WEBVTT 00:00:03.810 --> 00:00:06.769 kenosis emptying you don't add to God you get 00:00:06.769 --> 00:00:10.150 out of the way he emptied himself not power not 00:00:10.150 --> 00:00:15.550 glory self and until you learn kenosis you don't 00:00:15.550 --> 00:00:30.010 know God at all Hey, before we settle in, let 00:00:30.010 --> 00:00:33.630 me tell you what you've wandered into. This episode's 00:00:33.630 --> 00:00:36.509 called No Room, Still God. It's a slow walk through 00:00:36.509 --> 00:00:38.929 Luke 2, the part of the Christmas story we think 00:00:38.929 --> 00:00:42.750 we know, but we usually hear it too fast. This 00:00:42.750 --> 00:00:45.170 isn't about decorations or pageants or making 00:00:45.170 --> 00:00:47.649 room in our hearts. It's about what it means 00:00:47.649 --> 00:00:52.149 God shows up in a world already crowded, already 00:00:52.149 --> 00:00:57.439 tired, already saying no. Tonight, we're listening 00:00:57.439 --> 00:00:59.579 for the scandal beneath the carols, the holy 00:00:59.579 --> 00:01:02.159 truth that God doesn't wait for ideal conditions. 00:01:02.259 --> 00:01:06.140 He comes anyway. Here's the thing. You didn't 00:01:06.140 --> 00:01:08.280 stumble into a studio or a polished production. 00:01:08.540 --> 00:01:11.920 You've stepped into a midweek fellowship dinner 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:14.859 and Bible study just a few days shy of Christmas. 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:18.040 There's coffee on, maybe a little leftover dessert, 00:01:18.180 --> 00:01:20.459 folding chairs pulled close because it's cold 00:01:20.459 --> 00:01:22.840 outside, and everybody is carrying something 00:01:22.840 --> 00:01:25.650 heavy this time of year. You don't have to catch 00:01:25.650 --> 00:01:28.510 up. You don't have to perform. Just grab a cup, 00:01:28.530 --> 00:01:32.469 find a seat, and breathe for a minute. We're 00:01:32.469 --> 00:01:34.609 going to open the text, tell the truth, and stay 00:01:34.609 --> 00:01:38.689 with it longer than is comfortable. But I'll 00:01:38.689 --> 00:01:46.549 see you on the other side. Well, I think there's 00:01:46.549 --> 00:01:49.989 something interesting about that in that, again, 00:01:51.150 --> 00:01:54.450 We read the humanity out of these characters 00:01:54.450 --> 00:01:57.750 in the Bible and everybody's pristine and nobody 00:01:57.750 --> 00:02:00.590 argues and nobody says catty things to the other 00:02:00.590 --> 00:02:03.709 one and nobody gets on anybody's nerves, right? 00:02:03.790 --> 00:02:07.489 Because Holy Spirit, man. And that's just, that's 00:02:07.489 --> 00:02:13.449 not real life. It's not. And so when we recognize 00:02:13.449 --> 00:02:16.849 the humanity, I think in, especially in the New 00:02:16.849 --> 00:02:19.430 Testament, but through the whole Bible, I feel 00:02:19.430 --> 00:02:24.759 like it. Makes more sense to me. So, having said 00:02:24.759 --> 00:02:27.539 that, Wayne, there it is with the big thumbs 00:02:27.539 --> 00:02:31.819 up. We are now, this is a series that we're doing 00:02:31.819 --> 00:02:35.979 called Four Nights in Bethlehem. This is week 00:02:35.979 --> 00:02:40.180 three. We're going to get started. So, we've 00:02:40.180 --> 00:02:43.060 been walking the long road from Nazareth, watching 00:02:43.060 --> 00:02:47.669 a teenage girl. say yes to God in a one -room 00:02:47.669 --> 00:02:51.629 house, watching her cousin Elizabeth turn pregnancy 00:02:51.629 --> 00:02:55.330 into prophecy in the hill country, and we've 00:02:55.330 --> 00:02:57.210 been learning that God doesn't wait for the world 00:02:57.210 --> 00:03:00.930 to get pretty before God shows up. This evening 00:03:00.930 --> 00:03:04.229 we land in Bethlehem, and it's not quiet, and 00:03:04.229 --> 00:03:07.129 it's not peaceful, and it's not a snow globe 00:03:07.129 --> 00:03:09.449 that you can shake and watch the glitter settle. 00:03:10.069 --> 00:03:14.240 It's actually overcrowded, chaotic, and... There's 00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:19.319 no room. But God shows up anyway. The empire 00:03:19.319 --> 00:03:21.800 sent out a decree and the roads filled up with 00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:24.879 bodies. People going back to towns they left, 00:03:24.960 --> 00:03:28.199 sleeping on floors they used to know, walking 00:03:28.199 --> 00:03:32.259 roads their grandfathers walked. Somewhere in 00:03:32.259 --> 00:03:34.960 the crush of it all, a girl nine months pregnant 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:38.280 climbs off a donkey and knocks on doors that 00:03:38.280 --> 00:03:42.939 won't open. The world is too full. The rooms 00:03:42.939 --> 00:03:46.479 are all taken, and the Lord of heaven is about 00:03:46.479 --> 00:03:51.580 to be born where animals eat. Friends, tune your 00:03:51.580 --> 00:03:53.780 ears to the reading of Scripture, the Gospel 00:03:53.780 --> 00:03:56.939 account according to the historian Luke, second 00:03:56.939 --> 00:03:59.500 chapter of his Gospel account, beginning verse 00:03:59.500 --> 00:04:03.280 1. In those days, a decree went out from Emperor 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:06.080 Augustus that all the world should be registered. 00:04:06.830 --> 00:04:09.689 This was the first registration and was taken 00:04:09.689 --> 00:04:13.009 while Quirinius was the governor of Syria. All 00:04:13.009 --> 00:04:15.849 went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph 00:04:15.849 --> 00:04:19.449 also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee 00:04:19.449 --> 00:04:23.629 to Judea to the city of David called Bethlehem. 00:04:24.430 --> 00:04:27.970 Because he was descended from the house and the 00:04:27.970 --> 00:04:31.089 family of David, he went to be registered with 00:04:31.089 --> 00:04:34.490 Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting 00:04:34.490 --> 00:04:38.350 a child. While they were there, time came for 00:04:38.350 --> 00:04:40.430 her to deliver their child, and she gave birth 00:04:40.430 --> 00:04:43.389 to her firstborn son, wrapped him in bands of 00:04:43.389 --> 00:04:46.870 cloth, laid him in a manger, because there was 00:04:46.870 --> 00:04:51.649 no place for them in the guest room. No place 00:04:51.649 --> 00:04:56.009 for them. Not sorry or booked, not tried down 00:04:56.009 --> 00:05:02.009 the street, just no place. And that's where God 00:05:02.009 --> 00:05:06.519 is born. You know what it's like this time of 00:05:06.519 --> 00:05:10.000 year? Thanksgiving just happened, and maybe you 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:12.620 hosted. Maybe you're the one pulling folding 00:05:12.620 --> 00:05:14.860 chairs out of the garage at four in the afternoon, 00:05:14.980 --> 00:05:17.980 wiping dust off card tables, trying to figure 00:05:17.980 --> 00:05:20.959 out how to fit 14 people in a dining room built 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:24.560 for six. Somebody's kid ends up on the floor 00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:26.959 with a paper plate. Somebody's uncle is asleep 00:05:26.959 --> 00:05:32.220 for halftime. The house is full. Jackets piled 00:05:32.220 --> 00:05:34.339 on the bed. Too many cars in the driveway. Not 00:05:34.339 --> 00:05:38.480 enough outlets for all of the crockpots. And 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:42.980 maybe it's good. Maybe it's loud and warm, full 00:05:42.980 --> 00:05:47.980 of laughter. But maybe you also know the other 00:05:47.980 --> 00:05:51.740 side. Maybe you know what it's like to be the 00:05:51.740 --> 00:05:53.839 one who doesn't have a house full of people. 00:05:55.240 --> 00:05:58.079 The one who works a double shift at the truck 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:00.319 stop on Thanksgiving because rent's due and the 00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:02.439 schedule doesn't care about your loneliness. 00:06:04.579 --> 00:06:06.439 Maybe you know what it's like to sleep in the 00:06:06.439 --> 00:06:09.180 Walmart parking lot in your car because the shelter's 00:06:09.180 --> 00:06:11.519 full and it's safer than parking on the street. 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:15.819 Maybe you've been the one knocking on doors this 00:06:15.819 --> 00:06:18.120 year, looking for work, looking for help, looking 00:06:18.120 --> 00:06:22.660 to place the land, and every door says the same 00:06:22.660 --> 00:06:29.769 thing. No room. That's the world. And that's 00:06:29.769 --> 00:06:34.029 the world Jesus was born into. And it's not the 00:06:34.029 --> 00:06:36.889 world that we put on Christmas cards, not the 00:06:36.889 --> 00:06:39.129 world we sing about with twinkle lights and fake 00:06:39.129 --> 00:06:43.829 snow. The real world. One where Caesar sends 00:06:43.829 --> 00:06:47.370 out a decree and everybody has to move, ready 00:06:47.370 --> 00:06:50.660 or not. The one where a pregnant girl and her 00:06:50.660 --> 00:06:54.079 fiancé show up in a town bursting at the seams 00:06:54.079 --> 00:06:58.680 and nobody's got space for them. The world says 00:06:58.680 --> 00:07:01.980 no room is the world that God chooses anyway. 00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:08.220 So let's go there. It's Bethlehem. Small town, 00:07:08.300 --> 00:07:11.240 maybe a thousand people on a busy day. But this 00:07:11.240 --> 00:07:14.819 isn't any normal day. Caesar Augustus sitting 00:07:14.819 --> 00:07:18.800 on his throne in Rome. Decides he wants to count 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:22.740 everybody. He wants to know how many bodies he 00:07:22.740 --> 00:07:28.639 owns. How much tax revenue can he squeeze out 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:33.120 of the provinces? So he sends out a decree. Everybody 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:35.779 go back to your ancestral home and register. 00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:41.360 And just like that, the roads fill up. Imagine 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:44.550 it. Families packing up, old men who haven't 00:07:44.550 --> 00:07:47.189 been in their hometowns in 40 years now walking 00:07:47.189 --> 00:07:51.810 dusty roads with blisters on their feet. Women 00:07:51.810 --> 00:07:53.750 eight months pregnant bouncing on the back of 00:07:53.750 --> 00:07:56.750 a donkey, kids crying, people sleeping in ditches 00:07:56.750 --> 00:08:00.829 because the inns are full 20 miles out. Bethlehem, 00:08:00.829 --> 00:08:04.689 this little know -nothing town south of Jerusalem 00:08:04.689 --> 00:08:08.170 is suddenly packed. Every relative you haven't 00:08:08.170 --> 00:08:11.839 seen in years is back. Crashing in the guest 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:14.720 room, sleeping on the floor, taking up every 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:18.699 spare corner, every inn, every rental room, every 00:08:18.699 --> 00:08:23.540 cousin's couch. Taken. The whole town smells 00:08:23.540 --> 00:08:27.300 like sweat and livestock. Too many people in 00:08:27.300 --> 00:08:32.519 too small a place. And into this chaos walks 00:08:32.519 --> 00:08:37.799 Joseph. Nazareth to Bethlehem is about 90 miles. 00:08:37.899 --> 00:08:40.639 If you're walking, that would be like four to 00:08:40.639 --> 00:08:43.200 five days. And if you're nine months pregnant 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:47.399 and riding a donkey, it's longer. Every step 00:08:47.399 --> 00:08:51.039 is a gamble. Every night you're hoping the baby 00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:56.000 doesn't come yet. Not here, not on the side of 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:00.279 the road, not in some stranger's barn. They don't 00:09:00.279 --> 00:09:03.860 have a choice. The empire doesn't care if you're 00:09:03.860 --> 00:09:06.950 pregnant. The empire doesn't care if the timing 00:09:06.950 --> 00:09:13.350 is bad. The decree goes out, and you go. So they 00:09:13.350 --> 00:09:17.669 arrive, tired. Dusty marries contractions starting, 00:09:17.870 --> 00:09:22.710 and Joseph starts knocking on doors. First, a 00:09:22.710 --> 00:09:26.370 cousin he hasn't seen in 15 years. Cousin recognizes 00:09:26.370 --> 00:09:30.289 him, hugs him, genuinely sorry, Joseph, man, 00:09:30.470 --> 00:09:34.330 I wish I could help. We've got my... Brother's 00:09:34.330 --> 00:09:36.990 family sleeping in the guest room, my wife's 00:09:36.990 --> 00:09:38.929 parents in the back. There's literally people 00:09:38.929 --> 00:09:41.809 on the floor. I don't have anywhere to put you. 00:09:44.149 --> 00:09:47.809 Second house, family friend opens the door, sees 00:09:47.809 --> 00:09:52.769 Mary leaning on the donkey and winces. Joseph, 00:09:52.850 --> 00:09:57.370 I'm sorry. We rented out our guest room two days 00:09:57.370 --> 00:10:00.250 ago. There's a family from Hebron here with four 00:10:00.250 --> 00:10:05.070 people in it, and I can't. Third house doesn't 00:10:05.070 --> 00:10:07.370 even open the door all the way, just a crack, 00:10:07.590 --> 00:10:12.950 just a woman's voice for full. Try the inn. Fourth 00:10:12.950 --> 00:10:18.490 house, the inn. And it's not an inn like we picture, 00:10:18.590 --> 00:10:20.649 by the way, not a hotel with a vacancy sign. 00:10:20.889 --> 00:10:23.629 It's somebody's house where they rent out the 00:10:23.629 --> 00:10:28.610 extra room during census time. And the owner 00:10:28.610 --> 00:10:31.090 is standing in the doorway, apologetic but firm. 00:10:31.210 --> 00:10:34.590 I've got people wall to wall. I've got folks 00:10:34.590 --> 00:10:38.149 sleeping in shifts. I don't even have any floor 00:10:38.149 --> 00:10:42.549 space left. And Joseph keeps on walking. Mary's 00:10:42.549 --> 00:10:45.629 breathing is harder now. The contractions are 00:10:45.629 --> 00:10:48.730 closer together. The sun's going down. The temperature 00:10:48.730 --> 00:10:52.009 is dropping. Joseph's running out of doors to 00:10:52.009 --> 00:11:01.460 knock on. No room. No room. No room. And I wonder 00:11:01.460 --> 00:11:05.460 if you've ever been there. Where you're asking 00:11:05.460 --> 00:11:08.860 and asking and asking and every answer is the 00:11:08.860 --> 00:11:12.940 same. Where you're not even mad at the people 00:11:12.940 --> 00:11:15.419 saying no because you can see they're telling 00:11:15.419 --> 00:11:19.519 the truth. They genuinely don't have space. But 00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:23.379 you still need a place to land and there isn't 00:11:23.379 --> 00:11:30.039 one. That's where Joseph is. That's where Mary 00:11:30.039 --> 00:11:34.960 is. And here's what we do with the story. We 00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:38.840 turn Christmas into a pageant. We put a halo 00:11:38.840 --> 00:11:41.799 on Mary, a beard on Joseph, some sheep in the 00:11:41.799 --> 00:11:44.600 corner, and we light it up like a Hallmark movie. 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:47.379 We sing away in the manger, and we make it sweet. 00:11:47.580 --> 00:11:54.639 We make it nice, and we miss the scandal. The 00:11:54.639 --> 00:11:58.559 scandal of the story, friends, is the world has 00:11:58.559 --> 00:12:04.159 no room for God. Not because the world is evil, 00:12:04.299 --> 00:12:07.500 not because the innkeeper is mean, but because 00:12:07.500 --> 00:12:12.200 the world is full. Full of people trying to survive, 00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:15.480 full of empire's demands, full of exhaustion 00:12:15.480 --> 00:12:19.240 and chaos, and too many bodies in too small a 00:12:19.240 --> 00:12:22.870 place. The world is doing what the world always 00:12:22.870 --> 00:12:26.889 does. And in the middle of that, there's no room. 00:12:28.350 --> 00:12:32.509 And we like to think that if God showed up, we'd 00:12:32.509 --> 00:12:36.110 recognize him. We like to think we'd roll out 00:12:36.110 --> 00:12:39.190 the red carpet, clear out the guest room, make 00:12:39.190 --> 00:12:43.210 space. We tell ourselves, if I'd been there, 00:12:43.409 --> 00:12:47.970 I would have let them in. But the truth is most 00:12:47.970 --> 00:12:50.929 of us meet God in places where we got pushed 00:12:50.929 --> 00:12:56.350 aside. Most of us meet God in the hospital waiting 00:12:56.350 --> 00:12:58.490 room at 2 o 'clock in the morning. The doctor's 00:12:58.490 --> 00:13:00.389 taking too long and you're too tired to pray 00:13:00.389 --> 00:13:05.429 anymore, but you do anyway. Most of us meet God 00:13:05.429 --> 00:13:08.289 in the job you didn't get, the relationship that 00:13:08.289 --> 00:13:10.990 ended, the eviction notice taped on the door. 00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:18.019 Most of us meet God in manger spaces, a place 00:13:18.019 --> 00:13:20.360 where the world says there's no room, and you 00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:23.039 have to figure out how to live there anyway. 00:13:25.159 --> 00:13:28.860 We want God to show up neat, clean, comfortable. 00:13:29.059 --> 00:13:31.919 We want the angel choir and the star and the 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:35.360 wise men with gold. But God shows up in a barn, 00:13:35.419 --> 00:13:37.639 and at the very first breath, the Son of God 00:13:37.639 --> 00:13:43.539 takes, smells like animals. So I wanna slow this 00:13:43.539 --> 00:13:47.240 down and actually look at what Luke is actually 00:13:47.240 --> 00:13:50.120 telling us. Verse one, in those days, a decree 00:13:50.120 --> 00:13:53.200 went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:54.960 should be registered. Now, like I'd mentioned 00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:57.440 when I was reading scripture, Luke doesn't start 00:13:57.440 --> 00:14:00.639 with Mary, he starts with Caesar. He starts with 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:04.120 empire. In those days, that's historian language. 00:14:04.700 --> 00:14:07.059 That's Luke saying, let me set the stage for 00:14:07.059 --> 00:14:10.139 you. And the stage is this. The most powerful 00:14:10.139 --> 00:14:12.980 man in the world sitting in Rome, decides to 00:14:12.980 --> 00:14:18.179 flex. He wants a census. He wants to count his 00:14:18.179 --> 00:14:21.539 subjects, measure his reach, and remind everybody 00:14:21.539 --> 00:14:27.000 who's in charge. And when he does, the whole 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:31.519 world moves. That's what empire does. It doesn't 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:36.809 ask, it demands. And if you're a poor carpenter 00:14:36.809 --> 00:14:39.269 from Nazareth with a pregnant fiance, you don't 00:14:39.269 --> 00:14:41.649 get to say, actually, this is a bad time for 00:14:41.649 --> 00:14:47.529 us to go. You walk the 90 miles. You show up. 00:14:49.509 --> 00:14:52.009 Verses 4 and 5, Joseph also went from the town 00:14:52.009 --> 00:14:54.450 of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea to the city of 00:14:54.450 --> 00:14:57.269 David, called Bethlehem, because he was descended 00:14:57.269 --> 00:15:00.850 from the house and family of David. He went to 00:15:00.850 --> 00:15:03.090 be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged. 00:15:03.639 --> 00:15:06.840 And who was expecting a child? Notice what Luke 00:15:06.840 --> 00:15:11.980 does here. He gives us Joseph's genealogy, descended 00:15:11.980 --> 00:15:14.860 from the house and the family of David, which 00:15:14.860 --> 00:15:20.460 is important because that's royal lineage. Joseph 00:15:20.460 --> 00:15:25.539 is from the line of kings. Kings don't walk 90 00:15:25.539 --> 00:15:29.779 miles because Caesar says so. Kings don't show 00:15:29.779 --> 00:15:31.980 up in overcrowded towns with no place to stay. 00:15:33.419 --> 00:15:38.720 Except this one does. Because this king being 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:41.820 born under Caesar's rule, under empire's boot 00:15:41.820 --> 00:15:45.860 in a world doesn't recognize him yet. Verses 00:15:45.860 --> 00:15:47.659 six and seven, while they were there, the time 00:15:47.659 --> 00:15:50.860 came for her to deliver her child. She gave birth 00:15:50.860 --> 00:15:54.279 to her firstborn son, wrapped him in bands of 00:15:54.279 --> 00:15:56.899 cloth, laid him in the manger because there was 00:15:56.899 --> 00:16:00.470 no place for them in the guest room. Luke doesn't 00:16:00.470 --> 00:16:03.190 give us a lot of detail, no description of the 00:16:03.190 --> 00:16:05.950 birth, no mention of pain or blood or Mary's 00:16:05.950 --> 00:16:09.210 fear, just the facts. The time came, she gave 00:16:09.210 --> 00:16:11.809 birth, she wrapped him, she laid him in a manger. 00:16:13.610 --> 00:16:16.590 But that last line, because there was no place 00:16:16.590 --> 00:16:19.049 for them in the guest room, that's the hinge. 00:16:19.509 --> 00:16:24.019 The Greek word for that is kataluma. And it doesn't 00:16:24.019 --> 00:16:27.559 mean in like we would think, like a hotel. It 00:16:27.559 --> 00:16:30.759 means guest room, the kind of room a family keeps 00:16:30.759 --> 00:16:34.399 for the visiting relative. The kind of room that 00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:36.899 in a town packed for a census would get filled 00:16:36.899 --> 00:16:40.960 up very quickly. So Mary Joseph ended up in the 00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:44.639 only space left, the place where the animals 00:16:44.639 --> 00:16:48.899 are kept. Maybe a cave, maybe a lean -to attached 00:16:48.899 --> 00:16:52.320 to somebody's house, somewhere with a feed trough. 00:16:52.620 --> 00:16:55.240 A manger, that's what that is, where you pour 00:16:55.240 --> 00:16:58.279 grain for the donkeys and the sheep. And that's 00:16:58.279 --> 00:17:01.419 where the Lord of heaven is born. Not in a palace 00:17:01.419 --> 00:17:04.519 or a temple, not even a clean bed in a quiet 00:17:04.519 --> 00:17:11.000 room. In a place where animals eat. Paul saw 00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:16.599 this in his Philippian letter. He writes, Let 00:17:16.599 --> 00:17:18.980 the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 00:17:19.160 --> 00:17:21.720 who, though he was in the form of God, did not 00:17:21.720 --> 00:17:24.940 regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 00:17:25.079 --> 00:17:28.960 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:33.279 being born in human likeness. Emptied himself. 00:17:34.700 --> 00:17:38.980 The theological word there is kenosis, and it 00:17:38.980 --> 00:17:43.380 means self -emptying. It means God who holds 00:17:43.380 --> 00:17:49.210 all power. All glory, all authority chooses to 00:17:49.210 --> 00:17:53.789 let it go. Not because he has to, because he 00:17:53.789 --> 00:17:59.349 wants to. Because the only way to reach us, the 00:17:59.349 --> 00:18:03.829 only way to meet us where we actually live is 00:18:03.829 --> 00:18:08.730 to step into that mess with us. And the manger 00:18:08.730 --> 00:18:12.579 is where that step first lands. king of kings 00:18:12.579 --> 00:18:16.380 lying in a feed trough, word made flesh wrapped 00:18:16.380 --> 00:18:19.839 in rags, the light of the world squinting at 00:18:19.839 --> 00:18:23.759 a barn ceiling. That's not sentiment, that's 00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:28.539 scandal. God didn't wait for the world to make 00:18:28.539 --> 00:18:32.740 room. He showed up anyway. He took the space 00:18:32.740 --> 00:18:35.799 the world wouldn't give him and made it holy. 00:18:37.099 --> 00:18:41.480 So here's my question for this evening. Where 00:18:41.480 --> 00:18:46.559 have you been told no room in this year? For 00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:48.880 some folks, this is an actual literal thing. 00:18:49.740 --> 00:18:52.119 You lost your apartment. Maybe you're couch serving, 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:54.079 sleeping in your truck, trying to figure out 00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:57.660 where you're going to land. Maybe you're one 00:18:57.660 --> 00:18:59.680 medical bill away from losing the house you've 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:03.339 lived in for 30 years. Maybe it's relational. 00:19:03.539 --> 00:19:05.500 Maybe your family doesn't make space for you 00:19:05.500 --> 00:19:07.339 anymore because you're divorced, because you're 00:19:07.339 --> 00:19:09.920 sober now and they're not. Because you ask too 00:19:09.920 --> 00:19:11.480 many questions and they don't want to hear it. 00:19:12.259 --> 00:19:14.140 Maybe the friend group you thought you would 00:19:14.140 --> 00:19:16.359 have forever doesn't return your phone calls. 00:19:17.579 --> 00:19:19.599 Maybe you showed up at the holiday gathering 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:24.799 and felt like a ghost in the room. Maybe it's 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:27.019 the job you thought you'd retire from, but they 00:19:27.019 --> 00:19:30.519 told you we're restructuring you. Maybe you sent 00:19:30.519 --> 00:19:35.089 out 50 applications and got 50 rejections. Maybe 00:19:35.089 --> 00:19:37.069 you've heard the words, there's nothing more 00:19:37.069 --> 00:19:39.549 we can do, and you're trying to figure out how 00:19:39.549 --> 00:19:44.170 to live with that sentence. Maybe it's spiritual. 00:19:45.589 --> 00:19:47.789 Maybe the church you grew up in told you there's 00:19:47.789 --> 00:19:49.970 no room for questions or no room for doubts, 00:19:50.170 --> 00:19:53.970 no room for you unless you get in line. Maybe 00:19:53.970 --> 00:19:55.970 you've been knocking on the door of faith for 00:19:55.970 --> 00:19:58.430 months and it feels like nobody is answering. 00:19:59.390 --> 00:20:04.660 No room, no room. And here's what Advent says 00:20:04.660 --> 00:20:08.099 to that. Advent says that's exactly where God 00:20:08.099 --> 00:20:13.039 is not afraid to be born. The manger isn't God's 00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:17.799 backup plan. It's not where he ended up because 00:20:17.799 --> 00:20:22.519 the palace was full. The manger is God saying, 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:26.960 I'm not waiting for you to clean up. I'm not 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:30.480 waiting for you to make space. I'm coming to 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:33.559 a place you've pushed aside and I'm making that 00:20:33.559 --> 00:20:37.440 space holy. You think God needs a guest room? 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:40.880 And God doesn't need your permission. He doesn't 00:20:40.880 --> 00:20:43.839 need your readiness. He doesn't need the world 00:20:43.839 --> 00:20:46.819 to roll out a red carpet. He shows up in a barn. 00:20:47.000 --> 00:20:50.599 He shows up in the no room spaces and he says, 00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:55.140 this is where I'll be born. This will be where 00:20:55.140 --> 00:21:00.059 grace starts. So I'm asking you, to do something 00:21:00.059 --> 00:21:05.339 hard this evening. Name your manger space. Name 00:21:05.339 --> 00:21:08.039 the place the world said to you no room and you 00:21:08.039 --> 00:21:11.119 had to figure out how to live there anyway. And 00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:14.779 stay with me here. Dare to believe that God is 00:21:14.779 --> 00:21:20.180 not absent there. Dare to believe that the same 00:21:20.180 --> 00:21:25.140 God who chose a feed trough is choosing to meet 00:21:25.140 --> 00:21:29.420 you in a place where you got pushed aside. And 00:21:29.420 --> 00:21:32.119 you don't have to have it all figured out. You 00:21:32.119 --> 00:21:34.299 don't have to be strong. You don't have to make 00:21:34.299 --> 00:21:38.299 it pretty. Just have to be willing to let God 00:21:38.299 --> 00:21:41.599 be born there. Because that's what Christmas 00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:45.400 is. Not the story of how we made room for God. 00:21:46.460 --> 00:21:49.519 Story of God showing up when there was no room. 00:21:49.980 --> 00:21:54.140 Made it enough. The world is crowded. The doors 00:21:54.140 --> 00:21:57.079 are closed. The guest rooms are full. God is 00:21:57.079 --> 00:22:00.519 not deterred. He's born in a barn. He breathes 00:22:00.519 --> 00:22:04.680 in the straw. He makes the manger holy. So go 00:22:04.680 --> 00:22:08.259 into the rest of this week knowing wherever you've 00:22:08.259 --> 00:22:10.619 been told no room, that's where God is not afraid 00:22:10.619 --> 00:22:14.259 to be. Grace that chooses the margins. Friend 00:22:14.259 --> 00:22:19.700 is still choosing you. Amen. Amen. Thanks, guys. 00:22:27.559 --> 00:22:31.240 Hey, before you go, let's sit with this a moment 00:22:31.240 --> 00:22:34.720 longer. If tonight stirred something in you, 00:22:34.759 --> 00:22:37.720 comforted you, maybe unsettled you a little, 00:22:37.799 --> 00:22:41.960 that's okay. That's often how the truth comes 00:22:41.960 --> 00:22:46.759 to us. Not loud, not neat, just steady. Luke 00:22:46.759 --> 00:22:50.279 doesn't give us a polished Christmas. He gives 00:22:50.279 --> 00:22:53.920 us a crowded world, closed doors, tired people, 00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:58.130 and God showing up anyway. If you're walking 00:22:58.130 --> 00:23:01.869 into Christmas carrying grief, regret, exhaustion, 00:23:02.210 --> 00:23:05.789 or questions you don't have words for yet, hear 00:23:05.789 --> 00:23:09.490 this clearly. Lack of room in your life has not 00:23:09.490 --> 00:23:12.250 kept God away. He knows how to be born there. 00:23:12.390 --> 00:23:16.069 He always has. You don't need to fix anything 00:23:16.069 --> 00:23:19.490 tonight. You don't need to resolve the tension. 00:23:20.529 --> 00:23:23.269 Just let the story stay with you for a little 00:23:23.269 --> 00:23:27.700 bit. Let it work on you slowly. Advent was never 00:23:27.700 --> 00:23:31.279 meant to rush us. It was meant to teach us how 00:23:31.279 --> 00:23:35.319 to wait without losing hope. And if what you 00:23:35.319 --> 00:23:38.079 heard tonight mattered to you, if it helped you 00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:41.099 breathe a little easier, or maybe even see the 00:23:41.099 --> 00:23:44.140 story a little differently, consider tossing 00:23:44.140 --> 00:23:45.940 that old like in the offering plate. It's how 00:23:45.940 --> 00:23:50.420 we know the bell's worth ringing again. And if 00:23:50.420 --> 00:23:52.380 you'd like to walk with us all the way through 00:23:52.380 --> 00:23:54.539 Christmas, go ahead and tithe your subscribe. 00:23:54.619 --> 00:23:57.349 That way... You'll know when we're back at the 00:23:57.349 --> 00:24:00.049 table opening the text again and telling the 00:24:00.049 --> 00:24:04.009 truth together. Hey, thank you for spending time 00:24:04.009 --> 00:24:07.089 with us. Till next time, be blessed.