Home For Christmas
Pt. 2 - Code #2
I. Introduction
A human baby mistaking taken to the North Pole by Santa is raised by elves and learns the elf code by which he lives his life. Then after being informed by Santa that he has a human father in New York, Buddy the Elf travels to find him and eventually saves Christmas.
But we are focusing on this Elf Code and learning how we should live so that we, along with others, can get "Home for Christmas!"
When the elves learn the code there is no mention that order matters. So, with permission from Buddy, I am going to change the order. Look at your neighbor and say don't be an angry elf!
Elf Code 2 - Treat Every Day Like Christmas.
There are several characters or players on the stage at Christmas. Some of them are familiar and some of them are more central to the story. However, in every case each individual had to make a choice about how they would treat Christmas. Some chose not to see Christmas as a great/joyous occasion.
Herod chose to kill dreams around Christmas. The Inn Keeper chose to overlook the incredible miracle of Christmas. So, we certainly don't want to treat Christmas like these guys did.
The truth is each and everyone of us are faced with the same choices that they had on the day Jesus arrives and whether the admonition to treat every day like Christmas is good or bad is simply determined by which choice you make. The difference is often that we "choose" to view Christmas different than our normal day. What if we chose to make normal days just as special or significant as Christmas?
So, let's ask this question . . . "How do we treat Christmas?" And since we could all land on the different traditions, practices, and ideas on how we treat Christmas I thought it might be wise to go back and look and see if perhaps the shepherds, Mary and Joseph could teach us some simple ways we could treat every day like Christmas. I will caution you that although they sound simple in concept they are harder to accomplish than we may think.
Matthew 1:18-21
This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Luke 2:13-15, 19
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
How did these individuals treat Christmas?
They were focused on what mattered.
The shepherds teach us the first way to treat Christmas. They drop everything and go looking for Jesus. In essence they walked out of work. Right in the middle of their shift they exited, left behind the important to focus on the MOST important. They interrupted normal activities to think about God. They refused to allow the demands of daily life or daily duties to cause them to miss the miracle. Given the opportunity, they left behind the ordinary to experience the extraordinary. They invest time that could have been used to make a living to find life! They run from ritual to find relationship. Maybe if we would treat every day like Christmas we would focus more on the things that deserve our attention and refuse to be distracted by the things that don't. Maybe the things that seem to press us for time, stretch us to our limit could be placed in proper perspective and peace on earth could be found. . The challenge is when this season ends can we remain focused on what matters? Can we capture every thought and focus it on the more important things? Or will exit Christmas and allow our time, attention, and heart to be captured by shallow, temporary, time eating things that cause us to miss THE MOMENTS and THE MIRACLES!
Let's vow to treat every day like Christmas and focus on what mattes when the tinsel is gone and the songs go back to regular air time.
They were filled with awe.
Mary teaches us the second lesson on how we treat Christmas. One version says "Mary kept these things and pondered" or maybe the better translation is "Mary treasured" these things in her heart.
In other words she didn't take these things for granted. She valued them. She took note. I believe another way to say this was that she was filled with awe! Amazed! Startled!
Do you remember what it felt like to walk in on Christmas morning to the presents under the tree. The air thick with excitement. The tingle in your soul? Do you remember what it feels like to walk into the Presence? The first time you met Him? The first time you felt Him? The first time you experienced salvation, rescue, redemption, joy, hope, peace? Maybe if we treated every day like Christmas we would discover the anticipation/expectation we lost so long ago. Maybe moments of His Presence could no longer be slept through, dismissed, or discarded. Maybe we become so filled with awe that even the smallest glimpses of Him are noticed, pondered, and treated like treasure.
The challenge is do we treat the same savior that is approached on Christmas with awe with as familiar every other day of the year? We must treat Him as a treasure every day!
They treated people better than they deserved.
And perhaps one of the greatest challenges to treating every day like Christmas is the lesson Joseph teaches us. He finds out the woman he is about to marry is pregnant and he knows the baby isn't his. This is a big deal. His reputation is on the line and in his culture he has the legal right to not only divorce Mary before they ever get married but also to have her drug into the street and stoned to death. But instead he hears from God and he treats her better than what the law said she deserved. He teaches us a practice that some of us are good at on Christmas. He teaches us to treat people better than they deserve.
Come on I know some of your Christmas family gatherings are an exercise in grace. I know there are moments when you have to bite your tongue, hold your peace, check yourself before you wreck yourself.
Maybe the best way to treat every day like Christmas is to take a pass. To refuse to strike when you are justified. To decline to destroy. To reject retaliation. To shun the shout. To abstain from attack.
Even though you have the right. Even though you are rightness is undeniable. Your superior morality is above question. Others are rooting you on. Others are dreaming of revenge on your behalf.
Maybe treating every day like Christmas is that even in the summer when you encounter someone who deserves to be struck down you walk away instead. Maybe in the Spring when someone puts your peace at risk, sullies your reputation, causes you pain . . . rather than striking we serve. Rather than cutting them down to size . . . cut them some slack. Rather than lowering the boom . . . lower the heat. Rather believing the worst about them . . . trust the best in them.
See the truth is that Jesus was very clear that His arrival would not only impact our interaction with God, but also our interaction with the people around us.
Maybe in your estimation the person you tolerate on Christmas doesn't deserve grace beyond that but may the great grace we have experienced in abundance abundantly flow out of us and extend to their craziness and unworthiness on Feb. 2nd, April 12th, August 6th as it does on Dec. 25th!
What if we chose to treat every day like Christmas? How would that effect our focus? How would that effect our worship and our walk? Who would that effect our interaction with others?
