He's Making A List

TITLE: HE’S MAKING A LIST

SCRIPTURE: REVELATION 20:15

You better watch out! Better not cry! Better not pout! I’m telling you why, Santa Claus is comin’ to town. He’s making a list and checking it twice. He’s going to find out who’s naughty and nice. Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town. He sees when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good. So be good for goodness sake!

The song suggests to us that Santa Claus keeps track of who has been naughty and who has been nice - who has been good and who has been bad. Then he gives good gifts to those who have been nice. In the GOSPEL ACCORDING TO SANTA CLAUS - good children will find some toy or other treat under their tree or in their stocking on Christmas morning. Somewhere I heard that if you have been bad during the year then Santa leaves you a lump of coal. Matter of fact, heard a song on the radio, kind of cute, I believe written by Roy C. Bennett – I’M GETTIN NOTHIN FOR CHRISTMAS, the little boy singing, implies he had not been very good over the year.

I broke my bat on Johnny's head;

Somebody snitched on me.

I hid a frog in sister's bed;

Somebody snitched on me.

I spilled some ink on Mommy's rug!

I made Tommy eat a bug!

Bought some gum with a penny slug!

Somebody snitched on me!

Oh, I'm gettin' nuttin' for Christmas.

Mommy and Daddy are mad.

I'm getting nuttin' for Christmas,

'Cause I ain't been nuttin' but bad.

Perhaps there are some here this morning that can relate to that. When we look back over the year we must admit – I ain’t been nuttin’ but bad! This Christmas favorite - Santa Claus is Coming to Town – is a song many know by heart. For most people, this song captures the essence of what preparing for Christmas is about. The song speaks about the coming of an important person, a person who knows all about us, a person who is kind and generous and who expects us to be the same. It has been suggested that all we have to do to make this song appropriate for church is to substitute the name of Jesus for the name of Santa Claus and we have the essence of preparing for Christmas. But if being “nice” and “good” is all what Christmas is about, then I’m afraid we have terribly missed the real meaning of Christmas.

Most of us celebrate Christmas in accordance with the Theology of Santa Claus. For most of us, Christmas is about giving and receiving gifts, and most of us only put on our Christmas list those people that we like and those people that have been good to us.

• We also keep track of who has been naughty

• As well as those that have been nice to us

• Only those who have been nice to us will receive a gift from us for Christmas

There is a more important list I want to talk to you about this morning. You may not be aware that God has a list. It is the most important list that can be found in HEAVEN or on EARTH. I cannot emphasize how important this list is and how extremely important it is for us to know with certainty if our name is on that list. My purpose in today’s message is to help us enjoy the sounds of Christmas but more importantly understand and appreciate God’s list and what we must do to ensure our name is on that list. Yes, I stopped by to tell you He’s Making A List.

Would you agree with me it is important for our names to be on certain lists. There are good lists and there are bad lists. Everyone wants his or her name on a good list. I hope that this will be the case when I tell you about the best list of all – God’s list.

• How many of you have heard of the “Do not call” list?

• How many of you asked that your name be placed on the “Do not call” list?

• List was created because telemarketers who for the most part would call at a most inappropriate time to try to sell some product or service were overwhelming people throughout America

• Some were unrelenting

• Some were rude

• A telemarketer’s list is a bad list to be on

• A “Do not call” list is a good list to be on

One of the lists we don’t like is the waiting list. Only because we want instant gratification and we don’t want to wait to get what we want. Some know what it is to be on an Organ transplant waiting list to get a kidney or perhaps for a heart transplant. Whether actively or passively in some way, some form, fashion, and for some good or bad reason we all have our names on a list somewhere. Your name is written down on some record either in a book or perhaps a computer. Your name is recorded at the -