Welcome to the daily disciple podcast, where we seek daily to be with and to become like Jesus, our teacher. Good morning everyone and welcome to the daily together on mission podcast and welcome to this season of the podcast, Advent, Christmas. We're traveling through the birth narratives, the infancy stories about Jesus and I am so excited about this podcast. Last podcast, I didn't go as far as I wanted to.
I did that on purpose and I kind of left us sitting in our mess. And the title of this podcast is Inters, our mess. And again, last podcast, we looked at just how messy the Christmas story is. Politically, financially, socially, relationally and really in every way.
And we reflected on our mess and I called it the triple mess, right? The mess which we have no control over because it's pressing on us from the outside. The mess that we do have a measure of control over called sin. And then all of our symptoms that we use to cover to hide to run when we realize that we are a bit of a mess.
And the Christmas story, as I talked about in the last podcast, the Christmas story invites us to own our mess, to hold our mess, to not be afraid of our mess and certainly to stop covering and blaming and hiding and running from our mess. So here we are sitting in our mess and hopefully you've done a little bit of work of recognizing that triple mess. What's coming in from the outside? What's coming up from the inside and what are those symptoms that we use to try to cover it all up?
But only when we stop our symptoms and own our mess and even hold our mess and even go public with our mess, are we then able to actually discover the God that is revealed in the Christmas story? And that is what today's podcast is about, the God that enters our mess. Because the God revealed in the Christmas story is the God that gets his hands dirty, doesn't stand far off. He enters the muck and the mire and the mess of our lives and he loves us and he accepts us and he speaks kindly to us.
And he affirms us even in the midst of our mess, but we can not discover that unless we're willing to own and hold the mess of our lives. And that's the glorious good news of the Christmas story. So I guess the question this morning and it's a good question to ponder. It's a really good question.
Have you really prepared God room? Have you really let God in to love you right in the midst of how messy you are? That's the question. And that is such an important question.
And it's a question that the Christmas story asks. So in the midst of all of our mess, Luke chapter 2, beginning in verse 8, there were shepherds living in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flock by night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them. Don't be afraid.
I bring you good news. You and Gellion, it's going to be cause for great joy. Because today in the town of David a Savior has been born, you will find this baby lying in a manger. And suddenly a great company of heavenly hosts were praising and singing glory to God and on earth peace on whom his favor rests.
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherd said to one another, let's go to Bethlehem, let's see what's happened. The angels told us about this baby, the Messiah, the Lord. So they hurried off and they found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger. When they saw him, they spread the word concerning what they had been told about this child.
And everyone who heard was amazed. Why is this good news? Why is this you and Gellion? Why will this bring great joy?
Because the music is played and the stage has been set and God has arrived to love us and accept us and affirm us and forgive us right in the midst of all of our mess. And it's hard to even imagine a God that would do this because we haven't experienced very many people willing to enter into our mess, even those that should have. So we're not necessarily prepared for a God that's near, a God that's good, a God that is this humble and this caring that he would be born in a manger in Bethlehem and grow up in Nazareth to enter into our mess. I mean, we've had people offer us advice in the midst of our mess.
We've had people tell us what they've learned and pass on knowledge. We've had people tell us to get over our mess and get on with life. So we're not, again, we're not ready for God this near. God that gets messy, a God that draws near to us in our mess.
And God that does not judge but rather holds us, forgives us, and stays. And I think I mentioned this in the last podcast. I've been discovering this incredible truth about God in a deeper way this year. And it begins with holding our mess.
Again, the mess we have no control over, the mess called sin that we do have a measure of control over and all the symptoms that we do in our life to make things worse. What we find in the Christmas story and what I've been learning this year is that God enters that mess. But we can only experience that if we're willing to own and hold our mess. Because when we actually do that, we can actually see our eyes are open and our heart is opened to the Christmas story and to the God that draws near.
And this gives us a new view of God. And so this morning could be ponder, this view of God. In the midst of our mess could be ponder, the God in the manger, the God that grew up in Nazareth, the God that entered into the messy political, financial, social, relational, familial scene to draw near to us, the God who ultimately died an incredible messy death. I mean, this morning as we continue to hold and own our mess, let's prepare Him room, let's let Him speak, let's let Him love.
Let's not run, not hide, not blame, not shoulder, not work harder, not enter into those symptoms and antics that we find ourselves so easily entering into. Let's just ask the question that I begin with. And here it is. Have you really welcomed this God to truly love you in the midst of all of your mess?
That's the question. So just enjoy some time with that God and we'll talk soon. Thanks for listening to the daily disciple podcast. We truly hope that you were encouraged by it today.
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