Message by Chad Kelly
Gilmer Middle School 6th graders make their own “Grownup Christmas List”. Some of their wishes are:
For homeless people to get a home
For the world not to be torn apart by people arguing
For my family to be fixed again
For a dad who doesn”™t leave us, one who would help us if we were in need, sick or if we needed a place to stay
For people who need food to get food
For my family”™s business to make it through
For me to get a bed
For my family to love me like they do my siblings
For my family to not be torn apart, that we”™re together again, not spread out all over
For a dad that will always care
For a trip to Mexico to see my grandmother whom I”™ve never seen
For my dad to have a better job, because he comes home tired and his back hurts all the time
For my grandma to stop taking drugs, talk to my dad, and to see her again
For God to fix our water and take away the ants where we will not have to move this Christmas
Those are the wishes of pre-teens who live within just a few miles of where you are sitting this morning.
What are You Looking for This Christmas?
Luke 4:16-21
Advent is Jesus coming to show us that God does not shut out, but welcomes in, those who “don”™t belong”.
Luke 4:16-21 (MSG)
16-21 He came to Nazareth where he had been reared. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,
God”™s Spirit is on me;
he”™s chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and
recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free,
to announce, “This is God”™s year to act!”
He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, “You”™ve just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place.”
Jesus said that the reason He was born was to bring hope and help into the everyday lives of those who need it most””the “outsiders”, the “unacceptables” of society!
The groups described in our text were just such folks!
Looking out on our world this morning from where we sit right now, these “outsiders”, those who are “unacceptable” might include Muslims, blacks, homosexuals, illegal immigrants, alcoholics, divorcees, drug-users, adulterers”¦you fill in the blank with the kind of folk that you find it easy to stamp “REJECT”.
Jesus says that He came for THOSE very folks!
Jeremiah 30:17 (NLT)
17 I will give you back your health
and heal your wounds,” says the Lord.
“For you are called an outcast””
”˜Jerusalem for whom no one cares.”™”
And I”™m so glad”¦because MOST of us have been, to some degree or the other, much like those whom we now find it so easy to hate and reject.
Advent is Jesus coming to show us that God does not shut out, but welcomes in, those who “don”™t belong”.
What does that mean?
It means that Jesus came to change peoples”™ lives right now!
Yes”¦part of changing our lives right now is giving us hope for an eternity with God in peace and righteousness.
BUT, there is a real element of present change that Jesus says He was bringing when He was born in that out of the way stable in the little village of Bethlehem!
Ronnie McBrayer
Jesus”™ ambition was not to whisk people away to a far removed heaven. His ambition was to put heaven inside of people!
Advent is Jesus coming to show us that God does not shut out, but welcomes in, those who “don”™t belong”.
David Bosch
God”™s reign (the Kingdom of God) arrives whenever Jesus overcomes the power of evil.
Jesus welcomed those who “don”™t belong”. Jesus touched the untouchables”¦He hung out with the worst of society and loved them! He healed the sick, He gave hope to the poor and He fed the hungry.
Jesus transformed the everyday lives of those He met!
And He still IS bringing transforming grace to peoples”™ everyday lives!
And guess HOW He”™s doing that today?
Jesus continues to graciously welcome those who don”™t belong through US, His CHURCH!
Sadly, sometimes the church misses Jesus”™ desire to use us as His hands and feet and it”™s more like what Philip Yancey says”¦
Philip Yancey
Like fine wine poured into a jug of water, Jesus”™ wondrous message of grace get diluted in the vessel of the church.
God help us NOT to dilute Your grace!
For the grace of God in Jesus Christ is rich and powerful and hope-giving and peace-providing and life-changing! God forgives us of ALL of our sin and gives us a new way to live that makes both today and eternity radically different than before!
Every time we give a coat and socks to someone, feed a meal to a family, or send a box of food (and a turkey) home with, a family”¦ Jesus is graciously welcoming them through you.
Every time you”™re DON”™T treat the weird kid at school like everyone else does and actually try to get to know them, Jesus is graciously welcoming them through you!
Every time you relieve your family members by sitting with their comatose son so that they can rest, Jesus brings transforming grace into their lives.
Every time you provide work for someone who needs it, Jesus brings transforming grace into their lives.
Every time you welcome into your home someone who didn”™t have a home, Jesus brings transforming grace into their lives.
Does this mean that we don”™t need to tell folks about the Cross and the forgiveness and peace with God that Jesus bought there?
NO! Of course not! I”™m simply saying that a Gospel that doesn”™t include practical love, transforming grace for everyday living”¦it”™s not the Gospel of Jesus!
For, according to Jesus Himself”¦
Advent is Jesus coming to show us that God does not shut out, but welcomes in, those who “don”™t belong”.
Does this mean that Jesus will, through His church, “fix” every hard situation, right every wrong? Does this mean that Jesus will answer every one of the wishes of those Gilmer Middle School 6th graders?
No.
But”¦it DOES mean that He most definitely WILL change some of their lives in amazing ways, IF we as His Body””His hands and His feet””will get involved in those situations.
Advent is Jesus coming to show us that God does not shut out, but welcomes in, those who “don”™t belong”.
Samuel Escobar
In a most authentic way, the church is the continuation of the incarnation. It is the expression and embodiment of Advent. We are the next chapter in the Christmas story.
Oh, not that WE can, on our own, do ANYTHING to “fix” anybody or anything in this world!
But JESUS CAN”¦through even US””who are jars of clay holding His amazing treasure of grace”¦
JESUS CAN, through US, bring transforming grace to the everyday lives of those all around us!
And THAT, my friends, is what ADVENT is all about!
Prayer
Communion