“3 Things we can do to make this Christmas Meaningful – 2) Worship the Saviour
Gladstone Baptist Church – 6/8/06 pm
Where we spend our time is where we worship.
We’ve talked a lot over the last couple of years about what worship is. How would you define worship?
Worship involves all that and more. Worship involves every aspect of our lives – our time, our emotions, our thoughts, our energies, our money. Many of you have got jobs and I know that you have a responsibility to give your employer an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. But put that standard time aside typically 40 or 45 hours a week and think about the bit you have left. Some of you are thinking that you work 65 hours a week – but that is often what you choose to do or allow yourself to do, not what typically you have to do to satisfy the requirements of job you are employed for. Take out also the time you sleep and a reasonable time – say 1-1.5 hours per day to eat. Now you are left with your free time. Think for a moment about how you spend it. Write down on your pieces of paper 3 things which have consumed the majority of your free time in the last month …
For some it may be cleaning your house. For some, it may be that you spend more time than you should at work. For some, it may be that you have a hobby or a sport that takes up your time. For some, it may be watching TV. For some of you – your family takes up all your time.
What you spend your time doing tells you in a large degree what you worship. It shows you what you value, what you think is important and what you give your time to.
- For some of you, if you were honest – you worship your possessions and you spend a lot of time maintaining those possessions – cleaning them, improving them, upsizing them.
- For some of you, if you were honest – you worship your work or your ambitions. You are trying to impress your peers and boss at work in order to climb that ladder. Instead of the normal 40-45 hours, you are spending 65 hours and you are justifying this by saying that your job demands it of you. The bottom line is that you are allowing your job to demand that of you – if you didn’t want to do it, you would have found another job a long time ago.
- For some or you, if you were honest – you worship yourselves and your free time is spent in leisure activities focussed entirely on yourself. You spend time working out – honing your body. You spend hours in the beauty salon or styling your hair or doing your nails.
- For some of you, if you were honest – you worship your family. You spend all your spare time playing with your kids. You help your parents, you spend hours talking on the phone to your sisters & brothers.
When you honour something and give it your full attention and energies – you are essentially worshipping it.
You know at Christmas time, as I look around – I see people worshipping lots of things. But very few people worship Jesus at Christmas time. We need to worship the King. Tell me some of the things that people worship at Christmas …
In the video clip we watched with the kids earlier, we saw people saying that Christmas was all about the gifts, the food, the family times. They were putting their attention and energies into these things and in essence they were honouring them. And the sad thing is that I think most Christians sitting in churches today would be guilty of having given more attention and focus to these things than to Jesus this last week. Because of the busyness of the Christmas season, Jesus seems to get pushed into the background over the Christmas period. It has always been like that.
Last week we started a mini-series in which we are looking at 3 things we can do to make this Christmas meaningful. We spoke about the Wise men who were busy men, but who gave up their time to go and follow the star. They were focussed on the star and in doing so, they left behind many of the demands of life and the distractions it brings. We said that to make Christmas meaningful, you need to focus on and follow the true star of Christmas – Jesus. In doing so, the wise men acted sacrificially and that is what worship is all about.
Today, I want to talk about worship a bit more by looking at what some of these characters gave God in worship that first Christmas. Saint Nicholas gave to the poor as an act of worship. What he gave was as if he was giving to God. Worship involved his finances, his time, his life. How can we give worship to God this Christmas time. It might prompt us to think about how we worship God this Christmas 2006.
The Shepherds’ worship
Let’s look first at the shepherds. When they were told of Jesus, they went and investigated all that the angel had told them and when they found Jesus they paid homage to him.
Luke 2:8-19
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
The shepherds went and found Jesus and paid homage to him.
The life of a shepherd was a fairly poor one. Oh it was a glamorous profession in the ideal Jewish mindset because Moses – their hero was a shepherd. David was a shepherd. The kings were seen as shepherds of God’s people and even God was called a shepherd in Ps 23. So the shepherd was a noble symbol, however, in practice, no one wanted their sons to be shepherds.
It was not a wonderful job to have in first century society. They were actually considered unclean people. Thus they were cut off from the religious worship in society. Typically they were a rough dishonest bunch. They were prone to stealing and wouldn’t think twice about leading their flocks onto private land to eat any fodder available. They would also commonly steal the produce of their own herd. As such, their word was not to be trusted and they were not considered reliable witnesses in a court of law. Interesting then that God chose to reveal the birth of his son to them. They were tough – they had to be to fight off wild animals and other thieves.
So here is this bunch of red neck shepherds out in the fields and God’s angel appears to them. They are told about the birth of Jesus Christ and like the Magi we spoke about last week, they responded to the revelation and went to find the baby. The Magi followed a star, the Shepherd because they weren’t as bright had specific directions given by the Angel – go to Bethlehem and you’ll find the baby in a stable.
The shepherds went and found Mary & Joseph as was described to them.
Though we are not told what they did in the presence of that baby, I think we can let our imaginations dwell on the scene for a moment. We are told later that the shepherds were so excited that they went and spread the good news and then returned to the hillsides glorifying and praising God for everything they’d seen & heard.
These were men who had seen God and they couldn’t contain themselves. I am convinced that that time around the manger was a special time as God opened their eyes up to the reality and the person of his Son. I can imagine them sitting there goggled eyed in wonder as the truth of the Angel’s words sunk in. This baby would be …
- a Saviour. A saviour of what? Of me? What do I need saving from? How will he save me I wonder? Really – I don’t care as long as he saves me. Wow – My saviour. I want to thank you ahead of time.
- He was to be the Christ. Is this really the promised messiah. Will he really rescue us from slavery and set us free? Such a little baby, but with so much expectation on his shoulders. He will go down in history as a hero to all Israelite people. A mighty warrior. And here we are at the beginning of his life.
- He would also be their Lord. Well if he was going to rescue them from the oppression and slavery of others, he would undoubtedly be their Lord.
And so I can imagine them kneeling before this baby in worship. But that is speculation.
I do however, know that these shepherds worshipped God in 2 other ways. And they didn’t cost the shepherds a cent and so for some cash strapped people at Christmas, these are two really viable ways for you to worship God.
Firstly, they witnessed for him. I’m not going to talk about that any more today, as I want to take up that theme tomorrow. But the shepherds did go out and spread the good news of the new born king. They let others in on the secret that the Angel had given to them. An amazing gift given to all those who would listen that first Christmas morning.
The second thing the shepherds die was to glorify God. This is traditionally what we think about when we think about worship isn’t it. Worship songs, worship hymns, psalms, prayers of praise and thanksgiving. I don’t know whether the shepherds sang or not, but Luke writes that
The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Christmas is full of opportunities to sing praise to God. Carols are playing on all the radio stations and in the shops and in your homes. Unfortunately there are more and more Christmas songs coming out about snowmen and sleighs and Santa and presents. But the Christmas carols about Jesus have an incredible amount of theology in them and are ripe to be used in worship of Jesus. How about these verses …
O come all ye faithful:
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
Oh come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
come and behold him, born the King of angels;
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.
Joy to the World
Joy to the world! The Lord is come:
let earth receive her King!
Let every heart prepare him room,
and heaven and nature sing.
Joy to the earth! the Saviour reigns:
let men their songs employ,
while fields and floods, rocks,hills and plains
repeat the sounding joy.
Once in Royal David’s City
He came down to earth from heaven,
Who is God and Lord of all,
And His shelter was a stable,
And His cradle was a stall.
With the poor and mean and lowly
Lived on earth our Saviour holy.
And our eyes at last shall see Him
Through His own redeeming love,
For that CHild so dear and gentle
Is our Lord in heaven above.
And He leads His children on
To the place where He is gone.
It should be easy for us to worship Jesus this Christmas because there are words about him floating around everywhere. Unfortunately we get so used to the tunes that we don’t even think about the words and we miss a wonderful opportunity to glorify and praise our Lord, our Saviour and our Messiah.
For the rest of this Christmas period, try to tune into the carols you are hearing and listen to the words. Use them as a basis for your own praise.
The shepherds were poor men, but this didn’t stop them giving something in worship that first Christmas. They gave their praise and glory and they gave their witness.
The Wise men’s worship
What about the Wise Men? The Wise men, by contrast were not poor simple men. They were apparently quite well off and intelligent people. They also worshipped Jesus that first Christmas. We spoke last week about how they were prepared to give up their time and their responsibilities to follow the star revealed to them. This was an act of worship because they were honouring the yet unknown king with their actions. We too are called to follow the real star of Christmas – Jesus Christ. And when we follow, we often are required to give up things that are near and dear to us because we need to focus in on Him alone.
The Wise men, though worshipped Jesus in another form when they arrived to visit Jesus that first Christmas. They bowed and offered Jesus gifts – expensive gifts. Gifts of Gold, frankincense and myrrh. These would have been costly gifts – worthy of any king. Gold was obviously a precious metal which was sought by kings and queens. Frankincense was an incense that came from a the resin from a balsam tree. It was ground up into a powder and burnt. It was one of the ingredients used in the incense in the Jewish temple and was included in various sacrifices also. It was also used in cosmetics and perfume. It was expense and spoke of Jesus being offered as a pleasing aroma to God.
Myrrh was also from the resin of a shrub which was used in the embalming process and also in perfume. The Myrrh is sometimes seen to be symbolic of Jesus’ future death.
The gold, frankincense and myrrh therefore are fitting gifts – expensive and luxurious, but also symbolic of Jesus’ divinity, his role as a sacrifice & his humanity and also his future death.
The Wise men gave gifts – items of great worth to Jesus and that was a symbol of their worship. The shepherds couldn’t afford such gifts, yet they still worshipped God in other ways.
Our worship
This Christmas, we have the opportunity to worship Jesus. How? Well, we’ve talked about several options today.
We can give our resources to God – our money or our possessions. We can give money through the collection plate – through the thanksgiving offering we are going to collect tomorrow. Come prepared to give tomorrow. You will be doing what Saint Nicholas did – giving to the poor and needy of our world. The money we collect will be going to Baptist world aid to help those in poverty around the world. Jesus said – give to the least of my brothers and you will be giving to me. Some of you have been involved in buying gifts directly for the poor this year through TEAR or another organisation. Jesus says – “Whatever you do for the least of my brethren, you do it for me.” This sort of thing costs money and some of you may have given generously. I applaud you for this because in doing so, you are worshipping Jesus.
Maybe you can think of ways to offer up your possessions for Jesus this Christmas – help someone out by loaning them an item they need.
Another way you can worship is by offering your self – your time and friendship. There are some lonely people our there this Christmas time. Maybe you have a neighbour or a workmate who doesn’t have any family us here and can’t afford to travel anywhere this Christmas. Why not invite them over for Christmas lunch. It is never to late to extend an invitation. Oh – you haven’t catered for them? Don’t worry – you always have way too much food on Christmas and eating a bit less than the sickness inducing portion you normally eat at Christmas will probably benefit you greatly.
Another way you can worship God this Christmas is by using your gifts and abilities to serve others. Maybe it is a bit late to organise things for tomorrow, but you know, worship of Jesus in practical ways should not be restricted to Dec 25th!!!! It should be going on all through the year. I’d be so excited if many of you to began thinking about how you are going to use your gifts and abilities to serve God through our church in the next week or so. Don’t leave it till school has started. Begin to think now about what your gifts and passions are and how you could use them for God’s glory in this place. Even
Nicholas was just an ordinary boy who loved God and wanted to worship him. He has gone down in history and we revere his generosity even if we have forgotten his original motive for giving. The shepherds were ordinary people who worshipped God in simple, yet profound ways. The wise men had resources at their disposal and used them to bring glory to God. Each of these characters offered up worship in ways that were sacrificial. Each of these characters is an example to us. How are we going to worship Jesus this Christmas.
How do you find meaning in Christmas, we’ve discovered 2 ways now. Firstly to focus on and Follow the True star of Christmas. Secondly to worship the king of Christmas. Tomorrow, we will find out the third way to find meaning in Christmas, so please make it a priority to be here to celebrate our saviour’s birth.
Children’s Talk.
Well tomorrow is Christmas. One more sleep. Who is hoping that Santa Claus hasn’t lost the map to their house yet?
Let me ask you a question? What has a man in a funny red suit got to do with Christmas? Some of you are thinking that he has everything to do with Christmas. And some of your parents are thinking that he has not got a lot to do with the real meaning of Christmas. Well I want to tell you that you kids are right. But hang on - last week that Christmas is all about Jesus. Where does this fat round red guy come in?
Well Let me tell you a story… About 1700 years ago, there lived a boy called Nicholas. He lived in a part of the world that we now call Turkey. He was a Christian and had Christian parents, but a really sad thing happened to Nicholas – his parents both died with he was still a young boy. His parents were very wealthy and they left a lot of money to Nicholas. It would have been enough for him to live on comfortably for most of his life.
But do you know what Nicholas did … he gave it all away. Nicholas grew up and became a bishop in the church – that is like a minister. And though we don’t know much about him, a few stories have been handed down through the ages. One story says that Nicholas heard about a father who had 3 daughters and who was very poor. He was so poor that he couldn’t afford to pay for them to marry any man. You had to pay men to marry your daughters in those days and if you couldn’t, your daughters would have to try to struggle to survive by themselves. They would inevitably end up in crime or prostitution.
Nicholas didn’t want this to happen so as the story goes, he secretly throws 3 bags of gold through the window of this poor family so that they would have enough money to get their daughters married. But he did it secretly so that no one would know it was him.
Nicholas did lots of other kind things like this for people. You see - Nicholas loved God and he know that God wants each of us to help other people. Jesus said Matt 25:40 – “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” See Jesus wants us to look after everyone in our world, especially those who are struggling.
Nicholas, knew that and he decided he would help as many people as possible. He helped to relieve all who were in need: poor families, widows, and especially orphans and poor children. He also apparently started a poorhouse a hostel, and a hospital.
After Nicholas died, the people of the region continued to secretly give gifts to the poor. They would pretend that these gifts were given by Nicholas who had become a saint.
Over the years, the tradition has continued, but instead of just giving to the poor because of what Jesus taught, people started to give gifts to every one. People still pretend that Saint Nicholas brings the gifts.
In Holland, Saint Nicholas is called Sinterklass. In Australia, we have changed his name to Santa Claus. In Germany, they pretend the Christ Child gives the gifts (In Germany they use the name Christkindl or Kriss Kringle – the name we use).
So Santa Claus should really remind us about Jesus because Jesus taught us we are to look after everyone in need. And Saint Nicholas did just that. We need to give gifts and presents to people in need also – why? Because that is what makes God pleased and that is what worshipping God is all about.
So when you get up tomorrow morning and go out and look at all the presents under the tree that Santa has brought. I want you to remember that Christmas is not about getting presents, but about giving presents. Saint Nicholas or Santa Claus is trying to remind us that Jesus expects us to care for other people, not just ourselves. So here is what I want you to do. Instead of rushing the tree and grabbing all your presents and launching into them. I want you to hand out the presents to everyone else first and watch them open their presents. And then when everyone else has opened their presents, then hopefully someone will give you some presents.
Christmas is not about getting presents, so I don’t want to hear about any of you going and grabbing your own presents. I want us to give presents this year like Saint Nicholas would have, because that is what would honour Jesus.
One last question? Should we only help people in need out on Christmas day? Of course not. We should be giving to people when ever they have a need.
