The View From The Pew: Christmas 2009

Last year my church entered a float in Imperial’s “Parade of Lights.” Remnant’s float was, well, underwhelming. I should know, I am the one who arranged it. We had a trailer with some lights and a Remnant banner. We weren’t ugly or anything, just not real exciting. It served the purpose, though, and we were happy.
This year I mentioned on a Sunday morning that we needed help putting together a float for this year’s parade. A couple of ladies stepped up and offered to take over putting the float together, and I was very relieved. Whatever they did would have to be better than last year. Boy, was I way off.
You see, this year’s floats were not just better, they were exponentially better. They were better like a Ferrari is better than a Pinto! They were better like filet mignon is better than a baloney sandwich with no mayo!
Our entries had two truck and trailers and a golf cart. The trailers had lights that twinkled, a canopy of lights overhead, candy that lit up, they were beautiful!
I would have been happy with another trailer with a few lights strung on it, maybe a banner or two. The ladies who decorated our float this year went far above what I expected. They went the extra mile for our Christmas parade floats.
That is what Christmas is all about. Christmas is us remembering that God sent his only son to earth to save us. On Christmas, God went over the top! He did something he didn’t have to do, he went far above what was expected.
The Old Testament pointed to the fact that God would send a savior. It foretold of one who would come and save God’s people from their sin. Nobody could have imagined it would be God’s own son. They knew he would be special, but God did so much more than anyone expected.
Our Christmas sermon series at Remnant is called, “The Christmas Conspiracy.” The whole idea of the series is that Jesus was born to start a revolution. It was a revolution of love, a revolution of grace, a revolution that would change lives.
It is important to remember that the little baby born in the manger that day was born in the shadow of a cross. Every day that Jesus lived as he was growing up, the cross was looming in the distance. Make no mistake about it, Jesus was a cute little baby in a manger, but he was born with a price on his head. He was born so that he could die on a cruel cross of torment and be the price for the forgiveness of our sins.
On Christmas God went over the top. He sent his son to earth to pay the price for you and me. I wouldn’t have offered up my sons or my grandson, but God sent his only son. Why did he do it? Love. There is no other way to explain it, God loved us so much that he sent his own son to live and die for us so that we could join God in heaven. God is the one who wrote the rules, he could have done it any way he wanted, but he chose to go over the top. He chose to send something so personal, so full of love, that we had to take notice. On Christmas, we have the opportunity to notice. Will you? Will you make this the year that you acknowledge the greatest gift of love ever given? Or will you continue to ignore that little baby who was born to start a revolution in your heart and life?
Riding the over the top floats… Jerry