AN AFTER-CHRISTMAS JESUS
26 December 2004

I. Introduction

-- turn in Bibles to Luke 2

-- well, we finally made it through another Christmas -- and if your homes are anything like ours, the trees that we had so painstakingly decorated and surrounded with presents are now standing bare, with no presents around the base -- there might be a few piles of wrapping paper -- a few presents left to be opened -- but, by and large, Christmas has come and gone
-- and it won't be long before we start taking down the tree and removing all the Christmas decorations that we had so carefully put up -- taking off the lights and the ornaments and carefully putting them in storage until next Christmas rolls around
-- you know that Christmas is really over when you go into the stores and you see "after Christmas" sales all over the place and signs directing people on where to return items that they received for Christmas

-- by next week, Christmas will be just a memory -- the Christmas lights will be taken down around town -- the radio stations will quit playing Christmas music -- and the stores will have moved on to prepare for the next holiday on the calendar -- in fact, I went into one store this weekend, and they had already removed all of their Christmas-themed items and replaced them with spring gardening equipment

-- you know, one of the saddest days of the year for me is when we take down the nativity set at our house and store it until next year -- it always pains me to take each member of the nativity scene -- the wise men -- the shepherds -- the angels -- Mary and Joseph -- even the animals -- and wrap them up and store them back in their box -- but it pains me most of all when I wrap up the baby Jesus and place Him in the box and put the box on a shelf until next Christmas rolls around

-- it always seems like that is just what this world is doing -- in our "after-Christmas culture" there's just no room for Jesus in our lives anymore -- once Christmas day has passed, we just want to put Him up on the shelf and leave Him there until next Christmas or until Easter rolls around

-- I guess that's always been the case -- from the start, the very idea of Jesus made some people uncomfortable, and so they just couldn't find room for Him in their lives

II. No Room in the Inn
-- think back to the first Christmas as recorded in the gospel of Luke -- the same thing happened to the baby Jesus

-- look with me now at Luke 2:1
1. In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.
2. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)
3. And everyone went to his own town to register.
4. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.
5. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
6. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,
7. and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

-- when Mary and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem at Caesar's orders they went looking for a place to stay -- the story indicates that Mary was very pregnant at the time -- ready to give birth -- they went from place to place seeking shelter, but the passage tells us that there was no room for them in the inn
-- when Jesus was about to be born, He was turned away by all in that place -- there was no room for Him here, even though He had created Bethlehem with His word and with His will
-- have you ever wondered about the innkeeper -- wondered why he refused to allow Mary and Joseph to stay with them? -- How many of you would turn away a pregnant woman and her husband so close to her time?

-- I've wondered that myself -- I can understand why there weren't any rooms available in the inn on that night -- a lot of strangers were probably in town to be counted as part of Caesar's census -- but, it still doesn't explain why the innkeeper couldn't find a place for Mary and Joseph somewhere in the inn

-- why couldn't he find a place for them by the fire? -- or in a corner of the kitchen? -- why couldn't he give up his own bed for a pregnant woman for just one night? -- we don't know the reasons why, but I wonder if the failure to receive lodging -- the rejection by the innkeeper -- was part of God's heavenly plan for Jesus

-- you see, one thing is obvious from reading about Jesus in the Bible -- the world always rejected Him and despised Him and had no room for Him -- in Isaiah 53:3, Isaiah prophesied that this would happen -- he wrote there that the Messiah would be despised and rejected by all men, that He would be a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering

-- how fitting that on the very night of His birth, He would first be rejected by the very people He came to save?

-- but the rejection of Christ did not end there in a manger next to a full inn on Christmas day -- it was to be a pattern for His life

-- in John 1:10-11 it says "He was in the world and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him -- though He came to that which was His own, His own did not receive Him"

-- 2000 years ago, God stepped down the stairway of Heaven with a baby in His arms -- and that baby -- God clothed in flesh -- the Creator of all -- came to a world that He created -- but the world did not recognize Him -- He came to a people set apart for His purposes -- but His people rejected Him as well

-- think about that for a minute -- think about the impact of that

-- the Creator came to His creation and His creation rejected Him -- we rejected Him -- we rejected Christ
-- we did it on a Christmas night over 2000 years ago as an innkeeper turned a young couple away from his door -- we did it when Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver -- we did it when the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the priests had Jesus arrested -- we did it when Pilate sentenced Jesus to death -- and we do it every time we turn away from Him to follow our own desires and our own wishes instead of His plan for our life

-- Oh, we like Him from time to time -- we especially like the baby Jesus in a manger -- we bring Him out at Christmas -- but then just like an unwanted gift that gets returned to the store, we tend to push Him out of lives -- to put Him on the shelf -- and to only truly call on His name when we are in need or when the next holiday rolls around
-- we're not only living in an after-Christmas world -- we're living in an after-Jesus world -- but that's not what He had in mind when He clothed Himself in flesh -- when He became a man and walked among us -- no, He had bigger things in mind

III. Why Did Jesus Come?
-- have you ever put much thought into what the incarnation meant -- what it meant for God to become a man and to be born through a virgin on Christmas day?
-- I know that we have no real concept of what Heaven may be like -- in our most magnificant and grandest dreams we do not come close to the reality of what life in Heaven is like
-- now think for a moment about what Jesus left behind to come to us -- Jesus lived in Heaven as King of Kings and Lord of Lords -- when He spoke, worlds were created -- when He whispered, stars stood still -- when He passed by, angels would prostrate themselves and worship Him -- He was above all and nothing could even come close to matching the glory and the majesty and the beauty of our Lord

-- but scripture tells us that His heart was grieved because of the sin of man -- He longed for us to be restored to a right relationship with Him -- but He knew that no one -- outside of Himself -- could possibly restore that relationship
-- only the death of a righteous man -- a holy man -- a sinless man -- could satisfy the requirement of the law -- and no human could possibly meet that criteria

-- so, out of love for us, God became man -- out of love for us, God placed Himself in the womb of a young virgin and was born in the world to be our Savior

-- as it says in John 3:16-17, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life -- for God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him"

-- do you understand what that means? -- do you catch the implications in those verses? -- Jesus was living in Heaven as God -- He was living in paradise -- but He chose to come to this barren land -- to come to this desert place -- to save us -- His lowly creation

-- let me show this in Scripture -- turn over with me to one more verse
-- Luke 4:1 -- this passage takes place immediately after the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist
1. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert

-- now I want you to notice something in this verse -- all of the major translations of the Bible -- the NIV, the NRSV, the American Standard Version -- all agree with this verse -- the King James and the New King James have it translated incorrectly I think on this one part
-- listen closely as I read this verse again from the NIV --

1. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert,
-- did you see it? -- Jesus was led by the Spirit IN the desert -- He was not led by the Spirit to the desert -- He was led by the Spirit IN the desert

-- now what does that mean? -- that means that for God -- for Jesus -- this earth is the desert -- this is the barren place -- Jesus came TO the desert when He was born in a stable over 2000 years ago -- but since coming to earth as a man, He was led IN the desert by the Spirit
-- now get what I'm saying here -- I want you to catch the real impact of the passages we've been looking at here -- Jesus left Heaven -- He left His throne and His power and His authority and humbled Himself and became a man just like us -- He came to this barren land -- to this spiritual desert -- to save us from ourselves

-- and what did He get for His troubles? -- He got rejected -- He got despised -- He got crucified
-- and every time we turn our back on Him -- every time we treat Him just like any other unwanted Christmas gift -- every time we rush through Christmas and then say to ourselves, "I'm glad that's over" -- we're rejecting Him just as much as the innkeeper and Judas and the Pharisees, and Pontius Pilate did

-- Jesus did not come to earth to be worshiped only as a baby in a manger -- He did not come just to be adored by shepherds and wisemen -- He came to earth to save us from our sins and to be worshiped and adored as our Lord and Savior 365 days a year -- not just on Christmas -- not just on Easter -- and not just on Sunday mornings

-- I want to stop here and play a song called "Adoration" for you -- it's told from the perspective of a shepherd boy, but the feeling that he captures in this song should speak to us on this day after Christmas

-- listen to the words closely as this song is played

III. Closing
-- 2000 years ago God became man and walked on this earth for one purpose -- to save us from our sins and to restore us to a right relationship with Him
-- He came to be adored -- not to be rejected -- He came to be worshiped -- not to be despised
-- Jesus didn't come to earth as a baby to be put in storage until next Christmas -- He didn't come to earth to be put in storage until Easter -- or even until next Sunday
-- He came so that we might have life, and have it to the full -- but we tend to think of Him as just another Christmas gift -- and for the sake of convenience, we put Him aside and don't think of Him -- much less worship or adore Him -- until the next Christmas or Easter or Sunday rolls around

-- I pray this morning, on the first Sunday after Christmas, that you would make a commitment to keep Christ in your hearts this year -- that you would not put Him aside like an unwanted gift -- or put Him in storage like a precious decoration -- but that you would walk with Him in fellowship and adoration and worship every day for this next year

-- We heard a lot this year about keeping Christ in Christmas -- would you commit to keeping Christ with you after Christmas?
-- let's pray