Christmas Eve at the Met

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met church podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our website@metchurch.com, we would love to stay connected with you throughout the week through social media, so be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Now enjoy the message. [00:00:25] Speaker B: How many of you kids are excited about Santa Claus coming tonight? Are you excited? We got a lot of kids in the house. How many of you have already told Santa everything you wanted? You did that. How many of you little ones did that? How many of you big kids told Santa everything? You've thrown away all the hints. You put it all out there. You know, there is a thing called the naughty and nice list. You've heard of that, right? You've heard of that. I'm sure there are people who are hoping they are on the nice list now. I heard about a little boy who understood that. He said, I don't know that I've been this good. I honestly am not sure that I will get everything that I've asked Santa to bring me. So what he thought he would do to get himself off the naughty list is he thought he would write a letter to God. I'm going to go over Santa's head. I'm going to the big man himself, and I'm going to make sure I get what I've asked for Christmas. So he writes a letter to God and he says, dear God, I've been a good little boy for all year long. And he thought about that, and he thought, oh, man, I haven't. I can't lie to God. He knows. So he revised his letter. He said, dear God, I've been a good little boy all month long. All month long. And then he thought about it. He goes, it's not really true either. I haven't been that good all month long. And he said, okay, God, I've been a good little boy all week long. And then he thought, no, I'm actually in my room because I'm in trouble with my mom now. So instead, he had this brilliant idea. He goes into the living room, into the little nativity, and he takes a little figurine from the nativity. He goes back into his room and he writes this letter, dear God, if you ever want to see your mother again, that was a rotten kid, man. I got to tell you. That is a rotten kid. Well, I hope you get what you want. But, you know, I bring that up. Because at the Christmas season, there are people who think that's how God is. It's kind of a Santa Claus theology, that God has a naughty list and a nice list. And if you're on the naughty list, you don't get his attention, you don't get his favor, you don't get his forgiveness, you get nothing from God if you're on the naughty list. And so we begin this cycle in our lives of thinking, I've got to move myself to the nice list. I've got to do good things, do good works, go to the right church, follow the right rituals. And so we get on this treadmill, this religious treadmill that says I ultimately can move from the naughty list to the nice list in the eyes of God by the things I do, by what I do, somehow I can merit God's attention, love, forgiveness, if I can just do the right thing. And then we're all frustrated because like the little boy, we go two steps forward and we go three steps back. And when we look into the Bible and we find things that Paul has written, like, there are none righteous, no, not one. There's none that does good. No, not one. And then he says in romans 323, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now, what does that expression, glory of God means? It means God's standard. What is the standard of God? The standard of God is perfection, meaning that if you were to get to heaven by bypassing Jesus'grace, if that somehow was possible, then you would have to have lived a perfect life. Now think about that. A perfect life. That means you could never have said anything you should not have said as you were driving to church this morning in the rain. You could have never thought anything. You should not have thought. The Bible says even the thought of foolishness is sin. So you couldn't even have had a wavered thought, couldn't say anything bad. Think anything bad. You couldn't have done anything bad. I mean, you would have had to live from the time you were a child up until this good hour, up until the moment in which you face God, a perfect life. Can I confess my sin to you? This morning I got quiet. Here's what I would tell you. I would not trust the best five minutes that I've ever lived to be good enough to get me into heaven. I just wouldn't. I'm on the naughty list. Deep into the naughty list. And when I look into the Bible, I see verses like romans five, eight, where Paul says, while we were yet sinful, while we were still on the naughty list, God sent forth his son. In other words, Christianity is not behavior modification, meaning that God does not change a person so that he then can love that person. Instead, God loves a person so that he might then change the person. You see, if you ever come to Jesus, you come from on the naughty list. If you ever come to Jesus, you come exactly as you are. You bring your messed up self to Jesus. You bring your confused self to Jesus. You bring your bitter self to Jesus. You bring your sinful self to Jesus. You bring your mistake prone self to Jesus. You come as you are. I love that great hymn that Billy Graham closed all of his crusades with. That hymn goes, just as I am without one plea, but that your blood was shed for me. O lamb of God, I come. If you come to Jesus, that's how you get there. Because he loves us not because of us. He loves us in spite of us. God sent forth his son, knowing the mess we were in, knowing the sins that we had committed. He loved us in spite of that. And the beautiful message of Christmas is the message of God becoming one of us. To take the sins of us upon himself and to pay the price that he didn't owe, but that we were insufficient to pay. Take that to the cross. Satisfying the justice of God on sin. Because the Bible says the soul that sins must die. And then gloriously rising from the dead on Easter. We'll celebrate that. And I'll see a lot of you back on that weekend. I'm sorry. I couldn't resist that. Hey. I'm just glad you're here. I've done this in an empty room, Covid. Remember that. And that is no fun. But we celebrate that on Easter. And the reality of all of that is he came into the world as. Think about it as God's gift to us. When you get home tonight, especially the kids, you'll look under the tree and you'll see the presence with your name on it later tonight, many of you will open gifts tonight, many of you. Tomorrow, if not most all of you. Tomorrow you'll open the gifts, and you're most interested in the gift with your name on it. Someone has taken time and thought about you, and someone has, with you in mind, tried to give you the perfect gift, the gift that they feel like really suits you. And they paid a price for you to have this gift. And they'll give you that gift with your name on it tomorrow morning or tonight. Have you ever thought about it? That you were in the mind of God and you were in the heart of God. When Jesus came into this world, he had you in his mind. And when he gave his son. And when Jesus Christ entered into the world, he was God's perfect gift just for you, man. Can I tell you this morning, God doesn't just love all of us, though he does. He loves each one of us. That's why Jesus said, I see a sparrow when it falls. He doesn't miss anything. He doesn't miss anyone. That's why he said, I have even the hairs of your head numbered. Now, he didn't say counted. If he had used the word counted, that means he knows how many there are. He said numbered. That means he knows which one they are. What's the point? Does he have accountants in heaven with nothing better to do? No. He's saying, I want you to know I'm interested in the most minute detail of your life. You matter to God. And he sent forth his son, Jesus. In fact, in romans 623, the Bible describes Jesus this way. You know how he described the gift of God? He's God's gift. I can't deserve it. I can't earn it. Rather, I don't deserve it. There was a price paid for the gifts that we receive, but it won't be by the recipient. The price was paid by the person that is offering the gift, and the price was paid by Jesus. Salvation is free, but it costs the Son of God his life. So what do you do with the gift of God? You receive it. You receive it. Can you imagine what it would be like sitting around the tree with the people you love most and know you best? And you give them a gift and they rejected it. I don't want it. Nah, keep it. I don't love you, and I don't love anything you have to offer. Your heart would be shattered. Well, such is the response of an almighty God who sent forth his son. When we don't receive his gift, instead we reject it. Did you know that's the only sin? The Bible says at the end of the day, God will not forgive? Places in the scripture is called blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. The role of the Holy Spirit is to draw people to Jesus. No one comes to the Father except the spirit drawing. And when I reject the drawing of the Holy Spirit, if I die in that condition, ultimately, that is the one sin God said, I won't forgive the sin of your unbelief. So Jesus offers himself the perfect gift. He offers himself to us as his gift. One of my favorite verses in the Christmas story is that verse where the angels appeared to the shepherds. And isn't it amazing that the shepherds got the birth announcement first. They were not people who were highly sophisticated. Shepherds were not people who were highly educated. And yet God came to the least of those in society's estimation. And he made the birth announcement first and foremost to the shepherds. You remember how it goes. In Luke, chapter two, verse eleven, he says, for unto you it's personal. This is you. It's got your name on it. For unto you is born this day in the city of David. What a savior. The perfect gift. What did we need? We needed a savior. We couldn't save ourselves. We needed a savior. And then he identifies who he is. This savior is Christ the Lord. He is the atoning one. He's Christ. He's the Lord. He's the leader. He's Jesus. He's the savior of our sin. And God gave his only begotten son his perfect gift to us. And when you receive his gift, there's a few things that happen. First of all, when you receive this gift, you receive his presence. His presence. The Bible says one of those earlier prophecies of the coming of Jesus. Back in Isaiah 714, the Bible said this. Now this was 740 years before that Christmas morning. Talk about getting the birth announcements out early, ladies. 740 years early. Isaiah writes these words. He said, and this will be a sign unto you. Here's your sign. A virgin will conceive. He didn't say young woman. Some translations really miss that translation when they translate it that way. Because a young woman conceiving wouldn't be a sign. Young women conceive all the time. That's not a sign. That's pretty common. So that's not the sign. The sign is a virgin will conceive. That's a biological impossibility. But can I tell you this morning, God is really good at working out biological impossibilities. I can't explain my own birth, much less his. So I'm just suggesting you that he said, when this happens, this will be the sign that this virgin will conceive and bear a son. And here it is. You will call him Emmanuel. What's the significance of that name? It means God with us. Listen, the moment you receive Jesus Christ and you take that gift and you receive that gift, God is with you. Isn't that a wonderful thought? His spirit comes in to dwell within your heart and your life, and you have the presence of God with you. Good times and bad and happy times. And sad. God is with you. And it leads me to my second thought. Not only do you have the presence of God, you have the peace of God. There was a survey I read about in preparation for these services this week, and the survey asked people nationwide, not a religious survey, but it asked people nationwide, as you go into the new year, what do you want most? What would you say are the top things you desire most in your life? And most of the respondents responded in a way that surprised the people who took the survey. It was not what they expected, not the top answers. Now they got the normal answers. They were anticipating, make more money, be more successful, all these sorts of things. That was down in the list. But the top three responses. Are you ready for this? Number one, they said, I want to experience love. I want to know what it feels like to have someone love me unconditionally. I want to experience genuine love in my life. The second response was, I want joy. I really want joy. Now, they didn't say happiness because there's a difference. Happiness depends a lot on your happenstance. In fact, we get the word happy out of the old english word happenstance. We don't use that word much anymore. We use this one circumstance. It used to be said, if a person's hap was good, they were happy. If they had a bad hap, they were unhappy. Because happiness is surface. It's tied to your circumstance. But joy is something you can have when you're unhappy. You can have a joyful heart, even in the worst of circumstances. And so people said, I would love to have love and be loved, and I would love to have joy. The third one, here it is. Peace. Peace, real peace in my life. So when I lie down at night, I don't toss and turn and worry and fret about what's facing me the next day or what the future. I just need peace. I need some peace in my mind and peace in my heart. When Jesus came into the world, one of the beautiful things he said in John 14, he said, my peace I give to you. He said, not as the world gives, give I unto you. And then he said, let not your heart be troubled, and neither let it be afraid. May I suggest to you, peace is not the cessation of trouble. Peace doesn't mean the end of storms. You and I will never get to a point in our life, not on this earth, where we will not have trouble. Job is probably the oldest book of the Bible and one of the verses of job 14. One, Job says, this man, who is Born of woman that's pretty much all of us. He said, man who is born of woman is of a few days. And then he describes those days as being full of trouble. Can I tell you what I found out? Life is. Life is a cycle. You know what it is? You're in trouble this morning. You're getting out of trouble this morning. You're about to get back into trouble this morning. It's cycles. That's life. So you'll never have a trouble free life. Jesus didn't promise that. He said, in fact, in this world, you will have tribulation. Okay, bill, how does that line up then? With peace. Peace happens in the middle of trouble. I'll give you an illustration. Mark chapter four. Jesus and the disciples are going across the Sea of Galilee. Galilee was prone to storms, fierce storms. And remember, one of the things about these disciples is they were very experienced sailors. In fact, Simon Peter had a commercial fishing business before he became a disciple of Christ. Many scholars believe he was very successful. He owned several fishing boats. So this man knew how to navigate the waters, especially the Sea of Galilee. He had grown up fishing on that sea. And in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, a huge storm comes up to the point that all of the sailors, especially Simon, is afraid that they are going to die. Now, you've heard that expression. You don't get nervous till the pilot gets nervous, right? We have pilots in the room. We got a thunderbird pilot right there in the room, my buddy Matt. And I can tell you if I'm flying with Matt Bird and we're going through a terrible storm, and he is not afraid. I ain't either. But Matt turns to me and says, son, Bill, we need to pray. Andy, I'm hitting my knees, brother. I'm singing just as I am. I'm saying, dear God, help us. Matt's afraid. Well, that was Simon Peter, and they're looking for Jesus because they know we can't sink. He's in the boat. Where is he? And they go down. You remember the story. He's asleep. Don't you hate it when you're panicked? And God doesn't seem to be. Man, when I pray and I'm panicked, I want heaven to erupt. With sirens and lights and the Holy Spirit going, this help's on the way. Don't worry, Corey Tin boom said, there is no panic in heaven. There are only plans. And they go down and they see Jesus asleep. And I imagine Simon Peter ran up to him and went, jesus Christ, wake up. What's going. Don't you know, we're going to go down this boat. We're in trouble. And Jesus says, oh, God, love you. Me love you. And he walks up on the deck of the ship and he just says, peace, be still. And those waves and all of that settled. What's the point? The point is Jesus was at perfect peace in the middle of a storm. That's peace. In John 14 one, he said, let not your heart be troubled. He didn't say, let not your life be troubled. Listen, you can have a troubled life and an untroubled heart. You can go through some of the deepest, darkest valleys, and you can go through some of the harshest, fright, scariest storms, and yet your heart not be troubled. Why? How? The peace of God, that's why. Paul said it passes all understanding. It's hard to explain. It just has to be experienced. And one of the things, friends, you get is you get his presence, you get his peace. Thirdly, you get his power. Man, when the spirit of God comes to live within you, God gives you the power you need to do what he's called you to do. He enables you and he empowers you. You have the power to overcome things that used to pull you down. Because I believe if you don't have within you that which is above you, you succumb to what is around you, and eventually you fall into what is beneath you. We need his power. And, man, when you have the presence of God and you get the peace of God, you get the power of God. The power is with you. It gives you power to fulfill your purpose. Do you know you have purpose? God has something for you to do. I believe that so strongly that I think we're immortal until he's finished with us. We have at the house. And I don't know if you have this at your house, but I grew up with one. Cindy grew up with one. You probably had one. We called it a junk drawer. You have a junk drawer. You may not call it that. It's that drawer where everything, you don't know what it is, but it looks important. Ends up things that you're afraid to throw away. You open that drawer up and you go, I don't know what this little dilly bobber is, this thingama jig. It looks important. Therefore, I'm not throwing it away because you're afraid if you throw it away, the back of the house will fall off, the wheels will just come apart. That was the thingama jig. That's what the dilly bobber did. Fit right there. Wish I still had it, so you're afraid to throw it away. Can I tell you what God does not have? He does not have a junk drawer. He's never looked down from heaven and spotted you and said, I don't know what that is. They look important. I just don't know where they fit. He created you with a design in mind. There's something that you and you alone can do. God has a purpose for your life. Don't ever miss that. You matter to him. And he created you for a reason. And you're going to be here until that purpose ends. One of the beautiful verses that meant so much to me and helped me kind of comprehend when God called Cindy home was in ecclesiastes three, where it says, to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven. And that's more than a great song that they did to everything. Turn, turn. Remember that. It's a real song. Trust me. Google that. But it was more than this. It's the writing of Solomon. And he said, life is seasonal, right? Seasons. There's hard seasons and easy seasons, and there's stressful seasons. And there's seasons where you'll plow the field up, and there's seasons where you'll plant, and there's seasons where you'll water and be nourished, and there's seasons where you'll get fertilized. Fertilizer happens. And there's seasons where you'll reap and grow. Life is seasoned. And he said, in the middle of the seasons of life, God will give you time for purpose. And the minute your purpose ends, your time ends the moment. I have people say, bill, how do I know God is not finished with me? You'll know. You'll know immediately when he's finished with you. And whoever is with you will know. If you're with me, when that time comes and I hit the ground, you're going to know, well, Bill just hit here. And he bounced right into heaven. Absent from his body, he was present with his Lord. He stepped from the temporal into the eternal. This body will go back to the earth. As Solomon said, ashes to ashes and dust to dust. It will wait the morning of the resurrection, but his spirit has returned to God who gave it. And one day at the resurrection, we'll talk about it on Easter. One day, the Bible says, the Lord himself will ascend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God. And those who died in Christ will be raised first. And we which are alive and remain get to be caught up with him in the air, to meet the Lord, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Man, I tell you what an incredible thing that is, to have him as my gift. His presence, his peace, his power, his promise. You know what his promise is? Hebrews 13 five. He said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. Somebody described Jesus this way. They said, he's the friend that will come in your life if every other friend walks out. Think about that. He'll never leave you. He'll never forsake you. Now, when he wrote that in Hebrews 13, it sounded redundant, leave and forsake. But it means two different things. To leave someone means to remove your physical presence from them. To forsake means to emotionally disconnect from them. You can be physically connected to someone you are no longer emotionally connected to. You can be emotionally connected to someone you're not now physically connected to. But God said, when it comes to how I feel about you, when you receive me, I will never walk away from you. I'll never emotionally disconnect from you. Even in the moment when we leave this life. You remember what David wrote? Psalm 23. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil. Why? For thou art with me, friend. If you don't know him this morning, I highly recommend him. What a wonderful thing could happen if that baby born in the manger could be born again in your heart. Would you pray with me this morning, Father? Thank you. Thank you for an opportunity we have on a Sunday morning to celebrate. Thank you for these amazing people providing the music, the song. Thank you for the host of volunteers and staff who've welcomed us. Thank you for all the tech people who make this happen and for the unknown, thousands of people watching online, many who will watch later. But, Father, we recognize the sacredness of this moment, how special this is, when we now have this opportunity to receive the greatest Christmas gift ever given, the gift of your son. I pray for my friends who've never exercised that faith to receive Christ, that this would be the moment. For they swallow their pride, they humble their heart, and right where they are, they pray this prayer. Lord Jesus, with everything I know about me, I now trust all that I know about you. Come into my heart, forgive my sin, be a reality in my life. I want your presence. I want your peace. I need your power. And so I receive your promise, and I do this now in Jesus name. Amen. [00:26:31] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you week. We look forward to seeing you next week.