2022-12-25 The Beloved Invader

THE BELOVED INVADER - CHRISTMAS DAY, 2022 (I Tim 1:15) December 25, 2022 Read I Tim 1:15 - By our words and deeds, we're all writing a life story. We write it, but God determines the final outcome. Rom 14:12: "So then each of us will give an account of himself to God." The problem is, without outside help, our story will end badly. We all "fall short of the glory of God." That caused Daniel Webster, when asked, "What is the greatest thought that can occupy a man's mind?" to reply: "His accountability to God." That's where Christmas comes in. We all know about Superman. A baby from another planet arrives in a KS wheatfield and soon displays super powers that allow him to rescue people from impossible situations. It's a fairytale, of course. But in 4 BC it happened for real! An invader from another world came to earth filled with supernatural powers and insights. He came to rescue spiritually dead people. He came for a lost world generally, but He came for you specifically. Here's how He can impact your life. I. Christ Came to Invade Your Story Jesus did not come for Himself. In fact, He sacrificed everything to come. He came from heaven to earth; from glory to humiliation; ultimate authority to servant of all; riches to poverty; perfect life to crushing death. Why? He did it for you. He did it to bring you back to God. Lu 19:10: "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." That's you; that's me; that's all of us. Jesus saw we are incapable of writing ourselves back to God. So, He determined to write Himself into your story and mine, if we will have Him. He came to change our tragic ending to a glorious ending. Dorothy Sayers was a fiction writer who wrote detective novels. Her hero was Peter Wimsey, a great detective, but incredibly lonely. Then a love interest, Harriet Vane, comes along and rescues him. Harriet is a writer of detective novels, like Dorothy Sayers. She is one of the 1st women graduates of Oxford U. - like Sayers. In fact, everything about her duplicates Dorothy Sayers. Critics agree Sayers looked at the world she created, fell in love with the character she created and wrote herself into his world to save him. And that's exactly what God has done for you. He's written Himself into your story to change it for the better if you'll have Him. II. Christ Came to Salvage Your Story Why salvage your story? Because without Jesus, it has a tragic ending. It doesn't matter how important you are, what you have or how good you've been, you do not meet the standard of God's perfection. The rich young ruler, who claimed to have kept all God's commandments left Jesus condemned, though Jesus loved him. His best wasn't good enough. Nor is yours or mine. Rom 6:23 - "The wages of sin is death." That is the end of your story. You cannot write a happy ending to your own story. You cannot forgive yourself. A thousand worship services won't do it. Buying a new wing for the hospital won't do it. No one bats 1.000; no one bowls 300 every time. You cannot quench your own guilt. You know it; I know it; God knows it. You don't need an advisor; a counselor; a self-help program. You need a Savior. That's what Xmas is about. A Savior has come from heaven to invade earth; from eternity to invade time. He did it for one reason. He did it to bring us to God - at the price of His own life. I Pet 3:18a: "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God." Perhaps you've seen the Homan Hunt painting in our children's department - "The Shadow of the Cross". It depicts Jesus as a boy working in his dad's shop. He is kneeling with outstretched arms pounding. The sun shining thru a window catches his shadow - in the shape of the cross. The cross cast a giant shadow over Jesus' entire earthly life from its very beginning. And He did it all to salvage the ending of your story if only you will let Him. III. Christ Came to Immortalize Your Story When asked what he'd like people to say about him in 100 years, Woody Allen responded, "I'd like them to say, 'He looks good for his age." Another time he said, "I don't want to live on in the hearts of my countrymen; I want to live on in my apartment." The desire for immortality lives in all our hearts. Jesus came to re-write your story by giving it the happy ending you cannot. He came to immortalize your story by giving you eternal life. This is the life of perfection with God we all long for. Isa 25:8a: "He will swallow up death forever, And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces." Rev 21:3-4: "And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." This is Eden all over again. This is Jesus reclaiming all that was lost there. And by His birth, life, death and resurrection, He is offering to re-write your story - to change your tragic ending into a literal return to Eden in all its perfection - this time with no possibility of losing it again. C. S. Lewis said it like this: "Enemy-occupied territory---that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage." Are you in? Will you let Him write Himself your story?! If you miss Him, you miss eternity. Conc - On December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, NC, Orville Wright made the 1st flight manned airplane flight. Wilbur cabled home to Dayton, Ohio: "WE HAVE FLOWN FOR 12 SECONDS-WE WILL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!" Sister Katherine hurried to the local newspaper office to inform the editor. But in those days, manned flight seemed so fantastic that few believed it possible. On Dec 19, 1903, the headline in the Dayton paper said, "Wright Brothers Home for Christmas." Not a word about the flight. Arguably the greatest story of the century, and the editor missed it! No faith. I beg you, Beloved, don't miss the most important story in human history for lack of faith. Don't miss Jesus. You'll love the changes He makes in your story if you let Him. It's why He came - to invade the story of your life. Let's pray. 7