Advent: The Others

Okay, well if you are here for the first time, we're visiting family members here.

I just want to say my name is Tobin Miller and I'm one of the pastors here.

I'm a teaching pastor.

I actually do really like Australia.

So anything that comes across like, wow, he really, you know, the Australians pay me every week just so I can pick on them.

I think, I'm not sure.

And they pick on Texas, so that's good.

Hey, so Merry Christmas.

Wow, good.

That's good.

That's good.

So I love this time of year.

I love the trees.

I love the smell.

Our house has a tree.

If it's not live, we spray, you know, the pine smell everywhere because we love the decorations.

And it's just something about just the festivities and the candles and the lights.

And so we put up this really special nativity scene in our house.

And so I think I brought a picture of that.

There you go.

So you have baby Jesus.

And then you have Jose or Joseph.

And then you have Maria or Malia, Mary.

And then you have angel, right?

So you know the world is okay when you can do the nativity scene and Diet Coke, right?

It means something is good happening in the world and God is working there.

But actually, so, yeah, my wife wouldn't let me put that up.

So anyway, we have events and parties.

And I love just going to the parties.

And, you know, it's interesting when you're a pastor and you go to Christmas parties, people always kind of take, they don't know what to do with a pastor, right?

They don't know what to do at all.

So we were actually, I think we haven't had a free night in two and a half weeks.

We've been out at parties meeting people.

And so last night we were at this amazing party with our neighbors.

They are not churchgoers yet.

We continue to pray for them.

And it's so funny because when I go there, they know what I do.

We talk.

Our kids hang out and play.

And there was probably 100 people, literally 100 people at least at one time and probably 50 kids and Santa Claus came.

And so the host, who's our next-door neighbor, and he always gives me a hard time, he always introduces me as this is our next-door neighbor, Tobin.

And so he did it again last night, you know.

And it's just one of those things that's weird because it was his best friend he'd known since like seventh grade.

And so we're talking and it gets up to the first question, you know, that they always ask.

Guys, whenever guys interact, they always ask the one question.

And what's the first question?

What do you do, right?

Because guys can't live without knowing how we know what we do.

That's kind of how we define ourselves.

And so this guy said, what do you do?

And he's with the British Council teaching in Thailand.

And I said, oh, I'm a pastor.

And that reaction, you always kind of people kind of step back, you know, and they don't know.

Even when it's Christmas because it's supposed to be, you know, religious, you know, they're going to a rugby game.

So I'm a pastor.

And he looked at me and he just was fumbling with words.

Like, what do I say?

You know, and I just, we talked.

And he goes, so how many days a week do you work?

Do you just work on Sunday?

And I think, well, you know, people are drinking and there's alcohol.

People are just, and so I said, yeah, you know, and the great thing is I only work three hours.

So I just work three hours on Sunday.

And the rest of the week I just play.

It's goof off.

It's the best job in the world.

And he just kind of looked at me like, you know.

And then, so when I went on for a while longer, people were hanging out and people started getting more drunk.

And they come up again and ask me, you know, what do we do?

And so this time I thought I'd do something different.

And the guy came up and said, what do you do?

And I looked at it.

I started thinking, what should I do?

Because I want to try to engage with this guy.

And I said, I work for the most powerful and richest person in the world.

Because we do, right?

God, right?

But I didn't tell him that.

And so he looked at me and he's like, the most powerful and richest person.

He's a little drunk, right?

And he's just all his mind.

And he says, you know, so tell me, who is that?

And I told him, I said, I could tell you, but then I have to kill you.

And he looked at me like, and for some reason I didn't see him the rest of the night.

Like, he just kind of disappeared.

I don't know what happened.

So, but you know, you have to have fun as a pastor because, you know,

it's always one of those things that you don't know.

And we've been going to plays and I'm always watching when I talk to them,

what's going on in their heads, what's going on in their hearts,

and wondering what they're thinking in the midst of all this stuff.

And so we went to KK had a play Wednesday night.

And it was just amazing to see, I think it's our 25th Christmas play, Nativity scene.

And it's always amazing to me how at the end of the plays,

you can always bring Santa Claus and Rudolph and some kind of Beatles music into the Nativity scene.

Because at the end, there's always Santa Claus, there's always Rudolph,

and for some reason the Beatles are there.

But one of the most memorable ones we had was a while back and was Kip and Rebecca's play.

And Kip was his shepherd and Rebecca was Mary and she took Mary very seriously.

And we went and we watched the play and it was really good.

And at the end, we all just took a break and we went to eat and eat cookies and drink.

And I was just walking around to school and so I thought I would go back into the Nativity scene.

So I went back in to the Nativity scene and there's a little trough there and there's a little baby,

plastic baby Jesus there.

And Kip was there and he was with another boy and they're talking to each other.

And all of a sudden this little boy reaches into the manger and he picks up baby Jesus by the legs.

And he kind of holds him upside down.

And he looks at Kip and he goes, so what do we do with the baby now?

What do we do with baby Jesus now?

And I'm watching this and I'm like, wow, this is deep theology, isn't it?

I mean, I'm being taught deep theology by a seven-year-old because he's grabbing Jesus

and he's kind of asking the million-dollar question, what do we do with Jesus when the play's over?

What do we do with him?

You know, is he relevant in our lives?

What's next?

And I think that some of us in here right now who aren't Christ followers yet,

and you're here and you're being dragged here by friends

and maybe you're just wondering why you're even here,

and you're probably asking that same question, right?

You're listening to things, you're watching things,

you're watching a crazy Texan talk about people getting drunk at parties and things like that.

And you're probably thinking, what do I do with Jesus?

How does he fit into my life?

What role should he have here?

And I think that there's probably some of us here on the journey right now.

We're on a journey.

We've come to faith, and we're still probably wondering what we do with the baby Jesus.

I mean, it's the million-dollar question, right?

I mean, what do I do with Jesus in my job?

And what do I do with Jesus in my home?

And what do I do with Jesus out playing and at the rugby games?

And what do I do with Jesus moment by moment?

Is he relevant to my life at all?

Does having Jesus, the baby with me, Christ with me, does he change me?

Do I act differently than my colleagues because I have Christ in my heart?

And I think that's the million-dollar question,

and I think that's what these passages are about.

The passages are about God coming in and engaging us and pursuing us,

pursuing us and showing us his glory and speaking to us.

And you know, the Bible says that God's speaking to us all the time.

You're walking around his creation, and he's talking to you.

He's speaking to you.

He's showing you his glory.

He's showing you that he's in control.

He's asking you to trust him.

And I think that sometimes we just don't hear that

because we don't know what we're to do with the baby.

We don't know how he fits into our life.

And so what I want to do, or what I'm hoping to do,

or what I plan to do,

is I wanted just to look at a couple people who received Christ,

but they didn't receive Christ.

So the first week we talked about the shepherds

and what they did when they received Christ.

And they received Christ, and they went out, and they were evangelists.

They were the first evangelists,

and they were the nobodies that heard the greatest news ever.

And last week we talked about Mary and Joseph,

and we talked about what they did, you know,

and the question we had, the challenge was,

are we going to trust God?

Are we going to trust God, or are we not going to trust God?

And that's what they did with this.

And what I want to look at today is just really briefly

three people or three groups of people

who I think God was speaking to.

He showed himself to them.

He was there in their world,

but they said no.

And I think that these three people actually are all of us.

Because if we're honest,

we're going to see ourselves in each one of these people

even after we've started the journey.

And I think that there's probably these type of people

who are in your office today.

And there are probably these type of people

who are in your home today.

There's probably these type of people

that you're going to run into at work today.

They're struggling.

They're hearing God speak,

but they don't know what to do with him.

And so I want to look at just the innkeeper,

and I want to look at the priests,

and the scribes,

and the people of Jerusalem.

And I want to look at Herod.

All three of these things,

these people,

these groups of people God spoke to,

and all of them responded in an unfavorable way.

And I want to see what we can learn from these people.

And think about what does it mean for us as we go out.

And so the first one is just the innkeeper.

We don't know much about the innkeeper.

He's in Luke 2.

All we know is that when he was there,

he's confronted by a young man

and a very, very pregnant young girl,

and he turns him away.

He says no.

He actually says in Greek,

there's no suitable space for you.

Now to be fair,

you know, the census had happened.

Caesar had put this census out,

so everybody had to go to their hometown.

I mean, it was like a circus.

Bethlehem used to be a sleepy little village

of about 300,

and now there's like 3,000 to 5,000 people there.

So from 300 to 3,000 to 5,000.

I mean, Jerusalem, probably 80,000 normally,

but when the Sabbath's happened,

it's up to 1.5 million people.

So it's crazy.

It's chaotic.

And so this innkeeper probably was just,

he probably had the business opportunity of his life

because his customers went from 300 people

to 3,000 to 5,000 people,

and we don't know much about him.

All we know is that she came to him in labor,

and he turned her away.

Now, if I were to share this story,

even today in the Middle East,

saying that I saw it happen in another village next door,

everybody would be incredulous.

They would say that's impossible.

That would never happen.

You're making that up.

That is because there's these rules.

The rules of culture and customs

were so strong in Eastern cultures

that you had these strict guidelines

on how you treated people.

You had these strict guidelines

on how you treated people in need,

and even foreigners,

and to turn away someone who's in desperate need.

She's about to deliver a baby.

I mean, that would just never happen.

I mean, you think about it.

She goes into a stable,

and if we were in Hong Kong,

we were put in a stable,

we'd be going,

okay, so where's the hand sanitizer?

Are there little things around here

that we can sanitize our hands?

But there's no hand sanitizer in a stable.

And so this innkeeper just says no.

Now, we don't know a lot about the inn.

In the Greek,

it actually could be a massive building

with 20 to 30 beds,

or it could actually be

just a small little bed and breakfast,

or it could actually be

just a small little room on top of a house.

But all we know from the passages

and from historians

is that he didn't show any hospitality.

He didn't comfort them.

He didn't help them.

And the result that we learn from this

is that he missed God speaking to him.

Some of the early historians,

when they read this

and they went back

and they look at these places,

they actually used the words

that he was preoccupied.

Some of the early church fathers,

they were writing like 10, 20 years

after this happened.

They just said,

well, he was just busy.

He was preoccupied.

And I've been thinking about that.

How many of you in here today are busy?

How many of us are preoccupied this month?

I mean, my schedule is crazy.

I mean, if I were to look at your schedule

and we could compare them,

I'm sure that we would say

that we all were very, very busy.

And sometimes we,

I use this terminology,

hurry sickness,

because I think it's really applicable

to Hong Kong.

We have hurry sickness.

And we're running from place to place.

And these things we're doing this month,

they're not bad things, are they?

I mean, they're not evil things.

They're just things that keep us busy.

They're things like work

and kiddos and friends

and studies

and shopping

and school performances

and office parties

and social gatherings

and church stuff

and vacations

and extra projects

and end-of-the-year travels

and family meals.

And again,

if we looked at these calendars,

if we looked at our lives,

we'd probably say

none of those things are bad.

But if we brought them all together,

we would just say

that we are incredibly busy.

And I realized

as I walked through Hong Kong

during this season

that often I miss God

speaking to me

because I'm preoccupied

with other things.

What are you preoccupied with?

What were you thinking about

before you came into this service?

What's going to take up

the majority of your time

when you leave

this next week?

I mean,

all we know is

this innkeeper,

he was incredibly busy

and he was incredibly

preoccupied.

He was incredibly

overwhelmed

with hurry sickness

during this time

and he couldn't focus

on Christ.

He couldn't focus

on the message.

He couldn't focus

on God speaking to him.

He didn't hear

God's voice

and sometimes

that's the problem

that I have also.

How about you?

Are you going to slow down

this holiday season?

I mean,

usually when I ask people,

they usually say,

well,

it's incredibly busy

but it'll get

not busy later on,

just a special time.

But when I realized

in Hong Kong

and in the world today

that it's always

just special time,

the message

of Christmas

the message

of the baby,

the message

of the manger

is that God

is always

speaking to us.

He's always

going before us.

He's always

taking care of us.

He always wants

to show us

something about

his character

and about

our relationship

with him

but we're too busy.

The next group

of people I think

that stick out

to me over and over

and I think

this is amazing

because even

as I read it,

it's hard for me

to get my head around.

It's the priest

and the scribes

and the people

in Jerusalem.

You know,

Jerusalem's sole purpose

was to worship God.

I mean,

the temple there

and all the people

around it,

most of the people's

sole purpose

was to do things

within the temple

that would worship

the Lord

and prepare

for his second coming

because they all knew

he was going to come again.

And so like 80%

of the inhabitants,

their whole responsibility

is to take care

of the temple,

prepare for the Lord,

worship the Lord,

allow people's worship

to happen

and they're there

but they're not there.

I mean,

they knew all the prophecies.

They knew for 400 years

there's been darkness,

there's been silence

and God hasn't spoken.

They've been waiting.

When the king comes,

Herod,

and he asks him

where is he going

to be born?

I mean,

they rip it off like that.

Micah 5,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I mean,

they know they've been

studying for 400 years

because they're waiting

to hear God

but they're waiting

to hear a different God

or a different God

to speak to them

and they miss Christ

coming into the world.

They miss his voice

talking to them.

It's amazing.

You think about this.

These wise men,

we don't know how many

they were.

Maybe there's three

like the story.

Maybe there's 50 of them.

All we know is

that they were very gifted.

The words actually mean

that they were great leaders,

not scholars,

they're just great leaders

and they came from the east,

maybe Persia,

and they come into Jerusalem

and they're expecting

everybody's worshiping

this new king.

Everybody knows

about the new king.

Everybody's ready

for the new king

because that's the whole purpose

of God's people

is to prepare their hearts

for the new king

and they come in there

and they ask the question,

well, where's the king?

Where's Emmanuel?

And no one can answer them.

I mean,

and the passage doesn't say

they go to Herod first.

They actually go to Herod

near the end

of their journey

and so you can imagine

these wise men,

they're looking for Jesus

just like people

in your office

or in your home

and they're looking

and they're asking questions

and where's Christ

and what does he mean to you

and where is he

because we've seen these things

and we want to be

a part of these things

but the people of God,

the people who should have known,

the people who knew everything,

they didn't know.

They didn't answer.

I mean,

the amazing thing to me

about this whole passage

is that none of them

even went to look

for Jesus being born.

You know,

Bethlehem is only five miles

away from Jerusalem.

If you go with us

to Israel next year,

you can walk part of it

and if you're going

from Jerusalem to Bethlehem,

it's all downhill

because everybody knows

you go up the hill

to Jerusalem

and so it would have been

just an easy walk

five miles.

On a horse,

you would have got there

in less than an hour

but the priests

and the religious people,

they didn't send anybody.

They didn't even send

their scribes

or their interns.

They just don't go

and you know,

in all of Jerusalem

at that time,

there's 1.5 million people.

There's only two people

the Bible says

who are even looking for Jesus.

There's this little old lady

from a very wealthy family

and her husband died

and she's been a widow

for a long time.

Her name is Anna

and she's been in the temple

just waiting for Christ,

waiting for Christ,

waiting for Christ.

She's a prophetess.

She's teaching God's word

to the people

and there's this little old man,

Simeon

and these two old people,

they're the only people

in all of Jerusalem

that are waiting for Christ

because everybody else,

they're waiting

for something else.

No one goes to see

the baby being born.

You're going to learn later

when we go back

and study the gospels

more and more

that what Christ says

about these people

is that they are just too

too religious.

That the people in the temple,

they were caught up in rituals

and the people in the temple

were caught up in self-help

and the people in the temple

were caught up

in working out their salvation

and they were so caught up

in doing the right thing

that they miss God.

Did you hear what I said?

They were so caught up

doing the right thing

that they miss Christ.

My worry is that

for many of us

in our lives today

that that's true of us.

Especially as pastors

and staff people.

Sometimes we can get

so consumed and focused

on doing Sunday

and doing studies

and helping people move along

that we want to do

the right thing

but we miss Christ.

And he's speaking to us

and he's talking to us

and these people

they wanted a different God.

They wanted a God

who was victorious.

They wanted a God

who was powerful.

They wanted a God

who was a king.

They wanted a God

who was in power.

They wanted a God

who was in control.

They wanted a God

who was going to give them wealth.

They wanted a God

who was going to give them

their best life now.

And so when this baby's born

they have no place

for a baby.

They have no place

for a sacrifice.

They have no place

for a relationship.

They have no place

for grace.

Jesus doesn't fit

into the religious people's schedule

because you can't control

Christ.

And sometimes in church

we want to control everything.

Does that make sense?

You struggle with that?

I do.

I mean at the end of the day

I can get done

and I've done all my things

I needed to do

and I say oh I feel so good

about myself

but then I realize

that I didn't spend any time

talking to God.

I didn't spend any time

praying.

I didn't spend any time

reading God's word.

I didn't listen to his voice

talking to me.

I mean he's talking

to you right now.

He talks to you

through creation.

He talks to you

through his word.

He talks to you

through his spirit

inside of you.

He talks to you

to other people.

Maybe he's talking

to you through me.

I hope so.

But sometimes

we can become

so religious

and so worried

about the externals

that we forget

the relationship

and this passage says

that Jesus Christmas

is about a relationship

with our Savior

and Lord

and relationships

are messy

and they take time.

they take a long time

and in Hong Kong

we want things done quickly

but you can't do anything

quickly with Jesus

because he's not going

to fit into our box.

So what is your relationship

with Christ?

If I were to take a snapshot

right now

here's you

and here's Christ

or here's God

and here's you

where would the circle be?

Where would the dot be?

Would the dot be close

to the circle?

Would the dot be inside

the circle?

Sometimes the circle

and the dot

can be right beside each other

they can be doing

all the right things

perfectly

but we miss God

and that's what happened

to these people

and you're going to read

about that later on

in the Gospels

because Jesus always

goes back to them

and talks about their heart

their heart

their heart

not outwardly

their heart

their heart

their heart

the last person

that we're going to look at

is just

King Herod

and he's a very

interesting person

he says here

that when he heard

this news

in Matthew 2-3

he was troubled

the word in Greek

actually means

that he was agitated

he was angry

he was on the edge

of panic

he was stirred up

he had rage

I mean

what we know

from historians

is that Herod

was this

amazing ruler

he was brilliant

he was shrewd

he was a great

financier

he was resourceful

he was a capable

diplomat

but he was a crazy man

I mean

he called himself

Lord and King

he didn't want

any other lords

and kings

in his world

and so when he heard

this news

even though Jesus

was still a baby

he knew that his kingship

was threatened

he knew that his authority

was going to be threatened

he knew that he could

no longer be king

if there was another king

because another king

was going to come

and he was going to

take over everything

his heart

his mind

his soul

everything

and that drew

Herod into a rage

and he just was

out of control

because he was so fearful

of losing control

because he wanted

to call the shots

he wanted to decide

how he was going

to use his resources

he wanted to understand

and plan out his future

he wanted to be king

you know I realize

as I think about that

that's me

maybe it's a lot

of you in here

that if we're honest

we live our lives

like we're

the only king

we don't have room

for another king

and then when the other king

speaks to us

in those quiet

gentle moments

we get all frustrated

and flustered

and we want to get busy again

because somehow

the busyness

prevents us from hearing

the true king

speaking to us

I mean Herod

is like many of us

we don't want to

give in

we don't want to listen

because we're fearful

that we're going

to lose control

we're fearful

that God's going

to tell us

to do something

that's radical

we're fearful

that God's going

to say hey

go here and do that

God's going to say

hey give all that up

hey do these things

and we have this

incredible amount

of fear in our life

and because of that

we don't trust God

at all

but the story

of Christmas

is the story

of trust

in God

speaking to us

and talking to us

so the question

I have to ask us

is what do you fear

what is there right now

that you fear

if you were asked

to give it up

what would that thing be

that you don't want

to give up

what is the thing

that controls your life

what is it

the message

of Christmas

the message

of Christ

the message

of the gospel

the message

of grace

is that

Christ has come

to relieve us

of those fears

he's come

to relieve us

of the darkness

he's come

to relieve us

of our worry

and our shame

and our guilt

because all those

things we hold on to

all those things

we grab on to

all those things

we own

they actually

kill us

they send us

into darkness

so we've seen

these three characters

we've seen

the innkeeper

he is too busy

we've seen

the scribes

and the priests

they are too religious

we've seen

Herod

he is too fearful

of losing control

in his life

and if we're honest

the Bible says

that all three

of these people

they encompass

all of us

and they encompass

all of our condition

that the human condition

is that

the passages

at the beginning

are in Isaiah

and I know

it's

I put them in there

because I think

it sets up

everything

the passages

in Isaiah

say this

our condition

is darkness

this darkness

surrounds us

this darkness

is in us

over 200 times

the Bible says

that darkness

is in our lives

darkness

and the way

we define darkness

is it says

the Bible says

darkness is a life

or a picture

of a life

without God

or darkness

is a picture

of a life

that God

is not in control

so you can be

in the darkness

if you don't know God

and you can be

in the darkness

if God is not

in control

of your life

but either one

of those things

basically says

that we walk

in darkness

I see the darkness

in my life

you know

in my life

when I struggle

with shame

fear

greed

pride

deceit

anger

coveting

I don't know

how you hear

the pastor

saying that

but that's

my condition

I said it once

I'll say it again

I'm probably

the most broken

person in here

darkness

is around us

and sometimes

if we're not careful

the darkness

can control us

and sometimes

when I hear

things like

somebody got in trouble

or something

happened to other people

all of a sudden

inside of me

I feel satisfied

and justified

and better

about myself

I don't know

if you've ever

done that

the Bible

calls that

darkness

I came home

last week

and I was

in a bad mood

I mean

I was in a really

bad mood

I got so angry

at the kids

because the house

was such a mess

and I started

just really going

after them

just getting on them

and then Christina

came alongside

and she tried

to defuse

the situation

and I just

got angry

at her

and I hurt

her

really badly

in my words

I walked

out of there

and I walked

back into my

bedroom

and I'm thinking

to myself

and sometimes

I feel like

Charlie Brown

because you know

Charlie Brown

walks around

and sometimes

when things happen

all he can say

is good grief

and I said

good grief

to myself

and I said

okay what do I do

now

I mean what

should I do

right now

and this

little voice

inside my head

said these

things

it said to me

you know

you can be a

man

you can be

the spiritual

leader

you can go

out and

apologize

everybody

you can tell

everybody

that you're

sorry

you can tell

everybody

you're being

sorry

for being

selfish

you can tell

everybody

that you're

sorry for

being wrong

you can tell

everybody

that you're

preoccupied

you can tell

everybody

that you're

self-centered

you can tell

everybody

Tobin

you're

stubborn

you can tell

everybody

sometimes

you become

mean

you can

apologize

to them

now

you know

I thought

to myself, I thought, man, I don't like that voice.

I don't like that voice at all.

But the passage says that's God.

God's speaking to us.

And he's trying to bring us out of the darkness.

He's trying to show us what it means to live without him.

You can't share that with anybody, okay?

I'm just trying to be honest.

But the Bible says that there's darkness all around us.

There's darkness in me.

There's darkness in you.

There's darkness in the world.

And you know, the reason I'm talking about this,

and you're going, why the heck is he talking about darkness during Christmas?

And this is the reason.

The reason is I don't think you can understand Christmas

until you understand the darkness.

You can never understand how good it is

until you understand how bad it is.

If you don't understand the darkness inside of you,

if you don't understand the darkness around you,

if you don't understand the lostness of people without Christ,

and they walk in darkness,

then you're never going to go to them and share with them

the greatest news that you ever have.

Because you're going to think, well, it's not really that bad.

And they're going to be okay.

But the passage says that we walk in darkness,

and this darkness is called sin.

And this sin separates us from God.

And sin is a massive deal to God.

Did you guys know that?

Sin is a massive deal to God.

And I think the innkeeper and the religious people in Herod,

the reason they didn't continually run to God,

the reason they didn't continually go to God,

the reason they didn't go find a baby

is because they didn't know what kind of trouble they were in.

I think that's true of us.

The reason we say I became a Christian,

but we don't ever talk to God anymore,

we don't read the Bible,

we just forget what it meant to become a Christian.

We forgot the darkness that we escaped from.

We forgot what Christ did on the cross.

We forgot the cost of freeing us from the darkness.

And the scripture says that we are to be people of God

who remembers grace over and over and over.

And as we remember God's grace,

as we remember his goodness,

as we remember everything he's done for us,

we escape the darkness.

And we enter into the light.

But the reason we don't do that,

the reason we think this way,

the reason that we worry about these things,

the reason that we don't hear God's voice

is because we don't want to lose control of our lives.

And so we walk in darkness.

The message of Christmas is this.

God looked down.

And you and me were like,

and we didn't even see God,

we didn't even want God,

we didn't even want to come to him.

If we knew God was over there in a stable

like everybody else did,

we'd say, that's great, but I'm not going there.

And God came down.

And what's amazing to me,

he didn't just come down and give us a new philosophy,

he didn't give us this new self-help plan,

he didn't give us this new body,

he just, he comes down and he gives us a baby.

He gives us a relationship.

And this relationship is with his son, Jesus Christ.

And Christ comes and he lives exactly as we are.

He lives except for without sin.

And one day he's nailed to a cross

and he pays the debt for our darkness.

And now each one of us has a choice.

Are we going to keep living in the darkness

or are we going to keep living in the light?

And we have a choice every day

because even after we come to the light,

we still struggle with the darkness

because it's in us and it's around us.

And we have to decide,

am I going to follow and listen to God

or am I going to just do my own thing?

Does that make sense?

Someone go like this.

Because everybody's really quiet.

The amazing thing about Christmas

is that God never gives up on us.

If it were me last week,

my kids did that to me,

I would just get out of here.

I'm tired of you.

I'm not going to do this anymore.

But the passage says that Christ,

God, continues to come to us.

He continues to love us.

He continues to woo us.

He continues to show us our darkness.

He continues to open our eyes to our need to Him.

And He continues to ask us to choose

to invite Christ into our life

and to follow Him.

And the question of Christmas

and the question of this passage

and the question of everything we're going to do

is what do we do with the baby?

is the question everybody around you

is asking right now.

It's a question you need to decide

before you leave here.

What does it mean for you to follow Christ?

What does it mean for me to escape out of darkness

into light?

What does it look like for us?

I'm going to pray for us.

And I'm going to pray,

first part of it,

for anybody in here

who's heard this message.

You've been struggling.

I've talked to a lot of people

and they've been struggling for a while

about Christianity.

Is it true?

Is it real?

Is it what it should be in their life?

And this prayer is just for you.

If this time in your life

you feel like,

hey, I'm tired of walking in the darkness.

I want to become a child of God.

You can just,

it's not anything magical about this prayer.

It's just a prayer that I prayed

and you can just repeat it after me.

And if you do,

if that happens,

please come share it with me.

Please share it with somebody who brought you.

And the second half of the prayer

is for those of us who are already on the journey.

For those of us who stumble.

For those of us who forget.

Let's pray.

Father, we just thank you for this day.

And we just come before you

in awe of the message of your son, Jesus Christ.

We come in awe of you

of the darkness that you've saved us from.

And what I pray

that there's anybody in here right now

who've never prayed

and invited you into their life

that they would just follow me.

Lord Jesus,

I admit that I'm weaker

and more sinful than I've ever believed.

But through you,

I am more loved

and accepted

than I ever dared hope.

I thank you for paying my debt,

for bearing my punishment

and offering forgiveness.

I turn from my sin

and I receive you as Savior.

Lord, I pray for the rest of us in here.

Some of us who aren't willing

to make that prayer yet,

I pray that they would just,

I pray the Lord

that you would open their eyes

and their ears during this season.

You do it in many, many different ways.

Sometimes you do it

through drunk people at parties.

Often you do it

through people who love us.

Sometimes you just do it

through your spirit

talking to us gently

in the quiet moments

when we reflect on life

and realize that

we're not probably heading

or acting like we want to act.

Lord, I pray that this Christmas

would be a very special Christmas

for them,

that they would see your son

and they would fall in love with him.

They would enter into your kingdom.

Lord, I pray for those of us

who have been on this journey for a while,

who have been struggling

and worrying

and just forgetting

what it means to be your child.

And I think, Lord,

I confess, I repent,

I'm so sorry

that I light the darkness so often.

And the light of your son

is so beautiful.

Please forgive me.

Please forgive us.

I thank you

that you don't give up on us.

You give us messages

and Christmases

and carols

and children

and voices

that point us to your son

and how incredibly beautiful he is.

Father, I pray for us

as a church

that we wouldn't be a church

that would be so inwardly focused

that we would just build up ourselves

and that would be it.

But we'd realize

that the message

that we've talked about,

this message of grace

and the gospel

and this message of light

penetrating darkness,

it's been given to us

to be stewards of,

to be faithful with,

just like you've called us

to be faithful with everything

from our finances

to our time

to our health

to our relationships

and most of all

to the gospel.

Lord, help us to be a church

that's faithful to the gospel

and to love the people

around Cyberport

and this western side

of Hong Kong Island

and wherever you send us

this holiday.

Help us to love them well

and to continue to point to them

to this little baby

who came

and that one day

would stand up and say,

I am the light of the world

and whoever believes in me

will not walk in darkness

but help eternal life.

Lord, help that be a message

that we carry with us often

and freely

and never be ashamed

to share that

with the people we love,

even the people we don't love.

So Father, we love you

and we thank you

for your son

and it's him and him alone

that we come today

to worship.

We pray all these things

in his precious,

precious name.

Amen.