Knowing The Christmas Spirit

Knowing the Christmas Spirit

Main Luke 2:22 (support John 16:7, 8, 13)

Go ahead and turn in your bible to Luke 2:22

A little boy and a little girl were singing their favorite Christmas carol in church the Sunday before Christmas. The boy concluded “Silent Night” with the words, “sleep in heavenly beans.” His sister elbowed him, and said, “No. Not beans, peas!”

The way many of us feel by the time we are ready for Christmas; the song might just well end with beans or peas instead of peace,

I have to tell you that I really do love this time of year, the decorations, and the anticipation of giving and receiving gifts, the food and the family get-togethers. It seems that people get all wrapped up in the spirit of Christmas.

We smile at each other, show a little more patience than usual, unless we are shopping, and get along better in general.

We could say that it is God’s love that is on display in everyone,

We could, but we won’t!

To prove that all we have to do is drive around in our cars. What do you see the most of?

Inflatable Snowmen and Santa’s, even inflatable penguins, we see reindeer, candy canes, giant wreathes, and thousands f strings of lights on trees and in bushes.

Only occasionally do you see a cross, or manger scene.

IF that isn’t enough try spotting a Christian image in any print or TV ads for a major store chain. There just are not any!

It seems that most people do not care that we are celebrating the birth of the savior. They don’t want to hear that the season isn’t about gifts, or food, or even family.

But we in the Church know that Christmas is about John 3:16.

It is about God stepping out of heaven, and entering into humanity so that His plan for Salvation could be accomplished! AMEN???

I have to tell you, in preparing for this message; I was faced with a big problem. What could I possible talk about that you haven’t already heard a dozen times?

Think about it for a moment. What do we hear at Christmas in Church?

We hear about the Shepherds

We hear about the census and how Mary and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem

We hear about the angels who visited them

We hear about how there was no room for them and how Jesus was born in the manger

We hear about the wise men, and the gifts they brought

We hear about how Jesus was the greatest gift ever given and how our hearts are the greatest gift he has ever received

We hear about how God the father sent Jesus and why

So I was trying to find something I hadn’t heard discussed in a message.

It seems to me that we hear about Jesus and God the Father, and while that is great, I have to wonder why we leave the Holy Spirit out.

Do we assume he was sitting on the bench waiting for Pentecost?

Was he off somewhere in the outer space correcting comet flight paths?

Or do we just take for granted his part in that first Christmas?

I happen to think it is the last one.

So let’s look at the Spirit’s role that first Christmas, and how He affects this Christmas.

Read with me:

Luke 2:22-32

The first role of the Holy Spirit we want to look at is:

“He points to Christ”

Listen again to vs 25-26

25 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

So here we are. It has been 400 years since God last spoke. The Old Testament came to a close with Malachi telling the people that the messiah is coming! It is time to turn our hearts to worshiping God.

And then out of the silence God starts to move and to be heard.

Enter Simeon.

We are not told a whole lot about Simeon. So let me ask you:

How many think of Simeon as an old man?

How many think of him as a younger man?

Me I don’t know. I like to think that maybe he was middle age.

Luke doesn’t say how long he was waiting or how old he was.

He does tell us that he was a believer in God!

That He was a man who worshiped God and who knew god’s word.

As a matter of fact he was anticipating the arrival of the messiah as promised in the scriptures.