I like the Christmas Season. Overall it’s a positive time of year when people seem to be more in tune with serving and giving, especially to those in need. I think this is a great thing. It’s appropriate that the time of year when Christians celebrate the birth of our Savior, the world seems to better grasp His overall message of love and peace, even if they don’t acknowledge His divinity. But this time of year can also be pretty tough on folks. I have a friend who died a few days ago, she is survived by her husband and three grown daughters, one is due any day now to deliver a baby girl. This will be a difficult Christmas to celebrate for them. This family is not alone. All of us are shocked and completely overwhelmed with emotions ranging from anger and fear to despair over the shooting that took place in Newtown Connecticut on Friday morning. We grieve for those families and for that community. From now on December 14th will be a very difficult day for these victims families. The innocence of this season and the peace and joy on earth we celebrate commemorating the birth of Jesus has been shattered for all of us, but, especially for those families who sent kids to the Sandy Hook Elementary school and will never pick them up again.
For all the fun and joy this season, there is also a lot of pain. Grief share ministry is a practical resource for folks dealing with grief and they offer some tips on their website: www.griefshare.org. For those who are hurting, lonely, or sad during this Christmas season here are some practical suggestions for surviving the season. These suggestions are found at griefshare.org
1. Prepare – be prepared for the ambush of emotions
2. Accept – this is a difficult time of year, but, remind yourself it’s just a season, it will pass.
3. Socialize – don’t give in to insecurity, force yourself to go out even it’s just for a short time.
4. Lower expectations – holiday movies and songs are unrealistic
5. Don’t Anesthetize the pain with drugs and/or alcohol – numbing yourself this way will cause more depression
6. Trimming – if old ornaments or other Christmas memories are painful, keep them stored for another year
7. Get up and move- take care of yourself. Eating healthy provides more strength, exercise helps lower stress
8. Shop online – if going to the mall or stores proves too stressful
9. Coping Strategy – tape the phone number of a confidant to your phone and call if you’re emotionally overwhelmed
10. Light – get some sunshine. Winter can take an emotional toll because of the lack of sun.
11. Invite someone new- to play a game, see a movie or decorate the house or yard.
12. Set Boundaries – Be honest and explain to your family/friends what you are capable of doing and what you’re not. Don’t let others guilt you into taking on more than you can handle
13. Reach others- discover those who might be alone during the holidays
This may not be a popular topic for us to talk about right now, but, with the events that occurred at the Sandy Hook Elementary School I thought it was important to address some resources. Maybe you could use these tips, or you know someone who does.
Before I get to the Scripture we’re looking at today, I want to bring up another thing that makes the season of Christmas difficult for a lot of folks. We have a tendency to spend more than what we have. According to CBCNews the debt load of Canadians has exploded over 400% the last two years. And according to this report, even though credit card debt is down a little bit, and for the most part folks are not delinquent on their non-instalment debts, the average credit card debt for a Canadian is $3,573. The Christmas season seems to bring out the worst in our bad spending habits. I can relate. I want to give my family, my kids and my wife wonderful presents for Christmas. It’s a great thing to watch the smiles and the excitement of your kids and loved ones opening presents. It’s no secret that Christmas is the most commercial and retail shopping time of the year. And it’s a huge temptation for a lot of folks to spend more money on gifts than they have. Here’s what some of us may look and feel like when we get that first credit card bill after Christmas. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S74ACQs3Tjc
It seems to me that we always experience consequences when we give something we don’t have. If we pay more money than what we have we suffer from a heavy debt load or an insane interest rate to pay off our credit cards. If we give more than what we have emotionally we can suffer anxiety or depression. Most of us are generous people, we want to give, we want to help, but sometimes we just don’t have the resources to give what we want to, and that can be frustrating. You know what I’m talking about? Have you ever wanted to give, but, just didn’t have the resources? You wanted to help, but, you didn’t have the time, or the money, or the knowledge of how to help or even know what to do? It’s difficult isn’t it; but, this is the most awesome thing about being a follower of Jesus. Jesus has everything to give, because Jesus has everything. God doesn’t know what it feels like to not be able to meet a need, because He has every resource to meet every need.
As we read through Colossians 1 I want you to identify what God is saying about Himself and His Son. Specifically keep track of what God says He has to give because of what He possesses. We’re going to read a few verses and then we’ll identify what God is saying about Himself and what He offers the world.
“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.” Colossians 1:15-17
First, God tells us that Jesus is the picture of who He is. John in his gospel said, “No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.” John 1:18 Jesus revealed the character, the nature, and the priorities of God to the world through his life as a human being. If you really want to know God, all you have to do, is pour over the gospels and take notice of how Jesus lived. One of the things that I enjoy doing to discover more about who Jesus is and how I can be more like him with my attitude and priorities is to walk through one of his stories told in the Gospel books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and take note of three parameters. First, in the story I’m reading what do I observe about the personality of Jesus. Was he kind, generous, angry, patient, was he positive, negative, and/or critical? Second, what do I discover about his priorities. What does Jesus consider most important; what does he put first and/or what is he willing to sacrifice to achieve his priorities? Third, how did Jesus display his power? What does he have power over? What really amazes me about his power?
You might remember that we walked through those steps last summer together as we discussed a few events from the life of Jesus. God tells us in Colossians that Jesus is a part of His eternal make-up. Unlike angels, demons, even Satan himself, Jesus is deity. He is eternal, as God is eternal. The most significant aspect of our faith is recognizing that God exists.
Hebrews 11:6 says, “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” We need to have faith that God exists before we can sincerely seek him. In Hebrews 4:12 God tells us that the Word is alive and powerful. This means that the authority that God discusses in Colossians that Jesus commands over all creation includes the power that exists in His Word.
When I was a kid we had a Polaroid camera. I’m not sure kids today even know what a Polaroid is. I remember my brothers and I taking goofy pictures and then eagerly watch the film develop right before our eyes. Of course now with digital technology we take pictures on our phones and can immediately put them on twitter or facebook. According to what God tells us in the Scripture we just read, Jesus is the Polaroid or if you’re under 25 years old, the digital image of God. He is eternal. If you want to know what God looks like then take a look at Jesus. He is the supreme authority over all things in heaven and on earth. This means that God has every possible resource. God can give whatever you need, because He created all that is, He made everything, and therefore everything belongs to Him.
This is a truth that should settle us more than any other, and this truth is simply that God has everything, and God is willing to share. One of the things we learn early on in our human development is that sharing is apparently an important quality. I don’t know very many two year olds who really understand why sharing is important. It seems that innate in our human nature is the desire to keep what we have for ourselves. We are born with this nature. One of the most difficult early life lessons for all of us was when we learned the value of sharing. It doesn’t get much easier as we get older, although the more we mature, the more we see the value in giving. “We’re more blessed to give than receive” is a popular saying, especially, this time of year. Well guess what, God gave first. God shared first. On that dark night a couple of thousand years ago, the night sky was opened up with a choir of angels announcing the birth of Jesus. God shared Himself with us.
Let’s continue reading this note of appreciation from God, “Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.” Colossians 1:18-20
Jesus wasn’t just another baby bundle of joy who cried when he was hungry and cooed and gurgled in his mommy’s arms as any cute baby does. Jesus as God was the supreme authority of all creation. Yet He placed himself in the most vulnerable position possible. Paul identified for us that the last enemy of God to be defeated was death. 1 Corinthians 15:26 God’s war strategy included making Jesus human to endure life on earth as any other human being. Jesus wasn’t treated like royalty, even though He was the supreme authority over everything in all creation. He didn’t live like a king, even though He was the King of kings. Jesus grew up a carpenter from a small insignificant town. God’s strategy was for Jesus to live, endure all the temptation and attacks from Satan, remain perfect in every way as God. Paul tells us that sin is the sting that leads to death. 1 Corinthians 15:56. Paul also tells us in Romans that the result of sin is death. Romans 6:23. Our sin is what brought death into the world. God and sin are not compatible.
This is why Jesus came into the world He created, the world that we perverted. He had to live as a human being and die as a human so that he could conquer death once and for all. The Hebrew writer sums up God’s strategy this way, “Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who hadthe power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; he came to help the descendants of Abraham. Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters,so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.” Hebrews 2:14-18
This is how God reconciled everything to himself, how He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth; he accomplished this through Christ’s blood on the cross. When Jesus conquered death it was the final victory. Through his resurrection from the dead he assured all of us who genuinely follow His teaching and priorities the same resurrection. Paul says, “But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:57. 1 John says, “For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.”
We don’t need any more evidence of how evil the world can be after the events of Friday, December 14. There is unspeakable evil all around us. We can live in fear of this fact, or we can choose to experience the victory of Jesus. God gives us salvation when we choose to obey His Son because eternal life is His to give. I can only give what I have to offer. As human beings we often struggle with feelings of inadequacy because we don’t think we have anything to offer. And although I think it’s great that we came together as a church a couple of weeks ago to raise almost $5000 for Hurricane Sandy victims, how can we help families cope with the horror of losing a child? What can we do to provide assistance for the woman who is being abused by her husband? What can we bring a child who has been sexually assaulted? How can we offer assistance to a man, like my friend Jim, who has just lost his wife of 40 years to a brain aneurysm? Or console his daughters, one of whom is getting ready to have a child of her own?
There are so many hurting people in our world and we often feel that we have nothing to offer that will provide any real sense of peace or joy. We can be supportive, we can offer prayer, we can send gifts, and all of these things are great, but, the one gift we have, the most important gift of all is one that we must share with others. The Good News of Jesus belongs to us. God gave us His Son, and for those of us who know Him, we have the most incredible gift of all to share.
Instead of feeling inadequate we should be empowered. We have the best gift, the one gift everyone needs.
Paul continues in Colossians 1, “He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News.”
And Paul concludes with this counsel, "God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ."
This is the news that we all need. This is what Christmas is really about. If Christ is in you then you are bold, assured, and confident to share his glory. Tell everyone. Teach everyone this is the gift that God provides us all.
Colossians 2:12 says, “For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.”
Have you received this gift?
