Every year about this time television stations reach way back in their vaults and grab an old black and white film that I think still speaks to people's lives even today. It's a film we have all probably seen titled It's a Wonderful Life.
Its a movie about a man named George Bailey, a guy who never felt like he amounted to much in life. George had dreams of becoming a famous architect, and traveling the world, but instead of living those dreams he feels trapped in a humdrum job at a savings & loan that he felt obligated to take over when his father died. George helped many people over the years and had many friends. But through no fault of his own some money comes up missing and George gets plunged into a crisis that strains his every resource . Even though he has a great family and many friends Faced with criminal charges and the crises ahead, George Bailey decides to end it all and breaks down and leaps off a bridge into a river, and that's when his guardian angel, Clarence, comes down to show him what his community would be like without him. The angel takes him back through his life. He shows George how his job has benefitted many families, how his kindness to people and thoughtful acts have changed the lives of others, and how the ripples of George's love will spread through the world, helping to make it a better place.
Jimmy Stewart was the actor that played George Bailey and he said that during the making of that film strange things happened to him that have never happened in any other film that he had made. Stewart said that in one scene, George Bailey, broke and in despair, sits in a little roadside restaurant. Jimmy Stewart, playing George Bailey, raises his eyes and, following the script, pleads, "God . . . God . . . dear Father in heaven, I'm not a praying man, but if You're up there and You can hear me, show me the way. I'm at the end of my rope. Show me the way, God . . ."
Stewart said , "As I spoke those words, I felt the loneliness, the hopelessness of people everywhere who had nowhere to turn and my eyes filled with tears. I broke down sobbing. It was something that wasn't planned at all, but the power of that prayer, the realization that our Father in heaven is there to help the hopeless, had reduced me to tears."
A simple film with a simple message of Hope. Have you ever stopped to think just how many peoples lives have been touched by that one movie. You ever wonder how many people in the world were just like George Bailey and ready to end it all but didn't because they saw that movie and it gave them hope.
Every time I watch that old black and white movie it touches my heart. You wanna know why? because its good to see a movie about hope.
You wanna know something else? Hope is what Christmas is all about.
THE BIRTH OF CHRIST GAVE HOPE TO THE HOPELESS. It gave hope not only to me and you and the George Baileys of our world but His birth gave hope to a nation .
Even in adulthood Jesus was still giving hope to the hopeless.
In Matthew 11 Jesus Gives Hope to a Hopeless prophet.
John the Baptist was in prison. When John heard in prison news of what Christ was doing, John sent his followers to ask Christ, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" "Are you the Messiah"
Jesus' said, "Go back and tell John that the blind can see, that the lame can walk, those with leprosy have been cured, the deaf can hear, the dead are raised, and that the good news is being preached to the poor."
He didn't say John I have a lot of folks coming to hear me preach, He didn't say if you plant a seed of 39.95 you'll get something back, He didn't say I'm looking for a big crowd at the next stop on my miracle healing tour.
No He said the blind see, the lame walk , the dumb speak, I'm preaching to the poor.
He basically said "tell John I'm giving hope to the hopeless..." That's why Jesus came and that's good news.
I want you to think about something today. Have you ever been hopeless? not just down on your luck, but utterly hopeless.
I want to tell you today about a family down around the Sandy Lake Community Just outside of Jonesville La. where I grew up that was hopeless, they had no where to turn and had all but given up hope for any kind of Christmas at all. There was no Fa-la-la-la-la or nothing like that in their home it was more like the Grinch had come and taken away all of their joy and our hope.
The oldest son had just entered his teen years and their dad had both feet in a cast, workman's comp had quit paying because of a pending settlement, mom didn't work because she was raising four kids and taking care of dad. They had been eating red beans and rice for months , sometimes it might have a little sausage in it, if they couldn't raise it, kill it or catch it , they didn't eat it . They weren't able to get any government assistance and had already eaten Suzy the pet goose, they didn't think we would have enough food to last the week much less have a Christmas meal, and presents were out of the question. they were utterly hopeless all anyone could do was pray.
But guess what, the week before Christmas the Church down the road where we had gone to VBS at showed up with more than enough food to fill the pantry along with an envelope with about $200 in it , more than enough for a Christmas dinner. But I'm gonna tell you they brought much more than food and money they brought hope the hands and feet of Christ came to the front door and poured out a hope for that family.. and that ain't all, that aint all Christmas week late one afternoon about dusk a horn blew in the driveway and a Chevy Cheyenne pick up with a tarp over the bed was backing up to the front porch. It was my grandfather and uncles who lived way over in Meridian with a truck load of toys for four kids and clothes for the whole family , Santa Clause had come to town, no it was more than that Jesus had done showed up and showed out. He had brought Hope and Joy to a hopeless family He brought Love and Joy to a young teenage boy and let me tell you I aint never forgotten what Jesus gave us that December, He gave us a reason to spread the good news He gave us Hope...
Jesus was born to bring hope to a hopeless world and sometimes you and I are among the hopeless. Sometimes our hearts grow weary and our spirits sag. We need to know and remember that Christ is there when things look dark . And we have Hope.
Christmas is also about healing for the hurting. The prophet Isaiah told us " Be strong, do not fear; your God will come . . .'
"Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs." What a magnificent picture of healing and new life. It is the very thing that many people long for more than anything else either for themselves or someone they love.
I have heard testimonies from people in this church who were deathly ill some who had actually been at deaths door. But people reached out to God and cried out to Him and He answered. People who loved them prayed for them , people who didn't even know them prayed for them, people who hadn't prayed in years prayed for them. And they got better, and they recovered and they tell their stories of Gods healing grace.
The coming of Christ is hope for the hopeless and its also healing for the hurting.
THE COMING OF CHRIST IS ALSO JOY FOR ALL WHO BELIEVE. Isaiah writes, "And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness . . . No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away."
The coming of Jesus brings joy. To be in his presence is to be in heaven.
Pastor Don Aycock tells about his father who is an old oil field hand. This job meant that he was on twenty-four hour call. He would often be gone from home for days at a time when trouble at the rig necessitated his being there. He was always busy, but in his crazy schedule Don says he seldom felt cheated or deprived of time with his Dad. During the summers and holidays their family would often go to the rig location where his father worked. They lived in Louisiana, and his Dad often had to work in Texas, so they would rent some little low cost house wherever his Dad was assigned. Don and his older brother Glenn would go to the drilling site with their father. If the rig were near a body of water, they would fish. If they were near a marsh, they would duck hunt.
They never went on a "vacation" in the usual sense. Their father never had that kind of time or money, but he did know how to give attention to his children. One of the best Christmas dinners Don ever had was at the rig. The rig was "stacked" which means it was not operating for the holidays, and Don's Dad had to stay with it to prevent thefts. Don, his mother, sister Linda, and brother Glenn, stayed with their Dad in the bunk house for several days during the Christmas break at school. On Christmas Day they ate Spam and crackers and drank Pepsi. Don says it was wonderful!
Why? Because they were with their Dad. Nothing else meant as much.
That is the way believers feel in the presence of Jesus.
His coming means hope for the hopeless, help for the hurting, and joy for those who call him Lord. And that's what Christmas is all about.
Christ has come to our world as a tiny babe.
And that's why we sing, "Joy to the world, the Lord is come."
