December 24, 1997 "Contact"

Mike Slaughter

Luke 2:8-11
8: And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9: And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.
10: And the angel said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people;
11: For to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

A handful of decades ago tonight U.S. astronauts were circling the moon...and as they came over the dark side of the moon they beamed this picture back to us. The astronauts at that time read from the book of Genesis. As you saw the lifeless dead glow of the moon below and this unique, beautiful, fragile planet - unique from any planet that we’re aware of anywhere in the solar system - they read these words: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."
How many of you remember the astronauts doing this? Genesis continues, "The earth was formless and empty, but then the Spirit of God moved over the water." Well, look at this. Isn’t that an incredible picture? To think that this fragile place where we are tonight is unique, and probably ever since God created it we’ve been asking, "Is there life anywhere else? Is this the only place that God created life as we know it?"
The last half of this decade we’ve spent a lot of energy and resources in sending probes out to other places in the universe in quest of life. For the last half of this century we have had giant dishes pointed out in various sectors of the universe, listening for contact. Is there a message from heaven?
Two thousand years ago, some shepherds were out in a field on the east side of Jerusalem, when all of a sudden there came a message from heaven. There was a multitude of angels. The shepherds were terrified. You would be too! Then one of the angels said to the shepherds, "Don’t be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord."

Four Thoughts
There are four thoughts here I want us to grab hold of: good news, joy, all people, (It’s for all people, not some people) and Saviour. A message from heaven. Contact. Contact from God. What is it about?

1.  Good News
Good news! It’s kind of amazing. You and I are going to be part of a select group of people. The Lord willing, we will make it two more years for that move into a new millennium. One thousand years ago there were only 400 million people on Planet Earth. Today there are six and a half billion people on Planet Earth. Every time we approach a new millennium, people always get more God conscious. The statistics are now out and show that everything to do with faith is on the upswing. There are TV shows about faith and angels. We kind of get weird, too, as we approach a new millennium in search of extra-terrestrials. All of these movies that are out... What is the latest movie? "Alien Resurrection." This is about the fourth time they did the alien thing. And "Men in Black." "Independence Day." The movie "Contact." This always happens as you move into a new millennium.
And then there are doomsday cults that are emerging. Do you remember the one last year,Heaven’s Gate, where they all took their life in that mansion out on the west coast? They thought there was a space ship on the other side of the Hale-Bopp comet. And then there’s always more doomsayers. People, as you approach a new millennium, are hearing more and more of ‘the end of the world is going to happen in two years.’
God is not a doomsayer. God is a doomslayer. Good news! It is a message of good news. The all powerful creator of the universe loves humanity and wants us to know him in a personal way. Good news!

John 3:16-17
16: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
17: For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

When I was four years old, I learned the one thing. Life is really about the one thing. Here’s the most profound truth in the universe. I don’t know how much schooling you’ve had, you can get more and more and more, but the one thing stays the same. Here it is: John 3:16 "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only son, that anyone and everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." And I love the next verse. Remember, this is good news for all people. I love it! "God sent his son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world may have life through him." (You know, you can go to a lot of religious places and they keep talking about ‘go to hell, go to hell, go to hell.’ That’s not God’s business. That’s the devil’s business!)
I learned the one thing, the most important thing from my grandmother. My grandmother told me God has made contact and here is the message from heaven. God is for me. God loves me. God is an initiating God. He is an initiating God. Can you believe it? He comes after us when we aren’t even looking for him. God invites you and me to his party.
You know, God’s love is so great for you and me, that he was willing to become one of us. Imagine that. You can look for a cosmic sign, right from heaven, but it’s not a spectacular display of cosmic power like you would expect. The creator of the universe revealed himself through a single fertilized egg. Can you imagine that?
There’s a lot of pain in the world today. Think about Bosnia and Zaire. It’s not exactly an exciting place or a safe place to raise a family. Do you know God came to earth as a minority just like the people in Bosnia and Zaire? Steven Spielberg just released his new movie "Amistad," about the slave ship. There’s a lot of controversy about it. White people don’t like to talk about it a lot. I know. My great-great-grandfather owned slaves. It’s kind of an embarrassing thing. But guess what? Jesus came, God came as a minority, He knew what it was like to wear shackles. You see, God came and was born into the Bosnias of this earth.

Ephesians 3:17-19
17: and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18: may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
19: and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fulness of God.

It is important that you understand God’s mind and thoughts toward you. It doesn’t matter what walk of life you come from or what type of position you hold. God Loves you. I love the way the Apostle Paul in the book of Ephesians put it. This is what his prayer was, "I pray that you may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ."
Think about that! Try to grasp how all encompassing the love of God is for us and to know this love that surpasses knowledge. You can’t even begin to get your mind around God’s thoughts and love for you. That’s good news. Contact. There has been a message from heaven. God loves you so much, that He became one of us.

2.  Joy
Now here’s the second idea that we need to grasp in this message from heaven. It’s joy. If you took a survey and asked people what they really wanted out of life, I bet over ninety percent of those people would say this, ‘I just want to be happy.’ But you know, happiness is kind of an elusive quality, isn’t it? We want it, but it is hard to find. It’s elusive because of a human condition that we all suffer from, a human condition of brokedness. The Bible calls that ‘sin.’
All of us have a dark side. Sometimes it becomes very visible among people like that boy last month in Paducah, Kentucky. An A-B student walked into the cafeteria in his school and shot his friends. You think, ‘Wow, how can a human being do this?’ Or last Sunday, right here in Dayton, a kid killed his grandparents. And we ask ourselves, ‘How can someone do this?’ But you know that dark side is in all of us. All of us have deep inconsistencies. Think about it.
We think about things that we would not dare even utter to people close to us in the kind of temptations that come to our mind. All of us have this pull to something we don’t even believe in. Look at addictions. Chris Farley, the comedian, what a tragic waste of a young talent. You see, there’s this inconsistency in all of us. We know what’s right, we want to do what’s right, we even tell our children, ‘Do as I say, don’t do as I do.’ Right? Look at that inconsistency. So, we all struggle with this and we suppress it but we all have it.
We all struggle with guilt. We believe in God. I mean, you almost have to be a fool to look around you and not believe in God. Look at all the things we have. I have eyeballs so that I can see you and ears to hear what you say as the sound waves move through the air. This brain is more complex than any computer. You don’t look at a computer and say, ‘That came out of a big bang theory.’
You look at a human being and you say, ‘Wow, there’s a God!’ And we know we have a moral responsibility to God, but all of us have failed in that moral responsibility so we keep God at arm’s length. We repress our relationship with God and we play hide and go seek from God. It’s as if I’m still and quiet, God won’t see me. We don’t have joy because of these deep inconsistencies that the Bible calls ‘sin.’

3.  Saviour
So here’s the third idea in this message that’s so powerful. I’ve got good news! It’s about great joy, for all people. It’s a saviour. You see, God comes to us and does for us what we can’t do for ourselves. Do you know what the byproduct of joy really is?  Joy comes from two things. You’ll never know joy until you have these two things. One is forgiveness. You believe in God, but you feel guilty. You’ve repressed it. It’s why God seems so far away. You’re keeping Him at arm’s length and you’re never going to know joy until you hear these words from your maker: You are forgiven. I accept you.
Forgiveness. The second thing that causes Joy is not only forgiveness, but purpose. To know why you were created and to know that’s why Jesus came. He came to forgive us and to complete our lives for the purpose for which we are made. A lot of people think that if you really get into God, it’s going to be a limiting experience in your life. No, Jesus expands us. He doesn’t limit us. He completes our lives; He does not mess our lives up. That is a lie when you think that you’re going to be limited because you sell out to God.

4.  All People
No! God wants to birth His life through us, not demand life from us. The angels’ promise was for all earthlings, everyone who would receive the impregnating hope that births God’s possibilities within them. God wants to come to us and do something in us that we could never do for ourselves. This isn’t a life we have apart from God. It’s not limiting. You’ll never be who God made you to be without a relationship with Him.
Well, how can this happen? It’s a supernatural thing. It’s like when the angel came to Mary and made this incredible announcement, ‘You’re going to be pregnant with this miracle of God. God is going to come to earth in the form of a human being and He’s going to do it through you.’ Now here’s Mary’s question, ‘How can this be? It’s impossible. I’m a virgin.’ Listen to this; this is how it will be. The angel says to Mary, ‘It is a God thing. The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.’
Now hear me. Jesus, right now, is present in planet earth in the form of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. And when the Holy Spirit comes in us, He literally empowers us. When we invite Jesus into our life, He empowers us to be who God created us to be with integrity and to do what God created us to do with power.
Contact. There has been a message from heaven. Now, here’s the question. What am I going to do with the message? You see, I’ve got to respond. God waits for my answer. It’s not about being religious or believing in God. It’s about saying ‘yes’ to God, just like when the angel announced to Mary that God wanted to birth his possibilities through her, impregnate her with his purpose. The angel didn’t stand there and force God’s will on Mary. God waited for Mary’s answer. Do you know what Mary said? She said, "I am yours. Do with me as you have planned from the foundations of creation." In other words she said, "Yes, God. Do with me as you planned from the beginning of time."
My brothers and sisters, on this Christmas Day don’t just open gifts and drink eggnog. Open yourself to the power that can change everything. There’s not one thing God can’t change in your life. Open yourself to the one who offers recovery for everyone. There’s not an addiction that you can’t overcome. Open yourself to the one who brings God’s victory every time.
This is not an act of your intellect. Saying ‘yes’ to God is not something that you’ll ever get your mind around. You’ll never have absence of doubt. This is an act of your will. This is a moral choice. It is saying ‘yes’ to God, in spite of your doubts, and in spite of your failure.
I don’t know how many of you saw the movie "Contact" with Jodie Foster. She struggled with the same. She really struggled with faith. She was a scientist, until she had an other worldly encounter and discovered what faith was all about. She was trying to defend it in front of a Senate hearing committee. Watch this clip.
Senator: You come to us with no evidence, no record, no artifacts, only a story that to put it mildly, strains credibility. Over half a trillion dollars was spent. Dozens of lives were lost. Are you really going to sit there and tell us we should just take this all on faith?
Moderator:   Please answer the question, Doctor.
Jodie Foster:  Is it possible that it didn’t happen? Yes. As a scientist I must concede that, I must volunteer that.
Senator:   Wait a minute. Let me get this straight. You admit that you have absolutely no physical evidence to back up your story.
Jodie Foster:  Yes.
Senator: You admit that you very well may have hallucinated this whole thing.
Jodie Foster: Yes.
Senator: You admit that if you were in our position you would respond with exactly the same degree of incredulity and skepticism.
Jodie Foster: Yes.
Senator: Then why don’t you simply withdraw your testimony and concede that this journey to the center of the galaxy in fact never took place.
Jodie Foster: Because I can’t. I had an experience. I can’t prove it. I can’t explain it. But everything that I know as a human being, everything that I am tells me that it was real. I was given something wonderful, something that changed me forever. A vision of the universe that tells us undeniably how tiny and insignificant and how rare and precious we all are. A vision that tells us that we belong to something that is greater than ourselves, that we are not, none of us are alone. I wish I could share that. I wish that everyone, if even for one moment, could feel that awe and humility and that hope.
(End of clip)
All I know is that at 18 years of age, I had a God encounter and Jesus radically changed my life. I had been in a rock group that was busted for drugs. I had tried all kinds of things. And all I know, I can’t explain how, but Jesus keeps changing my life. He gives me power over every addiction. He lets me know forgiveness and the purpose for which I was created. He brings the super natural power of God to work through my life.
I want to tell you something, people. This is better than anything I know. And He continues to bring God’s victory into every circumstance. Listen to the angels. Listen to God’s word in your life. Jesus is alive and well on planet earth and do you know what the call of Jesus is to us? Follow me. Not believe in me, sing Christmas songs, but follow me.
Hear me, Church. To say "Yes" to God’s message is to say to Jesus, ‘I will follow you anywhere you go, any place, any time, regardless of my doubt, or my failures. All my life I will follow you.’ And hear this, because it’s coming quicker than you think. ‘And when I die, I am going to follow Jesus to the edge of the universe. I’m going to have a good time, and then, we’ll go beyond.’ Amen.

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