Northside Church - Sydney
Christmas: Tis the Season to be Daring Week 1: God Took A Risk
You're listening to another great message from Northside Community Church. Well friends, these have got to be the two saddest verses in the whole of the Bible. Surely. John chapter 1 verses 10 and 11. Look at them. The Word was in the world, and though God made the world through Him, that's Jesus, yet the world did not recognize Him. He came to His own country, but His own people did not receive Him. Now we can quickly pass over those verses because for many of us they're quite familiar, part of the John 1 narrative. But we can do so without realizing the significance of these two verses. I mean, they cover thousands of years of history. These two verses cover thousands of years of careful preparation. Scores of anointed men and women, I'm talking about the prophets, who were raised up specifically to prepare the Israelite nation for this incredible event. These people were raised up to remind the children of Israel of their special relationship with God the Father, that through them all the nations of the earth would be blessed. But what happens? At that decisive point in history, when God steps under the stage and the person of a little baby, and this baby grows to be a man, grows to show us what an intimate relationship with God the Father can be like, grows to show us what victory is like, a victorious living, victory over stress and strain, victory over sin and death, when he ultimately dies for the sins of the world, rises on the third day to prove beyond any shadow of his identity. What's the response from the very people through whom, through whose lineage and traditions the Messiah was actually born, what's their reaction? Well, it's scorn, it's derision, it's betrayal. It's execution. These have got to be the saddest verses in the Bible. He came to his own country, but his own people did not receive him. Like some of you, I've been to Israel, and when you go to Israel, one of the most moving and most powerful things you can do is go to the whaling wall. This little stretch of war, about 60 meters long, about 20 meters high, part of a much bigger structure, but the rest of it's concealed by buildings, but this section has been in existence for centuries, it dates back to BC, and of course, Orthodox Jewish people go there all the time, always crowded. I couldn't believe I was getting such an easy access to this whaling wall until I was stopped by somebody because I was actually going to the women's section, which is never as busy. I didn't realise that, but the men's section very, very full on as these Orthodox Jewish people pray and pray and write little prayer requests out and roll them up and stick them in the cracks and crevices of the wall, and there's thousands of these prayer requests there. I engaged a young man, a very smart young man, an Orthodox Jewish man, and I said to him, "Can I ask you, what are you praying for today?" Well, what has been your prayer? He was coming back from the wall, and without even hesitation, he just pointed straight across to a section of the old wall of the city, the Golden Gate, so it all bricked up now, being bricked up for years, centuries. He said, "My prayer is that today, the Messiah, will come through that gate." It didn't hesitate me, it wasn't praying about family friends, praying this would be the day the Messiah would come, and it's believed that Jesus came through that Gate Palm Sunday. And look, it's a sad thing, isn't it? I've got a number of Jewish friends, it's a sad thing to think that so much energy and devotion and tradition goes into the anticipation of something that has already happened. We see for God, that first Christmas was a risky business, because there was no guarantee that His gift, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, would be universally received, but that's the nature of the God whom we serve. He's a risk-taker, and this aspect of His nature can be traced way back to creation, as the beautiful story of creation unfolds in the book of Genesis, those stunningly beautiful opening chapters that describe in detail the different stages of the process of creation. Here's chapter one of Genesis verses 26 and 27. Look at this, "Then God said, 'Now we will make human beings, and they will be like us and resemble us. They will have power over the fish, the birds and all the animals, domestic and wild, large and small, so God created human beings, making them to be like Himself. He created them, male and female." In verse 28, God says, "I'm putting you in charge." So is that to the atom that I'm putting you in charge? What a risk, I mean knowing what we know now, knowing what we know now, how tempting must it have been for God to say, "Now look, just to be sure nothing goes wrong, just to be sure the environment is fully protected, just to be sure there's no conflict between you guys, no fighting, no revenge, no bitterness, just to be sure there's no jealousy, no discord. I'm going to put a little sensor in your brain, a little chip that will mean that you will see all situations as I see them. You'll know what to do when you have to respond to difficult relational circumstances. You'll know how to build each other up, not put each other down. You'll know how to affirm and encourage, not criticize and judge. You'll know how to love deeply. You'll know how to share the world's resources so that nobody goes without. It could have been a very different world, mind you, a very predictable world, a very ordered world, a very controlled world, missing one vital component which we all treasure, free will. You see, God did not initiate. God did not initiate the creation process because he wanted to make something he could control. That would have been fairly easy and I would think from God's point of view, fairly boring. He initiated the creation process because our God wanted someone and some people to love. That's God. He was looking for love, not like in the song in all the wrong places. He was just looking for love, looking for something to be the object of his love and his devotion. And so he created something in his own image, not in a physical sense of course even though I know some of you fitness fanatics convinced you have God-like bodies on your better days. But created in the image of God has nothing to do with a physical image. It has everything to do. In his image means that we like God have been created with a capacity to think, a capacity to plan this to reason, to love, created with a capacity to dream. And like God created with a capacity to create. You see friends love takes risks. And God took a huge risk with first man and first woman. He gave them an unbelievable amount of freedom because his primary motivation was not control it was love. And the provision of freedom is the greatest risk of all, as so many parents have found out in this last week of schoolies, the provision of freedom is the greatest risk of all. Thank goodness, schoolies was not around when I was raising kids, my goodness. I'm really identifying with you parents who have either had to face that or yet to face it. Well you just got to trust that all that investment is going to work out okay. Yes, God did tell Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He told them that but he didn't put a moat around the tree filled with white point of sharks. He didn't put armed guards at the tree with orders to shoot anybody who came close. No, no. He simply said don't eat knowing full well that they had the power to make a choice. And of course God's risk taking tendencies were only just beginning with creation. Because after the fall God embarks on a relentless pursuit of his fallen creatures. And as we found in this last series of superheroes, he used people, most unlikely people, took huge risks with men and women to be his spokesperson and to try to pull the people back on track. He took enormous risks not just with those early superheroes but with all the prophets and all the men and women who played a part in the unfolding story, the unfolding drama of the Old Testament, I'm including all the prophets and the kings and so on. They all played their part. But friends the greatest risk of all for God, the greatest risk of all, is what took place at that first Christmas. And the significance of that is found yes in the gospels as we trace the actual outline of the story. Part of it but the real theological and doctrinal significance of the Christ event is powerfully captured in Paul's declaration to the Philippian church chapter 2 and verses 6 to 8 verses we know so well. But well worth repeating at this time of the year Philippians 2 and verses 6 to 8. Look at this, he always had, this is Jesus, he always had the nature of God. But he did not think that by force he should try to remain equal with God. Instead of this, of his own free will, he gave up all he had, took the nature of a servant. He became like a human being and appeared in human likeness. He was humbled, rather he was humbled and walked the path of obedience all the way to death. His death on the cross. Of his own free will. He gave up all that he had. We get inspired when people give up lucrative careers and promising futures to get involved in some kind of mission or humanitarian activity. It happens a lot, I remember a number of years ago, quite a few years ago now, already part of this century on a bus tour driving through Strasbourg in France. And almost as an afterthought the guy in the bus said, "Oh, by the way, we've just passed St Nicholas Church where Dr. Albert Schweitzer was the pastor for about 12 years in the early part of this century. I just got put my neck out by trying to turn her out and get a glimpse of St Nicholas Church because Albert Schweitzer had been one of my heroes growing up. Albert Schweitzer, some of you in my era will remember a doctor of theology, a medical doctor, a concert organist, an amazing man, a genius of his era. And at the height of his career felt so constrained by the plight of the nation of Africa that he walked away from the whole lot and went to the Lamberine Hospital in deepest, darkest Africa to serve God. And that you stunned the world. People couldn't believe that someone would do that. Well, even stories of risk and courage like Schweitzer's and many others that have happened in recent times are just nothing compared to the incomprehensible risk taken by God our father in coming to this earth in the form of a baby. The theologians have given this passage of scripture in Philippians a real workout over the years. They have really done this passage over and they've used it as the basis for what's known as kenosis. And kenosis is on a Greek word it means to empty. And so the idea that the aspect of Christian theology they're seeking to convey is that of God emptying himself of all of his divine qualities and attributes in order to invest himself into a human being. And kenosis looks at the risks, both physical and spiritual in such a move. It picks up on the idea that the cosmic and eternal implications of that process of emptying. Now friends, whichever way you look at it, God took a huge risk in choosing to come to this earth because as with any act of self giving love there was no guarantee it would be returned. Generally a person doesn't travel too far along the road of life before they experience the pain of unrequited love. Love that's given but not returned, it happened to me a lot in high school as I'm sure it did with many of you, little notes going over and "Nate, you thought it was good than you?" Okay, God had somebody in mind of course, but most people experience that in a harmless kind of way when we're young people, but it's pretty hard to handle in later life when it becomes a husband or a wife or a son or a daughter or a father or a mother. When relationships break down and love becomes very one-sided, at the human level we feel that very deeply, I know some of you have experienced that and are experiencing that now, imagine how God felt and feels at the eternal level. We took the risk in sending Jesus, motivated by unconditional love and acceptance and a desire to restore that which had been broken, a deep desire to save, as the Bible says he's not willing that any should perish but that all should experience eternal life. Friends I think it's important we remember this aspect of the Christian drama at this time of the year, it's the season for daring, it's the season for taking risks, it was for God, it can be for us, it's the season for reaching out, it's the season for reconciliation, it's the season to be a little bit vulnerable as one anonymous writer has put it in a poem called risk, to laugh is to risk appearing foolish, to weep is to risk appearing being weak and sentimental, to reach out is to risk involvement with somebody else, to reveal one's deep ideas and dream just to risk those ideas being criticized and rejected, to try is to risk failure, to love is to risk rejection, to live is to risk dying and that's the journey we're all on now and the writer concludes but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The person who doesn't risk may avoid suffering and sorrow but they may also miss the opportunity for learn, to feel, to change, to grow, to love, to live. Friends take a few risks this Christmas in the lead up to Christmas, it might mean coming from your heaven, your situation of peace and stability and comfort and coming into the world, the real world that exists around you, part of the risk may be for you, for me, being more aware of the needs around us and not being so caught up in our little heavenly celebration of Christmas that we fail to do as God did, leave that at least for a season and come down and be more aware of what's happening around us. Christmas is the season for risk, what could that mean for you? Relationally in terms of your walk with God, what could it mean for me? Let's bow together and pray, shall we? Father God, we thank you that you did through Jesus take a huge risk and your motivation was to reconcile us to yourself. Your motivation, Lord, was to fill the gap that had been created from the fall of humankind all those years ago. Thank you Lord that this season can be one in which we come from our positions of stability and peace and tranquility and become more aware of exactly what's happening around us and look for opportunities to reach out, look for opportunities to be a little vulnerable, look for opportunities to be involved in reconciliation. All the things that this season represents will need your strength, will need the power of your Holy Spirit to achieve this, will we invite you into our experience today and everyday leading up to that special day and beyond through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray, Amen. (gentle music)