ADVENTure: The Loud, Noisy, Roaring, Life Changing, Not So Silent NightShembull

The Adventure:

The world is loud and the world is messy. Now if I had to guess, you like being loud and being messy. Maybe you have a sports team and the Jumbotron doesn’t have to tell you to get loud when you watch them. Maybe you are the number one spaghetti fan, but you also don’t believe in forks. Your life can be loud and messy and that can be pretty fun. I was once in a church food fight where a fire truck was there to hose us down. It was that messy. It was the grossest thing I have ever done, it was so fun but I also had mashed potatoes in my ears.

But there’s a bad kind of messy and a bad kind of loud. Life gets messy when the friends you thought you would have for life no longer talk to you. Life gets messy when you thought you’d live in one place forever and suddenly you’re across the country because of your parents’ new job. Life can get loud when school, family, sports, friends, and hobbies all add up to be too overwhelming. Life can get loud when your friend group is fighting and you don’t know what side to take. Life can get loud when a fire destroys your house or there’s a tornado in the town where your grandparents live.

Did God make the world to be this difficult and hard? No, He did not. God made the world perfect, but as we read in the verses above, sin was brought into the world and sin broke the world. Sin is anything you say, think, or do that breaks God’s rules and breaks God’s heart. Sin breaks the world and breaks our relationship with God.

Sin is the reason there are natural disasters like earthquakes, tornados, and hurricanes. Sin is the reason why people are bullies, we disobey our parents, and people start wars. Sin makes us guilty and we cannot be in perfect friendship with God. God hated that. In the same way, you would hate a wall that separates you from your best friend: God hates sin, and to pay for our sin, He sent His one and only Son, Jesus.

The Destination:

The second part of this verse gives us hope and gives us our destination of Jesus’ birth. Just as sin and death came from one decision by one man, Adam, life came from one man, Jesus. Jesus’ decision to die on the cross to pay for our sins brings life. Where sin brings death and hurt, Jesus brings life. Jesus obeyed God and our friendship was restored with God. We celebrate Christmas because through Jesus there is life and our friendship is restored with God.

Songs For The Journey:

Light Of The World by Stonecreek Music