The Miracle of the Method

We’ve been in the Christmas season now for a few weeks…the celebration of the birth of Jesus…we’ve been thinking about Him and all that He is…all that God intended Him to be for us.

Caroling

Christmas Eve

Christmas Mart

Prayers for our community…our neighbors. Still more deaths recently from this virus. Many of you probably know of people who are still being affected in all sorts of ways. We know our families in our day care and in our schools have affected recently.

Kentuck Illinois Tennessee…many other states …recent storms.

While in the Christmas season so far this year…the celebration of the birth of Jesus…we’ve been thinking about Him and all that He is…all that God intended Him to be for us.

We’ve talked about God’s timing. His timing of having Jesus born, would have had to have been perfect for all of humanity. And we looked at some of the situations in history that seem to show that it was, from our limited human thinking…a very good time. And again, if God is perfect…then His timing in our lives is perfect as well. We just need to watch for Him…not let ourselves get in the way. We know that happens and we’re thankful for God’s grace when our sin nature doesn’t allow His timing to have it’s maximum effect in our lives.

Last week we looked at what God is saying to the world. We looked at His message. Again, if God is perfect, then the way He communicates with us would need to be perfect…if we don’t hear Him it is probably because there is something within us that is blinding us to Him or keeping us from hearing Him.

But we looked at what that message might be. We found by looking at many passages that the message was Jesus. He was the best way of showing God’s love, care…and even showing His plan to bring us back to Him. Jesus even said, recorded by John in his gospel - John 14:6, that “I am the way the truth and the life.” That statement, if you think about it…is an overwhelmingly encompassing message.

Ultimately, Jesus was showing us what a life, life as it was intended, can look like…and how it could be lived with God and with others (one of Jesus’ nicknames is the “second Adam.” (Love God Love People)…Jesus did that perfectly and was not only the example, the message, for us on how to do that but was also the way for us to get back to that kind of life. He was also the exact representation of God’s image for us to see.

Today we’re going to look at something that some of have probably thought of before…we’re going to look at this in two ways. What was God’s Method for sharing this message in such a timely manner for the world to begin to know Him more? What was God’s method?

Ever think about how Santa delivers all of those presents in one night? I have. I mean you’re talking millions of kids all over the planet. And to be honest…it really isn’t just one night…because of Time Zones there’s more than a full day of hours to deliver all of those presents. But the weight of the sleigh and the speed of travel is astronomical. Some have done the math on this …and to get to all of those houses that amount of time he would still need to travel at more than 1200 times faster than the fastest jet fighter.

Someone did some weight calculations for the bag of presents being lugged around by the reindeer and found that if each child received just a small Lego set, the bag would weigh over 600,000 tons.

…and then there’s the cookies and milk. You’re looking at over 700,000,000 cookies averaging just a few per household…and a regular glass of milk equals out to 23 Olympic sized swimming pools.

So you can see how this is very improbable - from our limited point of view. Many have, like characters in the movie The Miracle on 34th Street, tried to figure out how he does it. In that movie Santa explains how time slows down for him. It’s not a problem at all when he can slow time way down. He keeps moving at a normal speed…but all of us are moving so slow it looks as though we’re standing still.

Now…you’re probably thinking…right. Some of you aren’t thinking now though you’re just hungry for sugar cookies.

But if I were to tell you the account of how there was this baby born a long time ago…one who would grow up to become the savior of the world, you might not believe me either. Or would you?

What was God’s method?

A little boy and girl were singing their favorite Christmas carol in church the Sunday before Christmas. The boy concluded “Silent Night” with the words, “Sleep in heavenly beans.” “No,” his sister corrected, “not beans, peas.”

So while thinking about that famous night long ago...

let’s look at some scripture that first shows some theological foundations for us. It is always helpful, when thinking about how and why and ‘what if’ questions about God, to make sure you have a theological point from which to start. And, yes, this does mean maybe becoming the little child and asking the questions “why?” and “how?” over and over.

So for this, like the last few weeks, we can reasonably start with God is perfect. If God is perfect, then His method would be what’s needed. it wouldn’t just be cool or awesome for a great story to tell over and over around a Christmas tree…the method would be what would be best for us as well…what would be best for humanity. And we do have some Biblical authors who try to help us here. At least with that starting point. Where to begin the questions of “why?”

One of the best foundational statements for figuring out why God does things the way He does is this....

And this is our main passage for today, and this is from Paul…he’s writing to the church in Rome and we’ll be referencing it a few times. This is a hymn…you might notice in your Bible how it is indented. That tells us that this isn’t just something Paul’s writing but that it has a bit more significance…either a hymn that Paul has written or a hymn that churches are beginning to use. And guess what…it is full of theological statements. It is from Romans 11:33-34

Romans 11:33–34 (CSB)

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his ways!

34 For who has known the mind of the Lord?

Paul goes on to question the reader…that would be those 1st century Christians in Rome…and us for sure… Who has ever given to God as though God needs to repay them? And then Paul continues…everything has come from God and all the glory is due back to Him.

In a very real way, Paul is echoing Job here. Some of you will remember Job…walking through grief and suffering at the direct hand of Satan…but never blaming God. But then Job does do something…He demands an answer from God for His reason for allowing suffering. God then goes into a huge response to Job asking Job…did you create the oceans and the leviathan and the ways of nature etc....Job has to concede.

Job finally comes to the conclusion…I can’t know all of the ways of God, but I can trust Him.

Depths of wisdom and knowledge. We can research how he makes decisions, but we are not going to know everything…and His ways are untraceable. If you think you can figure God out completely…you probably can’t. We can know some things for sure…but to know His ways…wow…That’s what Paul is thinking about here.

I recently heard a commercial for a face cream product. I’m assuming its new. It was early in the morning and I was just listening to a little bit of news when this commercial came on. And you all know how these commercials go…about 30 seconds of describing what this product does and then about what seems like 30 minutes of warnings and do’s and don’ts etc.

This one started out with what this product can do for dry skin or psoriasis or whatever…then it begins to go into the legalese. “The way this product works has yet to be defined.” We know it works…but we have no idea how. Then the commercial went into …stop using it if you have an allergic reaction or a rash forms. You know the logical stuff. We know what’s in it…we know it works…but we don’t quite know how.

So we think about Christmas…and we think…Wow! We know the purpose of Jesus…given what scripture says and all... But why this way? God’s method here seems kind of hard to believe, like how Santa delivers all of those presents…maybe another way to say it might be…God’s method probably won’t match with what we would want or do according to the world’s standards.

Let’s look at the Christmas story...

What do we see? Joseph…an unassuming carpenter, Mary…a good kid…a young unmarried lady. Humble people…good hearted people. Humble parents. And Jesus came as a baby…he was born. He grew inside Mary’s womb and then was born. In a stable …with a feeding trough as a crib. And where?... a little village. It’s interesting that in the Old Testament when this area was mentioned as a part of the promised land…cities around it are listed…Bethlehem is left out. It’s just a tiny place. Today it would have been that obscure town that didn’t even have a stoplight…just a stop sign in the middle of town.

Here we have the parents God chose…the place God chose…the manner God chose. Simple…ordinary…humble beginnings. This is the way God brought His son into the world. This is the method God used.

If we were to bring the savior of the world into reality in our day, how would we do it?  I would assume that this person, the savior, would be charismatic and likable…We’d have a list of characteristics we’d like to see in a “Savior” - we’d probably think superhero status right? Probably photogenic and an expert in front of a video camera.  I think most of us would also see this savior as someone knowledgeable of international events and have incredible influence over international leaders.  We would all expect this person's arrival to be seen on all the news networks as the lead story. They would have a calendar full of interviews. This person would have the most popular TikTok and Youtube channels and their Twitter account would have billions of followers. I mean we'd probably just start with that and add more and more.  We'd also expect this person to be friends with all the well-known and powerful people. I think we could only imagine what their list of contacts and connections would look like.  Famous, popular, powerful, that mega superstar smile.

In a second we’re going to read what the prophet Isaiah says about God…remember we’re thinking about God’s Method in saving the world....

Look through history and you’ll see this. God chose unnoticed, humble, imperfect people to carry on His message…to be a part of His story of redemption. And how does God carry this same message out on this side of Jesus' birth? Well, after the resurrection, we don’t see Jesus going to social media and to the temple to show off to the nay-sayers and the haters. What’s He do? He continues to meet with the 12, and a number of other believers to teach and to show himself trustworthy…that he really was alive…and then again…HIS METHOD…is to share this message of saving the world with the 11 plus 1 …and then he goes back…entrusting his spirit with each one of them. This really doesn’t follow what we would think would be wise. But we’re not God are we?

Isaiah 55:8-9

Isaiah 55:8–9 CSB

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration. 9 “For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Why? Why does God say this? What is the difference? I think we can answer this question. And this is the question to ask…why would God feel the need to tell us these truths?

Sin separates us from God. Now we know what those words mean on the surface. But here’s what sin also does…it clouds our ability to really know God. We’re stuck in the world of sin…of imperfection…that is driven mostly by the “self.” Meaning we tend to think in terms of worldly wisdom first. I say “tend to” because I do believe that when we begin to see and hear God more…He provides us with bits of insight…and I do think that’s because of the gift of His spirit being with us…but we’re still on this side of perfection.

Let’s look at the Christmas story a bit more. …Shepherds…these are the ones who receive what looks like to be the first big announcement. Then they tell others the news.... Shepherds. Shepherds were seen as important…but outcasts and here’s why. They were, by the laws of the temple, unclean because of their work. They weren’t allowed to enter the temple for worship. So when you hear the term “lowly” shepherds that really was the outlook…lowly. God announces the birth to these guys. And here we see another spot in God’s method where he uses people who the rest of society…maybe even us…would have overlooked.

Paul talks a little bit about this insight in his letter to the church in the city of Corinth…And Paul makes this distinction…rather bluntly. He’s not being mean…he’s simply being truthful.

1 Cor. 1:26–29

1 Corinthians 1:26–29 CSB

26 Brothers and sisters, consider your calling: Not many were wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth. 27 Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. 28 God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, 29 so that no one may boast in his presence.

…God brings incredible things into the world in odd and different ways…so that why? So that man can’t boast…so none of us can say, “Yeah, that was my idea....” It’s all God’s idea. His ways. His wisdom. Only He gets the glory and gratitude.

We like to feel good about what we are able to do...don’t we? We do…we like to be known by what we can do…by our smarts or our wisdom or our ideas…or our creations…abilities.

But God says, this way is the best way. Jesus is the best way. This is the best way to save the world. This is the best way to love the world.

Think now about your life. Our lives. How would we like to grow to become more like Christ? How would we like to best become a more mature and honorable Christian? I’m sure all of us would have ideas, wouldn’t we? But here we are, living in an imperfect world…where we walk through tough times, where we’re sometimes made fun of or even persecuted for following Christ. And not only those things but as we grow…it feels as though we take 1 step forward and 2 steps back all the time! Is this how we would choose to grow? I don’t think we would choose this way…but God continues to work in us, through His Spirit, for His purposes and ours. He does what is best for us.

This is sometimes mysterious to us, isn’t it?

But remember what we talked about earlier with Job and Paul…saying that there’s no way to really know God and His ways...

They both come to the conclusion…I can’t know all of the ways of God, but I can trust Him.

The miracle of the method is that God used a simple and ordinary birth to bring our savior to us....and now he continues to use people like you and me to accomplish extraordinary things for the sake of His kingdom.

Luke 2:12

Luke 2:12 CSB

12 This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.”

Let’s pray...