Christmas: You Are Invited

I want you to think with me about the best Christmas party you have ever been too.

When in high school I went to what Im pretty sure was my Dads bosses, bosses, bosses, Christmas party.

And I am not exaggerating this Christmas party felt like it took place a Bruce Wayne's mansion. I mean the house was huge!

But we pull in and we figured that you just park your car, but they had vallet parking

Then they had a red carpet on their drive way that you walked up after they took your car.

And when we walked the place was huge, and not just that but it was decoreated amazingly.

Throughout the house there were ice scalpers of snow men that were bigger then me, then they had food catered, live music, They had an indoor pool that they somehow placed a floor over that made it into a dance floor.

I mean I have come to the conclusion that I will probably never be invited to a nicer Christmas party in my life.

But you know there is something big about Christmas isn’t there? I mean we make a huge deal for it.

I mean I am one of those people that starts watching Christmas movies the day after Halloween.

But you know we are a people that long for Christmas because there is this hope that comes with it.

And you know as we dive into this story that we just read.

Its important to understand that the Jewish people at this time longed for a savior to come down.

And so Jesus entering the world was huge, but there is a detail thats a little odd

because in the story the time comes for Mary to give birth and they have just finished traveling.

And Its in verse 7 that we read it gives us this detail:

Luke 2:7 (NIV)

7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

You know we are told Mary actually ends up having to give birth in what was the equivalent of a barn.

It was probably cold, uncomfortable, and she has to place her child in a manger which was a feeding troff for animals.

But the part that catches my attention is because there was no room available anywhere else.

And you would think that Mary would be able to explain how She is giving birth to Jesus (The Messiah) and she would show her family tree and go yeah see this is the real deal.

and they would find a way to make room, but whats crazy is they don’t.

And every year I read this and think what in the world! How could they miss this?!

I mean how could you miss the coming of a person that the world has been looking for

How could you miss this hope, this joy the love this peace that has come to the world

But heres the thing because I think its easy to find ourselves in a place where we can be looking for hope in our lives, we are looking for peace, Joy and all of this stuff,

But we look for it in the wrong areas.

Because we are people that love to fill our lives with things.

And lets say that this Nativity scene represents our lives.

Its easy to find ourselves filling out lives where we start to fill it with sports, we throw in relationships, maybe our job, maybe its something even really toxic like an addiction or a habit thats even hurts us.

But what happens is often times we fill our lives with these things, and a lot of these (no all of them), but a lot of them are really good things.

But the issue is these can be the things we find our hope in and its easy to get to a place where we look for our hope or fulfillment

and so often in filling our lives with these thing we begin to push Jesus to the outskirts.

And I dont know about you but there have been times I have caught myself doing this

But can I tell you the really good news about Christmas? Because while so often in our lives we can catch ourselves pushing Jesus to the outskirts, He makes us His center focus.

And really He invites us into His story,

Because what happens is right after this angels come to Shepard's telling them to come and see the messiah that will deliver them.

And whats so crazy is Shepard's were considered the lowest in society.

I mean these guys were the ones that smelled bad, they usually were not the best people, a lot of them had made mistakes

In fact it even said that they lived with their sheep, they did not really have a place in society.

And I am not sure if anyone else has ever been here but there have been times I have found myself feeling like a Shepard.

Because we are a people where we make mistakes.

Not that but sometimes we don’t really feel like we fit in anywhere

We feel like we are far away from others.

But here is the beautiful part of this story because while occasionally we can live in a world that feels dark

There is a light that comes into the world and He changes everything.

You one really part of the interesting parts of the Christmas story is that as Mary got ready to place Jesus in the manger she wrapped Jesus in swaddling clothes,

And this kind of seems like a given (because when a baby is born thats what you do), so you kind of wonder why the author would even include the picture of Jesus getting swaddled.

But heres the thing (because I had a friend who pointed this out to me a couple years ago), but the author who wrote this was very intentional.

And really a swaddle in Biblical times were not one of these nice ones, but it was actually might have looked something like this: and actually they were ripped and torn clothes.

And I think there is something powerful here because our lives and the world we live in can feel torn. (begin to tear sheets)

We get a medical diagnosis and our world feels torn

We get betrayed by our friend and our world feels torn

We loose our job unexpectantly and we don’t know what to do

Maybe you are a parent and you are just tired and you feel worn out

Maybe there is just anxiety or depression in your life and its beating you up

Maybe the world seems dark

Maybe there is an addiction

But here is the beautiful thing right here, because while we look at this pile of clothes we might go what could come from this,

But the beautiful thing is Mary wrapped these around Jesus.

And maybe this evening your life feels like these clothes, (it feels torn or dark)

Here is the beautiful part of Christmas that we can take the torn pieces of our life to Christ, regardless of where we are and when these areas are given to Him, somthing beutiful can happen.

And let me close with this because the shepards were people who’s world may have been torn, but they leave Jesus differently because in verse 20 we are told:

Luke 2:20 (NIV)

20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen…

You know the shepherds lives may have felt torn there may be areas where they lost alignment and pushed God out of the center of their lives,

And its easy to get to a place like this

but Here is the beutiful part of this message, as we give the torn pieces of our lives to Christ, I believe we can’t help but praise Him and align our lives

Where some of these areas are still a part of our lives, but they are centered around Jesus.

And so as we close we are going to be moving to the candle light portion of the service

And those helping with the lighting the candles will be coming forward, and the lights will begin to go down.

They will light the candles in the middle and then just pass it down to those in your row.

But can I just ask you this evening is there a place that feels dark or torn?

What would it look like to be able to give those areas to Christ.

Because the reason we do this candlelight part is not because its just pretty, but its because it represents the light of the world that has come down for you.

And as we close maybe this evening the world you live in is dark, how amazing would it be to look at the light in front as we sing these songs and maybe ask Christ to enter the situations, and even your life

And not for Him to just enter your life, but for Him to reorient your life.

So let me pray for us and then we will sing these songs: