Waiting for Christmas
Introduction-
We have gathered tonight to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To some, no matter what they are going through, they will make Christ first and tonight they will in their own way pledge their allegiance to Him.
To others, Christmas is strictly presents and self pleasures.
It is about what they will receive and making sure they give their loved ones presents to express their love.
Making sure to finalize the list of presents, making sure everything is wrapped, food is prepared, tables is set.
I want to say to you, How do we do both? How do we do them with right motives and priority?
I want to express this to Jesus how much I love Him and how thankful I am that He loved me enough to come to this earth and die for me so that I could spend eternity with Him.
I also want to express my love to my wife and family and friends how much I love them too.
Eternity is set on your relationship with Christ.
Here is a couple of examples of letters that were sent to Santa Clause. Oh, their cute, 4-5 year olds.
Take a look at motive here and see if there are not adults you could be thinking of.
Dear Santa Clause, when you come to my house, there will be cookies for you. If you are real hungry, you can use our phone and order a pizza to go.
I want a puppy. I want a play house. I’ve been good most of the time. I get a little wild once in a awhile.
Dear Santa, I’m not going to ask for a lot. Etch a sketch, 2 packs of #2 pencils, fat markers, and my big gift… my own color TV. Will maybe you could drop the pencils, I don’t want to be selfish.
4 year old, “I’ll take anything because I haven’t been that good”
Christmas time is often associated with waiting!
Anticipation is half the fun, but is also half the torture.
Illustration-
I remember as a kid that I wanted a Rockem Sockem Robots. I couldn’t wait! As soon as I opened it up, I wanted my brother to man the controls and get to it! I remember banging the buttons and maneuvering the boxer back and forth. I remember popping my brothers robot right in the jaw and his head just would not pop up. I remember taking what I thought was a light hit to the jaw and my head flee up! I was so disappointed. I had waited for that moment that my brothers head would fly up.
That’s Christmacy right? Right attitude?
For 4 weeks, I have in one way or another told you that you have to “go and see this thing that has happened, that which the Lord has told us.”
To investigate Christ ourselves.
To make sure you anticipation is motivated in the right direction.
We read the Christmas story tonight.
Christ-child coming to mankind.
God coming to redeem us.
Shepherds singing, angels rejoicing, proclaiming the good news that God has arrived.
(7) “And she gave birth to her first born, a son. She wrapped him up in clothes and placed him in a manger, because there was no room in the inn.”
There is a scene from this story that you cannot miss.
Mary and Joseph had come to pay taxes to Rome and in the meanwhile gave birth to the Son of God.
They needed a clean, dry place to give birth and they ended up in a barn with dirty straw and smelly animals.
The God of the universe should have been treated like royalty.
The best of everything. Sparing no expense.
Anything needed should have been immediately available to Him.
We picture the wise men following the star of David. A star so bright that it lit up the sky, and they easily found Jesus. Truth is, they spent two years following that star and Herod had done everything he could to prevent the Christ child from being born. He killed newborn to two years old as a last ditch effort to stop it.
The great Nativity Scene-
A beautifully proportioned stable, 2 white sheep, a donkey, a manger raised up for all to see Jesus.
A clean and well dressed Mary and Joseph standing proudly behind Jesus with a glow of perfection falling on a perfect picture.
That is not what my Bible says- there was no room in the inn and there was no room in their hearts.
Illustration-
I was involved in a Christmas play about 20 years ago, built a prop of the door of the innkeeper. Innkeeper forcefully opening the door and yelling “What do you want?”
“There is no room in the inn”
it was a powerful scene because the person playing the innkeeper let you see how they treated Mary and Joseph .
How they would respond to Jesus! It is how most respond today.
Jesus knocks on the door of our hearts, wanting to come into our lives and we respond bitterly “what do you want?” there is no room here!
Listen, you have to make room for Jesus!
He will not force Himself upon you.
If you don’t, you will be caught up like everyone else, you will ask Jesus what do you want here?
Easy to be a Christian at church.
Easy when it is convenient.
Easy to love Jesus when everything is going well.
Easy to write Him off as fire insurance.
Hard, or nearly impossible unless you make room for Him by faith.
Years ago, Peanuts characters were shown in a manger scene. The Christ child center stage and Linus reading Scripture “For unto us a Savior is born.”
I have not seen that one for a long time.
It is because it was not politically correct.
Is it politically correct for other shows to mock Jesus and Chrstians to get a laugh?
Maybe the perfect cartoon would be the gang of Charlie Brown leading the Simpson family to the manger and then to the Christ child.
It wouldn’t be politically correct, but it would be a great show.
Imagine for a moment, your past year.
Some of you have had a rough year. Becky and I have had a rough year with surgeries and all the things that go with that…bills, recovery. The world says to Jesus, what do you want?
I have to say to him no matter what kind of year you have had- I don’t know what I would do without you!
For some of you, Jesus is getting your attention. We have to choose “this day who we will serve”.
He is letting us know that just being friends is not enough.
He didn’t come to be our friends, He came to be our savior.
The perfect gift is Jesus Christ. A gift that Christ gives to you and me!
God with us- Emmanuel! God in the flesh.
The one that the Magi traveled to worship.
Stop looking at the manger, start looking in the mange!
Each one of us has to do something with Jesus. Do nothing is to reject Him.
It is shame that the event of Christmas brought so much joy in heaven and so little here on earth with so many.
On Sunday Morning, 2 people allowed God to change their lives for ever.
Gal 2:20
“I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life that I live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
We get this right no matter how broke we are or how busy we are, Christmas time will be a joy.
1 John 4:10
“This is love; not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
Like I said Sunday
If God did not want to be found, we could not have found him. He blesses us as we seek Him with our whole hearts. He promises us we will find Him if we seek Him.
The question you have to ask yourself- where is He in your life?
His answer
“To you is born this day in the city of David a savior, who is messiah, the Lord.”
Make it personal today, right now, right here. The Lord is reaching out to you.
Here is the love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent Jesus!
Prepare for candle-lite service.
