The Gift of Grace

Gifts of Advent—4 of 4

December 22, 1991

Ephesians 3:17-21

3:17 ... so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith

3:19 ... that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God

Introduction

Christmas is a lot of different things to every one of us! Christmas is wonderful! Christmas is exhausting! Christmas is expensive! Christmas is expectations! Christmas is love! Christmas can reflect all of the many sides of what we mean when we say the word "love." [... many shades of "love"]

I. CHRISTMAS AND LOVE AND GIVING

  1. CONDESCENDING LOVE

    Sometimes love at Christmas means saying "It's wonderful!" when you open a present. Some of the presents I made or bought for my father and mother when I was small were pretty awful. But somehow they actually seemed to cherished them. What you really mean is "It's wonderful that you thought enough of me to give me a present— but, really, what do we need an ash tray for when nobody smokes in our house?"

  2. REFLECTED LOVE

    There is a joy in seeing other people who seem to be happy. Sometimes love at Christmas means nearly bursting with joy when the beautiful boys and girls of the Sunday School sing about the Babe in the manger.

  3. COMPASSIONATE LOVE

    Sometimes love at Christmas means thinking about Mary and Joseph and what it means even in our time to desperately need a place to stay the night.

  4. THE "PRESENCE!"

    Sometimes the deepest significance of the Season dawns on us once again! Sometimes we have a "holy moment," when it seems that God Himself draws near, and we know that He really does love us tenderly. And what more could we ever ask?

  5. GRATEFUL LOVE!

    And maybe sometimes, just sometimes, love at Christmas might be saying, "Thank You God! You seem to have done all the giving! What can I get You for Christmas??"

    It may be that the best Christmas love is not expressed until "gifts are exchanged" at this highest relationship of all! God's wonderful, undeserved Gift to us may be echoed by the gift of our love and our trust to God!

    Is it possible that I have anything God thinks is precious? "HOW CAN I ENTER INTO GOD'S PLAN AND SHARE HIS LOVE?" Nowhere is this more clearly reflected than in the way the most honored and highly favored of all mortals entered into the first Christmas. I refer to the holy, sacred story of Mary, the Mother of Our Lord.

II. THE MOTHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, THE VIRGIN MARY

  1. SHE WAS THE FIRST ONE TO KNOW that there was going to be that First Christmas. We call the occasion when Mary found out "THE ANNUNCIATION." God sent an angel, Gabriel, to visit Mary. The story is found in Luke 1:26 - 38:

    Now in the sixth month [of Elizabeth's pregnancy] 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, O woman richly blessed! The Lord is with you!"

    But she was greatly troubled at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this might be. 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."

    And Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I know no man?"

    And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God.

    "And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. For nothing will be impossible with God."

    And Mary said, "Behold the bondslave of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.

  2. THIS STORY IS "HOLY GROUND" to me. We (should) stand in awe of the way God chose to become one with us; it was a unique- a ONE TIME HAPPENING in the history of our world. I believe it literally, actually, physically and spiritually took place: God became incarnate in the womb of a virgin.
    1. GOD COULD HAVE SENT His Son full-grown, a perfect Man formed from nothing; He chose instead to ask a beautiful teenager if she would be the mother of a very special, very human baby Boy.
    2. It is deeply significant that GOD CHOSE TO BRING HIS WORD TO EARTH THROUGH A COMBINATION OF SUPERNATURAL AND VERY HUMAN MEANS.
      1. The meeting, the Annunciation was miracle.
      2. But Mary had to make a very human decision. Mary made that decision: she said, "Behold the handmaiden of the Lord!"

        The Conception was a miracle; and as the Baby grew within her, the Gift of the Ages was, like all babies, a miracle of creation beyond her understanding or ability.

  3. GOD STILL ENLISTS A COMBINATION OF SUPERNATURAL AND VERY HUMAN MEANS WHENEVER HE REVEALS HIMSELF and His love to this needy world!

    God could preach sermons and bind up wounds and speak out against evil by sending fantastic creatures; He chooses to use imperfect, stumbling men and women like you and me.

  4. SOMEHOW MARY'S BEAUTIFUL WILLINGNESS IS VITAL TO GOD'S PLAN.
    1. Yes, it WAS to Mary's GREAT benefit; but IT WAS NOT FOR MARY ALONE, or even for Mary, PRIMARILY! The Gift was for the whole world, to the glory of God.
    2. Mary reflects this in "THE MAGNIFICAT" [the response she gave to the affirmation or worship of her unborn child she received from her cousin, Elizabeth: Luke 1:46-55:]

      And Mary said: "My soul exalts the Lord. And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

      For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave; For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.

      For the Mighty One has done great things for me; and Holy is His Name. AND HIS MERCY IS UPON GENERATION AFTER GENERATION TOWARD THOSE WHO FEAR HIM.

      He has done mighty things with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, and He has exalted those who were humble.

      He has filled the hungry with good things; And sent the rich away empty-handed.

      He has given help to Israel His servant,
      In remembrance of His mercy,
      As He spoke to our fathers,
      To Abraham and his offspring forever."

    3. As she praises God, Mary is grateful for what has happened to her, and that is only right; but THE CENTER OF HER PRAISE IS GOD HIMSELF.
  5. This is a lesson we need to learn and re-learn from Mary: It is a blessed and wonderful thing to know God and be blessed by God; but WE ARE BLESSED IN ORDER TO BE GOD'S CHANNEL OF BLESSING; WE ARE BLESSED SO THAT WE CAN MAGNIFY THE NAME OF THE LORD!

III. THE WONDER OF CHRISTMAS GRACE ... REPEATED IN US!

  1. IT IS NOT A NEW THOUGHT that at Christmas we should let the Christ "be born in us today!" In fact, it is a common theme among Christians: Let Jesus in! Make room for Jesus in our hearts! One poet put it this way:

    Though Christ a thousand times
    In Bethlehem be born,
    Yet not within your heart-
    Your heart is still forlorn!

    IT IS NOT A NEW THOUGHT that Christ within is the Source of Life and Light and all spiritual blessing. We say: "Yes! There is room in our hearts! Be born in us!" We rejoice in the Name "God with us! Emmanuel!"

  2. What we dare not forget is that like Mary, WE MUST ACCEPT THE RESPONSIBILITY AS WELL AS THE HONOR OF SHARING THE LIFE of Christ that God has placed within us!
    1. It was the Miracle of Miracles when in the Baby Jesus God brought His WORD to this earth! By that Miracle God expresses His love!
    2. It is ALSO a great miracle when the Jesus-life is born in us— when we are born again in Him— AND IT IS NOT JUST FOR OUR BLESSING AND BENEFIT, ANY MORE THAN BRINGING JESUS TO BIRTH WAS JUST FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY!
    3. I know that is almost sounds sacrilegious to say it, BUT GOD STILL USES A COMBINATION OF SUPERNATURAL AND VERY HUMAN MEANS TO BRING HIS WORD, HIS SON JESUS TO THOSE WHO NEED HIM!
  3. SOMEHOW YOUR WILLINGNESS IS VITAL TO GOD'S PLAN. We must come to think of what God wants with us, wants to do through us— and not just how God's grace can enhance our success in live and make us more comfortable.
    1. Letting Christ the WORD live in us may make life more complicated at times! THE ANNUNCIATION CERTAINLY MEANT A GREAT DEAL OF MISUNDERSTANDING AND DISCOMFORT FOR MARY! CHRIST WITHIN YOU AND ME WILL MEAN SOME MISUNDERSTANDINGS AND SOME BURDENS FOR US AS WELL!
    2. But the Apostle Paul prayed that the Church— the church of HIS time— as well as YOU and ME this very day— might know this miracle. MAY GOD USE YOUR HEART AND LIFE TO LET HIS SON SHINE THROUGH?
    3. Let me close this brief message with Paul's prayer from the third chapter of Ephesians (3:17-21). I read from the Amplified Version:

      MAY CHRIST through your faith [ACTUALLY] dwell— settle down, abide, MAKE HIS PERMANENT HOME— IN YOUR HEARTS! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,

      That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all saints (God's devoted people, the experience of that love) what is the breadth and length and height and depth of it;

      [That you may really come] to know— practically, through experience for yourselves— the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge (without experience); THAT YOU MAY BE FILLED (THROUGH ALL YOUR BEING) UNTO ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD— [that is] may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, AND BECOME A BODY WHOLLY FILLED AND FLOODED WITH GOD HIMSELF!

      Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think— infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes or dreams—

      To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Amen— so be it.

Conclusion:

There is no question about the wonderful Gift God has given to us all at Christmas! We have the gift of grace— of life eternal through the gift of God's Son.

But may there be a gift exchange as well! May we say with all the love we can bring to prayer: Behold the handmaid of the Lord! Behold the bondservant of the Lord! Lord, Here's my heart! Love this world through me! Amen!

174 O Little Town of Bethlehem