“Christmas is Coming”
December 2, 2016
Matthew two
It was Friday morning and I was lying in bed about 5:00am debating whether to get up and make coffee or go back to sleep for another half hour or so. I decided on that latter choice but as I closed my eyes to sleep I prayed a little prayer for the coming day. Suddenly sleep wouldn’t come. My mind was filled with thoughts for a sermon and I thought I better get up and get it on paper before it faded into oblivion where my greatest works ended up because I thought I could remember them. I never can; never could. They are lost forever. My great works that would change the world and answer the great needs of people – gone forever – in oblivion. So I got up, scribbled a few notes, made coffee, made a fire, had devotions, sought the Lords blessing for the day, and began to work on my sermon. Of course right at the most critical place – someone came over. So the great message I was preparing – faded into oblivion. You have what is left. ?
Last week was pretty stressful for me, especially Thursday. The first part of the week was a blessing. Some of the guys met me at church and we put up the nativity scene and got a lot of yard work done and I was blessed. It was hard work but it is always a blessing working with you guys. Thursday I was still sore from all of the hard work but I only had two goals. First, was to get a security camera working that I had gotten from Amazon. Second, was to get a computer and program working that Bob could speak into and it would change his words into typing. It is a program to help him write his book. It was stressful and way above my skill level, but I got the computer and program running. The security camera was another issue. After much stress, I finally had to give up. I thought I’d pick Nate up after school and my 13 year old genius grandson would get it going for me. Unfortunately it stress him out, too, and he failed as well. I was left with the task of sending it back. I would have to download a mail sticker for UPS and go through the hassle of mailing it back. On top of that, I over did it physically by lifting something that was way too heavy for me to be lifting and I was worried I may have hurt myself. Then the mail came. I got a bill for $2000 for an ambulance ride I had a while back. The VA was supposed to pay that! So that stressed me out. Frankly, I was feeling stressed, anxious and exhausted. I was feeling sorry for myself and a little mad at the world or at God or something. I felt like I had it so bad. My problems were so huge – a lot bigger than anyone else’s in the whole world!
Have you ever been there? Ever felt everything was working against you and you had a little pity party for yourself? Maybe I am the only one who goes there to that place of selfishness and pain.
Well, it didn’t take long for God to show me a few things. He revealed to me the problems a friend was having. She made the news on TV. She was accused of having some sort of sexual thing going on with some football players. I don’t believe it. But I thought how embarrassing that would be. What shame her teenage kids must feel.
Then there is the young women that is trying to get out of the drugs and the alcohol environment being pushed on her. How difficult that must be. There is the young lady who was kidnapped for three weeks, tortured, beaten, branded with a hot iron and chained like a dog and after experiencing all that she had some people questioning her story.
There is a whole lot going on in people’s lives that make my problems seem pretty minor and me pretty shallow. God directed my thoughts to the first Christmas. Christmas is coming – but there is an enemy on the loose. Satan was at work back then, too. Talk about stress, anxiety and exhaustion! Think about the Mary riding on a donkey while nine months pregnant. Joseph worried about settling his tax problems then having to flee to Egypt with the baby Jesus because an evil king is after him. That would be pretty stressful – but there is more! King Herold had all the babies killed that were just infants hoping to kill the Messiah in the slaughter. Imagine the weeping and the pain of those mothers. I can’t imagine what they must have gone through.
Even today, you don’t know what that one sitting next to you or in front or behind you is going through. Christmas is coming – but there will be a lot of stress, anxiety and exhaustion for us. There will be a lot of pain. That’s just part of living in this old sin polluted planet.
Christmas is coming – and there is a lot of pain, stress, and anxiety, but guess what? God has always provided for His people’s needs. He will meet your need, too. Think about that first Christmas. Joseph and Mary traveling to a distant town to pay taxes. I don’t know what that was all about but it makes our tax troubles seem kind of small compared to that. Then coming to town with all the lodging filled up. I can imagine how uncomfortable Mary was with her about to give birth in a few hours. No hospitals; no clinics; not even a motel had room for them. But God provided a barn and apparently it was enough for the King of kings and the Lord of lords. For two thousand plus years we have been putting up model nativity scenes just like we imagine that one to be.
Then there was evil, lying, conniving King Herod. Lied to the Magi to find out where the Savior was to be born and then had tiny babies killed. The Bible says the wailing of the grieving mothers was heard throughout the land. But God provided for Joseph and Mary. Warned in a dream, they escaped from the jealous king.
I want you to know that 1) Christmas is coming and there is an enemy; but 2) Christmas is coming and God will provide. He loves you and will take care of you if you put your trust in Him.
One last thing, 3) Christmas is coming as promised -and we must celebrate. We are going to experience Christmas parties and give each other gifts. We are going to sing Christmas songs and play Christmas music. We are going to put up colored lights and decorate our homes. They will smell of pine trees and Christmas candy and cooking dinners. We will feel joy and laughter will fill our hearts. It is Christmas! It is about hope and new life and love. Some people put up mistletoe and kiss each other. It is the season to laugh and love and live. It is a time of celebration.
Most people don’t really know what it is all about. They love to love. They love to laugh. They love to celebrate. Maybe that is what they are celebrating. I want you to understand that Christmas is about so many deep, deep spiritual things. One thing it reminds me of is that God always keeps his promises. Biblical scholars tell us that way back in the Garden of Eden God promised a Savior that would crush the enemy. Sin would ultimately be defeated. Over and over in God’s Word, as the Children of Israel drifted away from God and experienced sin and the resulting misery, God would send a prophet to remind them of God’s love and His promises. After thousands of years of waiting for the promised Messiah, God sent his Son to be born of a virgin so he could die on a cross. God keeps His promises. Remember that this Christmas.
We have been waiting a couple of thousand years for another promise to be fulfilled. Jesus promised that he would return. He said,
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” John 14:1-3
Did you catch the promise? Jesus said he would come back for you and me. When he ascended up into heaven, an angel came and reiterated his promise. The Bible says,
“…He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 1:9-11
Another promised Jesus’ return. The Apostle said, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
Christmas is about God keeping His promises. Sometimes He gives us personal promises. He promised that my wife would live when she was in the hospital dying with my unborn baby in her womb. He promised she would be like a fruitful vine and I would live to see my children’s children. (Psalms 128) Then when that was fulfilled and I had multiple heart attacks and stents and open heart surgery and a defibulator put in my chest, God promised to add years to my life. And He has. God keeps His promises.
God has given you so many promises. You probably aren’t aware of most of them. The pages of the Bible are filled with them. Be faithful. This Christmas keep yourself in that relationship with God where He can fulfill his promises to you. The promises are for those who walk with Him. Walk with Him.
This Christmas – celebrate. Have parties; give gifts; love one another. But remember what it is all about. A Savior has been born. God kept His promise. He will keep the rest of them, too.
SONG
