Message by Chad Kelly
Introduction
Where did we get the idea that Christmas needed to be “picture-perfect”?
How many of you stress over the holidays because you want to be sure to give that perfect gift(s), set that perfect table, serve that perfect meal, or say that perfect thing?
Maybe, despite your best efforts to “get it right”, things just didn”™t go like you wanted them to.
Or maybe, life just happened and seemed not to care that Christmas was right around the corner!
Especially this Christmas, that is true for so many!
Multitudes are out of work this Christmas. An entire Connecticut town, but 27 families, in particular, emotionally traumatized with grief unexpected and unnecessary. Health problems you didn”™t see coming””and whose timing couldn”™t have been worse.
Perhaps we miss the very heart of Christmas because we”™ve cleaned it up so nicely and do our best to make it “perfect”.
Christmas is a mess!
And, in fact, that”™s how Christmas started ”“ it was messy!
The Perfect Mess of Christmas
1 Corinthians 1:27-31
Advent is the messy, and yet perfect, arrival of God”™s redeeming grace!
1 Corinthians 1:27-31 (NLT)
27 Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 28 God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. 29 As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
30 God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. 31 Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.”
God doesn”™t do things the way we think He will! God delights to do His best work in ways that make the least sense to us!
Advent is the messy, and yet perfect, arrival of God”™s redeeming grace!
The STABLE
Luke 2:7 (NLT)
7 She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.
Lucado
The stable stinks like all stables do. The stench of urine, dung, and sheep reeks pungently in the air. The ground is hard, the hay scarce. Cobwebs cling to the ceiling and a mouse scurries across the dirt floor. A more lowly place of birth could not exist”¦
And yet”¦it was right there in that messy place that God”™s redeeming grace perfectly arrived!
Throughout the year, you might find God”™s grace at work in places (or situations) where you”™d least expect it””so keep your eyes open!
Advent is the messy, and yet perfect, arrival of God”™s redeeming grace!
The MOTHER
Luke 1:26-38 (NLT)
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth”™s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28 Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”
29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 “Don”™t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”
34 Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”
35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. 36 What”™s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God.”
38 Mary responded, “I am the Lord”™s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.
But that was only the beginning for Mary! Nearly nine months of waiting”¦and growing. And then, an unexpected trip!
Think about it: a full-term teenage mother to be traveling for nearly a week on foot or the back of a donkey to fulfill the government”™s requirement for a census. 80 or so miles from home, no doubt somewhat frightened and anxious””especially when she ends up without a hotel room! Her mother, nor a midwife is there to assist in the birthing”¦just her carpenter-husband.
And yet it is this mess of a girl”¦young Mary”¦that God picked!
Lucado
At this point in history, the human being who best understands who God is and what he is doing is a teenage girl in a smelly stable”¦
God uses the most unlikely folks for His biggest and best stuff! He can use YOU!
Advent is the messy, and yet perfect, arrival of God”™s redeeming grace!
The CHRIST-CHILD
Luke 2:11-12, 16 (NLT)
11 The Savior””yes, the Messiah, the Lord””has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger.
John 3:16 (NLT)
16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 1:14 (NLT)
14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father”™s one and only Son.
But who would have ever thought that it would have all started THIS way? Who would have imagined such a lowly birth? Who would have imagined God coming as a helpless infant?
Lucado
Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager and in the presence of a carpenter.
Jesus often shows up in the messes of our lives! Do you look for Him THERE?
If you look for Me at Christmas
You won”™t need a special star””
I”™m no longer just in Bethlehem,
I”™m right there where you are.
You may not be aware of Me
Amid the celebrations””
You”™ll have to look beyond the stores
And all the decorations.
But if you will take a moment
From your list of things to do
And listen to your heart, you”™ll find
I”™m waiting there for you.
You”™re the one I want to be with,
You”™re the reason that I came,
And you”™ll find Me in the stillness
As I”™m whispering your name.
Love, Jesus
Advent is the messy, and yet perfect, arrival of God”™s redeeming grace!
Conclusion
Maybe it is through the lens of messed up plans, messed up schedules, messed up finances”¦that we can best see the most needful reality””God”™s redeeming grace that has perfectly come in the birth, life and death of Jesus Christ! Maybe it takes a mess to clear the fog in our minds, to clarify our vision of what God”™s really all about! Maybe we should stop waiting for life to be “picture-perfect” and start looking for Jesus and God”™s grace right there”¦smack dab in the middle of the mess! That”™s exactly where He”™s found!
If you meet Jesus for the first time this Christmas””or just truly embrace and enjoy His redeeming love and grace more than anything else this Christmas”¦then THAT will be the perfect Christmas!
Communion