That is the question isn’t it? Doesn’t anyone know what Christmas is all about? And if you’ve been at Cornerstone through December you know that we’ve been trying to answer Charlie Brown’s question.
The is the fiftieth anniversary of this iconic Christmas special and while it has been a part of many of our Christmases over those years it really wasn’t expected to be all that successful. When Charles Shultz presented the finished project neither the network of the sponsor felt that it had much chance of being aired after the initial showing.
Whatever light hearted Christmas comedy they had envisioned it didn’t share much with this melancholy tale that was delivered. With amateur children reading the lines, a jazz score for a sound track and the highlight being a recitation from the King James Version of the Bible it certainly didn’t fit the formula for a successful children’s special. And the studio bosses wanted to axe Linus’ reciting the Christmas story from the Bible. However it is said that Charles Schulz was adamant about keeping this scene in, remarking, “If we don’t tell the true meaning of Christmas, who will?”
When the excutives viewed the completed project they were moritified and were convinced it would be a flop. However the time was already set for it so the feeling was that they would show it once and be done with it. I’m sure they were surprised when 50% of the televisions in the US were tuned into it’s first air and the rest is as they say “History”
And so Charlie Brown asks his question and Linus answers it with the reading from Luke 2:8-14. And when he’s done Linus proudly states, “and that Charlie Brown is what Christmas is all about.” But he missed something, he doesn’t tell us who the baby is? And that is critically important.
Too many people see all of Christmas encapsulated in the birth of the baby without ever naming the baby. But the Christmas story began long before the birth of the baby and even long before Gabriel arrived on Mary’s doorstep.
In Matthew’s account of the Christmas story we are told Matthew 1:22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: There were many prophets who spoke of the coming of the Messiah but Matthew was speaking specifically about the prophet Isaiah. And it’s Isaiah’s words that we are looking at this evening. Isaiah 9:6 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
This prophecy is about the coming Messiah the one who we now recognize and acknowledge as Jesus Christ. Listen to those first few words again “And he will be called: Wonderful” What a thought and indeed at first thought what a truth. The Name of Jesus will be called wonderful. And yet we have to ask ourselves is His name really called wonderful today. In 2015 do we consider the name “Jesus Christ” wonderful. Does the world marvel at the name of this Carpenter from Nazareth? I don’t think so.
No I think that today in 2015 that the name of Jesus is mundane, and I think his name is mediocre and I think his name is common. And I think with way too many people in 2015 the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God is profane. Not wonderful at all.
To the people of our land and our city the name of Jesus is not a wonderful name, it’s no longer wonderful and marvellous, instead it’s a curse an oath or a nothing. People don’t realize when they are misusing Christ’s name because they don’t realize they are using it, they just don’t think about it. Have you ever corrected someone who blasphemed the name of Jesus and they look at you like you are daft, and then they say “No I didn’t” Yes you did. My favourite I’m in a store and someone says “Oh Jesus”, I say “Where?” And they say “Where what?” and I say “Where’s Jesus?” and they just shake their head and walk away, normally before I can ask them where the white goes when the snow melts.
And so where does the problem lie? With Jesus or with people? Is Jesus any less wonderful today then he was 2000 years ago? Or has our vision simply become distorted? This evening I would like to remind you just why his name is wonderful.
Matthew 1:20 For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 1) He is Wonderful in His Conception. As we enter the Christmas season we sing about Christ being born of a virgin, we read about Christ being born of a virgin but do we really stop and think about it? Do we actually understand it, and believe it? Or maybe we are like the English Bishop David Jenkins who said “I wouldn't put it past God to arrange a virgin birth if He wanted, but I very much doubt if He would.” Well I have news for Bishop Jenkins not only was this something God could do it is something God would do.
Jesus Christ’s mother was a young unmarried lady, probably in her late teens.but his Father was God Almighty Himself. And I know that there are those who argue that the Greek word for Virgin can also simply mean young unmarried woman. And it can. But within the context of the story it means virgin. How do I know? Because in Luke 1:34 Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”
And in this particular case the word that she is using does not mean a young unmarried woman, she is actually saying that she is a virgin.
Now you have to admit this is not an everyday occurrence. And I really feel for Mary. In 2015 having a baby out of wedlock really isn’t that big of a deal socially. Even 25 or 30 years ago it was a much bigger deal then it is now. But 2000 years ago it was a completely different story. Mary would have to bear the stigma, shame and reproach of being pregnant and unmarried.
She would have to explain her delicate condition to not only her family and friends but also to her fiancé. And according to the scriptures it would appear that Joseph wasn’t convinced of her virtue until an angel actually appeared to vouch for Mary. It’s hard to argue with angels.
Now I know that you are sitting there thinking: That’s terrible if I had been around I would have believed her and rushed to her defence. Sure and if your fifteen year old arrived home great with child and a story that the Holy Spirit was the father you’d believe her to. Sure, uh-huh.
But for all the pain and shame it caused Mary and for all of the confusion and shame it caused Joseph. Remember that they were engaged but not married; everyone would presume that Joseph had gotten his girlfriend pregnant and remember that the Bible says that Joseph was a righteous man and so you can imagine the talk. “That Joseph he’s always been a goody two shoes but look at his girlfriend.” But for all of the negatives, this is the way the Christ had to come into the world.
Way back in the book of Genesis, the first book in the bible we read the first Messianic prophecy, which is simple the first prophecy to concern the Messiah. It was after the deception of Eve, and after the deception of Adam, after they had eaten the forbidden fruit and after they had been caught. In Genesis 3:15 Satan is told that it will be woman’s offspring that would defeat him. Not man’s and not woman and man’s just woman’s.
As well Christ needed to enter the world in a unique way as befitted his character, he wasn’t just anybody. And most importantly the act of natural conception is an act of creation, where two separate and distinct cells come together to create a brand new distinct being. But Christ is eternal, he has always been and will always be.
How can the name of Jesus be mundane, how can the name of Jesus be ordinary, how can the name of Jesus be every day and common when his very beginning as a man, when his very conception and his very entrance into the human race was so magnificent, so exciting, so supernatural, so extraordinary, so, so, wonderful.
Luke 2:52 Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.
2) He is Wonderful in His Development. Simply put, Jesus grew up. I think it’s wonderful to realize that Jesus came not as a fully grown messenger but as a baby. Because how could God ever hope to identify with mankind unless he lived every moment of his life as a human. It fascinates me and magnifies his love for me to realize that that God, Almighty God, the master of the universe reduced himself to our level. For thirty three long years he experienced every action, every emotion, every feeling every temptation that comes to us.
Mary bathed him, fed him, and changed his diapers. She watched him grow from an infant to a toddler, from a little boy to an adolescent. She taught him to walk and Joseph taught him a trade. I don’t know but I wouldn’t be surprised if he had colic or croup as a child, if he fell down and scraped his hands and skinned his knees. He probably played tag and hide and seek with his friends owned a toy chariot and had a perfectly normal childhood.
And I become more and more amazed that Jesus didn’t just come to die for me. He could have, poof and there he would have been a fully grown adult saying “Ok, let’s get this over with.” You see Jesus didn’t just die for you, he lived for you as well.
John 14:6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
3) He is Wonderful in His Self-Awareness.
Jesus knew who he was, there was absolutely no doubt in his mind of who he was. If you asked Him he wouldn’t say: “well I’m a great teacher.” Or “I’m a good moral man” or “I am an example.” Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords had no qualms about saying “I am the way the truth and I am the life.” I am God!
He did not say I am one of the many ways to heaven. He didn’t say I am one of several ways to heaven. He didn’t say I am one of a few ways to heaven. He didn’t even say I am one of two ways to heaven. He Said “I am the only way to heaven.”
We read a neat story in John chapter 8, Jesus is teaching and the some in the crowd wanted to know how Jesus fit in with Abraham. And so in John 8:58 We read Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I AM!”
Understand that Jesus was not making a grammatical error here, nor was he simply stating his existence before Abraham. Instead he was making a reference to the Old Testament book of Exodus. Listen to Exodus 3:13-14 But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?” Now listen to God’s response God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.”
Jesus Christ was making no less a claim then that of being God. And his words weren’t lost on the Jewish religious leaders because listen to their reaction in John 8:59 At that point they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden from them and left the Temple. Why did they want to kill him? Because he was claiming to be God.
Of all the major religious leaders in the world, Moses, Buddha, Confucius and Mohammed. Only Jesus claimed to be God. It was C.S. Lewis who first put forth the proposition that based on Jesus claiming he was God we can accept his claims in only one of three ways.
1) He knew he wasn’t God but said he was, which would make him a Liar.
2) He thought he was God, but wasn’t, which would make him a lunatic
3) He said he was God and he was. Which should make him Lord.
Matthew 6:14-15 “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. 4) He is Wonderful in His Forgiveness
Christ’s comments came almost as a footnote to the Lord’s Prayer, oh yeah let’s not forget the entire thing about forgiveness. But they don’t stand alone. Time and time again Christ reiterates his teaching that we will receive forgiveness in the same way that we give forgiveness.
I wonder if there was ever anyone in the back of the crowd who was muttering “oh yeah, well talk is cheap, because he’s never been hurt like I’ve been hurt.” After all up to that point Jesus hadn’t really had to forgive any big ticket items, at least none that we know of. There are a lot of hurting people out there, with some pretty big hurts in their lives. A childhood of abuse is hard to forgive. The deliberate death of a child is hard to forgive. A betrayal by your spouse is pretty hard to forgive. And sometimes we stand back in all of our piety and tell these folks they need to forgive while all the time we’ve never had to forgive anything more serious then some name calling.
But with Christ it was more then just talk. He saw a friend betray him and another deny that he had ever known him. He watched the multitudes turn away and accepted the mockery of a trial. He allowed them to punch him and whip him, to shove a crown of thorns unto his head, nail him to a cross and laugh at him. And then he looked down from where he had been nailed and left to die and said “Father forgive them.”
And that was wonderful.
1 John 5:13 I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.
5) He is Wonderful in His Salvation
This ties in with the last point because the wonderful forgiveness of Jesus Christ is responsible for the wonderful salvation he offers that’s what the bible is talking about in Acts 3:19 Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.
Turning from your sins is your part, that’s repentance, being cleansed from your sin is God’s part, that’s forgiveness. The end result or eternal life is salvation. And that what God offers. That’s why people refer to the act as being saved. And Bob Dylan summed it up best when he said “Don't matter how much money you got, there's only two kinds of people: there's saved people and there's lost people.”
There are always people who think: God couldn’t save me, I been too bad, I’ve done too much. You need to understand that’s what God does, he can forgive anything and it is dependent only on one person and one thing. The person is you the thing is your willingness to repent.
It sounds easy but the three of the hardest words in the world are “Please forgive me.” And yet that salvation is offered to each one of you.
Let’s go back to Bob Dylan for a minute, I don’t know where Dylan is spiritually in 2015, however I know that around 1980 he met the creator of the universe and this is how the meeting went. Jesus tapped me on the shoulder and said, Bob, ‘why are you resisting me?’ I said, ‘I'm not resisting you!’ He said, ‘You gonna follow me?’ I said, ‘I've never thought about that before!’ He said, ‘When you're not following me, you're resisting me.’
So, this Christmas are you following the one whose name is wonderful, or are you resisting him? The choice as always in yours to make.
