[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
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[00:00:25] Speaker B: Want to welcome you to our fifth and final Christmas service, and we're so happy that you are here, especially those of you who are guests. Thank you for being here and sharing a part of your Christmas experience with us, and I hope the service will be a blessing to you. I just want to share a few things with you before we receive communion and we do our candlelight and we close. I heard about a guy who had the opportunity to work on Christmas Eve. It wasn't mandatory.
It was, you know, recommended, but it wasn't really mandatory. And he chose to do it because the money was just so good. Well, he didn't check with his wife, and that was his first mistake. He should have checked with her. She was not on board, but he had already committed. So he thought, I've got to, I gotta find a way to make this up to this girl. Somehow. I've gotta make this up to her. She's upset with me. I, I, you know, I don't put a bad spirit in our house for the holiday. So he thought, here's what I'll do. I'm gonna get her that diamond bracelet she's been looking at forever. I'm just gonna go out on, I'm gonna buy that thing for that girl. I'm gonna buy her the biggest bundle of flowers that I possibly can. I'm gonna get her favorite candies, and when I come home, I am gonna make it up to her in such a huge way. Well, he did that. He went out, he got the bracelet, he got the huge bundle of flowers, he got the candy, and even thought he would just enhance the moment. He said, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm not gonna go in the garage like I normally do. I'm gonna park the car, I'm gonna go around the front door and ring the bell and have her come to the door. So he goes around to the front door, rings the bell, door opens, and he drops to one knee with flowers in one hand, a diamond bracelet in the other hand with chocolates under an arm, and he starts singing When a Man Loves a Woman. How's he doing? So Far, girls, so far so good. Well, she didn't take it that way. She was upset and it wasn't, she was crying and it wasn't in a good, it wasn't good tears. These were not happy tears. And she said, you just don't understand how this day has gone. She said, the kids have been terrible. The house is a wreck, the dishwasher just put water all over the floor. Your mother is coming. And then she said, to make everything worse, now you come home drunk.
Well, I hope your Christmas goes a lot better than his. But the reality of it is we all want to find just the right experience for our families to have because we want to make new memories, right? We're all interested in that. I was talking to some guys this last week as we were thinking about these services and we were thinking about the gifts that we were buying and the plans that we had to give those gifts to our family members. And we were talking about that and I told them, it hit me. I said, you know, when I was a kid, there wasn't that organization called the Product Safety Commission. It didn't exist. I don't know how many of you were of my era, but you got toys and you have gifts for Christmas. Before the Product Safety Commission, those were glorious days.
For example, I got a glass cutting set one year. A glass cutting set. Now what a child would do with a glass cutting set, I don't know. My parents thought it would be great for me, so I cut Coke bottles in two. I made all kinds of creative things from that. You ever get a chemistry set, guys? Oh, that's fun for a child. Mixing chemicals, making things blow up. Oh, that was fun. My sister got an Easy Bake Oven. That's what every seven year old girl needs is an oven up in her bedroom that heats to about 325. And just let her go crazy about that thing. And then guys, you remember this? I got a wood burning set. Did any of you guys get a wood burning set? That thing's like a soldering iron. That thing gets so hot and it's on like a two foot cord, so you gotta play with it close to the drapes. So what could go wrong with that idea, right? And I remember I burned my initials into the baseboard of my bedroom. I thought my mother would be so proud of me, you know, she wasn't. It wasn't that sort of thing. And then the gift that I recall, that tops off all of the other gifts before the Product Safety Commission came along were lawn darts. Lawn darts. Talk about the perfect medieval gift for a child, the lawn dart. I mean, that's a real thing. Kids. Google that one. It's like these iron spikes. And you would. Ideally, they were designed to pitch them into a little circle in the yard, but no one did that.
Instead, you gathered all your cousins around and you tried to see how high you could throw that spike. And then you said, run.
It was kind of one of those thinning the herd things that would happen in a family, I guess. But those were gifts that we got. They're memorable. I have never forgotten one of my favorite gifts that I remember when I was like 12 years old, I got a Schwinn bicycle. It was the pea picker model. Oh, baby, that was sweet. What a sweet ride. The pea picker. Anybody have a pea picker? You've now two people. Thank you for having my back. I am so proud of that. It was an amazing gift. And the reason I'm saying all of that is we want to find the memorable gift, the special gift, the wonderful gift. And I say that because God gave us the greatest gift mankind could ever imagine. In fact, when Paul describes it, or tries to describe it in Ephesians, he just says it's indescribable. It is the most incredible, the most amazing gift that you could imagine was the gift of God's Son into this world. Talk about a perfect gift. Talk about the gift that we all needed. In fact, he announced to the shepherds, for unto you is born this day in the city of David. And here how he describes the gift. A savior who is Christ the Lord. The perfect gift. We couldn't save ourselves. I've told you, I wouldn't Trust the best 5 minutes I've ever lived to be good enough to get me into heaven. So I need a savior. We all need a savior. So Jesus came as God's indescribable gift into the world as a savior. And then the Bible uses this metaphor. In fact, Jesus often used the metaphor to talk about himself as the light, the light of the world. We've been singing a lot about that tonight in this Christmas Eve service. The light of the world. People searching for light. And it really goes back into Isaiah in the Old Testament. And in fact, there's a prophecy in Isaiah, chapter 8, where Isaiah prophesied about people who are walking in darkness have seen a great light. And the great light that he's describing is the coming of the Messiah into the world. This. That we're celebrating tonight, this wonderful event that you and I are commemorating tonight. This gift of God that's indescribable, the light of the world becoming a reality. And simply it was God's greatest gift, the coming of Jesus into the world.
When I think about his gift, I think about it first as being accessible. His gift is accessible. Think about it. He came to us, and not only coming to us, he became one of us. We talk about the incarnation at this time of the year, and the word simply means to be incarnate. Carnis is flesh. When we say incarnation of Christ, we're meaning Christ in flesh. Think about it this way. Jesus was the God, man, just as much man as though he would never be God or never was God, just as much God as though he was never man. He was the God, man, man, God in flesh.
John 1 said, the Word became flesh and tabernacle. He dwelt among us. Jesus became one of us. And that's an amazing thought. And in thinking of Jesus becoming one of us, what that says to me is that there's nothing that I can experience in life but what Jesus can relate to. Have you ever gone through something in your life and you sit down to talk to someone about it and you realize pretty quickly that they're not interested in what you're talking about.
Not only are they not interested in what they're you're talking about, they can't even relate to what you're talking about. Have you gone through something, maybe a heartbreaking soul crushing experience, and you kind of open up to someone and you look at them and they're kind of glazed over and you're thinking, why, why did I even, why didn't I even open my heart? This person doesn't get it. They. And in fairness to them, maybe they've not gone through something like that and they don't know how to relate to that.
But man, when I read what the writer of Hebrews wrote about Jesus, God's indescribable gift, the light of the world, he said concerning Jesus, we don't have a high priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. But he was in all points tempted and tested as you and I. Yet he was without sin. Meaning there's not an experience that you and I can go through in life, but what God can relate to that. That's why when you go to him in prayer and you express your heart's desire and you express your feelings to God, he understands, he can relate. He can relate to our grief and to our brokenness. He knows what it's like to Lose someone he loved. One of his best friends in this earth was Lazarus. And he's probably spent more time at the home of Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha than anyone else. The little town of Bethany is where they lived. And the Bible says Lazarus got sick. You know, people who love Jesus get sick, and Lazarus died. You know, people who love Jesus and Jesus loves them die.
Not that somebody had sin in their life or anything like that. It just is a reality of life. People get sick, people die.
All sickness is a result of original sin. Some sickness is a result of particular sin. I mean, if you abuse your body with substances and things, you're going to get sick.
But some sickness. Can I just blow your hat in the creek? Some sickness is given for the glory of God.
John 9. The man born blind, the apostle says, who sinned? The man or his brother or his mother and father, that he should be born blind? Jesus said, neither one. It's not about that, he said, but it was that the works of God might be made manifest in his life.
It's one of the mysteries of God. Why God allows our loved ones sometimes to get sick, and sometimes he doesn't choose to heal them other than to call them home. This was the case with Lazarus and man. When Jesus arrives, he doesn't arrive to pray over Lazarus before he dies. He doesn't arrive to heal Lazarus. He arrives. He didn't even make the funeral.
And it wasn't like he was in another country. He's two miles away. For the love of God or Jesus, he's two miles away, and he doesn't make the effort until four days after Lazarus has been dead. Jesus shows up. And let me tell you something. When he gets there, Mary and Martha are not happy with Jesus. Again, I stopped long enough to say he was big enough to handle it.
Can I tell you this evening? God can handle your anger.
God can handle your confusion.
When you go through something that makes no sense, that seems unfair, that doesn't seem right, and you just want to scream out in anger and frustration and even direct that toward God. Did you know he can take it?
The Bible says in the Psalms, he has put our feet in a large room. Meaning God cuts us some slack, he gives us some space. And Mary and Martha read John 11. They are twisted sisters. These girls were mad.
And there's nothing worse than when the upright get uptight. And boy, they were mad.
They said, if you had been here, our brother would not have died. And Jesus doesn't refute that. He didn't say, oh, you don't know what you're talking about.
No. But he had a purpose in what was going on that was greater than what they could see.
And the message that he was giving to them was not understand me, because that's not possible. What he was saying to them is, trust me.
And the Bible says, Jesus said, where have you buried him? And they said, we've buried him here in the tomb. And so he walks over to the tomb, and the shortest verse in the Bible is there. And the verse is simply, jesus wept.
When I was growing up in my dad's church and I was in Sunday school, I had a Sunday school teacher that would give us little stickers for our Bibles if we memorized verses. Guess which one I picked every time?
John 13:35. Jesus wept. Good job, Billy. Come get a sticker.
But I've often wondered, man, when I read that, and I read that where he wept at the tomb of Lazarus. I mean, if you've read the story, you know what happens. Jesus calls Lazarus back from the dead, which has often thought about, how unfair was that to Lazarus. Can you imagine being in heaven, enjoying a perfect body with people you hadn't seen before? You're enjoying the beautiful, just the sights and all of everything in heaven. And all of a sudden you get an announcement, lazarus, you've been recalled. You're going back. What? Yes, you died. You're going back to earth to live. So you're going to die again. What a deal. Jesus needs you for an illustration, so he calls him back. Now, I've often wondered since I know that and you know that, why did Jesus allow himself to grieve at the tomb and weep? Why did he just jump that and call him back to life?
I struggled with that one time. And I thought, well, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe it's because Jesus wanted to know what it feels like to lose someone you love.
Thought, okay, maybe.
But then I thought, well, didn't we just cover that he's God and man as well as man, and God wouldn't, as the God part of him wouldn't. The God part of him already knew that. Wouldn't he have known that?
So that's not even a good answer. So it's not that he went through that so that he would know what it feels like being God. He would know that. Here's what I think.
I think he went through that in wept so that we would know that he knows what that feels like. You see the difference?
Meaning that you and I can't go through an experience in life except but what we have a God in heaven who gets it, who understands us, who cuts us some slack, who says, I know you're upset. I know you're angry. I know you're going to have to work through this. I know it's going to take some time. You're my child. I love you. And we'll take all the time you need is baby steps.
My wife went to heaven five years ago. I'm still working through some stuff.
My brother in law is here tonight. Her brother, aunt and uncle are here. Keith introduced me to Cindy Jean when we were 17 years old. I told him I was gonna pay him back. Girls, he's single. I told him I was gonna pay him back.
He is single. He's an engineer. He's very successful.
I owe you, buddy.
But I'm just saying there's a lot of things that make no sense. A lot of things that just don't simply add up.
I don't know why she's in heaven today.
I still work through that. I'm still working through. I got a grandbaby in heaven. Joey, Theresa, we got a grandbaby in heaven. Whit, Billy, Jordan.
I mean, I don't know. You come up to me and I'll tell you I'm as confused as a termite in a Yo yo.
I don't know.
I don't know how to answer that. I told our church family here's. This is our last service, so go with me on this one.
I told our church family here's what I. You want to know what I think? This is free like the rest of it.
I think that we're not going to know some answers till we get to heaven one day.
I don't think I'll ever know why Cindy got sick with an incurable turnable terminal neurological illness.
I don't think I'll ever know why Evie is in heaven. I. I don't think I. I don't. I don't think I'll know that this side of. But. But here's what I, I, I. Here's what I told our church. I. I don't have a. I don't have a perfect mind.
I don't have a perfect body.
Boy, you want to meet me When I get my perfect body.
I'm going to be handsome and ripped, baby. I'm just going to have to die to get it.
But the point is, I don't have a perfect mind. Neither do you.
The Bible says for we don't know what we will be third John. But we know that when we see him, when we see him, when we see Jesus, we will be like him. For we will see Jesus as he is. One day I'm going to have a perfect body like his. You know what's included in that? Perfect body, perfect mind.
I used to think, when I get to heaven one day, I got a lot of questions to ask God.
And since you let me be angry, I'm going to have to be honest with you, Lord, I'm a little twisted right now.
And I used to think that maybe when we get to heaven, they would sing a song in my dad's church. We'll talk it over in the by and by. We'll talk it over, my Lord and I. I'll ask reasons and he'll tell me why. When we talk it over in the by and by, I thought, okay, I'm going to get a Q and A with Jesus one day. All right, Lord, we're going to start about 63, and we're going to work our way forward. And I thought, well, man, we're going to be in heaven for eternity. But does he really don't have time to devote to every single human being and cut us that much time to explain everything? And then it hit me. It hit me. I won't need that, because I'm going to have a perfect mind.
And the minute I'm in the presence of God, the minute I step into heaven, I'm going to have a mind that knows what he knows. And I told the church, I think my first expression when I get to heaven one day will be, oh, okay, we're good now. Not so good down there, but we're good now. I get it. I trust you. You knew what was best. You followed me and guided me every way. The poet said, my Father's way may twist and turn and my heart may throb and ache but in my soul I'm glad I know he makes no mistakes My cherished plans may go astray My thoughts may fade away but still I'll trust my Lord to lead for he doth know the way Though night be dark and it may seem that day will never break I'll pin my faith, my all in him for he maketh no mistake there's so much now I cannot see My eyesight's far too dim but come what may I'll simply trust and I'll leave it all to him for by and by the mist will lift in plain yet all he'll make through all the way Though dark to me he made not one Mistake.
I'm holding onto that. That's a good one. You might want to hang on to that one too.
But Jesus can relate. He can relate. He wept. He gets it.
Not only do I think about him as being accessible, I think about him. Listen to this. As being approachable. Religion tells you you can't approach God. You're not good enough. You're not worthy to approach God. Religion keeps us at a distance from God.
Jesus came into this world as one of us. And he says, permit the little ones to come unto me and don't forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. He invites you to come. The shepherds were probably the most unsophisticated people of that day. The most uneducated people of that day, probably the poorest people of that day. Didn't bathe regularly. Smelt like sheep.
And I don't know if you know this, but sheep are the dumbest animals God ever gave life to. You can train every kind of animal. You cannot train a sheep. They're just dumb.
And these shepherds were watching sheep.
And he gives his birth. The announcement of Jesus into the world to shepherds. And he invited them to come. And they brought their messed up, unsophisticated, uneducated, stinky, smelly, broke self and they knelt before Jesus at the manger because he is approachable. He's approachable.
Religion says, get your act together and come to Jesus. And I hear that a lot. People say, oh, Bill, I can't go to the church. The ceiling would fall in on me. I'm like, have you seen the people that go to our church?
Have we met?
It's like that excuse people give. Well, there's too many hypocrites. That's why I don't go to church. I always say, oh, come on, one more hypocrite ain't gonna hurt anything.
But the point I'm making is Christianity is not behavior modification.
God does not change a person so that he can love that person. He loves a person so that he can change the person.
Romans 5:8 says, While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us in our sins, just as we are. Billy Graham used to close those great crusades with thousands of people giving their hearts to Jesus with that great hymn. Just as I am without one plea but that your blood was shed for me O Lamb of God, I come. Can I tell you something? If you ever come to Jesus, you'll come with your messed up self. You'll come with your broke self. You'll come with your confused Self, you'll come with your sinful self. You come just as you your mad self. You come to him just as you are. And Jesus said, those who come to me, I will in no wise cast out. He will not turn you aside. He will not turn you away. He will receive you just as you are. He came to us as we are. And he will receive you. Receive us as we are. Here's the third thought, and I'll close. Not only was he accessible, and not only was he approachable, but he is available.
Do you realize God doesn't just love all of us, he loves each one of us. If you were the only person on this earth to redeem Jesus would have gone to the cross just for you.
You matter that much to him. You're important to him. The Bible says he has the hairs of your head numbered. It doesn't say he had the hairs of your head counted. If he had said counted, that means he knows how many there are. He said numbers, that means he knows which one they are.
Now why did he put that in there? He put that in there to let us know he is aware of the tiniest, most minute detail of our life. It concerns him. He sees the sparrow when it falls. He hears the tears when they fall.
He sees everything that happens in our life. He cares. He's available.
And can I give you an idea for a great last minute gift to give your family? You ready for this? Give them the assurance that you know Jesus.
I shared that a few years ago in a Christmas service as I was closing and I got an email from a guy who didn't like that at all. He told me he thought I was being manipulative when I said that. And I said, well, I'm awfully glad you had the ability to peer into my heart because it is not how I meant that.
And I said, but since I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and understand, you have to understand where I'm coming from. Part of my responsibility as a pastor is I officiate hundreds of funerals.
This next year I'll complete 50 years of full time ministry. 50 years. And I cannot think of the numbers of weddings I've done or the numbers of funerals that I've done.
I'm not exact. I have told you a million times, I don't exaggerate, but I'm not exaggerating when I tell you it'd be hundreds and hundreds and hundreds.
In all of the funerals I've done, the most comforting thing I can give a family is not share with them what they've got left in the will, though. That's helpful.
I would tell you this little sidebar. Do your giving while you're living, so you're knowing where it's going, baby.
But the point I'm making is that's not what moves them. What moves them is the assurance that they'll see their loved one in heaven one day.
That. That. That's. That's. I know where. I know where my loved ones are. I'm going to see them again. That gives me hope. That gives me hope. When my heart breaks, it gives me hope.
And that's a great gift to give your family. It is.
Because it could be something happened to you. They may call on somebody like me to stand over you one day. And I need you to leave me some material to work with.
I've had some people leave me not much material now. I'll promise you this, and I'm done. I'll promise you this.
I'll spin you the best way I can.
I'll make you look as good as I possibly can. I can work with very little material. I've done it.
I did one one time for a guy, and he didn't leave a lot of material to work with. And I did him as good as I could. And I'm standing by the casket as everybody's filing by, and a lady that was in there has known me all my life. She comes up to me, she grabs my lapel, pulls me down close to her. She says, billy Lloyd. That's what they call you when they've known you all your life. She said, billy Lloyd. I had to come look in the casket to make sure I was at the right funeral.
I can spin them, baby. I can spin them.
I remember those two brothers that were just mean and nasty, and they had a terrible reputation in this small town. One of them finally was killed in a bar fight. And his brother goes to the pastor and says, I'd like to do my brother's funeral in the church, if you would. And the pastor said, sure, I'd be honored to do the funeral. And he said, yeah. He said, at some point in the funeral, when you eulogize my brother, I want you to say my brother was a saint. The pastor said, man, I mean, I'm honored to host the funeral. I'm honest to officiate it. But everybody knows the reputation of you and your brother, man. You guys have been in bar fights every week. You've swindled, you've cheated, you've been in and out of jail. I mean, dude, I can't say he's a saint. No, I'll lose my credibility. And he says, well, if you can figure out how to say he was a saint, Lord, I'll give you $1,000. He goes, well, okay, let me work on that. So, man, the day of the funeral came. That little church was packed. People standing around the walls outside, looking in the windows. I mean, it was packed. I think half the people were there just to make sure he was dead. He was that kind of guy.
And, man, sure enough, the pastor got up and he just said, man, of all the sorry, low down, rotten human beings that I've ever met in my life, no one was worse than this guy. Probably swindled most of you out of money and probably cheated some of you out of something and probably hit on most of you women in here. This guy was just terrible human being. He said, however, compared to his brother right here, this dude was a saint.
It's all perspective.
So I'm just saying, man, this light that Jesus offers to us is available. You know how close you are. You're a prayer way. You're so close. People stumble over the simplicity. Jesus did all the heavy lifting at the cross. All we have to do is reach out, receive him. Would you pray with me? Father, I thank you for the opportunity to share with my friends tonight on this Christmas Eve, the greatest story in all of the world, and that is the coming of Jesus, God's indescribable gift of light and life.
I pray for my friends who may never have received him as Savior.
Before we receive communion and close with candle lighting, I pray in this moment that they would just humble their heart and simply pray a prayer like this and say, lord Jesus, with all I know about me, I now trust all I know about you. Come into my heart, forgive my sin. And that's the prayer that I pray in Christ's name. Amen.
[00:27:14] 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 this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.
[00:27:44] Speaker B: Sa.
