Luke 2 God With Us A few years ago, Tim Keller wrote a great book about faith.

It's called The Reason for God. It was on the New York Times Best Seller list for months. It helped so many people answer questions about who is God, spiritual journey, Tim writes about how all of us will put something at the center of our lives How Jesus raises the question of what that center will be. This is what he writes: "Remember this if you don't live for Jesus,
you will live for something else. If you live for career and you don't do well, it may punish you all of your life, and you will feel like a failure. If you live for your children and they don't turn out right, you could be absolutely in torment because you feel worthless as a person. If Jesus is your center and Lord and you fail Him, He will forgive you. Your career can't die for your sins. Everybody has to live for something. Whatever that something is becomes 'Lord of your life,' whether you think of it that way or not. Jesus is the only Lord who, if you receive Him, will fulfill you completely, and, if you fail Him, will forgive you eternally."

So I was wondering a personal questionmaybe a question youve been considering as you filled out the Spiritual life survey What position would you say God occupies in your life right now? If you're going to be honest about it, Is He is kind of on the outside looking in? Is He in your life but kind of marginal? Or have you placed Him at the center? Jesus lived out His life pressing this issue in people? In us
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What's ultimate in your life? There is a wonderful picture of this from the very first Christmas. I want to walk through it together with you this morning . It turns out that the picture a lot of people have in their minds about what happened on the night Jesus was born is not exactly what the Bible talks about. It turns out there is something really wonderful going on at Bethlehem, and it has a lot to do with you and me. Now the picture a lot of people have of that first Christmas is that Mary and Joseph show up at Bethlehem. This little town we sing about at Chritmas There is a big crowd in this little town because of the census going on. Joseph goes into an inn, but it's booked. "No Vacancy" signs. So Jesus has to be born in a barn or a stable some place with animals all over the place That the story we think we knowpadgents, plays, sermons ,tv Ken Bailey, a great New Testament writer, says this is not a likely scenario. For one thing, hospitality was a big deal in the ancient Middle East. A village's honor was at stake in how they would treat guests, Particularly here because Bethlehem was called "the town of David," and Joseph was said to be of the house and lineage of David.

Joesph was in David's ancestry. He could knock on any door in Bethlehem, and people would welcome him in. Joseph has known for 9 months Mary is going to have a baby. If that was you, wouldn't you have called ahead and made reservations, done something? Steve & jenYass45minutes.. Any husband would not wait until the last minute to make sure his wife would have some place to have the baby, Especially if the baby was going to be the Saviour of the world. It turns out Bethlehem was small enough that it probably did not have an inn as we think of them. Illus Christmas play ruined Yes there is plenty of room come on in In the Middle East in that day, most people were poor, they lived in very simple homes that would just have one room. Everybody didn't get, their own private bedroom, all that kind of stuff. And at night theyd bring in the animals they might happen to own. They might have a sheep, a donkey, might have a pet of some kind . Then there were certain animals that were considered unclean and could not even come anywhere near the house. Also they would have a manger or two like you see right there in the main room where the animals could feed. During the daytime, the animals would go out.
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That one room, that was it. Families would do their cooking, eating, cleaning, sleeping, living. That was their home. Now a family might have a second room, a kind of guest room. This would generally be attached either on the back end, or the roofs were usually flat, so it might be above the other room. It would be a guest room or an upper room. Almost certainly, it was a simple home like this to which Joseph took Mary in Bethlehem. Now a famous King James translation of the Bible says Mary laid Jesus in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn, word Luke uses there is not the Greek word for a commercial inn. Actually the word used was the word for a guest room or an upper room. In fact, later in Jesus' life, He would celebrate what came to be known as the Last Supper with His disciples. We're told it was held in an upper room. It's exactly the same word used for the last supper in the upper room that's used right here in Luke 2. translates it like this: "Mary gave birth to her firstborn, a Son. She wrapped Him in cloths and placed Him in a manger, because the guest room was already full." In other words, what happens is they come to a private home.

Because the census is going on, the guest room is already full. So the people who lived in this home said, "We will make the heart of our home available for you, Joseph and Mary, so Jesus can live right where we live." What was there was not a heartless innkeeper or an inept husband. What was there was grace. Another beautiful picture of grace at Jesus' birth. Angels come to shepherds, and they tell them, "The King has been born." The shepherds are supposed to go visit the King. The angels say, "This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." Something fabulous is happening here. There is a reason why this sign is given to the shepherds. See, shepherds were very poor people. Shepherding was sometimes listed as an unclean occupation in Israel. Shepherds were at the bottom of the totem pole in terms of their status. So a shepherd would assume that if a king, if a messiah had actually been born, He would be lying on satin sheets in a palace of gold. And for sure, a shepherd wasn't getting into that house. They'd never be allowed inside.
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In fact, they would be turned away. humiliated. Shepherds know if the Messiah has been born, it will be in such a place that they're not letting shepherds in there. So the angel says, "This is a sign to you: the baby will be wrapped in swaddling clothes." Not, a golden robe. Swaddling clothes are what peasants wrapped their children in. "You'll find the child lying in a manger, not a crib of gold." Mangers were where peasant people laid their children. "Shepherds, He is going to be like you. He will be one of you. He will be poor and ordinary like you. You can get to Him. You will have free access to Him." Nobody needs to be rich enough or smart enough or strong enough or good enough. Not with Jesus. Nobody who really wants Jesus will ever be turned away. This is the gospel for shepherdsgospel of grace. This is the good news of Jesus. It still is to anybody who will make room. difference between the message of Jesus and the way most religions work. The founders of every other major religion essentially say, 'Do this, and you will find the divine.'

But Jesus says, 'I am the divine come to you, to do for you what you could not do for yourselves.' The Christian message is that we are saved, not by our record, but by Christ's record. So Christianity is not religion or irreligion. It is something else all together. That something else is Jesus. He comes to bring GodGod's love, God's presence It is through Jesus alone, through His incomparable life, through His remarkable teachings, through His dying on a cross for the forgiveness of your sins and mine, and then His resurrection from the grave that God wants to forever change your life in this world and in your eternity. Which is why Jesus always brings us back to this nagging question If I was honestly going to describe where Jesus is right now relative to my life, where would you say He is? Maybe He is outside. Maybe if you're really honest about it you'd say you don't think much about God. Maybe you're not sure God exists. Maybe you have questions about the Bible or about the church. You do find yourself hungry for something deeper than just survival, than just the body, than just popularity, than just money.

Maybe you would say, "I think God is kind of in the guest room in my life. I believe in Him. I think He is there. Maybe you'd want to say, "Maybe tonight, maybe some time soon, I'd like to make Him the center of who I am. If He really is the One who made me, if He really is the ultimate source of meaning that no one and nothing else can give, if He really is the One who has the power to wash away all of my regrets and sin and brokenness, if He really is the One who holds eternity in the palm of His hand, I would like to have Him at the core of who I am." Jesus will do that. Jesus promises, "Anybody who loves Me will obey My teaching. My Father will love them, and We will come to them and make our home with them." So have you ever asked Jesus to make His home in you? This Jesus still comes to real, ordinary people if they just make space for Him. Would you pray with me right now? This is kind of just a private deal. We all have the key to the door of our own hearts, but if you're so inclined, turn your mind and your heart to God right now. What do you want to say to God?

Just be honest with Him. Maybe if you were honest, you'd say, "God, I'm really not sure You're there." Maybe you'd say, "I'm not sure I want You to be there." Maybe you'd say, "You've been kind of on the outside of my life, but I know how many years on this planet is pretty short. I do hunger for something more. The question about You is the most important question in the world." Maybe you'd say, "God, I think I kind of had You in the margins of my life for a while." Maybe you have been hurting or alone or are confused or just wanting to wander down a different path. What would you say is, "I'd like to come home. My soul has been away from home for a long time, and my soul is really tired. I would really like to come home." There is a God whose arms are wide open waiting for you.