother Mary soon, and perhaps that same child will one day not only deliver
his mother Mary, but perhaps one day, he will also deliver the while world.
Perhaps that child that will be delivered by Mary soon, will be called the King
of Kings, the Lord of Lords, God in the flesh, Emmanuel, Mighty Counselor,
Teacher, the Holy One, Healer, and the Prince of Peace.
You see a baby is coming to us soon. Like every baby,
people will come and adore this baby. Yet this baby, has a special mission, has
a special calling, and is in fact, the living God in the flesh. This baby is
Jesus the Christ. The one whom many would come and adore, like we would come
and adore any new baby. Yet we look on the Christ Child specifically, as we then
see the brokenness and the pain in our own lives, and as we have hope in what
this child will do, and what he will become. We then should look at the Christ
Child with hope for the future, and hope for a better tomorrow.
Well for the last four weeks I have been doing a sermon
series called “He is coming.” For Jesus Christ is coming as a baby, and he is
also coming to enter into his earthly ministry, after being baptized by his
relative John the Baptist. Lastly, Christ also tells us that He is coming back one
day, to usher in an era of peace, justice, and mercy. In this season of
Christmas then, “He is coming,” coming to be amongst us, coming to set the
captives free, coming to offer us a full heart, for our broken heart, coming to
offer us love, coming to remove our despair, and coming to offer us eternal
life.
In doing this sermon series on Christ coming, I have talked
about various signs, indicators, and clues that He is coming to be amongst us
soon. I talked about how Christ encouraged us to “Watch out!” “Stay alert!” As
he is coming back to earth one day. I talked about how a messenger, John the
Baptist would prepare the way for Him. I talked about how all of these events
would cause faith to grow in some, but not others. This past Sunday, I talked
about the idea of the birth of Christ being ushered in by various miracles,
such as Mary conceiving Christ as a virgin, angel visits to shepherds, Joseph,
and etc. I talked about how these stories of these miracles inspire us even
today, at the power and the majesty of God.
Tonight though, I conclude this “Signs He is coming
series,” with the grand finale as it where. This grand finale is the birth of
Christ, is the baby himself being born. Now many Christian Churches celebrate
Christ’s birth on December 25th, while other Christian Churches
celebrate his birth at different times in January. Whenever we celebrate
Christ’s birth though, as we are not completely certain the actual day of his
birth, we are celebrating the birth of the savior. This celebration, is what
really matters.
Our reading from Psalm 96 for tonight really shows this
reality, as it declares, “Sing to the Lord a new song!” It also says, “Bow down
to the Lord in his holy splendor!”
You see, this night that we prepare for our celebration of the
birth of Christ, are we not all eclipsed by the majesty of it? No matter who we
are, or what we are, He, Jesus Christ, is coming for us. For even the poorest
of the poor came and adored him. He was not born in an exquisite palace,
whereby only the rich and royalty could come and adore him. Rather he was born
in a humble stable or more likely a cave like structure. His manger
historically speaking, we think was a stone trough used for feeding goats and
sheep.
Not such an eloquent birth place for the savior of the
world. Yet as the Christ Child is adorned in rags when he is born, and as he lays
likely in animal trough, born to two most likely young poor teenage parents,
many still flock to see this child.
For life in Judea at this time was a hard life, as people
were living under the harsh rule of the Roman Caesar. They had to pay outrageous
taxes, and deal with constant abuses and oppression. Yet this poor, young, and
probably teenaged couple had this baby in what was probably a stone structure,
and put that baby named Jesus in a stone manger, an animal trough.
In our reading from the Apostle Paul’s Epistle or letter to
his friend and brother in Christ Titus from tonight, Paul says, “The grace of
God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people.” Then Paul says, “It
educates us so that we can live sensible, ethical, and godly lives right now by
rejecting ungodly lives and the desires of this world.”
The Apostle Paul then goes on to tell his friend Titus, “At
the same time we wait for the blessed hope and the glorious appearance of our
great God and savior Jesus Christ.”
You see, Jesus doesn’t just come to us at Christmas so that
he will one day save us from ourselves, to save us from our sin. Christ comes
to teach us, the world, an entire new way of being, a new way of loving, of
living, of caring, and a new way of existing. While Joseph and Mary on this
night had to go to what was probably a cave, so that Jesus could be born, and
while they were turned away, because “there was no place for them in the guestroom,”
Christ tells us all that He goes and prepares a place, a room, for us. For he
turns no one of us away, he always has a guestroom for us.
In the gospel reading tonight, shepherds flock to the
Christ Child, as well as many others. They come to adore a poor child, wrapped
in rags, born of a poor teenage couple, and born in the humblest of ways. Yet
this child will one day stand against corruption, love all people, heal the
sick, and teach us to love like never before. This is the Christ Child.
I
would like to close this message this Christmas Eve, by telling you a story
called, “The Gift of Us,” taken from Illustrations Unlimited, and the author is
unknown. Here is how it goes:
“Marjorie
Tallcott was married and had one child during the Great Depression. The family
managed to scrape their way through, but as Christmas approached one year
Marjorie and her husband were disappointed that they would not be able to buy
any presents. A week before Christmas they explained to their six year old son,
Pete, that there would be no store-bought presents this Christmas. “But I’ll
tell you what we can do” said Pete’s father, “we can make pictures of the
presents we’d like to give to each other.”
“That
was a busy week. Marjorie and her husband set to work. Christmas Day arrived
and the family rose to find their skimpy little tree made magnificent by the
picture presents they had adorned it with. There was luxury beyond imagination
in those pictures- a black limousine and red speedboat for Dad, a diamond
bracelet and fur coat for mom, a camping tent and a swimming pool for Pete.”
“Then
Pete pulled out his present, a crayon drawing of a man, a woman and a child
with their arms around each other laughing. Under the picture was just one
word: “US”.
“Years
later Marjorie writes that it was the richest, most satisfying Christmas they
ever had.”
“It
took a present-less Christmas to remind Marjorie and her family that the
greatest gift we can ever offer is ourselves, our presence. This too is the
great gift that Christ offers us, not only at Christmas but throughout the year
– himself. If he was to draw a gift perhaps it would be just like Pete’s: three
people with their arms around each other laughing – human community with Christ
at the center.”
My
brothers and sisters, friends, this is what the birth of Christ is, and this is
how it changes us, and how it changes the world. So tomorrow, on this
Christmas, love each other, love your neighbor, and care for those who suffer.
Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the widow, and care for the
hopeless. For this is why he came, and this is why on this night so many “will
come and adore Him.” Christ the Lord. Merry Christmas to you all, and Amen.
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