Romans 15:14-21, Isaiah 61 “Tell of Signs and Wonders”
What is the greatest sign or miracle that God has ever done? In our Sunday evening Bible Study we have been going through the miracles of Christ in the Gospel of John. We know that Jesus changed water into wine. That is a good one! He healed the blind man. He cast out demons. He brought Lazarus back from the dead. He himself was resurrected. Then, there are the miracles that are celebrated in the Hebrew Scriptures: God parted the Red Sea, sent Manna from heaven, made water come out of the rock, and so many others! Those are all such grand miracles. Which one is the greatest?
I want to answer this from a very personal and perhaps selfish point of view: For me, the greatest miracle of all is that (as the song says) “He saved a wretch like me.” The greatest thing that God ever did as far as I am concerned is that God came back down here to save me back up to Him. That is to say, Jesus Christ was born to turn my heart back to God! What an incredible miracle that is. I want to delve into this idea further this morning.
The other night I was taking out the garbage, walking down the driveway. As I turned to head back to the house, I could not help but notice the brilliant stars that were shining because there was no moon that night. I could not help but think of all the representations of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem with all the stars shining and the one great star right over his place of birth. I thought to myself, these are the same stars that Jesus saw when he was born.
Of course, the day before I had been watching one of those educational programs that talked about the fact that the stars we see today are actually no longer there. It can take a million years or more for the light to reach us from stars that may have already burned out. So, when God came down in the form of the baby Jesus, God would have looked up at the stars and actually might have been surprised to see some of those stars that God would have known were no longer there!
The fact that God would and could come down into human form has to be the greatest miracle of all. That God would bother with us! That God would limit God’s self into human form, seeing things as we see them, is a true wonder. From that wonder comes the miracle that I spoke of just now—that we might be saved to that other life, life eternal with God in heaven. The idea that God became human, knowing that he would suffer death on the Cross for us is incredible. The miracle is that God has redeemed us.
You see, I believe that parting the Red Sea is nothing to God. It is a very easy thing indeed. Making the blind see? That kind of miracle God can do with His eyes closed (haha). However, turning the human heart? That is something that is truly miraculous! God gave us the choice to love Him or not. That is because compelled love is not love at all. Love must be freely given to be true. For a heart that never loved God before to finally know that love—what a sign! What a wonder to behold! We have come to know God through God’s Son Jesus Christ. We have come to know God’s love through Him.
Recently we got two ducklings from a member here in the church, Teri Sakai actually. We put the ducklings in a cage, but they were able to make it out. We did not know if they were going to make it on their own, and we were not able to trap them again. We would see them from time to time. One day, I noticed that the ducklings were following a mama hen along with her chicks. The hen had apparently adopted the ducklings! Personally I thought that that would be a bit confusing for the ducks when they were grown, but then thought better of it that at least with a hen protecting them there would be a chance that they might make it to adulthood.
With Christ’s birth, we are left with a similar understanding of things. Here is God incarnate being held in the arms of a humble human woman. The difference is far greater than with ducks and chicks. Mary would have looked down and loved the baby Jesus. She would have looked down and loved God. And, even though we know that Jesus was human; we also know that Jesus is God. He is being forced to walk like a chicken in a way. In a sincere way, this is all of our stories, too; for we were created to be far more than we are. The Bible tells us this.
You may recall Soren Kirkegaard’s story about the duck church. In a little duck village it was Sunday and all the ducks got into their best duck clothes and they waddled off to their duck church. And at the duck church they sang their duck hymns and read from their duck Bibles and then the duck minister preached the duck gospel. She said, “Ducks, you have wings… you can fly! No more will you have to be fenced in or trapped by farmers. You can fly!” And the ducks all said, “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” And then they all waddled home.
Yet, we were made to soar on eagle’s wings. This reference is in many places in the Bible, but my favorite is in Psalm 103:1-5, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits—who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.” I just like the idea of the strength of youth coming back, and then learning to fly! Just like being born again! Amen to that.
Now, because God so loved the world, He gave his only Son that we might
know him. God sent Jesus to change us back to the way we were originally meant
to be back in the time of creation—before we chose to sin and break
relationship with Him. Our hearts are supposed to be changed back at least.
I can speak for my own life in saying that the hardest thing in the
world is changing someone’s heart. You
know what I mean, right? You see someone making all of the wrong choices in his
or her life, and you wish that you could change their heart. It is really
difficult. Maybe you see someone heading down a path that you know is going to
lead to ruin. Turning that person around is going to be the hardest thing. Many
folks will say that you cannot do it.
They say: “It would take a miracle.” And, it does take a miracle. It
really does take a miracle.
Then, I was reading Isaiah 61, in which the prophet takes on the voice
of the Messiah and states right there in the first verse this really
eye-opening revelation about our hearts. “The Lord has anointed me; he has sent
me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted. . . .”
Do you see where I am going with this? Jesus comes to earth to bind up
that which has been broken, that is our hearts. Maybe, I have been going about
this all wrong in my ministry of Jesus? Maybe I have been trying to change
people’s hearts when I should have been trying to bind them up?
Try to imagine a sailing ship on the sea that is being blown about by
shifting winds and currents. It has no direction. Maybe it is on some journey,
but you know it is never going to get there. It is out of control. You throw
them a line and tow them in. You then bind them to the dock. You see, we don’t
need to change the direction of a ship that is out of control—it will still be
out of control. It needs to be bound to shore.
How do you bind someone to Christ? How does a mother and child bond?
The bond is one of love of course. The eyes lock. Scents are exchanged. Sounds
are made and heard. All these things create that bond of love.
Recently I was gathering pictures of the family for a digital frame to
be given as a gift to my uncle in Germany. As I was going through all of our
pictures, something strange started happening to me. I looked at the wedding
pictures and remembered those feelings I had back then when I first met my wife
and when we committed to each other in the church.
Then I looked at the pictures of when Helen was pregnant with our first
child. Wow, more feelings came back to me. Then, the pictures of our first baby
made me remember even more some rather special feelings that I have almost
forgotten about now. Of course, the pictures of our second child born also
elicited great emotion. I even looked at some of my own baby pictures and
realized that I seemed a lot more loveable when I was a lot younger.
My daughter recently told me that her friends think that I am
frightening and/or weird. I was thinking that if they saw my baby pictures they
might even think I was darling and cute. Maybe!
God could have sent Jesus to us as a full-grown man. However, Jesus was
born unto us seemingly for a Godly reason. We naturally bond with children. We
naturally want to love the child. We can see the purity of a child’s love back
to us in that bonding. Our hearts are not changed as much as taken captive by
that love. That is the miracle of Christ’s love when he comes as a babe.
Amen