So What Do You Expect? Expect Wonder
December 24, 2017
Dr. Tom Pace
Luke 2:1-20
Let’s now continue our worship as we hear the Christmas story in the language God wrote it – the King James Version of the Bible. I’m sure.
And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 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:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 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. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 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. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. 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. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them. Luke 2:1-20
Join me in prayer. O God, open us up today. Open our eyes that we might see and our ears that we might hear. Open our hearts that we might feel and then, O Lord, open our hands that we might serve. Amen.
Some years ago I received an email from a friend of mine who’s a pastor and he had been to a football game and was telling me the story of what happened there. He was sitting behind a man who had a big sign he was holding up. He was holding up the big sign, and he was blocking the pastor’s view. So my friend said, “Can you not hold up the sign so I can watch the game?” The guy said, “I can hold up this sign if I want to.”
My friend is sort of a nice guy but not always. So anyway, they got into a rather heated verbal altercation about it, and the ushers had to come and deal with the issue. The sign said, “John 3:16.”
Have you seen those signs at the football games? John 3:16. They’re intended to be evangelistic witnesses to the world. Well, John 3:16 and 3:17 are key verses. And I believe that they tell us a lot. They tell us who God is and also about God’s motivation in tearing open the heavens and coming down and being born as one of us.
I’ve printed the verse in the bulletin if you look just below where it says “Sermon”: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
So there are three things I think this teaches us about God. The first is that God is a lover, not a watcher. “For God so loved the world…”
The prophets talked about what it would be like when the Messiah came. They painted wonderful pictures that we often use at Christmas time. That his name would be called “wonderful counselor, the mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of peace.” But there were other prophets who said that the Day of the Lord will be a day of darkness and not light, that God would come as this judge and heads were going to roll! People were going to pay the price for their unfaithfulness.
There are others who believe in sort of a divine watchmaker theory. Some of our Founding Fathers believed this. They believed that God is this creator who created the whole world together and then set it into motion like a watch that would never run out, that then God stepped back and wasn’t involved anymore, and just watched it happened.
This verse in the Christmas story tells us that that’s not who God is. God came out of love. God came to share himself with us with love. “God so loved the world…”
There’s a great book by Father Gregory Boyle called Tattoos on the Heart. Father Boyle runs an organization in Los Angeles called Homeboy Industries and does incredible work with young people, and actually some of them aren’t all that young. They’re people who get out of jail, who have been in gangs. They’ll actually remove their tattoos and try to help them find a job. They make salsa and things like that and give them great skills.
In the book Tattoos on the Heart he tells the story of a boy named Rigo who’s 15 and who is in jail. Father Boyle went to the jail to lead a worship service that would be for these juveniles who were incarcerated and their families. So he sees Rigo there and says, “Is your father coming to this service?” And Rigo says, “My father isn’t in my life anymore. I’ve never known my father.” Then he begins to cry. So Father Boyle puts his arm around him to try to comfort him and after Rigo calms down, Father Boyce says, “Tell me about your mother.” Rigo pointed to a small woman who was seated on the other side of the room and said, “That’s my mother.”
Let me read to you exactly what he says: “I’ve been locked up here for a year and a half. She comes to see me every Sunday. Do you know how many busses she takes every Sunday to see me?’
“Rigo started sobbing with the same ferocity as before. After catching his breath, he gasped through the sobs, ‘Seven busses. She takes seven busses every Sunday. Imagine.’”
Father Boyle goes on to say that that’s an image of a God who loves us that much, who will do whatever it takes to come into our lives, even if it’s a cross, will come and be a part of your life and will do whatever, loves you so much. God is a lover, not a watcher. He doesn’t just sit back and watch, but intervenes. He says, “I’m going to come into your life as I love you.”
Second thing it says about God is, “For God so loved the world that he gave…” God is a giver, not a taker, a giver.
I read this week that there’s a great debate as to whether the guy from Amazon, Jeff Bezos, or Bill and Melinda Gates are now the richest people in the world. Bill and Melinda Gates are worth somewhere around $86 billion, and there was some sort of stock jump in Amazon that got Bezos up near that amount. But I will tell you that Bill and Melinda Gates may be the most generous people in the world. They’ve committed to give away 95% of their wealth. Ninety-five percent of $86 billion is a lot of money.
Now here’s what I would tell you. Compared to God, Bill and Melinda Gates are like hoarders. They’re like hoarders.
Here’s how I know that. Bill and Melinda Gates have three children, a daughter named Jennifer, a daughter named Phoebe and a son named Rory. He’s eighteen years old, and personally I don’t think that’s too young to marry my youngest daughter. There’d be a five year difference there. She’s available if he happens to be listening somewhere. Thought I’d throw that out.
Now here’s what I’m trying to say. If you went to Bill and Melinda Gates and said, “I know you’ve been trying to eradicate these diseases from the world, just give the life of your youngest daughter, just give her life. Would you do that?”
I suspect – I don’t know for sure – but I suspect that Bill and Melinda Gates would say, “No way. I’m not doing that.” But that’s what God did. God gave not X amount of money, but gave his son. That teaches us a lot about who God is. “God so loved the world that he gave his Son….” God isn’t a taker.
I have to tell you that sometimes I get so frustrated when I hear sort of descriptions of God as this one who tells us everything we’re not supposed to do. “These are the things you’re not supposed to do. We’re going to take those things away from you.” Or sometimes they paint God as this sort of narcissistic dictator who says, “You must worship me.” It reminds me of the Wizard of Oz when he’s behind the flame and says, “Bring me the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West!” It’s like he’s saying, “You need to fall down and worship me!”
Of course God wants us to love and worship him, but it’s because God wants to give us a life that is abundant and meaningful and full and purposeful. So he came to show us that kind of life, to give to us not take.
Here’s the last thing. “God so loved the world that he gave his Son….” And here’s verse 17: “Indeed, God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
God is a saver, not a condemner, a saver.
Have you ever seen the movie “Thirty-Three?” You might have seen it. It’s about 33 Chilean miners who were trapped underground a few years ago, and they were underground about 2000 feet from the surface. It happened after a mining accident, and they were there for 69 days. There’s a great book written by Hector Tobar, and the movie’s actually based on the book. Hector Tobar wrote a book called Deep Dark Down. Let me read to you what he describes. He writes: “A man named Jose Enriquiz who is a Christian was asked if he would pray for everyone. Then as he got down on his knees some of the men joined him and when he began to talk to God, here’s what he said. ‘We aren’t the best men, Lord, but have pity on us.’ He then got more specific. ‘Victor Segovia knows that he drinks too much. Victor Zamora is too quick to anger. Pedro Cortez thinks about the poor father he’s been to his young daughter.’ And nobody objected. Something special was going on deep dark down. And these men were getting honest with God about who they were and what their life was like.”
What they may or may not have known was that on the surface, pretty much the whole world was trying to save them, the whole world. People came from all over the world to try and save these miners. And they did.
What I want you to know is that you may be in a deep dark down place. Christmas can be hard sometimes, because there’s certainly joy all around you, but you’re dealing with all sorts of stuff. God wants more than anything to save you, not to condemn you, but out of his love to save you.
God the lover, the giver, the saver.
So what does this mean for us? It means first and foremost that we are to receive this gift. That’s what we have to do, to receive the gift, to accept that we’re loved, to allow ourselves to be saved. And that’s what this Holy Communion is all about. We call these elements, the bread and the wine, we call them the gifts. That’s the term for these. These are the gifts. And when we come for Holy Communion, we accept those gifts as a sign of God’s love.
You may have done that earlier in your life. You may never have done that. You may do that every day. But as I hope as you come today this will be that kind of moment for you where you understand just how much God loves you and that God’s desire is to find those things you’re struggling with and to save you.
There’s one other thing we’re to do. I’ve been watching the delivery guys come to my house. They come to the house, and they have this urgency about it. They get out of that big brown truck usually, and they have their brown uniform, and they sprint to the door, and they put it down. They ring the doorbell, and then they’re off again. They have this sense of urgency.
That is not their gift, it doesn’t belong to them. They can’t keep it. It’s given to them to be passed on. And that’s the case with us. We’ve been given this gift of God’s love to pass it on to others. We need to have that same urgency that they have.
During Hurricane Harvey we saw it, didn’t we? You talk about loving. We saw people love each other, and it didn’t matter what their party was, what their creed was, what their color was, what their economic status was. We were loving each other in that moment. Talk about giving? What an incredibly generous time. Talk about saving? People getting in their canoes and paddling down streets to save others.
We understood that we were to be conduits of God’s saving love and grace. Friends, that’s what Christmas is. God has chosen to enter our world, and our job is to receive that gift and to pass it on to others.
So let’s put on our brown uniforms. Or maybe they can be blue if you’re a U.S. Postal Service person. Or Fed-Ex or something else. But let’s be delivery people. Let’s receive this gift and then don’t hang on to it. Because there’s somebody you know that needs to hear about God’s amazing love for them.