#M012
Danger in the Manger
Copyright © 2007 James L. Melton
Read Luke 2:1-14
During the Christmas season you will see nativity scenes all over the place, at churches, in some of the stores, on display on the front lawns of many homes, even on the editorial pages of many newspapers.
Clearly, the world and worldly Christians like the baby Jesus. The record of his birth is only recorded in two of the four gospel accounts, and the actual manger scene is only given in one gospel, and very little is said about His birth in the rest of the New Testament. A great deal is said in the New Testament about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. A great deal is said about how Jesus is a living Saviour today who desires to fill the hearts and guide the footsteps of those who will put their trust in Him and live for Him. A great deal is also said about His glorious return one day to take the kingdoms of this world to Himself. In fact, a whole book of the Bible is dedicated to that basic theme: the book of Revelation. But that’s not the Jesus that people like. They like that baby.
Angela and I have five children, and when the children were babies people always wanted to hold them and hug them. Never did anyone want to hold and hug me. Every time I looked up during church services, someone different was holding our baby. But as they grew older that ceased from happening. Today, I can usually find all five children sitting with their mother in the pew because they aren’t babies anymore.
Well, Jesus isn’t a baby anymore, but most people in this ole’ world sure wish He were a baby! They aren’t interested in that suffering Saviour who told us take up our crosses and follow Him, nor are they interested in that glorious King who comes to rule the world. No, they like the baby Jesus. After all, a baby can’t talk and tell you how to live. A baby can’t walk and show you how to live. Best of all, from the world’s standpoint, a baby can’t punish you if you displease him! Ah, yes, they love that helpless little baby in the manger. In other words, they see no danger in the manger.
But they need to look a little closer, which is what we’re going to do in this message. God knew people would over-emphasize the nativity and the baby Jesus, so He placed a few little danger signs right there on the scene, if for no other reason, at least to be a witness against men in the day of judgment.
DANGER SIGN # 1: This world is not your home.
When my children were born, Angela and I brought each of them into the comfort of our own home within a day or two. All five were born less than 20 minutes from home.
But look, there’s Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus, a few days from their home in Nazareth and on the property of a total stranger. To make matters worse, they’re going to end up even farther from home when they go down to Egypt. The message of the Holy Spirit is clear to all discerning believers: this world is not your home.
That’s a foreign concept to most Christians today because most Christians today are so full of the world that they stink, but the word of God stands firm in its declaration of this age-old truth:
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Rom. 12:1-2)
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” (I John 2:15-17)
“I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.”
(John 17:9)
Yes, friend, there’s a lot more to see in the nativity scene than just the baby Jesus. The baby Jesus was a stranger in a strange land, and you will be too if you choose to follow Him.
DANGER SIGN # 2: This world is not your friend.
Why were Mary and Joseph even having to travel? They were making this hard trip because the leaders of this world had placed an unreasonable tax burden on them. That’s not a very friendly thing to do to a young and expecting couple, especially with the mother ready to deliver. Then they found that there was no room for them in the inn. Surely someone could have given up a room for an expecting mother, but no one did.
Perhaps you remember the prodigal son from Luke 15. This wicked world took everything he had and nearly starved him to death! His only real friend was his father. If you are a real Christian, then you are not a friend of this world. You are a friend of God, God’s word, and God’s people, but not a friend of this world (James 4:4).
Don’t you think for a second that because this world likes Christmas and baby Jesus that they’ll like you for being a Christian and following Him. They’ll like you if you leave Him in the manger. If you follow His holy example, they’ll hate you just as they hated Him: “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.” (John 15:18) If you live by the Bible, the inspired and preserved word of God, this world will hate you for it. They hated Jesus so much that they killed Him. That’s another reason they like the little baby: He’s all soft, lovely, and innocent-looking instead of a beaten and bloody reminder of how wicked men can be.
Enjoy the manger scene, yes, but don’t miss the sign. If you are a true Christian, this world is not your friend.
DANGER SIGN # 3: This world is not your life.
The whole emphasis here is Jesus, not the place or the other people or the surrounding events. This is not a story about Mary and Joseph’s site seeing vacation when they just happened to have a baby along the way. No, the whole emphasis here is on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look to the inn keeper and you’ll find no help. Look to the animals and you might find enough meat and milk for a while, but nothing for eternity. Look to Mary and you’ll find a self-confessed sinner who could save no one. This world is not your life. To find real life, you’ll have to look to Jesus, the one who isn’t of this world. This world is not your life.
In fact, Jesus said you could gain the whole world and still lose your own soul (Mark 8:36). If you are a Christian, this world is not your life, so don’t live for it. If you’ve never been born again and received the gift of eternal life, you’ll never find real life apart from the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thinking of the innocent and cuddly little baby in the manger won’t help you a bit. Even acknowledging that He’s the Son of God won’t help you because even the devils believe (James 2:19; Mark 5:7), but the devils are still lost and going to hell. You must receive Jesus as your own personal Lord and Saviour.
Friend, this message was given to you by someone who cares for you, someone who wants your life to mean something for God, someone who wants you to have the inner peace and joy that only Jesus Christ can give, someone who doesn’t want you to end up in hell one day. Give up on yourself and this hopeless world and receive Jesus today, not Jesus the helpless little baby, but Jesus the grown man who lived a sinless life, gave up that life on the cross as a payment for your sins, then rose again that you might be justified in Him.
Romans 5:8-9 says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” You can be justified by the blood of Jesus Christ! All of your sins can be washed away, and you can start a whole new life in Christ today! Revelation 1:5 says, “. . . Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.”
Consider the powerful words of Hebrews 9:14: “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” It says through the eternal spirit. If God’s Spirit is speaking to your heart about salvation, then the blood of Jesus Christ is present and available to you right now. There is no other way to become a child of God and escape a wasted life and the damnation of hell. You must be born again (John 3:3) by God’s Spirit, and this can only be done by being washed in the blood of Jesus Christ.
Romans 10:13 says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Why not confess to God right now that you are a sinner, and ask him to wash all your sins away? Claim his word and trust him today.