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THE AMAZING EMMANUEL #4/5
THE LIVING WORD
December 21, 2003

Text: Luke 2:1-7; Galatians 4:4-7

As promised, the third movie in The Lord of the Rings trilogy has been
released before Christmas. For those who awaited with great anticipation
for this third installment, there has been great excitement. Local and
even national news reporters across the nation interviewed patrons who
stayed up and stood in line for hours so that they could be among the
first to see the very first showings. And don’t some of you sit there and
pretend you don’t understand the big fuss; I’ve heard plenty of stories
from the generation before me talk about those weekly serial movies every
Saturday. You only had to wait a week; my generation has to wait a year
or more between installments! Talk about building up anticipation!

>From all of the promotion and fan excitement concerning The Lord of the
Rings, one would think that the story has always been around, passed down
from generation to generation. In fact, that has not been the case. J. R.
R. Tolkein’s stories were not a particularly huge hit after their
writing. I’m not sure if Tolkein cared whether they were hugely popular
or not. His satisfaction appeared to be in the telling. In fact, there
was a time when they were just about completely unknown in literary
circles. Peter Beagle, the author of a foreword written in 1973, recalls
when The Lord of the Rings had just about disappeared from memory. He had
to search diligently to find a copy of the books. After reading a review
in the New York Times, it took him four years to find them. Even after
renewed interest, it took ten years before they really exploded into
popularity. I am certain that many people wondered what “Frodo lives”
meant when it began to appear on New York subway walls. Frodo is one of
the main characters. But, someone kept the stories alive. There remained
a group of fans of the novels who refused to let the stories die. Like
those before him, the contemporary movies’ director, Peter Jackson, is a
Tolkein fan who refused to let the stories die. He took on this massive,
risky production to keep the story alive for new generations.

Share with me the reading from Luke 2:1-7. “And it came to pass in those
days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the
world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was
governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own
city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth,
into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Beth-lehem; (because
he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his
espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they
were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And
she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling
clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in
the inn.”

This is a familiar story, isn’t It. A familiar part of the Bible? Of
course it is. But why so? What makes it so familiar? Familiar enough,
even, that some can recite it from memory? It remains familiar because
the story has been told… and told… and told! There is a good chance that
even those who do not attend church may still have heard these verses at
some time in their lives. There are still some of the popular Christmas
television shows that portray elements of the Gospel. Keeping the story,
the Word, alive is important.

The Advent story is, of course, about a real, flesh and blood child who
was not only a child. He was - and is - a Savior, the Amazing Emmanuel.
Jesus is the hero truly worth following. We are so familiar with this
story that we might honestly think that it has always been with men and
women since its beginning. But that is not so. Turn with me now to the
first chapter of Galatians, where Paul raises an important concern. The
Gospel is in danger of being lost! I am reading from verses 6–12. “I
marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the
grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be
some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though
we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that
which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before,
so say I now again, ‘If any man preach any other gospel unto you than
that ye have received, let him be accursed.’ For do I now persuade men,
or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should
not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren, that the
gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received
it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ.”

There was a problem. Someone was preaching another gospel, one which was
really “no gospel at all.” It was not the Gospel of Good News Paul had
given to them before, but a return to old religious wineskins that the
new wine of the Christian message had sought to burst open.

Paul was amazed that the Galatians were so quickly deserting the gospel
of grace and finding it so easy to believe another story that would
destroy the true story. So Paul proceeded to remind the Galatians what
they were to remember. Later, in our chapter 4, verses 4-7, he calls his
readers to remember the overwhelming grace of God: “But when the fulness
of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under
the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive
the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the
Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou
art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God
through Christ.”

It is vital that we remember to keep the story alive, too, because it is
becoming more and more difficult to be a public Christian. On the
pretense of separation of church and state, public displays of Christian
scenes have been removed from public properties. Many public schools are
not allowed to share the Gospel story to students. In many arenas in our
own land, the proclamation of the birth of Jesus is prohibited. Will the
story be lost? It is our duty and privilege to say, “No! It will not be
lost. Jesus lives, and so his story will likewise live.”

Amidst the darkness, if we consider such things a darkness, it is
important to nurse the coal and keep it burning and alive. We are keepers
of the tale; we must never let it’s light go out. This story of the
coming of our hero is a powerful, light-filled, hope-inspiring tale. I
remember a portion from the book and scene from the movie The Hiding
Place. When Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsie were being ushered into
the Nazi concentration camp with all the other women, a ruckus broke out
that distracted the guards and allowed them to smuggle a Bible through
undetected. Later, in one of the most powerful scenes of the movie,
Corrie encourages the women who were losing hope in their barracks by
saying, “If we don’t remember to tell the story here in this dark place,
who will?” The women in their barracks were so infested with lice that
the guards would not even enter, thus allowing them to secretly hold
their devotions together. There, in that dark place, they were able to
thank God for the lice, because it kept the guards away so they could
pray and study the living Word of God.

When Paul wrote to the Galatians, “…when the fulness of the time was
come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to
redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons,” he was reorienting the confused believers there to the true
story of the Gospel. He was keeping alive the tale of the wonder child’s
birth. As a keeper of the tale, he was relating the Christmas story to
the real world they all knew.

“When the fulness of time was come…” that phrase expresses an entire
philosophy of how to view history. It refers to seeing history through
the lens of God’s intentions for the world. It signifies the completion
of the period of preparation in God’s sovereign timetable of redemption.

First, the time was right spiritually. During the Babylonian captivity,
Israel turned from the idolatry into which she had so often fallen.
During their Exile, the Jews had built synagogues, which they used as
places of worship, as schools, and as courts. Such events facilitated the
proclamation of the Messiah among Israel’s people. At the same time, the
spread of empty religions among the Gentiles had created a spiritual
hunger for something real and genuine. Conditions were spiritually ripe
for the spread of the Gospel.

Second, the time was right culturally. Christians who spread the Gospel
during the first centuries of the early church had a common language with
those they witnessed to. More than 300 years before the birth of Christ,
the Greek conqueror, Alexander the Great, had thoroughly established
Greek culture and language throughout the known world, and these factors
continued their dominating influence long after Rome succeeded Greece as
world ruler.

Third, the time was right politically. Rome had instituted the “Pax
Romana,” or Roman Peace, which provided economic and political stability.
Early Christians could travel relatively freely and safely throughout the
empire and could do so on the magnificent system of roads they provided.
Although there were times of fierce persecution, most of the major
persecutions happened later in the history of the early Church.
Consequently, many of the earliest Christians were free to share the
Gospel story throughout the Roman Empire. “God’s timing was perfect,”
Paul tells us. Paul knew it was important to communicate what he did the
way he did. With so many other stories creeping in, the story of
Christmas needed to be told and retold. Paul knew that the story of God’s
rescue operation which came “in the nick of time” needed to be kept fresh
and accurate.

Paul has not been the only keeper of the story. The idea was to keep the
story alive. Luke, one of Paul’s companions at times, wrote down the
Gospel story to keep the word alive. And so, we have it still today
because it has been told and retold and retold. Amidst days of darkness
and uncertainty, Jesus came Into our world. Amidst days of darkness and
uncertainty, living witnesses to Jesus kept the story alive. Amidst days
of darkness and uncertainty, through the faith made real by the Holy
Spirit, Christians kept the living Word alive for centuries to come.

Life may be difficult and uncertain in our day too. The difficulty may be
from inside of us or from outside of us. But look what God did. Look what
God is still doing! How important is it to realize that standing beside
keepers of the tale like Luke and Paul are people like me and you? How
necessary that we, along with them, nurse the coal and keep the tale
alive? In days of fear and terror, it is all the more crucial that we
guard and protect the gospel so that generations ahead might hear the
story. As one wise person said, “Christianity is always just one
generation from extinction.” Just one generation, if we do not preserve
it.

If not for the passion of some of J. R. R. Tolkien’s fans to keep his
story alive, it would have long ago passed into oblivion. Many stories
have no doubt met such a fate, even stories that might have become
classic literature had they been kept alive. Indeed, entire civilizations
have passed away for lack of anyone to keep them alive. The important
message is this: that we keep alive the tale of Jesus’ birth; that we
tell and retell the old and wonderful story to our children; that we
whisper it into the ears of babies, so that it does not pass from the
memory of future generations; that we light the candles of the Advent
wreath and remember through ceremonies in church and home that the
Amazing Emmanuel the one who makes all of life meaningful.

Do not let “other gospels that are no gospels at all” creep in and take
over. The voices of our Christian ancestors urge us to keep the tale, the
living Word, alive. Tell your children… your grandchildren… anyone who
will listen the life-giving tale of the wonder child’s birth. And as you
do, ask yourself “if we don’t remember to tell the story here in this
dark place, who will?” The story is only one generation from extinction.
Thank God for keepers of the story; thank God for the living Word.

(Adapted from The Amazing Emmanuel: Following the True Hero for All Time,
Pastor’s Manual, Wheaton, IL: Mainstay Church Resources, 2003, pp.
B97-B101)

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

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