Disruptions Of The Christmas Season Series

This sermon idea is not original to me as the sermon outline was taken from Proclaim magazine - Winter 2001-02. Text is my fleshing out of the outline.

Sermon Series: Christmas Sermons

Sermon Title: Disruptions of The Christmas Season

Sermon Text: Matt 1:18-25

Introduction:

Please stand with me this morning in reverence to the reading of God’s word. I will be reading from Matt 1:18-25 out of the NASB. Please follow along in your Bible or you can follow along on the screen…

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. 19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. 20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." 22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23 "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US." 24 And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife,

25 but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus. Matt 1:18-25 (NASB)

Let me ask you a question this morning… Do you have high expectations for your Christmas this year? I am not just speaking about getting a lot of stuff or that perfect gift, but what you expect out of this Christmas season.

So many of us want Christmas to be that perfect time of year where everything goes right and when everyone gets along and you have time to do all the things you want to do…

• We see our kids playing together in harmony…

• We see our church family getting along with no problems…

• We walk down the street and strangers smile at us and wave…

HELLO! WAKE UP! This is NOT the Twilight Zone… how many of you here this morning believe that these things are going to happen for you this Christmas season?

I guess what I am trying to say is that our expectations of the Christmas season and the realities of life are usually NOT one and the same… are they?

There was a middle aged woman who wanted her husband to buy her some beautiful jewelry and a nice outfit or a nice expensive coat, but she didn’t want to just come out and say it, so she wrote a note and left it on the refrigerator… the note said…

Honey, for Christmas this year I want you to get me something that will make me look beautiful!

On Christmas morning she was like a little kid… she got up and made her husband get up with her and dragged him downstairs. She unwrapped his gift and it was an “exercise bike”… her expectations did not meet with reality!

I believe if I were to ask many of you here this morning I would find that you’re expectations of Christmas rarely meet with the reality of what actually happens.

But that is NOT the way it is supposed to be is it? We sing songs like, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year…” or “the hap-happiest time of the year” But in reality, this time of year is probably the most difficult time of year for MANY people because something has disrupted their expectations of what Christmas is supposed to be like!

That disruption could be a sickness, a surgery, an accident, a death or divorce in the family, being shipped overseas, or loneliness. For many people, the supposed happiness of this joyous season is disrupted by life itself!

We all look forward to Christmas… at least I think we all do… We want it to be a time of joy and peace and harmony… a time without conflict, but there is something I want you to know… the very first Christmas, the very reason we celebrate Christmas today, was NOT a time of perfect peace and harmony, in fact it was a difficult time filled with all sorts of turmoil!

There was a major disruption in the lives of Joseph and Mary during this time, and what I want you to hear this morning is that disruptions are a part of life and they are going to come our way, it is how we handle these disruptions that will determine how ‘joyful’ or ‘peaceful’ our lives will be…