IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
It’s a Wonderful Life is one of my favorite movies of all time. The movie, directed by Frank Capra and starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, came out in 1946. It is the story of a man named George Bailey, a man who gave up his dreams in order to help others. After his uncle loses a large amount of money from the business, George loses hope. On Christmas Eve he decides to commit suicide but is stopped by an angel named Clarence Odbody. Clarence shows George all the lives he has touched, and how different the town of Bedford Falls would have been if he had never been born. Even though it was not a success at the box office when it first came out, it is now considered one of the greatest films of all time. The American Film Institute named it one of the 100 best American films ever made. It’s director Frank Capra once said that it was his personal favorite among all the films he ever directed and would show it every Christmas to his family.
So what can we learn from this film?
Ephesians 2:1-5 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions -- it is by grace you have been saved.
So what would a world without Jesus look like?
1. A World without Forgiveness (1-3) - healing
To prepare him for his mission, Clarence is shown a number of flashbacks from George’s life. The first is when a 12 year old George saves his younger brother Harry from drowning in a frozen lake.
The second flashback is when George was young and had an after school job. One day he realizes that the druggist Mr Gower had made a mistake. He was so distraught over the death of his own son from the flu that he had accidently added poison to another child’s prescription. George has to intervene to stop him from causing harm.
Clarence shows George what the world would have been like if he had never been born, if those mistakes had not been avoided. Mr. Gower is now an alcoholic, having just been released from prison for killing the boy with poison. The building and Loan had long since closed down because Harry had not been around to run it when his father died. His Uncle had been put in an asylum. All the soldiers on the transport ship had died because Harry had not been there to shoot down the enemy plane. All of these people’s lives were different because the mistakes that were made had not been covered.
Let me ask you this morning, what is the biggest mistake you ever made? What were the consequences of that mistake? I have done a number of dumb things in my life like skydiving, and for the most part physically, apart from a few broken bones, I am none the worse for wear. There are decisions that we can make that have consequences that stay with us the rest of our lives.
Spiritually, is there any area of your life in which you feel your conscience giving you a "guilty" verdict. If there were areas of your life you could erase, what would those areas be. Have you ever caught yourself saying, "If only I could do things over again, I would do this or that different".
The Conscience Fund, begun in 1811 by the US Government. Has collected $3,500,000. An Average of $45,000 a year. (The biggest year was 1950 in which 350,00 was collected). It is from people giving money back to the government from things stolen. A note from Feb. 6, 1974 said, "I am sending $10 for blankets I stole while in WWII. My mind could not rest. Sorry I'm late. I want to be ready to meet God." It was signed "an Ex-GI". Thousand of letters are received for as little as a stamp that was used twice to 30 pounds of frozen meat. All from people trying to make up for a guilty conscience.
In the scripture that we read this morning, Paul is writing to the church in Ephesus. He says;
Ephesians 2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
All of us were born into a fallen sinful world. Without Jesus we are dead in our transgressions and sins. We were separated from God and objects of wrath. The good news of Christmas is that our failures are not fatal. Even though we have blown it, we have a God that gives second chances.
2. A World without a Future (4-5) - hope
The world would be a very different place without hope. Because George was never born, the building and loan had closed. Without the building and loan, Mr Potter was able to do whatever he wanted and had taken over. George finds that the town had changed from Bedford Falls to Pottersville, filled with nightclubs and pawn shops. Everything was now dark and corrupt. People lived in debt, unable to buy their own homes and make ends meet.
Martinis bar is now owned by Nick because Martini could not get a loan and move out of the debtors prison that Potter controlled him with. The bar has been transformed from a nice family place to a seedy night club where Nicks says they “serve hard liquor for people who want to get drunk fast.” His treatment of the broken Mr. Gower shows how his heart has been hardened.
In the past, George had given his old school friend Violet some money to help her out of a tough time. Without that help we see that Violet has become an exotic dancer (or worse) in order to support herself. Without money people turn to crime, substance abuse and prostitution.
Without George around, his mother has become a bitter old widow. Mary had never married. Without love her life was joyless and empty. This is life without hope.
To believe that there is nothing but this material world we live in - that there is no God and no heaven - is true despair. If we are a series of cosmic accidents that will cease to exist - a creation with no creator - then we have no purpose and our lives are absolutely meaningless.
I heard the story of a pastor who was visiting the hospital and met a woman whose small son was dying. He was told she went to church, so he said "It’s good to know, isn’t it, that, even though the medical outlook is hopeless, we can have hope for our children in such a situation. We can be sure that after our child dies, they will be completely removed from sickness and suffering and everything like that, and be completely well and happy."
"If I could only believe that," the woman replied. "But I don’t. When he dies, I am just going to have to cover him up with dirt and forget I ever had him." It is sad, but more often than not, this woman’s words express the hopeless plight of so many people all around us.
Years after the film, Jimmy Stewart shared the story about the filming of the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life. “It’s hard to explain. I, for one, had things happen to me during the filming that never happened in any other picture I’ve made. In one scene, for example, George Bailey is faced with unjust criminal charges and, not knowing where to turn, ends up in a little roadside restaurant. He is unaware that most of the people in town are arduously praying for him. In this scene, at the lowest point in George Bailey’s life, Frank Capra was shooting a long shot of me slumped in despair. In agony I raise my eyes and, following the script, plead, ‘God . . . God . . . dear Father in heaven, I’m not a praying man, but if you’re up there and you can hear me, show me the way. I’m at the end of my rope, Show me the way, God. . . .’ As I said those words, I felt the loneliness, the hopelessness of people who had nowhere to turn, and my eyes filled with tears. I broke down sobbing. This was not planned at all, but the power of that prayer, the realization that our Father in heaven was really there to help the hopeless, had reduced me to tears.”
Paul goes on to say in his letter to the church in Ephesus;
Ephesians 2:4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions -- it is by grace you have been saved.
We have been made alive in Christ. In Jesus we have hope and we have a future. We have been saved and set free to serve. Recently we have been singing a new song that I really love called Glorious Day. The song says;
I was buried beneath my shame. Who could carry that kind of weight. It was my tomb, till I met You.
I was breathing but not alive. All my failures I tried to hide. It was my tomb, till I met You…
I needed rescue, my sin was heavy. But chains break at the weight of Your glory. I needed shelter,
I was an orphan. Now You call me a citizen of heaven. When I was broken, you were my healing.
Your love is the air that I'm breathing. I have a future, my eyes are open.
When You called my name and I ran out of that grave. Out of the darkness, into Your glorious day…
3. A World without Faithful Jesus Followers (10) - help
In the story, George realizes that a world in which he was never born was not such a good place to be, so he returns to the bridge and prays “Dear God, let me live again.” Suddenly he is back. His situation had not changed, he still owed the bank a lot of money. What has changed is his perspective.
He goes home to find out that news of his situation has gotten out. The whole town comes to help him. People are taking up collections, they are dropping in to add their money to the pile. Mr Martini empties out the Juke box. Mr. Gower brings in a piggy bank, Violet stops by to give a little. One man says “I wouldn’t have a roof over my head if it wasn’t for you George.” Sam Wainright cables that he can send up to $25,000 dollars to cover any debt – 3 times more than George needed! Even the bank examiners who were there to arrest him step up and make a contribution. Finally his brother Harry comes in and declares George to be “the richest man in town.” Not because he had the resources himself, but because of his friends that gave.
In the end he finds a book sitting in the pile of money. The inscription reads “Dear George, remember no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings. Love, Clarence.” George had spent his life investing in the lives of others, and when he needed them most, they had invested in him.
When George needed it most, help came from others. What would the world be like if Jesus had never been born? Imagine a world where there had never been Christ followers.
This past year The Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Canada did what was called a Halo study. It looked at the impact of Fellowship churches across the nation. The results were incredible. This was part of a larger study of churches across Canada. The study found that Canadians who attend a weekly religious service contribute on average 215 volunteer hours per year, or a total of 579 million hours or 15.6 billion dollars in free services to their community. Did you get that? 15.6 billion dollars in free services every year. This of course does not include all the billions in dollars of social services provided and paid for by churches, this is just the average person sitting in a pew.
In his song Imagine, John Lennon sang “Imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion, too. Imagine all the people, Living life in peace.” If Jesus had never been born the world today would be a very different place, and not a better place.
Imagine a world without Jesus? OK … it isn’t hard to do.
If Jesus had never been born than people like William Wilberforce and Abraham Lincoln would not have had the biblical foundation to end slavery. While it is true that there have been Christians that once owned slaves in history, it was Christians who historians credit with being the primary force behind ending the international slave trade. It should be noted that two-thirds of the members of the American abolition society in 1835 were Christian pastors.
If Jesus had never been born the world would be different in terms of education. The Puritans were the most highly educated people of their day. The literacy rate for men in Massachusetts and Connecticut in the early days of America was between 89 and 95 percent. They founded colleges, taught their children to read and write before the age of six, studied art, philosophy, and other fields of study.
All but one of the first 123 colleges in colonial America were Christian institutions. While these universities have lost their Christian identities, it is interesting to read the founding statements of these schools. Harvard, for example, was founded on this statement: “Let every student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life.”
Without Jesus the world of science would have been very different. Through history Christians have lead the way in scientific discovery.
When people claim that Science and Faith are at odds they often point out that back in the Middle Ages the Catholic Church refused to accept Galileo’s theory that the earth revolved around the sun and not the other way around. That is true --- but the Church did not reject this theory based on the Bible. It was the teachings of Greek philosophy which held that the sun revolved around the earth, not teaching that came from scripture. Both Galileo and Kepler were devote Christians. Johanas Kepler, who was a Mathematician and Astronomer, wrote this to a friend in 1595 “I wanted to be a theologian; for a long time I was unhappy. Now, behold, God is praised by my work even in astronomy.”
Where would the world be today without names like Pascal, Newton, Faraday, Pasteur and Kelvin. It has been said that few scientists before 1860 were not followers of Jesus.
As I mentioned, without Jesus the world would have been very different in terms of compassion. Both historically and statistically, Christianity has led the way to alleviate suffering in the world. Just to name a few of these organizations that continue to alleviate suffering in the world are Samaritans Purse, The Salvation Army, The Red Cross, World Vision, Operation Blessing, Prison Fellowship Ministry, and Habitat for Humanity. Not to mention the countless of efforts by local churches and the hospitals that have been built all around the world.
Without Jesus the arts would have looked very different. The Christian faith has influenced literature through so many Christian writers. Had Jesus never been born, music would likely sound very different from what we’re used to. There may never have developed the cantata, the concerto, or the symphony. Handel, Vivaldi, and Bach were Christians who worked to honor God with their work. Bach, for example, signed all his works with “Solely to the glory of God”. Art has likewise been magnificently impacted by Christians. Incredible architecture in the beautiful cathedrals in Europe were built to honor Christ.
So, had Jesus not been born the world would be poorer in almost every area of life.
Just remove religion and imagine all the people living life in peace? Hardly. Atheism and humanism do not have a great track record. How about the 60 million people who died under Hitler’s dream of a purified human race. It is estimated that in the last 100 years more than 100 million people have died under communism in places like Russia, China, Mongolia, Cambodia and North Korea.
George Bernard Shaw is perhaps most renowned as a free thinker and liberal philosopher. In his last writings we read, "The science to which I pinned my faith is bankrupt. Its counsels, which should have established the millennium, led, instead, directly to the suicide of Europe. I believed them once. In their name I helped to destroy the faith of millions of worshippers in the temples of a thousand creeds. And now they look at me and witness the great tragedy of an atheist who has lost his faith."
Imagine a world without Jesus. It is not a very nice place. It is the difference between Bedford Falls and Pottersville. A world without hope. Perhaps the easiest way to imagine a world without Jesus is to look at what the world was like when Jesus was born.
Life under the Roman occupation was very harsh. The early Christians, acting in obedience to Christ, began to care for the poor, the sick, and the marginalized. So alien were their charitable acts and self-sacrificial lives that the Romans referred to them as "the third race." In the centuries to follow, even though Christians were still a minority, their care of the poor and sick stood out and was noticed by everyone.
Julian the Apostate, the last pagan emperor of Rome, clearly understood the power of these Christians when he wrote the following: “These impious Galileans (Christians) not only feed their own, but ours also; welcoming them with their agape. They attract them, as children are attracted with cakes… Whilst the pagan priests neglect the poor, the hated Galileans devote themselves to works of charity, and by a display of false compassion have established and given effect to their pernicious errors. Such practice is common among them, and causes contempt for our gods.”
Emperor Julian clearly saw the writing on the wall. The Roman Empire would not ultimately be conquered by an invading army or political upheaval but to love, the love of Jesus. Julian's dying words in AD 363 were "vicisti Galilaee", you Galileans (Christians) have conquered!
It is not that Christianity conquered, it is that Jesus conquered. Love won out over hate. Hope won out over despair. When Jesus died on the cross and said ‘it is finished’ the power of death was broken, but it all started with Christmas with the words from the angels “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”
Imagine a world without Jesus. It is not hard to do. What would my own life be like today if I had never met Jesus. I know what it was like before I met him. I meet so many people who I grew up with that have walked a very different road than I have. I can say without question or hesitation that I am a better and more joyful person because of Jesus in my life.
Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus reminded them that they were dead in their transgressions and sins. Not sick, not troubled… dead. Jesus did not come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people live. The world is a very different place because of Christmas. Because of Christmas we have healing. Because of Christmas we have hope. Because of Christmas we have help.
Dietriech Bonhoeffer was a German pastor and theologian who spoke out against Hitler and the Nazis. As a result he was arrested, imprisoned and then executed just hours before the Allies liberated the concentration camp where he was held. While there, he wrote a series of meditations on Christmas. In one he wrote, "It is not a light thing to God that we celebrate Christmas and do not take it seriously."
I encourage you this Wednesday to take it seriously. Be reminded again of the importance of Christmas by remembering again what the world would be like today and what you would be like today without it.
