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The tender melody and gentle lyrics of Away in a Manger might cause you to overlook its true message, that the God who reigned in heaven took the humblest place on earth, in a hay filled, cattle-surrounded manger. In this message, Pastor Mike Novotny talks about how this song foreshadows Christ's humiliating future to save us.
The episodes are the weekly sermons from 922 Ministries campus in Appleton, WI. St. Peter is in the north part of Appleton. The CORE is our downtown Appleton campus.
Christmas Playlist
Wk 1 - The CORE
Pastor Mike Novotny
Well, good morning everyone. Welcome to week number one of this brand new series called Christmas Playlist. Back in 2019, The Washington Post published a really fascinating bit of research. In an article in call entitled “Why We Love Christmas - music”. Essentially, what they did is they looked at the Christmas playlist that most of us play, the songs that have topped the chart last Christmas and the Christmas before the Christmas before that, this is the last 10 years and what they discovered were two fascinating things. Number one, they discovered that the songs that we listened to year, after year, after year generally don't change a lot of new additions that crack the Christmas, top 10 and maybe even more fascinating is the songs that we turn to each Christmas that we play on our Christmas playlist. We're not written ten years ago or 12 years ago or 20 years ago. They actually go way, way back. Most of them to before the time that I was even born. Let me show you a picture of what the Washington Post found the top 10 songs on our Christmas playlist. Which include Bing Crosby's classic from 1942 before. My parents were even born Nat King Cole in 1946. Brenda Lee was what? “Rocking around the Christmas Tree”? That's 1958. “Feliz Navidad” 1970 and in fact on the top 10 there only two songs that were written after my birth in 1980, it wasn't for Wham's classic, which is still a great mystery of humanity, out of became a classic when I was in preschool. Then Mariah Carey's chart-topping, hit when my first whisker was popping off my face in middle school. If it wasn't for those two songs, all of them were written before my birth. And some before the birth of your aunts and uncles, your parents, maybe even your grandparents.
For a culture that loves things that are new, the latest shows, the latest screens, the latest phones around Christmas time, it turns out, we don't love the new and the novel, we love the classic and nostalgic. And it kind of begs. An interesting psychological question, why would that be Turn on pop radio from January, through October or November. And the songs are always fresh that nothing stays on the top 10 for more than a month or two or six at the most. So why would it be during this time of the year, the Christmas time, we don't want the things that are new, we crave the things that are old. Well, here's one theory answer that question at the end of the year when so many things in our life have changed. We love to end the year with something that is unchanging rock, steady and stable.
I'm not sure how good your memory is, but think back to a Christmas a year ago. Has anything changed in the world since then? As the economy changed just a little bit, some of your retirement accounts changed more than a little bit. Have the governors and leaders and politicians changed some of them. Yes. Have the laws of the land changed, some of them, yes. Of the best sports teams changed for sure, as the climate change and everything, it seems has changed and as much as I can out there in the headlines thing, it's actually under our own roofs that so much has changed. For better or worse. I bet compared to 12 months ago, so much is different about your life now than it was last Christmas. As some of you got a new job, some of you got a new promotion, or a new raise for some of your bank account has changed. It's looking a lot better or maybe not looking quite a bit worse. Maybe you've made a new friend in the past year that you're going to invite to your Christmas meal, or maybe you lost one. That was at the Christmas invitation and party last year. For some of us, the family that's going to sit around the Christmas Feast has changed. Grandmas in heaven, she's passed on. A brand new baby’s going to wear her first Christmas dress, and get pureed whatever shoved into her mouth, on a little plastic spoon. Maybe you got some new in-laws after your summer wedding. Or maybe you've lost some in-laws due to a divorce in this past year. Maybe you finally cleared that two-year mark after battling cancer. Or maybe cancer showed up for the first time 3 or 9 months ago, it's everything it's our health, our mental health, our money, our economy, the world, we live in a culture and you already know this, where everything either did change or is changing or probably will change before the next year's over. And so maybe psychologically, it makes sense that when we have to worry about all of these things all the time, maybe we just like to end the year with something. We don't have to worry about something that we don't have to learn something that's nostalgic and predictable that feels like a rock that we can set our feet upon this time of year. We talk a lot about big words like peace and joy and hope but it's hard to be still and have peace when everything changes. And so maybe this Christmas playlist makes sense. We want something that reminds us of the past, something that hasn't changed and probably won't.
Now, if that's the case, you agree with me that so many things change and we just won something steady and reliable. I'm super happy. You're here today. I'm super excited you're watching at home because today, I want to add to your Christmas playlist. I want to take some classic songs, not that are just on pop, radio in the car but classic songs that the Christian church has sung around this time of year, not just for the last year or two, but maybe for the last century or two more. I'm going back to those classic Christmas carols. And here's actually what I want to do, I don't just want to call back the nostalgia for some of you have growing up in church. And that Christmas Eve service when everything got quiet and they lit a little candle and we all sang “Silent Night'' and the organ dropped out of that. That's emotional but actually I want to give you something so much better than that. I actually want to strip away the music for just a second and have you look really intentionally at the lyrics in these classic Christmas songs? Because the truth is music, can move you for a moment. But only a message can bless you when the moment is over. Eventually the band stops playing and music loses its effect. But if it's possible in the next few weeks that I can put a message about an unchanging God and unfailing love into your heart. And whether something changes in your life, this Christmas, or next Easter, or next summer, you would actually have something rock steady and reliable to depend on. You'd have a Jesus who is the same yesterday and today and forever. And that's my goal for the next few weeks. We're gonna look back at these classic Christmas carols. If you're here live at The CORE, we're going to sing them. After the sermon is done, I hope with more meaning than ever, but just for a second. So the music doesn't distract us. We're going to not going to sing them acapella for you. Thank the Lord, or if we're just gonna look at the verse after Verse Chorus after chorus, and see the truth about this amazing God, that we have packed inside these beautiful and classic songs.
So if you're up for that, we're going to dive in. To our first song today, a classic “Away in a Manger”. Quick church show of hands. How many of you have heard or sung Away in a Manger before? As I said, my right hands down. And if you here today, are watching at home, it's your very first time, singing “Away in a Manger”. Zero votes. All right? So this is a song that lots of us know. It actually had an interesting rumor attached to it. Many people in the early years thought that Away in a Manger was written by Martin Luther, the great German Theologian. Some of the titles of the song were originally Luther's Cradle song. But it turns out, I know a Lutheran probably said that it's a good song, Martin Luther bride turns out, he didn't do it. The song was actually written in the late 1800s right here, in America, and it was almost an instant classic.
It was like that one Bruno Mars song, but just on the radio forever and ever and ever. I learned this song was sweeping the country; multiple artists were recording, multiple musical settings, different musical remixes, that all focused on this. Credible and touching song about the birth of Jesus. Now over the years people have tweaked with some of the wording in the lyrics. You're going to notice that today. But I hope you find in this classic too, and this classic text. The unchanging truth about the birth of Jesus. Here's how the song starts. “Away in a Manger. No crib for a bed. The little Jesus lay down his sweet head. The stars in the sky looked down, where he lay the little Lord. Jesus asleep on the hay.”
Now, I'm 42, I've been singing “Away in a Manger'' every Christmas season for about 42 years and if there's one word, I never thought about, not even once for all of those years, that now I can't stop thinking about, it's the word. Away.
You ever meditate on the meaning of that word? If the point was just that the Lord Jesus came down from heaven and Mary put him in a Manger. The song could say, look there in a Manger or right there in the manger, no crib for a bed but doesn't say that it says Away in a Manger What does that mean? Well, the word away. Don't have to tell you this implies a distance between two things. If I start a conversation with you in the lobby, after church, you say, Pastor, I’m going away. Don't say that, that would ruin your Christmas for you. But you're basically saying, put some distance between the two of us or if you say my, you know, my husband went away to serve in the military or my daughter went away to college. You're saying there's some significant distance between where you are and where that person is. And so the song from the very first word, once you know that the Jesus who is in the manger is Away. And how far away was he. He is the Lord. As this first verse says, two times, the Lord of Heaven Jesus is the son of God who lived with his Father and the Holy Spirit for all eternity in perfect, comfort and glory in a place where there was no struggle, no suffering and no pain. Where Saints and Angels worshipped him for years, upon years, centuries and Millennia upon Millennia, that's where Jesus belonged, and yet, here he comes way, way, way, way way, way way far away from His home.
And His place. In fact, if you want to know, just how far from the Comforts of Heaven, Jesus was think about that word Manger.
You got to know what a manger is I kind of hate how we Hallmark most of the original Christmas Story. You know, we can think of this perfectly symmetrical two pieces of wood. And just this Egyptian-like cotton straw, something like this, beautiful little ancient crib and Jesus all snuggled up and look so great. Did you get mangerr, was it was a feeding trough that barnyard animals would lick. This is kind of like saying the little Lord Jesus in a dog dish. Bring your dog licks his dish, your cat scrapes. The bottom of the bowl and barnyard animals would have taken their gritty wet tongues and licked a Manger. Now, how desperate do you have to be, mom's? You can answer this question, how desperate do you have to be to put your firstborn child in a manger? In Jesus, who was living in perfect comfort and Glory, his first moment out of the womb after Mary's arms was there. There were no sanitizing scrubs. There was not Febreze to make it smell better. Jesus was so, so far from his Heavenly home, that he came into the muck and the mud of life on Earth, he humbled himself. So His love for you was so profound. He desperately wanted to save you so badly that He didn't just come down to live away in a palace or away in a castle or way in a comfortable chair. He was born. I hope you never sing those first four words the same way, he was away in a manger. Should be like parentheses and just a bunch of exclamation points after that. The Lord Jesus became little and ended up in a manger. The one who made all the stars and look down upon them was now being looked down upon by the stars. He was so, so low in His humility and love and I think about Jesus getting into the middle of it.
I think about an epic run that I had about nine months ago. My wife Kim, my friend, Matt and I were on this trip in Israel. We're staying in a hotel right on the Sea of Galilee and right next to it is an epic national park called Mount Arbel. Now, we got up before the sun came up, we ran to the start of the trail and then we started going switching back and forth to get up on this amazing view so we can watch the sun come up over the Sea of Galilee. Does it sound idyllic? It almost was because we were not alone on Mount Arbel. The cattle were lowing.
Animals covered the side of it grazing on the hills, wild animals with big horns. In fact, I took a picture when we came across one. We're on the side of this Cliff, try not to die and right in the middle of the path. Was this giant beast with these huge horns? And we looked at each other, like what do we do now? And since Matt and I are gentlemen, we said to my wife, “Ladies first, right?” Doesn't actually made it past the cow. There were tons of them all over the place and not to be too graphic about it in church, but the cows were not just taking things into their body, They were pushing things out of their body and they weren't hiding them in the corner of the national park, stuff was everywhere. So we're trying to dodge and not die. Stepping on rocks, dirt, mud? We think it's mud but we're not quite sure. It was pretty nasty. And in fact they're a bunch of times we were so caked with stuff on the bottom of our shoes that we would find like a jagged rock, scrape it off. We got back to the hotel and stop to hose just to salvage our shoes.
But then, it hit me. This is the exact land where Jesus lived. Two thousand years ago when he was away from his Heavenly home, he didn't just live in a dirty manger and then jump to the Palace. He walked not with closed toed modern running shoes, but with open-toed sandals, These exact same trails and hills. Not that you'd have fancy running water and a swanky hotel to clean himself up. He got like right into the middle of all the things that it means to be human. And I thought about that… the King of all Kings, the Lord of the Earth, the one who made the stars is in the middle of this, in a Manger, in the muck on a cross. Not be moved by the profound sacrifice and the love that God has for us.
Which gets our hearts ready for verse 2. Now, I want to warn you. Before I show you, these words, people have used different versions of the song. The verse I'm about to share with you. Maybe isn't the one that you grew up with but don't be mad at me. All right. Here goes. “The Cattle are lowing, the baby awakes. The dawn of Salvation beginning to break. I love thee, Lord Jesus. Oh, gift from above the king of the heavens forever with us?” I know, I know. It's supposed to say, “the cattle are lowing. The baby awakes. The little Lord Jesus.” Can you finish this with me? No, no crying. He makes, right, but but something about said is that true? Once again, let's not make this a beautiful Hallmark moments. Jesus, you know, it was Mary didn’t sweat or grunt. Joseph didn't really run around the manger and totally panic. Jesus, never cried. They just put him in his feeding trough. He is the peace. Is that true? Some people have said, well, do we know Jesus was a baby? Babies cried. Jesus, likely cry, no crying. He makes and so this author has chosen to tweak the lyrics and I love the update. The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes. The dawn of Salvation beginning to break. That's a great line. The dawn is the start of something, the dawn of a new day. And this case it's the dawn of salvation. So the act of saving us, it started with the conception and birth of Jesus that led through his life to the cross and to his resurrection. And I would say to you, that you really understand the joy and relief of the Christmas season. In fact to really understand what the Christian faith is all about, if you're kind of new to church, that it is so, so essential to define that word salvation in an emotional way. So we thought we talked about that a lot in church, don't we? Jesus Is Our Savior. Here's the dawn of Salvation. We sometimes ask have you been saved were saved by grace. You know what that word means? Saved means to be rescued from a horrific danger.
Like something unthinkable just chills you to like, that was about to happen and someone or something rescued us. So we became not in danger, but safe. That's what it means to be saved. If you consider that, that if there was no Jesus in a manger that you would have been in horrific Danger,
You'd imagine that for a second, there's no Jesus, there's no manger, there's no Christmas, there's no cross. There's no Easter. Imagine it was just you living life. How do you think you would make it through death and into the presence of God?
What would you do?
Would you try to be nicer? Or cut back on some of your words. Would you give a little bit of extra to charity and maybe try to be more patient with the kids? Would you work on this part of your character or step away from drinking or smoking? Like you used to. Like what would you do? So when you get to the end of your life, you would feel confident and not absolutely terrified that you're actually going to make it to a better place.
Jesus would say whatever your answer is, however, much effort, you are ready to put in. It would not have been nearly enough and you would have been in horrific danger.
Without a manger you and I would have lived, however, good or bad, we would have died and then God would have looked us in the eye, shaking his head and said, “Go to hell.”.
And he would have been right?
Know, some of you are shocked to hear that because you've grown up in a warm and fuzzy culture that doesn't think. But just imagine if there, you are standing with all the world as a witness and God just opens a book and starts to read
The thing, you said to your dad when you were 15, The same thing you said to your worst enemy when she wasn't in the office. When you wanted to win that argument with your ex or your spouse, The depths that you sunk to. It is no commentary. Just read the bare facts of the worst moments of our life, who of us would look around to the angels, and say “I'm worthy.”
The answer is no one.
Listen, if on the main road that came into church today, God put up a single billboard with your three worst sins, I guarantee you you would not have walked into this church.
And so, thank God, Jesus is in that manger. Before you and I had to face death trying to be good and knowing we could never be good enough. Thank God, that the little Lord Jesus came down and the dawn of Salvation began to break. Thank God that you and I don't have to hope and pray and strive and sweat thinking, “Am I good enough? Am I not good enough?” Instead, we can look at the Jesus who started there and ended there and know that we don't need to be afraid. There's forgiveness for everything we've done wrong, but the blood of Jesus takes everything bad in that book and erases it and gives us a whole new story. For the book of Hebrews talks about the birth of Jesus. It says this in Hebrews chapter 2 since the children have Flesh and Blood since you, and I are human. Jesus to Shared in their Humanity. So that by his death. He might free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
It's important. First, understand what it means. We would have been so afraid to die. We would have been enslaved to that fear. Am I good enough? Am I going to hell? Can I make it to Heaven? Jesus fixed it! He shared in our Humanity. So he would have a life to give on the cross that by his death, he might free all of us so that we would not have to be afraid. I hope the next time you see a picture or a painting of Jesus, in a manger instead of saying, oh, how cute you say, Thank God. I hope the sight of your savior. They're not your teacher, your instructor, or your counselor, your savior in a Manger is the greatest relief because it is the only way to be saved. That's why the song says, the dawn of Salvation. Beginning to break, I love thee. Lord Jesus. Oh, gift from above the king of the heavens. The only one who can save forever with us.
Three men, whose boat sank off the coast of Louisiana. In early October I believe of 2022. Three guys were boating when their boat sank and for twenty eight straight hours, they were stranded, actually tied together with their ice chest. I have something to sit on. But then the sharks came. One of the sharks, you can find this picture on the internet, actually lept out of the water and with his jaws, ripped off the front half of one man's life vest. He had to take his thumbs and gouge the shark in the eye. So it's scurried away but it would be back and it would bring friends. One of the men, desperate knowing the horrific danger, he jumped into the water and swam. His cell phone at 1-2 percent left on the charge. He was looking for a signal and by the grace of God, the sheer grace of God, he found a single signal. Screenshotted his location sent it to someone just before his phone died. Other men were there floating on the ice chests, around them for blacktip sharks circling and hungry. Until they heard in the distance and the Coast Guard copters, helicopter appeared.
Can you imagine how that must have felt?
We are about to something unspeakable is about to happen to us until someone else saves us.
That's just like Christmas.
The little cries of that little infant. Are the blades of the chopper coming to save. Is that just some heartwarming story like on Hallmark that we lost love and then Prince Charming walked into the room. Know this is us about to die and suffer, the punishment of our sins until God in his great love. Gives up everything he has to give us everything that we need. And so when you see baby, Jesus there, when you sing these songs, when you remember “Away in a Manger”, remember the dawn of Salvation, a savior given to you.
And if you believe that, that because of your sin, you deserve to go to hell. But because of Jesus, you won't come anywhere near it. Only then, are you prepared to sing the last verse of this song? Here's how this modern rendition goes. “I worship you Jesus, for all of my days. The highest of Praises be unto your name. My God, and my savior, my king and my friend. Yours is the glory forever. Amen.”
I love that rendition, it's a praise party for Jesus, right? The honor, the glory, the praise all of my days. It's all yours. Jesus in a few minutes. Some of you are about to sing that but before you do, I need to understand what you're singing. I worship you, Jesus.
You know, that means Jesus. I'm willing to do whatever you want. Because you're worth it. This was packed into the word “worship”. Jesus, whatever you want me to do, whatever you want me to stop, whatever you want me to start, whatever you want me to change, not my will, but yours. That's what it means to worship Jesus, if you're going to sing this song from a sincere heart. You're basically saying to Jesus, “Blank check. You tell me what you want. I will live the rest of all of my days, trying to serve you saying, your will be done to the best of my ability.”
And that's a huge thing to say, in fact, that might be the reason that some of you are kind of tentative about church or the Bible or the Christian faith because you know, there are some things that you do or like to do or are orientated to do that are different than what Jesus says. Yeah, it's like your hand in your whole life hopes and dreams over to Jesus and saying whatever you want, you're worth it. It again, every desire you're taking, your sexuality, your dollars, your cents or budget, your retirement, your career, your relationships, and you’re saying to Jesus, “Doesn't matter what I want, what do you want? Not my will but yours be done. I'm not going to lean on how I see the world or understandings. I'm going to trust in you with all of my heart.” That is He that massive. That's the most important thing. You could probably say about Jesus. You are so good and so worthy and so worth it that I will worship you. And it might be hard and Nnatural perfectly, but I'm going to try to follow you and be your disciple even if I have to deny myself and take up a cross. That's a huge thing to say He's got it, it wasn't warm and fuzzy Church were, didn't you? We worship you Jesus, know anything and everything. Jesus is yours because you're worth it. But I want to tell you today before I say, man, he's worth it. What Jesus wants to give you is so absolutely worth it that whatever you need to change, whatever it costs you to repent. You will never regret. When I was a junior in college, I was pretty serious about college Spanish. I professor professor basis. His name was, we called him Profe, and he was pitching this big college immersion trip. Go study in Ecuador for four or five weeks. I was a college kid, I barely had any money. I was working the summers during my breaks, to save things up, and I had to make a choice. Have this amazing once-in-a-lifetime trip to Ecuador with my college classmates and one of my favorite professors or buy an engagement ring for my first-ever girlfriend. And I made that Professor so mad. I said, that sounds amazing. But I'm gonna give all this up. Because this woman is worth it.
Yeah, so thank you. I know my wife gave you ten bucks to clap that she and for years. He gave me, “You should have been on the trip. You shouldn’t have missed it. It was like, I bet it was, but my choice was worth it.”
There comes some times in life where to do things that God doesn't like could be so fun for you and they could be so comfortable for you and so easy for you. But anyone who gives up all the things they have to follow, Jesus knows I'm no fool. If this is the god who would be Away in a Manger, so the dawn of Salvation could break, he is, he's worth it and I will worship you, Jesus. He's not just a mean. God telling me how to live my life. Did you catch the song? He's my God, and my savior, he's my king. And my friend, the King of all the universe says he's my friend. The God who needs nothing, decided to give me everything and become my Savior. That is why I will sing these words from the heart. I worship you. Jesus not just today for all of my days, not just some praise. Is the highest of Praises. Be unto your name. My God, my Savior. My king and my friend, yours is the glory forever. Amen.
What a sweet song. The heartstrings with that nostalgic Melody, but it is so much more Jesus in a manger coming to save. It's nothing new novel in the song, but maybe that's not what you need this Christmas. Maybe you like me. Just need the old, old story of Jesus and His love.