WILL I
MAKE ROOM FOR JESUS?
Questions That Determine My Destiny – Part 5
12-24-12 Sermon
“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a
decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census that took place
while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And
everyone went to his own town to register.
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. He went there to register with Mary, who was
pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the
baby to be born, 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.” Luke 2:1-7 (NIV)
]
WHY DO WE HAVE NO ROOM FOR JESUS?
1. We
Don’t______________________________________________________________
“They saw him, but somehow did not
recognize him.” Luke 24:16 (TEV)
Jesus:
“If you only knew the gift God has for you and who I am, you’d be asking
me for a drink and I’d give you living water.”
John 4:10 (NLT)
2. We
Crowd_____________________________________________________________
“The
unspiritual person has no room for the gifts of God's Spirit; to him
they are folly; he cannot even recognize them.”
1
Cor. 2:14 (NJB)
“They are overwhelmed with worries
about all the things they have to do and all the things they want
to get. The stress strangles
what they heard, and nothing comes of it.”
Mark 4:10 (Mes)
“Mary
sat at Jesus’ feet listening to what he said.
But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be
made. She came to Jesus and said. ‘Lord, don't you care that my sister has left
me to do the work by myself? Tell her to
help me!’ But Jesus said, ‘Dear Martha, you get so upset over all these details! But there’s really only one thing
worth being concerned about, and Mary has discovered it.’” Luke 10: 39-42 (NLT)
“Make
sure you don't become SO FULL of yourself and your things
that you forget God” Deuteronomy
8:14 (Mes)
3. We
Don’t Think_________
_____________________________________
“People are too proud to seek God. They do not look for Him; there is no room
for God in
their thoughts.” Psalm 10:4
(NCV)
“We’re all like sheep who've wandered off
and gotten lost. We've all done our
own thing, gone our own way.”
Isaiah
53:6 (Mes)
WHY SHOULD I MAKE ROOM FOR JESUS?
1. TO KNOW _______________________________________
“Before anything else existed, there was
Christ, with God. He has always been
alive and is himself God. He created
everything there is--nothing exists that he didn't make! Eternal life is in him, and this life
gives light to all mankind.” John 1:1-4 (LB)
“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.” John 3:16 (NIV)
“He came to the world, which belonged to Him
but those who were His did not receive Him and did not welcome Him. But to those who DID receive and welcome Him,
He gave the privilege and power to become the children of God,
because they believe in his name!”
John
1:11-12 (Amp)
2. TO ENJOY _______________________________________
“The smallness you feel comes from within
you. Your lives aren't small, but you're
living them in a small way….Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!”
2
Cor. 6:12-13 (Mes)
“I am leaving you with a gift - peace
of mind and heart! And the peace I
give you isn't fragile like the peace the world gives. So you won’t be troubled or afraid.”
John 14:27 (LB)
“God does not give us a spirit that makes us
afraid or fearful. Instead He gives us a
spirit of power and love and self-control.” 2 Tim. 1:7 (NCV)
“In
LOVE there is NO ROOM for fear, but perfect love drives out all fear!”
HOW DO I MAKE ROOM FOR JESUS?
I H I
Jesus: “Listen! I am standing and knocking at your door. If you hear my voce and open the door,
I will come in and we will eat together.”
Rev.
3:20 (CEV)
“Open up before God, keep nothing back; he'll
do whatever needs to be done!” Psalm 37:5 (Mes)
WILL I MAKE ROOM FOR JESUS?
Questions That Determine My Destiny – Part 5
12-24-12 Sermon
Merry Christmas
everybody! It’s really good to see you. This week we’re doing forty one Christmas
services at Saddleback in ten different locations and in multiple languages. We started five new Saddlebacks this evening
– Saddleback Orange, Saddleback Anaheim Hispanic, Saddleback Anaheim English,
Saddleback Huntington Beach and Saddleback Rancho Capistrano. They’re all doing really great. And of course Saddleback Corona, Saddleback
Irvine, Saddleback Laguna Woods and Saddleback San Clemente are also meeting.
We’re going to
look at the innkeeper tonight and what his story has to say to us.
A number of
years ago my wife decided that I would get to choose where we went on vacation. The kids were little at the time. She said, We’re going to let Daddy decide
what kind of vacation we take. I said
I’d like to do a vacation that is totally spontaneous – no planning. I’m a leader, I’m a pastor. Every day of my life is planned. Every hour, every second. To me planning a vacation doesn’t sound like
more fun. I’d like to do one that’s just
totally spontaneous. Let’s just get in
the car and let’s say we’re going to drive over the western states. We’ll go to the Dakotas and go to Wyoming and
Montana and Utah and Colorado and Arizona and New Mexico. We’ll just drive around and we won’t do any
planning. That sounds fun to me.
That’s a great
vacation for a seventeen year old single guy.
But not when you’ve got a wife and kids to bring along with you. Because as it turned out without making any plans
on the first five nights of that vacation in five different cities, four of
those nights we could not find any motel with a vacancy. We spent four of the first five nights
sleeping in the car. That did not create
happy campers for my kids. So along about
the fifth night we decided that from then on we would plan ahead.
We were in some
big towns. We were in Denver one night
and at eleven o’clock at night I’m going, I can’t find an open motel. At one thirty in the morning we still didn’t
have one. I said what’s going on? And they said actually it was the rodeo and
people for months had been planning and it’s all been booked in advance. So I understood what it meant when it said,
for Jesus there was no room in the inn.
We’re going to
look at that story tonight, Luke 2. “In those days Caesar Augustus issued a
decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census that should take
place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.
Everyone went to his own town to register. 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 [that was his family tree so he goes back to
Bethlehem]. He went there to register with Mary who was
pledged to married him and was expecting a child. While they were there the time came for the
baby to be born. She gave birth to her
first born, a son, and she wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger
because there was no room for them in the inn.” Circle the phrase “no room.” There was no room for them in the inn. So he’s born in a manger.
What’s a manger? The Greek word actually can be used to refer
to a stall that cattle are in, in a stable.
Or it can actually refer to a feeding trough that cattle use which was
usually made of wood or stone. Either
way Jesus is born in an unsanitary area.
He’s not born in a palace. He’s
not born even in a motel. He’s born in a
barn, in a stable, with a bunch of other animals.
Think about this.
This is the eternal God. This is the Son of God the promised messiah. This event had been anticipated for hundreds
– no thousands – of years. There had
been all kinds of predictions and prophecies and advance notices where people
say “One day God is sending the messiah.
God is going to send the Son of God.
God is going to come to earth in human form and he’s going to die for
all of our sins. He’s going to be the
savior of the world.” It had been predicted,
it had been studied, it had been anticipated literally for thousands of years. This birth would split history into A.D. and
B.C.. In fact your birthday is dated in
relationship to the birthday of Christ. When
we say 2010, 2010 from what? From this
event.
So this is the
most important event in history. It
splits A.D. and B.C. And yet when God
does actually show up and he sends the messiah, there’s no room for him. There’s no room for him to be born.
I have to think
of this from a business man’s point of view.
I think, this innkeeper missed the biggest bonanza of his life. Because if Jesus had been born in his inn, he
could have got one of those big signs like they have in Vegas that points down
and says, “Son of God born here.” And
you could stay in the Jesus suite for only $129.95 and we’ll throw in the
buffet. It could have been a Graceland. That’s probably why God didn’t do it. He missed the biggest blessing of his life
because he said, Sorry. No room. We don’t have any room. And the savior of the world is born in a barn
because they didn’t make room for him.
Before we get
too harsh on the innkeeper we do this all the time. You do it, I do it. Our culture does it. We don’t make room for Jesus. In fact, we kind of want to push him out of
the way. We certainly don’t want him to
be viewed in public.
In 1963 the courts decided that Jesus
should be banned from the classroom. And
prayer in classroom was outlawed. So there’s
no room in the classroom.
Then systematically over the last
forty-fifty years we have been taking Jesus out of each of the rooms of our
cultures. Out of the courtroom out of
the stateroom, out of the classroom, out of the workroom – you can’t talk about
him at work – out of the newsroom, and all these other areas. So much so that even today Jesus doesn’t even
get to celebrate his own birthday any more.
It’s no longer Christmas. They
take “Christ” out and put an “X” in the middle of it. That’s kind of obvious. We’re going to take Christ out of his own
birthday and just call it Xmas.
On Monday USA Today front page, this was the
headline “Jesus is no longer the reason for the season. Christmas is no longer about Jesus’ birth. It’s just a month long party with friends. At Christmas you take a break, you go on vacation. ‘It’s been downgraded on the religious
calendar,’ said Barry Kosmin of the Institute for Study of Secularism. ‘Come, o come all ye partiers, now trumps Oh Come All Ye Faithful for nearly a
third of Americans.” They did a survey
and this front page article said that today more parents tell their kids the
Santa myth than actually tell them the true story about Jesus’ birth. This national survey revealed that kids today
are more likely to learn the story of Jesus’ birth from Linus on a Charlie Brown Christmas than from their
own parents. The Huffington Post, James Martin, wrote that even though
retailers owed their year’s entire profits to Christmas they now treat Jesus as
‘He who must not be named’ like the villain in the Harry Potter books.”
What’s going on
here? We’re making no room for Jesus. We can say Seasons Greetings or Happy Holidays
but you cannot say Jesus. You take
Christ out of Christmas.
I really don’t
want to talk about culture tonight. What
I want to look at is, Why don’t I make room for Jesus in my daily life. Why don’t you make room for Jesus in your
daily life? I want to ask three questions:
Why don’t we make room? Why should we
make room? And how do you do it? How do you make room for Jesus?
The reasons we
don’t make room for Jesus in our daily lives are the same three reasons that
the innkeeper had. You need to realize
that your heart is like an inn. In your
heart you have many different rooms. Your
heart is compartmentalized (or your brain if you want to say so) the way you
think about different things. You have a family room in your heart. That’s the time you give your family. You have workroom in your heart. That’s where you give your work interest. You have a bedroom; that’s your sex life. You have a dining room – some of us have a
very big dining room. You may have a
study where you study. You certainly
have a garage in your heart where you pile all the trash and all the junk and
all the stuff. If you’re going to invite
Jesus into your heart, you’ve got to make room in your heart just like the innkeeper
needed to make room in his own life.
Why
don’t we make room for Jesus? There are
three reasons.
The
first reason is we don’t pay attention. We don’t pay attention and we’re not even
aware when Jesus shows up around us. You’re
not aware when God’s in your life and yet he’s around your life all the time. God shows up in your life all the time in
opportunities you didn’t know you were going to get, in problems you didn’t
know you were going to have and he allowed them so you could grow. In words that other people say to you. Jesus shows up in your life all the time, you
just don’t see him.
It’s just like
radio waves and tv waves. Right now there are radio and tv waves going through this building. They’re actually going through your body. If we have a tuner and tune it in, we could
get picture of the tv pictures. But you can’t see them; that doesn’t mean
they’re not real. They’re real. You’re just not tuned in. So much of the time we’re not tuned in, we’re
not paying attention to Jesus being around us.
This is a common
problem. In the bible it happened all the
time. Jesus would show up and be talking
to people and they didn’t realize who he was.
They didn’t know he was the Son of God.
One time a couple guys were walking down the street, on the road to Emmaus
and Jesus starts walking with them. It
tells us this “They saw him but they
didn’t recognize him.” They didn’t
realize it was Jesus.
Another time Jesus is sitting by a
well and a woman comes up to get water. He
asks her for a drink of water. She
doesn’t recognize him. She doesn’t know
he’s the Son of God. She doesn’t know he’s
the savior of the world. She gets
involved in a religious debate with the guy.
Jesus then says this: “If you only
knew the gift that God has for you and if you knew who I am, you’d be asking me
for a drink and I’d be giving you living water.” She didn’t notice. She didn’t pay attention. She didn’t recognize.
When Jesus shows
up in our lives we often do the same. We’re
unaware of it. The clear example is the
last month. It’s hard to not miss Jesus
during December. There are nativity
scenes everywhere. There are Christmas
specials on tv. There are posters and there are pictures and
there is the ubiquitous Christmas carol singing about Jesus on in every mall,
in every office, in doctor’s office, dentists’ office. But we’re not tuned in.
Right now there
are people out at a mall doing their last minute Christmas shopping or they’re
in a grocery store pushing a cart around.
And overhead are words like this: “Born today is the king of kings. O come all ye faithful. Come let us adore him, Christ the Lord. Christ the savior is born. Hallelujah.
Hark the herald angels sing. The
savior has come to earth for you.” We’re
pushing a cart around totally oblivious.
We’re not noticing even Jesus when he’s around.
Let me just
bring a focus to this story. In
Bethlehem there was an inn there. Inns
are created for the purpose of taking care of travelers obviously. So there was a place for the travelers to go. It’s designed for that purpose. It’s already there. The problem wasn’t that there wasn’t an inn. The problem is it was already booked. There was no vacancy. Other guests had occupied it. The spaces had been filled. It was there but it wasn’t available.
This is a parallel
to your heart. Your heart was made to
hold God. You were created to have God
inside you. You were made by God and for
God. Until you understand that, life isn’t
going to make sense. What happens is we
fill our lives with other things, we invite other guests in, we rent our heart out
to other things and there’s no room for Jesus.
The heart’s there but it’s filled with other ideas, other interests, other
values, other loves, other commitments.
That
leads me to the second reason why we don’t make room for Jesus. First we don’t pay any attention; the second
is we crowd our lives with other things and then there’s no room. There’s no room for God in our lives. They may be good things but they’re just in
the way of God being in our lives. We
crowd our lives with other things. We
fill it with stuff.
Have you noticed
this? This is a profound truth: stuff
accumulates. Everybody agree with that? I’ve discovered that in garages stuff
multiplies. In the dark. I’ve tried to catch it doing it but I haven’t
been able to. But I know that the next
morning go out and go, Where did all this come from? It multiplies. It accumulates.
My wife loves to
watch this show “Clean House” on tv. And you bring in a pro. They take all the stuff that’s a mess in your
house. They put it all out on the front
lawn. They clean it all up and put it
back and it’s all in place. How long is
that going to last? There’s these other
shows about these hoarders who just can’t let anything go. They keep stuffing and stuffing and stuffing. This is parable of life for most of us. They keep adding more and more in.
You say, I’m not
that! Ok… Let’s just have a little Christmas confession. How many of you right now cannot park your
car in your garage? I rest my case! The rest of you are liars! The fact is garages are made for cars. That’s the purpose of a garage. They’re not made to contain stuff. They’re made for cars.
Your heart was
made for God. That’s the purpose of your
heart. It was not made to hold all this
extra other junk that we kind of cram in there.
Then we don’t have any room or any time or any thought for God. Our hearts aren’t available. You’ve rented out your heart to other borders
so God can’t get in. There’s no room in
your garage for a car, no room in your heart for God. So you have no place, you have no space. You’ve overbooked your life.
That might not
be so bad except the results are tragic.
Why? Because when your life is
filled with other things you don’t have room in your life for the gifts that
God wants to give you.
Did you know
that God wants to give you gifts? Did
you know that the bible says every good gift comes from God? God, before you were born, planned the gifts
he wants to give you. Relational gifts,
emotional gifts, spiritual gifts, financial gifts, health gifts, career gifts. Before you were born God planned your life
and he made you for a purpose. God has
never made anything without a purpose. You
were made for a purpose.
But here’s the
catch; you can miss it. Because God
doesn’t force you to follow his plan. He
wants you to choose to love him by faith and in love and not be forced. He could have made us all puppets but he
didn’t. So he says here’s my plan and my
purpose for you. You go with my plan and
purpose you get all the gifts that I’ve planned during your lifetime. Or you can go your way. The problem is most of us say, I’m going my way. I’m going to do my own thing. I’m going to be my own god. I’m going to call my own shots. Thank you very much God but I think I’ll do
it on my own.
How’s that
turning out? Not too good! Because the fact is when you don’t go God’s
way what do you end up with? Broken lives,
broken relationships, broken health, broken dreams. You end up hitting yourself against a dead
end wall over and over again, banging your head against the wall. You end up with disappointments and
discouragements and things in life you never needed to have but you brought
them into your life because you said I’m going to go my way instead of God’s. You miss the gifts of God by having your
heart too crammed with other things.
Look at what the
bible says. 1 Corinthians 2:14 “The unspiritual person has no room [there’s
that phrase] of the gifts of God’s Spirit. In fact to him they’re folly. He can’t even recognize them.” I can’t put anything more in because it’s
already crammed full of stuff. You’ve
probably got closets like that. If somebody
bought you a whole new wardrobe you’d have no place to put it because your area
is crammed.
Jesus described
this kind of overcrowded life. And it
perfectly describes southern Californians.
We overbook our lives, we overspend our budget, we overestimate our
strength and all these things… and we walk around tired all the time. Because we’ve overbooked our heart. Jesus describes it in Mark 4:19 “They are overwhelmed with worries about all
the things they have to do and all the things they want to get [sound
familiar?] and the stress strangles what
they heard and nothing comes of it.” Their life is overbooked, their life is
overcrowded.
And by the way,
the reason why somebody can go to church their entire life and it doesn’t
change them is because of this crowded heart syndrome. You come and you hear a kernel of truth, you
get a little seed of wisdom and it is planted in your heart and you think yeah,
I need to do that. But you go home and
immediately you’re distracted by all the things you have to do, all the things
you want to get and you forget it and that seed is choked and it never grows
into a fruit producing tree.
This is why
during Decade of Destiny in two weeks we start a whole new decade and we’ve
been preparing for it all fall. In
Decade of Destiny one of the things I want to do as your pastor because I love you
and I care about you, is I want to help you simplify your life. In the next decade you need to do less, not
more. You just need to make sure it’s
the important stuff not the trivial stuff that isn’t going to matter five years
from now much less fifty years or for eternity.
I want you to have more enjoyment, more fulfillment and less stress by
simplifying your life.
I’m not talking
about evil things here. You can fill
your life with good things, really good things, and still not have any time for
God. You can go to church six days a week. You can be involved in ministry all the time
and you’re so busy working for God
that God doesn’t have any time to work in
you. That’s why the bible says “Be still and know that I am God.” Translation: sit down and shut up! Chill out.
You need to relax. Stop trying to
do so much. Let God do more in you. It’s much more relaxing and much more
fulfilling.
One example of
this Jesus had some friends named Mary and Martha. They were sisters. One day they invited him over for dinner. So Jesus goes over for dinner. Mary figures out what’s important. This is the Son of God at our house. We’re only going to get this once in a
lifetime. So she sits down at the feet of
Jesus and starts listening. Martha on
the other hand is busy. She’s busy
worrying about the hors d'oeuvres and is everything in it place.
Here’s where the
story picks up in Luke 10. It says “Mary
sat at Jesus’ feet listening to what he said.
But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. [That sounds like Christmas. You could have spent the entire last month…
Christmas is tomorrow, you could have spent the entire last month buying gifts,
wrapping gifts, decorating the house, putting up the lights, fixing the tree, sending
out the cards, preparing the meals, getting everything done. Have you had any time for Jesus? No. It’s
his birthday! We’re so busy with the
preparation we don’t have any time for him.
There’s no room in your heart. It’s
crowded.]…Martha was distracted by all
the preparations what had to be made. She
came to Jesus and said. ‘Lord, don't you
care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? [That sounds like a sister!] Tell her to help me!’ But Jesus said, ‘Dear Martha, you get so upset
over all these details! But there’s
really only one thing worth being concerned about, and Mary has discovered
it.’”
What is that? Getting to know the Son
of God. Getting to know Jesus Christ. Why? Because
everything else you do isn’t going to matter in eternity. Your career isn’t going to last beyond your
lifetime. Your hobbies aren’t going to
last beyond your lifetime. Your bank account
isn’t going to last beyond your lifetime.
The only thing that’s going to last beyond your lifetime is your relationship
to God. And God put you on earth, not
just to take up space, breathe, use air, retire, and die. He put you here so you could get to know him. To know and love him the way he knows and loves
you. That’s going to last forever and
ever and ever. So Jesus says Mary has
figured out the one thing that’s worth being concerned about.
As somebody who does care about you, as a friend, as a pastor, if I could
give you any gift this Christmas, my wish would be that you would figure out
what’s the one thing that matters most. And
it isn’t getting more money. And it
isn’t becoming famous. And it isn’t even
having fun. It’s getting to know the creator who made you and building a relationship
so you can go be with him forever in eternity when this life is over.
You know what I’ve discovered? You
can do lots of good things but still not have any room for Jesus in your life. What I’ve discovered is if Satan can’t make
you bad he’ll just make you busy. He doesn’t
care what distracts you. It doesn’t have
to be evil a long as you pay no attention to God in your life. It could be all kinds of good things that are
proper. In fact, they’re all gifts from
God. But they’re not God and you can’t
have them at the center of your life because if that’s the center of your life
then when that dies you fall apart. If
your job is the center of your life, your life falls apart when you lose it. If your back account is the center of your
life, your life falls apart when the stocks tank. But if God is the center of your life,
nothing can shake you because it can’t be taken from you.
Deuteronomy in the bible says it like this “Make sure that you don’t become so full [in other words, your life
is so crammed that there’s no room] you’re
so full of yourself and your things that you forget God.” We don’t pay attention when God’s around. We’re just not even listening. And we crowd our lives with so many other
things, even good things, that we don’t have any time for God.
The
third reason we don’t make room is because we really don’t think we need to
make room for God. We have a sense of self sufficiency that says I’m doing
fine on my own. Really? You may be living a good life, you say “I’m living
the good life!” Great! Would you like to know if there’s a better
life? Because there is. The good life is good. But the good life is not good enough. You need the better life.
When I was a kid my mom fed me spaghetti-o’s. I thought they were the world! Until I discovered In ‘N Out Burger. I went from the good life to the better life. If there was a better life that you’re living
right now and God wanted to give it to you, don’t you think you would be interested
in it? Yes, you would. Don’t you think you’d think you at least ought
to check it out? Yeah, I think you would. Otherwise it’s dumb.
He’s saying we don’t think we need to make room for him. This is what the innkeeper did. The innkeeper said, Why do I need any more
guests. Sorry, no room. I’ve already sold out. I’ve made my bundle. I’ve bankrolled it. I made as much money as I’m going to make tonight. So I really couldn’t care less about anybody
else. Because my life, my inn, my rooms
are full.
And a lot of people say that to Jesus today. My life, the rooms of my heart, are full. I don’t have any room for God. I don’t have any room for Jesus.
There’s really an arrogance about that.
There’s really a self satisfaction that doesn’t realize what we’re
missing. Psalm 10 says this in the bible
“People are too proud to seek God. They don’t look for him and there is no room
for God in their thoughts.” Do you want
to know what your god is? I’ll tell you
what it is. It’s whatever you think about
most. Whatever you think about most in your
life is your god. Because that’s what’s
most important to you.
For some people their god is their career. For some people their god is their family. For some people their god is making money. Or whatever.
Whatever is first place in your thoughts, whatever you think about most,
is your god. Anything that’s not God becomes
what the bible calls an idol. That’s a
false god.
The deeper reason for our inattention is really we don’t want God. I’m doing just fine thank you very much. So God, you created me, you made me, yeah, Jesus
came and died for me, but God you stay on your side of the fence and I’ll stay
on mine. Thank you very much.
There’s only one problem with that.
You miss the very purpose of your life.
You weren’t made to be disconnected from God. And you don’t have any power in your life
when you are disconnected from God.
I don’t know how many of you lost power this week. Have you noticed that when the power is off
all of your appliances are worthless? A
disconnected toaster is worthless without power. A disconnected blender is worthless without
power; it’s just a piece of junk. A
vacuum cleaner is a piece of junk if there’s no electricity to it. Those things cannot fulfill their purpose unless
they’re plugged into the power.
You cannot fulfill your purpose unless you’re plugged into the God who
made you, who gives you that power.
So we run out of power. But the
truth is, it’s human nature to wander. It’s
my nature to go, Forget you God! I’m going
to do my thing. I’ve got my plans. I think, God, I know what will make me happy
better than you do. So we just kind of
wander off. The bible says we’re like
sheep. Sheep are naturally wanderers. The bible says “We are all like sheep. We’ve
all wandered off. We’ve all got lost
[in other words I don’t know what I’m supposed to do next year. Where am I coming from? Where am I going? What is the purpose of my life? What am I suppose to do with my life? I’m not directed; I’m drifting through life.] We’ve
all gotten lost. We’ve all done our own
thing. We’ve all gone our own way.” That’s the bad news.
What’s the good news? The good
news is that if I make Jesus, make room for Jesus in my life an amazing number
of benefits take place. What are those
benefits? Why should I make room for
Jesus in my life even if it means clearing out some other stuff?
Let me just give you two reasons. I
could give you a lot of them but let me just give you two that are very simple
but they’re very profound.
The
first reason I should make room for Jesus in my life is because I want to know
my creator and my savior. He made me.
And he saved me. So I need to
know that. If I said “I’ll introduce you
to Bono,” that’s no big deal. “Let me introduce you to three or four of the
presidents I know,”… No big deal. But if
I were to say “Let me introduce you to God.
He created you and has a purpose for your life,” I would think I would
want to be interested in that. He is my
creator.
You say, “I thought you were talking about meeting Jesus.” I am. “I
thought God made us.” He did. Jesus is God, come in human form.
Look at what the bible says, “Before
anything else existed there was Christ with God. He has always been alive [He didn’t start
at Bethlehem 2010 years ago.] and is
himself God. He created everything there
is [that includes you and me] nothing
exists that he didn’t make [He made it all so he owns it all] eternal life is in him and this life gives
light to all mankind.” It helps me
to see in the dark what I don’t think I can see any other way.
So I definitely want to make room in my life for Jesus Christ because he
made me. That would make life a whole
lot better. Like they say “When in
doubt, consult the owner’s manual… When in doubt read the directions.” That’s the bible. “When in doubt, talk to the inventor.” God invented you. But he didn’t just create you, he saves you. And the reason he came at Christmas is to die
for all your sins.
Let me explain this. We’ve all
messed up. I think that’s pretty common knowledge. I don’t measure up to my own standards much
less God’s and you don’t either. I don’t
know anybody who’s perfect. We’ve all
sinned, we’ve all made mistakes, faults, fumbles, flaws, bloopers, sins, rebellion. I talk to thousands, maybe tens of thousands
of people around the world. I’ve never
met anybody who claimed to be sinless. I’ve
never met anybody who said, I’m perfect.
In fact, if you think you’re perfect there’s really only one solution for
you – you need to get married. That will
solve that one really quick! All you
need to do is get married and you will know you are not sinless. Marriage doesn’t create problems; it reveals
them. And you are the problem. I often say, before you get married opposites
attract; after you get married, opposites attack.
I want to not only know my creator I want to know my savior who came to
die for my sins. Why? Here’s the reason – follow me on this. Heaven is a perfect place – no sorrow, no
sadness, no sickness, it’s incredible. Full
color, amazing. You think the world is
cool? Heaven is unbelievable! Heaven is perfect, I’m not. And by the way, neither are you. I stopped being perfect about day two. So if God lets imperfect people into heaven,
it’s not going to be a perfect place any more.
If God lets all of us into heaven, with all of our imperfections, heaven
is going to be no better than earth. Because
we’ll take with us our lusts, our ego, our betrayals, our rejections, murders,
rapes. Heaven would be no better than earth.
So God had to come up with a plan B.
He said here’s what I will do. I
will come to earth at Christmas time. I’m
going to send my Son, Jesus Christ, and he’s going to live a perfect life in
your stead, in your place. Then he’s going
to die for all of your sins so you don’t have to pay for them. They’ve all been paid off. Then you get to go scott free into heaven by
just trusting him. What a deal!
So the bible says this, the most famous verse in the bible: “God so loved the world [that’s you and
me] that he gave his one and only Son
[that’s Jesus] that whoever believes in
him [whosoever involves everybody. I
don’t care what your background is. I don’t
care what your age is, what your ethnic group is. I don’t care what you religion is. You may be Baptist or Buddhist or Methodist
or Muslim or Mormon or Hindu. You may be
atheist or agnostic or no religion at all.
It doesn’t matter to me. The
bible says whoever believes in him…] shall
not perish but have everlasting life.” That’s a good deal. I get to become a part of God’s family and
that family is going to last forever.
The bible says it like this in John 1 “He
[Jesus] came into the world which
belonged to him [remember he made it.
We all belong to him anyway.] but
those who were his did not receive him [no room] and did not welcome him [no room] but those who did receive him and welcome him [come on into my room. Come into the rooms of my heart. All the rooms – bathroom, bedroom, living
room] to those who did receive him and
welcome him he gave the privilege and the power to become the children of God
because [and here’s how you become a child of God] they believed in his name.” In
that way I become a part of God’s family and God becomes my Father.
You say “Wait a minute. Isn’t God
the Father of everybody?” No. He is not.
God created everybody. God loves
everybody. God has a purpose for
everybody. But God is only the Father of
those who choose to become a part of his family by meeting the family requirements
which are believe in the Son he sent at Christmas. That’s the condition.
I not only get to be a part of God’s family, I get to know the creator
and my savior which is a big deal. But
there are actually some benefits here and now.
Right now, for the rest of your life while you’re here on earth.
The
second reason I want to open every room of my heart to Jesus is to enjoy a life
of purpose, peace, and power. Purpose, peace and power. These are the three things that God says I
fill your life with when you invite Jesus Christ into your life and you give him
more and more rooms. As you give him
more and more rooms he gets more and more in control and gives peace, power and
purpose.
I‘ve been walking with the Lord now for fifty years. I have lived a life of purpose and peace and
power. This works. This really does work.
I got a letter a while back from a very well known business leader. If I told you his name you would know who it
is. It was a very gut level letter. He said “In the eyes of everybody around me I
am a raving success. But inside I feel
insecure, insignificant and small.” It
took a lot of guts to write that – inside I feel insignificant, insecure and small.
What he’s talking about is what psychologists commonly call the imposter
phenomenon. A lot of people have written
books about this. It basically sums up
in this: if I’m so successful why do I feel like a fake? If I’m so successful why don’t I feel more
fulfilled? If I’m so successful and I’m
living this good life how come I still feel like there’s got to be more. Something’s missing in my life.
The answer is there is something missing in your life. The answer is you were made for more than
money. You were made for meaning. You were made for more than a salary. You were made for significance. You need to move beyond success to the higher
level of living – from success to significance.
Success is not enough because it doesn’t satisfy. You were made not for money but for meaning.
I know some of the wealthiest people in the world – probably a dozen billionaires. I could bring every one of them in here and
they would tell you this: money will make your life easier but it will not give
you meaning. It will make your life easier. But it will not give you meaning. And life without meaning and purpose is
petty, pointless and trivial. And you
were made for so much more.
That guy was saying the reason I feel so small. When I heard that I thought I know why. I want to share the verse that I would share
with him: 2 Corinthians 6 “The smallness
you feel comes from within you. Your
lives aren’t small but you’re living them in a small way. [What’s the antidote? Make room for Jesus.] Open up your lives. Live openly
and expansively.” Don’t be closed
minded. Don’t shut God out of your life. Be open minded. Be expansive.
Live openly. Your life is not
small but the way you’re living it is small.
Your life is extremely significant.
It is so significant that God cared enough for it to come to earth at
Christmas, live a perfect life then die on the cross for your sins. If you want to know how much you matter for
God you look at Jesus hanging on the cross with his arms outstretched and he
says, “This is how much you matter to me.
You matter to me so much I’d rather die than live without you. You matter so much to me! I love you so much it hurts.”
That’s how much you matter to God.
So your life is extremely significant.
But you are living it in such a tiny, small, insignificant way because
you’ve stuffed the rooms of your heart with stuffing instead of stuff that’s going
to really matter the longest.
Not only does God give me a new sense of purpose when I invite Jesus to take
over the rooms of the inn of my life but I get a new sense – and this is a big one
– of peace. Jesus said it like this. “I’m
leaving you with a gift and that gift is peace of mind and heart and the peace
I give you isn’t fragile like the world gives.”
What is the kind of peace the world gives? It’s temporary. We’ve had about two hundred sixty peace
treaties signed in the last three hundred years. Almost none of them were kept. The peace that comes from the world is
totally circumstantial. I’ve got a good
job, so I’m at peace. I lose my job, I’m
not at peace any more. I’ve got money in
my stock portfolio, I’m at peace. The
stock market tanks, I’m not at peace any more.
It’s totally circumstantial. Jesus
says I don’t give you that kind of peace – the peace the world gives. I give you the kind of peace, the bible calls
it “the peace that passes understanding.”
What does that mean? It means you
have peace when there’s no reason visibly, physically why you should be at
peace. Everything around you is in chaos. It’s all hitting the toilet. It’s all being flushed down. Nothing’s working in your life. And for some unexplainable reason you’re at
peace. That is the peace that passes understanding. And that can only come from God – Jesus the
prince of peace.
He says I’m going to give you that so you won’t be troubled or afraid.
Here’s another thing I wish I could give you this Christmas. I wish I could take all the worries and all the
fears out of your life about 2011. God doesn’t
want you to live with fear. In fact “God does not give us a spirit of fear. God does not give us a spirit that makes us
afraid or fearful. [So if you’re afraid or fearful, that doesn’t come from God.] Instead
he gives us a spirit of power and of love and of self control.”
Those are the three things you’re going to need in this next decade. You’re going to need to be plugged into the
power so you’re not running on your own energy.
You’re going to need a spirit of love which eliminates fear. And you’re going to need a spirit of self
control. It’s interesting that the more
I give of my life to God the more self control I have. I’m not out of control. The more I give control to Christ the more
self control he gives me. That way all of
those things, those habit that you’d like to change, those hurts that you’d like
to forget, those hang ups you’d like to let go of but you can’t and you’ve
tried and tried and tried but you don’t have enough will power to do it, you
need the Spirit of Christ who gives you the spirit of self control.
He says I’ll give you peace of mind.
You won’t be troubled and you’re not going to be afraid. Whatever you worry about reveals the rooms in
your heart you have invited Jesus into. Whenever
Jesus walks into a room he fills that room with peace. So any room in your heart that you’re
worrying about, that you’re upset about, that you’re anxious about, that you’re
afraid about that’s simply telling you, you haven’t invited Jesus into that
room. Because when he enters a room he
fills it with peace. And your worries
are revealing the area you have not given over to God. You haven’t let it go. You haven’t said, Jesus Christ come in and be
a part of my finances, be a part of my dating life, be a part of my career. God gives us the spirit of power and love and
self control.
Why do I need love? There’s a lot of
reasons but one of them is 1 John 4:18 “In
love there is no room [there’s that phrase] for fear. But perfect love
drives out all fear.”
I’d like to teach you right now how to be fearless. Here’s how you be fearless, I can tell you how. You fill your life with love. Because love is the antidote to fear. Perfect love drives out fear.
Here’s how it works: When you invite love into your heart, fear goes out
the back door. When you invite fear into
your heart, love goes out the back door.
Fear and love cannot operate in the same heart at the same time. So if you want to get rid of your fears you
need to fill your heart with perfect love.
Perfect love casts out all fear. That’s
how you become fearless. You fill your
life with perfect love and you’re fearless.
You say, Where can I get perfect love?
Not from me. Not from anybody sitting
by you right now. Not from any human
being because none of us love perfectly.
There’s only one person in the entire universe who loves you perfectly –
Jesus Christ. God is love. He doesn’t just have it. He is it.
The only reason you’re able to love other people is you were made in
God’s image. And because God is love human
beings have the ability to love. We are
made in his image.
So God says, let me fill every room of your life with love and peace and
purpose and power and you’re not going to have any fear. You’ll be fearless.
Follow me on this: The fact that the innkeeper didn’t make room for Jesus
did not stop Jesus from being born. My
actions don’t stop God. He has his plan
in history. History is his story. When the innkeeper said no room it didn’t hurt
God. It just hurt the innkeeper. He missed the biggest blessing of his life. He missed the privilege of housing the Son of
God on his birth. No room for Jesus
didn’t bother God. But it was the innkeeper
who got hurt.
And the same thing is true with you.
You may say, I’m not going to open up my heart to God. Or I’ll give him one room in my inn. I’ll give him the Sunday room. I’ll give him the Christmas room, the Easter
room. But I’m not going to give him my
sports room. I’m not going to give him
my sex room. I’m not going to give him
my family room. I’m going to keep those
myself.
Those are all areas that will be filled with fear. Those are all areas that he can’t bless. You don’t hurt God shutting him out of your
life. You don’t hurt him. You’re the one who gets hurt.
So
how do I do it? How do I make room for
Jesus in my life, in my heart?
God made it so simple nobody could say it was too hard to understand. A child can understand this. A senior citizen can understand this. It’s only three words: invite him in.
You say, that’s it? Yeah, that’s
it. It’s not rocket science folks. You just open the door. You just go, Ok, God, you made me, you saved
me, you loved me, I open my life to you.
Here’s how Jesus said it. Jesus
said, “Listen! I’m standing and I’m knocking at your door. [It’s
not my door it’s your door. I’m standing
and knocking at your door.] If you hear my voice and open the door I’ll
come in and we will eat together.” We’ll
have a party. We’ll celebrate. We’ll get down. We’ll chill out! We’ll build a relationship. You can get to know God and love him the way
he knows and loves you.
I’ve had that relationship for over fifty years. And it’s incredible. Just open the door.
One last verse: “Open up before God. Keep nothing back [the bible says] and he’ll do whatever needs to be done.” I don’t even have to do it. He does it all. He does all the saving. I just open up and hold nothing back. I come to God and say, “Ok Jesus this room,
here is me. Every room in my heart – the
bedroom, the bathroom, the dining room, the living room, the family room, the
workroom, the garage… every part of me. The
good the bad and the ugly. Jesus, it’s
all for you. Stuff I’m ashamed of, the
stuff I’m proud of. The stuff I wish had
never happened and the stuff I’m glad happened.
It’s all yours. Come on it and
take over the inn.” And he says “I will
fill you with power, peace, purpose and love and I’ll drive out the fear.” He says, I’ll do whatever needs to be done.
What do you need God to do in your life?
I need a job. What do you need
God to do in your life? I need to get
married. What do you need God to do in
your life? Open up your life before God,
hold nothing back, and he’ll do whatever needs to be done. He says I’ll take care of it.
Prayer:
I’m going to pray a prayer right now. Whether this is your first time to pray it or
your five hundredth time, I invite you to follow me along in this prayer. You don’t have to say it aloud. It doesn’t even matter the words you say. It’s the attitude of your heart. As I pray this prayer you say, me too, God. Me too.
What Rick’s saying, me too:
Dear God, I admit that I haven’t paid a
lot of attention to you all my life. I’m
sure you’ve been around in my life when I wasn’t even aware of it. I admit that I have crowded my life with so
many other things I have not had any space for you. Or I’ve given you just a Sunday. Or a Christmas. I have not been able to receive the gifts
you’ve wanted to give me because there’s no room for them. I have been at times overwhelmed by all the
things I had to do and all the things I wanted to get. And yes the stress has strangled me. I’ve been distracted and I’ve often missed
the one thing that’s really important is getting to know the creator who made
me. I ask you to forgive me for the
times I’ve been so full of myself and my things that I just forgot you. There hasn’t been any room for you in my thoughts. I was always thinking about other things. I went and did my own way and done my own
thing. But sometimes I got lost and I
need your help. So tonight, this
Christmas, I’m saying I want to open up all the rooms of my life to you. I want to get to know you as my creator. Thank you for making me, for giving me life. I want to know you as my savior. Thank you for dying for me to forgive all my
sins. I want to believe in you, Jesus
Christ, who split history. I ask humbly
for the privilege of becoming a part of your forever family so that I can be
with you forever in heaven. I want to
live a life of purpose. I need your
peace in my life. I need your power. And I need the power to have self control. So fill me with your love. I invite your love to fill every room of my
life to drive out the worry and to drive out the fear and to drive out the
anxiety. I don’t want to make the
mistake of the innkeeper. I want to open
the door. Right now in faith I invite
you into my life. Do whatever needs to
be done. Thank you. Amen.
