FROM HUMBUG TO HALLELUJAH! #6/7

LANGUISH OR LIVE?
December 24, 2002

Text: Luke 1:26-38; 2 Corinthians 5:14-21

"Get a life!" Ever heard that phrase? It's often spoken to people - or
about people - who are wasting their time on trivial, inane pursuits. We
say it to picky people who are so lost in tiny things that they miss the
big things of life. “Get a life” is what we might say to or about someone
acting like an Ebenezer Scrooge in our day. When we hear someone going
around with an everlasting “humbug” attitude, we wish that he or she
would “get a life.”

But here’s a thought: what kind of life should that other person get?
Come to think about it, what kind of life should we get? Well, what kind
of a life do we want to get? What kind of a life can we get? Too many of
us settle for mediocrity, a life of trivial pursuits and questionable
purposes - when we are invited to live a life that is filled with a joy
and satisfaction beyond our imagination! Our days pass quickly. If we
aren't careful, life will move past us before we know it. That's what
happened to Scrooge, but he got a second chance. He saw clearly the
consequences of the life he was leading, and it scared a change right
into him. 

But Scrooge is a fictional character, and anything can happen in the
lives of fictional characters. It just depends on what their author
wants. However, we have an Author, too. God is our Author who shows us
what kind of life to get and how to get it. In so many ways, the
Scriptures teach us we can languish or live.

Mary shows us how we can indeed get a life by demonstrating for us the
best way to respond to God. As we heard Luke's Gospel, when she heard the
message that she would conceive and give birth to the Messiah, she
responded, "I am the Lord's servant; may it be to me as you have said"
(Luke 1:38). Change comes when we receive God's Word with humility. Mary
was dumbfounded by the angel Gabriel's visit, but she simply accepted
God's plan and her role in it. She exhibited neither the pride of
worthiness, nor the pride of protest. She realized that God was God and
that He had every right to work as he saw fit.

Humility knows how to say, "I am a servant," without degrading itself.
Humility knows how to say, "I was wrong," without self-despising.
Humility knows how to say, "Please forgive me," without groveling.
Humility knows how to say, "Let me have another chance to make things
right." 

The promise of the gospel is that God makes us new creations! We are not
self-made people, but God-made people. Such is the message of Paul we can
read in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a
new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" We are qualitatively
different people because of the power of the gospel. Sometimes, however,
we have to reach the end of ourselves in order to realize this. That's
was happened to the familiar American businessman, John D. Rockefeller,
Sr.

Rockefeller determined early to earn money and drove himself to the
limit. At age 33, he earned his first million dollars. At age 43, he
controlled the biggest company in the world. At age 53, he was the
richest man on earth and the world's only billionaire. Then he developed
a sickness called alopecia, which caused his hair to fall out and his
eyelashes and eyebrows to disappear, and he was shrunken like a mummy.
His weekly income was one million dollars, but he could digest only milk
and crackers. He was so hated in Pennsylvania that he had to have
bodyguards day and night. He did not sleep, did not smile, and did not
enjoy anything in life.

Doctors predicted he would not live over one year more. The newspaper had
gleefully written his obituary in advance - for convenience in sudden
use. One sleepless night set him thinking. He realized with a new light
that he "could not take one dime into the next world." Like a more modern
Scrooge, he learned that money is indeed not everything.

Miraculously, the next morning found him a new man. He began to help
churches with his amassed wealth. He established the Rockefeller
Foundation, whose funding of medical researches led to the discovery of
penicillin and other wonder drugs. John D. began to sleep well, eat, and
enjoy life. The doctors had predicted he would not live over age 54 - he
lived to 98. (Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations,
Rockville, MD: Assurance Publishers, 1979, #852) As we know, we do not
“buy” our way to heaven, neither should we get caught up in works
righteousness. Nevertheless, the manner in which we use our resources in
this life does reflect our core beliefs. I don’t think that anyone is
going to speak highly of any pre-Christmas Eve “humbug” Scrooge and call
his or her actions Christian. But when a life changes such that it brings
mercy to others, then I believe that we can say “hallelujah” with
conviction. Instead of languishing, John D. Rockefeller lived. As Mary
teaches, such change comes when we receive God’s Word with humility.

The second principle we learn from Mary is that God's power works through
our availability, not our ability. Change comes when we make ourselves
available to God. Mary did not claim any merit for herself. There has
been much speculation about her, but the Bible gives an extremely lean
amount of information. From what we read in the Bible, it is clear that
God took the initiative to work in and through Mary. She simply made
herself available as the servant, or as the King James Version says "the
handmaid" of the Lord. 

This gives us great hope and a clear purpose. We need not spend all our
time anxiously striving to "make something of ourselves." Our greatest
purpose is simply to make ourselves available to God. We can willingly
serve God, knowing that God's lowest servants are greater than this
world's highest leaders. 

Would you like to be used by God? Christian author and speaker Tony
Campolo tells many stories of encounters he has had with people who have
made themselves available to God. He writes, “One day I was an airplane
traveling from Orlando to Philadelphia. I was settled down in a window
seat when I happened to glance across the aisle to the other side of the
plane. There, seated next to the window opposite mine, was one of the
most sophisticated and attractive women I have ever seen. She was
absolutely stunning. It was hard to take my eyes off her. After a few
minutes, a very macho-looking guy got on the plane. He was almost a
stereotype of the kind of guy who hangs out at singles bars. His satin
shirt was unbuttoned down to his waist so that he could publicly let the
‘chicks’ see the curls of hair on his chest and the gaudy gold chains
hanging around his neck…. He spotted the empty seat next to the stunning
woman who had been holding my attention. He sat down next to her and then
he ‘did his thing.’ He made moves that a New York ‘make-out man’ would
have admired. And in no time at all he had the young woman thoroughly
involved in the conversation, hanging on his every word. As a
sociologist, I was fascinated with this interactive process. But then an
unexpected and exciting thing happened. When he had her completely
engaged, she made her move and pulled a reversal, suddenly extracting a
Bible from her shoulder bag. Before the guy could figure out what was
happening, she was laying the gospel on him. Her eyes sparkling with
excitement, she began telling him all about Jesus. She pointed out verse
after verse that showed the way of salvation. I must admit that this
sudden turn of events amused me. At one point, I had to bite my tongue to
keep from laughing. But this was no laughing matter. Brilliantly and
seriously, she told the story of God’s salvation, and after his initial
shock, he began to listen to her with genuine interest.

The plane landed in Philadelphia on schedule and rolled up to the
reception gate so that the passengers could disembark. Everyone squeezed
into the aisle and stood in the usual convoluted fashion, waiting for the
people in the front to get off. It was as I was standing in the aisle
that I noticed that the ‘make-out man’ and the gorgeous woman were not
standing. Instead, they were both seated with their heads bowed in
prayer. She had her hand on his shoulder and I knew that, with that
prayer, he was accepting Christ as his Savior and Lord. 

That woman will not be granted and honorary doctorate for what she did.
No magazine will nominate her as ‘Woman of the Year.’ No mention will be
made in the evening news of what she did on that day, but it will have
eternal significance. She did something that will live on after she is
dead.” (Tony Campolo, Who Switched the Price Tags?, Waco: Word Books,
1986, pp. 63-64)

You see, the problem isn't that we think too much of ourselves. The
problem is that we think too little of ourselves. And we think too little
of what God wants to do through us, if we will only be available to him. 

Change comes by faith, when we believe that nothing is impossible with
God. The greatest lie about Christianity is that you have to be good
enough to be loved by God. We are all like that “cool dude” on the plane:
We are sad, broken, hurting people, just trying to get by. What could
ever change our lives? 

It's not a "what" but a "Who!" The truth is that God loves us. God loves
us just the way we are - but he also loves us too much to leave us as we
are. He wants to change our lives in ways we can never imagine. He wants
to give us gifts that are "immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine"
(Eph. 3:20). 

Jesus Christ came to earth because God believes you and I are worth it!
We often emphasize the need to believe in God - and I will never minimize
that. But it's also incredibly true that God believes in us! Jesus Christ
proves it. God believes we are of infinite value, and he sent his own Son
on our behalf.

A prayer for this series has been that Christmas would be a time for you
to realize your value and, like Scrooge, to celebrate miracle
transformations. You see, the annual retelling of stories like Charles
Dickens's A Christmas Carol should not be limited to a fictional account.
It ought to be a part of real life, as well. We ought to be able to
annually share with one another how God is transforming our humbug
attitudes into hallelujah dispositions. This becomes a way of identifying
contemporary Christmas miracles. 

Over the next few days, people will be asking you how your Christmas
went. This time, think before your usual reply: "It was OK." Be ready to
tell your friends why this year's celebration was special. Share your
hallelujah experience, and in doing so, encourage them to anticipate
journeying from humbug to hallelujah next year.

Languish or live? “Getting a life” is something all of us do. What kind
of life are we getting for ourselves? It’s sometimes all too easy to give
up, but don't give up! Humility, availability, and faith - these are the
keys to a getting a Life - Life with a capital L. Don't give up - because
God hasn't.

Closing prayer: Almighty God our Father, blessed Jesus our Savior, and
gracious Holy Spirit our Fortifier, we bless you for the wonder we
celebrate this night: that you came as a child into the world so we might
become your children forever. Lord, we confess that we have often lost
sight of your presence, your power and your purpose for our lives. We
have doubted, we have drifted, and we have been distracted and deceived.
Lord, have mercy on us. Call us home to yourself. Change our lives and
help us to be part of your life-changing work in this world. And like the
angels we will sing, "Glory to God, Glory to God, Glory to God in the
highest! And peace on earth." Amen.


Rev. Charles A. Layne, pastor, First Baptist Church, Bunker Hill, IN

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