Summary: How do we handle the fact that it is His birthday, & so few are paying any attention to Him at all?

MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER

CENTRAL CHRISTIAN, BROWNSVILLE, TX

A. You have probably heard the old saying that there are 3 types of people: people who make things happen, people who watch things happen, & people who have no earthly idea what is happening.

There are many who are really trying to make Christmas happen. They go out & buy the presents, address the cards, decorate their homes, & run from one activity to another, endeavoring to make Christmas a reality for them.

Then there are others who are watching Christmas as it happens all around them, seeing the decorations, hearing the sounds, & absorbing as much of the Christmas spirit as they possibly can.

And there are others who go through all the activities, & yet have no earthly idea what is really happening because there is a heavenly dimension to Christmas that they have missed.

ILL. W.E. Sangster tells a story about going to a wedding reception where he didn’t know anybody except the friend who took him. As he walked around, he saw that everybody really seemed to be enjoying themselves. The food was delicious, a band was playing, people were dancing, having a wonderful time.

But he says that there was a girl sitting over in the corner all by herself. She was a very pretty girl, & had a nice smile on her face, but she was alone. And when he looked at her she acknowledged his glance. So he turned to his friend & asked, "Who is that girl in the corner?" The friend replied, "Don’t you know? She is the bride."

APPL. Now that’s rather absurd, isn’t it? But I wonder, "How would you feel if you were the bride, & it’s your wedding reception, but no one pays much attention to you?" Possibly the same way Jesus must feel. It’s His birthday, & everybody is celebrating. But so few are really paying any attention to Him at all.

B. So to help us get ready for Christmas, let’s turn our attention to Titus 2:11-14. I want to read it to you, & then go back & look at it, verse by verse. Listen as I read it to you.

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say `No’ to ungodliness & worldly passions, & to live self﷓controlled, upright & godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God & Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness & to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good."

PROP. This passage of Scripture looks at the past, the present, & the future. And it gives us 4 perspectives.

I. COMMEMORATE THE PAST

First of all, Paul encourages Titus to commemorate the past. Listen to vs. 11. "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men."

Now I suggest to you that this is a great Christmas text even though it doesn’t say anything about angels or shepherds, or Mary & Joseph & their long journey to the little town of Bethlehem.

It doesn’t mention a little baby being born & wrapped in swaddling clothes & laid in a manger, or wise men who come bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, & myrrh. It says nothing about the wrath of Herod, the flight into Egypt, or the return to Nazareth.

None of those things are mentioned in this Scripture. Yet, I think that in one little sentence, Paul has captured the essence of Christmas when he says, "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men."

That is the message of Christmas. In a darkened world, dark because of wickedness & sin, God sends the light of His love, expressed in a baby, born to a virgin, laid in a manger in Bethlehem.

ILL. Bob Benson once told of a special Christmas in his life. He said, "Every time I look back on that particular Christmas I get a smile on my face, & a warm feeling in my heart. It was a very special Christmas."

He said, "I knew in advance that it was going to be special for 3 important reasons. #1, we had just moved into a new house, the house of our dreams. It had all the things we had always wanted & never had."

"Secondly, I knew that it was going to be a special Christmas because all the kids were coming home. Now when you’re the father of 5, & they’re all married & have children of their own, that is a very rare & wonderful event!"

He said, "I can’t tell you how proud & happy Peg & I were on Christmas Sunday when all of us sat together in church. It was just such a special time of praise & worship. I look back on that day with great thanksgiving."

Then he said, "The third reason I knew it was going to be a special Christmas is because the doctor had just told me that there would be no surgery in January. You see, I had cancer, & my future seemed so uncertain. But now I could celebrate Christmas without dreading surgery, & having that hanging over my head."

Then Christmas came, & it was one of his greatest Christmases. "But," he said, "that Christmas was good, not because we had a new home, not because all the kids were there, & not because I didn’t have to face surgery. Christmas really doesn’t depend upon those things."

Then he mentioned Bob & Shirley Shields, a couple in their church. Their house had burned down just before Christmas, & all their possessions had been consumed in the fire. "But," he said, "they still had Christmas because Christmas doesn’t depend on a house. Christmas depends upon Jesus, the grace of God revealed to men."

"And Christmas comes not just to families who are able to get together," he said. His mother & father weren’t with them that particular Christmas because his dad had been suffering from a serious illness & was unable to travel. So they spent Christmas alone.

"But," he said, "Christmas came to their home, too, because Christmas doesn’t depend upon families getting together. Christmas depends upon the coming of God’s grace & it being revealed to men."

Then he added, "Christmas even comes to those who are in sorrow." He remembered a girl who had been in the hospital at the same time he was there. But there was very little they could do for her, & she was buried just a few days before Christmas.

Even to that home of bereavement Christmas came because Christmas doesn’t depend on good health. Christmas depends on Jesus, the revelation of God’s grace to all men. That’s the essence of Christmas.

SUM. So let’s commemorate the past, the good news that at just the right time, God broke into human history & revealed His grace to men.

II. CONSECRATE THE PRESENT

A. Secondly, we need to consecrate the present. Listen to vs. 12. "It teaches us to say `No’ to ungodliness & worldly passions, & to lead self﷓controlled, upright & godly lives in this present age..."

How do we consecrate the present as we live out our days on this earth? We learn to say "No" to that which is wrong.

It is obvious that our world is following an ungodly path. And each year it is becoming more & more ungodly. God is pretty much left out of our thinking today. He is no longer a vital part of government. He is no longer a vital part of society. He has been ruled out of our schools.

ILL. In fact, administrators of a school district here in Texas told the cheerleaders that they could no longer pray together before the game while wearing their cheerleading outfits, even though prayer had been a tradition of that school for years.

Our world is becoming more & more ungodly. And as we become more & more ungodly, we become more & more in tune to worldly lusts & pleasures.

ILL. A few years ago, Pope John Paul said, "Every hour in this world is sex o’clock." He was right. Billboards advertise it. TV programs flaunt it. Magazines promote it. Our society is so preoccupied with ungodliness.

B. Paul writes to Titus & says that God’s grace teaches us to say "No" to all that, to go against the grain, to be a Christian in an un-Christian world. If you’re going to stand up for God in an ungodly world, you must dare to be different, dare to say "No" to those things that are wrong, & "Yes" to self﷓control, "Yes" to upright living, "Yes" to godly lives in this present age.

But we say, "I don’t know if I can do that. The influence of the world is so strong & so overwhelming."

ILL. The man who wrote the biography of Billy Graham said that one of the things he most appreciated was how freely Billy Graham opened his life to him. He said that he didn’t try to conceal anything. But as this man probed into the deepest areas of Billy Graham’s life, he came to this conclusion: "Billy has lived closer to his ideals than any person I have every met."

We need to hear that. In this day when some who stand up & speak in the name of God have misused the trust that was placed in them, in this day when there are so many ”ripoffs” in Christianity, we need to know that it is still possible to stand up & say "No."

It is possible to say "No" because the Holy Spirit can & will help you live a godly life in this world. It’s not impossible. God can still empower us to live lives that will bring glory to Him.

SUM. So we need to consecrate & rededicate ourselves to God & His will for us today as we get ready to celebrate the coming of God’s grace into our world.

III. CONTEMPLATE THE PROMISE OF THE FUTURE

A. Thirdly, we need to contemplate the promise of the future. Listen to vs. 13: "While we wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God & Savior, Jesus Christ."

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of negative news. We have heard so much gloom & doom about our economy, & how everything hinges on the merchants having a good Christmas. We’re being told that if we don’t buy more than we can afford, then the economy is going to fall to pieces.

I’ve never quite understood, when I spend more than I can afford & my own economy gets worse, how they figure that the nation’s economy will get better. It doesn’t seem right to me.

ILL. Do you remember the commercial put out a few years ago by a credit card company telling us that we just must buy what our children want for Christmas?

In the commercial, this little boy had his list all prepared, & it was filled with expensive items. But his daddy was telling him, "Son, I just don’t have the money to get you those things this Christmas." Then the announcer’s voice breaks in & says, "Dad, your child’s Christmas doesn’t have to be ruined. Just take out your card & buy whatever your children want. You can do it today."

ILL. Larry Burkett wrote a book a few years ago in which he predicted that within the next decade or so the whole financial system of our government will collapse, & if we have any money in savings anywhere, we will lose it.

So his recommendation was that we withdraw all our savings, get it in our pockets, & pay off all our debts, because the only thing we will be able to hold on to are those things that are paid for.

Now I don’t know. Burkett may be right. My wife & I have a little nest egg. It’s not much, but we thought we ought to save something so that we wouldn’t be too big a burden on our kids or on society. Should we go get that money & pay off whatever we can with it, & then sit back & wait for the economy to collapse? I don’t know. But I’m not too inclined to do that.

But I do know this - the Bible teaches that "In this world you have no security." If you’re laying up treasure in this world, it will rust or rot or waste away, or thieves will break through & steal. The only thing we will have forever is what we have deposited in heaven.

My Christian faith, & I trust yours, too, is not built on this world that may fall apart tomorrow. My faith is built upon a coming King.

B. Notice that the world "appear" is used in both vs’s 11 & 13, talking about His first appearing & His second. First He came as a little baby, born in an obscure village, & only a few people were even aware of that event. But when He comes again, angels will shout, trumpets will blow, & every eye will see Him, & every knee will bow before Him.

When He came the first time He came to die. When He comes again He will come to reign. When He came the first time He came to wear a crown of thorns. When He comes again He will be wearing the crown of Kings of Kings & Lord of Lords.

ILL. A few years ago one of the news programs interviewed a man who had successfully broken the security at Buckingham Palace & entered the Queen’s bedroom, not once, but twice. Twice he had climbed the walls of the palace, worked his way through an open window, made his way down the corridors, & was standing beside the Queen’s bed when she woke up in the morning.

Can you imagine that? Here is the Queen of England with curlers in her hair, & morning breath, & all that. He is standing there, & as she opens her eyes, he says, "Good morning, mum." Twice he did that, not once, but twice.

The TV program interviewed him standing by the gate at Buckingham Palace. The Queen had just passed by, & had waved to the crowd standing there. The interviewer asked him, "Do you think she noticed you when she went by?"

He answered quite proudly, "I believe she did. I believe she recognized me when she looked out of her limo & saw this familiar face that had greeted her on two mornings of her life. I believe she was waving at me." He was really proud of the fact that he had been where few men have ever been, in the Queen’s bedroom when she woke up in the morning.

APPL. Now I confess to you that I have no burning desire to be in the Queen’s bedroom when she wakes up in the morning. One of the reasons is because she is not my Queen.

But Jesus is my King. And when He comes again He’ll know me by name. He knows every hair on my head. He knows every part of my life. And when He comes again, we’ll know Him, & He’ll know us because He’s our King.

IV. CONCENTRATE ON OUR PURPOSE

Finally, we need to concentrate on our purpose. Listen to vs. 14, "...who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness & to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good."

Jesus gave Himself for two reasons: to redeem us, & to purify us. We’re like slaves on an auction block, enslaved to our wickedness & sin. But He came & paid the price. He bought us, & set us free from our sins. So we have become His people, a royal priesthood, His church.

Notice what vs. 13 says His people are eager to do. His people are "eager to do what is good." God’s purpose for us, then, is to do what is right & wholesome & good in this world, to stand up for righteousness in the midst of overwhelming unrighteousness, to be God’s people. We need to concentrate on that purpose.

CONCL. So as you prepare for Christmas this year, I hope that you’ll think about the past, & all the precious memories you have accumulated through the years. And you’ll treasure them as you should. But I pray that you’ll realize that the most important part is that at one specific time God broke into the world & He revealed His grace to all men.

As you think about today, I pray that you will consecrate your lives to God, & say "No" to ungodliness, to worldly pleasures & lust, & say "Yes" to uprightness, to self-control, to godly lives in these times.

As you think about the future, you can think about gloom & doom if you want. But I hope that you’ll think about the promise we have, that one day Jesus is coming again.

So as you’re busy making Christmas happen, I hope it happens in a very special way to you & your family. As you stand back & observe it, I hope that you see more & hear more than you have ever heard before. And that this will be the greatest Christmas for you ever.

And as you ask yourself, "What is it that is really happening?" I hope you’ll get in touch with what is real about this season, & that you won’t leave Jesus over in a corner all by Himself. Invite Him to the party, too.

If you’re outside of Christ this morning, we invite you to come as we stand & as we sing.