Dr. M. Taylor Bach Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:1-4 Luke 2:1-20

A lot of the religious writings, books that have been published in this past year, all begin with the sentence&It is not about you. The point they are trying to make is that our lives should be all about God. But I want to tell you this evening that it is all about you. How is that? It is all about you in that the whole purpose of the incarnation, Christ becoming human, God in a man, was so to repair the break that had occurred between humanity and God in the beginning of the existence of humanity. The Genesis story tells of Adam and Eve, where Adam and Eve fail and sin. Humans from that period on also failed and sinned. As I said in our statement of pardon this evening, the book of Romans tells us there isn't anyone who is spotless. There isn't anyone without sin except Jesus Christ. So recognizing that all of us are with sin in some form or another, all of us have had little acts of unloving or great acts of unloving where we have damaged or hurt another, we have injured someone at some time or another, so there is a need for the Savior, a need for God to become man, and reconnect with humanity in some way.

Rick Warren, the author who's books have reached 30 million people this year, made this statement, “The miraculous gift of Christmas is God being born in a manger so that we might be born again in His glory.” There are two parts to that. God being born and we being reborn.

Let me address God being born first. When Christ was here, it was hard for people to take or understand that this was God in a man. You can imagine that. If you saw a human being, a human form, walking around on the earth proclaiming that He was God, you might think He was crazy. You might think he was definitely strange. But then as you observed Him, you might discover that He talked like God. There was enormous compassion for people, tremendous love for others. You would discover that He did miraculous works that only God could do& raising the dead, healing a paralytic, giving sight to the blind. You would see Him reach out and not just be a great motivator or a great speaker, but actually reach into the very souls of people and change their lives. This was the action that could only be God in a man. Biblical scholar, John McArthur, says this, “And it all began with His birth. Born in a manger.”

Let's look at the second part. Born in order that we can be born again in God's glory. What does that mean, that we can be born again? This was a statement that Jesus made to Nicodemus. Do you remember that? Nicodemus said, “How can a person be born again? Can he reenter his mother's womb?” And of course he missed the point that Jesus was talking spiritually  about a spiritual rebirth  not about a physical rebirth. A spiritual rebirth that actually could affect one's physicality. It could bring health to a body. It could bring health to an unhealthy mind, to a person who was mentally ill. But the essence of it was that it purified the soul. It made a person sinless. It reconnected a human being with God himself. Jesus said, “When we pray to God, we are to pray to Him saying the word Father, but the word that He used was Abba. Doesn't Abba sound like baby talk? It is baby talk. Abba, Abba, Abba. Can't you just hear a little child saying that? So what He was saying was, “I'm here to make it so you can connect to God the Father as a little child connects with an earthly father. I'm here to bridge that gap, to complete that union so that you can be complete and you can be fulfilled and your needs can be met because you are in touch with the power behind the universe. You are in touch with the Word of God that created the big bang and set it all into motion. You are in touch with the God of the universe. And you are in touch with that God in an extremely personal way.” When the angels proclaimed that He is the Savior, when the shepherds went back and said, “Yes, a savior was born,” they weren't kidding. They were talking about the Messiah, the Savior, a personal Savior for each one of us. Someone that we can take into our lives.

Let's get back to that thought of being born again. How are we born again now? We are born again now by inviting that Savior to dwell inside of us, within our heart, within our mind, within our soul, through the power of the Holy Spirit, simply by asking Him to be there. All we have to do is ask. Say, “Jesus, will you dwell within me? Will you come and be in my heart, in my soul, in my mind? Will you help me to act like Christ, to think like Christ, to create things like Christ? Will you be God in a man or a woman once again by being inside of me?” This is a phenomenal gift. It is beyond comprehension actually, that God could dwell in each of us and in that sense we are born again.

What are the consequences of that? The consequences of that are that we are infused with divine love. We have to ask for it. We have to search inside for it. But God revealed Himself in the first epistle of John, that His very essence is love. Therefore, if we are inviting Him to be and dwell inside of us, we're inviting love at the highest level to exist inside of us. Isn't that astounding? Can you fathom the meaning of that? Imagine what we can give birth to. Imagine how we could possibly love others. We don't always succeed with it. We put blocks up. I like to think of it perhaps as a window shade. Do you remember the old-fashioned window shades that you can pull down and let go and it would roll back up? Most of us pull our window shade partially down and most of us don't allow this love to shine through. We could raise the shade. It takes an act of will. We could allow this love to infuse our world and impact all the people around us. Then, amazingly as it might be, God would become incarnate again in others, those others that we touch, that we loved, because in giving love, inevitably, a person wants to love back. St. Augustine said, “Show me a person who has experienced love and I'll show that person God.” So the degree to which you have experienced love in your life and know it for yourself, to that degree you have managed to understand who God is and how He operates and how He exists for you. So it is about you. It is about me. That is exciting.

Most of you have heard now about my rebirth this past year where I ran into all kinds of physical problems and was close to death. Then I heard the voice of God and it said, “You are going to live.” Though medical professionals didn't think that would happen, I'm here. I view that as miraculous because truly I was not supposed to live. But I did live and I'm here. And I experienced that as a rebirth. It is something that is filled with great joy in my heart and I hope it is in your heart as well because the Word of God to me was, “You are not done yet. You have more work to do,” and I assume that more work to do is here at Pilgrim Church. At least partially here at Pilgrim Church. It may be beyond the walls of this church as well. That is exciting. Any of us can have a rebirth. Why was I given a rebirth of a miraculous kind? Probably so I could share it with you. You then could experience the joy of it as well and that you could know that God still operates that way. All of His miracles are done for a purpose and all of His miracles contain a bucket-load of meaning. When they happen, they happen always for a reason. So the purpose, it seems to me, is so that I can share God's love and I can share the concept of rebirth and I can share the concept of incarnation. Incarnation originally with Christ as He became man and incarnation in terms of God dwelling within each and everyone of us. The newborn baby was claimed to be a Savior. And He can be your personal Savior as He is mine. We gather here to celebrate His birth tonight. Jesus accomplished God's divine purposes. We only need to appropriate that for ourselves and we can do that by asking.

Picture this. Picture a father reaching down to pick up a small child. Actually, isn't that the unique claim of Christianity? That God reached down to pick us up? Jesus Christ made it possible through His existence here on earth, God in a man, that we may be lifted into the arms of the Father.