Christmas Is Coming Again
Scripture Reference: Acts 1:1 – 11
Introduction
There is clear evidence that we are in the throes of the holiday season. It actually started the day after Thanksgiving. Someone even said that preparations where even being made after Halloween.
Have you caught the fever so far? Have you been swept up into the frenzy of the season? What around your house shows evidence that Christmas is near? Or are you the last minute preparer? You know if you don’t have the tree up by know you are already too late?
What mall is calling you? What sell or deal has been screaming your name in the final days before the big occasion? What’s your stress level, high blood pressure, sugar readings look like? I know some of you say Reverend, I ain’t there and I ain’t going to get that high.
Paul Harvey a radio announcer tells of a man in England who had rented an old bomb shelter. His intention was to stay there from the middle of December until sometime in early January. His purpose: to escape Christmas. Paul Harvey said that the sad thing was - there were 49 others in line behind him wanting to do exactly the same thing.
Reports declare that the suicide, homicide, and robbery rates are most high around the Christmas season stemmed from depression, loneliness, isolation, the sense of loss, the feeling of the overwhelmed, the reality that your money is funny, and your credit is wrecked.
You’ve tried to take Scott Donahue’s advice, “credit, forget it”, but you can’t because it still haunts you; through the mail, through the phone, and on the job.
I have to pause and say, that God has made a way and God will make a way. Not so that you can become drunk from shoppers gone wild or intoxicated with the commercialism brought on by the demands of the lovers and the little ones in your house.
Christmas day has been set to remind us visibly about the greatest gift that has ever been given in the history of man. It didn’t come displayed in a Hecht’s catalogue or a Macy’s brochure, but in flesh just like you and I. The greatest gift --- Jesus Christ.
This message though, serves to go beyond this Christmas. The thought is centered on the fact that Christmas is coming again and my prayer is to unfold the idea in the coming moments.
I am not seeking to be evangelistic, though if one comes to Christ today, it will be by the power of the Holy Spirit alone. I am not seeking to be prophetic by bringing gloom and doom as it relates to the evils and ills of commercialism and its effect on the true meaning of Christmas.
I want to speak from a pastoral frame of reference to remind us that Christ is the cornerstone of the season, not the Christmas paper or the Christmas party. It is about the fact that Jesus came.
I. The Initial Coming of Christ
Matthew 1:23 records, “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is being interpreted is, God with us.”
Think for a moment about the implication of that verse. This holiday season is about God being with us. Jesus wasn’t born in a stable to be with the animals. He didn’t come all of this way to identify with the chickens or to run with the horses.
He did not exit eternity and step down through forty-two generations to hang out with the dogs or to howl with the wolves or to hoot with the owls.
Jesus Christ came as God to be with us. Charles Wesley, the co-founder of the United Methodist church wrote of the glory of God coming to us in human form in his powerful Christmas message:
Hark the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King.
Peace on Earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.
…
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see. Hail the incarnate Trinity.
Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus Our Immanuel.
The good news is that the estrangement is over. In Jesus we know who God is and what he is like. Jesus is not the God of thunderbolts but the Son of God the loving Father.
A. We Celebrate His Humanity
When He came the initial time, it was in skin like you and I. We celebrate His humanity.
He was carried and weaned by a mother
He became hungry
He became tired
He became angry
He was emotional
He slept
He showed compassion
He talked, walked, he saw, and he heard
He felt pain, was talked about, rejected, and experienced death threats.
He was very much a baby, a boy, and a man in His humanity.
He was born of earthly parentage. Though He was God, He became a man. He was the Ancient of Days, yet He was born at a point in time. He created worlds and companied with celestial beings, yet He came to live in a family setting on earth.
Max Lucado states that Jesus went to great pains to be as human as the guy down the street. Donald English made it plan that Jesus did not become identical to us; he did become identified with us.
Richard Glover is quoted as saying, “Christ’s humanity is the great hem of the garment, through which we can touch his Godhead.”
B. We Celebrate His Deity
We celebrate His deity. The very fact that Jesus was God with skin on. A.J.F. Behrends states that Jesus Christ is God in the form of man; as completely God as if he were not a man; as completely man as if he were not God.
Christ is God. All judgment is committed to Him. He is the embodiment of all wisdom and knowledge. He was called God in Acts 20. He was called God by God in Hebrews 1. He did the works of God and spoke the words of God without citing references for those words.
If the life and death of Socrates are those of a philosopher, the life and death of Jesus Christ are those of a God (Jean-Jacques Rousseau). He suffered not as God, but he suffered who was God (John Owens).
What you see about Jesus in the gospels is not a picture of God reduced down to our size, but one of divinity restrained by His love for us.
Remember we celebrate this season because He was born in the flesh, with humanity and deity in perfect balance. He came also bringing gifts. He brought with Him the gift of life.
Go ahead and unwrap the gift of salvation. What will be contained in the package once you get the outer wrapping off? There it is…in salvation was sacrifice, substitute, a Savior to take away our sins.
He brought with Him forgiveness, reconciliation, joy, hope, promise, wisdom, peace and goodwill toward men. Go ahead, I dare you to open up the gift of the coming of Christ. You thought the wise men gave gifts.
You think you have been giving off the hook presents for Christmas? God gave the greatest gift, the best gift, and the neediest gift of all.
Transition
Michael Jackson sung, “Santa Claus is coming to town, O’ Yes, Santa Claus is coming to town, Santa Claus is coming to toooowwwn…
he’s making a list,
he’s checking it twice,
he’s gonna’ find out whose naughty or nice,
he’s sees you when you’re sleeping,
he’s knows when you are wake,
he’s knows when you are bad are good,
so be good for goodness sake.”
Pastor Shanklin sings, “Jesus Christ is coming to town, O’ Yes, Jesus Christ is coming to town, Jesus Christ is coming to town…he’s making a list…
II. The Second Coming of Christ
The most spectacular event of Jesus’ coming the first time was the adoration of various people. First the shepherds, then the Magi, then Anna and Simeon. From the very first, Jesus was recognized by some as the Son of God, by others as the Messiah, and still by others as a king.
Illustration
Everybody became captivated by the storybook romance of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Theirs was billed as “the wedding of the century” as a world looked on the enchanting love story of a gallant prince named Charles and his golden-haired Lady Diana.
The grand moment came with the arrival of newborn Prince William, heir to the throne of Great Britain who will be bred to carry on the proud traditions of his homeland. Of Prince William, it was said, he was “Born to be king.”
Jesus, above all others of history, was born to be King and is dubbed “the soon coming King.” The Christmas season is centered on the Advent. The Second Coming of Christ, based on the glorious celebration of his first coming. Christmas is coming again. Christ must come again.
Now, you thought His first coming justified you, but His second coming is going to glorify you. His first coming gave birth to the King, His second coming will give way to the reigning King.
His first coming brought you liberation, His second coming is going to bring you transformation. His first coming brought heaven down to you; His second coming will bring you up to heaven.
His first coming made possible your reconciliation with God, His second coming will make it possible for your permanent habitation with God. His first coming brought the forgiveness for sin; His second coming will bring about life without sin.
The text in Acts 1 states,
Acts 1:11. Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Acts 1:11They said, "Men of Galilee, why are you standing here staring at the sky? Jesus has been taken away from you into heaven. And someday, just as you saw him go, he will return!"(NLT)
That’s what we need to celebrate this season, not only that He came, but He’s coming back. As time past hail His first coming, time present will one day hail His second coming.
Job 19
25 I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.
Mark 8
38If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels."
Matthew 24
42"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
A. We Celebrate His Arrival
What will He bring with Him at His second coming. What will He unload upon those who have believed on His name to the glory of the Father:
Matthew 16 - Rewards
27For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.
John 14 – Dwelling Place
3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
Mark 13 – Angelic Escort
27And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.
Honor from the King – Luke 12:37
Fellowship with the King – John 14:3
Likeness like the King
Phil. 3:20. But our homeland is in heaven, where our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ is; and we are looking forward to his return from there.
21. When he comes back he will take these dying bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same mighty power that he will use to conquer all else everywhere.
Glory with the King – Col 3:4
A Crown from the King – 1 Pet. 5:4
Billy Graham said, “Yes, God has promised this planet to His Son, Jesus Christ, and someday it will be His. He will bring an end to all the injustice, the oppression, the wars, the crime, the terrorism that dominates our newspapers and television screens today…For the Christian believer, the return of Christ is comforting, for at last men and women of faith will be exonerated.
They will be avenged. The unbeliever will understand why the Christian marches to the beat of a different drum.
CONCLUSION
He is coming and when He comes again…
