INTRO
Have you ever noticed how the day after Christmas is kind of a letdown? There is always this build up to Christmas. Some of us have had the decorations hung for over a month. We have sung the songs, watched the movies, bought and wrapped the gifts, and cooked the meals. There is admittedly an excitement around the countdown to Christmas. The final preparations that need to be made. That last gift we thought we had bought, only to find out we left something out. Family comes in. We open our homes and our hearts to relatives that maybe we haven’t seen in a while. Then there is Christmas Eve. The day before. There is a tradition that we have started since Kris came along: Courtney prepares a Christmas Eve box for him. There is a new set a pjs, some small gifts, and a Christmas movie. We usually bake cookies and the watch the movie.
Then the big day arrives. We gather with the family around the tree. Read the Christmas Story found in Luke 2, and then get down to business opening gifts. There is always this joy at seeing your loved ones open those gifts that you bought for them. After the laughter, jokes, stories, the chaos of wrapping paper from one end of the room to the other, it’s just over. All that excitement. All that preparation. All that waiting. It’s over.
Isn’t it interesting how quickly we shift gears? As soon as Christmas day is past, the decorations come down, the radio stations return to playing regular music, and almost overnight, it’s as if Christmas Day never happened. For some of us, we are left asking, “Now what?”
Post-holiday depression is a clinically recognized condition. Christmas time can bring about such strong emotions that, when it’s over, people have a difficult time returning to their normal routine. This condition is marked by anxiety, insomnia, low-energy, irritability, and difficulty concentrating. People seem to struggle during the holidays and after.
But surely, it’s not like that in the church? Certainly, God’s people have a different perspective on things? All I can say to that is: we should!
Now, I’m not saying that we don’t have a right to feel. Too often, we come into the church house, put on a smile, and when asked how we are doing, we say “fine.” Can I encourage you, if that is you today, to stop pretending for our sake. If you are hurting or if you are struggling, this is the place for you to be honest about that. As Paul wrote to the church in Galatia, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” We are here to support and edify one another. We are walking the Christian walk together and that walk can be difficult. It’s made even more difficult, when we forsake the friendship and fellowship that we have in the church.
Post-holiday blues aside, there are some wonderful truths that come to light in the post-Christmas season. We read in this passage, that there were some that were eagerly anticipating the coming the Messiah. Unlike the religious leaders of their time, they were not looking for some military leader to vanquish their earthly foes. In both Simeon and Anna, we see two people that recognized the Messiah for who He was. They saw a newborn babe, who would go on to radically change the world.
What I want to focus on today, is what is presented to us in vs 40. You see, Jesus did not stay a baby in a manager. As the Scripture tells us: He grew. As I was preparing for today’s message, that thought hit me profoundly. The Christ child, who with His birth, ushered in a time a hope, peace, joy, and love that we still experience today. This season of Advent is a wonderful time to reflect on all that the birth of Christ means to us. But how often does the story stop there for so many?
The fact that Christ grew into a man, is a reason for celebration just great as Christmas. The Messiah came, just as He was promised to, and, in His arrival, signaled that everything was about to change. Not only was the incarnation of Christ significant in and of itself, but the fact that Christ developed just as we developed is just as incredible.
The Scriptures do not give us much information about Christ’s childhood. We know that this is an important time in anyone’s life. This is the time that we begin to form our ideas of self, the world, and our place in it. Now, think of boyhood Jesus. Knowing who He is, His place in the world, and the impact that He would have on the world. Even with this knowledge, He still grew as any child would. He had to learn to walk. He had to learn to read and to write. He had to learn all the things that we have to learn. And yet, there was something different about Him.
I find it hard to imagine that Jesus was an unruly child. I would imagine that Jesus honored Mary and Joseph. Think about that: the Son of God submitting to the earthly authority of His mother and adopted father. I don’t think that Jesus acted up in class at school. I imagine he was attentive and a got good grades. I also don’t think that He was a child who shirked His responsibilities at home. I imagine He did all His chores and helped around the house.
Were you that kind of child? I know I wasn’t. So, what can we learn from this time in Jesus’ life? When we ask the question, “Now what?” after Christmas, what lessons can we apply to our own lives? You see, there is a lot that happened between the manager and the start of Jesus’ ministry. I believe that even in boyhood, Christ still has lessons to teach us. So, let’s look at this short verse and see what Christ can teach us.
I. We see that Jesus grew in spirit, wisdom, and the grace of God was on Him.
A. Notice that the verse says that He waxed strong in spirit.
- What does that mean?
- Christ at age 5 did not have the same understanding as Christ at age 30. He had to develop just as all children have to develop.
- Yet, at age 5, I believe He possessed all the awareness and knowledge that is capable at such a young age.
- This would include the knowledge of God and I think even His purpose here on earth.
- At even such a young age, Christ would have followed the Law of God and kept the commandments.
- Even at such a young age, He keeps His Father’s Law.
B. As He grew physically, He also grew spiritually.
- I can’t help but think that Jesus, even at a young age, already began to be drawn to the things of God.
- When He wasn’t at school or helping around the house, we could have found Jesus at the Temple listening to the priests or studying the Torah and the prophets.
- No doubt the adults didn’t quite know what to make of this. I doubt that they had ever seen a child so thirsty for knowledge of the things of God.
- We know that Christ reaches such a level of knowledge, that by age 12, we find Him in the temple of Jerusalem lecturing the elders and they were amazed at the insights He had into the things of God.
- Already, at such a young age, this boy from Nazareth had an amazing connection to the things of God.
C. There are 2 lessons that we can learn and apply here to our lives.
- First, you are never too young to begin learning about the things of God.
• I would also add that you are never too old to begin learning about the things of God.
• There is value in the knowledge of the things of God.
• It doesn’t matter if you are 9 or 90, there is always something more that you can learn from studying the Word of God.
• The depths and wisdom of the truths of the things of God does not have an age requirement.
- Secondly, we as parents of a responsibility to raise our children in the knowledge of the things of God.
• Do you think that Mary and Joseph were upset when Jesus spent time at the Temple?
• That is hard to imagine.
• Do you think that the Temple was the only place where Jesus learned about God?
• Of course not.
• We as parents need to own up to the responsibility of raising our children.
• It’s not the school system’s responsibility, it’s not even the church’s. The responsibility of teaching your children Jesus, is the parent’s.
• I know that your children are grown, but that doesn’t end your responsibility.
• Just as being a parent is a lifelong responsibility, demonstrating Christ to your children is also a lifelong responsibility.
II. Just as Christ Grew, We too Must Grow
A. I made the comment earlier that Jesus at the age of 5, did not think and act like Jesus at age 30. This is because He had to grow.
- Jesus was learning, growing, taking in everything around Him.
- As He learned, studied, and spent time in the Temple, He began to mature in His mind and in His already strong relationship with the Father.
- But this did not happen overnight. It took time.
- We see the fullness of His development at the wedding of Cana when He performed His first miracle and started His earthly ministry that would eventually lead to the cross.
B. This is a reminder to us too, that our growth takes time.
- How many of you have known young Christians that get saved and just come out of the gate thinking that they should know it all and have this Christian walk figured out?
- Maybe that was how your Christian walk started as well.
- There is nothing wrong with wanting to know all there is to know about God and the Bible. Though I would add that is a life long pursuit.
- The problem is, we so often don’t give ourselves time to grow.
- The Christian walk is a progression and that takes time.
- Just as Christ was not performing miracles at 8 years old, new Christians can’t expect to have this walk figured out in the early days of their relationship with God.
- When we don’t give ourselves time to grow in Christ, we set ourselves up for failure.
- The truth is, we put far more expectations on ourselves than what God puts on us.
- We think that we must be perfect and that if we don’t do everything just right, then it’s game over and we have to start back at the beginning.
- The only problem with that, is that completely discounts God’s grace that has been extended towards us.
C. Growth may take time, but it must take place.
- Now, I think that young Christians need to be careful when they are just starting out in their walk, but there is another danger there.
- While growth and maturity in Christ takes time, there must be growth and maturity.
- A Christian that isn’t growing their relationship, that isn’t deepening their relationship, and isn’t maturing in Christ, probably won’t stay a Christian very long.
- If someone claims that they have been a Christian for 5, 10, 15 years and yet their behaviors, habits, and attitudes haven’t change since the day they went to the altar, I think there is a problem there.
- Growth must take place.
- As Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 13:11, “When I was child, I spake as a child, I understood as child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”
- If you are not growing as a Christian, it’s time to reflect on why that is and make some changes.
III. We have hope beyond Christmas, because Christ did grow.
A. Christ was sent here with a purpose and a plan, and when the time was come, He set about fulfilling that plan and purpose.
- We have hope beyond Christmas, because Christ did not stay a baby forever.
- When the time had come, Christ took all that He had learned, and set about doing what the Father had sent Him to do.
- So many want to think of Jesus as that baby in a manger. And that is a blessed image. But so many refuse to think of Jesus, God in the Flesh, who came to the earth to save the souls of mankind.
- He came to face the cross and conquer death. He came to fatally wound the curse of sin and to bridge the gap between man and God.
- He was the ultimate sacrifice that was needed.
- He grew from the baby in the manager, to become the Savior of mankind.
B. We have hope beyond Christmas, because Christ accomplished what He was sent here to do.
- What occurred that night in Bethlehem, what we celebrate every December, was just the beginning of the miracle of Christmas.
- And what was it that He was sent here to do?
- As the prophet Isaiah tells us, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him on the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgement: and who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was He stricken.”
- Every word of that prophesy was fulfilled when Christ went to Calvary.
- We can have a hope that endures, not just for a month or a season, but throughout our whole lives, because Christ accomplished exactly what He came to this earth to accomplish.
C. Because Christ grew, from child to man, because He accomplished what He was sent here to do, we have the hope of life.
- When we reflect on what God initiated that first Christmas, and what Christ accomplished with His death and resurrection, we can have full assurance in promise of life in Jesus Christ.
- This world is full of broken promises and disappointment, but in Christ, and Christ alone, we can rest our faith. Knowing that He has kept every promise that He ever made, and that in Him, we can have eternal life.
- The hope that springs up within us during the Christmas season, can be maintained throughout the year, because Christ has promised us a more abundant life now, and an even greater life to come in eternity.
- All the themes of the Advent season can be carried within throughout the year, because today Christ sits at the right hand of the Father and we stand justified because of what He has accomplished for our benefit.
CLOSING
Endings are never easy. As we say goodbye to another Christmas season. As we prepare to take down the decorations and enter yet another New Year, it may be easy to fall victim to those post-holiday blues, but my friends, I tell you, we have more reasons than ever to be hopeful and joyous today.
Because Christ was born in that little town of Bethlehem on that first Christmas, because He grew from a child into a man, and because He accomplished all that the Father put before Him, we have the greatest reason to hope in this life.
We are faced with the question of “Now what?” today. Now that Christmas has passed, let us reflect on everything that the Advent season means to us. Let’s not allow the themes and meanings of the Christmas season just be constrained to the month of December. Let us not allow them to be held prison for 11 months out the year, only to be let loose when we hang the lights and garland. Let us instead, determine to remember, every day, what this season has really been about. Every day let us wake with the determination to share the good news of Jesus Christ with those around us. Let us determine to be better today than we were yesterday, and by the grace of God, be better tomorrow than we are today.
At the risk of sounding a little cliché, let us determine to keep the meaning of Christmas alive within us every day of the year.
