INTRODUCTION
"The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season! Now, please don’t ask why. No one quite knows the reason."
One of the more popular movies right now is “The Grinch,” based on the Dr. Suess story, “How the Grinch stole Christmas.”
The Grinch, whose heart is two sizes two small, lives in a cave on the side of a mountain, high above the Whos in the village of Whoville. The noisy holiday preparations and infernal singing of the happy little citizens below annoy him to no end. So the Grinch decides this frivolous merriment must stop. His "wonderful, awful" idea is to put on a Santa outfit, strap heavy antlers on his poor, quivering dog Max, construct a makeshift sleigh, head down to Whoville, and strip those chafingly cheerful Whos of their Yuletide glee once and for all.
Looking quite out of place and very disturbing in his Santa get-up, the Grinch slithers down chimneys with empty bags, stealing the Whos’ presents, their food, even the logs from their humble Who-fires. He takes the ramshackle sleigh to Mt. Crumpit to dump it and then waits (he hopes) to hear the sobs of the Whos when they wake up on Christmas morning to discover their beloved holiday has disappeared.
The Bible has it’s own Grinch. But this character in the pages of Scripture is scarier b/c he falls into the non-fiction category. Like the Dr. Suess Grinch, the Bible Grinch is mean, hard-hearted and he enjoys misery of others.
And yet he is different – more than just having termites in his smile and garlic in his soul – the Bible Grinch is the very embodiment of evil itself
Instead of having one lone canine sidekick, he has an army of demonic creatures at his disposal.
Instead of just wanting to steal Christmas, he’s out to steal your very soul. And if he can get it, he’s delighted to imprison you in hellish torture from which no one can ever escape.
He’s been known by many names throughout history – Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, Belial, the Prince of Demons, the Ruler of this dark world – but you and I probably know him best simply as the Devil or Satan.
TRANSITION: He’s introduced to us in Genesis chapter 3.
THE GARDEN
Read Genesis 3:1-7 – Now the serpent was more crafty…
And so goes the story of how sin entered the world.
Satan takes the form of a serpent, tempts Eve who eats the fruit and offers some to Adam. God is directly disobeyed ,and Creation’s perfection falls apart.
Verses 16 and 17 of Genesis 3 tell us some of the results
For women - It will hurt to have a baby (greatly increase pain in childbirth), The base instinctive urges of male/female relationships will be to desire and dominate (your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you), the ground will produce thorns making it difficult to produce food (by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food), and death will be a reality for all men and women (dust you are and to dust you will return).
And Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden into a world that now included pain, toil, separation and death.
This event is sometimes referred to as “The Fall of Man” and it leaves us in conflict. Some scholars describe it like this…
Individuals experience conflict with God,
Individuals experience conflict with Creation,
Individuals experience conflict with Others,
and Individuals even experience conflict with themselves
If you step inside FAO Schwartz toy store this time of you year, you’re likely to hear a song being played over their speaker system, “Welcome to our world, welcome to our world, welcome to our world of toys.”
The account in Genesis 3 also says, “Welcome to our World.” Welcome to our world of death, of imperfection, of crime, of flood, of famine, of incivility. Welcome to our world of abused power, of disease, of unequal distribution of wealth, of selfishness, and of greed. Welcome to our world where people say one thing and do another, where people get judged by the color of their skin, and where children sometimes get abused by the people who are supposed to love them the most.
Welcome to our world of sin. This is the world we know. We experience those multiple layers of separation. We experience what it’s like to be cast out of Eden.
And we, like Adam and Eve, have each contributed our fair share of sins to humanity’s common experience. We’ve lied, we’ve lusted, we’ve been unkind, we’ve murdered the self-image of others with our words, and we’ve loved ourselves much more than we’ve loved our neighbors.
The world has a lot of problems, and those of us here in this room are the cause of a number of them. We are fallen. But we’re not without hope. Look at Genesis 3:15…
But to the serpent God said this. Let’s read it together…
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. (Genesis 3:15)
There is one word in that verse that changes the course of human history. One word that reveals God’s redemptive plan. One word that shines a light on things to come.
The most significant word in Genesis 3:15 is a two-letter word. It’s the word “HE”
He will crush your head, and you (serpent, Satan, deceiver,)…you will strike his heel.
Devil, you’ll injure him, but he will destroy you.
And here humanity is given the first glimpse of the Gospel – and it’s given less than 3 chapters into the Bible (In fact, this “He” in Genesis 3:15 is the whole point of the entire book!)
TRANSITION: The enemy will strike the offspring of the woman – he’ll strike her offspring - someone who will be born in the future – meaning…there will be a birth, a baby
(A BABY)
And so it says in Matthew chapter one that a carpenter named Joseph thought his fiancee Mary had been unfaithful to him. But an angel appears to him in a dream and says… take Mary as your wife, and name the child Jesus.
And in case anyone misses the point, Matthew 1:23 reminds us of what the OT prophet Isaiah had said…
The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel – which means, “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23)
This child born to Joseph and Mary would live his entire life at odds with the Bible Grinch. And it makes sense when you’ve been by God that this kid will crush your head. To Satan, this is full-scale warfare.
One of Satan’s first tactics was to convince King Herod that all boys in Bethlehem two years old and under should be put to death. But the boy and his parents escaped to Egypt before the slaughter occurred.
Then Satan surfaces again, around 28-30 years later, for a showdown in the desert when this child (now a man) is in the midst of a 40 day fast. He tries to trick Jesus into wasting his power, and even tries to get Jesus to bow down to him. But Jesus wouldn’t let his mission be interrupted by the interference of the enemy.
Then in his strongest display of power yet, Satan convinces an angry mob, a group of religious leaders, and the most powerful army in the world that this son of Mary and Joseph should be put to death. Jesus dies on a cross, and it looks like victory will go to the enemy.
But three days later, the one born in Bethlehem comes back to life. The enemy hit Jesus with his best shot, and all it did was injure Jesus for moment.
Satan had been defeated, but he is not yet destroyed.
TRANSITION: This child Jesus defeated the enemy for us. So we wouldn’t have to.
(US)
I hope you realize that Satan isn’t just the enemy of Jesus. He’s the enemy of all that God has created. He’s a Grinch-like thief who attempts to steal every soul, ruin all that is righteous, pervert all that is pure, stain all that is spotless – He wants it all.
But Jesus defeated him, bringing us…
Forgiveness of our sins (Colossians 1:13-14) For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Jesus defeated the enemy, bringing us the possibility of new birth
(John 3:3, John 1:12) I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12)
Jesus defeated the enemy, giving us…
Victory over death (1 Corinthians 15:54-57) Death has been swallowed up in victory. “Where O, Death is your victory? Where, O Death is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And all this points out the very reason why we need Christmas. It may not be plain at first glance, but upon reading the Bible it is clear, you and I need Christmas.
We need Christmas because Satan wants to send us to Hell.
He takes pleasure in our pain. He delights in our destruction.
But Christmas proves that God wants people in heaven more than He wants them in Hell.
There is an old Hasidic story that tells of a great celebration in heaven after the Israelites are delivered from the Egyptians at the Red Sea, and the Egyptian armies are drowned. The angels are cheering and dancing. Everyone in heaven is full of joy. Then one of the angels asks the archangel Michael, “Where is God? Why isn’t God here celebrating?” And Michael answers, “God is not here because He is off by himself weeping. You see, many thousands of his children were drowned today!”
God wants people in heaven more than he wants them in Hell. We can believe it because he said it himself in the Bible…
He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)
Christmas means more once you’ve taken the story personally. Average person on the street probably believes that we’re all basically good, and we just need to not make mistakes to be better.
So for most…
Peace on earth means people get along better at Christmas
Good will toward men means that many give gifts and do nice things for each other.
Joy to the World simply means that Christmas is supposed to be the happiest time of the year.
But according to the Bible we’re all bad, corrupted and basically rotten to the core, and the only hope for us is radical surgery: for God to rip out our hearts and give us new ones.
Jesus called that being born again – and to make that a possibility for us, he had to suffer death and rise again in order to defeat the enemy.
Illustration - At the end of C.S. Lewis’ novel, “Perelandra,” his main character, Ransom, wages battle with a ruthless enemy. The enemy is defeated by a rock that crushes his head. The character returns home victories, but bearing the mark of a bloody injury. It seems that in the course of battle, the enemy dealt a nasty blow to the back of his heel – and the wound never disappeared.
The words of the old hymn, “Crown Him With Many Crowns” speak of Jesus…
“Behold his hands and side. Rich wounds yet visible above, in beauty glorified.”
Satan, He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.
You’ll injure him, but he will destroy you.
That’s why Romans 16:20 says…
“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” (Romans 16:20)
And Revelation 20:10 says…
(And) the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10)
The enemy is yet to be destroyed. But without Christmas, there would be no one to destroy him.
CONCLUSION
According to Dr. Suess, in Who-ville, Christmas still came. It wasn’t about the presents, the lights, the decorations. It meant something more. When little Cindy Loo Who returns the Grinch’s hateful act with kindness, she melts the old miser’s heart. And the poor Grinch had to smile and join in the celebration himself.
Long ago, a baby born in Bethlehem didn’t bring a smile to the face of Satan. He knew the importance of this first Christmas Day. Because this child would be his doom. And this child would be our salvation. No matter what scheme he tried to devise he couldn’t stop the celebration. And he never will.
Merry Christmas!
