Second Sunday of Advent: Christmas Inside Out

Christmas Inside Out
Romans 15: 1 – 13.

I. Introduction.

A couple of weeks ago, I told a story about Paul “Bear” Bryant in a Sunday morning sermon. You may remember the story. It was about the athletic trainer who accompanied Bear Bryant from Kentucky to Texas A & M to the University of Alabama. The trainer’s name was Charles “Smokey” Harper.

Bear Bryant didn’t have a coaching position for Smokey on the Alabama staff, but gave him an “at large” assignment to travel all over the state of Alabama as an ambassador for the new coach. Smokey went into coffee shops and roadside diners to smoke cigarettes and drink coffee with Alabama fans. Over coffee and cigarettes, Smokey told the people of Alabama that Bear Bryant was the best football coach in America, and by the time Alabama won their first national championship the fans believed Smokey’s story.

Today, we have the same job as Smokey Harper. We want our church to grow and make an impact on our community. And, the only way we are going to see that happen is to get outside these walls and tell the men and women of Lufkin, Texas that we have the very best church in a 50 mile radius. I truly believe that about our church. Do you believe this? Do you tell your friends and neighbors? Do you ever sit down with people and brag about your church? If you don’t, then they will never know why you go to church here.

When I told that story, I made reference to the ESPN TV movie—The Junction Boys—inspired by Bear Bryant’s early days at Texas A & M. I later learned that the author who wrote The Junction Boys (Jim Dent) has a new book that was published in 2007—Twelve Mighty Orphans.

In the late 1800’s the Texas Freemasons established an orphanage on the outskirts of Fort Worth. In 1926, the Mason Home established their first football team by hiring Rusty Russell as their first football coach. Many people thought Russell was committing career suicide by leaving the position of head football coach of the successful Temple Tigers to move to a school which, at the time, did not even own a football.

Throughout Russell’s tenure as the football coach at the Mason Home, he led the Mighty Mites to 127 wins, two Texas Interscholastic League state championship games and one co-championship in 1932. These were remarkable feats since the Mason Home had less than 200 high school students and played nearly every game as underdogs to schools with enrollments around 1000 students. In fact, the orphans were only able to field a team of twelve players and sometimes played against teams with rosters of over fifty players.

Of course, there are a various theories about why the Mason Home always did so well on the football field. Some accused the Home of running a program more like a college program than a high school program, with players living together in dormitories, eating all their meals together in the dining hall and living as a football team 24 / 7. Some might even attribute it to the fact that these orphans had developed a “street toughness” unlike their opponents which had come from more traditional home environments. However, I think it was something else.

I noticed in the book that every orphaned child entered the Mason Home not wanting to live there. For the first several weeks no one called the new kids by name. They were simply addressed as “New Kid.” Then, after several weeks the “New Kid” was given a nick name as a sign of acceptance. And that is when something magical happened. While no child outside of the orphanage ever wanted to know what life was life like inside the orphanage, the orphans didn’t want to live outside the orphanage. Inside the orphanage, life was comfortable and predictable. Outside the orphanage, life seemed dangerous and uncertain. The twelve orphans did not just play football. They were fighting for their identity as orphans. They were proud of their life inside the orphanage, and they did not want to become like the kids on the outside.

I see a parallel in this story to our story as Christians. We have an identity as Christians—on the inside—that is different from the world outside. We are proud of who we are—children of God, followers of Jesus Christ, Christians. We don’t want to become like people on the outside. Inside the church, we have security. Outside the church, we see a dangerous life that is uncertain at best.

On one hand, this is what God wants for us. God wants the church to be different from the world—a place of safety and security in a dangerous and uncertain world. On the other hand, this view of the church can be misrepresented into something God never intended. Yes, the church is supposed to be different from the world. Yes, we are supposed to find safety and security inside the church. But NO, we are not supposed to retreat from the world, satisfied in what we have, while the world around us goes to Hell. The purpose for the church is to break outside the walls of security and bring others into the same kind of life we have in our salvation through Jesus Christ.

Christmas is a beautiful picture of our purpose to turn the church “Inside Out” in an effort to bring the world to faith in Jesus as Lord.


Read Romans 15: 1 – 13.

This does not quite sound like a Christmas story. There is no mention of angelic messengers or a miraculous virgin birth. There are no shepherds or wise men. However, the purpose of Christmas is apparent.

II. Inside the Church.

Just a few chapters before this, Paul described the church as the Body of Christ. Our human bodies are made up of many different parts. Each part has its own purpose and function within the system. When all parts are functioning as they were created to function, the body can be healthy and effective. But, when just one body part is unhealthy, the entire body suffers from pain, disease and cannot be as effective. There is an intimate relationship between all the parts of our human bodies—when one part suffers, the entire body suffers. There is a division of labor among the parts of our bodies—the eyes depend on the feet to perform their duties and the feet depend on the eyes. In the same way, there should be the same kind of interconnectedness and interdependence among us as members of the Body of Christ.

This is more than just a description of an ideal world. This ought to be the reality we experience. The problem lies in the fact that most churches only experience this periodically. We face several threats to our unity on a daily basis.

In Romans 15, Paul described three threats to unity faced by the church at Rome—and, I believe, threats faced by the church at Lufkin.

A. Sin…(Verse 1)

This is the point Paul made in verse one. As long as we live here on earth, we will be plagued by our own sinful nature. This is true both inside the church and outside the church. Christians are not immune to the temptations of the world. In fact, I would argue that sin is perhaps an even greater struggle for us than for others.

On one hand, we do have God’s forgiveness for our sins. On the other hand, we have God’s conviction through his Holy Spirit in our lives. When a Christian sins, more times than not, he or she knows that what they are doing is actually sin. We usually don’t need our sins pointed out to us by other people. That is one of the roles and functions of the Holy Spirit in our lives. When we face temptation, the Holy Spirit helps us to discern right from wrong. Then, even though we know it is wrong, we go ahead and give in to the temptation at hand. After the fact, the Holy Spirit continues to convict us of our failure in order to bring us to confession and repentance.

How should we deal with sin inside the church? One very popular opinion is that we should constantly be on the “look out” for church members who sin. Then, once we have found a guilty person, we should cast that person out of the church. After all, if we welcome sinners into our fellowship, the world will judge us based on that one sinner.

If you hold to that opinion about sin inside the church, I am going to disappoint you. As I look around the room, I see several hundred men and women, teenagers and children present. If we “kicked out” all the sinners this week, I dare say the room would be empty. Of course, there has to be someone here thinking that they would not have been kicked out this week. If you are thinking that right now, I hope you are willing and prepared to preach on Sunday, because I don’t think we would be able to find a deacon or a minister who passed your “sinless test.”

No, the proper way to deal with sin is to follow the example of Jesus. In another part of the New Testament—Philippians 2—Paul wrote to us about how Jesus “condescended” to be with us. Jesus held the very same nature as God, but he took on the nature of a human being to demonstrate God’s love for us. Jesus was all powerful, but he became a man with limited power and abilities. Jesus was strong, but he became weak. In the same way, we who are strong ought to bear with the failings and failures and sins of our weaker brothers and sisters. We ought to embrace sinners inside the church and outside the church with the forgiveness that God showed us in Jesus Christ. I might also add at this point that there is coming a day when the roles will be reversed. You might be the strong Christian today, helping a weaker brother or sister. But, one day you will be the sinner in need of a stronger brother or sister.

Paul’s encouragement to us: Don’t let sin destroy the unity of the church!

B. Self-Centered Members…(Verse 2)

It would be absurd for a part of our human bodies to begin to think it was the most important part of the body. We might imagine an eye trying to tell a foot that the eye held a more important position. Of course, the foot could reply that the eye can only see things when the foot transports the body into new environments. The heart could challenge the skin that the heart is a vital organ. And the skin could reply that the heart could not survive if it were exposed to the harsh outside world. In the same way, choir members and the preacher would not be as effective if there were not people willing to take care of our babies in the nursery on Sunday mornings.

Once again, Paul presents Jesus as the remedy to this internal problem in the church. We should imitate the love and forgiveness of Jesus when we deal with sin in the church. We should also imitate Jesus as we deal with self-centeredness in the church.

It’s interesting that Paul makes his point here by quoting from the Old Testament. Specifically, he quotes from Psalm 69: 9—“The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” Paul interprets this as a reference to the Jewish Messiah. This Jewish Messiah did not come with the glory due him. No, Jesus came as a Messiah who was rejected and despised by all humans.

I would have chosen a different illustration to place here. I would have chosen the story in John 13 about how Jesus served his disciples by washing their feet before the Last Supper. I would have quoted from Mark 10: 45, where Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The very nature of Jesus Christ was to serve others. When faced with the temptation to call down 10,000 angels to rescue him from his crucifixion, Jesus chose to be a servant to you and me by giving his life as a ransom for our eternal salvation.

Again, Paul encouraged us: Don’t let self-centeredness destroy your unity!

C. Persecution…(Verses 4 – 5)

In the first century, Christianity was not accepted in Rome. Christians were accused of being unpatriotic, because they would not pledge their allegiance to the Caesar. Christians were accused of being atheists, because they did not acknowledge the Roman gods. Christians were accused of committing incest, because they recognized each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. Christians were accused of being cannibals, because they ate the flesh and drank the blood of Christ in the Lord’s Supper.

Christians were killed, imprisoned and beaten for their faith in Jesus. As a result, many were becoming discouraged, and some gave up.

Paul encouraged: Don’t give up, and don’t get discouraged! Our hope is in the Lord. This reminds us of our theme from last week: Jesus is coming back. The wicked will be punished, and the righteous will be vindicated. Don’t give up. And don’t let persecutions destroy your unity!

III. Outside the Church.

Once again, Paul turned his attention to the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Any time you read the word “Scripture” in the New Testament, it is a reference to the Jewish Scriptures that we now recognize as the Old Testament.

Here Paul did a very interesting thing. He quoted from every section of the Old Testament…Not every book, but every section. Jewish people generally recognize three divisions within the Old Testament: Torah, Prophets and the Writings. The Torah includes the first five books of the Bible. The Prophets includes the books which were attributed to the words of a prophet, or a spokesman for God. The Writings includes the poetry and wisdom literature.

Verse 9 is a quote from David found in both 2 Samuel 22 and Psalm 18…

Verse 10 is a quote from Deuteronomy 32…

Verse 11 is a quote from Psalm 117…

Verse 12 is a quote from Isaiah 11.

Do you notice anything these verses from the Old Testament have in common? All of these quotes describe God’s plan to show Grace, Mercy and Salvation to the Gentiles. God never intended that Israel and the Jews would be the only ones saved. God has always had a plan to extend salvation to every nation and every people of the earth. Israel just rejected God’s plan and preferred to think of herself as God’s only people. Israel was God’s chosen people, but Israel was never God’s only people.

IV. Conclusion: Inside Out.

This is where our Scripture intersects with the story of Christmas. When God first revealed himself to Abraham, it was for the purpose of beginning with Abraham’s descendents and extending salvation to all people. Israel rejected God’s purpose, because they never turned God’s revelation inside out. They just kept it inside.

God sent his Son Jesus for the same purpose. Jesus was born into Jewish heritage, but Jesus finally turned God’s purpose inside out.

Now, we face a choice. Christmas is a wonderful time of year inside the church. But that is not enough. We must turn Christmas inside out, so that all the world can experience God’s purpose for sending his Son.