December 26th Devotional
Sermon Notes
Hey City Awakening hope you had a great Christmas, and thanks for participating in our church online today. We didn’t do our usual gathering in person because we’re giving our staff and volunteers a chance to rest and recharge for the New Year. But we still wanted to take time to focus on God’s word and give you a chance for some personal reflection time individually, or with others in your household. We’ve been doing a teaching series called Unwrapped where we’ve been focusing on the heart of the Savior, focusing on the heart of Jesus, and so for this short devotional I want to focus on the incarnate heart of Christ, pointing us to the eternal hope of Christ. What I mean by the incarnate heart of Christ is what I said on Christmas Eve It’s that Jesus chose to put flesh on his heart. He was filled with so much love for us, that he chose to put flesh on his love. He chose to enter our world to love us intimately and save us eternally. So as we transition into 2022 we want the incarnate heart and love of Christ, to point you to the eternal hope of Christ, like it did the shepherds. Listen to the story of the shepherds.
Luke 2:8-20 states, “In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: 11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth, and lying in a manger.” A manger was either made from carved stone mixed with mud, or from hard clay mixed with straw. They were often found in either a dark cold cave, or the stable of somebody’s home. A manger had one purpose, it was to hold the slop for animals to eat. It’s basically a feeding trough. In fact the Greek word for manger can also be translated as feeding trough. This being what our Savior slept in when he was born. It wasn’t the Ritz Carlton, it wasn’t the J.W., it wasn’t a place where he could be wrapped in a nice Duvet. It was a stone cold feeding trough.
Vs. 16, “They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger.” The text says they ‘hurried’ to see Jesus. They didn’t let their pessimistic pains creep in saying “Really? Our Savior’s born in a manger? Some hopeful future this is.” They didn’t let their pessimistic pains, affect their hopeful future in the incarnate Savior.
Vs. 20, “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told.” They were glorifying and praising God because they met their Savior. All the hope you’ll ever need in life can be found in the Savior born in a manger. It can be found in Jesus, and it isn’t the kind of hope where we say “I hope I’ll get an A on my exam. I hope I’ll get the job I interviewed for. I hope the Giants will actually win a game this week.” We’re not talking about a crossing your fingers hope that lives with the daily insecurities of wondering if life will turn out okay in the end. I’m talking about the kind of hope that says “No matter how bad things get, how rough the waters get, how nasty the storms of life get...it’ll all turn out okay in the end, because I have an incarnate Savior who came into this world and conquered humanities greatest enemy which is death.”
City Awakening it’s the incarnate heart of Christ that led Jesus to put flesh on his love, to be born in the stone cold feeding trough of our world, die for our sins, and rise again to prove it’s all true. It’s the incarnate heart of Christ that’ll also lead him to return again, to restore our sin shattered lives and world. His life, death, and resurrection started the process of restoration, and when he returns he’ll finish what he started. The first 3 chapters of the bible point to the Fall of creation, but the last 3 chapters point to the Restoration of creation. Genesis 1-3 points to the Fall of creation, but Revelation 20-22 points to the return of Jesus and Restoration of creation.
Genesis 1 in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...
Revelation 21 there will be a new heaven and a new earth!
Genesis 3 Satan appears as a deceiver of mankind...
Revelation 20 Satan disappears forever...
Genesis 3 humanity walked with God, but then sin separated them from God...
Revelation 21 humanity will get to walk with God, never to be separated by sin again...
Genesis 3 humanities pain was multiplied because of sin
Revelation 21 when Jesus returns there will be no more pain and sin!
Genesis 2 and 3 humanity sins bringing death into our world...
Revelation 21 when Jesus returns there will be no more death or mourning, because he’ll put death to death forever...
Genesis 3 the earth’s ground and atmosphere became polluted by the curse of sin...
Revelation 22 there shall be no more curse of sin!
Genesis 3 the first paradise became closed because of sin...
Revelation 21 a new eternal paradise will be opened without sin...
Genesis 3 is the initial fall of humanity and triumph of Satan...
Revelation 22 is the ultimate restoration of those in Christ and the triumph of Christ!
It’s a hopeful future for those who put their faith in Jesus. The future’s always hopeful in Christ. Don’t let your present pains affect your hope in a joyful future, let your hope in a joyful future affect your present pains. Let the incarnate heart of Christ, point you to the eternal hope of Christ, like it did the shepherds. As you transition into 2022 you don’t have to live in the pessimistic pains of a stone cold manger, because there’s a hopeful future with Jesus as your Savior. In the words of Psalm 42, “Why are you downcast O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God...”
Take a few minutes to reflect on today’s message, to reflect on the following 2 questions: 1st What part of the message spoke to you and why? 2nd Why should the incarnate heart of Christ, why should knowing Jesus put flesh on his love, bring hope and joy into your life like it did the shepherds? Take some time to reflect, then pray thanking Jesus for his incarnate heart.