Life in the Fast Lane
Holiday Expectations: Don’t Take That Exit!
Proverbs 15:16-17
Woodlawn Baptist Church
November 21, 2004
Introduction
Before we get started this morning I want to take a minute to thank all of you for praying for me as I preached at this week’s state meeting. We had a good meeting, some good fellowship, and I know that the Lord used your prayers to gird me up and speak His Word. I’ll be showing a short video tonight with highlights from the meeting before we begin the business meeting. I also want to thank Brother James for filling in for me in our Wednesday evening Bible study.
Back at the first of the month I took Kathy to a pastor’s dinner down at DFW airport, for what turned out to be a frustrating 5 o’clock drive. First I missed my exit to get on Loop 635, so I had to turn down by the Dallas Medical Plaza, where, because of the heavy traffic I decided to drive west through several neighborhoods until I finally turned north in Las Colinas. Once I got back to 635, I headed west until I got to I-35. I misread my directions and took an exit that put me in an Asian neighborhood that I’d never seen before. All the store signs and billboards were written in Chinese characters. I drove around a while and finally got back to I-35 and headed south so I could look for Loop 12. I headed off in the right direction, but again missed my exit, had to go further south, west again, back north, and finally on Loop 12. Just in case you wondered, we did make it to the dinner where I was able to recoup for the drive home.
Sometimes it seems to me that navigating our way through the holidays can be just as frustrating and sometimes as confusing. We misread the signs, misjudge the time we have, make mistakes as we try to keep up with the flow, and by the time Christmas rolls around, we’re so frustrated and put out that not only did we not enjoy the journey, but now we find it difficult to enjoy the destination. Do you ever feel that way?
Perhaps it seems a little early to you to talk about Christmas. After all, we still have Thanksgiving to go, but when Christmas decorations and ads started going up before Halloween, I knew it was a subject that we needed to address in our current series as we’re dealing with the pressures of life that society and culture impose on us. They have their reasons for hitting you up early, and so do I, and here’s why – we all have expectations about what we want out of Christmas. I don’t mean the expectations you have about what kind of present you want, but how you want your holidays to go. We all to some degree or another have expectations for our holidays, but what I want you to see today is that God wants to raise your level of holiday expectations from where they are now to where He would have them to be. As we talk about raising your expectations, I want to share with you some ways you can do that, and then I’m going to tell you why. First, what is our destination?
The Perfect Christmas
When you think about the holidays in general, specifically Christmas, what is it that you really want? Whether you can verbalize it or not, what almost everyone tries to do is create the perfect Christmas. We put out the decorations, the trees, bake the pies, cook all the family favorites, buy those perfect presents (the ones that make the recipient say, “Wow! That’s what I’ve always wanted!” and really mean it). The perfect Christmas goes farther than that though. While you do all those things, you’ve got to stay in your budget, entertain visiting family, juggle the kid’s schedules, and figure out how you’re going to make the rounds from this family to that family without offending anyone. You just want to make everyone happy!
If you’ll be honest with yourself, you know that when the holidays roll around, we all want to create what we believe will be a perfect Christmas. We want everything to go right, everyone to get along, and in the midst of it all, we want to enjoy the time ourselves. You know as well as I do that “Christmas is a very emotional time of the year when people experience a whole range of emotions…We tend to associate Christmas with feelings of hopefulness, happiness, contentment and love. But we also see feelings of loss, despair, worry, anxiety and disappointment.”
Christmas is a time when we remember the years gone by, when we enjoy the gathering together of our families, and when we remember the incarnation of Christ, but it’s not so easy for some people. As the number of divorces rise, so do the number of holiday conflicts. Who’s going to get the kids this Christmas? A mom or a dad manipulates the child with the number of or value of Christmas presents. A single mom does good to juggle a job and raise a kid all year long without the added pressure of having to buy presents and be off work. For others, recent deaths take a toll on our emotions as they cope with the loss of someone they want to share the holiday with. There are just so many things that factor in, how do we create the perfect Christmas?
Put your holidays in the right perspective.
I love to read the words of Simeon, the old man who held Jesus in the temple,
“Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.”
Simeon waited for many years to behold the son of God, this child called Jesus, and once he beheld Him he knew that God had kept His promise to him. He beheld God’s salvation in that little baby boy.
Listen, it’s not called Christmas for nothing. It’s about Christ, the Son of God, the “Word that became flesh and dwelt among us.” It’s about Jesus, the holy Lamb of God, “who taketh away the sin of the world.” It’s about the Messiah, the Anointed One of Israel who came to bind up the brokenhearted, who came to set the captives free, who came to heal those who are wounded, to give sight to the blind, to save those who are lost and bound for a devil’s hell.
If you didn’t get to see a single family member this year; if you didn’t get to exchange a single Christmas present, if you didn’t get to put up a tree, hang out a wreath, take a day off, eat a single piece of turkey or a single side of dressing; if you took away all the trappings of what we’ve made Christmas into and all you had left was the birth of a Savior, you’d have more to celebrate than you’d know what to do with. It’s not about all the presents or even the family. It’s not about any of that – it’s about the birth of Christ.
This month when you’re working the long hours and spending your free time decorating and shopping and visiting, keep it all in perspective. Are you giving adequate time to the Lord? Are you beginning your days with Him? Are you maintaining a spirit of prayer and devotion to the Lord? Don’t forsake these fundamentals as you get caught up in everything else that’s going on, but stay close to the Lord that its all supposed to be about in the first place.
Put your financial decisions in the Lord’s hands.
According to the American Research Group, shoppers around the country say they are planning to spend an average of a little over $1,000 for gifts this year. That’s per shopper, not per family. Now I don’t know what you plan on spending, but it can add up very quickly. How many of you could set aside $20 per week for the next 52 weeks and earmark it for Christmas spending? That’s exactly what you’d have to do to spend $1,000. But since most people don’t set aside money like that, they do what many of you will do – and that’s to whip out the plastic and save those payments for after the New Year.
Is that what a great Christmas is really all about? Is it about going in debt to make someone else happy? Is it about putting yourself or your family in financial bondage for the good of someone else? Listen, that’s twisted and unbiblical thinking. God would never have you violate one principle of Scripture for the sake of obeying another. When you put yourselves in debt by giving more than you can afford, you don’t just strain your budget, you strain your relationships and you place undue stress on your own self that you could have avoided.
Think about the financial decisions you will make this Christmas: how can you place them in God’s hands? You do it by seeing what He thinks about each one of them. For instance, what does the Bible say about this financial decision? Would the Lord approve of what you want to do? Would He approve of the strain you are placing yourself under?
We all know the feelings I’m talking about. You’re sitting watching the television when along comes that commercial. The toys, the new movies, the latest CD. Within seconds, your kids are saying things like, “Pleeeaaase can we have that for Christmas?” What do you do? You can do a number of things:
· Learn to say no – we’re living in a culture that tells our kids they can have anything they want, but as Christians we need to teach our kids that they must learn to live with contentment and satisfaction.
· Don’t feel guilty when you do say no – saying no doesn’t mean you don’t love a kid – it means that there are limits, and you’re going to teach them to live within those limits, and that’s a gift that will last longer than any toy you could give them.
· Put limits on what you give – how many presents? How much will you spend? What is your budget?
· Emphasize more of what they do have when they talk about what they don’t have. As believers, we are guilty of this. We go to God all the time with our wants and needs, when if we would learn to count our blessings we would know that we’ve already been given more than we could ever deserve.
Make your holidays about giving and not getting
In other words, what opportunities for ministry will God bring into your lives this month? You know someone that’s going to struggle through these next few weeks. They may be struggling financially, or worse, emotionally and spiritually. How can you step into their lives and see them through? How can God use you to meet their needs?
Instead of worrying about being happy and having things go our way, focus on what you can give to others and how you can make the holidays wonderful for them. The greatest cause of unhappiness and dissatisfaction is feeling like we haven’t gotten what we want or deserve. Listen, quit making it about you! If Christ is what Christmas is all about, then how can we not see the season as a time of giving? He gave so much in coming to this earth for you and me – we ought to be willing to do the same. Maybe what that friend or family member needs is the gift of forgiveness. Perhaps they need to be loved, or accepted, or treated as though they are important. Whatever it is, accept your role as a believer and give them more than they expected this year.
Now, we’re talking about raising our level of expectations for the holidays. We never fail to come to the holidays and think that we’re going to do it different next year, or do it better. What God wants you to see is that this Christmas season He doesn’t just want it to be better, God wants it to be raised to a standard that puts Him in the center of all you do! Don’t just put a manger scene on the TV – make Christ the center of all you do! Where will you go? What will you buy? How will you manage your finances? Will you make the holidays a time to minister to others or just a time to get and be served?
Now some might say, “Listen, we have our routine and we’re not changing a thing. I don’t get carried away; we don’t hurt anyone; we just enjoy our family time together and exchange a few presents. Does it really matter?” It does matter. There’s not a man or woman in this room who couldn’t be drawn closer to God in the way we celebrate Christmas. There’s not a family here that couldn’t honor the Lord more, couldn’t look for more or more effective ways to minister, or couldn’t be more biblical in our spending. So perhaps the question we need to think about is “Why?” Why should we change anything? Why should we be the least bit concerned about anything I’ve mentioned?
Because ultimately the holiday season must draw attention to Christ
If someone from the outside who didn’t know you were to step into your home this holiday season, would there be enough evidence there to show them that Christ is what it’s really all about? Could they tell it from the way you spend your time? Could they tell it by the sweet spirit that fills the room? Could they tell it by flipping through your checkbook? Could they tell it by your time spent serving others?
You see, regardless of who you are or what you spend, you are going to draw attention to someone. People are either going to see you and what you’ve done and what you’ve spent, or they are going to see Christ, and whether we like to admit it or not, Christmas is the one time of the year that we as believers seem to think it is okay to erect idols in our lives and worship the holiday and all its trappings more than the Creator.
Because God’s Word must ultimately be what shapes your attitudes and behavior
Christmas must be a time when you cling to the principles found in the Word of God. Love your neighbor. Forgive those who have offended you. Stay within your means – don’t go into debt to finance your spending. Be peacemakers during times of family conflict, and on the list could go. Your attitudes and ideas about Christmas are going to be shaped either by the Bible or by our culture – and only you can decide which it will be.
Conclusion
Now, in Proverbs 15:16-17, Solomon said,
“Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.”
As we navigate our way to Christmas this year, do you know where your exit is? And are you positioning yourself to take that exit? At this exit the world screams for you to keep up with their ideas of what the holidays are really all about. At that exit you are told that if you don’t spend hundreds of dollars on everyone you must not love them. Everywhere you look, the advertisements plea for excess, and as people are racing past you something inside compels you to try to keep up.
There is a better way though. “Better is little with the fear of the LORD…Better is a dinner of herbs where love is.” What’s the point? All the excess in the world will never make up for being in right relation to the Lord Jesus Christ. So many people are going drive like mad this year for great treasure, trying to fulfill their expectations for the perfect holidays, trying to keep up with culture, trying to respond to the media, trying to fit the mold society has cast us in, when the Lord simply says, “Better is little than all of that…”
The only way you’ll ever know it is to try it; to cast your cares upon Christ and know the peace and satisfaction that can only be found in Him. In a world with so many possible ways to celebrate the holidays, why don’t you allow Christ to come into your world and raise those expectations to a heavenly, eternal standard, and know the joy and peace and fulfillment that can only be found in Him?
