The Christmas season is a time of celebration, a time of rejoicing. As the song tells us, "It’s the most wonderful time of the year!" And there are dozens more where that came from, Christmas songs exhorting us to rejoice and be of good cheer; songs like "Good Christian Men, Rejoice!" and, "We Wish You A Merry Christmas!" and, "Joy To The World!"
This message, that you should be happy, and glad, and cheerful, is everywhere. You can’t escape it. When you visit the mall, you hear Bing Crosby’s voice coming out of the walls and the ceilings. When you’re out in the car, you see lawn displays with smiling snowmen, and waving Santas, and flying reindeer. When you turn on the television, you find every channel full of warm-hearted Christmas shows, like "It’s a Wonderful Life;" or "Christmas with the Muppets".
It can all be a bit oppressive, especially if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t like to have your emotions programmed by someone else, or force-fed to you by the media. If you’re the kind of person who likes to decide for yourself if you’re going to be merry, then Christmas can be kind of a drag. Because when the culture collectively decides that now is the time for everybody to be cheerful, darn it, then it seems you only have two choices. You either get with the program; be a good sport and play along. Or you become an old sourpuss, say Bah, humbug! to the whole thing, and hunker down until the season passes.
Now, it’s certainly true that many people genuinely enjoy Christmas, without any hint of irony or cynicism. Their Christmas cheer isn’t artificial. They like the music, and the decorations, and the cards, and the cookies. They enjoy hearing people say, "Merry Christmas!" For them, Christmas truly is the most wonderful time of the year. But for others, Christmas is a difficult time. Perhaps they’re struggling financially, and can’t buy thier children the presents they want. Or they don’t look forward to being with their family. Or perhaps it’s just that life hasn’t given them a lot to be cheerful about lately. And that contrast, between what they’re being told they ought to feel, and what they actually do feel, makes them even more depressed.
Maybe you’re somewhere in the middle. You enjoy Christmas, but even so, it’s a stressful time of the year. Your joy is mingled with anxiety, as you negotiate with your spouse whose family you’re going to spend Christmas with, and you go from store to store, searching for just the right gift for each person on your list, worrying about how you’re going to pay for it all. And you’re trying to get the Christmas cards addressed and sent out before New Year’s, and you’re making eight dozen sugar cookies for the school bake sale, and you’re helping the kids memorize their lines for the Christmas play – and in the midst of it all, you’re doing your best to remember the "true meaning of Christmas". Wondering if this is what Christmas should really be like. Wondering if perhaps something has gone wrong somewhere, if perhaps simple joy of the season has gotten lost.
Shouldn’t we be able to focus on the real meaning of Christmas – the babe in the manger, and the angels, and the shepherds, and the wise men, and the star, without all this other "junk"? Shouldn’t we be able to rejoice in the birth of Christ without all the shopping, and the work, and the expense, and the stress? Like Mary and Joseph did. And the shepherds. And the wise men. Go back to a simpler, purer time?
Well, I’ve got news for you. That kind of Christmas never existed. And God never intended that it should. In other words, the kind of Christmas we’ve got – flawed, stressful, with joy and sadness combined, with hope and fear all mixed together – this is what Christmas is all about. It’s what Christmas has been about since the very beginning. And in fact, this is what life is about, and will be about until Christ returns. Because the kind of purity, and simplicity, and joy we long for, without any sin, or sorrow, or suffering, is not for this world. That’s for the world to come. What we have now, and what God intends for us to rejoice in the midst of, is imperfection. Peace and stress mingled together. Work and rest. Joy and sorrow. Confidence and confusion. But we don’t have to let the imperfections of the Christmas season to keep us from genuinely enjoying it. We shouldn’t allow sadness and suffering to keep us from genuinely rejoicing in Christ our Savior, at every season of the year.
That’s my thesis. Now let me try to defend it. Because I’m sure some of you are a bit skeptical. It’s customary at this time of year to complain about all the things that are wrong with Christmas; to express longing for an ideal Christmas that’s pure, and simple, and undefiled. But I’m saying the opposite. I’m saying we shouldn’t expect that, and we don’t need that in order to rejoice. I’m saying that Christmas is like life – messy and untidy; with good and bad mixed together. That’s the way Christmas has always been. That’s the way life has always been, and always will be until Christ returns. But in spite of that, we can still worship, and be glad, and give thanks. We don’t have to let imperfection rob us of our joy and peace.
Let’s take the first Christmas. You can’t get more basic than that. No shopping malls, no parties, no decorations. What could be more pure and simple? Just the babe in the manger, being adored by Mary, and Joseph, and the wise men, and the shepherds. No bustling crowds, no artificial good cheer. Just joy and peace. Like a scene from a Christmas card. But the reality of that first Christmas was anything but pure and simple. For instance, when Mary was visited by an angel, he told her,
" . . Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." – Luke 1:30-33, NIV
What wonderful news this was! Then Mary went to visit her relative Elizabeth:
"In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!" – Luke 1:42, NIV
There was genuine good news here; real joy, and gladness and rejoicing. But it was mixed with pain and sorrow. Because the response of Joseph, Mary’s fiancée, was very different. Joseph didn’t rejoice. He didn’t call her blessed. In fact, when he learned of Mary’s pregnancy, his conclusion was that she had been unfaithful to him. Matthew tells us that,
". . . Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. " – Matthew 1:18-9, NIV
We can only imagine Joseph’s reaction when he learned that his fiancé had conceived a child. Shock, anger, hurt, disappointment. This innocent young girl he gave his heart to had now apparently committed adultery. What were his discussion with Mary like, as she tried to explain what had happened, and Joseph rejected her pleas of innocence? What must have been going through her mind? What grief Mary must have experienced, what tears she must have shed. And the shame, when she tried to explain to her parents and her friends what had happened. Not until the angel also visited Joseph were they able to be reconciled, with Joseph agreeing to proceed with the marriage.
Last week, I mentioned the difficulty of the trip that Mary and Joseph had to make to Bethlehem. And when they arrived, there was no place for them to stay. And so, instead of giving birth in her own home, with friends and family to help her, she gave birth alone, in a dirty stable far from her native country. The people who did come to visit were strangers: no sisters or sisters-in-law; no mother, no cousins. Just some scruffy shepherds and kings from distant lands. They couldn’t have been much help. [Someone has suggested that things would have been different if the wise men had been wise women. They would have: asked directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole, and brought practical gifts.] The bottom line is that the circumstances of Jesus’ birth were anything but ideal. Joy and gladness? Yes, certainly. But with a lot of hardship and difficulty mixed in, too. Just like our Christmas, yours and mine, today.
And how about what happened after the birth? King Herod, having learned that a potential rival for the throne had been born, he began to search for him. Joseph and Mary had to take their newborn son and run for their lives. As Matthew tells the story:
"After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ’Get up and flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,’ the angel said. ’Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to try to kill the child.’ That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, and they stayed there until Herod’s death. . . Herod was furious when he learned that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, because the wise men had told him the star first appeared to them about two years earlier. " – Matthew 2:13-16
Can you imagine how it would feel to have someone trying to kill your son? Especially if that person had all the power and authority of an absolute monarchy behind them? It must have been terrifying. How could they defend themselves? How could they hide? They couldn’t. All they could do was run. And that’s what they did. They made it out of Bethlehem one step ahead of Herod’s soldiers. And so Mary and Joseph were unable to return to their home and family even after the birth, but they had to flee to a foreign country until Herod’s death. And while they were hiding in Egypt, Herod’s soldiers were murdering children, hoping to kill their baby. Not a very heartwarming Christmas story, is it?
And yet, in spite of all this, the Bible still portrays the birth of Christ as an occasion for great joy, in spite of all the pain, and sorrow, and work, and struggle, and fear, and confusion that accompanied it. When Mary first received the news from the angel, she sang, "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior" (Luke 1:46-47, NIV). When she visited her relative Elizabeth, who was pregnant with her own baby, she told Mary, "behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy" (Luke 1:44, NIV). When the Magi, the wise men, first saw the star of Bethlehem, Matthew tells us "they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy" (Matthew 2:10, NAS). And when the angel appeared to the shepherds, he told them,
"Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." And after the shepherds had seen the baby, they "returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen. . . . " – Luke 2:10, 20, NIV
The same is true for us today. God wants us to rejoice in the birth of His Son, and we can rejoice, even though our circumstances are far from perfect. You may be stressed out, cranky, emotionally raw, and sleep-deprived; your credit cards may be maxed out; you may not be able to find the one toy your children say they absolutely must have; the toy without which their Christmas will be hollow and empty; you may be disgusted at the crass commercialism that has taken over the holidays; and you may be anticipating Christmas at your in-laws with more dread than delight – but you can still rejoice in the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. There has never been a perfect Christmas, not even the very first one. But that shouldn’t keep us from rejoicing, along with the shepherds, and the wise men, and Mary, and Joseph, and Elizabeth, and all of God’s children.
The Biblical account of Christ’s birth reminds us that our circumstances don’t have to be ideal, or even close to ideal, in order for us to experience real joy, and peace, and satisfaction. In fact, even in the midst of great suffering, we can experience those things. Why? Because we know that whatever hardships we may be facing now, they will soon be over. This short life, filled with pain and sorrow, will give way to an eternity of complete happiness. An eternity of knowing and enjoying God; an eternity of fellowship with Christ and with one another. An eternity of perfect love, untainted by sin. Not only that, but we know the difficulties and suffering we encounter in this life have a good, and wise, and loving purpose; we know that God allows them into our lives in order to prepare us for heaven. As the apostle Peter puts it:
"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy" – 1 Peter 1:6-8, NIV
" . . . filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy." Do you know who Peter wrote these words to? Not people who were living in peace and comfort, but people who were in the midst of suffering and persecution. Later in the same epistle, he writes,
"Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad--because these trials will make you partners with Christ in his suffering, and afterward you will have the wonderful joy of sharing his glory when it is displayed to all the world." – 1 Peter 4:12-13, NLT
These people, who were undergoing "fiery trials," could still be "truly glad" and possess "an inexpressible and glorious joy." And so can we. Is your life difficult? Messy? Uncomfortable? That’s OK. Rejoice anyway. Is your Christmas less than ideal? That’s OK. Rejoice anyway. Don’t let Satan squelch your joy by reminding you of everything you dislike about Christmas. Instead, remind yourself of the miracle, and the hope, that Christmas represents.
My hope this morning is that this message has been an encouragement to you. Because in spite of all their difficulties and hardships; in spite of Herod’s murderous rage; in spite of the fear and sorrow that Mary and Joseph experienced – in the end, our Savior, Christ Jesus was born, and God protected Him. He grew to adulthood; he taught us how to live, and then he gave his life for us on the cross. And that is a cause for great rejoicing. We don’t have to be condemned for our sin; we don’t have to suffer the wrath of God and eternal punishment in Hell. We can be forgiven. We can have eternal life. Because Christ paid the penalty for sin on our behalf. He broke down the barrier between God and man; he made it possible for us to be reconciled to our Creator. In the words of John 3:16,
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." – John 3:16, NLT
If you are a believer in Jesus Christ; if you have confessed your sins and trusted in His death as payment for sin; if you have asked him to forgive you, and to grant you eternal life – then you have all the reason in the world to rejoice this Christmas, regardless of your circumstances. There is no such thing as a perfect Christmas, and there never has been. But we do have a perfect Savior, and we can rejoice in that.
If you haven’t yet placed your faith and trust in Christ, then what better time to do it than during this Advent season, when we celebrate His birth and also look forward to His return? Won’t you do that now? Make this the best Christmas you’ll ever have and ask Him to come into your heart today.
(For an .rtf file of this and other sermons, see www.journeychurchonline.org/messages.htm)
