God Has Come – Open Your Hearts And Receive Him
December 23, 2007
Part 4 of 2007 Advent series – God comes: Open your eyes to see Him, your ears to hear Him, your mouth to proclaim it, and your heart to receive Him!
We are almost all the of the way through the Season of Advent!
The Sanctuary is still beautifully decorated – the Chrismon tree is still up and the Chrismons are still in place – the garland – the wreaths – and the poinsettias are beautifully placed around the sanctuary – and now four of the candles on the Advent Wreath has been lit.
Yes – we are almost all of the way through the Season of Advent!
Almost all of the way through Advent – and that can only mean one thing –
Christmas is coming!
Christmas is coming!
Of course, all you have to do is look around you and you’ll know that Christmas is near. The beautiful Church decorations – the burning Advent candles — the parties we are having parties and making plans for — the fact that the Joy Gift program was last Sunday night — the fact that we have reached out to those in the community in need for Christmas – the fact the young people gathered to practice for the Christmas Eve service yesterday — and all of the other activities that are taking place lets you know that Christmas is coming!
And — in the world outside the church you can also tell that Christmas is coming! Newspapers are stuffed with flyers from stores advertising special sales – stores are decorated for Christmas – the sound of Christmas music can be heard in the stores – stores are full of shoppers – and the lights downtown on the Christmas tree and around the mall are shining brightly . Television stations are showing Christmas specials – many that are heartwarming stories of love and laughter.
Yes – Christmas is coming!
When you add in everything else December brings – decorating, Christmas shopping, parties, family gatherings, etc., etc. etc., — well – there is very little doubt that Christmas is indeed coming!
Christmas is coming!
It’s 2 days away!
These words can make children’s eyes get big with anticipation and excitement – and adults eyes get big with fear over all they have to do and not much time to do it in!
Christmas is coming!
But – wait – it’s not Christmas yet.
Christmas is coming – but it is not here!
Christmas is still 2 days away – and while this is the last Sunday in Advent it is still the Season of Advent!
Advent is a season we overlook so many times as we rush to Christmas.
Advent is not promoted by the world outside the church – the world that rushes to Christmas before Halloween is over – and so many times it is overlooked by churches also. But – even though it is overlooked many times – it is an important season for us.
Advent is a time for waiting for the coming of Christ – preparing our hearts and minds for Christ to come into our lives and change us.
Advent is important because it gives us an opportunity to realize that Christ is with us – that God has come into our lives and our world – has changed us – and can change our world.
Advent is important because it gives us an opportunity to see that God is active in our lives and in our world – an opportunity to hear God’s activity in our lives and in our world – an opportunity to proclaim the activity of God in our lives and in our world – and an opportunity to open our hearts and let God come again into our lives and change us.
Advent can be a time for:
Open eyes to see God
Open ears to hear God
Open mouths to tell about God
and Open hearts to accept God
We’re looking at these aspects of the Season of Advent as we go through this Season this month.
God has come!
Open your eyes to see God
Open your ears to hear God
Open mouths to tell about God
Open your hearts to accept God
3 weeks ago we looked at Mark 13:32-37 and discovered that we need to be vigilant – keeping our eyes open to see that God is at work in our world.
2 weeks ago we looked at Mark 1:1-8 and saw how we need to hear the good news that God has come into our world.
Last week we looked at Luke 1:26-56 – and learned how we can open our mouths and proclaim the great things God has done for us.
Today we are going to look at the birth of Christ as Luke records it in Luke 2:1-20 – and see how we need to open our hearts and let Christ enter our lives and make a difference to us.
Listen to God’s word in Luke 2:1-20
Merry Christmas!
We exchange that greeting quite often this time of year – and in 2 days we can wish a Merry Christmas to everyone we see on Christmas day itself!
Merry Christmas!
What do those words mean to you?
What does Christmas mean to you?
Well, for some Christmas might mean Santa – what Santa is going to bring – toys and candy and all the things a child can imagine. That vision of Christmas can excite us.
What does Christmas mean to you?
For others Christmas might mean shopping – getting gifts to give — trying to pick out a “perfect gift” for a friend or loved one. That vision of Christmas can really tire us.
What does Christmas mean to you?
For others it might mean family gatherings and good times together. This vision of Christmas is – for the most part – one that warms our hearts.
For many people Christmas might mean decorations – houses with bright lights and decorated trees – and these days even decorated yards complete with lights shaped into statues of deer of larger than life inflatable Santas or snowmen.
What does Christmas mean to you?
I suspect Christmas means a combination of things to you.
I know it does for me.
I can remember Christmases when I was growing up.
Being the youngest I kept the excitement and wonder of Christmas longer than my older – and wiser — sisters. I lived in Rock Hill, and my family would always go to Charlotte to see “The Singing Christmas Tree” at Ovens Auditorium – a wonderful program that featured a choir singing from a Christmas Tree shaped platform – much as what they have at Florence Baptist Temple. We would then go out to eat – and maybe go to see the lights – not to mention the sights of sounds – of downtown Charlotte – complete with store windows at Belk’s and Ivey’s department stores decorated with animated Santas, elves, and the like. This was in the late 1950’s and early to mid 1960’s when downtown Charlotte was still the major shopping area and no one knew what a Mall was!
I was always enthralled with downtown Charlotte at Christmas.
About a week before Christmas I would get a phone call from Santa. That would be a highlight of the season for me.
On Christmas Eve we would go to Church – then come home and get ready for bed. We would put out cookies and cokes for Santa and each of the reindeer – including, of course, Rudolph.
It would seem like the longest night of the year – until finally Christmas day would dawn – and my sisters and I would bound into the Living Room to see what Santa had left us. For me it would usually be a cowboy hat and pistol – or an electric train – or an electric football game – or a ball.
One year – I was probably around 2 or 3 — I got a wooden Rocking Horse on springs that I rode for hours every day – wearing out countless sets of springs. It got to where the man at our local Hardware store would point to the rack where the big springs were every time Mom entered the store! I named the Rocking Horse “Book A By” – and whenever Mom and Dad would go anywhere and leave me with a baby sitter they’d have to explain to them that “Book A By” was my horse, “muck a much” was what I called water – or really anything liquid – and other words I would use that may not be easily translated by anyone not versed in the language I spoke as a young child. For instance, if I said “Book A By ka muck a muck” that meant my horse wanted water!
I also remember as a teenager the year I got my first “real” drum set – a chrome Ludwig snare drum with a pearl Ludwig bass drum – 2 matching mounted tom toms – a matching floor tom tom – 1 small and 1 larger standing Zildzen cymbals and a high hat set of 2 cymbals. If you know anything about drums and drum equipment in the mid to late 1960’s you’ll recognize those names! I’m not sure Mom and Dad ever forgave Santa for that – for drumming became a passion of mine that grew more and more expensive with each new drum or cymbal – and also because louder and louder. I really don’t see how my parents tolerated it!
Well — by late afternoon when the house was a wreck and everyone exhausted – it would be time to go to my Grandmother’s house for the “family gathering” – complete with cousins and other folks you didn’t know.
So – my memories of Christmas are a combination of sights – sounds – and emotions.
Yours probably are, too.
But – what does Christmas mean to you?
Increasingly – for me – Christmas has come to mean a celebration of God’s love – and the wonderful fact that God has come into our world through Christ – and continues to come into our world.
Christmas is a celebration of love.
A celebration of God’s love – a love so great that God did not let us die in sin but provided salvation for us through Jesus Christ – this baby in the manger who became an adult on the cross – and who died for our sins and yet rose again so we can have everlasting life.
Christmas is a celebration of God’s coming into our lives through Jesus Christ.
Irenaeus – a Christian leader from the first century – put it this way:
“The Son of God became a son of man – so that the sons of men could become sons of God”
Did you catch that?
“The Son of God became a son of man – so that the sons of men could become sons of God”
What a beautiful – wonderful thought that is. The thought that God would become like us – so we can become like Him.
I believe that the coming of God into our world through Christ tells us a lot about God.
It tells us that God does not let us die in our sins without the opportunity for salvation.
It tells us that God does not leave us in our suffering and sorrow of this life.
It tells us that God does not abandon us in the hardest and harshest times of our lives.
It tells us that — in the hardest and harshest times – God comes.
It tells us that God comes with hope and with new possibilities.
The good news the angels brought to the shepherds on that first Christmas night was the news that their lives as the poorest of the poor in a country occupied by the Roman army could be different. God had come – Christ had been born – and all things could be different.
The good news God brings to us today is that – even in the midst of the tragedies of our lives – the times when things seem to be the lowest they can be – times of war and violence – times of economic distress and joblessness – times when children go hungry while adults do what they want – times when poverty is rampant – times when despair and depression want to grab us and not let us go – even in all these times and despite all these things – God has come – Christ has been born – things can be different.
The news of Christmas is good news – Christ has been born – God has come!
Christmas means that God has come!
Christmas means that we can see God in the world and in our lives – hear God’s presence in our world and in our lives – tell everyone we know that God is active in our world and in our lives – and open our hearts to receive God – so that in our world and in our lives can really make a difference in our world and in our lives.
God has come!
God has come!
Open your heart and receive God.
Open your heart and receive God.
In the midst of our lives – God has come – and God continues to come and to work in our lives and in our world for His will for salvation and love and justice and healing.
Sometimes we have to stop from the hustle and bustle of our lives and really reflect on the glorious fact that God has come.
In 1973 my Dad and I went on a trip with some other members of my Church to Israel. Early one morning our tour bus left Jerusalem early. I was a cloudy November day but our spirits were high – we were going to Bethlehem – the town of Jesus’ birth. As we rode through the hills of Judea that surrounded Bethlehem we were filled with excitement and anticipation. As we made a steep turn, the town of Bethlehem lay below us – and everyone on the bus began singing:
O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie.
It did not take us long, though, to realize that Bethlehem was anything but still.
Our bus passed people rushing to market – merchants selling their wares – young children running along the side of bus – ready for the doors to open so they could rush on the bus and sell us “souvenirs”. The bus finally stopped in front of the Church of the Nativity – and when we finally made our way through the crowds into the Church we enjoyed the quiet we found. We sat in pews – waiting our turn to walk down the narrow steps to view the replica of the manger where Christ was born. When it came our turn to walk down the steps, Dad and I stood in awe at the place that must have been just like it was when Christ was born – a cold, damp, cave, far away from the crowded streets. As we walked back through the crowded and confusing streets of Bethlehem to our bus, we still had a feeling of peace – and joy. We had taken a few moments to remember the purpose of our trip.
We had taken a few moments to remember the purpose of our lives.
Christmas means that God has come.
Christmas means that God has comes.
God has come into our lives.
God has come into our world.
God has come with hope and healing and love and grace.
God has come.
Open your heart and receive God.
Open your heart and receive God.
That’s the message of Christmas.
God has come.
Open your heart and receive God.
Open your heart and receive God.
Friends – that is what Christmas is really all about.
Sure – Santa and gifts and decorations and family are all a part of what Christmas is all about – but beyond all these things – Christmas is all about God – who has come into our lives and into our world and changes them with His great love.
God has come.
God has come into our lives – whatever situations we may find ourselves in – God has come.
God has come — into our world – whatever situations there may be – God has come.
God has come.
Realize it
Open your heart and receive Him.
See God at work.
Hear God at work.
Share with others that God is at work.
Make a difference for God’s glory in the lives of others.
Be God’s instruments of love and grace and a different way to live in the lives of those who need to experience God’s love – God’s grace – and the difference God can make in the world.
God has come.
Open your heart and receive God.
Open your heart and receive God.
You know –when we open our hearts receive God – when we share God’s love and God’s will with others – when we open our ears to hear God at work and open our eyes to see God at work — we experience God again for ourselves.
The Son of God became a son of man – so that the sons and daughters of men could become sons and daughters of God.
God has come.
That’s what Christmas means.
God has come.
Open your eyes to see Him.
Open your ears to hear Him.
Open your moth to tell others about Him.
Open your heart to receive Him.
God has come.
Amen
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