Responsible Love: The Gift of God

December 21, 1997

Advent IV

Ephesians 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

Ephesians 3:17 21

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 and often does reflect the many sides of what we mean when we say the word "love."

I. CHRISTMAS AND LOVE AND GIVING

  1. CONDESCENDING LOVE - Like a parent to a small child: 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. That kind of love might make an on-going gift to the Quincy Crisis Center (shameless plug!)
  4. "PRESENCE! KIND OF LOVE!" - With loved ones, of course! But best of all with God Himself! Emmanuel! 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? There is a higher level of love!
  5. RESPONSIBLE LOVE! (cf Maddox Responsible Grace) 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??" Maybe that the best Christmas love is not expressed until "gifts are exchanged" at this highest relationship of all! God's wonderful, gracious Gift to us may be echoed by the gift of our love and our trust to God! [What do you get a God who has everything?] - The life of Mary, the Mother of Our Lord, tells us how God needs human love to carry his gift of Life to the world He loves so very much.

II. THE RESPONSIBLE LOVE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

  1. She was the first one to know that there was going to be that First Christ-mas. 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 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. 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.
  3. This is deeply significant: GOD CHOSE TO BRING HIS WORD TO EARTH THROUGH A COMBINATION OF SUPERNATURAL AND VERY HUMAN MEANS.
    1. The Annunciation was divine miracle. But Mary had to make a very human decision. Mary made that decision: she said, "Behold the handmaiden of the Lord!"
    2. The Conception was a divine miracle; 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 human, imperfect, stum-bling men and women like you and me.
  4. MARY'S WILLINGNESS IS A VITAL LINK IN GOD'S PLAN.

    Yes, Mary was blessed and highly favored. But God's purpose was not for Mary's benefit alone. The Gift was for the whole world, to the glory of God. 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."

    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.

III. OUR CHALLENGE TO RESPONSIBLE LOVE TO GOD

  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!" But this is all about our salvation— about what God is doing for us!

  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! There is only one Blessed Virgin Mary, and she is unique in her place of honor. But believe it or not, God comes to every one of us who will listen, and asks us if we will bring Christ into the world!

    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!

    What do we give a God who fills the Universe? Remember the words to the carol "In the Bleak Midwinter" ??

    What can I give him, poor as I am?
    If I were a shepherd I would bring him a lamb;
    If I were a wise man, I would do my part;
    Yet what can I give him give him my heart.

    SOMEHOW YOUR WILLINGNESS IS VITAL TO GOD'S PLAN. IT WON'T MAKE LIFE EASIER, OR LESS COMPLICATED. IT DIDN'T MAKE MARY'S LIFE EASIER!!

    CHRIST WITHIN YOU AND ME WILL MEAN SOME MISUNDERSTANDING AND SOME BURDENS FOR US AS WELL.

    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. Ephesians (3:17 21). I read from the translation by Eugene H. Peterson called The Message:

    I ask (the Father) to strengthen you by his Spirit— not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength— that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

    God can do anything, you know— far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

    Glory to God in the church!
    Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
    Glory down through all the generations!
    Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!

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!

Prayer

(Will you join me in a time of prayer— just a bit longer than usual at the end of a sermon: Will you pray in your heart— and thank God for His gift of grace to you?)

We thank you for coming to Mary, and for her willingness to obey Your Holy will whatever the cost might be to her.

We thank you for coming to us— and unworthy as we may be, we ask for grace to respond to your love. We ask you to have your holy way in all our lives. Let us magnify the Lord, and exalt His name together!

Bless us this Christmas Week - - grant safe travel to those coming and going to meet with loved ones - - grant to those who are in the darkness of despair, or of want, or need of any kind a new light in their darkness.

Lord God, hear the hearts of this congregation today!

Accept the responsible love of our hearts!

169 StL O Little Town of Bethlehem