Show film clip from “Santa Clause” - Where Tim Allen is in the Doctor’s Office receiving a check up and complains about the changes that have taken place in his life – about an hour into the movie)
OPEN: A couple of nights ago, my daughter came downstairs in tears. Her brother had informed her - in no uncertain terms – that there was no such person as Santa Claus. She was crushed. She wanted me to tell her that her brother was wrong. She wanted me to tell here there WAS a Santa Claus. But, of course, I couldn’t do that. But I also didn’t want to hurt her anymore than she already was. So I told her that there while there wasn’t any real person named Santa Claus – there had once been a REAL Christian by the name of Nicholas, who was very kind and he would often disguise himself and go out to give gifts to poor children. Over time, people made up stories about him until eventually - we got the jolly old elf living at the North Pole.
ALL kinds of stories have been told about Santa Claus
The poet, Clement More gave him a red nose and eight tiny reindeer.
Thomas Nast, the cartoonist, made him big and fat and gave him a red suit trimmed with fur.
And of course, the cowboy singer Gene Autry gave him Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer
But one story line I’ve noticed a lot lately is one that tries to answer the question: How does one go about replacing Santa Claus if he decides to retire, or if he dies. And one of the cleverest movies to explore that theme was the one you just saw a clip from. Tim Allen becomes Santa by mistake because he didn’t read the fine print. And he put on the Santa suit and thus bound himself to a legal contract known as the “Santa Clause.”
The rest of the movie deals with the changes that take place in Tim Allen’s life:
Changes in his body fat and facial hair
– After he shaves, the beard just pops back out
– He tries dying his gray hair black only to have it change back again
– And no matter how much he exercises he can’t get rid of his belly
Changes in his attitudes – he finds himself going “ho ho ho” a lot
And changes in how and where he lives.
Once he put on the suit, his life was never the same.
I. The Bible talks about us putting on something too - it says we put on Jesus
AND once we put on Jesus – our lives are never the same either.
We now become children of God
We have a new home and a new set of relationships
The Bible tells us that Jesus puts on us “white robes” without spot or blemish
And once we put on those clothes… Our lives are never the same again.
When Tim Allen put on the Santa Suit - it changed
how he looked and
how he thought and
how he acted.
It changed everything about him.
And that is what should happen to us when we “put on” Jesus. That single act should change the way we look and think and act.
Look with me at Ephesians 4:22-24. Paul wrote:
“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
Paul goes on to tell us “putting on Christ” means that our behavior changes.
• We should prefer truth to lying
• We should prefer a “G” rated way of talking as opposed to surrounding ourselves with the filthy language we find in the books, TV and other forms of entertainment that surrounds us.
• We should not allow anger to so overcome us that it destroys our relationships.
• We should work with our hands and giving to the poor – rather than looking for handouts.
• We need to be kind and compassionate to others
• Forgiving others as God in Christ forgave us.
In short – when people are around us… they should be able to see what we’ve put on. They should be able to see Jesus in us.
When we don’t behave that way… people will sense that something isn’t right.
ILLUS: Back in 1999, the Indianapolis Star carried a story about a Department Store Santa Claus that didn’t behave like Santa ought to have. Apparently, a mother had placed her 1 1/2 year old child in Santa’s lap only to have the child begin to cry. The mother suggested to “Santa” that he the child might quiet down if he put his arm around him, and at that, Santa Claus got a little belligerent with her.
When the mother started to pick up her baby, the man in the red suit said:
“Was it worth it?
Was it worth it for you to torture your child for a picture?
You must be an evil person.”
When the woman told the man she planned to file a complaint, he leaped from his throne and said: “You can complain about me if you want, but I am Santa Claus. I am the best person in the world. I am good.”
Then she told him he ought not be around children, he got really angry. He started to rip off his clothes. He took off his beard, his wig, his coat, his belt. Some stunned parents covered their children’s eyes. Santa was promptly led away by security guards.
Now… did that man reflect the Spirit of the suit he’d put on? Of course not!
And what Paul is telling us here in Ephesians 4 is – that can happen to us as well. We’ve got to be careful how we behave, because the world is watching to see what difference Jesus makes in our lives.
ILLUS: When I was first became a preacher, I was watching a basketball game at the high school in the town where our church was. And there were people giving the referees a hard time because of the calls they were making.
“What, are you blind?”
“Who paid you ref?”
“I can’t believe you made that dumb a call!” etc.
And guess who was right in there with the rest of them making fun of the refs… yep – me! And then, I realized WHO I was. I was the most visible Christian from our church – because I was the preacher. And I was disgracing the Jesus that I had put on years ago.
You see… it’s so easy to forget that we’ve put on Jesus. And there are times we’d just like to be just like everybody else. But we’re not!
Now, it’s NOT that we’re better people than everyone else. It’s just that we’ve GOT something better than every one else. And we need to advertise that. Because they do know we’re Christians and they’re watching to see if it makes a difference what kind of Jesus we have on.
II. Now, how do you go about “putting on Jesus?”
Galatians 3:27 tells us
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
What does that mean? It means that something happened to you when you were lowered into the water at your baptism.
Romans 6 tells us that when you were went under the water… “we were baptized into his death.
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
So, in our baptism, we put on Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. We identify with what He did for us. We literally die and are buried and rise up to a new life.
(pause…)
Now, in the movie – the “Santa Clause” Tim Allen puts on the suit by mistake. He had no idea what he was getting in to. But you can’t do that with Jesus. You can’t put on Jesus by accident
No matter how many times you go under water, you can’t accidentally be buried with Christ.
For baptism to be valid you’ve got to make a conscious decision that you want to belong to Him
• … that you want to stake your life on the fact that Jesus is the Son of God
• And because you believe that you were a sinner
o And you believe that only Jesus’ blood could remove your sin
• And now you want to turn your whole life over to Him. (believe you can trust Him)
Baptism is just the culmination of all those decisions. Baptism is “putting on Jesus” because you want to be His child.
III. But now… why is it that we can we “put on Jesus”?
(PAUSE…)
Because – about 2000 years ago, Jesus put on our flesh and blood.
He became like us… so that we could become like Him.
“Christ Jesus… being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Philippians 2:5-11
ILLUS: As one person once put it:
“To get ready for Christmas, God undressed. God stripped off his finery and appeared – how embarrassing – naked on the day he was born. . . God could not be God-with-us if he wasn’t flesh... Mary Ellen Ashcroft, “Gift Wrapping God” Christianity Today, 12-8-97
Jesus took off His God nature… and He put on flesh.
He became like us… so that we could become like Him.
He bought us in this way, so that we would know the way to freedom with God.
CLOSE: Greg Peck (our children’s minister) used to preach part time at another congregation near here. And he told about the time he’d walked into the church sanctuary to discover a bird flying around.
He said that from time to time birds would get into church building. And when that would happen, he’d open the doors and windows and then go into his study to work on the sermon.
Most of the time, the birds would find the open door or window and be gone by the time he came back out… but this time, the bird didn’t leave. It was still there.
So, he found a long broom tried to shoe it out of the building. He’d get the bird to fly around… and once in a while it would get near to a window… but then it would fly back into the sanctuary
After a while, this got really frustrating. And he remembered thinking: “If I could only communicate with it – prove to it that I didn’t want to hurt it. But I can’t communicate with it because I’m a man… that’s a bird.
And then it suddenly struck him that this is what God had felt. If only God could become a man, then he could prove that He didn’t really want to hurt us, but instead He wanted to lead us to safety.
And that’s what God did
As the writer of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 2:14-15
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death— that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
Sermons in this series: Christmas At The Movies
* Miracle on 42nd Street - Matthew 1:1-17
* How The Grinch Stole Christmas - Matthew 2:1-20
* The Santa Clause - Ephesians 4:17-5:2
* It’s A Wonderful Life - Ephesians 2:1-20
