5, December 2004
Dakota Community Church
Who Is Getting You This Christmas?
Introduction:
Every year about this time people start or finish the Christmas present buying extravaganza.
Kids make lists of what they want to be getting for Christmas.
In some families everyone draws a name to help cut expenses.
Most people do spend some time wondering about what they will be getting for Christmas.
While you are wondering about what you are getting have you stopped to consider the fact that someone is hoping to get you.
Four who are hoping to get you this holiday season:
1. Anger is hoping to get you this Christmas.
The Christmas season offers many opportunities to give ourselves to anger.
- Putting up the lights and decorating the tree. (Heavy Costco ornaments)
- Fighting traffic.
- Trying to obtain sold out gift ideas.
- Going broke, credit card maxing lineup embarrassments.
- Visiting relatives and house guests.
- Weight gain
It can be a stressful time of year if you allow it to be and stress often erupts into anger.
There have always been people who react in anger to the arrival of Christmas.
Matthew 2: 16
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.
Compare that to the response of the shepherds and the magi.
Luke 2: 15-20
15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen which were just as they had been told.
Matthew 2:1-2
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
They responded in faith and with worship, they left everything to see Jesus.
Are you going to give yourself to anger this Christmas?
Proverbs 16: 32
Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.
Proverbs 22: 24-25
Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn his ways and get yourself ensnared.
Anger is a snare, it is a trap, it is hoping to get you this Christmas but you do not have to give yourself to it. The fruit of the Spirit is peace and patience – you decide how it will be.
Christmas - It’s not about you
2. Greed is hoping to get you this Christmas.
Illustration:
Just a few days before Christmas, a postal worker at the main sorting office found an unstamped, handwritten, messy envelope addressed to God. Curious, he opened it and discovered that it was from an elderly woman who was in great distress because all of her savings—$200—had been stolen. As a result, she wouldn’t have anything to eat for Christmas.
The man went to his fellow postal workers and took up a collection for the woman. They all dug deep and came up with $180. Putting the money in a plain envelope, with no note or anything, the postal workers sent it by special courier to the woman that very day. A week later, the same postal worker noticed another unstamped letter that had been addressed to God in the same handwriting. In it, he found a brief note:
Dear God, Thank you for the $180 that you sent me for Christmas, which would have been so bleak otherwise. P.S. It was $20 short, but that was probably those thieving workers at the post office.
Question:
Can you enjoy celebrating the birth of Christ without the commercial insanity?
Christmas is not the only thing that is being ruined by commercialization.
- Hockey (All sport)
- Farming
- The Church
Human greed is not new and was not even absent from the ministry of Jesus.
John 12: 1-8
1Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
4But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5"Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages. " 6He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
7"Leave her alone," Jesus replied. "It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me."
Illustration:
It was a few days before Christmas on the Oregon coast. Two men whose families lived next door opted to go sailing while their wives went Christmas shopping. An unexpected storm surprised the weekend sailors. Before long, the sea became angry, and the two had a difficult time keeping the sailboat under control.
While heading toward the harbor, the craft hit a sandbar and grounded. Both men jumped overboard into the icy water and began to push and shove in an attempt to get the sailboat into deeper water. Knee-deep in mud and repeatedly bounced against the hull by unfriendly waves, the one said to the other, “Sure beats Christmas shopping, doesn’t it?”
Greed will try to get some concerning what they are not getting under the tree. Most are not that shallow.
For most who give themselves to greed it will be disguised as not being able to give what they want to give. Self pity, envy, complaining, all are symptoms of blessed people who want more.
Are you going to give yourself to greed this Christmas?
Christmas - It’s not about you
3. Depression is hoping to get you this Christmas.
Despite a commonly held myth that the Christmas season has the highest suicide rate of all the seasons, studies have proven that across North America, suicide rates are actually lower at that time of year.14 Studies suggest that while the holidays can bring up some very difficult emotions, they also tend to evoke feelings of familial bonds and these feelings may act as a buffer against suicide.15
It is important to note, however, that while suicide rates do not increase over the holiday season, depression rates do. Numerous studies, as well as anecdotal evidence from the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario and the Toronto Distress Centre, confirm that both the number and severity of calls by depressed persons increases every year through November and December, returning to normal volume towards the end of January.
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (November-December 2001).
Why do you think people become depressed during the Christmas season?
- It is a bench mark time
- Memories of happier times
- It’s not like it used to be
- We don’t eat, sleep, or behave in normal routine
Most of the men of God can be seen expressing some depression at times:
Psalm 6: 3, 6 -7
3 My soul is in anguish. How long, O LORD, how long?
6 I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.
7 My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes.
How did he get out of it?
Psalm 40: 1-3
1 I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. 2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.
Illustration:
Here is a reason for depression! The politically correct Christmas greeting:
On Advise of my lawyer:
From me ("the wishor") to you (hereinafter called "the wishee") - Please accept without obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, politically correct, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all... and a financially successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2005, but with due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures or sects, and having regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith, sexual proclivities choice of computer platform or dietary preference of the wishee.
By accepting this greeting you are bound by the following terms:
• This greeting is subject to further clarification or withdrawal.
• This greeting is freely transferable provided that no alteration shall be made to the original greeting and that the proprietary rights of the wishor are acknowledged.
• This greeting implies no promise by the wishor to actually implement any of the wishes.
• This greeting may not be enforceable in certain jurisdictions and/or the restrictions herein may not be binding upon certain wishees in certain jurisdictions and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wishor.
• This greeting is warranted to perform as reasonably may be expected within the usual application of good tidings, for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first.
• The wishor warrants this greeting only for the limited replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wishor.
• Any references in this greeting to "the Lord", "Father Christmas", "Our Saviour", or any other festive figures, whether actual or fictitious, dead or alive, shall not imply any endorsement by or from them in respect of this greeting, and all proprietary rights in any referenced third party names and images are hereby acknowledged.
Daniel 7: 25
’He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.
Are you going to give yourself to depression this Christmas?
Christmas - It’s not about you
4. Jesus is hoping to get you this Christmas.
What is it all about Charlie Brown?
View Video Clip - here I played the clip from sermon spice entitled - "A Brief History of Christmas"
Matthew 1: 21-23
22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" --which means, "God with us."
1Corinthians 6: 19-20
19Do 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; 20you were bought at a price
Are you going to give yourself to Jesus this Christmas?
Christmas - It’s all about Jesus
