As we gather this morning, the theme for all of our little devotions focus around this idea of home. In case you didn’t pick up a bulletin or if you are watching this online, let me read part of the opening “As We Gather”.
“An old song expresses the yearning well: “I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams.” This time of year, we long to be home, to be surrounded by family, to remember simpler times. Home is more than a place. It’s more than family. It’s a sense of belonging. Today, we celebrate the God who left His home to join us here, so heaven could be our home.”
Home … Home is where the heart is right? Home is a place where you feel warm and cozy. Home is where love resides, memories are created, friends always belong, and laughter never ends. There are all kinds of quotes we can find about home and what home is but maybe Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz puts it best when she closes her eyes and clicks the heels of her ruby red slippers together … “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.”
For Isaiah, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned” (9:2). That doesn’t sound like a warm and cozy place where love resides, memories are created, friends always belong and laughter never ends. Instead it sounds like a place of turmoil, chaos and devastation … and that’s exactly what it is. You see, the people of Israel have been living in the darkness of an unfaithful king. An unfaithful king who is only looking out for himself and his house. The unfaithful king wants to make sure that his house is protected, but in doing so, he turns his back on God. He doesn’t trust God to help him, to defend him from his enemies. Because of this lack of trust, because of this lack of faith, the unfaithful king is going to get the people of Israel, himself included, ripped out of their homes and forced to live in a land which is not theirs.
But they will not be forced to live in that temporary housing development forever. God will deliver His people, for a day is coming when “every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire” (9:5). Wars will cease and people will get to dwell safely in their home because a king is coming, a king is coming to deliver his people. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (9:6).
Wait, a child? Yes, a child. A child is coming whose name will be Jesus. This
P: Jesus chose to make His home here, on this dusty, dirty earth, in a little town named Bethlehem.
Homes are definitely the most cherished possessions of human beings. Part of that is because they ensure a comfortable life and security. But I’m sure we can say that some homes are just a little over the top.
Let’s take the home of astrophysicist and former CIA officer Steven Huff. His home is located in Highlandville, Missouri, which is about halfway between Springfield and Branson, Missouri. The Pensmore, as he calls it, is constructed out of concrete and Huff says the house will withstand an earthquake, a bomb blast, yes a bomb blast, as well as a direct hit from an F-5 tornado. On top of the house is 4,000 square feet of solar panels. Exterior walls are 12 inches thick. They are insulated and the pipes within the walls carry hot water throughout the house in cold weather and cold water to cool the house in the summer. The house has five floors with several elevators, 13 bedrooms, including five suites with kitchens, and 14 bathrooms. It has a music room, telescope observatory, several reading rooms, hobby room, and a museum. The main kitchen is 40 by 60 feet, so 2,400 square foot kitchen. The house itself is a 72,215 square feet and sits on 600 acres. Oh, and it’s only the 9th largest privately owned home in the world.
Compare this extravagant home to the first earthly home of Jesus. Jesus left the glorious realm of heaven to live and grow in a sea of amniotic fluid before being born in roughly constructed manger which was the home of some dirty, stinky animals. The King of kings and Lord of lords was born in a messy manger in a valley, in the shadows of a grand house. Not the shadows of the Pensmore but the shadows of Jerusalem the royal city, the shadows of the home of King Herod.
Herod sat on that hilltop in his grand house in the midst of surpassing luxury not knowing what was happening down in the shadows of the valley. Down in the deep darkness of the valley, in the dust, in the dirt … a baby was being born. But not just any baby though … the holy child of Bethlehem. The holy child who descends to us to cast out our sin and enter into our hearts so that we may abide with him. So that we may abide with him not just on this dusty, dirty earth, but so that we can abide with him in the no-word describing beauty and grandness of the new creation to come.
Jesus chose to make this his first home because of what he came to do and who he came to do it for and there was no hiding it.
P: God didn’t hide what He had done; he told shepherds that He came for them!
Either last night, early this morning before church, or later sometime today, the secrets neatly wrapped and placed underneath the Christmas tree or stuffed inside of stockings are going to be revealed. When the wrapping paper of that neatly wrapped gift is ripped off and torn to shreds, little and big kids alike won’t be able to contain the joy and excitement when they realize that they got that one thing they couldn’t absolutely live without. They’ll move on to the next gift and the excitement of that gift they couldn’t absolutely live without will be expressed. Either way, the joy, the excitement, the loudness of little and big kids alike won’t be able to be contained.
God didn’t hide what He had done. God was so excited about the birth of Jesus! So excited that He didn’t bust out the shiny wrapping paper or the barely sticky bows, no, He had Mary wrap him in a swaddling cloth.
God didn’t hide what He had done. God was so excited about the birth of Jesus that he sent not just one angel but a “great company of the heavenly host” (Luke 2:13). These angels were so excited that they bust out in song, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests” (2:14).
And the first place these angels went was to interrupt the rich and famous party which was happening in the mansion on the top of a hill right? No! Down in the darkness of that valley, down under the shadows of the rich and famous, the angels appeared to shepherds living out in the fields nearby (2:8). Shepherds, shepherds of all people? Shepherds were some of the lowest, dustiest, dirtiest people around.
But that’s exactly who Jesus came to save. Jesus didn’t come for those who didn’t think they needed a doctor but instead to those who are drenched in the dirt of sin. Jesus came not to throw a party but to save the lost, to save the lowest, dustiest, dirtiest people around. Jesus came for you, he came for me.
Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, left the glorious realms of heaven and chose to make a manger, a cattle stall, a pile of hay to be his first bed.
P: The King chose to make his first home a barn. He did that for us!
The King chose to make His first home a barn. He did that for us.
Jesus chose to make that dusty, dirty manger his first home because of what he came to do and who he came to do it for. Jesus came to this dusty, dirty earth because sin had darkened it, sin had destroyed it. Jesus came to follow a dirty plan, a plan which would save his people from their sins and turn this dark, dilapidated world into a home for all who believe in him as their Savior.
This is what we celebrate as we gather this morning. Sure, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, but the birth of Jesus is only the beginning. What Jesus did throughout his life … that is what brings forgiveness and redemption. Following every single law perfectly, willfully being handed over to sinful men who would torture and mock him, scourge and crucify him, voluntarily giving up his life for the forgiveness of sins of all people … victoriously rising from the dead on the third day so that all who believe in him will have eternal life. This is what we really celebrate this morning.
Paul tells Titus that this babe born in manger … he, he is the one who Christians, who we wait for to gloriously appear again so that we can rise from our graves and live in our new, perfectly restored home in the new creation.
This home, this home which Jesus comes to one day restore … it won’t need to be built to withstand earthquakes or bomb blasts or F-5 tornadoes, it won’t need to be built with the biggest kitchen, solar panels, or have a telescope on the roof, it won’t need to be dusted, swept, or vacuumed for the home Jesus builds will be perfect in every sense of the word.
The old familiar song says, “I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams.” Today we may dream being with friends and family who we can’t visit, we may dream of the upgrades we would like to see our homes have … but one thing is certain … the promise of living in our future home with Jesus … that is no dream. Home … home is where the heart is. With Jesus in your heart, in my heart … we are already home. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, now and forever. Amen.
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