Back in the office after 1150 drive in one day...sermon post...Luke 2:1-7

 

I'm back in the office after a day of 72 degrees in Florida and it was 14 degrees this morning in Ohio!  It was a long stretch to leave at 6 a.m. from Zephyrhills, Florida and arrive back in Medina, Ohio just before 11:30 p.m.  This route is just about 1150 miles.  So what do you do driving by yourself over that span of time?

You scan the radio dial for anything interesting.  Talk radio, sermons, and songs are my stable unless I have some podcasts lined up.  You watch other drivers like a hawk especially when traveling through the larger cities (Atlanta, Knoxville, Cincinnati, etc.).  There always seems to be at least one close call over that many miles.  I think through a lot of ministry scenarios and then commit them to prayer with my eyes open!  I usually end up with singing Christian kids songs I grew up with.  Deep and Wide, Jesus Loves Me, Jesus Loves The Little Children, One Door And Only One, I May Never March In The Infantry and the list goes on and on.  

The sermon post this week takes us to the birth of Jesus, Luke 2.1-7.  I like the picture posted above because it gives us probably a more accurate visual of where Jesus was born.  There was no "guest room" or "upper room" in the house in Bethlehem but there was the "lower room" where they would bring in the animals for the night along with the manger (feeding trough).  Details abound in Luke's account of the first advent of Jesus.  We look to Luke to see the same word used when Jesus gives instruction to His disciples when preparing for the Passover Meal prior to His death on the cross.  It was a "house" with an "upper room" found in Luke 22:11-12.  Luke gives us another word when speaking of an inn (a public establishment) with the telling of the Parable of the Good Samaritan by Jesus in Luke 10.34-35.  

Why focus on understanding the details?  Because if we don't, we create things that aren't necessarily there or put more emphasis on them.  We major on the minors, as we say so often.  The details help us to keep the Christmas account accurate and also focused on the gospel message.  

As Christians we can enjoy all things created around this celebration of Jesus' first coming but we need to go "lite" on them.  Don't make too much about the perfect stable scene or the innkeeper, the little drummer boy or a donkey.  In turn, we as Christians need to go "heavy" and put much emphasis on the Old Testament prophecies fulfilled with the coming of the Messiah; the fact that the baby in the manger is Jesus who is God with us; and the "why" of His coming.  Jesus is our Savior from the wrath of God who has come to rescue us and provide what was necessary for us to possess salvation and eternal life.  

Our world and even the church has played with the religious days to a point that I fear the main point and proclamation have been lost unless we focus on the details again.

Adam