No Room—A Christmas Message | Rev Elisha Satvinder

This morning, as we think of Christmas, some would say this is an odd title for a Christmas message. Well, if you’ll bear with me for the next few minutes, let me take you through a journey, and you can think for yourself at the end of it: Hey, is there room in my heart, in my life, for the one who makes all the difference in life and eternity?

So, you know, Christmas is a miracle—the miracle birth of Jesus. Here is the Virgin, a 17-year-old, very young teenage girl, and she has an amazing encounter with the Archangel. He comes with a message and says, “You are highly favored, and you’re going to have a child.” And she says, “I’m not married; how am I going to have a child?” And he says, “The Holy Spirit is going to come, and He is going to work a miracle in you, and this miracle is going to be for the salvation of all men.”

So, in some sense, I call it the Merry Miracle. But if I go a bit further this morning, I want to say to you: all of us, at some point, in some place of our life, in some area, are looking for a miracle. This morning is your opportunity as well because it’s not just Mary’s Miracle. God invites us into a miracle of our own lives.

He does. So, Mary conceives miraculously, and we follow the story almost every year in December. But we can meander through the malls and various places and think of the Christmas tree, Mr. Claus, and gifts and whatever not, but fail to look at the miracle that’s knocking on all of our hearts’ doors. There’s a miracle waiting for all of us, no matter who we are, what our age is, where we are at—whether we are wealthy, whether we are poor, whether we are educated or not educated—that miracle goes across for everyone.

And it comes the day where Mary is now going to give birth. But historically, what happens in Palestine is the ruler says everybody goes back now to the place where they were born because we’re going to take a census. We want you to register yourself and your family.

So the whole place is up in busyness. Why? It’s not just Bethlehem that is filled with people. All over, there are people. Why? In some sense, we call it “balik kampong,” but this balik kampong is not for Hari Raya or any holiday, but it’s a place where they’re going back because they need to register their family.

So you can imagine—all the Grab cars are full (modern-day version, huh?). All the MRTs are packed out. AirAsia is making roaring business, okay? Batik Air, Malaysian Airlines, everyone—you know, the trains, everything is packed out. Airbnb hasn’t had it so good before. Why? Everybody is going back home to register their family.

So you can imagine, like if you’ve gone to the mall where they say everything is 70% discount, you see—I saw a glimmer in everybody’s eyes—“Which mall, Pastor? How come I don’t know?” Yeah, everybody gets excited. “Wow, it’s 70%!” And you go to the mall—which I dislike at this moment because everybody wants a bargain—and they are pushing, pushing each other, jostling. They’re doing all kinds of things. Why? They want that particular bargain.

So that’s what’s happening in Bethlehem. Everybody is going back. And you can imagine the crowds—not because Pavilion had a 70% discount, but they needed to rush to go and register. And while they are there—ladies, you would know this better, those of you who have given birth—her water bag breaks. She knows she’s going to give birth. But there is no place for her.

They have to find, and they find this place where, actually, the animals are at. And we hear, “Away in a Manger.” Actually, the word “manger” is where they feed the animals. So you can imagine this Merry Miracle, this gift of God. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” This one that we celebrate—the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the Savior of the world, the soon-coming King who will come and judge the world, judge right and wrong, who will come back and respond to all our hearts’ desires to respond to Him, to say, “God, I believe in You”—this baby is born in the most ridiculous of places.

So the first scripture I would like to draw your attention to is in Luke 2:7: “And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available for them.”

If I can draw your attention to a few things today: one is, would you consider with me the tragedy of “no room.” Have you traveled before and didn’t make the reservations, and there’s no place to stay? It’s quite frustrating, isn’t it? It’s very frustrating.

So the tragedy—on this night, as we’re celebrating Christmas, on this night that split history in two, the world’s Savior is born. But not in a palace. You would think somebody with that much of a title and pull is going to be born in a better place, isn’t it? Today, we’re all spoiled for choices. We have all these new, spanky-looking hospitals, and everybody wants the best hospital to give birth. And we can spend thousands of dollars in it versus General Hospital.

We think of this: He is not born in a palace. He is not even born in a humble guest room. He’s not. He’s born in a manger. Why? Because there was no room for Him. So this tragic moment is more than just a quaint moment for the Christmas story. If I can say this to you, it is actually a sobering reflection of the condition of the human heart. It’s a sobering reflection, I would say, of the human heart.

We live in a world that constantly pushes God away to the margins. We have this woke philosophy, this cancel culture. Yeah, it’s very prevalent. Trust me, if you take a good look, we all have some level of wokeness in us and cancel. We cancel people out. But you know something? When we understand this baby, He never cancels. In fact, He adds, and He draws us into a new life.

We always push God out. Why? Because that’s where change comes in—our hearts. So we live in this world. But the question I want to ask us at this beginning point is the same question that was asked then: Will we make room for Him? Will we make room for Him?

Today, I want to specifically speak to two groups of people here—two kinds of people—and those in between, huh? Those who have never made room for Jesus in their lives—never. You absolutely have shut the door, double-locked it, triple-locked it, put iron bars all around it, and said, “No room, not now.” And those who once did but whose hearts have grown cold, or through some circumstance, we just feel that, “No, I don’t want this.”

I would like to speak to two hearts today. Both—and all of us today—face the same choice this Christmas morning. We face it: Will we give Christ the manger, or will we fully welcome Him in our hearts? See, we have a choice. We can relegate Him to the manger.

See, we have a choice. We can relegate Him to the manger.

So, I want to begin with this unique gift of Jesus. See, Jesus is not just another historical figure—haram, no. Yeah, Malaysians, you should understand this. The older generation understands this better; the younger generation, okay, yeah. So, we used to have that over TV, isn’t it? When we had TV—not Netflix—we actually had only one control. Oh, you had to get up and turn the TV on and get up and switch it off, okay. So, we used to have this, “Today in history…”

Jesus, though we’ve made Him a historical figure, is not just another historical figure. He is the answer to humanity’s deepest needs, your answer to your deepest needs. See, Jesus’ birth was a divine—was a heavenly intervention. God intervening in our lives. See, the angel proclaimed to Mo—to—I almost said Moses, but yeah, this is Joseph. What did he say to him? He said, “You are to give Him the name Jesus.” Very specifically, “You have to give Him the name Jesus because He will save His people from their sins.” That’s you, that’s me, that’s all of us.

No figure in history, my friends, pause and think about it, no figure in history has ever been born for this purpose. Never. He’s entirely God, He’s fully man, but He is uniquely qualified to reconcile us back to God.

Imagine with me a thought here—a story—not a story, an illustration. Think with me. Imagine you are diagnosed with a life-threatening, life-ending disease. It’s critical. Time is ticking. And I pondered on this; this was actually so real. Late last night, I get a text from a dear friend—some of you may know him—C.B. Samuel. His wife passed away. She’d been battling in the hospital for weeks, and we were all praying and saying, “God, touch her.” But they were looking for a specific surgeon that knew exactly how to deal with that particular life-threatening condition. Unfortunately, they couldn’t.

But what if you are diagnosed with something that way, and only one doctor offers you the only cure? And instead of taking that cure, you begin to question the doctor’s qualifications, and you look for alternatives. Now, it may sound like a very simple illustration here, but I think many of us treat Jesus the same way.

We are all seeking answers for success. We seek answers where? In success. We think the answer for life lies in how much money we can gain. We all look for success in one way or the other. But He offers it to us, and we look for alternatives. We look for it in relationships. We look for it in sex or in other religions or in drugs or some high somewhere—education, different country. We are always looking for something. So deep inside us, there is this empty vacuum, but only one room can be filled with that one person, and His name is Jesus. And we constantly struggle to fill that room up.

He is the way, He is the life, He is the truth, and that is with clarity—crisp, clear clarity. Only He can bring that meaning. So, in a world filled with confusion, competing philosophies, Jesus stands apart. His birth is not a myth; it’s not a legend, but it is a divine act of love to address the root problem—the brokenness of mankind, which is what? Sin.

Have we recognized the uniqueness of Christ? Have you recognized it? Or are you searching for meaningless substitutes? So, we look for cheap substitutes. You say, “Hey Pastor, cheap, meh? I think my $20,000 salary is not cheap—it’s good because I can sustain myself. My business deals are not cheap. Hey, that’s money!” Hey, we look for cheap substitutes or temporary substitutes. “I want a better car, a bigger car. I want a better office. I want a bigger home.” We are always looking for that. But you know what? That room remains empty because all this has become cheap substitutes.

That doctor is the only one who can fix that problem, but we will go to different places, and we think Panadol might work. And that’s the tragic story of my auntie many years ago. She actually had cancer, and she was in pain. And my uncle—seriously, an educated man, a headmaster of one of the best schools in the country—fed her with Panadol every day until it was too late. So, we can be popping Panadol, thinking it eases it, until one day we realize we’ve made the wrong decisions.

Why do we make no room? Well, we looked at Bethlehem a few moments ago. I would say Bethlehem’s excuses are our excuses today. It’s the same. Bethlehem was busy, so busy. When they did the census, it brought the crowds in. It was fantastic for business; it was perfect. Man, 7-Eleven shelves are empty. Hey, all the supermarkets—everything is gone. Bread is gone. Butter is gone. Milk is gone. Everything gone.

Can I ask whoever it is to kindly mute your phone? Everything—it’s just gone, gone, gone. It’s so busy. Crowds everywhere. The space is gone. People are preoccupied. So, the greatest event in history happened unnoticed.

So, the greatest event in history happened unnoticed. So, what am I asking you this morning? On December 25th, we celebrate Christmas. But let us not miss what it is all about. What is it all about? It’s about Christ. It’s about whether we have room or no room.

People were preoccupied. The busyness is echoed by what Jesus laments later to the people, and He says, “You did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” For us who have never opened our hearts, refused to open our hearts, and for those whose hearts have grown cold. But we think it’s not cold because, like the innkeeper, he never rejected Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. He just said, “I have no room, I have no time. Sorry, look, I can’t do it right now. I’m so sorry, I can’t.” And that could be us.

I catch myself so often in the midst of work. I forget the God who gave me the work. In the midst of our busyness, we forget the one who we say, “Bless the business, bless our jobs, bless our pay, bless this, bless education.” And we say, “But this room? Sorry, Chief, no room.”

So think with me. In 2024, as we bring the curtains down, just five days more, it’s Happy New Year—not Merry Christmas, all right? Deadlines to meet. Yesterday, I was in the office, and I was going through different things. I was reading through this, and I had my to-do list. And I can’t—this is no joke—I actually broke out in a bit of a cold sweat because I looked at my whole list of things that I needed to get done by the 31st of December. And I looked at my schedule, and I said, “Are there meetings I can cancel?” Because what I have to get done doesn’t seem to fit in these few days. I don’t have enough time. And then I caught myself, and I said, “I’ve grown too busy over different things. I’ve grown very busy.” Because at the end of the year, I realize I’m also maybe compromising by not giving Him the room.

So, we have this endless deadlines to meet, social media. And maybe last night you were social with social media, right? Early morning—one TikTok after the other. TikTok and TikTok and whatever not. You know, one video after the video. You realize something, especially young people—you realize, actually, it’s not just the young people. Everybody here, you realize, you’ll say, “One more,” and then one hour later, it’s still “one more.” Confession is good for the soul. And we go on, and we go on. And we say, “I’m tired, I’m busy.” This is a blessing, but there’s also a devil in it.

So think with me. Endless deadlines to meet. Social media—scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. Shopping malls packed. We are consumed with busyness and noise. We are like that innkeeper. Like I said, I will call him the proverbial innkeeper. “There is no room right now, Jesus. Maybe later.”

Dear friends, most of the time, later never comes until it’s too late. Later never comes. Actually, what could be some of the common excuses? I’ll give you a few. There are plenty more. I’ve mentioned this one already: “I’m too busy. I’m too busy.” Modern life leaves us no space for reflection. We are always busy, busy. Yet Jesus says this: “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world?” I’m after what is the whole world for me? Success. What’s the whole world for me? Better education, graduating with honors. What is the whole world for me? Getting out of Malaysia and going to another country. Getting away from my parents. What is the whole world to me? Getting a five-figure salary, a six-figure salary. What is the whole world to me? A better place to live in, a bigger place to live in, a better address. I want a spouse. I want whatever. What could this be? He says, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world—” There’s nothing wrong in achieving success. Do not get me wrong. Absolutely no issues in getting things. Absolutely not. But if things put a padlock on that door, then it’s dangerous. It says here, “Yet forfeit their soul.” Because later never comes. Are we trading eternal life for temporary distractions?

The second excuse is this: “All religions are the same.” “All are the same, I mean, all gods are the same, right?” Jesus’ claims are exclusive. He’s the only one who defeated death and hell and offers eternal life. That’s exclusive. I don’t remember anybody else saying that.

And the third excuse, these are the big categories: “I’m not ready. I’m not ready.” It’s like you know that your heart is beating. You go and propose to this girl or this guy and says, “Huh? You’re that serious? I’m not ready.” Oh, your world is shattered, you know? I mean, maybe you go into a few languages, then you’ll all understand. Think of it—the sense of rejection, broken heart—not ready.

Like the innkeeper, the innkeeper intrigues me, actually. We all think we will have time later. But the Bible warns us with this one thing. It says, “Now is the time of God’s favor. Now is the day of salvation.” Now is the day. I would say, not later. Now.

So, what’s our excuse? What’s your excuse? What’s my excuse?

See, the manger reminds us of a few things. When we don’t make room for Christ, we give Him leftovers. And this is not the problem only of someone who says, “I’m not opening the door,” but those who know Him but refuse to let Him in. We give Him leftovers.

This Christmas, I want to encourage all of us: don’t push Him away. Christmas is because of Him. Don’t push Him away because of busyness, because of doubt, because of success, because of procrastination, because of anything else.

The third thing would be this: I want to talk about the life-changing power of making room—what it actually does to us. See, when we make room for Christ, He transforms everything. We all—you know Dignity, we said, “Transforming lives through quality education.” We all look for some form of transformation.

We go to the store, and we want something—cream to put on—and we want to be transformed. Tomorrow morning, we look like Cinderella, or, you know, all those movies—the cartoons that we see over TV or whatever it is. We want to be transformed. We want to go to a place and say, “Okay, can I look better now?”

Remember, all of you—some of you are going to go and get gym memberships because the new year is coming. I’ve said this many times, but by the time March comes, gym membership? Parked already. Tunai already. You know, all the hype? No more. Yeah.

So, the thing is this: we want transformation, but we are not patient. We don’t let Him in. Those who made room for Jesus—whether it’s Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, or the wise men—they had a life-changing joy.

There are two scriptures we read here. It says, “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” The next one is this: “On coming to the house, they saw the child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”

The shepherds rejoiced. The wise men worshipped. What an amazing story. Why? To make room, dear friends, for Christ is to invite transformation, is to invite peace and eternal life.

Let me give you one last illustration, and I want to land this morning. Picture a neglected room in a nice home. It’s got a lot of stuff in it. But yet, this room is the most critical room. And finally, the owner one day decides to open that room. The switch doesn’t work, so he kind of stumbles his way through the room, gets to the window, draws the curtains open, and throws open the windows. And now this bright sunshine comes into that room, bringing a whole different meaning to that room—bringing clarity, bringing purpose.

And that’s the same thing about our hearts. This happens for us. Transformation only happens when we open the door. And the thing is this: Jesus doesn’t just enter—He renovates and restores. And we all know that word. You see, Jesus doesn’t demand perfection before entering.

I really want to invite you to listen to this. I was having this conversation a couple of years ago—a very successful young lady. Very successful young lady. I think most men would be very intimidated being around her. She’s earning five figures a month. She’s an amazing salesperson. She drives the whole thing for her company.

And she actually had come to help at the farm. So, we are both painting, and she’s talking with me. And we’re painting this different part. And in the midst of the conversation, I kind of detect something that’s going on in her head and in her heart. So, I said, “Okay, I want to continue this conversation and see what’s exactly happening.” Because on the outside, she’s all good.

And finally, she says—I said, “Hey, can I invite you to church?” She says, “I have a bargain with God.” I said, “Wah, bargain? Okay. Share market went to Jesus?” Okay, I mean, being a bit silly, you know. I said, “Oh, really? Bargain?” I said, “Enlighten me. Please, tell me about the bargain.”

She says, “You know, Pastor, this is where I live.” Wah, expensive place. “That’s the car I drive.” Very nice. She said, “I’ve got two other cars.” Wah. I said, “You want to give one away or not? I humbly accept.” And she started talking. She said, “I told God I will clean this part up of my life, and I will finish getting these things done. Then I will.”

We continued talking. And I said, “You know, my dear friend, you will breathe your last and never be able to do it. It’ll be too late. Because you cannot have this transformation and change by yourself. Only One will make it happen.”

It was a long conversation, but she began to reflect and connected later. And she told me, “I’m moving on, I’m traveling. But that conversation made me think again.” Because I said this to her: “God is not expecting you to be perfect. Remember where He was born? Hey, not in a palace, not in a fancy place. But He came to seek and save such as you and me—broken lives, good lives, shattered lives, arrogant lives—whatever life.”

He came to save, to restore, to build, and to reconcile us back to God. That’s Christmas—to reconcile us back to God. Jesus always meets us where we are at. And in the midst of emptiness, He will bring that fulfillment. Why? Because we are looking for cheap substitutes.

Why? Because we are looking for cheap substitutes. “When I get married… if I get married… when I get to eat this… when I get to travel here… when I get to do this…” It’s always something else. But it’s temporary. It’s temporary. It’s temporary.

We can never get this unless we open the door. This is what the Bible says. Jesus says this: “Here I am. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and”—smack him? No. What? You see, we are so afraid because we think God is going to take away something. Oh, and He says what? “Eat.” Wah, this is the favorite pastime of Malaysians. But what does that word “eat” actually mean? He says, “Look, I’m interested in your life and to give you life. I have come to give you life and life more abundantly. I’ve come here to bring a satisfaction to your hunger that only can be satisfied by me. I’ll come in and eat with that person and they with me.”

So, I stand. This Christmas, my request is: don’t leave Him out. Open your door. Let Him in. So, this Christmas, Jesus stands at the door of your heart. Very personal. It’s you and Him. But I have a choice. Will I leave Him out, or will I let Him in? Will I welcome Him, or will I say, “Not now”?

If I’ve never made room for Him, well, today is the day to accept Him, to make that room, and say, “Be my Savior. Be my Lord.” To the person who has never, ever made the decision to let Jesus into your heart, for whatever reasons that are best known to you, Jesus offers you the greatest gift. Christmas is about—we talk about Christmas is about giving. Yeah. “For God so loved the world He gave.” That’s the greatest gift.

You see, we’re all going to pick something up from the Christmas tree, or maybe not the Christmas tree—people are going to give. But that gift that you get is temporary. If it’s food, it’s gone. If it’s shoes, they will wear out. If it’s makeup, you will consume it. If it’s a handphone, the shelf life will disappear soon. If it’s clothes, they will wear out, or we’ll outgrow them. Whatever that gift may be that you have been longing for this Christmas—you know, “Santa Claus is coming to town. You better be good because he’s going to look at your list: have you been good or have you been bad?”—and Jesus says, “That’s not my issue. It’s because you’re bad that I’m coming, and I’m saying, I have life for you.”

Santa Claus is a cheap imitation but yet thrives on the miracle—reindeer flying around. We love it. But yet, this One comes with the most miraculous birth because He says what? “There’s a miracle waiting for each of you.” And the moment you open your heart, that miracle begins to transform you. That miracle transforms you. That miracle works in your life. That’s the greatest gift. When you unwrap it, it never ends. In fact, it gets sweeter each day as we walk with Him, we know Him, we let His Word change us and transform us. That gift just gets better and better and better.

For those of us who have drifted off—busyness, success, whatever it may be—come back. Rediscover that joy, that real joy. You realize joy is brought to us by aesthetics—temporary. I eat, I feel joyful. After that, hungry, upset again. It never satisfies. And that’s why God is eternal. The gift of salvation is eternal. It goes beyond the temporary.

So, we are all looking for cheap substitutes for peace. The world is trying to broker peace in a world ridden with war. We are looking for peace treaties. Only One brings peace. His name is Jesus, the Prince of Peace. And until we respond to Him, we will continue to kill each other. Homes will continue to break. We will continue to walk away. Money will continuously drive us. Divorce will take place. Abuse will take place—until we open that room and surrender our lives to Him. But we must make room.

I am not going to ask you to lift your hand or stand, but I’m going to invite you to do two things today—this Christmas. Oh, three things. The first thing, I’m going to ask you to stand with me. So, because if I say two things, but I ask you to do the third thing, you say, “Eh, lousy, three things!”

I want to invite you to pause for a while. Christmas. We’ve sung the carols. We’ve gotten busy. We’ve got new clothes. We’ve got everything nice. We want blue skies, the turkey—everything. But it’s temporary. It’s temporary.

Maybe I’ll say it philosophically: Christmas is every day because the gift of eternal life unfolds each day in our lives. So, I want to invite you to do two things. We’re going to pray a prayer. I invite all of you to pray. This is no hypnosis. It is between you and God, no matter where you are at in your life. It doesn’t matter where you are at. I ask you to take the first step to unlock the door. And as you pray that, pause and say, “God, I want to make room. I want life the way You have designed it. I need some renovation. I need some transformation. I need a bit of change. I’ve been chasing cheap substitutes. I’ve always thought that the next goal, the next pay bracket, the next address—that is the answer to life.” Temporary. Temporary.

I invite you to go for the eternal. And after you pray this, and you have prayed it with conviction, come up to me at the end, or anybody else here—the pastors, the leaders. Give us the privilege and the honor to pray and seal your decision. Give me the privilege.

If you have never, ever opened your heart to Him and you say, “Pastor, today it makes sense. I’ve been playing games. It’s just me—my pride, my ego, my arrogance, my defiance, my unbelief.” Dear friend, give me the honor to pray with you. Give me the privilege to pray with you.

So, I invite you. You can pray it out loud. You can pray it out in the simplest way but sincerely. Let’s pray together:

“Lord Jesus, I acknowledge that I’ve made no room for You. I’ve been distracted, doubtful, and distant. But today, I open my heart to You. Forgive me of my sins. Come into my life and take the central place. I surrender to You as my Lord and my Savior. Amen.”

The tragedy of Bethlehem is a story of missed opportunities. But your story, my story, never has to end this way. It never has to. In fact, let your story have a new beginning—today, this Christmas. We make room.