“THE MOUSE, THE SINK, AND THE BOWL”

Luke 2: 10 (NLT)

December 24, 2009/Christmas Eve

NOT A STAINED GLASS WORD

            Tonight we announce this good news, first spoken to shepherds in the fields near the town of Bethlehem. An angel told them, “Don’t be afraid! I bring you good news of great joy for everyone! The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David!”

            The birth of the Savior means we are talking about salvation. Salvation is a church word; it’s a word that sounds right at home in the stained-glass beauty of a sanctuary like this. Salvation is a stained glass word; a multi-syllable word that ministers say a lot but no one really knows what it means.

            Salvation is best understood not in a stained glass church but by the edge of a cliff or the side of a river. Salvation is an earthy, flesh-and-blood word that smells like sweat. Salvation means to be rescued, delivered, liberated. Let me describe a salvation moment for you. Let’s say that you are hiking beside the Delaware River this past week. It’s snowy and icy by the river’s edge so it’s not surprising when you lose your footing and slip into the icy waters of the Delaware. It’s your lucky day because it so happens that Glenn Salt, U.S. Marine is out for a run after having lifted weights for an hour. This strapping young man pulls you out of the water and sets your feet on solid, firm ground. You are freezing, but you are alive. You have been saved.

            When you hear of a Savior tonight think of a strong arm snatching you from danger.

THE MOUSE IN THE SINK

            To best understand salvation you must start not from a place of comfort and ease but instead a place of anxiety and trembling. Let me tell you a true salvation story that happened right here at Thompson Church.

            About a month ago, I was working here one day. Lunchtime arrived and I walked into our lovely, spacious kitchen to get my lunch together. As I was cutting up my fruit and mixing my tuna fish, I happened to look into one of the sinks. I noticed that there was something small and furry in the bottom of the sink. It was a mouse.

            Mr. Mouse didn’t look so hot. He was curled up in a ball and shivering. He had fallen into one of the deeper of the new sinks in the kitchen. The sink is ten inches deep and lined with polished stainless steel. Mr. Mouse stood about two inches tall. Mr. Mouse wasn’t getting out of that sink without help.

            Christmas really starts to make sense if you are having a Mr. Mouse moment. If you are in a desperate situation, something like sitting in the bottom of a stainless steel sink five times bigger than you are. All of us, without exception, fall into the sink at some point. In every lifetime, there are moments when we turn from God and walk away from Him. We end up in a sink because we have an out-of-control habit or addiction in our lives. We end up in a sink because of selfish inner attitudes that make us impossible to live with. We end in a sink when God is pushed out of our lives. It is from the vantage point of a sink that salvation makes sense.

WORKING ON THE WRONG THING

            Ryan Murphy was once a journalist who later created the TV series, “Nip Tuck”, a show about plastic surgeons in Los Angeles. As a journalist, Ryan Murphy went undercover to report on plastic surgery in Beverley Hills. He visited plastic surgeons. At the time Ryan Murphy was a healthy, fit young man. But after his visits to these plastic surgeons, he started feeling insecure about his appearance.  In one office, a surgeon asked him, “So tell me what you don’t like about yourself?” That question opens every episode of Nip Tuck.

            In his research into plastic surgery, he met several people who had undergone multiple operations to fix numerous parts of their bodies. Without exception, every one of those patients who had bellies tucked, chins lifted, and breasts enlarged, were incredibly sad people. It became obvious to Ryan Murphy that they were working on the wrong things.

            If we go back to Mr. Mouse as he sits shivering at the bottom of the sink he doesn’t need a plastic surgeon right then to improve his looks. That’s not the thing he needs to work on. And Mr. Mouse doesn’t have to focus so much on his mouse career either. Mr. Mouse doesn’t need a promotion. At that moment, Mr. Mouse doesn’t have to worry about how well decorated his mouse hole is. Mr. Mouse doesn’t need a home decorator. Mr. Mouse doesn’t need an image consultant or a personal trainer. Mr. Mouse doesn’t need financial advice either. Mr. Mouse needs one thing and one thing only. He needs a Savior.

Mr. Mouse needed a Savior right then and there. He needed a loving, compassionate and powerful Being to help him get out of the sink. I ended up being the Savior of Mr. Mouse.  I grabbed a small bowl and a small plate for a lid and I carefully and gently scooped up Mr. Mouse and walked him outside deep into our cemetery and let him go.

A WIDE OPEN SPACE

            The act of getting scooped out of the sink and set outside was an act of salvation for Mr. Mouse. When I say that I am saved I am not, as our culture seems to think, that I am better than other people because I’m not. Speaking for myself, I’ve been in the sink more times than I care to remember. What I can say is that I’m out of the sink today because of my loving, powerful God, my Savior. It’s God’s intention that when He saves me He does so not so that I can boast how much holier I am than you, but instead that God might lift me up from the bottom of the sink.

            That’s another aspect of salvation. It has to do with peace, or to use the Hebrew word, shalom. Salvation and shalom are closely related. This peace is best described as health, wholeness, and soundness.

            I love that the Hebrew root for the word “yasha”, one word used for salvation, means “wide, open spaces.” Now we get to what God has in mind. He wants to rescue us from closed in confined places like sinks, and place us in a wide open place.  The direction of salvation is up. God is lifting me out of the sink. That journey isn’t magical or instantaneous. It’s a lifetime of real struggle and painful surrender. Jesus said salvation means picking up our cross and following Him. God wants to lift you out of the sink and stay out.

STAY OUT OF THE SINK!

            Salvation grows into a way of life, so that I don’t fall back into the sink. Here’s what needs to happen so that I don’t fall back into the sink.

• With the help of God’s Holy Spirit, I need to focus on changing my self and not my spouse or children or parents. Let God be their Savior and let Him be yours. God is committed to renovating you completely—top to bottom. So your resentment, envy, fear, and bitterness all need to go and be replaced with love, contentment, and peace.
• With the help of God’s Holy Spirit, make wrongs right. If you have cheated your work, make it right. If you have harmed your family in some way, stop it and work to make sure it never happens again.
• With the help of God’s Holy Spirit, find a church filled with freed mice—a church like this one. I love this congregation because we aren’t perfect but we are growing stronger by God’s grace. We’re leaning heavily on each other to help keep out of our own sinks.

            God is cupping you with His sure love. God’s Son, Jesus, died and by giving up His life broke the power of sin, death, and judgment over us.

            Salvation is a gift that becomes yours when you receive it. God’s Word states: If you confess with your mouth the Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart, you will be saved.

            You know what I said to the mouse as I set him free? Merry Christmas, Mr. Mouse! Merry Christmas!