Does Your Heart Have a Door

Welcome to this 2020 Christmas special with Carter Conlon. My relationship with my own father became very strange, very difficult.

Our interactions were very, very strained. The scripture says, honor your father and your mother. And I looked at that and I said, God, this is a commandment that you gave to me. And eventually was able to win my father the Christ.

It came because I didn't close the door of my heart. Christmas has always held a special place in Carter Conlon's heart and with the entire Conlon family. And in this Times Square Church Christmas special, Carter truly believes that this Christmas, God may want you to do something a little different than what you normally do, to expand the borders of your family tent in many ways that you never would have considered before.

Carter will be reading the Christmas story from Luke chapter two, and he'll be joined by his daughter, Kate, as they explain how that first Christmas setting is very similar to ours today. Let's join them now with Does Your Heart Have a Door? I want to welcome you to the Christmas special. Does Your Heart Have a Door? Or I could say it easily this way as well. Does Your Door Have a Heart? You'll understand where I'm going with this in just a moment. I'm in studio today with my daughter, Kate, and Kate and I and Christmas go a long, long way back, don't we Kate?

Absolutely. There's a particular year we went to a country store and we bought a list of things and you remember the clerk and the people in line behind us all started to laugh because we bought a cow on a stick, a bear in a tree, all the necessities of Christmas. And it was a huge list.

Remember it was about three feet long. You know, Christmas has always been a very, very special time for Kate and I and Pastor Teresa and our family. And all of our kids and in-laws and grandkids and everybody where we get together as a family and really, really enjoy the season. And I thank God that he's done that for us.

But I'm going to be asking today for something in my own heart and maybe in your heart that maybe this year the Lord wants to do something just a little bit different in ways that you never considered he ever would. I'd like to start today by just reading the Christmas story in Luke chapter 2 and beginning at verse 1. It came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. In this census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, every one to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee out of a city of Nazareth into Judea to the city of David which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and lineage of David to be registered with Mary his betrothed wife who was with child. And so it was while they were there the days were accomplished for her to be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them do not be afraid for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord and this will be the sign to you.

You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace goodwill toward men. So it was when the angels had gone away from them into heaven that the shepherd said one to another let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass which the Lord has made known to us. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger.

You know, Kate, their situation in this particular time of the first Christmas was somewhat very very similar to ours. There was a dominant culture beginning to take over the people of God. They were being herded and corralled for the sake of just being counted so they could be taxed. I'm sure it was dangerous to travel the distance that a lot of these families had to go. You could say it was almost like a COVID time for them. People were isolated, they were afraid, they were afraid, they didn't know what the future was going to hold and really in our time we're facing something very similar now, aren't we?

Yeah, it sounds familiar for sure. Everyone scrambling to find comfort, everyone looking for a sense of well-being and I guess that really describes our day. You know, as we approach Christmas we have visions in a sense of being at home, being in front of a fire and having a nice meal and laughing and talking one with another and feeling good. I think we're desperate. Don't you agree we're desperate to feel good again as a culture, as a people? Yes, for sure.

This is very difficult for so many people, so many families, just looking for a sense of well-being again. And in this season of the first Christmas, verse 7 says there were a lot of people gathering together in an inn and these are people who profess to know God and they're getting together for the same reason. This realistically is the same thing.

This is the person. This realistically is the first Christmas. I mean, they don't call it that, but that's really what it is. And they're getting together and it's cold, it's a certain season. They're just looking for comfort. Everybody, they're religious people and that's what we can become in measure we are.

It becomes so easy when we're focused on our own comfort to declare that there's no room for those who take from us and can't give to us. I think about Mary and Joseph, for example. They show up at the door of this gathering at the inn.

I have in my mind a picture. There's a fire, there's food, maybe somebody's singing. I don't know, somebody might be reading the scriptures.

They're trying to kind of rouse up a little bit of festivity in their midst to kind of feel good about a really bad, scary situation. And suddenly there's a knock at the door of where they are and there are three people. Now, they're not married yet. They're betrothed, which was a type of marriage in that officially married yet. She's obviously pregnant.

They're having a child. And so here's a trio that kind of come to the door and they have nothing in the natural that you would see that would give to the situation. How easy it is to respond when people knock at the door of your heart and they're looking for comfort from you and you yourself are looking for comfort in your situation. And you can see how easy it is to just close the door, isn't it?

Yeah, absolutely. I never thought of that before. There's a tendency to close the door to anyone who adds to our present or reminds us of our past hurt. So I think of families getting together. And I heard Mark Lowry say from the Gaither vocal band one time that every festive season, there's always that one person that nobody wants to invite to their home, that one person that makes every gathering uncomfortable, that says the wrong thing at the wrong time, even the right thing at the wrong time.

And they just seem to be like an irritant to the whole family. And I remember Mark saying, and if you can't think of anybody right now, that's most likely... It's probably you.

It's probably you that's that person. I think of my own story. Having become a believer in Christ, my relationship with my own father became very strange, very difficult. You didn't know it because you were just a baby, a toddler at the time, but it became very strange because I had become a believer in Christ. He felt that I was in a cult and our interactions for quite a few years were just very, very strained.

It would have been easy to close it off. It would have been easy to take our family vacations and go somewhere else and do some other thing. When we would go on vacation after about day three, I'd be saying to your mom, I can't take this anymore. I just, I just can't take it.

The comments were always sarcastic or angry and there was, there was never any easy conversation between us, except for the fact that I was reading the Bible. The scripture says, honor your father and your mother, which is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and you may live long on the earth. And I looked at that and I said, God, this is a commandment that you gave to me. It's not something that I want to do right now. There's other places I would rather be. My life was, as a police officer, was tense to say the least.

And then I'd rather be in a place where I'm not tense on a two-week vacation. And yet the command of God that was given to me was to honor my father and my mother. And, you know, eventually was able to win both of them to Christ. My mom came to God probably 10 years before my dad, but he was so adamantly against it that she was afraid to hurt their relationship. So she became actually a saint. She became actually a secretive believer. She told me she believed, but she didn't, she didn't really want to talk to my dad about it because she was afraid because of his reaction towards me. My dad actually really loved you and Jason and Jared, and he was a great grandpa. The strain was between him and I because of my faith in Christ. And he really loved Christmas. Yes, he did. That's true.

He loved Christmas. You know, here's my point. To close the door to people that you should still be open to. I'm talking to families today that are out there and you're tempted to close the door to your own family, to brothers, to sisters, to cousins, to aunts, to uncles, maybe made it painful in the past, or people you don't get along with. But remember, this gospel of Jesus Christ is about eternity. The Son of God let people in that were going to hurt him. He let us in, and it was our sin that was going to hurt him. He could have easily closed the door to us, and he would be justified as God in doing it. When Mary and Joseph and Jesus came to the door of a religious society, they closed the door to him. When the shepherds came to the stable, there was no door. As far as I know, there's nothing in scripture that indicates there was a door. It says they rushed in. They came in. It wasn't necessarily convenient for Mary and Joseph and the baby at this time.

You know, you just had a baby, obviously. It's cold. They're trying to find comfort, and yet these strangers who are kind of the rag tags of society come rushing in because an angel has appeared to them, and there's no door. And I love that about God. There's no door, and he even let in the people who would hurt him. I love that thought, and it causes me to say, am I willing to let people in that would hurt me?

Am I willing to let people close that say the wrong thing? Or maybe even take our actions of kindness and go away with an evil report of it? I mean, there's a kind of a self-protectionism that is in all of us that wasn't in the heart of the Son of God, and that's the contrast. I'd really like to make this Christmas and why I called it, does your heart have a door? Is there a door that people have to knock on your heart to get close to you or to find something from you? And are there certain stipulations and conditions that kind of have to pass through before you will open that door?

It's really something that's worth thinking about. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verses 21 and 22, now this is about the body of Christ, but there is an application in it that I think applies to every heart of everyone who believes in Christ. Where Paul says, the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

No, much rather those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. This is the actual heart of God. I mean, when you consider it, I mean, God is God, right? He is self-evident. He is self-contained. I mean, he just is God. He's complete in God. He doesn't need anything to be complete. He's God. But yet, the heart of God caused him to say, I need you.

I mean, it's an amazing thing. I mean, I need the people that are going to crucify me. I need the people that are living in a way that brings my name to disgrace. I need those who have walked away from me, and they cause me heartache in a sense, even by their conversation, their behavior, whatever they do.

But yet, I cannot say I have no need of them. I mean, that's amazing. When you think that was the heart of the Son of God, which is why he said, Father, forgive them.

They don't know what they do. See, there was no door in his heart because he was the door. He said, I am the door.

And it's by me that people come in and out and find pasture. He was the way into the heart of God. He was the way into the comfort.

He was the way into that place where God dwells. In those days, and in that culture, if you couldn't get a job, you became a shepherd. You were kind of like the guy at the bottom of the scale, and you're more or less working your way up. You're like a dishwasher in a restaurant. You're hoping one day you're going to be the manager, right? Or you're the guy at the broom.

You're not even a dishwasher yet. That's what a shepherd was. And I love the fact that the angel of God appeared to these people who have absolutely nothing to offer him. It doesn't even say they brought blankets or bread.

They have nothing. Think that one through. And the angel said, this is good news of great joy for all people. And the beauty of it, as I see it, is that there's a place where God is where there is no door. You can come if you want to. I think of Jesus in John 7 when he stood up at the last day of the feast and he said, if any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

And he who believes in me out of his belly or his inward parts shall flow rivers of living water. And it was an open invitation. It was an open door.

There were no pre-terms, no pre-conditions. Just come. Just come as you are. And so the question in my heart is, how much are we like Christ? There's a popular saying that I grew up hearing. It says, don't cross an ocean for someone who wouldn't cross a puddle for you. And it seems like you're saying the opposite of that, because Christ crossed not just the ocean, he crossed eternity for us. And that's something that we could never repay.

We could never meet him halfway. And so we need to be able to cross oceans for people who can't do anything back for us. And you did that for your dad. And look in return the blessing that God has had on your life. All your kids want to spend every weekend with you.

We argue about whose house you're going to next. I think that's really profound that you have lived this out in your life. Well, you're very kind.

I was really thinking about this this morning as I was reading this passage at home and thinking God is there. And it's one of those moments where you say, I think I know, but I don't want to say. Is there somebody that comes to mind that you would just rather not have at your table? It better not be me.

No, it's not you. But I mean, I wish I was exempt from this exhortation, but I'm not. I was wondering, how much is my heart like Christ's heart? Are there certain people that I just won't let close, maybe because I'm not comfortable with them?

Maybe I'm not comfortable with their lifestyle or their views on certain things. But this is not the heart of God. It was a whosoever will may come. And not everybody received him. There's nothing in the Bible that says all those shepherds became born again.

It's not necessarily that. But they were welcome. It was the religious that were uncomfortable with him. And it seems that the sinner wasn't. The sinner became uncomfortable in his or her sin. But they were never uncomfortable with the Savior. They felt loved. They felt like they belonged in his presence. And that is something that, as the body of Christ, we need to rediscover again in our time. All of us need to rediscover what it is to let people in and close to us that we may be kept at a distance for a long time.

We need to be able to do that. The first people in are shepherds. The first people that they come piling in, they live in the field. They're not necessarily clean. Some of them may not have had a bath.

They're not the upper strata of society. They have nothing, in a sense, to offer the Son of God. But they're welcomed.

I just love that. I'm asking God for a larger heart. This year may be more so than I've ever had before. I know that surely as I'm sitting here, someone will appear that has nowhere to go this Christmas.

In the natural, you'd just rather keep the door closed because it's not convenient. But I know that God will help us as a family, you know, some families or somebody that just needs to be loved. And it was at Christmas time, after 26 years of praying, after 26 years of holidaying where I didn't want to go, after 26 years of hard conversation, I went to the hospital when my dad got a very serious cancer. And I remember coming down the hallway and walking in the door.

And it's kind of significant because there was a door and the door was open. My dad was sitting in a chair beside the door. And at the time I had seen him before that, I had talked to him again about Christ, about Christianity, about salvation. And for one of the first times ever, he actually listened to me because he knew he was going to be facing eternity soon.

I didn't even say hello. I just walked in and I looked at him. I said, have you been praying?

I hadn't seen him for maybe two or three weeks. And he said to me, I've been praying all night. And I said, would you like to pray with me now?

And he said, if you would like that, I would like to do that. And so I led him in the sinner's prayer for quite a long time, actually, you know, I want to be sure I'm a sinner. I'm lost. I can't save myself.

I need you as my savior. And I led him in that prayer slowly. And he repeated every word.

My brother was there. My brother said, you know, Dad never would have prayed that if he didn't mean it. He wouldn't do stuff like that. You know, the next hour we had the most wonderful conversation we had never had, ever. If he told me he loved me, that was not something he could say easily. We talked about eternity. We talked about what it's going to be like to get to heaven. We talked about forgiveness. And at the end of our conversation that afternoon, I said, Dad, it would be so great when I get to heaven to have you waiting at the gate for me. And he said to me, I'll be there. And that was the last three words he said to me on this earth. After I went home, I went home to see my mom and I was going to have dinner with her and he slipped into a coma.

We didn't anticipate that was going to happen, but he slipped into a coma right after he received Christ and went to home to be with the Lord shortly after that. And so those are the last words my father said to me is, I'll be there. It came, I believe, in measure because I didn't close the door of my heart. And so I'm speaking to people today that maybe you've been hurt by family. Maybe you're the only believer in your family. And maybe you've been wounded by their words. Maybe they've lied about you.

They've said things about you that really did hurt you. And you'd rather not have them around, especially at Christmas time. And even if they came knocking at the door, you'd rather pretend you're not home than open the door to them.

And they're the last people you'd probably ever want to invite for Christmas. But remember this one thing, eternity is a very, very long time and your family don't get to go there, those that are not saved, unless you become in great measure the instrument that God can use to show them His kindness. You become that person without a door in your heart, that person that lets them in even if they're going to hurt you.

In the majority part of their life on earth, they never acknowledge you, they never thank you. But as the heart of God is being formed in you, just as Jesus did, you see to it that there's no door on the manger. Anybody and everybody can come and they can find the heart of God. Kate, we can't do this on our own. We need the presence and power of God's Holy Spirit. We need the strength of God. I can't do it. You can't do it.

None of us can do it. We all have limitations to our patience and our kindness, but God doesn't. And so I'm asking Him to do something this year in my life that only He can do, that I can be kind even if somebody else is not. I can speak good words if their words are not good to me.

And maybe, just maybe, there's somebody out there that just needs a friend. I remember my dad told a story when he was fighting in World War II. He was in England. An older couple noticed him on the street at Christmas time and invited him home. And he was sitting at the table and they made a beautiful dinner for him. He said, Why are you doing this for me? And they said, Well, our son, who's about your age, is fighting in Europe right now off in some other field.

And we're hoping that somebody will do for him what we're doing for you tonight. I wonder if those people were Christians. I just can't help but wonder, you know, were they believers in Christ? Did they see a lonely soldier on the street by himself at Christmas time longing to be home, you know? And their hearts just went out.

And it's a risk. But they opened their door and they let him in. And then ultimately God opened his door at the end and let my dad in as well, and my mom.

So I just thank God for that with all my heart. If we're going to choose anything, Kate, this Christmas, let's just choose to stay kind. Kate has a ministry of giving oranges to kids in the community.

Apples, close enough to kids that are hungry that maybe, maybe just don't have enough apples at home, you know. And you've always been very, very kind. And I really appreciate that. Would you pray for the folks that are listening today as we close out today? And would you just ask God to help all of us to be just a little more kind this year?

That we'd have hearts that are open. Dear God, I just thank you so much, Lord. Thank you that you sent your son to earth as a baby, God. Thank you that you came into this world for us and for our benefit, God.

God, thank you that even when you knew that we couldn't meet you halfway, God, you still came and you gave yourself for us, Lord. God, I just pray that this Christmas season, God, that we would give ourselves for others too, God. God, I pray that when we see the one who's hurting or lonely or sad, God, or maybe the one who doesn't get invited to Christmas events or into our homes, Lord, that you would help us, God, however we can to be kind to people, Lord, to reach out to people, God, to meet them where they are, even if it means we don't necessarily get anything in return, Lord, but that we will just have your heart, God. I pray that you would make us kind, Lord, this season. God, I pray that you would make us a blessing to other people, God. God, I thank you so much that you will be with us, Lord. We love you. In Jesus' name.

Amen. And for everybody out there, I wrote a song about my dad's conversion called Where Christmas Never Ends. Like Christmas has a season, all things are put away.

New memories have been gathered once again. Where we store them all like treasures till they're greeted as old friends and we long for times where Christmas never ends. Where Christmas never ends. Where Christmas never ends. A time is coming where Christmas never ends. We'll gather round the family table till we leave this world and then go to a place where Christmas never ends. God bless you and thank you so much for joining with us today. It's been a pleasure. Merry Christmas.