TITLE: HE’S MAKING A LIST
SCRIPTURE: REVELATION 20:15
You better watch out! Better not cry! Better not pout! I’m telling you why, Santa Claus is comin’ to town. He’s making a list and checking it twice. He’s going to find out who’s naughty and nice. Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town. He sees when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good. So be good for goodness sake!
The song suggests to us that Santa Claus keeps track of who has been naughty and who has been nice - who has been good and who has been bad. Then he gives good gifts to those who have been nice. In the GOSPEL ACCORDING TO SANTA CLAUS - good children will find some toy or other treat under their tree or in their stocking on Christmas morning. Somewhere I heard that if you have been bad during the year then Santa leaves you a lump of coal. Matter of fact, heard a song on the radio, kind of cute, I believe written by Roy C. Bennett – I’M GETTIN NOTHIN FOR CHRISTMAS, the little boy singing, implies he had not been very good over the year.
I broke my bat on Johnny's head;
Somebody snitched on me.
I hid a frog in sister's bed;
Somebody snitched on me.
I spilled some ink on Mommy's rug!
I made Tommy eat a bug!
Bought some gum with a penny slug!
Somebody snitched on me!
Oh, I'm gettin' nuttin' for Christmas.
Mommy and Daddy are mad.
I'm getting nuttin' for Christmas,
'Cause I ain't been nuttin' but bad.
Perhaps there are some here this morning that can relate to that. When we look back over the year we must admit – I ain’t been nuttin’ but bad! This Christmas favorite - Santa Claus is Coming to Town – is a song many know by heart. For most people, this song captures the essence of what preparing for Christmas is about. The song speaks about the coming of an important person, a person who knows all about us, a person who is kind and generous and who expects us to be the same. It has been suggested that all we have to do to make this song appropriate for church is to substitute the name of Jesus for the name of Santa Claus and we have the essence of preparing for Christmas. But if being “nice” and “good” is all what Christmas is about, then I’m afraid we have terribly missed the real meaning of Christmas.
Most of us celebrate Christmas in accordance with the Theology of Santa Claus. For most of us, Christmas is about giving and receiving gifts, and most of us only put on our Christmas list those people that we like and those people that have been good to us.
• We also keep track of who has been naughty
• As well as those that have been nice to us
• Only those who have been nice to us will receive a gift from us for Christmas
There is a more important list I want to talk to you about this morning. You may not be aware that God has a list. It is the most important list that can be found in HEAVEN or on EARTH. I cannot emphasize how important this list is and how extremely important it is for us to know with certainty if our name is on that list. My purpose in today’s message is to help us enjoy the sounds of Christmas but more importantly understand and appreciate God’s list and what we must do to ensure our name is on that list. Yes, I stopped by to tell you He’s Making A List.
Would you agree with me it is important for our names to be on certain lists. There are good lists and there are bad lists. Everyone wants his or her name on a good list. I hope that this will be the case when I tell you about the best list of all – God’s list.
• How many of you have heard of the “Do not call” list?
• How many of you asked that your name be placed on the “Do not call” list?
• List was created because telemarketers who for the most part would call at a most inappropriate time to try to sell some product or service were overwhelming people throughout America
• Some were unrelenting
• Some were rude
• A telemarketer’s list is a bad list to be on
• A “Do not call” list is a good list to be on
One of the lists we don’t like is the waiting list. Only because we want instant gratification and we don’t want to wait to get what we want. Some know what it is to be on an Organ transplant waiting list to get a kidney or perhaps for a heart transplant. Whether actively or passively in some way, some form, fashion, and for some good or bad reason we all have our names on a list somewhere. Your name is written down on some record either in a book or perhaps a computer. Your name is recorded at the -
• Court House
• Social Security file in Washington, DC
• Local driver’s license bureau
• Your name may even appear on a church record when you were baptized or otherwise joined a church
• You became a member when your name was written down
It’s interesting that the Bible has much to say about another official record where we may, or may not find our name written down. I am talking about a RECORD IN HEAVEN. There is a book of names in Heaven. I am talking about a list of names that God Himself writes down as He oversees each entry in His book, Yes, He’s Making A List.
Santa Claus led us to believe that Christmas is primarily about gifts that are given and received, but most of us also give like Santa Claus gives; only to the people that we like. When was the last time you did something nice at Christmas for a person you did not like and that you knew did not like you? I would imagine that most of us are already well along in our shopping for this Christmas season.
• Who here remembered to buy a gift for the person who cursed you out on the job last week?
• Who bought a gift for the person who criticized you all year long?
• Who bought a gift for the person that insulted you and went out of their way to make your life difficult?
• The truth is, there may have been some person on our Christmas list this year to whom we were intending to give a gift or at least send a card
• But then they said or did something that we did not like, and the first thing we did was scratch their name off of the list
This is human nature; we give gifts to the people that we like and to the people who are important in our lives. But there are other people who have hurt us, or offended us, or who we simply do not like for one reason or another. Under the guidelines of the Gospel according to Santa Claus, we can just scratch them off of our list for this year, and maybe for all of the years to come. We would be okay on one list that contains the good and bad.
God’s list goes far beyond being Good, matter of fact the list that God is writing contains no one that is Good. I am reminded of Jesus in ST. LUKE 18:18-19 “AND A CERTAIN RULER ASKED HIM, SAYING, GOOD MASTER, WHAT SHALL I DO TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE? AND JESUS SAID UNTO HIM, WHY CALLEST THOU ME GOOD? NONE IS GOOD, SAVE ONE, THAT IS GOD.”
It is very much so human nature to think that we are good people. Maybe we have done a few bad things in our lives, but otherwise we are pretty good. After all, the real bad people are in solitary confinement or on death row – they have been removed from Society. Or the real bad people of this world are the ones that use their wealth and power and status to abuse the less fortunate in the world. “I mean we may have done some not-so-nice things before, but we are pretty good people,” at least that’s what we tell ourselves.
We are taught through the Bible, there is nothing Good within us.
• Good people don’t go to heaven
• Even Jesus said there is nothing good in our flesh
• I know some real good people
• Treat me better than some of the Saints
• Only Saved people make it to heaven
• Only those Washed in the Blood of the Lamb
• Only those that have been Redeemed
• Yes, He’s Making A List
We can’t do good works to make it on God’s list. I HAVE NO POWER TO WRITE MY NAME THERE. Another hand must write it.
• I sign checks
• I sign order blanks
• I sign letters
• I write my name often and for many reasons, as you do
• But no King
• No Dictator
• No General
• No Merchant
• No Scholar
• No Scientist can write their name in heaven
Think about that! You and I may get our name written into a church book but getting it in the LAMB’S BOOK OF LIFE is another matter.
• One may study until they have acquired every major degree offered
• But you will never be good enough to write your name there
• And the Son of God says it is better to have your name written there than to have it on the largest bank check ever drawn
• Someone is going to have to write it there for you
Yes, He’s Making A List. Just like the Christmas List that we prepare each year for those that will receive Christmas Cards and others that will receive a Gift. To be on God’s list we are also invited to receive a Gift from Him, that is the only way to make His List.
• Santa Claus suggest that if you have not been good than you don’t make his list
• If you don’t make his list than he will not stop by your house
• Like that little boy on the radio who sang – I didn’t get nothing for Christmas
I would like to suggest to us this morning that we must be the recipient of God’s Gift in order to be on His List. The gift is the assurance of making the List. Look with me at - ROMANS 6:23 “FOR THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH; BUT THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.”
• It is not based upon us being Good
• If so we would not stand a chance
• It is not based upon anything that we can Earn
• It is not based upon Denomination
• It is not based upon the Position we hold in the Church
• It is a Gift that is given Freely
As I prepare to move to a close this morning. We are told that Santa Claus is MAKING A LIST AND CHECKING IT TWICE, HE IS GOING TO FIND OUT WHO HAS BEEN NAUGHTY OR NICE. This implies that Santa has to check his list a few times to ensure that he has not made a mistake. I remember growing up my big brother and I would mark the Calendar. About 45-days before Christmas, we would count it off and from that point on, leading to Christmas Day, we would do our best to be on our very best behavior. I am sure we were on the naughty list prior but we wanted to make sure that when Santa checked his list twice, he would catch his Error and move our names to the good list. Now on December 26th – ALL BETS WERE OFF.
But, I am glad this morning that God does not need to check His list twice. There is no fear of God making a mistake, not on His list. Once it is inscribed with God’s Pen, it is SIGNED – SEALED – DELIVERED. Can I tell you that THE CROSS IS GODS GREAT PEN that inscribes your name on the List in the Book of Life –
• The cross is a sign of God’s Love
• The cross is a sign of God’s Mercy
• The cross is a sign of God’s Grace
• The cross is a sign of God’s Forgiveness
• The cross is God’s great quill dipped in the precious blood of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ
• It is the only instrument worthy enough--powerful enough—to inscribe your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life
• Only the hand of God can do that!
• There is not a work that I can do that will provide merit enough
• There is not a tithe, a sacrament, a service, a pilgrimage sufficient
• There is not a prayer long enough
• There is not a charity sweet enough
• We cannot bypass the Cradle and the Cross
--I suppose we can have some fun pretending to prepare for Santa to come
--But during Advent we prepare for someone real to come—our Judge Jesus Christ
--And we don’t prepare by setting out milk and cookies
--We inspect our hearts to see our sinfulness
--Then we turn to our Savior who died to take it all away
--Washed in His Blood
--Redeemed by His Blood
-- He’s Making A List
--So come Lord Jesus, come!
