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The Greatest Human Need Come Sweet Jesus, and just as you were birthed those years ago tonight in that manger, be birthed anew in us! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THE STORY IS TOLD OF 3 MEN MARROONED ON AN ISLAND ON CHRISTMAS EVE… SUDDENLY AN ANGEL APPEARS AND SAYS… WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE, ANY WISH IS YOURS… THE FIRST MAN SAYS… I MISS MY FAMILY, I WANT TO BE BACK IN MINNESOTA with my children, SITTING NEAR MY FIREPLACE, FEET UP, WOOSH, GONE… THE SECOND MAN SAYS… I WOULD LOVE TO BE AT MY CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE, SINGING THOSE AMAZING CHRISTMAS CAROLS, all my friends in the pews all within that BEAUTIFUL CHURCH I GREW UP IN… WOOSH…GONE… THE ANGEL TURNS TOWARDS THE 3RD MAN AND SAYS… YOU’RE LAST, WHAT IS YOUR WISH MY FRIEND? THE MAN WITH SAD EYES SAYS I’M LONLEY, I WISH MY FRIENDS WERE BACK HERE! ON THIS CHRISTMAS EVE MY FRIENDS, WHAT DO YOU THINK THE BIGGEST NEED IS FOR ALL HUMANITY? WHAT IS THAT ONE THING WE DESIRE WITH EVERY CORE OF OUR HEART…? LET ME GIVE YOU 3 HINTS… THE FIRST IS IN THE FORM OF A CONFESSION… MY WIFE AND I, DARE I SAY, LOVE TO WATCH DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES…EVERY SUNDAY NIGHT. hint 2 to the question of what is our greatest human need.. COMES FROM WASHINGTON REDSKIN COACH JOE GIBBES. last week in the newspaper he said this… WHEN I START THE FOOTBALL SEASON, I SPEND 4 ½ MONTHS AWAY FROM EVERYONE, MY WIFE, AND KIDS. IT’S REALLY LIKE BEING IN PRISON. I’M HERE ALL THE TIME, AND I PRETTY MUCH LOSE CONTACT WITH EVERYBODY. IT’S LIKE YOU ARE ON AN ISLAND ALL BY YOURSELF, AND IT’S FOOTBALL ALL DAY LONG, 7 DAYS A WEEK. HINT 2, WHAT’S MISSING FROM HIS LIFE? 3rd and final hint to the major question of all time… this from yet ANOTHER FOOTBALL COACH.. IT WAS A YEAR AGO THIS WEEK, THAT INDIANAPOLIS COACH TONY DUNGY AND HIS WIFE LAUREN LEARNED THAT THEIR 18 YEAR OLD SON JAMES DIED AS A RESULT OF SUICIDE. LAST WEEK, DUNGY COMMENTED THAT IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO SEE HOW CHRISTMAS CAN BE A HAPPY TIME. IT’S GOING TO BE A PAINFUL WEEK.. THROUGH ALL THESE SECULAR HINTS… WHAT IS OUR GREATEST HUMAN NEED? THE GREATEST HUMAN NEED OF THE HUMAN HEART IS TO BE IN RELATIONSHIP…
it’s why desparate housewives is such a hit! our desire to be in and even watch the relationships of others! HUMANITY’S GREATEST NEED IS RELATIONSHIP… YOU AND I WERE NEVER WIRED TO GO THROUGH LIFE ALONE, I’LL NEVER FORGET AS A CHILD, ONE PARTICULAR CHRISTMAS IN BOSTON. I WAS PROBABLY 9 OR 10 YEARS OLD… MY FATHER WAS RECTOR OF THE CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD... IT WAS CHRISTMAS EVE AND AS I WALKED INTO OUR CHURCH, THERE ON THE LEFT IN THE BACK PEW WAS AN OLD MAN… HE WAS A PRIEST, ONE I HAD NEVER MET BEFORE… I’LL NEVER FORGET HIS EYES, EYES WITH NO HOPE IN THEM, AS A CHILD I THOUGHT HOW IN THE WORLD COULD A PRIEST OF ALL PEOPLE BE DESPRESSED ON A NIGHT LIKE THIS? THE SERVICE STARTED, AND UNBEKNOWNST TO ME, MY FATHER ALSO MET HIM FOR THE FIRST TIME THAT EVENING. TURNS OUT HIS WIFE HAD JUST DIED, THEY HAD NO CHILDREN… HE WAS POOR, RENTED AN APARTMENT IN A BAD PART OF THE CITY… AND HAD NO CHURCH THAT WANTED HIS MINISTRY. AS I LOOK BACK, HE WAS A MAN BEREFT OF RELATIONSHIPS… THAT NIGHT A RELATIONSHIP BEGAN WITH HE AND MY FATHER, AND FOR THE NEXT WEEK, AND EVERY SUNDAY FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE, fr. palmer SERVED AT GOOD SHEPHERD, AND as he ministered HE seemed to PHYSICALLY LOOK YOUNGER AND YOUNGER because HE WAS IN RELATIONSHIP. MY FRIENDS, JESUS IS BIRTHED TONIGHT FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN TO BE IN RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU…. GOD SENT HIS SON TO LIVE AMONG US, TO BE ONE OF US… MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE IN THE WORLD, JESUS WANTS TO KNOW YOU, AND BE INVOLVED IN YOUR LIFE,
AND IT GETS EVEN MORE AMAZING… JESUS CARES ABOUT OUR EVERYDAY LIFE, AS DEMONSTRATED BY THE PLACE OF HIS BIRTH.. NOW YOU KNOW THAT JESUS WAS BORN IN BETHLEHEM, BUT DID YOU KNOW THAT THE NAME BETHLEHEM ACTUALLY MEANS HOUSE OF BREAD? WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? jesus is not INDIFFERENT TO OUR SIMPLE AND BASIC HUMAN NEEDS… JESUS WANTS TO BE OUR DAILY BREAD! JESUS ISN’T ALOOF, HE’S NOT IN SOME IVORY TOWER, he wants to be our daily bread, he wants to be our primary source of health! IN FACT IN MATTHEW 4, HE WOULD SAY: MAN SHALL NOT LIVE bY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT COMES OUT OF MY MOUTH! jesus later says this: GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD! JESUS LOVES YOU, AND CARES ABOUT YOU… HE CARES ABOUT THE CONDITION OF YOUR LIFE… HE CARES ABOUT THE CONDITION OF YOUR MARRIAGE… HE CARES THAT SOME OF YOU ARE GOING THROUGH PAIN IN YOUR MARRIAGE… HE CARES THAT SOME OF YOU ARE GOING THROUGH PAIN because YOU WANT TO BE MARRIED SO BADLY! HE CARES AND WEEPS WITH THOSE WHO SEEM TO HAVE IT ALL, YET ARE MISSING SOMETHING SO PROFOUND… he is birthed tonight to be in relationship with you. FOR THOSE PARENTS HERE TONIGHT, he says love me first, then your spouse, then your chidren… the relationship with me will change every other relationship in your life. A WONDERFUL FRIEND OF MINE named tim keller pastors a church in new york city, not too long ago said something so profound, IF YOU BELIEVE THAT GOD BECAME HUMAN IN JESUS CHRIST, IF YOU REALLY TAKE THIS BELIEF and turn that into a relationship with him.. IT WILL CHANGE YOU… IT WILL CHANGE YOUR WHOLE OUTLOOK ON LIFE AND RELATIONSHIPS.. KELLER WRITES, IT WILL CHANGE THE DRIVE SHAFT OF YOUR HEART, he goes on to say that EVERY HUMAN HEART HAS SOME BASIC MOTIVATIONAL DRIVE THAT GETS US OUT OF BED in the morning. FOR MOST OF US, he says, IT’S FEAR.. FEAR..
NOW THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD JUST AGGRAVATE THAT FEAR, AND EVERY RELIGION TELLS US HOW.. TO REACH THE DIVINE in:
THAT’S HOW YOU CAN REACH, BUT THAT JUST INCREASES THE FEAR, BECAUSE ALL YOUR LIFE, WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO REACH THE DIVINE FEAR… BECAUSE YOU DON’T WANT TO FALL SHORT … YOU DON’T WANT TO LOSE THE DIVINE, YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THE DIVINE.. SO YOU ARE IN A RELIGION OF FEAR.. BUT TONIGHT, christmas eve.. IN THE INCARNATION, GOD MADE FLESH, THE BIRTH OF CHRIST, JESUS HAS COME TO US… HE HAS COME CLOSE, HE HAS GIVEN HIMSELF TO US…so we can be in relationship… a relationship full of joy not fear! it’s his INITIATIVE, HE HAS COME TO US BECAUSE HE KNOWS WE COULD NEVER reach HIM! AND ONCE WE REALIZE THAT, IT AFFECTS EVERYTHING WE DO! TAKE SUFFERING FOR INSTANCE… if you really are hurting, you sit down with someone and pour your heart out, and if the response is a lot of facts, you need to do this and this… that’s not much consolation… but ifyou pour your heart out and the other person says guess what, i went through that very thing… you did? and if that person not only shows you that they went through the very same thing but far worse, far more intensley and they tell you their story and then say: i will be with you through what you’re going through. that’s the kind of relationship we need! THAT’S JESUS! there is no OTHER religion IN THE WORLD that CLAIMS THEIR GOD has been through anything more inteNSELY than you have, except christianity.. that wonderful poem of old speaks to this: the other god’s did ride thou disn’t stumble to the throne to our wounds only god’s wounds can speak, no god has wounds but thou alone… no other religion even claims that their god has wounds! if i were to ask you… WHAT’S KEEPING YOU BACK FROM A REAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ONE BORN TONIGHT.. what would you say? I BELIEVE THE ANSWER YOU MIGHT GIVE WOULD BE VERY SIMILAR TO THE ONE GIVEN BY THE INNKEEPER IN OUR GOSPEL STORY.. the reason theRE WAS NO ROOM IN THE INN was not that the innkeeper was hostile to jesus, he was just harried… busy, full of other things, full of other commitments… HE SIMPLY DIDN’T HAVE THE ROOM WHERE IT COUNTED THE MOST! doesn’t that describe us…? it’s not that we’re against A RELATIONSHIP WITH jesus, but lord, i’ve got 3 kids going to different schools, with a hundred afterschool events, HOCKEY GAMES and birthday parties…. we are so harried… and just like this night 2006 years ago, jesus is relegated awaY… but there is one more reason the innkeeper rejected that birth from happening in HIS inn. he didn’t know the family. THERE WAS NO RELATIONSHIP. nobody knew they were coming, and didn’t recognize their importance when they came! can you imagine if the one in charge had dreamed who mary’s child would be, can you imagine the different RESPONSE HE WOULD HAVE GIVEN? tonight, my friends, you are being told who that child is, who he would be and what he desires to be in your life… WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS BABE BORN TONIGHT? at the end of the day, JESUS IN THAT MANGER SAYS WILL YOU LOVE ME? WILL YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE FOR ME? BACK TO TIM KELLER FOR A MINUTE… WHO SAYS: there are only 3 responses we could possibly make to this child WHO ASKS THAT QUESTION TONIGHT… 3 RESPONSES REGARDING OUR RELATIONSHIP TO HIM. BUT, the only rational responses to HIS birth are extreme… people who met the real jesus always reacted in an extreme way…
he ordered the death of all male children under the age of 2 in bethlehem..
THAT IS AN AUTHENTIC RESPONSE.. 2ND EXTREME RESPONSE… THE RESPONSE OF BEING TERRIFIED with THE DESIRE OF GETTING AS FAR AWAY FROM THE CHRIST AS POSSIBLE!
ONE FORCING YOU TO CHANGE YOUR LIFESTYLE… THIS AGAIN IS AN AUTHENTIC RESPONSE, BUT KEEP IN MIND THAT JESUS SAYS, I CAME SO THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE TRUE JOY… THIRD RESPONSE, like the wisemen.. you kneEL BESIDE HIM, and laY the sword of Your liFE at his feet and saY command me… GIVING your life TO him utterly in adoration… thEse are the only rational responses and they are all extreme.. TO THOSE WHO MET JESUS, THE ONE THING NONE OF THEM EVER SAID WAS: nice sermon preacher… or MAYBE I’LL BE BACK.. the only rational responses to jesus are extreme… but you say, i’m a moderate, i don’t want to go too far in either direction… i don’t want to be too holy.. bING in relationship with jesus won’t make you look like an extremist, because you will be:
you wouldn’t look like an extremist to people, but you would be an extremist because you either have to:
and there is no other rational response. AND SO MY FRIENDS, LIKE THAT GIFT UNDER THE TREE, HERE IS THIS JESUS, THE REAL REASON FOR ALL THE PARTIES, ALL THE GATHERINGS… SIMPLY WHISPERING TO YOU, LET ME COME IN YOUR LIFE, LET ME COME IN YOUR HEART, WILL YOU LET HIM? AMEN. HEAVENLY FATHER, YOU CAME TONIGHT TO BE IN RELATIONSHIP WITH US. EVEN IF THERE IS JUST ONE PERSON HERE TONIGHT WHO WISHES TO WELCOME YOU INTO THEIR HEART… COME AND LIVE RIGHT THERE, DON’T LEAVE US UNCHANGED, BUT THROUGH THAT RELATIONSHIP, CHANGE THE DRIVE SHAFT OF OUR HEARTS AND OUR LIVES. AMEN. |
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