Luke
2:1-7, Resolve to Belong
Jonathan
Edwards was an 18th century Colonial American who could read Latin,
Greek, Hebrew and English by the age of 7. He was a gifted child and man who
resolved to direct his gifts to the furtherance of the
1. Being sensible that I am unable to do anything
without God's help, I do humble entreat Him, by His grace, to enable me to keep
these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to His will, for Christ's sake.
[I will] remember to read over these Resolutions once a week.
2. Resolved,
to do whatever I think to be my duty, and most for the good and advantage of
mankind in general.
3. Resolved,
Never to lose one moment of time, but to improve it in the most profitable way
I possibly can.
4. Resolved,
to live with all my might, while I do live.
5. Resolved,
Never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour
of my life.
6. Resolved,
Never to do anything out of revenge.
7. Resolved,
Never to speak evil of any one, so that it shall tend to his dishonour, more or
less, upon no account except for some real good.
8. Resolved,
To study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly, and frequently, as that I may
find, and plainly perceive, myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.[2]
Allow me
bring this closer to home for us as we enter a new year. Edwards’s resolutions
are quite admirable and resolutions that we would do well to imitate. But, this
sermon is not about your resolutions or my resolutions. No! – there are much
greater resolutions to consider and, indeed, to praise God for. For, God, too,
has made resolutions. God resolves from outside of time and space to inhabit,
by the Holy Spirit, anyone who calls on him in his name. God resolves to inhabit your heart, your mind and your time.
God resolves to inhabit the heart
of all who call on him: Are you
ready to receive God into your heart or do you not have room for him? You see, your heart can be a manger of sorts.
Remember
the old story about the little boy who was asked why he was a Christian. He
answered: "I don't know for sure,
but I think it runs in our family!" That's a cute story, isn't it?
But, we
need to hurriedly add a footnote. And the footnote is this: We can ride on the
coattails of our Christian family for just so long and then each one of us
individually, has to make his or her personal decision for Jesus Christ. The
family can help us and it's great when it does, but each of us at some point
has to make that personal decision to receive Christ into our heart. It's
terrific when granddad is a devoted Christian. It's wonderful when mom is a
committed disciple... it's fantastic if dad is a consecrated churchman, but
somewhere along the way, I have to make my own decision, my own commitment, my
own acceptance of Christ as my personal Savior and Lord.
Have you
made that decision yet? Have you invited Him into your life? God has resolved
to inhabit all who, from the depths of his heart, ask God in Christ to inhabit him.
Do you have room in your heart for him?
So many
people today chase after happiness and fulfillment spending so much time,
effort, energy and money looking in all the wrong places.
One right place to look is here in Luke 2 where we find these incredible words:
"Be not afraid; for behold I bring
you good news of a great joy which will come to all people for to you is born
this day in the city of David, a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord."
The powerful Roman emperor Charlemagne made an unusual request with regard to
his burial. He asked to be buried sitting upright on his throne with his crown
on his head, his scepter in his hand, his royal cape draped around his
shoulders and with an open book placed on his lap.
That was in 814 A.D. Nearly 200 years later, Emperor Othello wanted to see if
Charlemagne's burial request had indeed been carried out. He ordered that the
tomb be opened. They found the body just as Charlemagne had requested. Only
now, nearly two centuries later, the scene was gruesome. The crown was titled
on the skeletal head. The scepter was tarnished. The mantle was moth-eaten. The
body disfigured.
But, there, open on his lap was the book Charlemagne had requested - the Bible!
And one bony finger pointed to Matthew 16:26: "What does it profit to gain the whole world and lose your own soul?"
God has
resolved to inhabit the heart of all who sincerely ask. Won't you receive him
today?
God resolves to inhabit the mind
of all who call on him: With God
inhabiting your heart, the second thing we must consider is the purpose for his
having done so. Why does God resolve to inhabit humans and actually do so when
asked? Simply stated, God resolves to recreate you: to make you like his Son.
The key to
such recreation is the transformation of your mind. You see; what matters most
is how and why we do what we do; both of which are determined by our thoughts.
Our minds will determine the direction of our lives. What are you attitudes and
motivations?
Consider the
One of the most beloved legends of Christmas is "The Little Drummer Boy." When the Christ-child was born, many
wonderful gifts were brought to the manger, gifts of great beauty and splendor.
But one small boy was very poor and he had nothing to offer the Lord. This made
him very sad. But then, he thought: "I
know what I can do. I can play my drum for him!" And, so he did -
"Pa rum pum pum pum, Pa rum pum pum
pum." He played with all his heart and as he played, according to the
legend, the Christ-child smiled showing that at Christmas the gift of love is
the best gift of all.
You see, it was not so much what the drummer boy did as how and why he did it.
The real key was not his drum playing - it was his state of mind. Whatever you
offer to Christ that is offered in love is a gift worth giving.
Dr. Thomas
Malone, a psychiatrist in
On the other hand, healthy people are those
who walk around looking for someone to love. And if you see changes in the
people who are screaming, 'Love me, love me,' it's when they realize that if
they give up screaming and go to the other business of loving another human
being, they can get the love they've been screaming for all their lives."[3]
It’s all in the mind --- that is being transformed into the likeness of Jesus
Christ. In part, to have the mind of Christ means moving from “Please love me” to “Let me love you.” God resolves to inhabit the hearts and minds of
all who sincerely call on him through faith in Christ. This is the good news of
Christ: We are loved so we can love.
God resolves to inhabit the time of
all who call on him: Many of you remember the television show from the
1960’s called, "I've Got a Secret"?
Gary Moore was the host. People with unusual secrets would come on and a panel
of celebrities would ask questions and try to guess their secret.
There was
a particular program that is something of a parable for the way we sometimes treat
Christmas and Christ. A group of people in
Finally,
the evening of the party arrived and everything was ready. The hall was rented,
the decorations were in place, the food was prepared, the entertainment was
rehearsed and ready, friends were gathered, and the lights and sound were set
to perfection.
Then suddenly, they realized something. Everything had been taken care of in great
fashion except one thing: they had forgotten to invite the guest of honor. So,
they had the party without him. The man's secret was that he had not been invited
to his own birthday party.
God resolves
to inhabit every aspect of your life. God resolves to inhabit your heart and
when he does, he will transform your mind so that you begin to think like His
Son. We know we are being transformed when God’s grace becomes the language of
our life. We know we are being transformed when we stop yelling “Love me!” and
we begin to say, “How may I love you?”
And that
will be a new way of life because it will be the life God has resolved to live
through you. It will also be a way of life in another sense: God will inhabit
what you do and say, not only today and not just tomorrow. God will inhabit
your heart and mind every day of your life.
God has
resolved to inhabit every aspect of your life: your heart, your mind and every
moment of life. Resolutions are great, but resolutions worth making are those,
which open your heart and mind to the presence of God in your life. As you make
resolutions for the coming year, resolve to have room for God your life. Amen.