Every year in Mesa, Arizona, the Mormon Temple puts on their Christmas display. It is a fantastic sight to see! There must be millions of lights, and the sight of those displays is truly awesome. If you want to go see them, you will spend at least a half hour looking for a place to park, and another hour just walking around the large grounds looking at the many beautiful ways they have arraigned the lights. One Mormon bishop friend of mine told me that they spend tens of thousands of dollars annually on these displays.
Whether it is in the enormity of what we do, or in the things we do for others, I think Christmas has gotten very much out of control. Many homes around each town are decorated to the hilt. Whereas people once decorated to show the Spirit of the Lord at Christmas, now we decorate to outdo one another or to make headlines with who has the most beautiful displays.
We once gave gifts at Christmas out of love, we now seem to give them out of necessity. See, we don’t want anyone to have the wrong impression of us, so we not only give gifts, but we make sure they are more expensive and bigger than the ones we gave them last year.
What would we consider the best gifts we could give to another at Christmas? Let me give you a few hints. The best gift would have nothing to do with money, and it would not have anything to do with the gift we gave last year.
Some great gifts you can give this Christmas are to put your pride aside and mend a quarrel, all because you really do care about that person. Or better yet, give something to somebody – anonymously. Forgive someone who has treated you wrong. Visit someone in a nursing home. Give as God gave to you, without obligation, or announcement, or reservation.
As Christians, we are supposed to be Christ-like. How better to be Christ-like than to do as Christ did? He came to serve, not to be served, and we should also develop that same attitude in our lives, but not just at Christmas.
Speaking of Christmas, how would you like to spend this Christmas in Jerusalem? What would we see? I think we would probably see very little, because we would stay indoors to avoid the sporadic gunfire, hatred, and other acts of violence that have been heaped upon the Jews.
The name ‘Jerusalem’ means ‘peace’, but that is the most fought in and fought for city on the face of the earth. It has no major tourist attractions, industrial claims, or seaports that would make it so sought after. I think it is obvious that the only reason for all the violence down through the centuries is because Jerusalem is a city caught in the middle of the spiritual warfare between God and Satan.
Christmas to us has always meant a time to celebrate our religious belief in Christ, but to others around the world, any mention of the Lord turns people towards violence and hatred. But, we can thank our Lord that we live in America.
And as Christians, living in America, we have been blessed with much, haven’t we? Our cup overflows from the goodness of God. It is hard to determine just which blessing is the best.
In the springtime, we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. But at this time of year, we celebrate His glorious birth. And we are reminded that He came as an offering of hope and forgiveness through grace. There is something else that He offers; and I think that is the biggest blessing of all.
He came to give us the miracle of transformation. When we talk about Jesus changing our hearts, we aren’t talking about His changing our physical hearts (although He can certainly do that, too), but we are talking about His changing our spiritual hearts. I guess you can say that Jesus gives us a heart transplant.
I can remember when Dr. Christian Barnard performed the first human heart transplant. He performed it on another doctor; one Dr. Philip Blaiberg. After the surgery, he put the old heart in a plastic container and took it in to see the patient. They both sat there examining the scars and problems with it. Then, Dr. Barnard told the patient that he was the first man in history to actually see his old diseased dead heart. Dr. Blaiberg had received a new heart and that heart saved his life.
Through Jesus Christ, we also receive a new heart, and that new heart saves our lives, too. But again, we are not talking about our physical hearts and our physical lives. We are talking about our spiritual heart and our spiritual lives. When we start understanding just what Christmas means, we start to see Jesus in a clear light. And when we do that, it begins a change in our hearts and in the way we see everyone else.
Do you remember the Christmas Carol about Scrooge? He was a miserable old cuss who always focused on nothing but money. That is, until he was visited during his sleep by the three ghosts of Christmas; past – present and future. They show him how empty and bitter his life has been. When he awakes, he wants to change because he is now humbled, and he starts to show a heart that has been changed.
Instead of taking, Scrooge now wants to give. Instead of being hateful and mean, he now wants to be loved and to love. In short, he has been changed from humbug to hallelujah. That Christmas Carol is meant to entertain, while giving a very mild message, but we see it as an example of what a personal relationship with Jesus can do. In fact, Jesus is the only way that kind of change can really happen.
The birth of our Lord brought about many dramatic changes. And those who were involved in it experienced transformations in their lives as well. And from the changes they experienced, we learn many of life’s principles to live by today.
1. MAKE PRAYER A PRIORITY
It is my belief that too many Christians spend more time talking about prayer than they do practicing it. Without making prayer a very high priority in our lives, there is no way we can fully depend on it as a direct communication link to God, our Creator.
In the Christmas Story, we find a very clear example of how prayer changes our lives and rewards us. We find that Mary’s cousin Elizabeth was pregnant at a very old age. Her husband, Zechariah, was a priest and they had no children. By reading the Scripture, it is evident that they had been praying all of their married life to have a baby, because in those times it was a disgrace to not have children.
Can you imagine spending years praying for something but you never see any sign of the prayer being answered? How many of us would have that kind of faith? They were elderly in years, and then it happened. Elizabeth got pregnant. Can you imagine the shock mixed with elation they felt? After all these years of praying regularly, God finally answered their prayer.
In LUKE 1:11-25, we read about them, and we find that God did allow them to have a baby. Why do you think God waited so long? Well, I think for a couple of reasons: He wanted it to be a miracle baby so there would be no doubts as to whom it came from, and this was to be a special baby, and God wanted to make sure everything else was in place and ready for him.
Can you just imagine the transformation of attitudes in Zechariah and Elizabeth? I am sure that Elizabeth not only had a glow about her, but they both had a glowing testimony to the Lord for answered prayer.
My best friend in high school was Vaughn Anderson. He married his high school girlfriend right after we graduated. They both wanted a child so badly, but they remained childless until they were in their mid 30’s. They were Christians, and I know for a fact that they prayed constantly during those years for a baby. God answered their prayers, and this couple let everyone around them know it was a baby sent directly from God Almighty. What a testimony they gave to the Lord for answering their prayer.
The first principle of Christian life that we learn from the Christmas Story is to keep prayer as one of your highest priorities. We devote a certain time every day to eating dinner. Most people devote a certain time to watch the evening news. And all of us devote a certain amount of time each day to sleeping. That shows that we will do whatever is necessary to devote time in our lives to those things that are very important to us. But, how much time have we actually devoted to prayer on a daily basis?
We need to make prayer a priority. We need to have it be such a priority in our lives that we create a special time to pray. We don’t like to be interrupted while we are eating, and we don’t like to be interrupting while we do other things we enjoy doing, either. So, when we create a prayer time, we should make it a time when interruptions will be at a minimum.
Christians are not self-made people. We were created by God. We are a God-made people. Again, Scripture will attest to that fact.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:17 reads –
‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation – the old has gone, the new has come.’
Only when we reach the end of ourselves, do we realize that we can be transformed by and through God. John D. Rockefeller, Sr. is a good example of that. His only ambition in life was to make money. He made his first million by the age of 33, and by the age of 43, he controlled the biggest company in the world. A short ten years later, he was the richest man on the planet, and the world’s ONLY billionaire.
Then He got sick. All of his hair, including eyebrows and eyelashes, fell out. The only thing he could eat was milk and crackers. Here was the richest man in the world, and he could not even enjoy a simple meal. He lost weight and became as skin and bones. And to make matters worse, he was so hated by everyone, he had to have hired body guards keep him safe 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He made Scrooge look like a spendthrift.
The doctors told him he had less than a year to live, and the local newspaper wrote his obituary so they would have it ready at a moments notice. But one sleepless night, Mr. Rockefeller was said to have had a vision. He saw himself descending into hell and he had a bucket of money with him, but the bucket flew from his hand and flew back up to his house, leaving him going to hell all alone. He said he then realized that all his worldly wealth meant very little in comparison to his life.
Soon after, he began to pray. Then, he founded the Rockefeller Foundation. That foundation began helping churches, missions, and even funded medical research. That led to the discovery of penicillin. And, he began to sleep well, eat better, and he went on to live another 44 years.
The example of Zechariah and Elizabeth give us an example of just how changes can happen when we fervently pray; not occasionally, but all the time.
As it tells us in 1 THESSALONIANS 5:17 –
“Don’t stop praying.”
But there is another life principle that Christians need to understand in order to live a more righteous and holy life for our Lord.
2. USING FAITH TO ENCOURAGE OTHERS
Let’s go back to the Christmas Story again and take another look at the lives of Joseph and Mary. The angel Gabriel appeared to Mary with some rather startling and dramatic news.
In LUKE 1:31-33, Gabriel said,
‘You will be with child and give birth to a son and give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord god will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever – his kingdom will never end.’
Being a virgin, Mary was not instantly sold on the idea, but Gabriel assured her that with God – nothing is impossible. Now pay attention to how Mary responded. She did not get up and go into hysterics or get mad. She said,
‘I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.’
She responded in faith. That is what we mean when we say that we should walk by faith. This went against everything that was possible in the world, so Mary did have her doubts. But, she overcame those doubts and chose to put her faith in God, not herself, and she accepted God’s will for her life.
We are to do the same thing today. We are to trust the supernatural will of God, but too often, when everything is said and done, we really only trust ourselves, don’t we?
We sang a song in our church in Arizona. The title is, ‘I Walk By Faith’. It said, ’I walk – by faith ... each step – by faith ... I put my trust in Him’
Mary had that kind of faith. She responded by saying, ‘I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.’ Mary had what I would call “miracle faith” because she believed that God could make this miracle happen.
Another song title is “All Things Are Possible”. Last week, we talked about what Mary did not know. Today, we are talking about what Mary did know, and she knew that with God, all things are very possible and she put her complete trust and faith in Him – to do the impossible.
When God called Mary and Joseph into action, they responded in faith, and that response enabled things to change; both in them and around them. When we expect the best from people, we need to have the faith that will allow us to encourage them.
There was a fifth grade student who didn’t fit in with the other children. His clothes were always disheveled and dirty, and he always needed a bath. He was sad and sullen. His teacher, Mrs. Thompson, decided to find out more about this little boy who seemed to be missing the boat in life at such an early age.
She reviewed the records of other teachers who had taught him. His first grade teacher said the boy was intelligent, neat, and always had a laugh to share with others. The boy’s second grade teacher wrote that the boy was well-liked by classmates, but seemed to be more and more despondent over his mother’s terminal illness. His third grade teacher wrote that his mother’s death had been devastating on him, and if somebody didn’t reach him soon, she was afraid he would never be able to be reached.
His fourth grade teacher wrote that the boy had become withdrawn and sloppy in his work, not getting along very well with the other students. She said that he sometimes fell asleep in class and other kids would make fun of him.
It was just a few days before Christmas, and all the children brought her presents which they had brought from home and wrapped themselves. They were all very colorful, except for the little boy’s present. It was wrapped in a brown grocery bag. She looked out and saw the other kids laughing at it, and saw his head bowed down in embarrassment. She opened his first and found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing. She also found an almost empty bottle of cologne.
She knew how embarrassed this young boy was with all the other kids laughing at him, so she took great pains to put the bracelet on and then took a few moments to admire it. Then, she slowly dabbed some cologne behind her ears and smiled a great big smile. The boy’s eyes sparkled and he began to grin for the first time that year.
After the class party, he stayed behind until they were alone. Then he came up to her desk and told her that she smelled just like his mother used to. When he left, she cried the tears of a broken heart.
The next day, she found a new interest and vigor in teaching her class. And she worked especially hard with that wonderful little boy. He soon started responding and the more he did, the more she encouraged him to do. By the end of the year, he was at the top of her class.
Three years later, she found a note the boy had put under her door. It said that of all the teachers he ever had, she was his favorite. Then, she received another one a few years later saying he had graduated high school and was going away to college. Again, four years later, she got a letter in the mail telling her that he had graduated college with high honors and had joined the military as an officer. She was so proud of him.
Two years later, she received a phone call. The young Captain told her that his father had passed away some time ago, and he was now getting married. He asked her if she would sit in the pew where the groom’s mother normally sat. She happily agreed, and when she got there, she made sure she smelled just like she did at that classroom Christmas party so many years ago.
Transformations caused by having the faith to encourage others. Transformations that make things better for ourselves and for those around us. Transformations that occur when we believe that with God – all things are possible.
The example of Joseph and Mary teach another life principle: Joseph and Mary had their lives transformed because they responded in faith when God let them know what He expected from them.
The third principle we need to know came from the shepherds who were watching their flocks near Bethlehem.
3. COMMIT YOUR LIFE TO PRAISING GOD
There is a song entitled “Nothing Ever Happens to a Shepherd.” This song tells of how unexciting and lonely the job is as they stay in the cold fields with the sheep. It sings of how little the shepherd gets paid and how the highlight of their day is sleeping.
Back then, shepherds were not religious, and they weren’t looked upon very well by other people, either. They were outcasts, and they were even barred from the Synagogue. Can you imagine excluding some people from church today simply because of their position in society?
We think that would never happen hear, but many churches walk past the homeless and turn their backs on the ‘poor kids’ in the same town. Are these churches reaching out or are they pushing away? That is what the shepherds encountered nearly 2000 years ago.
Then, one night an angel appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shown around them. I think it very appropriate that the first people God reached out to were these lowly outcasts; the people nobody loved; the people who didn’t matter to anyone else but to God.
The shepherds ended up going to find Jesus. In LUKE 2:20, it tells us how they came back.
‘The shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”
The shepherds were transformed from humbug to hallelujah. Their fear was transformed into joy. Their bewilderment was transformed into wonderment. They had gone from pouting to praising.
If we are truly committed in our Christianity; if we are honest about our walk in Christ; then there are three things we must make priorities in our lives.
The first one is to make prayer a very high priority in our daily lives. The second is to use our faith in God to encourage others, and the third one is to commit our lives to praising God for everything in your life – all the time.
See, we have had been blessed with many blessings. But I think the biggest blessing of all is the blessing we received that night in Bethlehem. That night when our blessed Savior was born unto us.
Let us vow to go from humbug to hallelujah in our lives and in this church. Let us vow to God Almighty right now that we are His and we are encouraged to walk in faith and we will do all we can to encourage everyone else to do the same.
INVITATION
