Don't Forget The Baby

Hebrews 1: 1-9

A family was going home for Christmas.
It was a journey they had been planning for some time.
They had talked about it for weeks.
Everything was in the car, and they were ready to go.

As they were ready to back out of the driveway,
they were doing a verbal inventory to be sure they had everything.

They had stopped the newspaper and milk delivery.
They had arranged for a neighbor to feed their dog, to take in the mail,
and to check the heat periodically.
They had packed their clothes and their gifts for other family members.
They had a marked map.
They had their travelers checks and motel reservations.
Everything was in order.

Just as the husband eased the car out of the driveway, his wife let out an agonized wail.
She said, "O, Jim, we forgot the baby!"

It can happen.
Many years ago when I was a pastor in Texas,
I was locking the church doors after everyone had gone home.
Suddenly a car drove up quickly.
It was one of our members.
Johnny and his wife had five children, and they had forgotten the baby
who was still asleep inside the church.

Christmas is a busy time.

It is a time of cards and cooking and candy...
It is a time of kids and parties.

Don't forget the baby!
That is what Christmas is all about!

Isn't it strange how God came into His world!
He did not come as some towering intellect, to dazzle us with his brilliance.
He did not come as some triumphant general returning from a victorious victory.
He did not come as some shallow politician or statesman,
leaving us aghast at His wit and wisdom.

He came as a baby, helpless and dependent.
He came as a warm, cuddly baby.

Everyone can understand that.
It doesn't require a lot of explanation.

What does it mean -- this baby at Christmas time?

It Means We Must Think Small.

"Think Small!" was once the motto of small, imported automobiles.
That motto went against the grain of America's mania for everything to be bigger and better.
We seem to assume that if anything is bigger -- it is better.

But what can you think of a baby, except small?

Christmas means that God has come into our commonplace world.
God has invaded the ordinary.
God is here with us in the person of the Christ in our ordinary, everyday world.

God is in the little matters of life, as well as in great cosmic concerns.
God works in common events and in extraordinary events.
He comes incognito into our lives.
Suddenly, He is there, laying His claim upon us.
It is so easy for us to become blase.

It becomes so easy for us to live in the commonplace
and never have a catch in our throat or a tear come unbidden to our eyes.

It is easy for us to live, taking it all for granted, like the woman who said,
"Well, that's a rather lovely sunset for such a little town!"

We're like that, aren't we?
We don't expect Deity in the midst of the ordinary.
Think small!

He came into His world as a little baby.
Don't forget the baby!

His Coming Means -- God Stooped To Save Us.

God took upon Himself our humanity.

The great Creator who spoke the universe into existence.
The great God behind everything that is.
The great God who gave us the seasons.
The great God who gave us the beauty and wonder of this earth.
The great God Who gave us the wonderful possibility of life and love
-- came into this world at Bethlehem.
One of the early church fathers said,
"He became what we are, in order that He might make us what He is."

God became one of us, taking our humanity upon Himself.
God became man, and the miracle of miracles is the incarnation -- God in human flesh.

He was one of us.

He knew what it was to be sleepy and tired and hungry.
He knew what it was to be elated, and what it was to be disappointed.
He knew what it was to have a close friend die, and stand in the cemetery and weep.
He knew what it was to be tempted in all points just as we are, yet without sinning.
He knows and understands our heartache, our pain, our disappointment,
our joy, our ecstasy, and our sorrow.

God Stooped To Win Us To Himself.

That's what the baby in the manger means.

Don't forget the baby!

It means God spoke by His Son.

"In olden times," said the author of Hebrews,
"God spoke in many wonderful ways through the prophets,
but in these latter days He has spoken to us by His Son."

He speaks of our worth!

Look at the trouble God went to for our salvation.
Look at the price He paid that we might be saved.

You are somebody!
You matter!
You count!
You have great worth because the Lord God of glory loves you that much.

Christmas speaks of His limitless love, of His joy, and of His peace.

Sermon by Dr. Harold L. White