Christmas Hangover Blues

CHRISTMAS HANGOVER BLUES

Matt. 2:19-23

INTRODUCTION

A. SONG: “The 12 Pains (not ‘Days’) of Christmas,” by Bob Rivers;

1. “The first thing at Christmas that's such a pain to me, Is finding a Christmas tree.”

2. “The second thing at Christmas that's such a pain to me: Rigging up the lights, And finding a Christmas tree.

3. The third thing at Christmas that's such a pain to me: Hangovers… (I’ll spare you from the rest, but...)

2. ALL 12 PAINS IN REVERSE ORDER:

Singing Christmas carols

Stale tv specials

Batteries not included

No parking spaces

Gotta go to the bathroom!

Salvation Army

Fa-cing my in-laws

Five months of bills!

Sending Christmas cards

Hangovers

Rigging up the lights

And finding a Christmas tree.

B. IDEA

1. Bob Rivers mentioned “hangovers.” Of course, he was talking about alcohol aftereffects, but Christmas can have similar aftereffects that drag on us for weeks if we don’t redirect. What am I talking about?

2. It takes so much effort, planning, energy, and passion to pull off a memorable Christmas, that once it’s over, we can find ourselves in an exhausted, unfocused stupor.

3. I know ladies who buy gifts for loved ones starting 6-8 months early. They plan what they’re going to eat on Christmas, who’s coming over, how the house will be decorated, what activities will entertain the family all day. They shop and wrap presents. Billions of dollars go into Christmas each year. We want everyone to go home with satisfaction.

4. At last, everyone DOES go home. Loads of trash must be gathered up, food put away, dishes washed, the house returned to a clean, orderly state. WE GOT IT DONE! PRAISE THE LORD! WHEW!

5. We get up on the 26th and the purpose which had driven millions of people no longer exists. What now?

6. That’s the same thing that happened to Joseph & Mary. They were consumed with the pregnancy, dreams & visions, Jesus’ birth, the shepherds and wise men, and then moving to Egypt to save Him from Herod. Then --- all the excitement subsided and life went back to its ordinary and dull state. Let’s read what happened in Matt. 2:19-23.

C. TEXT

19 “After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” 21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that He would be called a Nazarene.” Matt. 2:19-23.

D. TITLE: CHRISTMAS HANGOVER BLUES. Joseph & Mary show us the way to recover from Christmas.

I. WHAT JOSEPH & MARY HAD TO DO

A. GO BACK TO WORK

1. The people of Nazareth knew Jesus as “the Carpenter’s Son” Mt. 13:55. This means that Joseph established a carpentry business in Nazareth and became prosperous enough to provide for his family even until Jesus reached adulthood. Jesus Himself worked in Joseph’s shop and also became known as “the Carpenter” Mk. 6:3.

2. I wonder if, in the providence of God, Jesus might have shaped the very cross beams that He Himself was later crucified on. Jesus certainly created the tree and the iron that was fashioned into the nails and He created the hill of Golgotha, “the skull.”

3. I’m sure He often thought about His future crucifixion as He daily sawed trees into beams and planks. He used carpenter terminology to tell us about having a plank of criticism in our eye while trying to get a speck of sawdust out of someone else’s eye (Mt. 7:3).

B. RECONNECT WITH PEOPLE

1. Mary & Joseph had probably lived all their lives in Nazareth. It was a small town and they knew almost everybody. Their lives had been rocked by the scandal of Mary’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy.

2. When God directed them to go back there, they had to face all their old friends and family and “live- down” their old reputation.

3. I’ll never forget a radio broadcast I heard by a prison chaplain to inmates, telling them, when they got out of prison, to go back to their home towns. He said, “At first they’ll think of you as the thief or robber, but after a few years of living right, they’ll think of you as you are now. You will “Live-down” your old reputation and establish a new one. That’s what Mary & Joseph did. You can too!