My family had received a mailbox full of “valuable offers” every day this month. I can’t imagine the number of trees that sacrificed their lives so that I could be enticed with such valuable things as $200 belts, Christmas stockings for my kittens; toilet seat warmers...what a waste!
Can you remember that one item you really thought had value some Christmas ago? I mean the one that you assume was so valuable that you just couldn’t live without it?
I do. For me it was a Norelco Triple Head Electric Razor. I’m talking about the one that Santa used to ride around on in those commercials every year.
I was a freshman in High School just learning to shave and that Norelco Triple Headed Electric Razor was just what I needed. I remember even telling my Mom that Christmas would definitely NOT be Christmas if I did not receive a Norelco Triple Headed Razor. Well, to make a really long and pathetic story short (I made a real idiot of myself), I did receive a Norelco Triple Head Razor for Christmas...and...
It never really worked for me. I should have known something when a white-bearded man was trying to sell a shaving implement. I thought it was so valuable, but in the end it just wasn’t what I expected.
That, my friends, describes a lot of the stuff that’s being promoted as Christmas this year. Sure, it all looks so valuable, but after it’s unwrapped, after it’s experienced, we see that it’s of little lasting value. In many cases it’s harmful, hurtful and destructive. The very things we go after as valuable can often hurt us the most!
If we’re going to find the REAL Christmas this year we need to do some eVALUEating of our own. What’s really valuable?
Looking at the Christmas story in God’s Word we see examples of people looking for value.
My thoughts started down this path as I noticed certain words that kept showing up while rereading the Christmas story in the Gospels. I noticed that over and over words like pondered, thought, amazed, considered appeared in the text.
People were thinking. They were eVALUEating what was going on.
In reality we do the same thing. We are constantly scanning items at our internal check out stand to determine how valuable they really are. We are eVALUEating.
We eVALUEate everything!
Someone says something – we eVALUEate what they say.
Someone offers us something – we eVALUEate it. Is it worth enough to take, or keep?
We want something – therefore we have eVALUAEated it and it must be valuable; why else would we want it?
What’s really valuable? What’s really REAL about Christmas?
It’s hard to pick out the central character in the Christmas story. There is a whole ensemble of individuals who share equally in the events leading up to the birth of Christ Jesus.
All of what I call the positive characters in the Christmas story have one powerful thing in common.
Maybe if we start with Mary it will help to illustrate the real value in the Christmas story.
Let’s read a little of the story found in the Gospel of Luke.
26During Elizabeth’s sixth month of pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27to a virgin. She was engaged to marry a man named Joseph from the family of David. Her name was Mary.
28The angel came to her and said, “Greetings! The Lord has blessed you and is with you.” 29But Mary was very startled by what the angel said and wondered what this greeting might mean. 30The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary; God has shown you his grace. 31Listen! You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High...
34Mary said to the angel, “How will this happen since I am a virgin?” 35The angel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you. For this reason the baby will be holy and will be called the Son of God.
36Now Elizabeth, your relative, is also pregnant with a son though she is very old. Everyone thought she could not have a baby, but she has been pregnant for six months. 37God can do anything!”
38Mary said, “I am the servant of the Lord. Let this happen to me as you say!”
When we talk about what’s really valuable, when we eVALUEate the REAL Christmas this part of the story stands out, one word in particular: grace.
“God has shown you his grace.”
Grace is a word we don’t use a whole lot anymore. We use another word instead, bless.
When you grace someone you bless them.
Grace means favor. That’s why you see the words bless, grace and favor used sort of interchangeably in the angel’s announcement to Mary that she was about to become the earthly mother of the Messiah.
“Greetings! The Lord has blessed you and is with you... “Don’t be afraid, Mary; God has shown you his grace.
God was offering Mary His grace.
The REAL Christmas story is all about God asking the world to accept His grace, His favor, His blessing.
Here’s the point:
When we take time to really eVALUEate,
the most valuable thing we can do is accept God’s grace.
God was about “to grace” Mary.
The angel explains to Mary that Jesus would be God himself in the flesh. He would be the answer to all of prophesies of the coming Messiah, Savior of the World. Even though she was a virgin, she would become pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit...
Now notice Mary’s response... (I like the way the New Living Translation puts it.)
“I am the Lord’s servant. And I am willing to accept whatever he wants. May everything you have said come true.” (Luke 1:38)
Mary willingly accepted God’s grace, His favor, His blessing.
Even though she did not understand fully what God’s blessing would mean or why she was favored by God, she willingly accepted God’s grace.
Watch this... [Video: “why me”]
Mary willingly accepted God’s grace, His favor, His blessing.
God’s blessing is a nice thought isn’t it?
“God bless you!” We say that when someone sneezes.
(Listen, God’s blessings are nothing to sneeze at.)
I want God to bless what I do. I want God’s blessings in my life. I want to accept God’s blessing...
But here is a valuable truth. Notice what the rest of Mary’s response was...
“I am willing to accept whatever he wants.”
Whatever he wants.
Here’s the truth:
God’s blessings are always tied to God’s Work. God does not bless arbitrarily.
God’s blessings are tied to His purpose and plan.
Mary was blessed by God because she was willing to allow God’s total work in her life.
Whatever he wants...Mary was willing to accept whatever God wanted for her.
Mary wasn’t naïve. She was fully aware of the ridicule and doubt others would throw upon her. She understood what this would mean to her upcoming marriage to Joseph. But she also eVALUEated God’s offer and realized that nothing was more valuable than God’s blessing on her. She willingly opened herself to God and accepted whatever He wanted.
Why is it that we are more concerned about what we want than what God wants?
Why is it that we want the best from God, but we are hesitant to give Him our best?
Why is it that we want it all from God, but we always hold back from Him?
Why is it we want God’s favor, but we don’t want to give God the one thing He wants, the one thing that will bring His blessing on our life in the ultimate way.
Mary was willing to open herself up to God’s blessings by allowing whatever God wanted for her.
Cooperating with God, willingly accepted whatever God wants is not necessarily a comfortable proposition. Sometimes we can’t see how what God wants is that blessed. It’s hard to see present circumstances as either a blessing or God’s favor.
Dealing with an unwanted pregnancy may not seem like God’s blessing.
Accepting the diagnosis of a disease that we don’t understand might not seem like God’s favor.
Trying to pull together a family that’s falling apart – how can that be gracious.
Financial set-backs, physical trials, misunderstandings from those we care about the most – how do those fall into this whole “whatever God wants” scenario?
Are you eVALUEating any of this?
Do you want what’s most valuable? Do you want God’s blessing on your life?
Just how important is receiving God’s blessing to you?
Here’s the key truth:
When you take time to really eVALUEate,
the most valuable thing you can do is accept God’s grace.
And, you can only accept God’s grace when you open
yourself up to His purpose and plan for you.
All of those struggles, all of those supposed set-backs, the hardships – God wants to bring His blessing, favor and grace into each of those circumstances.
Mary was about to face some tough times, but she understood, she eVALUEated that letting God work in and through her – and cooperating with God’s work – was the safest way to God’s blessing.
Mary eVALUEated that truth...
and so did Joseph...
Joseph was engaged to Mary and waiting for the year of preparation to be over. During that year he would prepare a home for his new bride and during that same year Mary would prove her purity. But the worst possible happened – Mary was “found with child”. She was pregnant.
In the day and culture they lived, if an engaged woman was exposed as pregnant she could be condemned to a public trial, humiliation and even death if her proposed husband chose.
But Joseph took time to eVALUEate, to consider what was really valuable.
Matthew chapter one tells us, “As he [Joseph] considered this...” As Joseph eVALUEated this...
Joseph was eVALUEating what he should do, deciding to break the engagement privately and not to make a public disgrace of her when God spoke to him.
It’s interesting to me that even before hearing from God; Joseph valued Mary’s life over his own reputation.
Joseph who was considered a just man, a man of honor was about to be dishonored himself for not exacting the highest possible humiliation and punishment upon Mary. He was within his rights to condemn her publicly and call for her execution. That certainly would have allowed him to get vengeance for what he felt was betrayal. He didn’t have to take a pregnant woman as his wife. He didn’t have to participate in raising a child that was not his own.
[Video clip: Honor]
Joseph eVALUEated his situation and decided that Mary’s life was more valuable than his own reputation. He accepted God’s grace and then showed that grace to Mary.
That’s when Joseph heard from God. The angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream and explained God’s plan and purpose. He assured Joseph that this was God’s purpose.
Joseph could have walked away at any moment, yet as he eVALUEated the situation – He was willing to open himself up to God’s purpose and plan. He was willing to accept God’s grace and then show that grace to Mary.
He accepted God’s grace by allowing God’s grace to work through him.
It’s interesting to me that we never read much of Joseph after the birth of Jesus. The Bible is incredibly brief about a man who is pivotal in the Christmas story. We don’t read much about Joseph, but each time we do he is always showing grace to others.
In Oriental life the man was the king of his home, the center of attention, yet Joseph is always seen serving instead of being served because, having eVALUEated the circumstances, Joseph determined that showing God’s grace to Mary was valuable, more valuable that his own comfort, his own pride, his own reputation.
Mary eVALUEated and willingly accepted God’s grace; she willingly cooperated with God.
Joseph accepted God’s grace and allowed that grace to flow through himself to Mary.
You know, there is another couple mentioned in the Christmas story.
They don’t get a lot of press. Their story begins six months before the events in Mary and Joseph’s story. Their story begins with a birth announcement as well.
Zachariah was a Jewish priest. During Zechariah’s time of service in the Jerusalem Temple, an angel appeared to Zachariah and told him his wife, Elizabeth, would give birth to a son.
The birth would be a miracle because both Zechariah and Elizabeth were too old to have children. Yet God intervened and Elizabeth became pregnant. God’s angel had told Zechariah that it would happen and that when the child was born God had special plans for the baby. The child would be important to the Christ story because he would be a prophet and the forerunner or introducer of the Messiah. They were specifically to name the child John. He would eventually be known as John the Baptizer.
Fast forward to the birth of Zechariah and Elizabeth’s child; the day came when it was time to name the child and they announced that the baby would be called John. The neighbors who had come to witness the ceremony were astonished; that was unheard of. Of course they would name the child after Zechariah – you always named the first born son after the father. What’s with John?
But Zechariah insisted and the Bible tells us that...
“Wonder fell upon the whole neighborhood and the news of what had happened spread throughout the Judean hills. Everyone who heard about it reflected on these events and asked, “I wonder what this child will turn out to be?”
The neighbors eVALUEated the situation and wondered, why the name John and what would he become with such an unusual birth and name.
Did you know that the name John means grace giver?
Zechariah’s name means “God Remembers”.
The Israelites spent much of their time praying and hoping God would remember His promises to them. Zechariah and Elizabeth’s child would be yet another reminder that God – remembers us – Zechariah.
Instead, the child would be named John, grace giver - which brings me to the final thought I’d like to share this morning.
Elizabeth and Zachariah eVALUEated their situation and willing accepted God’s grace into their lives. They willingly accepted whatever God wanted – and they became grace givers.
When you take time to really eVALUEate,
the most valuable thing you can do is accept God’s grace.
You can only accept God’s grace when you
open yourself up to His purpose and plan for your life.
When you do, you – like Joseph, Zechariah, and Elizabeth, will become a grace giver.
God will use you to bring grace into the world around you.
When you take time to really eVALUEate,
the most valuable thing you can do is accept and give God’s grace.
The most valuable thing you can do this season is accept and give God’s grace.
God cared enough about you and me to come into this world as our Savior. He cared enough to grace us – to favor us – with His offer of forgiveness of sin and eternal life.
When we accept God’s grace – God intends to use us to show His grace to others.
God’s blessings are never arbitrary. God’s grace, God’s blessings are always on purpose. And God’s purpose is not only to bring you to Himself, but to use you to give grace to others.
Giving, showing grace to others is valuable, vary valuable – especially this time of year!
Now more than ever people need grace. They need us to be gracious.
Grace - giving when someone doesn’t deserve the gift.
Grace - giving the gift of forgiveness when he doesn’t deserve forgiveness.
Grace - giving the gift of patience when she’s taking way to long.
Grace - giving the gift of encouragement when they are down.
Grace - giving the gift of silence when we really want to get in someones face.
More than ever, people need grace.
The world is waiting for grace givers.
When we take time to really eVALUEate,
the most valuable thing we can do is accept and give God’s grace.
You can’t receive God’s grace until you open yourself up to God’s purpose and plan:
whatever He wants.
I started this talk by sharing that the world will put a lot of things in our face this season and try to make us value them. Most of what the world will offer has little or no value.
However, when we open ourselves to God’s blessings by allowing Him to really work in our lives – what we receive is of greatest value.
When we accept whatever God wants and then prove it by showing grace to others – we will find something far more valuable than the gifts and blessings under a Christmas tree – we become the gifts, we become God’s grace givers to our world.
For more informaion on this series or to request powerpoint slides or ideas visit our website at churchforfamily.com
