A Way In | A WAY IN A MANGER
A Way In A Manger • Sermon • Submitted
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· 9 viewsThe message of Christmas is not that Jesus came so that you could live your old life better. Christ came to offer you a brand new life full of the new possibilities that come from being in Christ--a child of God and co-heir of the Kingdom.
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Wk 2 - A Way in a Manger
We decided use a word play on the a song written in the 19 century to help us get ready for Christmas this year.
We decided use a word play on the a song written in the 19 century to help us get ready for Christmas this year
We separated the “A” form Away and we get an actual historical reference to Christianity in the early church.
We separated the “A” form Away and we get an actual historical reference to Christianity in the early church.
>>> Jesus said I am the way. The truth and the life. The way to the Father is through me. I am the restorer, the reconciliation of mankind. I am the way. This year we want you to get ready for Christmas. We want you ready to celebrate the coming of the Way. The way to peace with God. The way in a manger. We want this Christmas to be your greatest ever. So get ready… all the stories are true.
Last week, Pastor Tim taught us that the way to begin is through repentance.
>>> This week we are going to discuss a way in.
ILLUS: Middle School — Wanting to fit in.
Want so desperately to live someone else’s life. If I was as cool as them, pretty as her, as athletic as he is, etc.
>>> As we grow up I think another dimension gets added to this. We start to get a glimpse of the life we want to lead. We want to live a life of purpose and significance. We want to live lives full of joy and peace. Yet, so many of us feel like we’ve been locked out from this life.
ILLUS: The Door
1. Other side of the door represents the life you were created to live.
2. We try all kinds of way to get through the door.
3. Repentance is the key that opens the door to your new life.
4. When we choose to repent, and once we walk through the door, we’re in. New life and new possibilities are yours in Christ!
5. The problem, is so many of us stand in the doorway. We try to live this new life without abandoning the old.
6. Our immediate response is to try to clean up our old life. Stop this… Stop that… etc.
7. Walking through this door isn’t about living your old life better.
8. It’s a brand new life—the new possibilities of a new life in Him.
17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.
The message of Christmas is that Christ invites you in. In to new life. In to new possibilities. In to Him.
>>> This morning, we want to take a look at what it means to be in Christ.
We have over simplified a complex reality.
Not only is Christ in us—We are IN Him.
20 When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
What an incredible promise!
In the next chapter of John, Jesus would declare:
4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. 5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.
>>> The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Christians in Rome would expound on this truth about what it means to be in Christ.
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
Too many Christians live their as if this is not true.
Pat Selvey - “It’s either true or it’s not.”
Do you believe that if you are in Christ, then you stand uncondemned?
Others continue to live condemned because they feel they are beyond saving. They’ve done too much bad. Their life just isn’t worth Christ forgiveness.
If this is you, Christmas is your reminder that Christ came to be condemned on your behalf.
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
ILLUS: Black paper placed in Bible to represent our life IN HIM—wrapped in His righteousness.
2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. 3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.
rom8.2-3
Paul brings up an interesting point regarding the law.
What the law does:
The law sets before us a straight path
Shows us or deflections and stains
What the law doesn’t not do:
The law can tell you what you ought to do, but it gives no inclination to do the right.
It does not lend us any aid towards the fulfilment of its commands.
When we have broken the law, it brings no remedy.
You see, the Law cannot:
Produce a new heart in a sinner
Save a lost soul
Justify a guilty person
Draw a wanderer back to God
>>> So God had to do what the law could not do by sending His Son. This is what we celebrate on Christmas day!
4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
rom8.4
System of sacrifices. Repeated over and over and over again.
Never satisfied the law. Simply covered our sin.
God sent Jesus so that once and for all the requirements of the law would be satisfied.
5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. 7 For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. 8 That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. 9 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)
Paul here lays out a vital test that all believers should take. He implores us to search and see what spirit is in us, so that we can discern whose child we are.
Those who are “led by the Spirit” are the children of God.
Those who are not “led of the Spirit” are not His children.
Paul says, that if we do not have the Spirit of Christ living in us then we do not belong to Him at all.
How sad it will be to think that you are “in” only to find out when standing before Christ that you were never really His!?
21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’
This Christmas, let us take time to examine which spirit we follow. Is your life characterized by following the leading of the Spirit?
Let our lives be characterized by following the leading of the Spirit.
10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. 11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
rom8.10-
Paul’s thought here in verse 10 is a further explanation of the previous verses. Paul knows that his previous statements might cause some to doubts, so he seeks to encourage them by reminding me that Christ does indeed live within.
Not only are we in Christ, but He is in us.
Paul declares that this spirit within us is the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead!
12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. 13 For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
rom8.12-
The tense Paul uses here gives us further assurance that our struggle with the flesh does not bring our status as children of God into question.
Rather, Paul suggest a continuous activity where the believer day after day puts to death the deeds of our sinful nature.
Along with the privilege of being “IN” comes responsibility. The responsibility of putting our sinful nature to death.
How? Obeying the promptings of the Spirit.
Now, as children of God, indwelt by the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, we have no obligation to do what our sinful nature desires.
There is freedom in this, Christian!
Before Christ you were a slave to your sin.
Couldn’t say no. Drawn around by your nose.
Lead about by your pride, ambition, selfishness, etc.
One of the great joys of being IN Christ is that we have been set free from the bondage of sin. Not the fight—but the bondage. We get to say “no.”
Each “no” to self, and “yes” to Christ, is an opportunity to glorify your Heavenly Father.
In v14, Paul reiterates the point he has made over and over again— “All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.”
Theologian, Robert Mounce, declares: “This may be the most succinct and specific answer in Scripture to the question, Who is a child of God?”
This may be the most succinct and specific answer in Scripture to the question, Who is a child of God?
The answer, “All who are led by the Spirit of God.”
How do we know if we are being led by the Spirit?
Robert H. Mounce, Romans, vol. 27, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 181–182.
Spirit leads the believer into:
Spirit leads the believer into:
RepentanceThinking much of JesusWisdomLoveHeart for the lostHolinessVital godlinessUsefulness
Repentance ()
Thinking much of Jesus ()
Wisdom ()
Love ()
Heart for the lost ()
Holiness ()
Godliness ()
Usefulness ()
Paul is not simply rambling on here. He didn’t forget what he previously said. He isn’t repeating just to hear himself talk. He is building to a powerful reality.
15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.
I can’t tell you how many people I have met that walk around just waiting for God to strike them with lightning or pop them with a hammer like some sick game of whack-a-mole, where their the mole and God bought the unlimited play pass.
A slave Paul says, lives in fear. Always on their toes.
Yet, this is not the life to which you have been called.
Instead, we have been adopted as children. We don’t live in fear—we call out “Abba, Father.” Daddy.
Waiting on dad to come home from work.
Favorite part of my day.
ILLUS: Tim’s adoption.
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No adoption papers, you get a new birth certificate with your new name.
1. Didn’t receive an adoption certificate. He received a new birth certificate.
2. When you walk through that door, Jesus isn’t just standing there with adoption papers in His hands. He’s holding a brand new birth certificate.
3. You need to sit in that.
4. You have a brand new name!
5. I don’t know what name you have been using to identify yourself. I don’t know what name others have given you over the years. But the power of Christmas is that Christ came to do what we and the law could not do, and He offers us a brand new name. One that gives us permission to cry out, “Abba, Father!” To run into the opening arms of a Heavenly Father who gave it all for you—to let you IN.
17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
New Living Translation Chapter 8
And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory.
Charles Spurgeon notes:
We are heirs to all that God has
God owns the cattle on a thousand hills… so do you.
God himself belongs to us
The portion of each child of God is not only what God has, but what God himself is.
God’s power to protect
God’s eye to guide
God’s justice to defend
God’s immutability to be constant
God’s infinity to enrich
God’s heart of love, hand of power, head of glory
All is ours in Christ!
rom8.17-
17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. 18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.
Being an heir of God does not exempt us from suffering. Conversely, it guarantees that we will in fact suffer, just as Christ suffered for us.
Paul doesn’t want the Romans to be discouraged by this reality. Instead, he seeks to encourage them by reminding them that this present suffering is nothing compared to future glory God will reveal to us.
Christmas looks ahead to the day when, for the final time, we will be invited in. The Scriptures promise us that on this day there will be no more sorrow and no more tears. That pain and suffering will be no more.
Yet today, here’s what’s so amazing—Christ stands at the door of your heart and knocks. He didn’t wait for you to come knock on His door. He, just like on Christmas morning, took the first step. He came first. And He invites you IN to the fullness of life.
And it’s here that you find...
Freedom
Hope
Healing
Made whole
Power
Mercy
Come alive
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Ending song: In Your Presence
Freedom, I am whole, healing...
The message of Christmas is not that Jesus came so that you could live your old life better. Christ came to let you in. To offer you a brand new life full of the new possibilities that come from being in Christ--a child of God and co-heir of the Kingdom. This is the way in a manger. Welcome in.
You will be our God till the end
**Altar Call & Close