MAKING ROOM FOR CHRIST
K. N. Pye
Luke 2: 1–7; 7: 36–39, 44–50; 10: 38–42; Romans 8: 6–10
I would like to encourage each one of us, young and old alike, to make more room for Christ. One of the things in the world today is that men’s lives are filled up with everything else. The enemy of your soul would fill your time, albeit legitimate, to leave no room for Jesus. I read in the first scripture because we see there the attitude of the world, there was no room in the inn. That is the world, there was no room for Jesus. That is the world still today, there is no room for God, all seeking their own things, “not the things of Jesus Christ”, Philippians 2: 21. That is the condition in the world today, men seeking pleasures, seeking to find that everlasting pleasure, constantly seeking and never finding it. You say, well there must have been plenty of room. Here was the Son of God coming into the world, here was the King of Kings coming in but there was no room in the inn. Do you have room for Him in your heart? Do you have room for Him, for that One who has done everything to satisfy the heart of God, the One who has secured everything to allow you to go into the presence of God? Here He comes into the world and there is no room at all, not even in the inn. There He is, laid in a manger; there is absolutely no place for Jesus in man’s world. Man’s world has rejected Him completely. O what a challenge that is to us as we look and walk in the world around us; how much room do we make for Jesus? How much room do we make for the things of God?
As you go on in this chapter you find that the angels were rejoicing. What joy there was in heaven when Jesus came into the world, God manifest in flesh! Jesus took up that position for your sake and for mine, but He took it up for the pleasure of God. We have spoken about that these three days, the pleasure that God had when Jesus came into the world. What joy that was to God because Jesus was born, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace”. What peace there is on the earth as a result of Jesus coming in if we make room for Him. You have to make room for Him to know that peace. The young ones, the little ones, have to make room for Jesus. You can make room for plenty of other things, there is plenty of time for other things; how much time do you devote to make room for Jesus? Consider Him, think about Him, think about what He has done? It is important for the young ones to realise that because He was your age at one time.
Jesus was born in a manger, and He grew up as a boy, pleasing the will of His Father. He says, “did ye not know that I ought to be occupied in my Father’s business?”, Luke 2: 49. He was not occupied in business for Himself, He was not occupied in things of this world, He was occupied in His Father’s business. O what a joy that gave the Father, “Glory to God in the highest”. What joy He had in that blessed One, there was great joy when He came to this earth “and on earth peace”. How was that peace to be attained? It was not to be attained lightly; it looked forward to His going into death, looked forward to the pathway that He would take, a pathway of shame, a pathway of sorrow, a pathway rejected of men. What does He say Himself, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven roosting-places; but the Son of man has not where he may lay his head” (Matthew 8: 20); there is no room for Jesus.
Can you open your heart wide to make room for Him? It does not matter how much room, He will fill it. If you give Him a little corner He will fill it, if you give Him your whole heart He will fill it; He is able to fill it. The Saviour is able to fill your heart completely and here we have this One who is born, born in a manger, and He is able to fill every single heart.
Here is the Man who is able to fill your heart and He brings in peace. This is a peace that cannot be aligned with any peace the world can bring in. Men are striving for peace but this peace is perfect; there is nothing better than the peace that is given as the result of the finished work of Jesus, “on earth peace, good pleasure in men”. Men now have a way to come into the presence of God. Without Him being born as a babe and taking the pathway He did, and going into death, there would be no way for man to go into the presence of God, it would be impossible, but now there is good pleasure in men. Why? Because God has a Man who is absolutely perfect and has fully met all His righteous requirements, a Man who was a babe who was absolutely
perfect. How quickly babes show sin in them, but here was a babe who was born without any sin. O the perfection of Jesus. We were affected this morning by the perfection of that blessed One, the perfection of His work, the perfection of everything that He did, but the perfection of the Babe, absolutely perfect, no sin in Him at all. O what a Saviour. He is able to save sinners right at this point. He is able to take men into the presence of God. It looks forward to all His work being completed, but what a joy the Father had in that blessed One. What joy do you have in Him? Do you have a joy in recognising Jesus, giving Him the place in your heart and in your affections, or are you still occupied in spending time on your own things?
I read in Luke 7 because you find here a woman who is a sinner. “But one of the Pharisees begged him that he would eat with him”. You say, there is a Pharisee and he is anxious to have the company of Jesus. Just by being religious does not make room for Jesus. The Pharisee begged Him to come to his house but then what did he do? He did not do anything, everything was done by the woman who knew the grace of the One who went into the Pharisee’s house. And there was the Pharisee, he thought He had made room for Jesus but he did not make room for Him. That is a challenge; we may have Jesus in our hearts, we may have accepted Him as our Saviour some time ago, but do we make room for Him every day?
It is a constant thing. The Pharisee thought it would make something of himself; I am sure that was what he was concerned about; to make something of myself is a thing that each one of us is prone to do, but the woman did not make anything of herself. She knew she was a sinner, Jesus knew she was a sinner; even the Pharisee knew she was a sinner, everyone knew she was a sinner. She was a nobody you might say, and that is the place each one of us needs to accept. We need to accept that we are nothing. As soon as we accept that we are nothing we find the Man in whom God has placed everything, the Man Christ Jesus. And this is what this
woman found, she found it in the house of the Pharisee. She knew He was there and she found Jesus. It says that, “and behold, a woman in the city, who was a sinner, and knew that he was sitting at meat in the house of the Pharisee”. She knew that.
Do you know where to go to find Jesus? Do you know where to go? Go into your closet and pray and ask Him to come into your life. Open your heart to Him, do not hold any of it back but open it up completely, let it all be laid bare. He knows what you are thinking anyway, He knows the thoughts and intents of the heart, He knows all things. Are you going to make room for Him? This woman made room for Him and she learns something of the grace of the Lord Jesus. There He was and she opened “an alabaster box of myrrh, and standing at his feet”. She did not take up a prominent place, that would make much of herself; there she was at His feet behind Him weeping. I think this woman knew something of what she was herself and she had come to an end of herself. She knew what it was to have love and she knew the great Lover; she knew the One who loved her. How much do we know of that? Do we know much of the One who loves us, the One who has loved us and given Himself for us? What love He has displayed. He has displayed a never-ending love, a love which took Him right into death, a love that bore everything. He bore your sins and mine in totality. What love Jesus expressed, and then this woman, she loved much too. She took the alabaster flask of myrrh and poured it all out on Jesus. She “began to wash his feet with tears”. She used herself completely, she did not hold anything back, she gave her all. How much this woman made of Jesus in her life, she gave Him her whole heart.
How much room do you give Him? Just a little? It is such a challenge. The Pharisee outwardly was a right man; outwardly he did everything right. Zacchaeus was like that too; he did everything right, and it was only after Jesus came into his house that he received the blessing. What a
blessing he received then! But this woman, in difficult conditions, laid her soul open to Jesus and gives Him her all, “having taken an alabaster box of myrrh, and standing at his feet behind him weeping, began to wash his feet with tears; and she wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the myrrh”. This box of myrrh is poured out on the feet of Jesus. It does not say she broke the box but I think the idea is that the vessel is herself. There she is and she is giving her all; she is giving everything to Jesus. How much room she gave Him. I just wonder how much room we give Him. The Pharisee spoke with himself saying, “This person if he were a prophet”. He did not understand the love of the Saviour. He did not understand the One who was there. Here is a Man who is able to forgive sins and he says, If this Man were a prophet. The Pharisee was trying to make something of himself but it does not say he said it out loud. It says he “spoke with himself”, and Jesus is able to answer him. He knows what you are thinking. He knows what you are thinking even in the preaching. You may be looking as if you are paying attention but your mind may be somewhere else. The Lord Jesus would focus your attention solely on Him and that is what He did with the Pharisee.
He said, “Seest thou this woman?”, and He spoke about what the woman had done to Him. Jesus would focus your attention on Himself. Do not have your attention occupied with other things, keep your attention focused entirely on Jesus. Give Him room in your mind, give Him room in your heart, give Him room in your soul, have your whole being occupied with Him. Why? Because He is able to fill you completely. What satisfaction this woman had, what joy she had. She knew she was a sinner, but the burden of her sins was completely removed.
“Thy faith has saved thee; go in peace”, He says. But then He has to rebuke the Pharisee, and sometimes we need a rebuke. Outwardly we may be all right but we need a rebuke. “Seest thou this woman?” Here was a woman who knew she was a sinner. I wonder if we maybe forget that sometimes. We forget what we are, just a sinner saved by grace. This woman knew the grace of the Saviour. He said, “but she from the time I came in has not ceased kissing my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint, but she has anointed my feet with myrrh”. This woman is pouring her all out on Jesus. We need to be found more like that; I need to be found more like that, pouring everything out on Jesus. He is the only One who deserves such a pouring out of this myrrh; it belongs to Him, a Man who went such a way of suffering and what it took for Him to forgive this woman her sins.
The greatness of who He is in His own Person did not diminish in any way the agony through which He had to go. What He suffered in His body on the cross at the hands of wicked men was not diminished in any way by the greatness of the Person, the Son of God, manifest in flesh, and then what He suffered at the hands of a holy and righteous God as sins were borne by Him. As He bore the burden of sin it was not diminished in any way, the penalty of sin was still met in its entirety by Jesus; it was not reduced, the full force of it was poured upon Him. Do we understand and appreciate that? If we appreciate that I think we will be like this woman and we will pour out our all on Him because He has given His all for us. He has given His all for each one of us. His precious blood shed without any consolation from anyone. We go through sufferings perhaps physically and we have the sympathy of one another. Jesus had no one, He was left alone, there was no one there for Him, none at all, despised and set aside of men, and then He had to say, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Jesus suffered alone; He was the only One who could do it but He bore the whole burden of sin in its entirety, and He overcame it and went into death and came out again triumphant and victorious. So what joy for this woman to realise that here was a Man who was going on a pathway to bear the burden of her sins and He is able to say “Thy sins are forgiven”. He is the only One who can forgive sins. O what a Saviour is available in the glad tidings today, and this woman knew something of it. She was found in a scene where there was a professing religious environment and the Pharisee has to be rebuked, but this woman is exalted because her sins are forgiven. They say, “Who is this who forgives also sins?” Men are amazed that here is a Man who has a right to forgive sins. He has a right to do it because He has borne the burden and penalty Himself. What a Saviour we have. Are we going to make room for Him like this woman did?
I read in Luke 10 because we find here that Martha receives Him into her house. You say, Well I came to know the Lord many years ago and I am glad to have the Lord in my home, but maybe I am so occupied by serving that I am not giving Him the room in my heart.
Martha received Him into her house and how fine that is. We need to let the Lord come into our houses. It is wonderful to have a home where Jesus is, where His rights are observed, where He is magnified. Martha was there and her sister and you find that there was an area there that satisfied the heart of Jesus. I read in Luke’s writing because Martha was distracted with much serving. We can be distracted from cleaving to and making room for Jesus with much serving. That is a challenge to us. We do not want to be distracted with much serving, we want to have our hearts wide open. We want to be like Mary; there she was sitting at His feet listening to His word—“Mary, who also, having sat down at the feet of Jesus was listening to his word”. Mary’s heart was wide open, she made room for Jesus. How much room she made in her heart. Martha had made the house available and how right that is. We do not want to be as those who are making their house available but then are not enjoying the joy of His company, not enjoying what He would bring in. Mary was listening to His word. It does not tell us what He was saying, we are not told what Mary was hearing; but if we do not sit at His feet and listen to His word we will not hear.
There are so many things that can occupy our time, we need to take time to sit at His feet and contemplate Jesus, contemplate the pathway He has made, contemplate the position He now has, the place He has taken up, seated at the right hand of the Father. What a place He has taken, the One whom the heavens must receive. Can you receive Him in your heart in complete totality, One who had to go into heaven? There was no concept of Him being rejected from that area, and Martha receives Him into her house. Do we receive Him, not only into our homes but into our hearts? Give Him the place that is rightly His, the place where He has complete sway. Mary’s attention was focused entirely on Jesus and what He was saying. She was not looking at Martha and what Martha was doing. Martha was looking at what Mary was doing. So often we become occupied with what someone else is doing. When it comes to the glad tidings it is an individual matter and you are responsible for yourself, not for anyone else. Once your heart is full of Christ you find that because you are so full of Him you will be telling others about Him anyway; but do not forget to have your heart completely filled by Christ yourself; stay in the joy of it. Do not be found as one who is able to speak of Jesus perhaps from knowledge but not from experience of His grace and love.
The woman in Luke 7 would be able to speak of the experience she had with Jesus, she would be able to speak of not just having her sins forgiven, but the grace she saw in that blessed One when she wiped His feet with her hair, when she washed His feet with her tears.
She would be able to express how near she came to the Saviour. Can you express how near you are to the Saviour? You have to receive Him into your heart. I think Mary shows us the example of that; “Mary has chosen the good part”. If you choose that good part it will not be taken from you. It says, “the which shall not be taken from her”. If you receive a word from Jesus it cannot be removed. The work of God is firm and immovable. Receiving Christ in your heart cannot be taken away from you, although the enemy of your heart would try to limit your enjoyment of it at the present time. Salvation is found in none other than in Jesus and it cannot be taken away. You may lose the enjoyment of it by not giving Him room, hence I urge each one of us to give more room in our hearts to Jesus.
In order to give more room in our hearts to Him we find that we need help and that is why I read in Romans 8 because the reception of the Holy Spirit is essential for life. It is essential for life to be found in each one of us. If you are going to live according to the Spirit of Christ, and your heart is filled with Christ and you are going to live according to that Man, the life that He lived, you need to make room for the Spirit of God; and so it says, “But ye are not in flesh but in Spirit, if indeed God’s Spirit dwell in you; but if any one has not the Spirit of Christ he is not of him”. That is a challenge to each one of us; do we make room for the Spirit of God? God gives in great abundance and we need to receive the Spirit and make room for the Spirit so that the Spirit of Christ might come out in us and we can know life, life according to another order of man, life that is out of death, life that is not restricted by anything in this world. Natural life here waxes and wanes. You get tired and you have to sleep. This kind of life can go on indefinitely, the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. There is a great life for us to enjoy. Then “if any one has not the Spirit of Christ he is not of him—but if Christ be in you, the body is dead on account of sin”. I think that woman we read of in Luke 7, her body was dead on account of sin. She knew she was a sinner and she came to know the Saviour. She knew the One who provided everything for her, “but the Spirit life on account of righteousness”. You know you can be perfectly righteous before God in an area where God’s desires are fully met, only in the life of Christ and in the power of the Spirit. That is the way in and you can enter into the fulness of that. I think it involves the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus being found in us so that we can come near to Him. It needs us to make room for Jesus. The world has shut Him out, the world has no room for Him at all, no consideration. I urge each one of us to make room for Him so that there is an answer secured for the pleasure of God as the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is found in us. May it be so, for His name’s sake.
Preaching at Denton
6 March 2005