Transcript
When I think of themes that we've tended to miss in the Christmas story, I think of three words: sacrifice, honesty, and glory. "Sacrifice" because you have to look in to that manger and know that Baby came to do one thing: He came to die, that everything in His life would be marked by sacrifice.
The Sacrifice in the Manger
In fact, think of the body of the baby Jesus being made uncomfortable by the ends of pieces of straw. Even that sacrifice is amazing, that God be willing, in the person of His Son, to go through that. But every day was sacrifice leading to the ultimate sacrifice. This, in ways, is a deeply sad story of this One who would suffer, suffer, suffer, suffer. Why? Because He loved us and there was no other way.
The second word is "honesty" that the Christmas story confronts us. It confronts our feelings that we're okay and we can manage our lives. If we were okay and we could manage our lives, God would have never gone to this extent. This is a deeply humbling story. I'm such a complete mess and we're so terribly broken that God would do this radical thing. You got to allow yourself to be honest about what that story tells you about you.
And then "glory". What is more glorious than the love and grace of God that's demonstrated by this story? You almost can't wrap your brain around the love that would motivate God to do this thing for us, rebels that we are, arrogant that we are, lost that we are, foolish that we are that He wouldn't say, "Enough already. I've had it with you." He would say, "No, no, no, no. I'm going to send my Son and subject Him to terrible things so that you would be reunited to Me again." Think sacrifice, think honesty, and think glory; and you're getting at the core of this story.
