Main Idea: The message of the manger is that in Jesus Christ God invites us to come close to Him without fear.

The distance between the United States Marine Corp recruit training base at Parris Island, South Carolina and the United States Army boot camp at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina is only 145 miles, yet they are worlds apart in philosophy. A new marine recruit arrives in the middle of the night and from the minute they step off the bus they are harassed and intimidated with fear. At the end of their over 18 hour first day they are shocked and disoriented. A Marine Drill Instructor observes their confusion. "They look scared. So that’s good." Ft. Jackson is another planet. Recruits are "soldiers-in-training" and are welcomed with informational tones, shown a video about the process, given a good meal and a night’s sleep. An Army Drill Instructor says, "We want the soldiers to have a sense of comfort. You can treat somebody with dignity and respect and still get good performance out of them."

Whether one method is more successful than the other is not mine to judge. What is important is the contrast. Most religious traditions have a Marine philosophy—Fear God or you will pay the price! Appease the spirits or they will get even with you. Hindus offer sacrifices at a temple or shrine to multiple gods and goddesses seeking to not offend any of them. Muslims kneel and bow down so low that their heads touch the ground. Even the Jews knew of God’s need to be feared. Hebrew children could recite the stories of the Angel of Death and the plague on Egypt’s firstborn or Mt. Sinai and its smoke, fire and earthquake. They could point to the Temple in Jerusalem and tell of the Holy of Holies where only the High Priest could enter once a year. They were so fearful of entering God’s presence that they would tie a rope to his foot so that if he offended God’s holiness and died as a result they could just retrieve him. God for the Jew was so holy and distant that he was not approachable.

Yet in one instant of time God took on human flesh and became a baby in a manger in Bethlehem. The first words to trembling shepherds who shrank in fear of what they saw would be, "Don't be afraid! I bring you good news of great joy for everyone! The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David! And this is how you will recognize him: You will find a baby lying in a manger, wrapped snugly in strips of cloth!" (Luke 2:10-12) "Don’t be afraid! Come close! Come to the manger! Look in that manger! For in that manger is God’s Son." What did they see and hear? They marveled that God was with them. Fear is no longer a barrier between God and people for God has come close! The message of the manger is that in Jesus Christ God invites us to relate to him without fear. Why does he invite us to relate to him without fear? While Luke records the marvel of God’s nearness the writer of Hebrews tells us its significance. He tells us we can approach God without fear because in Jesus Christ we have someone who stands for us, with us and by us.

We can approach God without fear because in Jesus Christ we have someone who stands for us. (v. 14) The writer says, "That is why we have a great High Priest who has gone to heaven, Jesus the Son of God. Let us cling to him and never stop trusting him." What the writer is telling us is that as Christians we have reason to hold on to faith in God in spite of our fears, doubts and confusion. He says, "Let us cling to him and never stop trusting him…." Admit it, there are times we struggle with the question, "What does it all matter?" We feel our grip on truth slipping and we wonder if it’s all real. The reason we can hold on and hold on tightly is because in Jesus Christ we have someone who stands for us before God. He is called here a "great high priest." The priest was someone who represented the people before God. In "Jesus the Son of God" we have someone who goes beyond our lives and our world directly into God’s presence and represents us before God. The point to grasp is that it is the same Jesus born in Bethlehem and crucified on Calvary that transcends time and space, now bearing our name and life before God. He, because of his life, death and resurrection, has freely opened the way to God.

One of my wife and daughter’s favorite Christmas movies is "The Preachers Wife" which stars Courtney Vance as the over committed preacher Henry Biggs who is trying to do God’s work in a depressed community. Whitney Houston is his neglected wife who attracts the attention of an angel named Dudley who is played by Denzel Washington. Of course the preacher is the "bad guy" because he is trying to do too much and isn’t focusing on the needs of his wife and family (Not that I am like that at all-right!). The angel Dudley helps him out and they all live happily ever after. I mean who couldn’t have it all together if you looked like Denzel Washington! Pastor Henry is just a man like me and every other person who struggles with living life and having faith. If I am going to have someone help me out in my relationship with God then they certainly don’t need to have the same problems that I do. If I’m going to have someone to represent me before God, I need someone who has gone beyond where I am, not stuck in the same problems. I need someone greater than me and his name isn’t "Denzel".

The message of the manger is that in this tiny baby there would come one who has made our way to God accessible to all who would come to him. He stands beyond us before God carrying with Him our needs and concerns. If he is for you then why are you afraid to come to him? This baby has opened a way to God that can replace our fear, our doubts and confusion with absolute confidence. In that manger is a tiny baby who will be carried and will carry the name Jesus. He now carries our name, our lives and our needs before God. We have nothing to fear.

While it is liberating to know Jesus the Son of God stands for us, does he understand us? Can I be confident that he knows what I feel? How can I not be afraid of God when I don’t know if he knows what I’m really like? Another truth from this passage is that we can approach God without fear because in Jesus Christ we have someone who stands with us. (v. 15)

He says, "This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same temptations we do, yet he did not sin." The writer tells us that while Jesus stands before God, he is not removed from us. In fact he says that Jesus identifies with our struggles and temptations so completely that there is nothing we have felt that he hasn’t felt. Then he adds, "yet he did not sin." In other words, he understands and knows our struggles with failure morally, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally, but he didn’t fail! He won the battle! We can approach God without fear of being misunderstood because Jesus stands with us. In that manger is one who would grow up and never reject anyone who came to him. There was no one he didn’t have time for or whose need was too great. In Jesus we have someone who rather than emphasizing the separation between God and people, he reminds us how close we are!

In the New York Times Magazine, Nancy V. Raine told a story she heard from a friend named George. "In those days, work crews marked construction sites by putting out smudge pots with open flames. George’s four-year-old daughter got too close to one and her pants caught fire like the Straw Man’s stuffing in the Wizard of Oz. The scars running the length and breadth of Sarah’s legs looked like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. In the third grade she was asked, ‘If you could have one wish, what would it be?" Sarah wrote: ‘I want everyone to have legs like mine.’" All Sarah wanted was for someone to be like her and know what she felt and experienced.

The amazing message of the manger is that we can know that wherever we are scarred by life we have one who has his scars as well. Not from failure but by conquering our pain. Because God became a baby we have no reason to fear coming to him, admitting failure or fearing failure. Why? Because he knows how we feel, how we struggle how we hurt yet he overcame all of those things! What are your weaknesses you think he doesn’t understand? The message of the Manger is we don’t need to fear because he knows, he really knows. Remember he is not the one creating the distance between us. He has come close. He invites us to come close. We have nothing to fear.

In Jesus the Son of God we have someone who stands for us, stands with us, but there’s more. It is one thing to have someone who can represent us before God, who does truly understand us, but it’s another matter to find in God someone who can give us what we need. The message of the manger is we can approach God without fear because in Jesus Christ we have someone who will stand by us. (v. 16)

He says, "So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it." This verse is one of the greatest in the entire Bible. It is telling us that as a result of Jesus being one who is for us and with us, we can be confident that he will stand by us when we need his help. The wonder of the manger is that we come to a place of grace to receive mercy and find grace for our deepest needs. We can come as we are to receive what we need. We come to a place of absolute acceptance to find help and hope. What is astounding is that the greater the need we have the greater the need we have to be close to him. Here’s the amazing truth, we are to come for what we need boldly!

The movie "The Queen" is the story of the British Royal Family’s response to the tragic death of Princess Diana in 1997. One of the many tragedies that resulted from her death was a loss of a sense of connection the British people had with the royal family through her. In one scene Prime Minister Tony Blair pleads with Queen Elizabeth II to come to London to be with the people. After listening to his request she responds with indignation, "I doubt that there is anyone who knows the British people more than I do, Mr. Blair, nor who has greater faith in their wisdom and judgment. And it is my belief that at any moment they will reject this mood, which is being stirred up by the press in favor of a period of restrained grief and sober private mourning. That’s the way we do things in this country, quietly with dignity. That’s what the rest of the world has always admired us for." Nothing could have been further from the truth for she was completely disconnected with those she claimed to represent. That sense of disconnection was never more apparent than when the royal family finally came out from their castle and began to view the huge mound of flowers and gifts left at the gate. Princess Diana, in the mind of the British people, gave them what they needed, worked in their behalf but in one instant that was gone. Now it seemed there is no one who could really connect the people with their Queen as she did.

In Jesus the Son of God we have one who stands by us forever. Regardless of our problem, need or struggle, we can approach God as we are for what we need with total confidence. What do you need that you are afraid to ask God? The message of the manger is that He stands by us to give us what we really need. We don’t need to be afraid!

How close do you think God will let us get to him? How close do you think he will get to us? Pastor and preacher John Killinger recalls an outstanding minister of Christian education named Betty Jo Kendall. "When Betty Jo came to our church, she organized a children’s Christmas pageant. And she let the children decide on what gift they would give the baby Jesus in the pageant. Some wanted to give him stuffed animals. Others wanted to give him toys. One beautiful little girl named Sallie Baldwin had several conversations with Betty Jo before she admitted what she wanted to give the baby Jesus. Finally Betty Jo asked, ‘Sallie, what do you want to give Jesus?’ ‘Oh, I’m so embarrassed,’ said Sallie, ‘I shouldn’t tell you.’ ‘What is it?’ asked Betty Jo. ‘A kiss,’ she said. And, the night of the pageant that is what she gave him. All the other angels brought their gifts of toys and animals. But Sallie bent over the manger and gave the little baby a kiss.

A little girl approaches a doll and kisses it. To her, it was as if she kissed Jesus. On a lonely night in Bethlehem a young mother drew her newborn son to her and kisses him. This was more than her first-born son. This was God made flesh. Mary Ellen Ashcroft said, "The celebration of the incarnation is ‘the time to dance the descending scales of God’s omnipotence. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us—God closer than close!"

Will you hear the message of the manger to you, "Come close. You have nothing to fear. I stand for you, with you and by you!" Listen and come close! You have nothing to fear. The first words the world heard of the news of the birth of Jesus were, "Do not be afraid…." We can come close!

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org