12-18-11 A Stable Beginning

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us...

That statement is found in the first verse of the 12^th chapter of the book of Hebrews.

If you have an interest in taking a look at its context on your own,

you’ll discover that it follows a description in the 11^th chapter

of a number of men and women

whose lives did not go at all well from our human perspective

as a direct result of their decision to remain faithful to what God had revealed to them of Himself.

If I were to brutally paraphrase what I hear the author of Hebrews saying to us in this statement

my paraphrase would go something like this...

“Get a grip, you guys!

What? Do you think you are the first person in history to reach out to God

and discover in the process that what you’ve received is not at all what you expected,

and His response to your faith is not at all what you would have chosen?

Those who have come before us

truly were no different than you and I.

They could not see into the future

any more than we can.

Most of them did not see themselves as great people involved in great events.

They, too,

wondered if anyone noticed,

or cared,

or sometimes if it mattered at all.

And they, too, wondered at times

why their choices of trust in God so often seemed to make life harder rather than easier.

But they did not do what they did

because the world noticed.

They did what they did

because their God noticed,

and because He cared,

and because even though they frequently did not understand what He was doing, or why,

still they found Him to be good,

and to be more than adequate for all that they went through.

So look around you,

and see honestly the lives of God’s people who have come before,

and draw strength from what you see there,

and then run with endurance the race set before you by your God.”

(You can see why the Lord wisely did not involve me in the writing of the original text. :)

I have begun our time together today with this verse

and then with this paraphrase

because I have realized over the years

that one of Satan’s most effective tools for depriving us of the power of God’s Word in our lives

is the way in which he is able to convince us

that there was something fundamentally different

about the men and women whose lives we have recorded for us in Scripture.

He may convince us that trusting the Lord

was far easier in quiet, stable, rural communities 2000 years ago,

with no wrist watches, and no cars, and no cell phones, and no computers, and no internet,

than it is in the midst of all the complexities of our technological age.

Or he may suggest to us that the people themselves were different,

that there have been some “special people” throughout history,

people uniquely created by God,

people who saw the unseen world around them in ways we cannot see,

people who could hear His voice in ways we cannot hear,

people for whom “faith” came more easily.

But, whether he tells us the times were different or the people themselves were different,

the effect is the same.

Once we accept his deception,

when we read the accounts found throughout Scripture

of the lives of those who have come before us,

we automatically set them aside

as being irrelevant to our own unique situations.

And there is probably no other Biblical account

where this type of deception has happened to a greater degree

than with the account of the people involved in the events surrounding the birth of Christ.

For nearly 2000 years now

the world has held a mental image of Mary, and Joseph, and the shepherds, and baby Jesus, and the manger

that is utterly inconsistent with what must have actually existed.

Even the words we have selected to describe the setting

are designed to separate it from reality.

If I say the word, “Manger”,

what mental image does it create?

Of course,

we picture this nice little wooden crib,

all lined with clean straw,

with baby Jesus snuggled inside, sleeping peacefully.

Have you ever heard anyone use the word “manger”

to describe anything other than that special birth place of Jesus Christ?

The word itself has taken on a reverence,

a kind of special holiness that proclaims peace, and reverence,

a place where everything is right.

Do you know what the word actually means?

It means a feeding trough for livestock

or, more broadly, the stall in which livestock are kept.

Exactly the same word that we translate as “manger” in the Christmas account

appears again in Luke 13:15.

But this time listen to how it’s translated.

LUK 13:15 But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall, and lead him away to water him?

“...untie his ox or his donkey from the stall...”

Now, why isn’t it translated “manger”?

I think it’s because even the translators were affected by that Baby-Jesus-In-The-Manger image,

and they didn’t want to corrupt it

by using that special word

to describe just any ordinary, dirty old animal pen.

But the truth is there is no difference,

and even though it may seem like an act of reverence on our part

to place the Baby Jesus into His own special, warm, cozy, sanitized little manger,

if we do so

in the end we destroy a tremendous amount of the power

of what I believe we were designed to discover through the account of Jesus’ birth

as it is really presented to us in Scripture.

And to help us better appreciate what I want us to see here

it might help if we allow ourselves to live with Mary

as she moved through those nine months preceding the birth of Christ.

You see, there are some striking parallels between what she experienced

and what many of us experience

in our own walk with the King.

OK, let’s start where she started,

at what had to be one of the absolute high points of her life.

It all began at that point where God Himself barged into her life.

LUK 1:26-28, 30-33 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.” And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end. "

God has a way of doing that, you know -

barging into people’s lives.

If you know Him,

if you’ve entered His family through faith in Christ

then I think you know what I mean.

The details are unique with each of us,

but the end result is the same.

There we are, just trying to make it through life as best we can,

unaware of anything real about our God whatsoever.

And then suddenly He barges in.

We understood all about going to church occasionally,

and about trying to be a good person,

or at least as good as the next guy.

But this was something altogether different.

There was something far too REAL about this.

This wasn’t just going to church,

and tossing some money in the offering,

and promising to clean up our act a bit.

This was God Himself

wanting and expecting us to make some very real choices

about Him and His involvement in our lives.

And, just as with Mary,

suddenly He was THERE,

and He was asking for our permission to make some major changes inside us.

And He wanted us to say, “Yes.”

Of course with us He doesn’t ask us to give birth to His Son,

but He does ask that we allow Him to create something else inside us -

a new spirit,

and when we said, “Yes.”,

it altered our lives every bit as much

as it altered Mary’s life when she said,

LUK 1:38 "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word."

And this parallel between us and Mary doesn’t stop there,

not by any means.

We are not told much about Mary’s thoughts following that visit from Gabriel,

but it isn’t hard to imagine.

Some of them certainly had to be troubling.

What is Joseph going to think about this?

What will my family think?

How is this going to affect my reputation with my friends?

And it’s not at all uncommon for our submission to the Lord

to bring similar concerns into our lives as well.

What in the world will people think if I tell them what’s happened in my life?

They’ll think I’ve gone all religious.

How can I explain this to those around me?

What do I say?

And it’s true that God’s entrance into Mary’s life

caused some difficult times for her,

just as His entrance into our lives

brings about changes within us, and between us and others

that do complicate our lives.

But there is something else that takes place when God barges in as well,

whether we’re talking about His initial entrance into Mary’s life,

or His initial entrance into our lives,

or whether we’re talking about some of those countless other intrusions of His

that are such common stuff in the life of His children.

For, when God barges in

and starts messing about in our lives,

His entrance brings with it a tremendous sense of hope

and great expectations.

With Mary there is no doubt that God’s creative work within her

caused no end of social turmoil for her.

But it certainly must have also brought with it

amazing feelings of having been loved and honored by God Himself.

People could talk all they wanted,

but Mary would never forget,

could never forget those words spoken to her by the Angel of God.

LUK 1:28, 30 "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you. Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.”

You have found favor with God...

Could a person ever hope for more?

God Himself didn’t just notice her,

He chose her for Himself,

and placed Himself inside her.

And there is something similar that takes place inside each of us

when God barges into our lives,

asking for permission to enter,

and we say yes.

Some years ago I heard an interview with Billy Graham

in which the interviewer asked him what things he would like to ask God

when he meets Him face-to-face.

The first thing he said was,

“I’d like to ask Him, ‘Why me? Why did You choose to honor me the way You did?’”

When he said that

I understood exactly what he was saying.

We’re not Billy Graham, of course,

nor does God want us to be.

But, when we become aware of the living reality of our God’s love for us,

and when, for no logical reason, we see Him working in us,

and at times working through us in the lives of others,

it brings with it an amazing sense of being honored by God,

and causes us to wonder, “Why me, God? Why did You care about me? Why do you love me the way you do?”

And it brings something else with it as well.

It brings with it expectations,

expectations of what our future will be like

now that our life is held in the hands of God.

You know it must have been that way with Mary.

How could it have been otherwise?

LUK 1:31-33 "And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end. "

Here she was, carrying inside her the Son of God Himself,

the One who would establish a kingdom in this world

that would have no end.

Now, doesn’t it seem reasonable

to assume that God Himself would go before Mary in this pregnancy,

and, indeed, in her entire life,

removing obstacles, making sure everything went well?

No fears of a miscarriage here!

And, when we become fully aware of what’s going on inside of us,

when we realize too, the truth of what Paul is saying when he tells us,

2CO 6:16 ...For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”,

that knowledge cannot help but create expectations within us.

We know good and well that we didn’t deserve to be chosen by God for Himself,

but having been chosen,

we cannot help but live with expectations of what it will mean

to be one of the chosen ones of God on this earth.

Surely He will now go before us.

Surely He will now show Himself strong for us.

Surely life will now be so much different, and so much better in so many ways than it ever was before.

And it is...

so much different,

and so much better

in so many ways than it ever was before.

And He does go before us,

just as He went before Mary,

and He does show Himself strong for us

just as He did with Mary.

But He does so in ways

that are perfectly consistent

with the work He needs to do in us,

and the work He is seeking to do through us,

and the work He is seeking to do in those around us,

and most of all with our growing discovery of the true nature of His love for us.

I will tell you something now

that I think maybe you will not believe,

or at least you will not want to believe.

Most of the time most of us have absolutely no idea

what will really communicate the love of God to our minds and emotions.

We think if He would just give us what we want,

or if He would just fix what’s broken with our lives,

or if He would just make our lives easy and comfortable

it would communicate His love.

In other words,

we think His love is communicated through the things that He gives.

And it is certainly true

that He frequently does pour out on us

all sorts of good things

that come to us simply as expressions of His kindness to us.

But those things in themselves

do not

and cannot really fill our hearts with the awareness of His love.

The only thing that can do that

is our discovery that He is with us,

and that He truly delights in being with us.

We shouldn’t be surprised at this, of course,

because it works the same way in human love relationships.

Do you know what communicates love to your children?

No matter what they may be telling your right now,

it is not that pile of presents under the tree.

It’s not even those times when you take the family some place together.

It’s those times when it’s just you and your child together by yourselves,

those times when, they look at you

and, without your even saying a word,

they look into your eyes,

and they listen to the tone of your voice,

and they know that you delight in them.

It’s the same way with our marriage partner.

Love is not communicated through that perfect gift you are searching for so frantically right now.

It’s communicated through building regular time together into your life,

and through making those choices that say,

“This day, once again, you matter more to me than anyone else or anything else in the world.”

And if you have not built those times into your life,

with your children,

or with your mate,

nothing you ever give them will compensate.

But I’m getting off track a bit here,

and I’m running out of time,

so let me bring us back to Mary,

and to this message I see being communicated to us through her

in the events surrounding the birth of Christ.

For, you see,

I am certain that Mary,

just like us,

must have had expectations about how her life would play out

because of the presence of Christ within her.

And can you imagine how unsettling it must have been for her

when, just days before Jesus’ expected birth,

she and Joseph find themselves suddenly compelled by the Roman Government

to travel 80 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem,

80 miles with Joseph on foot

and Mary clinging to the back of that little donkey.

It would have involved days of difficult travel in the best of conditions,

even if Mary was not nine months pregnant.

But now, with this child due at any time,

it must have seemed utterly overwhelming for them both.

And don’t you think they must have wondered why?

Why this now?

Why hadn’t God arranged it all so differently?

And every jolting step of the way

I think Mary was praying, “Lord, You alone can get me through this.

You alone can give me the strength.

All I have is You.

Just get me through this next hour, this next mile.”

Ever been there?

Ever needed Him desperately?

Ever gone through a time in your life

when you knew that God alone could bring the healing,

the hope,

the strength you needed just to make it through one more day,

through one more hour?

What happened between you and your God because of that time in your life?

He became real to you, didn’t He,

real as He had never been real before.

And you discovered in Him

a strength and a comfort,

you discovered that your God really was there,

and that He really truly does love you,

and that He can and He will be your solid rock

one painful step at a time.

I don’t know why it has to be that way sometimes.

I just know that it does.

And I know that what we bring out of those horrible trips to Bethlehem

stays with us for the rest of our lives,

and after the pain is gone

the richness of the presence of Emanuel - God With Us - stays with us forever.

And how about that business with the stable,

and the manger?

It wasn’t all warm and glowing and filled with fresh clean straw, you know.

It was a barn,

filled with all the dirt,

and the smells,

and the filth that come with barnyard animals.

They made the best of it, of course,

but it certainly wasn’t what Mary had envisioned

when, nine months earlier,

God Himself told her that she would give birth to the One who was destined to one day sit on the throne of David.

And I think there are some of you here this morning

who have found that your walk with the King

has led you to your own personal stable.

It’s poorly lit,

making it very difficult to see what’s going on,

and there is a definite stench about the place.

The truth is,

it simply makes no sense to you

why in the world your Lord would have done it this way.

Well, here again I think Mary can help us,

because through Mary,

and Joseph,

and the birth of Jesus in that barn that night,

our God was saying some things to His creation,

something He could not have said any other way.

He was telling us that this Savior He is giving us

is a Savior for the real world in which we live,

the world filled with filth,

and stench,

and darkness,

and pain.

And He was telling us

that His Savior,

our King,

has no problem at all being with us in the stables of our lives,

and because we are there,

He is well pleased to be there with us.

I don’t know what God will bring into being for you

in that stable you find yourself in right now.

I do know what He brought into being

in that stable 2000 years ago.

He brought into being on this earth

the One who alone gives hope to the human race,

the One who brings true salvation and eternal life to all who turn to Him.

From the very beginning

some of God’s finest work has been done inside stables,

and barns,

and feeding troughs,

and on city garbage dumps that are punctuated by three bloody wooden crosses.

Because, you see,

one of the many things our God does best

is take the worst things in our world,

and in our lives,

and recreate them into the greatest treasures we’ll ever know.