How many of you have braved the malls and stores through the busy times this Christmas season? I think you will agree that it can be a very hectic and stressful time for both our bodies and for our checkbooks. I have heard a number of stories from people telling me this. A lady was overheard telling the following story. “I was browsing in a souvenir shop when the man next to me struck up a conversation. Just as he was telling me that his wife was getting carried away with her shopping, a brief power shortage caused the lights to flicker overhead. ‘That,’ he sighed, ‘must be her checking out now.’”
I heard another tale that occurred on Black Friday. A long line of people formed in front of a store by 6 AM, the store’s opening time. A small man pushed his way to the front of the line, only to be pushed back, in the midst of loud and colorful curses. On the man’s second attempt, he was punched square in the jaw and knocked around a bit and then thrown to the end of the line again. As he got up the second time, he complained to the person at the end of the line, "That does it! If they hit me one more time, I’m not opening the store!"
Finally, I heard a story about a woman who was doing her last-minute Christmas shopping at a crowded mall. She was tired of fighting the crowds. She was tired of standing in lines. She was tired of fighting her way down long aisles looking for a gift that had sold out days before. Her arms were full of bulky packages when the Elevator door opened. It was full. The occupants of the Elevator grudgingly tightened ranks to allow a small space for her and her load. As the doors closed she blurted out, “Whoever is responsible for this whole Christmas thing ought to be arrested, strung up, and shot!” A few others nodded their heads or grunted in agreement. Then, from somewhere in the back of the elevator came a single voice that said, “Don’t worry. They already crucified him.”
We’ve forgotten something in all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season. We’ve forgotten that this is supposed to be all about one thing. We need to remember who is responsible for the whole Christmas thing, and it is all about how God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son so that who ever believes in Him might have eternal life. It sounds so simple doesn’t it? I think maybe that is how it was meant to be.
I want to take a look this morning at how we can simplify Christmas. Sure, we do a lot of good things at this time of year, but I think there is a story in the Bible that can help us simplify our lives even during this stressful season. Turn with me to Luke 10:38-41 or follow along in your sermon notes.
Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me." But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her."
This morning, I want to give you some tips on how we can simplify Christmas. This will allow us to have a much more enjoyable and merry Christmas. Before we begin, however, let’s look to the Lord in prayer.
We Must See Things As God Sees Them
For fifty-one years Bob Edens was blind. He couldn’t see a thing. His world was a black hall of sounds and smells. He felt his way through five decades of darkness. And then, he could see. A skilled surgeon performed a complicated operation and, for the first time, Bob Edens had sight. He found it overwhelming. “I never would have dreamed that yellow is so…yellow,” he exclaimed. “I don’t have the words. I am amazed by yellow, but red is my favorite color. I just can’t believe red. I can see the shape of the moon – and I like nothing better than seeing a jet plane flying across the sky leaving a vapor trail. And of course, sunrises and sunsets. And, at night I look at the stars in the sky and the flashing light. You could never know how wonderful everything is.”
I think you would agree that it is hard for us to understand all that this man was experiencing. After all, we have all had sight our whole lives, and that causes us to take things for granted. But, if we take the time to look through his eyes, we know that he must have had a wonderful experience. This is not an easy thing to do. It is tough to look at things through another’s eyes. After all, many of our arguments and disagreements happen because we either can’t or won’t take the time to see where the other person is coming from. Plus, we don’t know everything that is going on in the life of the one we are trying to see the world through. However, even though this is not an easy exercise, I want to try it this morning.
I want you to close your eyes this morning. Now, I want you to go through your holiday routine. Go through your typical Christmas Eve into Christmas Day in your mind. Your thoughts may go from opening presents to eggnog and back again. Now, I want you to do the same thing, but this time, I want you to look on as God would on your activities. Would He be pleased? How does He view your Christmas? How can we truly know what He is thinking? You can open your eyes as we try to discover the answer to these questions by putting ourselves in God’s shoes. After all, if we look through our own eyes at things all the time we will more than likely get things wrong. After all, that is what Martha did in our story. She wanted Jesus to tell Mary that she was wrong, but she was seeing things from her own perspective and not God’s. Instead of agreeing with Martha, Jesus had another point of view entirely. It is that point of view that I want to see about Christmas this morning. I want you to put yourself in God’s shoes and see through His eyes.
Well, let’s start from the beginning. We are God and we feel the need to create the world, so we spend six days doing this. We make the heavens and the earth and the seas. Then, we fill them with all living things from plants to animals. We even make man in our own image and give him a paradise to live in, and we even choose to dwell there in the garden with him. Now, there is one rule that we give to man. That doesn’t seem too much to ask, but man chooses to break our only rule. Man chooses his own desires over my desire and it breaks our heart. As man fills the earth, more and more of them choose to break the rules and not follow our way. We try and do miracle after miracle to get them to follow us. Even our own people Israel turn their back on us even when we fill every need and save them out of Egypt. All we want is to be united to them, and over and over again they choose their own way. So, we come up with a plan to save the relationship. We will send the one person we love the most to go and lead them even though we know this person is going to be rejected, beaten, and even crucified by them. But, it is worth it if just one of them comes back to us. We love these people so much that we will give up the most valuable thing to us if they will just accept the message and come to us.
Are you starting to get the picture of how God sees things? In Hosea he compares us to a prostitute that he takes back and loves even though she cheats and runs away from Him. In the gospels, we are shown to be the prodigal son who goes off and squanders everything He gave us. And yet, He is waiting to run to us with open arms when we return. Even Jesus shows us how much He wishes to be reconciled to us in Luke 19. We are told that as Jesus sees Jerusalem in the distance, He begins to weep for the city. Why does He weep? It is because He just wishes to draw the people to himself.
So, as we party, open gifts, and attend church during Christmas, how does God see it. I tell you, He sees it as nothing if it does not fulfill His purpose for causing the first Christmas which is drawing all men to Him. That is how God views Christmas. He views it as a time when He gave up His Son for us so that we would call on Him. We view it as a time to rejoice, and it is; however, we must remember why we rejoice. We rejoice because God has given us a way to have an intimate relationship with Him.
We Must Minimize Distractions
Tell me if this sounds familiar to you. A woman got up out of bed and got ready for the day. She knew that she needed to get two letters in the mail before the mailman came. She picked up the letters and went to put on her shoes when she noticed that she had forgotten to vacuum the rug in front of the door. She had friends coming over later, so she needed to make sure that this got done. So, she set down the letters and went to the closet to get the vacuum. After sweeping the rug, she went to put the sweeper away when she noticed that her husband had forgotten to put his shaving supplies away in the bathroom. So, she quickly put away the sweeper and tidied up in the bathroom. While in the bathroom, she noticed that the toilet paper roll was getting dangerously low, so she went to the basement to get some extra rolls. As she entered the basement, she remembered that she needed to start a load of laundry, so she ran back upstairs, put the toilet paper in the bathroom, and got the laundry for the load of wash. As she poured in the last bit of detergent, she remembers that she has to add this to her shopping list, so she goes upstairs to find the list in her purse in the bedroom. As she flips on the light, it burns out, so she runs to the garage to get a replacement. As she screws it into place, she suddenly feels like she is forgetting to do something. Oh yes, she need to add detergent to the grocery list. She does this and goes out into the living room to relax for a bit when she notices that the mailman is pulling away from the mailbox. Oh good, the mail is here. And, as she goes out to the mailbox, it dawns on her that she had forgotten the most important thing of the morning. The letters are still on the counter and she has become so involved in others things that she has forgotten all about the one that was the most important.
I think this lady has a lot in common with Martha from our story. She sees the list of things that need done, and she is going to do what she can to try and accomplish the tasks at hand. After all, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is coming to her house, so she wants to make sure that everything is in order and just perfect. But, as we said before, the thing God desires most is that we draw close to Him and spend time with Him. These other things she was doing were not bad, but they were causing her to miss out on the best part of having Jesus in her home. That, by very definition, is what we call a distraction.
At Christmastime, we can easily become distracted. There are so many things going on that we want to be a part of. There is a ton of work to do to get ready for Christmas Day especially if you have kids. There are parties and visitors that we must prepare for. There is, of course, all of the shopping that needs to get done. All these things are good, but they can easily become distractions if we let them. I’ve said it before, but I think it imperative that we follow the following advice especially during this time of year. The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. We cannot become so distracted by all the goings on of the season that we miss time with Jesus. We must make sure that we make the time for ourselves and for our family to spend time with God. That will go miles in helping you to simplify Christmas.
We Must Sit At His Feet And Listen To His Word
I said this at Bible Study last week, but I think it applies here as well. We make Christianity harder than it needs to be. If we could just get the basics down, then God would be pleased. God wants us to read the Bible, Pray, and Worship Him. If we truly do these things, all the rest will fall into place.
Mary understood this as she sat in the Presence of Jesus. She sat at His feet which is what we do when we approach Him in prayer. She listened to His word which is what we do when we read the Bible, the Word of God. And, by being in His Presence and doing these things, she was worshipping Him. We need to do the same if we wish to please the Lord this Christmas.
I want you to do some soul searching this morning. How many of you spend time in God’s Word everyday? And, if you do, how much time of your day is devoted to reading His Word? Is prayer really important to you or is it the first thing you blow off when your day gets hectic? Do you even pray at all? Do you worship God day in and day out through songs and by your actions or is it just a Sunday thing? You know, if we truly got serious about reading the Bible, praying, and worshipping, we would be dangerous. I challenge you to simplify your spiritual life by doing these three things daily because they are also the keys to simplifying Christmas.
I want to close this morning with a story. This story is about a woman who wanted to simplify Christmas, but she was not too successful until she realized something. I will let her tell it through her own words.
“One December I vowed to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience. I cut back on nonessential obligations like extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even overspending. Yet still, I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas. My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year. It was an exciting season for a six-year-old. For weeks, he’d been memorizing songs for his school’s Winter Pageant. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I’d be working the night of the production. Unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher. She assured me there’d be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation. All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then.”
“Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise. So, the morning of the dress rehearsal, I filed in ten minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor, and sat down. Around the room, I saw several other parents quietly scampering to their seats. As I waited, the students were led into the room. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song. Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as ’Christmas’, I didn’t expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment - songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer.
So, when my son’s class rose to sing, ’Christmas Love’, I was slightly taken aback by its bold title. Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and bright snowcaps upon their heads. Those in the front row - center stage - held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing ‘C is for Christmas’, a child would hold up the letter ‘C’. Then, ‘H is for Happy’, and so on, until each child, holding up his portion had presented the complete message, ‘Christmas Love’.”
“The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her; a small, quiet, girl in the front row holding the letter ‘M’ upside down - totally unaware her letter ‘M’ appeared as a ‘W’. The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at this little one’s mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing at her, so she stood tall, proudly holding her ‘W’.
Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and we saw it together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen. In that instant, we understood - the reason we were there, why we celebrated the holiday in the first place, why, even in the chaos, there was a purpose for our festivities. For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:
ChristWas Love!”
What an amazing message. Christ was love for you and for me, and He still is love. His deepest wish and desire this Christmas season is to lavish us with that love. But, we must first see that fact by looking at Christmas through God’s eyes. Then, we need to try to minimize distractions. Finally, we must sit at His feet and listen to His word. That is the way to simplify Christmas - to remember the real reason for the season. God wants this to be a time when we call on Him and receive His love and His grace. I pray we would do that. Let’s pray.
