The Miracle of the Message

Introduction

When I worked as an EMT, I had one partner who was a Mormon, and as part of his missionary work when he was younger, he learned American Sign Language. He was very fluent in it and whenever we had patients who were deaf, it was actually quite miraculous. I mean, I know how to finger spell, but he would communicate with such ease. I remember one time in particular that I had a deaf child in my care and I was not working with this guy, I felt completely lost, had it not been for the little boy’s mother, there would have been no way to know what was wrong. As I watched, I was particularly moved seeing her talk with her son, and how she was able to communicate the same care and comfort that I’d ever seen a mother do with words.

I can remember thinking how difficult it would be to be forced to learn sign language. I said something pretty lame like, “I don’t know how you did it. Sign language seems so hard to master. She could have been annoyed at that lame statement of an unthinking youth, but she graciously answered my query. She told me that it was indeed challenging, but that she wanted her son to know without a doubt how much she loved him. and cared for him, how valuable he was to her, how much he mattered to God. To her, learning sign language wasn't a burden but an expression of love.

As I watched the deaf communicate with one another, I couldn't help but reflect upon the significance of what God has done for us. I saw in that experience a living parable. We are here on earth, busy living our lives, pursuing our own agendas, but deaf to God's voice. We don't hear what God is trying to say to us. God has been trying to communicate His message to us, we aren't getting it. But rather than give up in frustration, God loves us so much that He desperately wants to reveal Himself to us in ways that we can understand. So He sends His very own Son to communicate His message in a way that we can understand. That is the miracle of Christmas. That is the miracle of the message.

Our Christmas sermon series is Experience the Miracle of Christmas. It is not enough to just know about the miracle of Christmas. We need to experience the miracle of Christmas in our own hearts and lives. Today we want to focus on The Miracle of the Message. We are using one of my favorite Christmas movies, Miracle on 34th Street, to help us illustrate and understand the miracle of Christmas.

In today's clip from the movie, notice how Kris Kringle interacts with a little girl who has come to the department store to see Santa. Part of the plot is that the daughter of Mrs. Walker doesn't believe in Santa and she witnesses Kris communicating with this little girl in a way that the little girl could understand.

(Show movie clip of Santa talking with the deaf girl https://youtu.be/U2UZ__XK_Ew?t=1988 ).

Did you see the miracle of the message? Kris Kringle communicated in a way the girl understood. He was able to speak her language. The author of Hebrews records this miracle of the message from God:

Hebrews 1:1–2 NKJV

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;

God sent Jesus to communicate His message in a way that we can understand! The miracle of the message is that God speaks to us today so that we can know Him and draw near to Him!

God speaks through history

God has been speaking throughout history to reveal Himself to us. He wants us to know Him, to love Him, to worship Him. God reveals Himself through His creation, through the sunrise and sunset, through the sun, moon and stars. God spoke to Moses in the burning bush, He spoke to the Israelites from the smoke and fire on the mountain, He spoke to Elijah in a still, small voice, to Isaiah in a vision in the temple. God spoke to Hosea through his family circumstances and to Amos in a basket of summer fruit. He spoke to Jeremiah through a potter's clay and to Joseph through dreams. God even spoke His message through a donkey! God has been speaking His message through visions and dreams, through angels, through Urim and Thummim, through symbols, natural events, and many other means. He could reveal Himself in Ur of the Chaldees, in Haran, or Canaan or Egypt or Babylon. There is no lack of variety for God's revelation is not a monotonous activity that must always occur in the same place or the in the same way. God has been speaking throughout history in a variety of places through a variety of means in order to make Himself and His will known.

Prior to the coming of Christ there had been 400 years of silence. Since the prophet Malachi last uttered his messages from God, there had been no prophets until John the Baptist arrived. God's revelations in the Old Testament were fragmentary, occasional, and progressive, because no single one of them contained the whole truth. They could not adequately capture the full picture of God's nature.

God had been speaking, but people weren't getting the message. They didn't understand God's heart. They didn't understand God's plan. Too many claimed to be speaking for God but they only misrepresented Him to others. Confusion, not understanding, resulted.

God speaks through Christ

But now, at last, God sent His Son to bring His message to us! In the Lord Jesus Christ, God revealed Himself directly to us. It is true that God revealed Himself through the words spoken by Jesus, through His message, but He did more than that. Jesus Christ is the living, divine Son of God. He did more than just proclaim God's message - He is God's message.

Jesus came to reveal God, to make Him known to us in ways that we can understand. The writer of Hebrews goes on to say of Jesus in verse 3,

Hebrews 1:3 NKJV

who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

John's Gospel describes Jesus as the Word becoming flesh and living among us. If you want to know what God is like, look to Jesus! When Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father, Jesus replied,

John 14:9 NKJV

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

Jesus declares

John 10:30 NKJV

I and My Father are one.”

God speaks to transform

The miracle of the message is not just in the fact that God speaks to us today through His Son, but that the message has the power to transform our lives. Christmas is the celebration of the greatest message ever proclaimed. God is with us. God came near so that we could draw near to Him.

1 Timothy 2:6 NKJV

who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,

The miracle of the message is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. Jesus came so that God could reveal Himself and His plan to us in a way that we could understand. Jesus came to proclaim God's message that we can be set free from sin's hold on our lives.

Why would He do that? Because He wanted us to know how very much He loves us. He wanted us to know that He created us for a reason - that we might know and love Him. He came to proclaim the message that we have been set free. We don't have to live as prisoners to guilt and regret.

Conclusion

Some of you this past year have received messages that have certainly changed your life. You heard the message from the doctor when he said, "It's cancer." You heard the message from your teenager, "I'm pregnant." You heard the message from your spouse, "I don't love you anymore, I want a divorce." As a result of the message your life has changed.

But in the midst of all, there is another message. "Nothing whatsoever can ever separate you from my love." He speaks, "Trust in Me with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge me, and I will direct your paths." In the midst of life's betrayals and bitter messages He whispers, "Forgive those who mistreat you." In the midst of life's messages of joy and celebration He shouts, "Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad!"

The miracle of Christmas is the miracle of the message - God loves you and me! Are you listening? Believe the message God is speaking to you and your life will never be the same!

Prayer

God, our Heavenly Father, in this holy, sacred moment you are speaking to our hearts through your Holy Spirit. Thank you for speaking so wondrously and clearly through your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank you for revealing to us the depths you would go in order to communicate your message to us in a way that we could understand.