The Christmas Spirit
Text: Mt. 1:20, 2:3-5, Luke 1:35, 2:11-18,
Date: Dec 12, 2021
Big Idea: The “spirit of Christmas” is a phrase we’ve all heard referenced but how exactly do you define it? It’s been well documented that Americans are generally a bit more kind, joyful and even a bit more generous during Christmas. Is it possible or just idealistic to have the Christmas spirit throughout the year?
INTRO
There are several places throughout the world, including the US that celebrate Christmas year-round. North Pole, Alaska, Bethlehem, PA, and Pigeon Forge, TN (Dollywood), are a few places in the USA that no matter what time of year you go, they’re celebrating Christmas with lights, music, and decor. There’s a house up on Palomino like that as well, jk.
I’m a fan of Christmas. I love the décor, ugly sweaters, festivities, the food, the movies, and the music. When else are you going to hear people as diverse as Bing Crosby and David Bowie singing Little Drummer boy. It’s as if everyone has the Christmas spirit.
The “spirit of Christmas” is a phrase we’ve all heard but how exactly do you define it? It’s been well documented that Americans are generally a bit more kind, joyful and even a bit more generous during Christmas. There are parties, get-togethers, gift exchanges, etc. It’s a time of catching up with friends and family and many of us get a few days off. It’s a great time and it’s why we look forward to it.
In the Dicken’s classic, A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge famously encounters three “spirits” of Christmas resulting in a transformation in which afterwards he’s described as celebrating Christmas in his heart every day of the year.
So, is that possible or is it just a novel? Can you celebrate Christmas in your heart every day throughout the year? Not to sound sappy, but the answer is yes. The real spirit of Christmas is the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is perhaps most famous for Pentecost and while He’s not included in the typical nativity set that you’d purchase at Costco, He too was most certainly involved, in the first Christmas.
SLIDE 1
Mary: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.
(Lk. 1:35)
Joseph: “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” (Mt. 1:20)
ILLUS: Masked Singer is a television program in which a panel of judges strives to discover the identity of a completely disguised celebrity.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christmas.
The Holy Spirit has come to testify about Jesus. (Acts 1:8)
He has come to equip and empower the church (1 For 12-14) and
He has come to empower to live in the Spirit.
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“To the great gift of forgiveness God adds also the great gift of the Holy Spirit. He is the source of power who meets our need to escape from the miserable weakness that grips us. He gives us the power that we do not have in and of ourselves to live godly lives. He gives us the power to be good.” – Billy Graham
In addition to empowering us to testify about Jesus, He’s provided us with spiritual giftings for doing this, and He empowers us to live the Christian life.
So, exactly how do we have this Christmas spirit year round? How can live a more purposeful, joyful life, that’s reflective of what Christmas is all about? The answer is cultivating a relationship with the Holy Spirit.
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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. (Gal. 5:22-25)
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control are all ingredients of the Christmas spirit. The opposite of these would be hate, anxiety, unkind/rude, rashness, impatience, etc. None of which we’d use to describe the Christmas spirit because none have anything to do with the Holy Spirit.
4 Biblical Insights for Cultivating a Relationship with the Holy Spirit…Year Round
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1-Follow Through on whatever God has already revealed to you.
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. (Mt. 1:21 NIV)
For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” (Lk. 2:11-12)
Hearing this word from the angel the shepherds could’ve said, wow, that was awesome. What do you suppose that was all about? What do you think the child looks like? What do you think he meant in the original Angelese by a babe wrapped wrapped in swaddling cloths? Let’s check it out tomorrow? Ive got a meeting early in the am. I’m booked up all week. Let’s research it first in the original angelese to discuss the different nuances of what was said. Let’s have a meeting to discuss the pros and cons. There’s a really important game on. They could’ve come up with any number of excuses.
Rather, they hurried off and found Joseph and Mary and Jesus who was lying in a manger.
Response: “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” (Lk. 2:15-16)
Obeying God on whatever He’s speaking to you about is not only good for your relationship with Him, but it’s good for your welfare as well as those around you.
No blessings can come from disobedience, but following through on whatever it is that God is guiding you to do will result in His favor and blessings upon your life.
So, what is it that He’s been speaking to you about? Is there someone you need to bury the hatchet with? Someone you own an apology to? Maybe there’s something you need to start doing like going to church? Volunteering? Getting baptized?
JOKE: An old man was wondering if his wife had a hearing problem. So one night, he stood behind her while she was sitting in her chair. He spoke softly to her, "Honey, can you hear me?" There was no response. He moved a little closer and said again, "Honey, can you hear me?" Still, there was no response. Finally, he moved right behind her and said, "Honey, can you hear me?" She replied, "for the third time, yes!" Turns out he was the one with the hearing problem.
The same can happen spiritually to long time Christians. We too can experience a loss of spiritual hearing and seeing.
MEAN CHRISTIANS: Have you ever met any mean Christians? They know the bible but they’re mean? They’ve been to all kinds of seminars and watched God knows how many prophetic youtube videos but still they’re mean.
Their Fruits of the spirit seem sour or absent. Baptized in pickle juice.
Odds are that somehow their hearts have become hardened which has affected their hearing.
You can see all types of miracles and hear a lot of great teachings but if we never follow up with what God has been speaking to us about we can develop a spiritual hardening of the arteries which results in spiritual hearing loss. Pharaoh is exhibit A.
PHARAOH after 3rd plague gnats
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Still Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. (Ex. 7:13)
Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. (Ex. 8:19)
Jesus will regularly say things like “Verily verily” or “he who has an ear let him hear.” In the days of CB radio you'd say "Got your ears on?"
Spiritual Hearing loss.
Q: How can we protect our spiritual hearing?
A: Obey Him in what He’s already revealed to you to be true.
“My sheep know my voice” but sometimes you can get so far behind you cant hear His voice as clearly.
Where is He who is born the King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him (Mt. 2:2)
The wise men followed through on what God had revealed to them…
CURE: Spiritually speaking, the cure is to simply follow through on whatever God has been speaking to you about…quickly.
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2-Follow through quickly with whatever it is that God has spoken to you about.
And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. (Lk. 2:16)
Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt (Mt. 2:13-14)
Shepherds: “they went with Haste” = excessive speed.
Joseph didn’t even bother to have coffee but woke Mary up in the middle of the night and said we’ve got to go…now.
Delayed obedience is still disobedience.
Some people say, well, once I start a new job I’ll start living for Jesus, or once I get married, or once I retire, or fill in the blank.
God cannot bless disobedience.
Forgive someone, start giving, start taking a sabbath, publicly id w Christ, start sharing the gospel, reading your bible, forsake a bad habit, volunteer.
ADDED BONUS
If you’d like to have more blessings in your life then be quick to follow through on what you know is the right thing to do.
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3-Following through on what God has already revealed to you results in additional insights and blessings.
So they (shepherds) hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. (Lk. 2:16-18 NIV)
These shepherds have the blessing of being the first humans besides Mary & Jospeph to see the Messiah!
And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they (wise men) departed to their own country by another way. (Mt. 2:12) / additional insight.
This very well may have saved their lives.
By following through on whatever it is that God has revealed to you, quickly, will result in seeing even more of God in your life.
-The wise men, for example, see the star again. They follow it and results in them
-Seeing Jesus with their own eyes. Then
-They’re warned in a dream and follow through on what God has revealed to them by taking a different route.
If you follow through on what has been revealed to you, if you act upon it, like the shepherds and wise men, you too will begin to see more of God in your life.
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4-Read what the Holy Spirit has said
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16)
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When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So, they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet…” (Mt. 2:3-5)
ILLUS: Do You Hear What I Hear? Written during the Cuban missel crisis and released in 1962 Do you hear what I hear was made a hit by Bing Crosby and has become one of the more recent of songs to become classified as a Christmas carol. The carol invites us to look beyond the natural world to see what God is doing. Can you hear what I hear, do you see what I see, do you know what I know?
Herod the Great
The carol asks, “do you know what I know?” For Herod the answer was huh? No, he doesn’t know.
He’s remodeled the Temple, he’s a great architect. He’s considered the king of the Jews but he doesn’t know his Bible.
The Wise Men have come to Herod the Great, the King of the Jews, in Jerusalem, to ask about a bible prophecy and he’s absolutely clueless. He’s never read His bible.
The Holy Spirit is the general editor of the Bible. He’s the one who inspired the authors to write what they did. So, make it a regular part of your life. Before you read the box scores or your first email, consider reading the bible first. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Make Bible reading a daily part of your spiritually nutritious breakfast. This is why we have Bible studies. We’re on break now but let me encourage you make plans to get into one in January. You’ll also love the fellowship you find there.
Why is it that some seem to connect the dots to Jesus and others don’t? How can you protect your own spiritual hearing and vision? How can we like the transformed Ebeneezer Scrooge, keep Christmas in our hearts throughout the year?
Obey God on what He’s already speaking to you about. Obey Him quickly. Doing so will result in more of His blessings in your life and Get to know His word.
In Conclusion, and its a long one...
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The Incarnation was just the beginning…
Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. (Rev. 22:12)
Be mindful that the Incarnation was just the beginning. One of the words we use this time of year is Advent.
-Some people even have advent calendars.
-Advent means arrival, sometimes you’ll hear people say, "with the advent of television", or "with the advent of the internet", meaning that once it arrived it changed everything and that the world was never quite the same afterwards.
-The advent of the first Christmas, what theologians call the Incarnation, God coming in the form of a human, indeed changed everything…and continues to do so.
-The long-awaited Messiah successfully arrived. It’s great news of great joy for everyone. He is the Savior who makes reconciliation with God possible.
-What few understood was that there would be a season in-between His bodily resurrection and rule and reign on Earth.
-Before His ascension in Acts 1, the disciples quizzically ask “will you at this time restore the Kingdom of Israel” meaning will you now overthrow the Romans and begin your rule (Acts 1:6).
-He commissions them to carry on with the mission and ministry and that He’ll send the Holy Spirt to empower them for this task. But meanwhile they’re to carry on.
-The Angels say “Men of Galilee why are you staring up at the clouds. He will return to you in the clouds just as He said, meanwhile, you heard what He said…you’ve got work to do.” (paraphrase)
We have a lot in common with the first century believers because we’re now awaiting with great anticipation his return.
I was one of those kids who lived to get out of school. Every now and then I’d even feign sickness so that I wouldn’t have to go. Aside from summer break, Christmas was the best. In addition to getting out of school for at least two weeks there were the presents. In fact, you’d begin to get some presents before Christmas which simply fueled the anticipation. Likewise, we are living in anticipation of His return. And its with this anticipation that we too should have the spirit of Christmas year-round.
The real spirit of Christmas includes Advent, i.e., waiting with great anticipation for Jesus to return. No Christmas celebration can even begin to compare.
While we’re waiting, we can confidently live with the reality that Christ will return. If not in our lifetime we'll go with Him and then return with Him. We’re taught that the faithful will rule and reign with Him and Jesus has told us that when He returns His reward is with Him. It’s just that in our case, unlike an advent calendar, we don’t know for certain when.
Regardless, it will far exceed any Christmas celebration you’ve ever experienced.
But, much like Christmas shopping or preparing for guests or a meal, for now we have some work to do.
Just as we eventually go back to work, school, or taking care of the home, we can remember that Jesus also had school, work as a carpenter, and a mission to accomplish. Like us, He too at times experienced frustration with people who misunderstood and even rejected Him. Yet, He was very cognizant of His purpose and the future that awaited.
ILLUS: Bourdain and Columbia
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None of the rulers of this age understood it. For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Rather, as it is written, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagines what God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed it to us by the Spirit (1 Cor. 2:8-10/Isa 64:4)
May we live with the spirit of Christmas in our hearts throughout the year and in advent, anticipation of what’s ahead.
But, first things first. Have you, like the wise men and shepherds, followed up on the revelation that has been given to you? Jesus loves you. He, being God, alone has the credentials to offer forgiveness and everlasting life. I want to invite you to take that next step and like the Shepherds, like the wise men, to worship Him as Christ. You see, as the angels said, "it's good news of great joy for all people" and that includes you. It's good news that you dont have to be good enough to work your way into heaven. It's good news that Jesus has life a friend who gives you a gift card, has already paid for your sins. A gift card of course pales in comparison and is a poor illustration but my point is that like a gift card, your sins have already been paid for. The question is will you make use of it? Will you receive the gift? Why not let today be the day that you ask Jesus to forgive you for your sins and to save. your soul.
PRAYER
