Description
CHRISTMAS CLASSICS SERMON SERIES
THE WAY IS A MANGER
DECEMBER 25, 1994
ED YOUNG
I heard a story the other day about a little guy who wanted, really wanted, a watch for Christmas. He pestered his father day after day, “Please a watch, a watch, a watch.” Finally the father said, if you mention the word “watch” one more time, you will definitely not get a watch for Christmas. Sure enough, the little guy held off until the night before Christmas. The family was gathered around for their annual Christmas Eve meal. Right before they were to eat the little boy asked if he could give the grace. The father was very pleased and told his son to go ahead. The boy said he wanted to quote a verse of scripture first. Mark 13:37, “And Jesus said these words, I have told you once and I have told you again, watch….”
We love to talk about gifts, though, don’t we? We are really into them in America. I heard someone say that Christmas is the season when we forget the past, we forget the future and we focus on the present. And that is what most of us have been focusing on lately, the present.
Yesterday morning at 8am we gathered around the Young family Christmas tree to open gifts. The highlight of our exchange of gifts has to be when I received my gift from Lisa. She always buys me the best gifts because she knows exactly what I need. She means more to me than anyone else with the exception of God. And I love to get gifts from my wife. Sure enough, yesterday she did not disappoint me. She presented me with this lovely package—“Well, Ed, open it up, baby.” I opened it up and look what was inside, a high fashioned black and white vest. “Lisa, that is exactly what I wanted. A vest. Man, that is too cool for school.” She said, “Don’t just hold it up, try it on.” So I put it on just as I am putting it on now. What a great gift.
We enjoy giving great gifts, don’t we? We love to give great gifts. Over the next moments that remain, I am not going to talk to you about how to give and receive a great gift. Instead, I want to talk to you, though, about something that is more important. I want to discuss how to receive the ultimate gift and how God gives us the ultimate gift. God’s process in giving us the ultimate gift is a lot like the process we go through in buying a great gift for others.
I want you to get this picture in your mind. God, that’s right, I am talking about the God of the Bible, He stepped down the staircase of heaven with a baby in His arms. This babe grew up to be a man who lived a sinless life, died on the cross for all of our sins and rose again. God says, time and time again, in fact 83 times in the Bible, here is a gift. Here is My Son. I am offering this to you. No strings attached. And I am offering it to you because you matter so much to me.
When you buy someone a great gift, like when God bought us the ultimate gift, the first thing you have got to do is purchase it. And that is fun, isn’t it, especially for us guys. Going from store to store trying to find something that will really fit or meet a need. Do you realize that 2,000 years ago you were at the top of God’s Christmas list? You. Me. Number one. When God thought about what He could give us, in His sovereignty He chose to give us what we really need, a savior. In fact, if we had needed information, He would have sent us a teacher. If we had needed money management advice, He would have sent us an economist. We needed forgiveness and He sent us Jesus.
Let’s look at the first verse on your outline. John 3:16. “For God so loved the world….” When you give someone a great gift, the gift should reflect the personality of the giver. God gave us the original Christmas gift, Jesus Christ. God is a God of love. It was a labor of love. He took the initiative. He got the process going and Jesus fits His personality because Jesus was fully God and fully man. I have a brother who is 31 years of age. And Ben loves sand volleyball. You know that stuff they show on ESPN all the time? That is kind of a hip sport right now and Ben is into it. Every time Ben gives me a gift, whether it is for my birthday or at Christmas, it has something to do with sand volleyball. I tell him that I am not into sand volleyball. But because he loves it so much, it is part of his fabric, he gives me something connected. Yesterday he gave me a mock turtleneck with sand volleyball written large down its side! Thanks Ben.
So it is easy for us to give a gift that fits our personality but to fit our personality and meet the other person’s needs, that is something else. “…so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” Remember, God thought about what man needed and knew he needed forgiveness. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death.” The paycheck of sin is death. If we got what we deserve it would be eternal separation from God. We deserve that because we are sinners. God is holy, perfect and we are not. Even if we commit a tiny, little bitty sin, it is cosmic treason in the eyes of God. And sin has to have a punishment and the punishment is death. That is the bad news but here is the good news. See that transitional phrase? “…the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.” God purchased this gift not with money. This gift was purchased with the blood of Jesus.
Another thing God did when He bought us the ultimate gift was He wrapped the gift. Luke 2:7. “He wrapped him in cloth and placed him in a manger.” How many of you like to sing the song Away In A Manger? We love that and it is a great song. I come in contact with a lot of Christians, however, who want to keep baby Jesus away in the manger. They want to keep him a little baby so he will be safe and secure but will not intrude on their lives or sinfulness or ungodly habit. We can’t keep him in a manger.
The Power Manger is where He was born. But He grew up, then He died and then He exploded in resurrection power. Wrapped in flesh. If God had wanted to communicate with baboons, he would have come as a baboon. If He wanted to meet with ants, He would have become an ant. We are made in His image and He became a man. God did that so He could identify with us and bring us back to Him. Talk about temptation. Christ was tempted stronger and more regularly than any person here yet He withstood it. What an example.
So He purchased the gift, wrapped the gift and finally Titus 2:11, He offered the gift. “For the free gift of eternal salvation is now being offered to everyone.” Go back to yesterday morning. When Lisa offered this gift to me, it demanded a response. What if I said, “No, Lisa, I’m sorry. I am not even going to open that.” You would wonder if I had lost my mind. Why, though, year after year after year does God offer us a gift that will make this vest pathetic, the gift of Jesus Christ, eternal life, power, strength, purpose, the total package. Yet we say no, no, no. Not right now. I will kind of put the package over here and maybe later I will open it. God is offering it to every person here. That is God’s part. He purchases the gift. He wraps the gift. He offers the gift.
What is our part? What is man’s responsibility? First, man is to receive the gift. The word of God tells us in John 1:12, “Yet to all who received Him, He gave the right to become children of God.” When someone gives you a gift you have to receive it. A lot of people see the gift and open it. Then they put it down and say that yes they believe in Jesus. They get baptized and homogenized and the whole nine yards. But the Bible says that even the demons in hell believe in Jesus and they are not Christian. They have not turned from their sin. Belief is not enough. There must be something more. I am to receive the gift.
Secondly, I am to appreciate the gift. II Corinthians 9:15. “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.” I have got to appreciate it. “God, thank you so much for this gift. You are so awesome to do this.” And then finally, I have got to wear it. The Bible says, “Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” So don’t just believe it. God says to put Him on. Put Jesus on. That is how a person becomes a Christian, receiving the gift, appreciating it and putting it on.
Where are you in your Christian life right now? Is God saying, here is the gift and you are saying no, not now? It is time to try Him on and to make the greatest step of your life.
It doesn’t stop there though. Many people here have received the gift. Many people here are believers. And many here who are seeking need to make this commitment this morning. After we make this commitment to receive the gift, it doesn’t stop thought. I am going to say something that is going to shock you. Are you ready? After you receive the gift, God wants you to exchange gifts with Him on this Christmas. What, Ed, have you had too much coffee? What can I give God? Where do I shop for that gift? Even Neiman Marcus doesn’t carry anything for God. What can I give God?
It is sad but Christmas after Christmas goes by and most of us give gifts to each other but we never exchange gifts with the birthday boy. My birthday is March 16. I will be 34 years of age. If I had a party at my house, most of the invitees would bring little gifts. What if instead they gave them to each other, kind of iced me out? How would I feel? How do you think Jesus feels?
There are two gifts that you can give God right now that He does not have unless you give them to Him. The first one is time. God does not have your time unless you give it to Him. And the Bible says that if we give Him our time, which is a gift from Him anyway, that He will multiply it. I am going to give you a challenge in 1995. The challenge is to spend quality time with God every day. If you miss a day, don’t worry about it. But spend time talking to God. First you talk and then listen, plus read His word. Then I am going to challenge you to get involved in a local church regularly, weekly. Meet with other Christians to learn what it means to know Christ personally and to follow His precepts and principles. Give your time to God. Don’t rush off to a time management seminar. Talk about time, the author and sustainer of time is right here when you get to know Him. So give God your time.
There is another gift that God doesn’t have unless you give it to Him and that is your talents and your abilities. “Well, Ed, I am not very talented. I am not that good at anything.” That is a lie. That is a lie. I hate to be that direct but that is a fact. God says that we are all made in the image of Him. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. I have gifts that you don’t have. You have gifts that I don’t have. You give your talents to God and watch Him take the talents and watch Him development them like you wouldn’t believe. When someone receives Christ they have a supernatural sense about their abilities, and their abilities go much, much further than someone who does not know Christ.
Have you given your talents and abilities to God? “Well, Ed, you don’t understand. I am a self-made man. I pulled myself up by the bootstraps, boy. I did it. I run the show. It is my company.” Who gave you the drive? Who gave you the leadership ability? Who gave you your life? Who allows your heart to beat? It is God. Won’t you give your talents and gifts to him? You won’t turn into some spiritual weirdo. Jesus was a real man, a man’s man. And Christianity is the way and the truth and the life.
This morning Santa Claus came to our house. Now as you know, Lisa and I have four children. Our twins are really a little young to comprehend Christmas. They are six months of age. LeeBeth, of course, being eight, is into Christmas. Talk about someone who is in a frenzy though, it would be EJ who is three. EJ came down the stairs with the video camera rolling and the first thing he saw was the Power Ranger Mannequin. He lost it. He was so excited. Then he got a Power Ranger cup and a bowl. He will be eating every single meal from this bowl. Power Ranger this, Power Ranger that. It is one of the most popular gifts in 1994.
I, however, am talking about a Power Manger. A Power Ranger is fine and dandy, but I am talking about a Power Manger. I want you to build a Power Manger out of your heart and allow Christ to be born there. Just see what He will do. You haven’t even touched the tip of the iceberg when you get in touch with the true power, the Power Manger. That is my prayer for you this Christmas. And that is Christmas. To receive God’s gift and then to exchange gifts with Him and to realize the Way is a Manger.
I heard a story the other day about a little guy who wanted, really wanted, a watch for Christmas. He pestered his father day after day, “Please a watch, a watch, a watch.” Finally the father said, if you mention the word “watch” one more time, you will definitely not get a watch for Christmas. Sure enough, the little guy held off until the night before Christmas. The family was gathered around for their annual Christmas Eve meal. Right before they were to eat the little boy asked if he could give the grace. The father was very pleased and told his son to go ahead. The boy said he wanted to quote a verse of scripture first. Mark 13:37, “And Jesus said these words, I have told you once and I have told you again, watch….”
We love to talk about gifts, though, don’t we? We are really into them in America. I heard someone say that Christmas is the season when we forget the past, we forget the future and we focus on the present. And that is what most of us have been focusing on lately, the present.
Yesterday morning at 8am we gathered around the Young family Christmas tree to open gifts. The highlight of our exchange of gifts has to be when I received my gift from Lisa. She always buys me the best gifts because she knows exactly what I need. She means more to me than anyone else with the exception of God. And I love to get gifts from my wife. Sure enough, yesterday she did not disappoint me. She presented me with this lovely package—“Well, Ed, open it up, baby.” I opened it up and look what was inside, a high fashioned black and white vest. “Lisa, that is exactly what I wanted. A vest. Man, that is too cool for school.” She said, “Don’t just hold it up, try it on.” So I put it on just as I am putting it on now. What a great gift.
We enjoy giving great gifts, don’t we? We love to give great gifts. Over the next moments that remain, I am not going to talk to you about how to give and receive a great gift. Instead, I want to talk to you, though, about something that is more important. I want to discuss how to receive the ultimate gift and how God gives us the ultimate gift. God’s process in giving us the ultimate gift is a lot like the process we go through in buying a great gift for others.
I want you to get this picture in your mind. God, that’s right, I am talking about the God of the Bible, He stepped down the staircase of heaven with a baby in His arms. This babe grew up to be a man who lived a sinless life, died on the cross for all of our sins and rose again. God says, time and time again, in fact 83 times in the Bible, here is a gift. Here is My Son. I am offering this to you. No strings attached. And I am offering it to you because you matter so much to me.
When you buy someone a great gift, like when God bought us the ultimate gift, the first thing you have got to do is purchase it. And that is fun, isn’t it, especially for us guys. Going from store to store trying to find something that will really fit or meet a need. Do you realize that 2,000 years ago you were at the top of God’s Christmas list? You. Me. Number one. When God thought about what He could give us, in His sovereignty He chose to give us what we really need, a savior. In fact, if we had needed information, He would have sent us a teacher. If we had needed money management advice, He would have sent us an economist. We needed forgiveness and He sent us Jesus.
Let’s look at the first verse on your outline. John 3:16. “For God so loved the world….” When you give someone a great gift, the gift should reflect the personality of the giver. God gave us the original Christmas gift, Jesus Christ. God is a God of love. It was a labor of love. He took the initiative. He got the process going and Jesus fits His personality because Jesus was fully God and fully man. I have a brother who is 31 years of age. And Ben loves sand volleyball. You know that stuff they show on ESPN all the time? That is kind of a hip sport right now and Ben is into it. Every time Ben gives me a gift, whether it is for my birthday or at Christmas, it has something to do with sand volleyball. I tell him that I am not into sand volleyball. But because he loves it so much, it is part of his fabric, he gives me something connected. Yesterday he gave me a mock turtleneck with sand volleyball written large down its side! Thanks Ben.
So it is easy for us to give a gift that fits our personality but to fit our personality and meet the other person’s needs, that is something else. “…so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” Remember, God thought about what man needed and knew he needed forgiveness. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death.” The paycheck of sin is death. If we got what we deserve it would be eternal separation from God. We deserve that because we are sinners. God is holy, perfect and we are not. Even if we commit a tiny, little bitty sin, it is cosmic treason in the eyes of God. And sin has to have a punishment and the punishment is death. That is the bad news but here is the good news. See that transitional phrase? “…the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.” God purchased this gift not with money. This gift was purchased with the blood of Jesus.
Another thing God did when He bought us the ultimate gift was He wrapped the gift. Luke 2:7. “He wrapped him in cloth and placed him in a manger.” How many of you like to sing the song Away In A Manger? We love that and it is a great song. I come in contact with a lot of Christians, however, who want to keep baby Jesus away in the manger. They want to keep him a little baby so he will be safe and secure but will not intrude on their lives or sinfulness or ungodly habit. We can’t keep him in a manger.
The Power Manger is where He was born. But He grew up, then He died and then He exploded in resurrection power. Wrapped in flesh. If God had wanted to communicate with baboons, he would have come as a baboon. If He wanted to meet with ants, He would have become an ant. We are made in His image and He became a man. God did that so He could identify with us and bring us back to Him. Talk about temptation. Christ was tempted stronger and more regularly than any person here yet He withstood it. What an example.
So He purchased the gift, wrapped the gift and finally Titus 2:11, He offered the gift. “For the free gift of eternal salvation is now being offered to everyone.” Go back to yesterday morning. When Lisa offered this gift to me, it demanded a response. What if I said, “No, Lisa, I’m sorry. I am not even going to open that.” You would wonder if I had lost my mind. Why, though, year after year after year does God offer us a gift that will make this vest pathetic, the gift of Jesus Christ, eternal life, power, strength, purpose, the total package. Yet we say no, no, no. Not right now. I will kind of put the package over here and maybe later I will open it. God is offering it to every person here. That is God’s part. He purchases the gift. He wraps the gift. He offers the gift.
What is our part? What is man’s responsibility? First, man is to receive the gift. The word of God tells us in John 1:12, “Yet to all who received Him, He gave the right to become children of God.” When someone gives you a gift you have to receive it. A lot of people see the gift and open it. Then they put it down and say that yes they believe in Jesus. They get baptized and homogenized and the whole nine yards. But the Bible says that even the demons in hell believe in Jesus and they are not Christian. They have not turned from their sin. Belief is not enough. There must be something more. I am to receive the gift.
Secondly, I am to appreciate the gift. II Corinthians 9:15. “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.” I have got to appreciate it. “God, thank you so much for this gift. You are so awesome to do this.” And then finally, I have got to wear it. The Bible says, “Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” So don’t just believe it. God says to put Him on. Put Jesus on. That is how a person becomes a Christian, receiving the gift, appreciating it and putting it on.
Where are you in your Christian life right now? Is God saying, here is the gift and you are saying no, not now? It is time to try Him on and to make the greatest step of your life.
It doesn’t stop there though. Many people here have received the gift. Many people here are believers. And many here who are seeking need to make this commitment this morning. After we make this commitment to receive the gift, it doesn’t stop thought. I am going to say something that is going to shock you. Are you ready? After you receive the gift, God wants you to exchange gifts with Him on this Christmas. What, Ed, have you had too much coffee? What can I give God? Where do I shop for that gift? Even Neiman Marcus doesn’t carry anything for God. What can I give God?
It is sad but Christmas after Christmas goes by and most of us give gifts to each other but we never exchange gifts with the birthday boy. My birthday is March 16. I will be 34 years of age. If I had a party at my house, most of the invitees would bring little gifts. What if instead they gave them to each other, kind of iced me out? How would I feel? How do you think Jesus feels?
There are two gifts that you can give God right now that He does not have unless you give them to Him. The first one is time. God does not have your time unless you give it to Him. And the Bible says that if we give Him our time, which is a gift from Him anyway, that He will multiply it. I am going to give you a challenge in 1995. The challenge is to spend quality time with God every day. If you miss a day, don’t worry about it. But spend time talking to God. First you talk and then listen, plus read His word. Then I am going to challenge you to get involved in a local church regularly, weekly. Meet with other Christians to learn what it means to know Christ personally and to follow His precepts and principles. Give your time to God. Don’t rush off to a time management seminar. Talk about time, the author and sustainer of time is right here when you get to know Him. So give God your time.
There is another gift that God doesn’t have unless you give it to Him and that is your talents and your abilities. “Well, Ed, I am not very talented. I am not that good at anything.” That is a lie. That is a lie. I hate to be that direct but that is a fact. God says that we are all made in the image of Him. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. I have gifts that you don’t have. You have gifts that I don’t have. You give your talents to God and watch Him take the talents and watch Him development them like you wouldn’t believe. When someone receives Christ they have a supernatural sense about their abilities, and their abilities go much, much further than someone who does not know Christ.
Have you given your talents and abilities to God? “Well, Ed, you don’t understand. I am a self-made man. I pulled myself up by the bootstraps, boy. I did it. I run the show. It is my company.” Who gave you the drive? Who gave you the leadership ability? Who gave you your life? Who allows your heart to beat? It is God. Won’t you give your talents and gifts to him? You won’t turn into some spiritual weirdo. Jesus was a real man, a man’s man. And Christianity is the way and the truth and the life.
This morning Santa Claus came to our house. Now as you know, Lisa and I have four children. Our twins are really a little young to comprehend Christmas. They are six months of age. LeeBeth, of course, being eight, is into Christmas. Talk about someone who is in a frenzy though, it would be EJ who is three. EJ came down the stairs with the video camera rolling and the first thing he saw was the Power Ranger Mannequin. He lost it. He was so excited. Then he got a Power Ranger cup and a bowl. He will be eating every single meal from this bowl. Power Ranger this, Power Ranger that. It is one of the most popular gifts in 1994.
I, however, am talking about a Power Manger. A Power Ranger is fine and dandy, but I am talking about a Power Manger. I want you to build a Power Manger out of your heart and allow Christ to be born there. Just see what He will do. You haven’t even touched the tip of the iceberg when you get in touch with the true power, the Power Manger. That is my prayer for you this Christmas. And that is Christmas. To receive God’s gift and then to exchange gifts with Him and to realize the Way is a Manger.