The Truth About The Tradition

The Truth about Traditions

Jeremiah 10:1-10 12/1/07

In my lifetime I have read the Bible through more than once. And every time I do, it always reveals to me something new. Even though I’ve read it before, even the most popular of the scriptures, God still breaths new life into His word. Now Jeremiah might have been a Bullfrog according to 3-Dog Night, but the Jeremiah that wrote our text was a Prophet. During this time, there was no Bible to say of, and God would use men like Jeremiah to speak to us. Several months ago, Ronda Cooper came to me and asked me my opinion of our text.

She was in a disagreement with someone about whether it was wrong to put a Christmas tree up on not. And when I first read our text, it sure sounded like a Christmas tree this man of God is warning against. “Cuts a tree from the forest”…decorate it with silver and gold”. Well at least it sounds like how it used to be.

When I was young, we would go out and go into the woods and find our own Christmas tree and then we would cut it down and drag it out of the woods and take it home. We would go home place it in the stand, and then decorate it. And if you think that I am cheep, I’ll tell you where I get it from. I never knew that you didn’t have to reuse the tinsel. My mom when we put the tree up, would hang the lights, then we would put the tinsel on the tree that we always took off the tree when we took it down the previous years. Now that’s cheap.

Now I never carried on the tradition of reusing the tinsel, but for many years we didn’t go out in the woods, but we would go to a tree farm and cut down our own tree. But I wasn’t too disappointed when the Dr. told us due to the boy’s allergies that we would be better to put up an artificial tree.

And the artificial trees they have now are amazing. Some have the lights built in; some simply fold up and down like an umbrella.

And even now we don’t always decorate the trees with silver and gold. Now trees can have themes. One year, my wife Hope had a tree we decorated with fishing stuff. Neat tree, and I would have been perfectly fine with that tree every year. But the following year, she changed the theme. That means spending more money for the new theme.

And tonight we have a tradition we do every year called the “Hanging of the greens”. Now I know why we have never had anyone with the last name of Green attend our church. But it is a time where we come together and we hang the decorations, not the greens, on the Christmas tree.

So this morning I wanted to tell you the truth about some of the traditions that occur on and around Christmas time, so I’ve entitled this sermon “The truth about the traditions”.

So let’s begin about the truth about…

The Christmas tree

Now I am not going into the history of the Christmas tree. It is a tradition that dates back for centuries. And if I thought it was wrong to have a Christmas tree in your house, I certainly wouldn’t want to have one in our church. So when I look at the Christmas tree, it reminds me of another tree.

1 Peter 2:24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed.

Jesus Christ, gave His life on a tree known as the cross for you and me.

The lights that we place on the tree remind me of the light of the world.

John 8:12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

We are not the light. And even when we accept the greatest gift ever given by receiving Jesus Christ into our heart, we are not the light. Just as the moon has no light within itself, it simply reflects the light from the Sun. And when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we simply are to reflect the light from the Son. S-O-N!

Matthew 5:14-16 "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.