Purpose of Christmas Part 2: A Time for Celebration
Last week we discussed from Luke 2 the response of the Shepherds to the Angels heralding cry of the coming messiah…
Christmas is a time for Celebration…
Christmas is specifically a party, a birthday party… celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ! A hinge of history, the coming messiah, foretold in prophecy, now has come to take upon the sin of the world on his shoulders, and set us all free… all those who desire to walk with God!
Ironically at Christmas, many parties this time of year never mention the guest of honor Jesus… often overlooked…
Now preparing for Christmas can be a lot of work… buying gifts, sending cards, decorating our homes, lights, cooking, attending parties, cleaning up, with all of this, we actually have little time to enjoy our actual Christmas…
Our Christmas series is about refocusing ourselves this Christmas … and looking at the purpose of Christmas.
First the purpose of Christmas is celebration… The angels opening statement tells us this…
“Luke 2: 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.
Christmas is worth celebrating for three reasons…
• It’s personal – I bring you…
• It’s good – good news of great joy…
• And it’s universal – will be for all people…
As Rick Warren puts it… It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’ve been, or where you’re headed – this news is for you.
God Loves YOU! God is with YOU! God is for YOU!
Now each of these three moments we will discuss this morning…
God Loves YOU! God is with YOU! God is for YOU!
Are about a shift in the way we see things… the truth is that when we try and trust our feelings, or out intellect alone… and look with Human eyes… rather than through the lens of the divine… we get things confused.
The way we see others, and the way we see God are confused by our own experiences, feelings, stress levels… and we desperately need to allow God’s truth to speak to our hearts and encourage us…
Like a recent church looking for a Senior Pastor…
SEARCH COMMITTEE REPORT We do not have a happy report to give. We have not been able to find a suitable candidate for this church, though we have one promising prospect. Thank you for your suggestions. We have followed up on each one with interviews or by calling at least three references. The following is our confidential report. ADAM: Racial ancestry could not be confirmed. Good man but has problems with his wife. One reference told us how he and his wife enjoyed walking nude in the woods, until God finally made them put clothes back on. NOAH: Had Former pastorate of 120 years with no converts. Prone to unrealistic building projects. Great animal lover, but the last neighborhood received a flood of complaints right as he was leaving town. JOSEPH: A big thinker, but a braggart; believes in dream interpreting and has a prison record over accusations of a rape of his bosses wife. Good with budgets and managing resources, however. MOSES: A modest and meek man, but poor communicator; even stutters at times. Sometimes blows his stack and acts rashly in business meetings. Some say he left an earlier church over a murder charge. Often claims to get direct quotes from God. Too much over the top for most folks. History says he was a basket case from the beginning. DEBORAH: One word --- Female. DAVID: The most promising leader of all until we discovered the affair he had with his neighbor’s wife. Besides, he can’t control his own household... so how could we respect him. SOLOMON: Great preacher, but he too, has had serious women problems. Independantly wealthy, so the church could pay him less and he can make up the difference. ELIJAH: Prone to depression; collapses under pressure. Besides, no one has seen him in a long time. Doesn’t blend well with other religious leads, either. HOSEA: A tender and loving pastor, but our people could never handle his wife’s occupation. JONAH: Told us he was swallowed up by a great fish. He said the fish later spit him out on the shore near here three days later. We hung up. AMOS: Too much of a country hick. Backward and unpolished. With some seminary training, he might have promise; but he has a hang-up against wealthy people. JOHN: Says he is a Baptist, but doesn’t dress like one. May be too Pentecostal. Tends to lift both hands in the air to worship when he gets excited. You know we limit to one hand. Sleeps in the outdoors, has a weird diet, and provokes denominational leaders. PETER: Too blue collar. Has a bad temper, even said to have cursed on occasions. He’s a loose cannon. PAUL: Powerful CEO type and fascinating preacher. However, he’s short on tact, unforgiving with young ministers, harsh, and has been known to preach all night. Very offensive to women when he starts his "submission" stuff. And besides, he has a rap sheet a mile long in numerous cities. TIMOTHY: Too young and inexperienced. JESUS: Has had popular times occasionally, but once when his church grew overnight to 5000, he managed to offend them all with too hard a message; eventually his church dwindled down to twelve people... then finally to eleven, and even the faithul finally left his team. Critics report he seldom stays in one place very long, is easily distracted by poor, sick, and needy people, so doesn’t focus on ministry. Disappeared for forty days one time to go camping and everyone thought he had left the ministry. Spends too much time in meditation, needs to attend more of the organizational meetings without making a spectacle of himself and displaying his temper. And, of course, he is single, which disqualifies him automatically. Oh... and he hangs around with sinners most of the time. Rumor has it he got crossed up with the government at one point, and they buried him with accusations. He’s not a quitter, however, and keeps popping up here and there. His followers are too radical at times for society, and that seems headed for a showdown somewhere in the future. Besides, he’s Jewish. Summary: We intend to keep looking until we find the perfect pastor for our congregation. Sincerely, Pastor Search Committee.
This morning, I want us to look with new eyes at God’s gift to us this Christmas, the gift of His son Jesus… for it is through Him… that we are shown how God Loves YOU! God is with YOU! God is for YOU!
GOD LOVES YOU!
I think we often twist things, and think God is not really for us, but like a Father looking out for their own pride or name He just wants us to do what’s right.
Like the dad who finds out his daughter is pregnant as a teenager… the kind of dad that is just upset because of how it will make him look. But that is not the kind of Father that our Father God is…
In fact, Jesus gives an important illustration of why He came to Earth…. John 3:16 “For God so loved the World that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”
For God so loved… this is the well spring for life that is meant to be tapped. This is the source and security for all the rest of who we are and what we do… God loves us!
Has it been so long that we forget that moment when we realize we are loved, really loved, by someone? Do you not remember the joy, the excitement, the celebration of it!! You wanted to shout, tell someone, tell anyone… I am loved!
This is Christmas… a celebration of God’s love, for God loved us so much that He sends His one and only son!
• In theology this is called the Incarnation, God Himself becoming flesh so that you and I might be able to communicate, know, and talk with God.
• He created us, humanity, in His image… the imago dei… the image of God.
• And unlike animals or other parts of creation, He created us for relationship with Him!
God, wanting to provide for us… God wanting to be in relationship with us… sends His Son… not an ambassador, not a angel, or a prophet of old… He sent His Son, God Himself comes to us…
• When you want to communicate an important message, what’s the best way to do it? In person…
• That’s what God did at Christmas…
The Bible tells us that God is love… not has it, or knows of it, or gives it,… He is Love! And created us to be loved by Him!
And every breath and moment given is another gift saying the same truth… I love you, so I made you!
This Christmas gift is unchanging… and eternal… His love is constant, steady, and continuous…
Ephesians 3 speaks of His love… 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Even the image of Christ on the cross… how much does Christ love us…
[outstretch my arms] This Much!
God’s love picks us up and cleans us up… carrying us in life when we need it most… but we must choose… to either hold control or let God have control…
I read the story of a man riding down the road on a horse and cart when he saw a stranger struggling under a heavy load. He stopped and offered him a ride that was gladly accepted. But as they rode along together, he noticed the stranger still kept carrying the huge sack on his back. So he said, "Why don’t you just lay it down?" The stranger replied, "Oh no, it’s good of you to carry me. I couldn’t expect you to carry my burden too!" This Christmas, what are you holding on to? God loves you, and wants to carry you, and set you free…
Not only does God love us… but when we follow after Him, He is with us…
GOD IS WITH YOU!
One of the major differences in Christianity…
One difference between Christianity and other world religions. Christianity teaches us that we are lost persons and can not find God by ourselves (e.g. the parables of the lost sheep and lost coin). So God’s Son, Jesus Christ came to find us out. In other world religions, on the other hand, a person tries to find God as if God is lost, hidden or unreachable.
Now at the same time, God compels us to pursue Him, our relationship with Him… John 8 talks about the freedom we find in Christ and how it’s connected to our pursuit of Him and His truth…
John 8: 31 “Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
What is truth… God is truth… His Word is truth…
You really want to be free… do What His Word says to do…
God is with us… if we choose to walk with Him…
• Many people often feel alone at Christmas…
• And you may even FEEL like God is not with you…
Or we think God is just to busy to mess with little ol me…
In the Spring of 1924, Jack Sundine was a four-year-old kid, standing in a line with his father inside the White House, waiting to meet President Calvin Coolidge. As they neared him, Jack noticed that he said something to each visitor as they shook hands. Soon, the thrilling moment arrived. Jack put his small hand into the President’s. Then the President said words Jack will always remember: “Move along.” In contrast, aren’t you glad that when we come to God, He doesn’t tell us to move along. No, He is personally involved in our lives and desires to hear from us.
We can’t always trust our feelings… can we?
Sometimes the worst advice we can get is to do what we feel is right?
Haven’t you ever felt something was right… but you know it really isn’t?
If we always went by our feelings… we would be in trouble…
• If I ate candy or a piece of pie, or cake, whenever I FELT like eating it… I would be a bigger man standing before you today…
If I only helped around the house, washed the car, took out the garbage, did dishes, when I FELT like it… our house would be a dirtier place today.
If I only took a shower when I FEEL like it… I would be a stinkier man before you today…
I already argue with my kids about responsibilities, and doing what’s right… our mantra… “Do what you have to do, then you get to do what you want to do”…
But I don’t want to do my homework, I don’t want to take a bath, I don’t want to go to sleep… and me being the gracious father I am… SO, I don’t care what you want, this is what your GOING to do… because you need to do your homework, need a bath, and need to sleep…
If you think it’s bad with our kids, grandkids… imagine God with us??? our constant whining must be endless…
Our emotional states are a function of… memories, hormones, medicines, food, lack of sleep, tension, fears… stress!
No matter how you feel… God is with you!
Psalms 139:7 says… 7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
The name of Jesus… Immanuel… which we sing about at Christmas, literally means… God With Us!
• Our emotional state can create a false reality… our perspective that holds God at a distance.
• That emotional state may be created from past rejection, fear, heart ache, or experiencing some form of prejudice…
No matter your feelings… Here is Truth…
Hebrews 13:5 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
Now I don’t want to miss this truth… we like the promise that He will never leave us… but look what the instruction is hinged too… keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content…
God is with you… be content…
God loves you… be content…
If the God of the universe loves me, is with me… what do I have to fear… what would I ever have need of?
God loves us…
God is with us…
God is for us…
GOD IS FOR YOU!
He is not waiting for you to mess up so He can strike you down with a cosmic hammer and say “ah, ha” I knew it…
Again our emotional history might make us wait for constant judgment… and while I don’t want to gloss over the reality that God is righteous, and one day we will all be judged for how we have lived… at the same time the balance is that God is love! And He is for us!
In Romans 8 Paul tells us… 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. 31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
God is for us… who can be against us?
I mean if God loves us…
God is with us…
And God is for us…
What do we have to fear? What?
God is not playing some cosmic game of mess up, waiting for you to slip up, so He can slam you down… life is not random chance…
God is with us… and He knows the plans He has for us…
Jeremiah 29: 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
He loves us!
He is with us!
He is for us!
At the same time… He does love us, is with us, and is for us… but God does set boundaries for us…
I am reminded of the story of the discussion at church camp for children where one of the counselors was leading a discussion on the purpose of God has for all of his creation. They began to find good reasons for the clouds and trees and rocks and rivers and animals and just about everything else in nature. Finally, one of the children asked, “If God has a good purpose for everything, then why did He create poison ivy?” This made the discussion leader gulp and, as he struggled with the question, one of the other children piped up, “The reason God made poison ivy is that He wanted us to know that there are certain things we should keep our cotton-pickin’ hands off of!”
The very reason God sent the gift of jesus…
John 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
v. 17 God is with us!
v. 18 If we choose to follow Him!
Realize God’s generosity… and be challenged in how we give back…
One Young adult was remembering a time as a kid… My dad was a preacher at a small church in Northwest Indiana. Sometimes he would take me and my little brother Steve to the Thursday morning Bible study. George, an elderly gentleman, would split his donuts with my little brother. One Sunday my brother came to church with a sandwich bag full of Cheerios. George leaned over and asked Stevie if he could have some. My brother reached in his bag, pulled out a Cheerio, and split it in half, giving George half a Cheerio! I think our view of our own generosity is often like that! God gives us so much, and we give Him back half a Cheerio!
God loves us… He is with us… He is for us…
But what we do with that gift of Jesus Christ is up to us…
What greater gift could we be given?
Christmas… A TIME FOR CELEBRATION.
2 Challenges now…
1. Last week we challenged to Pause and Investigate Christ this holiday season…
2. This week… What gift (it is His birthday) are you giving Jesus this year?
