The Best Is Yet To Come
1 Corinthians 15:3-4
Introduction:
The world is certainly changing. Who would have ever thought that in Canada it might be inappropriate to wish someone “Merry Christmas”? Lot’s of fuss & nonsense in recent years about whether Canadians should wish each other “Merry Christmas” or simply say “Happy Holidays” out of fear of offending those who either don’t hold the Christian faith or don’t celebrate Christmas. To all the secularists and politically correct types I say, “Bah, humbug.” To everyone else I say, “A very merry Christmas to you all.”
But the world is changing. So, we’ve while our movers and shakers are trying to get a handle on “Christmas or just Winter Holiday”, others around the world are beginning to celebrate Christmas. I mean, other nations who haven’t before. Like the Japanese. There aren’t many Christians of any variety in Japan, yet the Japanese are beginning to embrace Christmas. They buy presents, give gifts, and wish each other Merry Christmas. In Malaysia, which is a heavily Moslem country, hearing “Merry Christmas” on December 25 is quite common. The city state of Singapore apparently goes for Christmas in a big way…even though Christians are a small minority there. Even China…that totalitarian, police state that persecutes Christians…is going gonzo over Christmas. (And by the way, they actually call it “Christmas”) Weird, eh?
But before you start to think that there is some large scale, international conversion to Christianity going on via the celebration of the Christmas holiday, let me tell you what it’s all about. It’s all about shopping. Yep. These Asian countries I’ve mentioned are BIG on commerce, and they’ve seen the huge amount of spending that transpires over the holiday season in so-called Christian countries, so they’ve adopted Christmas. Christmas equals gift giving, and gift giving equals consumer spending, and consumer spending equals a better bottom line for stores and manufacturers. So, Merry Christmas to Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, China, and the others! And God bless us…everyone.
Body:
Hey, I’m not slamming gift-giving here. Even the most devout Christians I know give gifts and receive gifts. And we all take our cue for this from two very Scriptural ideas: the first from Matthew 2:8-11…
Mat 2:7 So Herod called the visitors from the East to a secret meeting and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.
Mat 2:8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem with these instructions: "Go and make a careful search for the child; and when you find him, let me know, so that I too may go and worship him."
Mat 2:9 And so they left, and on their way they saw the same star they had seen in the East. When they saw it, how happy they were, what joy was theirs! It went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.
Mat 2:10 (SEE 2:9)
Mat 2:11 They went into the house, and when they saw the child with his mother Mary, they knelt down and worshiped him. They brought out their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and presented them to him.
We give gifts because gifts were given to Jesus. And since He is no longer here physically, we give gifts to each other to celebrate His coming.
The second cue regarding gift giving comes from a very well known portion of Scripture…John 3:16…
Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God so loved that He gave…and the gift He gave was Jesus. And when Jesus was born, angels sang in the sky, “Glory to God in the highest! And on earth, peace…goodwill to men.” And there He was! God revealed in flesh, Heaven’s perfect gift, lying in a manger. “Heaven’s best!” we proclaim. “The ultimate gift!” we declare.
But it wasn’t. Let me explain…
When I was a boy, my parents had this strange habit of gift wrapping absolutely everything that could be gift wrapped. For instance, if a toy required batteries, they not only wrapped the toy…they wrapped the batteries too. If a model kit required sandpaper, glue, an Exacto knife, and model paint, then they’d wrap the model kit, the sandpaper, the glue, the knife, and the paint all separately. (I think probably some of you have done the very same thing…)
I figured this out at a very young age. So, if on Christmas Eve (when we opened our presents) the first gift I unwrapped was a few sheets of sandpaper, I wasn’t at all disappointed because I knew that something else was coming. Even if I had no idea what it was, I knew that something else HAD to be coming. After all, what does a nine year old need with four sheets of super fine sandpaper? And as gift after gift was unwrapped…doled out by my grinning parents…my anticipation mounted! Wow! I’ve got sandpaper, a knife, a tube of glue, paint and brushes…whooohooo! The good stuff’s gotta be coming sooooon! Every gift, while useful enough in its own right, was in fact pointing me ahead to something really good and grand: a model of a B-17 bomber!
Imagine, though, if I’d unwrapped the sandpaper, squealed in joy, and jumped up and ran off without bothering with the rest! Imagine if I’d sat at Christmas dinner with my little packet of sandpaper by my plate, looking at it as if I had received the coolest thing in the world. Imagine the looks my parents would have exchanged as I showed off my packet of sandpaper to all my friends…”You guys, my parents love me so much! Look what they gave me! Sannnndpaaaper…oooooooooo. Wanna touch it?” Imagine if for the rest of my life I kept that little packet of sandpaper in a special place, and dug it out once a year and said, “Oh my. It just makes me cry…it’s so special.”
As special as it may have been, it was only meant to point me to something else…something greater and grander. You see, the sandpaper only really mattered if it was with the glue, the knife, the paint, and the model.
Some of you already know what I’m driving at. As beautiful and wonderful a thing it was that the baby Jesus was born in a stable, laid in a manger, worshipped by angels, and adored by shepherds, the birth of that baby would have been just another birth. It would have been just another poverty stricken son of Abraham, just another squalling mouth for an already impoverished nation to feed. That’s all it would have been if there were nothing else to it.
The angels singing in the sky would have made just another pretty legend, another fanciful story made up by superstitious shepherds, fearful of the night. That’s all it would have been if there had been nothing else to it.
The adoration of the shepherds, the later visit of the wise men…none of it would have had much significance in the grand scheme of things, if it had not in fact been pointing to something greater, something grander.
Have you ever wondered why we know so very little about Jesus’ birth? How come there’s so little real detail? I mean, if this is Heaven’s best here then surely it’s worth giving us a little more of the story! But that’s just it…this isn’t Heaven’s best. It’s only the prelude.
So, we’re told of His birth: that’s one little gift, but it’s not complete without the next one. As we stand beside the manger at that first Christmas, if we listened closely we could almost hear the Father say, “Don’t go anywhere! The best is yet to come!”
Then, the Scriptures jump over all of His infant, toddler, and small boy years. The next we hear of Him, He’s 12 years old. Then we’re told of His wisdom with the lawyers and theologians...how they were amazed at his questions, and at His answers. That was a hint that this was no ordinary boy…there was something very special about Him. That was another little gift, but it’s not complete without the next one. And you can hear the Father say, “Don’t go anywhere! The best is yet to come!”
We’re told of His preaching and teaching…wonderful words of life, spoken with authority! What a wonderful gift! But it was only so much warmed over Judaism if left to itself…it’s not complete without another gift. Hear the Father say, “You think that’s good? Don’t go anywhere! The best is yet to come!”
We’re told of His miracles, of how He turned water into wine, opened blind eyes, cleansed lepers, and even raised the dead. Those are other little gifts…but each only pointing the way to another…another grander and more glorious. I can hear Heaven saying, “You think that’s good? Don’t go anywhere! The best is yet to come!”
Then we stand at Golgotha and the veil is torn away. There we finally understand what John meant when he said, “For God so loved the world that He gave…” We stand at Calvary, and in our own encounter with the cross begin to understand that Jesus bore our sins in His own body on that tree. Amazing love! Wonderful love! But whatever you do, don’t walk away with your crucifix and think that you’ve finally found it all! You think that’s good? Don’t go anywhere! The best is yet to come!
Then we find ourselves at a tomb where Jesus was buried, and we hear of the mysterious clash taking place in the underworld during the days His body lay dead and still. Descending into hell, taking all power over all bondage, and over the very authority of death itself! We shiver at the thought, trying to comprehend the greatness of this battle. Surely this is the ultimate! Surely nothing can be greater or more powerful than this! Yet stay…stay just a few moments longer and wait as the sun begins to turn the horizon to gold on the morning of the third day…stay a moment. Don’t go anywhere! The best is yet to come!”
Then we watch the stone being rolled away, and Jesus, risen triumphantly from the dead, walking free! He has died, been buried, and has risen again! He has conquered death itself! Death claimed Him, but could not hold Him! The grave swallowed Him, but then could not contain Him! Surely, surely this is it! Surely THIS is Heaven’s best! Surely there could be nothing greater, nothing grander, and nothing more glorious!
But then we remember His words, “Because I live, you shall live also. I am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly.” And this hints to us that as marvelous as His resurrection is, it too is only a prelude to something better! Don’t go anywhere! The best is yet to come!
So we walk with Him outside of Jerusalem, listen to His instructions, and watch in amazement as He actually ascends into the clouds right before our very eyes! Then, as we stand there gaping, angels come and tell us that He will come again as we’ve seen Him go. What could be greater?!?! We’ve seen Him born, heard His wisdom, seen His power, watched Him die for our sins, seen Him rise for our justification, and now He’s gone back to Heaven with the promise that He’ll come again! This must be all!
But as great, as grand, as glorious as it all is, we are still pointed to yet another gift. “Tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” “And when the day of Pentecost was full come, they were all with one accord in one place, when suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing might wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting…and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterence.”
Oh the glory! Oh the grace! Oh the majesty! Your life empowered! Your heart changed! The living Spirit of God coming to dwell in you! Oh how marvelous! Oh how wonderful! Yet still He says, “You think that’s good? Don’t go anywhere! The best is yet to come!”
And in a moment you recall His wisdom, His preaching, His power, His miracles, and you hear Him say, “Greater works than these shall ye do.”
And on it goes.
Just when you think you’ve discovered the very best that God has, He lets you know that it too is a just a prelude to yet another wonderful thing that He has for you.
Closing:
To all of you who have never experienced the wonderful change of life that Jesus brings…to all of you who have never known the joy of having your sins forgiven, and your life cleansed…to all of you who have never encountered the grace of God in such a way that it forever altered the direction of your life…to you I say, “Don’t go anywhere! The best is yet to come!”
God has three wonderful things for you this morning.
First, He calls you to repentance…that’s when His grace allows you to recognize your need of Him, and you change your mind about the life you’ve been living…and then change your direction. You turn from your sin and turn toward God, asking Him to forgive you and give you strength to life a new kind of life.
Then, He offers you cleansing. That’s right, cleansing…not just forgiveness. He offers you the chance to be cleansed from the guilt of every sin…the chance to have every stain removed from your heart. That’s what water baptism in the name of Jesus does for you. When your baptized in water in Jesus’ name, you go down in the water a sinner but you come up cleansed from all your sin! In the eyes of God, your past is gone and a new life begins! And with His name applied to your life, He sees you as one of His own.
And then He promises to give you yet another wonderful gift…the gift of His Spirit coming to live within your life.
So whatever darkness and trouble life has brought to you, I tell you once again…Don’t go anywhere! The best is yet to come!
To all of you believers who have struggled this past year...to all of you who have faced one discouragement after another, one struggle after another…to all of you who have wondered, “What’s the use?” To all of you who have thought about giving up, about giving in…I say to you, “Don’t go anywhere! The best is yet to come!”
To all of you who’ve been blessed, who’ve received good things from on high…to all of you who know you’re better off at the end of 2009 than you were at the beginning…to all of you who know God has touched your life in wonderful ways…to all of you I say, “You think that’s good? Don’t go anywhere! The best is yet to come!”
