Prepare Him Room

Luke 2:7 ESV

And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

It has been said that Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. It can also be argued that it is the busiest time of year. We make preparations for friends and family. We make preparations for Christmas parties. We make preparations for children and grandchildren to be excited on Christmas morning. How often we go about the Christmas season as busy as Bethlehem was on the night of our Savior’s birth.

Bethlehem was busy because the Emperor Caesar Augustus wanted a census of the people. Like the United States every ten years, tt was common for a census was taken every fourteen years for tax purposes. Verse 3, of our text reveals that people in the region were to return to their hometown to be counted. Bethlehem was Josephs’ legal residence. So he and Mary, along with several hundred, if not a thousand people, made their way back to David’s city. No preparations could be made for our Savior to be born. By the time Joseph and his very pregnant wife Marry arrived in Bethlehem, there was no room for them at the inn. The city was too crowded and busy for Jesus. In my short time on earth, I have found that reality to be the same for most of us.

We Americans too often find lives too crowded and busy for the Savior. We fill our lives with work, sports, entertainment, school, vacations, and with important people from work, community, and maybe family. We have so much to do and attend to, good things even, that we leave little to no room for Christ to live, work, and have his being in our life.

Let’s take a moment to reflect on the business of Bethlehem and the business that fills much of your life. For a brief few minutes, lets ponder Luke 2:7 and ask ourselves three simple questions to see if we have made life to crowded and busy for Jesus.

HAS CHRIST FOUND A HOME IN YOUR HEART?

The Bible says that your heart is the well-spring of life (Proverbs 4:23). In Hebrew culture, the heart was the center of knowledge and the space where your decisions were made. As one commentator put it, your heart is who you are, the true you that directs all your thoughts and emotions. Jesus taught that from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Furthermore, he said it was from the heart that evil comes (Matthew 15:18-20; 12:34).

It is in your heart that faith does its work. A new heart is what God promised his people in Ezekiel 36:26-27, a heart that would trust him, love him, and obey him. Where your heart is inclined to go depends on what or who rules your heart. Ask yourself, “What rules my heart? Who has the supreme authority over my heart? If you says you do, or your spouse or children do, then it is likely that your heart is as busy and as crowded as Bethlehem.

As yourself, what moves you the most? What stirs your affections and desires? What gets your blood pumping? Does it have anything to do with Jesus? Or is it geared more toward politics, sports, family, work, or Facebook? The Bible teaches that God is to be the supreme treasure of your heart. He is the one who is supposed to capture your affections the most. Christmas is the time God sent his Son, the radiance of His Glory, the second Person of the Trinity, who is very God, into the world so that he can be your Messiah King.

Christmas is t time to receive him into your heart. The child was born so that he could die for your sin, your unbelief, your coldness of heart. He knocks at the door of your heart asking to come in and fellowship with you. By faith, confess your sin and repent, ask him for forgiveness (He promises to forgive your) and simply ask him to come, and he will find a home in your heart.

HAS CHRIST FOUND A HOME IN YOUR HEAD?

What captures your head space the most? What do you spend your time thinking about? What grabs your imagination? So many people are burdened by restless thinking. Their minds are consumed with burden after burden. Will we keep the lights on this month? Is the cancer benign or malignant? What will become of my wayward son or daughter? Will this pandemic every end? Why are so many people angry with me because I did not get the vaccine? Why did I make that person feel horrible because the didn’t get the vaccine? Will our country every get back to place of civility?

Do you see how quickly your head can become crowded and busy? I can understand why so many people are wound up tights these days. They have a lot on their mind.

The Bible teaches that your thoughts and intentions, that is your desires, come from the heart (Hebrews 4:12). If your head is crowded with unanswered questions or wondering thoughts of despair, then it is likely your heart is burdened by fear, anger, and even depression. You find yourself restless, moving from one thing to the next, hoping that thing will fill the void.

That child who born into poverty, in a time when a king Herod wanted to kill him, in days of uncertainty, grew up to say, “ come all unto me who are weary and I will give you rest.” I will give you rest from your anxieties and your hopelessness. I will give you a new yoke, a new labor that means something and your work, your labor on this earth, will bear eternal fruit. I will restore your purpose. I will fill your heart and your thoughts with my love and my Word.

Christmas is a time to receive God’s Word, the Word that is God and became flesh. Receive His living and active Word that is sharper than a two-edge sword. It is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of your heart. God’s Word has the ability to bring the temperature down in your life. But that only happens if you listen to him and build your house on the truth of His truth.

One way you can do this is by opening your Bibles up every day and being a part of a Bible believing church on a regular basis. Too many of you believe you can get buy on two spiritual meals a year: Christmas and Easter. Just as you would be foolish to only eat a meal twice a year and expect to live life abundantly, so it is just as foolish to think you can come to church twice a year and receive God’s word and find rest. God has given you his word to fill your head and heart so that you would not sin against Him. As you eat his Bread of Life, your soul is nourished and finds rest, even when the waves are crashing upon your house. His word is a meal that is meat to be enjoyed everyday and in the company of other believers. This Christmas Eve, make a commitment to receive God’s Word so that Christ can put your thoughts in order, nourish your soul, and give you His fellowship among his people.

HAS CHRIST FOUND A HOME IN YOUR HOME?

This Christmas, you home will likely be filled with friends and family. There will be good times of food and fellowship. Does Christ have a seat at your table?

God has been kind to my family. He has given us six children, though one is with him. Our schedule can become overwhelming as each child participates in sports and church activities. We can go months at a time without eating at the table together. Unfortunately, even reading the bible together is spares at times. All that said, we have a bad habit of prioritizing our schedule around our wordly life more than our eternal life. We keep busing our lives and crowding our schedules until Jesus is pushed out of the way until he is literally out the door.

Jesus tells his disciples, “ I am the Way, the Truth, and The Life. No one comes to the Father but by Me.” (John 14:6) Jesus is the center piece of every family. He is the blazing sun by which every family should orbit. Your family loses its way if Christ is not the center of its orbit. Your family is easily deceived if Jesus is not the single truth by which you live by. Your family dies if Jesus is not your life.

Christmas is a time for you look upon this child who was born to restore heaven and earth, to be the light that shines in the darkness, to be the blessing by which every family on earth is blessed by. Christ has given you the way, the truth, and the life in Himself, in His word, and in his church. Make a commitment this Christmas to give him his place in your home.

Prepare Him Room

There is a song we love to sing at FBCL during the Christmas season. It is called “Prepare Him Room.” The third verse sings

“Oh, our hearts, as busy as Bethlehem Hear Him knock, don’t say there’s no room in the inn Through the cradle, cross, and grave See the love of God displayed Now He’s risen and He reigns Praise the Name above all names!

Prepare Him room Prepare Him room Let the King of glory enter in

This Christmas, don’t say there is no room in the inn of your heart, your head, and your home. The birth of Jesus is one of the greatest displays of God’s love next to the cross and resurrection. He is the King, the name above all names. Tonight, prepare Him room. Let the King of glory enter in and rule your life now and forever.