Why Me?
Christmas Questions • Sermon • Submitted
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· 13 viewsElizabeth asks Mary why Mary has favored her with a visit. Why me?
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Why Me?
Why Me?
Love: it’s a subject a preacher can’t preach on enough and kids can’t seem to talk about enough. Here are some thoughts on love, from some youngsters giving advice to us husbands.
· Don't forget your wife’s name—that will mess up love. (age 8)
· Be a good kisser, it might make your wife forget that you never take out the trash. (age 9)
· Falling in love is like an avalanche where you have to run for your life. (age 9)
· I'm not rushing into love, I'm finding fourth grade hard enough. (Regina age 10)
My personal favorite…
· Love is silly…but I still might try it someday. (Jill age 6)
There is a Christmas Song that is called Love came gently…by Marty Funderburk. “Love came gently soft as a baby…” I like that about the Christmas story. Oh sure, the prophets foretold it. For hundreds of years, maybe more, God had given His people reassurances of His love. But when He came…He came quietly. No fanfare, no parade, no media blitz…in a little barn behind an inn…on a still night, a baby was born. Just an ordinary event, on an ordinary night. God’s love came gently.
But Major, you remind me, what about that host of angels singing o’er the plains?
Well I have a theory about the angels. I think that God told them “No, you’re not singing. I don’t want to create a fuss.” And I think that they insisted…after all they had been rehearsing for centuries! And so, as a loving God often does, He relented.
Of course, they wanted to go to Jerusalem…but God sent them to the other side of Bethlehem, to some shepherds out in the field. And so, the ordinary became extra-ordinary when the vast host of heaven’s angels sang, "Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased."
But in every other way it was still an ordinary night.
In the Apostle Paul wrote, “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own,” NASU in other words, love is gentle.
Love came gently…the outrageous, incredible, indescribable, amazing, mind-blowing love of God came quietly, in the middle of the night, witnessed only by a carpenter and some livestock.
says, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” NIV
: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” NIV
Pray with me…
Why Us?
One of the great word pictures, painted by some of our favorite carols, Silent Night, O Holy Night, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear…well maybe all the carols…is the picture of a star-filled night over Bethlehem.
Well hundreds of years earlier, not far from Bethlehem…perhaps even in Bethlehem…King David was looking at those same stars one night, and as he was staring at those stars, his mind began to piece together the words for what we know as the 8th Psalm.
“When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; /What is man that You take thought of him, /And the son of man that You care for him? NASU
An atheist who was a leader of the French Revolution said one day to a Christian villager, "We are going to pull down your church tower, so that you may have nothing left to remind you of God or religion."
"You will not only have to pull down the church tower," said the man, "you will also have to blot out the stars, before you can destroy all that reminds us of God;”
And so it was with David…as he gazed into the night sky his thoughts turned to God. David, who knew so little compared to what even I know…and I know very little. But I do know that light travels 186,000 miles per second. And I know that the closest star to us is 24 trillion miles away, since light travels just under 6 trillion miles a year…it takes just over 4 light years for that light…traveling 186,000 miles a second…to reach us. If that star exploded, the average person wouldn’t know it for four years.
But David’s point isn’t about how grand the universe is…but about how grand the One Who made the universe is.
I love that David couldn’t bear to compare himself with the glory of God’s astronomical creation…talk about feeling small…so instead of “who am I?” His question was “Who is man?”
I think he must have felt that considering the vastness, the greatness of God’s heavens…he needed the support of the whole human race to even dare to put voice to the comparison.
David’s point…It is enough that we exist…that we have life and can experience love, laughter, and pursue happiness…and yet God is concerned about us.
It is enough for us that we exist…but it is not enough for God who sent us His Son…who said,
, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
The answer to David’s question, “Who is man?” Is a BIG answer…mankind is who Jesus was talking about when He said, : "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
The answer to David’s question, “Who is man?” Is a BIG answer…mankind is who Jesus was talking about when He said, : "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
Why Me?
In the Christmas story, most of it is larger than life. Kind of like David’s star filled night. And why not? God is about to become a baby…and the armies of heaven are about to sing to some shepherds…and some kings from far away are following a star…
This is a grand story with eternal consequences…but in the midst of it, there is a moment…a moment where it gets personal …
When the angel told Mary that she was going to be mother to the Son of God…he also told her that her relative Elizabeth was six months pregnant. So, after the angel left, Mary made arrangements and went to see Elizabeth.
, “…she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” NIV
Elizabeth starts the whole world singing. Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit and with the knowledge that Mary is carrying the Son of God. And then she utters these words on behalf of the human race… “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!” and then suddenly it dawns are her… “What are you doing HERE?” “Why me?” why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
Elizabeth’s point: It is enough that I am going to have a son after all these years…and it is certainly enough that an angel has told my husband that this son will great! And it is enough to know that my son will turn people’s hearts towards God. In fact, it is more than enough…
So Who am I that the mother of God should visit me? Why me? This great Christmas story suddenly, unexpectedly became very personal.
Have you ever had a “why me?” moment with God? A moment where you felt special, loved uniquely by God as if you were somehow singled out as His favorite…if only for a moment?
I wish for you a “Why me?” moment this Christmas. A moment where you experience the personal favor of God. The great theologian, Mark Twain once said. “Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.”
says, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”
If the answer to David’s question, “Why us?” is “For God so loved the world…” then the answer to Elizabeth’s question, “Why me?” has to be, “…you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.”
Jesus once said, “What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So, don't be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.”
Or perhaps the answer to Elizabeth’s question “Why me?” could be found inside a Christmas Card. Christmas cards, are so full of pithy, witty, whimsical, and wise sayings. One card, quoting St. Augustine, said “God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.”
I wish for you a “Why me?” a “Why am I so favored?” moment this Christmas. I wish for you a moment when you know that Christmas—while global—is personal.
What makes it personal? Love. The same love that causes us to sing “Joy to the World” with pomp and, well with joy, that same love that causes us to sing,
Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever, and love me, I pray;
I encourage you to make Christmas personal this year. You can shop and you can sing the carols at the top of your voice; you can serve the needy and bless the little ones, you can thoroughly enjoy the whole season…and still miss it’s meaning—if you don’t let it get personal.
For God so loved the world - that’s not just everyone out there - that’s you and me. The great theologian John Wesley once preached in a sermon that.
Love is the highest gift of God; humble, gentle, patient love… It were well that you should be sensible of this, “the heaven of Heavens is love.” There is nothing higher in religion, there is in effect, nothing else; if you look for anything but more love, you are looking wide of the mark, you are getting out of the royal way … Settle it then in your heart, that from the moment God has saved you from all sin, you are to aim at nothing more, [than] love”.
Even during Christmas - don’t let the glitz and glamour, or the nostalgia, or the promise of receiving gifts, deter you from the true magic of Christmas. Spend time with God, read and reread the Christmas story, listen to the carols, be in church. God sent His Son for the WHOLE world, but if the whole world had just been you…He would have still sent Him. Why you? Because God doesn’t want to live without you.
It is Christmas - again. Children get so excited. Not just to receive gifts - but they love to give them too. I know the traffic gets crazy, and the mall and department stores get crowded. I know that ordering gifts on line can be iffy at times - a little risky. So much to distract us and frustrate us. and we haven’t even mentioned mailing out Christmas Cards. Fewer and fewer people do it. That’s kind of sad. But be careful not dwell on the things that disappoint. As John Wesley said, “if you look for anything but more love, you are looking wide of the mark, you are getting out of the royal way…”
Where is your heart this Christmas? Are you looking for gifts, food, parties, to fill your heart? These are okay - but they are out of the Royal Way, they are wide of the mark. But there is a Babe - we have nick-named Him the Babe of Bethlehem - the sign of our Heavenly Father’s love.