"getting Ready For Christmas: Pointing Beyond Ourselves"

“Getting Ready for Christmas: Pointing Beyond Ourselves”

Jeremiah 10:1-5

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in a restaurant with a friend when my attention went to a Christmas tree in the corner of the room.

It had different colored lights, ornaments of silver and gold and a bright red bow on top.

I said to my friend, “Imagine if someone from some other culture, who had no idea what a Christmas tree was saw this.

What would they think?

We see beauty in Christmas trees; what would they see?

Would they not think we were crazy?”

Then it occurred to me that Christmas trees, or something like them are nothing new.

For between five and six hundred years before Christ, the Prophet Jeremiah quoted the Lord describing something that certainly sounds similar to our modern-day Christmas tree.

“They cut a tree out of the forest…

…they adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with a hammer and nails so it won’t totter.”

Most of us love Christmas trees do we not?

And we could hardly imagine the Christmas season without them.

And for Christians, Christmas trees can help us in our remembrance of Christ’s birth.

Lots of ornaments are of angels and the baby Jesus in the manger.

Many Christmas trees have a star placed on top which reminds us of the star which guided the Magi to Christ.

Even the tree itself can remind us that Jesus died on a tree, and the green pine needles can remind us that death did not and does not have the final word!

So, Christmas trees can be pretty awesome as long as they point beyond themselves to Christ.

And that’s the way it is with most things, isn’t it?

I mean, think of the manger.

When you see a picture of a manger, what do you think of?

The baby Jesus, right?

And the Star in the East pointed beyond itself to where Jesus was.

A light shining in the darkness points to spiritual truths.

The Apostle Paul goes so far as to say that all of creation points to God’s invisible qualities, eternal power and divine nature.

When I was a Freshman in college I became friends with a kid my age named Tim.

One of the first things Tim asked me when we met was: “Do you believe Jesus Christ is God?”

I thought that a bit of a strange question, at the time.

Up to that point in my life, I had never met anyone my age who had asked me anything even resembling that question.

But, I had grown up going to church.

I was certainly a believer.

I had been surrounded, my entire life, by wonderful adults who lived very committed Christian lives.

I had just never met anyone my age who talked about Jesus much, if any.

When Tim asked me that question, I hesitated a bit.

I wasn’t sure exactly WHAT he was asking me, but since I considered myself a Christian my answer was “Yes.”

Tim never questioned my answer.

But very soon, having spent a good deal of time with Tim, I came to find that his understanding of what a Christian was and my understanding were very different.

Tim was living his faith.

He was unlike any other teenager I had ever met.

He didn’t gossip, he wasn’t trying to be cool.

He would talk to other people about his relationship with Jesus Christ.

He did the “right thing” as far as following the rules, without judging those who didn’t.

He had a joy and a peace about him that I had never seen in someone my age.

And for the first time in my life, it dawned on me that it was actually possible to be “my age” and live a Christian life at the same time.

The more time I spent with Tim, the more I wanted what he had.

God used his influence on me, his witness to bring me to a point where I finally and totally gave my life to Jesus.

I have never been the same person since.

By living his faith and not hiding it—Tim was pointing beyond himself—to Jesus Christ.

And that is what it’s all about isn’t it?

This life is so hard.

This world can be so unfriendly and cold.

People can be so mean to one another.

We don’t have to look very hard or very long to find people who are walking around, wounded by the world—feeling less than.

That’s one reason why the church is so important.

We are to be different from the world.

We are Christians—imitators of Christ: persons who, through our actions, though the love of Christ living in us--point others to God.

Are we doing this?

In his book, “Soul Graffitti: Making a Life in the Way of Jesus” Mark Scandretti tells the following story.