INTRO.- ILL.- For several years a woman had been having trouble getting to sleep at night because she worried that burglars might break into her home. One night her husband heard a noise in the house, so he went downstairs to investigate. When he got there, he did find a burglar. "Good evening," said the man of the house. "I am pleased to see you. Come upstairs and meet my wife. She has been waiting 10 years to meet you."
Jesus said, “Don’t worry about your life.” BUT WE DO. We do worry about lots of things. Or as some people might say, “I’m not worried about certain things, but I am concerned.”
Worry or concern. Whatever word you choose, the thought is the same. We are worried about many things in life. We are concerned about many things. What about this time of the year? What are your Christmas concerns?
ILL.- A television interviewer was walking the streets of Tokyo at Christmas time. Much as in America, Christmas shopping is a big commercial success in Japan. The interviewer stopped one young woman on the sidewalk, and asked, "What is the meaning of Christmas?" Laughing, she responded, "I don’t know. Is that the day that Jesus died?"
There was some truth in her answer. The truth is that Christ is dead at Christmas for some people. Many people have only material concerns at Christmas. BUT NOT EVERYONE!
ILL.- A survey taken in England revealed some interesting concerns. Despite spending hours of time and hundreds of pounds (or dollars) on Christmas presents, most Britons would gladly give up their seasonal gifts in favor of more time with friends and family.
According to research published by advertising agency J. Walter Thompson on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2002, 74 percent of Britons say spending time with their loved ones is the most important thing about Christmas.
What are your Christmas concerns? Shopping? People? Parties? Money? Bills? Gifts? Friends? Family?
PROP.- I want us to think about certain Christmas concerns, which, I believe, affect us all. They are:
1- Health and wealth
2- War and peace
I. HEALTH AND WEALTH
ILL.- In 1988 I bought a new Buick Skylark. It wasn’t a big car, but it was nice car. Maroon in color, sporty, two-door, loaded with options, and a Quad-four engine. I really liked that car and thought it would be my ultimate car. But one day while traveling to St. Louis to the hospital it blew a head gasket. I had to have that car towed into the nearest Buick garage and it took them two weeks to get the parts and repair my car. MY ULTIMATE CAR SUDDENLY BECAME MY ULCER CAR.
That car which I thought was so good, so neat, so perfect was not so perfect. Likewise, these wonderful bodies that we were born with and enjoyed so much in our youth soon become not so great.
Psalm 139:14 “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made...”
The human body is an incredible creation of God. It can do far more than we think it can, but it can only go so long and then eventually grow old.
Eccl. 12:1-5 CEV “Keep your Creator in mind while you’re young! In years to come, you will be burdened down with troubles and say, ‘I don’t enjoy life anymore.’ Someday the light of the sun and the moon and the stars will all seem dim to you. Rain clouds will remain over your head. Your body will grow feeble, your teeth will decay, and your eyesight fails. The noisy grinding of grain will be shut out by your deaf ears, but even the song of a bird will keep you awake. You will be afraid to climb up a hill or walk down a road. Your hair will turn as white as almond blossoms. You will feel lifeless and drag along like an old grasshopper...”
Hey! I didn’t know I was in the Bible! We can joke about it and might as well laugh about it, because it will happen to us all!
ILL.- In 1846 former president John Quincy Adams suffered a stroke. Daniel Webster described his last meeting with Adams: "A friend of his came in and made particular inquiry of his health. Adams answered, ’I inhabit a weak, frail, decayed tenement; battered by the winds and broken in upon by the storms, and from all I can learn, the landlord does not intend to repair it.’"
The sad truth is our health will eventually fail us. We’re all declining in some ways. We all experience aging, aches and pains at some point in our lives. And this is a great concern to most of us as we age. Most of us don’t mind getting older, but we would prefer to be able to keep our health.
ILL.- I heard recently that the average person gains something like 10 to 15 pounds over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday. THAT IS NOT GOOD! As we age, we need to take better care of ourselves.
Especially, if we want to be healthy and longer. Is this a concern that we have? Sure, and not just at Christmas. What we can do?
I Cor. 6:19-20 “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own. You were bought with a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
What can we do to maintain our health? One thing we can do is to recognize the ownership of God and take care of our bodies as best we can. Our health should always be a concern to us because our bodies belong to God!
What about our wealth? Are we concerned? You bet we are.
ILL.- A Kentucky boy was boasting to a Texan about the gold in Ft. Knox. He said, “We’ve got enough gold to build a solid gold fence, three feet high and two feet wide, all the way around Texas.” The Texan replied, “Well, go ahead and build it. If we like it, we’ll buy it.”
We wish we had that problem, but we don’t. Most of us are quite concerned about where our money goes.
ILL.- “Is Your Credit Card Being Skimmed?” That was the title of a news article I read. It was after Lynn Janatpour filled her gas tank at a San Mateo, Calif. gas station that she really got taken for a ride. That’s when thieves started siphoning money out of her bank account. "They made all the withdrawals within three or four days, and it was $1,800 or something like that, total," she said. And she wasn’t alone. In all, 80 customers were scammed.
A part-time clerk had used a device called a skimmer on the customers’ ATM cards. It records the names, account numbers and other identifying information from the magnetic stripes to be downloaded onto a personal computer later. And that data can then be used to make phony cards.
California prosecutor Howard Wise said, "You could be compromised anywhere. Anywhere you give your credit card and you lose sight of it, it’s possible to be skimmed.”
ARE YOU WORRIED? Frankly, there is something worse than the skimming of someone’s credit card and that’s the spending with our own card! Plastic cash is very easy to spend.
ILL.- Memories of Christmas will linger for Allen Sudik. With $10 left in his pocket and bills coming in the mail, Sudik’s Christmas spending will have an effect on this semester’s finances. “It’s all macaroni and cheese for a while - and some loans from my mom,” said the management information systems junior. “My credit card payments are going to be minimum for the next couple of months. The interest is going to add up.”
A study by the Consumer Federation of America showed a college student’s average credit card debt is $2,000.
Brothers and sisters, it’s not just college students. It’s almost everybody. Should we as Christians be concerned? We are supposed to be responsible stewards with God’s money as well as with our bodies.
Heb. 13:5 “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”
It’s hard to be content in this discontented, materialistic society. We have everything in America. Everything is available and everything is advertised and WE WANT IT! And yet God, our loving Father, says, “Be content. I will take care of you.”
The world shouts and it seems like God is whispering and we don’t hear Him. We don’t listen to Him as much as we do the world. The Bible is not open as much as the TV is on!
Prov. 3:9-10 “Honor the Lord with your wealth...then your barns will be filled to overflowing...” God has promised that if we will honor Him, He will honor and bless us.
Matthew 6:33 “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Phil. 4:19 “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
Yes, as people who believe in the Lord and follow Him we should be concerned about our health and the spending of our wealth.
God calls us to be good stewards, good managers of everything He gives to us. When we seek to honor and please Him, He will bless us. This should be our concern always.
II. WAR AND PEACE
ILL.- An eighteen-year-old soldier was given guard duty one night. He did his best for a while, but in the early morning he went to sleep. He woke to find his superior standing over him.
Remembering the heavy penalty for being asleep on guard duty, this smart-thinking young man kept his head bowed for a moment, then looked up piously and reverently said, “A-a-men!”
War and peace. Peace that comes through prayer is certainly a lot better than war and what follows it.
ILL.- BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 29 — At least 75 U.S. soldiers have died so far in Iraq in November, making it the deadliest month for American troops since the U.S.-led invasion began on March 20, U.S. military statistics show.
AND A TOTAL OF 436 U.S. soldiers have died since the start of the war, according to the Pentagon and the latest casualty figures released by the U.S. military in Baghdad. They include 299 soldiers killed in combat, while the others died from other causes such as accidents.
Since the start of military operations, 2,094 U.S. service members have been injured as a result of hostile action, according to the Defense Department’s figures as of Wednesday. The number of soldiers injured in non-hostile incidents was 350.
We now know that Saddam Hussein has been captured as of 12/13/03. We rejoice in this capture, however, SHOULD WAR AND THIS CONTINUAL CONFLICT BE A CONCERN FOR US? Of course. What can be done? We must trust our leaders and even more so, trust our Lord.
I Tim. 2:1-2 “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, and intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”
We must pray for our President and for all our leaders. We must pray that they will might right decisions, good decisions and more importantly, godly decisions. And beyond this, we must trust the Lord for His wisdom and protection.
Prov. 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Prov. 3:25-26 “Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared.”
Our greatest defense in times of war or threat of war is the Lord! He can do things that no government can do.
ILL.- I remember Stormin’ Norm Schwarzkopf being interviewed many times during Desert Storm and they showed his bunk and next to it was a nightstand with his Bible on it. A BIBLE, I MIGHT ADD, WHICH HE READ EVERY DAY!
As great as Norman was and is, greater still is our God who is at the helm of the whole world. As long as we make Him our God we will be shielded and protected.
War and peace. The kind of peace I’m thinking about during this Christmas season is not the abstinence of war. I am thinking of the peace that only the Savior can give to all mankind when they accept and surrender to Him as King, Lord, and Savior.
ILL.- Elvis is dead, but Pat is alive and well. Huh? Who? Pat Boone, that’s who. It’s highly possible that Elvis lived for self and now he is dead. And it’s very true that singer Pat Boone is living for Christ and he’s alive and well.
Did you see where Pat Boone (69 years) was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame last year? Pat Boone said, "There is no other recognition or award in this world that means more to me than this invitation to the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. It would only be second to having my name in ’The Lamb’s Book of Life.”
Matt. 11:28 Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” The Lord Jesus can bring peace to our hearts in this war-torn, confused, messed up world! He is not only the reason for this season. He is the ultimate reason for living! He gives life and He brings peace and eternal life to all who come to Him in humility!
If we believe that He alone can save us from our sins and take us to heaven, then we must speak for Him!
CONCLUSION------------------------------------
ILL.- A minister waited in line to have his car filled with gas just before a long holiday weekend. The attendant worked quickly, but there were many cars ahead of him in front of the service station. Finally, the attendant motioned him toward a vacant pump. "Reverend," said the young man, "sorry about the delay. It seems as if everyone waits until the last minute to get ready for a long trip." The minister chuckled, "I know what you mean. It’s the same in my business."
Brothers and sisters, regardless of our concerns this Christmas there should be something on the top of your list and that is your own salvation and the salvation of others! If this life is only a short trip and there is a longer one coming, then we must prepare for it. HAVE YOU?
