NO ROOM FOR JESUS
Princeton Christian Church Luke 2:1-7 19 December 2021
Imagine you are traveling a long distance and need to stop to spend the night in an unfamiliar area. You will try to find a local hotel because you are ready for some rest.
At the front desk, you are told that there are no rooms available for the night. You are also told that there are no rooms available anywhere in that area. Your only option is to keep driving, half asleep, or sleep in the car.
Some of us have probably experienced a situation like that.
There is a great account of another family who experienced the same thing.
The young couple had traveled a great distance and finally arrived at the Bethlehem Holiday Inn. They, too, were told that there was no room at the Inn.
But there was one option for them, too. They could sleep in the stable with the livestock.
Now the owner of the Inn had no idea who this couple was. But we do, don't we?
He did not know who he was rejecting and excluding from the comfort of one of the rooms in the Inn.
But these were no ordinary travelers. This was Joseph and Mary on their way to their homeland to participate in the census.
The innkeeper thought they were just another ordinary couple who would have to take the stable or sleep under the stars.
Or so he thought. In reality, though, he was refusing the Messiah, the comfort of a room.
None of these events were just happenstance.
All of this was in God's plan as He prepared to bring the Savior to the world.
Jesus had to come into the world, born in a stable.
Since we don’t have any live pictures of what this stable looked like, we have to use our imagination.
This stable may have been in an open courtyard, or it may have been in a cave in the limestone rock, which was often used as a stable for animals.
So, as the night wore on, the baby was born. It is a very natural happening for most people, but this birth was not ordinary or commonplace.
Then He was laid in a manger - nothing more than a feeding trough. A feeding trough became the bed for the King of Kings.
Luke 2:1-7 tells us the story like this:
In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So, Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea and Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available for them.
What the owners of the inn did that night they did in guiltless innocence.
But people are willingly doing the same to Jesus today, knowing whom it is that they are excluding and rejecting.
Jesus Christ is turned away and told that there is no room for Him in their lives today in various ways and for many reasons.
We can look at some of those reasons to see how Jesus is rejected and assigned to the stable.
First, many consider their intelligence far above His authority.
They believe that it is better, or wiser, to apply human knowledge, reasoning, and intuition to nature and to mankind.
So, they believe they can come to any conclusion they wish to make.
They have no need for a Divine Teacher.
Jesus said we must become as a little child (Luke 18:17). But, in their higher intelligence, many people believe they have nothing to learn.
That person sends the "light of the world" elsewhere. His inn of intelligence is full, from floor to roof.
John Milton, an author many years ago, said this: "The end of all learning is to know God, and out of that knowledge to love and imitate Him."
Those who reject Christ have this mindset: "I am too intelligent to need a teacher like Him."
Second, men have no sense of sin in their lives. So, they reject Him.
They have no room for Him in their lives. Tragically, they believe that they have no need for a Savior.
They won't recognize the great price He paid for them. The price was the blood He poured out for even them.
But millions still refuse to recognize their indebtedness to Him. They do not care what they are doing against the One who holds their next breath in His hands.
Third, Jesus is rejected by the lifestyles that so many crave to live. And that lifestyle causes them to have no room for Jesus.
They may know who He is. Maybe they have a recollection of hearing about him in a Sunday School class as a young child when the parents took him to church.
But now, all grown up with extraordinary intelligence, he can make his own decisions. He can live any way he pleases. He refuses to make Jesus an important part of his life.
So many things take up the room he could give to Jesus. Life is crowded.
We have business and personal needs to be attended to.
We want to enjoy the pleasures of the world.
There is no room nor any need to allow Jesus to guide our lives. We don't want to give up what we have and who we are in the eyes of the world.
ILLUS: "A little boy had been in trouble all day long. He had broken a window, fought with his sister, mistreated the dog, and on and on. In saying his prayers that night, he prayed like this: "Dear God, please make me a better boy if you can. But, if you can't, never mind, 'cause I am having an awfully good time the way I am."
Many people admit that Jesus is the Son of God and that He is the Savior but will not allow Him to enter their lives and become their Savior and Friend and their Guide. but, in reality, they simply have no time for Him to become a real and active presence in their lives.
Here is the truth - You will never find the time for anything. If you want to have time for something or someone, you must make time.
People crowd out the Lord who loves them, excluding Him from their lives. So, they deprive themselves and cheat themselves out of the greatest experiences they could ever hope to have.
The Eternal Life that Jesus, as our Savior, offers us is greater than all human intelligence, greater than all the temporary pleasures of this life.
The greatest event that had happened up to that time was happening here in Bethlehem, and the multitudes missed it. People are still missing it today. And it is still, in 2023 still the greatest event that has ever happened in the history of mankind.
Great events, including the resurrection of Christ, have happened since then and will happen in the future as Christ returns to the earth.
And people are still missing the opportunity to be ready to enter into eternity with Him. Many will miss the rewards at the Second Coming because they don't think they need Him. But, oh, on that day, they will realize - but too late - how much they need Him.
The innkeeper back in Bethlehem did not know who he was turning away. But today, when we turn Jesus away, we know who it is that we reject. We know who He is and what He did for us. We cannot claim ignorance or innocence as we turn Him away from our lives.