“We Are the Reason”
2023
Prelude
Welcome and Announcements
Call to Worship
Offering & Prayer
Doxology #625
Get ready for 2023. Here is the headline for CNN on December 29, 2022,
Y2K aesthetics are so hot right now – and so is the era’s existential dread,
By AJ Willingham, CNN Published 11:25 AM EST, Thu December 29, 2022
Editor’s Note: The past year was filled with uncertainty over politics, the economy and the ongoing pandemic. In the face of big changes, people found themselves longing for a different time. https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/29/us/y2k-nostalgia-millennium-style-angst-cec/index.html
I’m not so sure that couldn’t have been the headlines for those crowded in Bethlehem the night Jesus was born?
Generations are notorious for glamorizing the past. Optimists are often difficult to find, or to be the ones writing the headlines. Since the beginning of humanity we have been struggling with sin. That is why God had to create a plan that would save us. The Bible is a unified story that describes that plan in depth. God so loved His creation that He went to great lengths to rescue it by sending His son in the flesh to suffer and die. The story of God’s love begins in a cradle, but it ends on a cross.
“Away in a Manger” p. 157 Away In A Manger – Lyrics with Piano
“Old Rugged Cross” p. 186, v. 1,2,4
The Old Rugged Cross – piano instrumental hymn with lyrics
God sent Jesus to earth knowing that it would cost him his life. He made the sacrifice for us.
The arrival of Jesus was to save people from their sins. When was the last time you had a conversation about sin? It doesn’t come up as a topic in our world today. Today we are encouraged to do whatever makes us feel good. It’s all about me and how I feel. But that doesn’t change the fact that sin still is any way that we miss the intention God had for the world when he created it. Greed, gossip, unfaithfulness, hatred, racism, etc. all fall short of the glory of God. All of us have been subject to sin’s evil influence and have felt the effects of sin’s rule and reign. God’s heart of compassion moved Him to send Jesus as the way of rescue for the world.
Linda Ronstadt / I Wonder As I Wander p. 139
The arrival of Jesus was so God could be with us. Jesus was given the name Immanuel which means God with us. This was a revolutionary thought at the time of Christ’s birth. Every culture surrounding Bethlehem saw their gods as angry deities who punished and corrected their subjects from afar. But this God so loved his broken creation that he wanted to come near. He became one of us, with flesh and blood, to mourn when we mourn, hurt when we hurt, and weep when we weep. God identifies with us so that we are given the opportunity to identify with Him. We need Jesus. Someone once said it this way:
If our greatest need had been information,
God would have sent us an educator.
If our greatest need had been technology,
God would have sent us a scientist.
If our greatest need had been money,
God would have sent us an economist.
If our greatest need had been pleasure,
God would have sent us an entertainer.
But our greatest need was forgiveness,
so God sent us a Savior.
A savior is one who eliminates any barrier between us and God. A savior welcomes us into a safe place alongside a God who loves us.
Sing Hosanna – Jesus Loves Me This I Know | Bible Songs for Kids p. 579, v. 1,3
Because of God’s great love for us, he sent Jesus; but often we forget, Jesus agreed to come. God sent Him, but Jesus came. When Jesus came, he so clearly lived with an unwavering commitment to his purpose. In other places, he says himself that he came to “seek and save the lost.”
Jesus gave up the splendors of heaven to walk in the brokenness of earth. Jesus laid aside his divinity to put on humanity. He did it all for one reason and that was to make a way for us to return home to God. Unfortunately our world has far too many living lives with no direction, carelessly making decisions that put us in danger and keep us far from God. We don’t have to live our lives lost and broken because God’s great love has made a way.
Recite, John 3:16
John says the key to finding our way back home to God is belief in Jesus. When we believe in him, we are saved from perishing or being lost forever, and we are given a new life that will last into eternity in our true home that is heaven. The Greek word for believe is pisteuo, which means “to be persuaded by someone or have a confidence in someone.” A belief in Jesus is more than an intellectual exercise.
Belief in Christ is to be so persuaded and confident that our lives are transformed, and our words, actions, and thoughts become dictated by our faith, hope, and trust in him. This is a work of the Spirit of God and not something we can do on our own. This is why Jesus came to rescue us. He does the work when we submit to him.
I Know Whom I have Believed | God so Loved the World | Fountainview Academy p. 409
The mission to bring humanity back to God began thousands of years ago in a small Bethlehem town but continues on to this very day.
Author R.R. Reno writes this about the rescue plan unleashed at Christmas. Using military language, he captures the scene so well.
“In my mind’s eye, on Christmas Eve I see a single commando tumbling out of the bomb bay doors of a B-52 at 30,000 feet. He falls silently in the midnight darkness into enemy territory. Satan sleeps, not knowing that Jesus will organize a rebellion. The empire of sin will fall, not from without, but from within. Like a commando severely hurt as he landed from far above, who has no apparent capacity to mount an effective action, or for that matter any action at all, the powerless infant turns his face to ours and makes what, in that obscure stable, seems like a crazy, impossible demand: “Join me.”
And that is the call today. Will you join Jesus in his work in the world of rescuing all of creation? Will you trust him with your life and unapologetically believe in him? God so loved the world that he sent Jesus in the form of a vulnerable baby to begin a powerful movement that is still active today.
What began unassumingly in a cradle led tragically to a Roman cross, but it ended victoriously with an empty tomb.
We Are the Reason, p. 209 sing chorus
“WE ARE THE REASON” by David Meece
As little children, we would dream of Christmas morn
And all the gifts and toys, we knew we’d find
But we never realized, a Baby born one blessed night
Gave us the greatest gift of our lives
CHORUS – Hymn #209
As the years went by, we learned more about gifts
And giving of ourselves, and what that means
On a dark and cloudy day, a Man hung crying in the rain
Because of love, because of love
CHORUS
I fin’lly found the reason for living
It’s in giving every part of my heart to Him
In all that I do, every word that I say
I’ll be giving my all just for Him, for Him
CHORUS
God sees all of His creation as worthy of the sacrifice of His son. To a world that is lost, He gave all He could give. It’s our job to remember this, believe it, receive it, then share the message with those around us.
Right now, is there someone you know who could use some Good News? Is there someone who needs to be reminded that they are worthy of the sacrifice God made with His Son? This is a message of Hope in a desperate world. Let’s resolve to share it with someone this year.
As we partake in the Lord’s Supper let us give thanks for the gift of forgiveness and eternal life and let us also be praying for others to hear this message, accept the gift of salvation and truly have a new year.
Lord’s Supper
