Wednesday, December 25, 2013
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Billy was just about to celebrate his tenth birthday. It was the day of his birthday party, and Mom had made sure that all of his little friends were invited over. She came in the family van, drove up to the school and picked everybody up; went on home and all the kids stormed into the house with all their presents, and laid them on the table that had been set aside just for that. Then they went ahead and they played some great games, they played a little kick ball in the back yard, and they came in and they sat down for the goodies. The dining room was all decorated, and they sat around the table and in came the cake with ten candles on it. Sure enough!
Everybody began to sing "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Billy..." And then they noticed one very important ingredient in the party was missing. In all the excitement someone had forgotten to pick up Billy at school. The poor kid was still there and nobody noticed. He was missing at his own party! Well, there is a tremendous birthday party going on right now all across our country - a birthday party for Jesus. A lot of music, a lot of gifts, a lot of decorations, a lot of noise, but is He missing at the party?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Missing at the Party."
Our word for today from the Word of God is found in Luke chapter 2 and verse 11. We'd better be in the Christmas Story today, right? We'll get there in just a minute. But I have to ask the question after thinking about Billy not being at his own birthday party. Are we so caught up in the celebration like those kids were at the birthday party that we are missing Christ Himself?
I mean there are some special family observances, and that's a great thing; we love ours. And it's a time for acts of reaching out, showing God's love, demonstrating His love. Even yet it's a day to do something for somebody who is really in need. It's a season to be touching people who are more open to listening to Jesus than ever before. At more than any other time of the year, they're soft toward Him.
But more importantly it's time to consider how much room we have made for Jesus ourselves. Luke 2:11, "Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord." Do you know that in the angel's announcement of this first Christmas He uses the phrase "to you" four times. "To you the Savior is born." "To you the Savior is born." Not to Mary, not to Joseph. This baby is for you, and Christmas is a time for you to decide finally what you're going to do with this Savior. Not to just go to His meetings, do all the Christian things, hang out in a religion that's all about Jesus, or to just passively believe in Him, but to commit yourself to the Savior who is for you.
Actually, there are five things you can do with this Jesus who came that Christmas. One is you can out-and-out reject Him and say, "I don't want Him. I'm not interested. I don't want you." Secondly, you can just postpone Him and say, "Jesus, I'll get around to You. I think one day I'll open my heart to You, but I've got some living I want to do first. Except the Bible says, "Man does not know what a day will bring forth. Don't boast about tomorrow." We can't count on tomorrow.
Well, you can postpone Him. Or you can ignore Him and just say, "You know what? I'm not against Him. I'm not going to reject Him. I just am kind of busy right now. Fourthly, you can agree with Him. "Yeah, I agree with everything about Jesus coming for, dying for our sins." Or you could totally give yourself to Him. Those first four reactions all end up at the same place; in a Christ-less eternity called hell. Only totally giving yourself to this Jesus takes you to heaven.
See, loving you is why Christ was born. And loving Him is why you were born; the reason you were put here. So, it's time to make room for Him this Christmas. The old hymn says, "Room for business, room for pleasure, but for Christ the crucified not a place that He can enter in the heart for which He died."
This Christmas I'd love to help you find your way home. Would you visit me; join me at ANewStory.com and make this Christmas your first Christmas with Christ in your heart.