Keep Christ in Christmas
Worship Christ
Joseph worshipped through Obedience
Mary Worshipped through Submission
The Magi worshipped through Sacrifice
Series introduction
Well, here we are. December 2013 and the Christmas season has started. But in a lot of places in our country, I am not sure it is the joyous time it is supposed to be. In many places it seems more like this.
Video – Black Friday
Slide
That is video from Black Friday at a Walmart this year. Great way to start Christmas, huh?
That is crazy. This is supposed to be a time of celebration of the birth of Christ, but the season has turned into a season of getting the best deal, of fighting for door busters, of stress of what to buy someone.
Something doesn’t seem right about this.
For most of our culture, we have lost the focus of what Christmas is all about and even for many in the church, for Christians who claim to follow Christ, many have followed the culture and Christ and Christmas are no longer connected, but instead it is all about what we give and what we get.
If we as the church expect to have an influence on our culture, we have got to stop this slide, at least in the church.
How can we do that?
How can we
Keep Christ in Christmas?
Slide
Well, over the next 3 weeks we are going to talk through some practical steps to help us stay focused on Christ, so that we don’t let the stress and the craziness of what the world has made this into creep into our lives, and so we can truly celebrate and worship the Christ of Christmas.
We are going to be talking about
how we truly Worship Christ,
how we can celebrate his birth by giving more even as we spend less, and
how we can truly love like Christ has loved us.
One of the things we are going to be doing this Christmas is taking a special Christmas offering from now until Christmas.
Not looking to be another item on the list
We are not looking for this to be an added cost to you this Christmas.
Instead, we seriously want you to think about what you are spending and
perhaps buy one less gift for those you buy multiple thing for, or
spending less on everyone or
instead of buying something, make something,
and use those resources toward this special offering.
This Christmas offering will be used to help several different areas.
Typhoon Relief
We will be sending some of these resources to help out those devastated by the Typhoon in the Philippines. They have a very long road ahead of them in clean up and we want to be able to support those who are helping the need and using the opportunity to share the gospel, so we will be giving some resources to Samaritan’s Purse which is on the ground there.
Tornado recovery
Part of the offering will be used to help those devastated by the tornadoes in Illinois a few weeks ago. We are going to be giving to a church that is at the fore front of helping the families in Washington, IL
Local Benevolence
Part of the offering will be used to help those in need locally and in our church through our benevolence fund
Ecuador Mission Effort
And part of the resources will be used to support our missions efforts in Ecuador.
So I want to encourage you to be pray about what the Lord would have you give.
Sermon Intro
But today, I want us to take a step toward putting Christ back in Christmas or take a stand to help keep Christ in Christmas for those of us here.
And if we are going to Keep Christ in Christmas, then we have to truly Worship Christ.
Slide
Worship does not equal Music
Now, when most people hear the word worship, they immediately think of singing.
While that is one way we express our worship, worship is so much more and is something that comes from within, in our spirit and true worship is something that is lived out moment by moment in our actions.
So, this morning, in celebration of Christmas, we are going to look at several people involved at the first Christmas and see what their worship entailed so that we might learn how to Worship Christ fully this Christmas to help us Keep Christ in Christmas.
Joseph
Turn with me to Matthew 1:18-25.
Slide
We are first going to take a look at Joseph and see how he responded to and worshiped Christ so we might learn better how we too might worship Christ.
Matthew 1:18-25
18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"-which means, "God with us."
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Here we see that
Joseph worshipped through Obedience
Slide
He did what the Lord commanded him to do through the angel (Matthew 1:24)
To worship Christ fully, we need to be obedient to His commands. And sometimes those commands will be hard to follow, but God works powerfully through our obedience.
Many of us have probably heard the Christmas story so many times that it fails to have an effect upon us.
Big deal, he took Mary home as his wife.
But realize that this is no longer just some marriage in a little town in Israel.
The woman who is to be your wife is pregnant.
She is at least 3 months along and Joseph finds out shortly before their actual wedding day.
Imagine on the eve of your wedding, you find out your fiancé is several months pregnant and you know it is not by you. In fact she has been visiting relatives for the 3 months before and she hasn’t been around you. People are going to be able to do the math and know that the child is not yours.
Your whole world is rocked.
Your friends and family are saying dump this girl and you are in agreement with them.
Then you have a dream and in your dream an angel says it’s ok to marry her.
Imagine explaining that to your friends and family.
“I know I said I was going to dump her, but I had a dream and God says to go ahead and marry her.”
I can only imagine how Satan was working overtime on Joseph.
“Joe, really? You are going to marry this girl who is pregnant, and not by you?
You had a “dream” of an angel saying it is ok?”
But Joseph believes and he obeys immediately.
That is worship.
“Lord, I trust that you are in this. I have been seeking you and I believe you are behind what is happening, and even if I don’t understand, I am going to obey and do what you told me to do.”
And because of Joseph’s obedience, the heavenly Father used Joseph to be the earthly father of His only Son.
Wow.
Application
Are you worshipping Christ through your obedience?
Are you doing the things He has commanded you?
Or are you only doing what you can completely understand?
There are things that the Lord calls us to do sometimes that do not always make sense in the moment to us.
Maybe it is a call to obey in baptism?
Maybe it is a call to serve the Lord in some way, but your schedule seems too busy.
Maybe it is a call to the mission field?
Maybe it is a call to full time ministry?
Maybe it is toward leaving your job?
As you think about it, you don’t see how this can work out, but you have this sense that this is what the Lord is calling you to.
Maybe as you talk about it to others, they say you don’t want to do that, or it is too hard, or not worth it, or it is too risky.
If you are following the Lord’s leading, then there really is no risk at all. In fact not obeying his call is the real risky move.
Do you want this Christmas to be meaningful? Do you want your life to be meaningful?
When you have prayed and sense the Lord’s leading, obey Him even in the things you don’t fully understand, and I guarantee that your life will have eternal effects.
Transition
Obeying what the Lord calls us to do is worship, but worship also takes other forms as well. Turn with me to Luke 1:26-38
Here we read another familiar account of the first Advent of Christ and we see how Mary Worshipped the Lord
Luke 1:26-38
26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
34 "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God."
38 "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.
Here we find that
Mary Worshiped through Submission
Slide
She submitted herself to the Lord’s will.
Now some may ask, what is the difference between obedience and submission?
Aren’t they the same thing?
No. They are related, but they are different.
Obedience is an outward action
Slide
Submission is an inward attitude
Obedience is the doing of what you are told to do.
Joseph obeyed. It says he did what the angel of the Lord commanded him to do. He took Mary to be his wife. He acted on a command.
Submission is voluntarily placing someone else’s will above your own.
Let me illustrate the difference for you.
Illustration
A boy gets in trouble from his mother for doing something wrong. She tells her son to sit in the corner. After a couple of minutes of sitting there, the mother walks by and sees the son sitting there. He is upset that he has to sit there and tells his mother, “I’m sitting down on the outside, but I’m standing up on the inside!”
This son was obedient but he wasn’t submissive.
Mary worshipped the Lord by submitting her will to the will of the Father.
She wasn’t sitting on the outside but standing on the inside.
She was submitted to the Lord’s will for her.
"I am the Lord's servant…May it be to me as you have said."
She knew and believed that God’s will is the best and even in what could be some very bad circumstances, things that were not as she would plan them, God’s will was best and she would submit to them.
The reality is that what the Lord had told her could get her killed, but she trusted the Lord’s will above her own.
If it didn’t get her killed, it would probably ostracize her from Joseph and her family and community. She may spend her life not only without a husband, but with no friends either.
But she was a worshipper of the Lord and she worshipped him by willingly submitting her will to His.
Application
Are you worshipping the Lord by submitting to Him, not just obeying but by willingly placing the Lord’s will above your own, trusting that God will work and having a peace about it.
Could you say, “I am the Lord’s servant…May it be to me as you have said?”
Are you submitting to what the Lord seems to be leading you to, or are you defiant in your attitude?
So often when we hear the word submit, we have a negative view of it.
We think doormat.
We think submission is for the weak.
Submission is not about being a doormat and it is not about being weak.
Jesus was submissive to the Father and He was anything but weak or a doormat.
Being submissive takes great strength and it takes knowing who ultimately we are submitting to.
It took great strength for Mary to recognize what the Angel was telling her and yet still to submit to it.
To know that you are a virgin, that you have been following the Lord and now this circumstance, becoming pregnant while you are still a virgin and betrothed to be married, knowing how this is going to be so hard because others probably won’t believe your explanation.
Perhaps she is thinking, “Can I even believe what you has been said?”
“An angel visited me…I am pregnant by the Holy Spirit…The child I will bear is the Savior of the world.”
And yet, she says “May it be to me as you have said.”
Not, “No Lord, you don’t know how bad this will be. Don’t do this awful thing to me.”
She submitted and worshipped the Lord fully.
Are you submitted to the Lord’s plan for your life?
Are you worshiping the Lord through submitting to His will for your life, believing that He is good and knows what is best?
If we are going to worship the Lord fully this Christmas and always, we need to submit our will to His. We need to voluntarily place his will as a priority in our lives.
We need to be like Joshua who said, “Choose this day whom you will serve (worship). As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.”
Or Mary - “I am the Lord’s servant…May it be to me as you have said.”
Worship the Lord fully by submitting like Mary.
Transition
One final set of characters from the first advent that I want us to consider today to see how they worshipped is
The Magi
Turn with me back to Matthew 2:1-11
Let’s see how they worshiped the Lord
Matthew 2:1-2, 9-11
2:1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
Herod freaks out, but tells them to go to Bethlehem and tells them to let him know when they find him so he can worship Him too, although he really wants to kill Jesus.
Then it goes on to say in verse 9
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.
Here we see that
The Magi worshipped through Sacrifice
Slide
The Magi sacrificed a great deal to worship the Lord.
They sacrificed in 2 specific ways.
First
They sacrificed their Time
Slide
The journey they came on to worship the Lord was long. The Text doesn’t tell us how long, but it was probably over a number of months.
They didn’t arrive to worship the Lord until Mary and Joseph were in a house, it wasn’t the night of the birth.
I don’t know about you, but traveling by camel for months is no walk in the park.
Think about traveling today.
People complain about driving to Florida, less than 24 hours to get there in a car or van with air conditioning and probably a DVD video system.
We think we are sacrificing if we don’t fly.
These guys spent weeks and months on camels just so they could come and worship in the presence of the King of kings.
These guys worshipped by sacrificing their time.
Time they could have spent being comfortable or relaxing or enjoying their wealth.
Are we worshipping the Lord by sacrificing our time?
Are you willing to sacrifice what you want to be doing
to be in the presence of the Lord?
To do what the Lord is leading you to do?
If we are going to worship fully, then we have got to worship through sacrificing our time.
But these Magi did not only sacrifice their time.
The Magi worshipped by sacrificing their treasure
Slide
Matthew 2:11b – “they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts”
They sacrificed their time and sought out the Lord, bowed down to this newborn Babe, and they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts.
There were many other things that they could have done with their treasure, but instead, they used their treasure to humbly worship the newborn King.
There is no better use for our money than for worshipping the king.
How we spend our money is worship to the Lord.
It doesn’t mean that we have got to give it all at church every week.
To worship the Lord with our treasure does mean that in all that we use our money on, we are being wise stewards.
God doesn’t need our stuff. It is all His anyways.
But we do bring Him glory as we sacrifice our stuff to give to the church and to those things he lays on our hearts.
One of the reasons we are to work is so we will have something to give to those in need. (Ephesians 4:28)
When we sacrifice for the Lord, it is worship because it shows that we trust in the Lord to meet our needs and not in money or stuff.
We glorify and worship the Lord as we sacrifice to give back to Him and to those things He lays on our hearts.
Conclusion
Are you worshipping Christ?
If we are going to Keep Christ in Christmas, we have to worship Christ fully and continue to grow in our relationship with Him
We will never be able to truly
escape the trap that is the way this world celebrates Christmas with the stress and bills and craziness and the desire for it to be over, until we are fully focused on the Lord and worshipping Him fully.
Worship Him fully moment by moment by
living obediently,
submitting your will to His,
sacrificing your time and treasure
He is worthy of our full worship.
Pray
While singing is one way to express our worship to the Lord, Let it only be a start in your life and worship the Lord this Christmas through obedience, submission, and sacrifice.
