OPEN: “Feliz Navitoss” (a video from Focus on the Family talking about "tossing" advertising and catalogues from companies that don’t want to mention Christmas. It can be seen at http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000005834.cfm)
APPLY: It’s become something of an annual cultural battle – businesses and community leaders slowly attempting to substitute “Happy Holidays” for “Merry Christmas”. Now, for the most part, Christians are winning those battles… but I have a suspicion that it’s going to be an ongoing fight for the rest of our lives.
Many people - from the ACLU to various politicians, businessmen and educators - are continually attempting to remove Jesus from the nation’s consciousness.
Why? Well, let’s face it, Christmas is – by it’s very name – unabashedly Christian.
It’s Christmas… “CHRIST – mas”
It’s kind of hard to remove Jesus from a holiday that bears His name, unless, of course, you change the name of the season… which is what a lot of people are trying to do.
Now, in John 1 we’re told that just getting Christ “into” Christmas wasn’t an easy task.
Look again at John 1:10-11 “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”
They didn’t recognize Him? Didn’t receive Him?
Yeah… and it all started from the moment of His birth.
Remember the story of the angels announcing the coming of Jesus to the shepherds? The Shepherds went to Bethlehem to check it out, and then Luke 2:20 tells us
“The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”
They went to see the new born child announced by angels from heaven.
Do you think they kept this to themselves???
Not likely. But we’re never told that anyone else ever tried to visit Jesus in the manger.
A couple of years later, Wisemen show up at Jerusalem seeking the newborn King. Matthew 2:3 says:
“When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.”
Wisemen show up from miles away to tell the people of Jerusalem that the Messiah has been born… and nobody bothers to go to see Him? What’s going on here?
Well - just like today - people LIKE the story about Jesus in the manger…they don’t want to bother actually going there. They’re busy. They’re distracted. They’ve got more important things to do.
I mean, even for Christians, it’s easy to get caught up in the trappings of Christmas, but forget to spend any time at the feet of Jesus. If that’s hard for us who say we love Jesus how much more for people who might regard Him as an interruption in their lives.
Now, that’s part of the problem for the merchants who are trying to focus on Happy “Holidays” rather than on “Christmas” (the birth of Christ)
ILLUS: I read the true story of a little boy named Justin. Justin’s mother and father had been instructing their son about the birth of Christ. They had used a simple manger scene to tell him about Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus. They tried to impress on him that the child born in Bethlehem was someone special.
As the Christmas approached, his mother and grandmother took Justin shopping with them. One salesperson showed him a sparkling display of Santas, toys, and decorations. At first Justin was fascinated. But then he looked up and said, "But where’s the baby Jesus?"
The merchants had left Jesus out… Why?
Did they hate Him… no, I don’t really think so.
But, let’s face it… the baby Jesus doesn’t sell many toys.
Who sells toys?
Santa sells toys.
For many of these merchants – Jesus is an interruption. He doesn’t fit their schedule.
Many of these people aren’t outwardly antagonistic to Christmas. They just have another agenda. Jesus doesn’t fit… so they leave Him out.
But notice how God deals with this.
He doesn’t get angry
It doesn’t matter to Him if the world wants to ignore Christ.
He just keeps telling them anyway
He tells the shepherds and the shepherds are suitably impressed and they tell others
God uses a star to tell the Wise men – and the Wisemen are excited enough about this new king – they tell others.
Like we discussed last Sunday… one of the greatest things we can do – one of the greatest gifts we can give Jesus this season - is to bear witness to Him.
In fact, Jesus is so pleased with us when we do that that He tells us…
"… whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God.” Luke 12:8
Jesus gets excited when we (like the shepherds and the Wisemen) tell others about what we’ve seen and heard.
We need to do that even tho’ the world doesn’t recognize Him.
Even when it often doesn’t want to receive Him.
ILLUS: On Christmas Eve 1932, a man named Robert McGimsey attended a midnight church service in New York City and then headed back to his one-room apartment.
As he walked the final blocks, he passed the open doors of private clubs where people were
shouting and swearing and singing. Others were so drunk they had passed out on the sidewalk.
He thought to himself "What a strange way to celebrate the birth of the most perfect Person who ever lived on this earth. We seem to have missed the whole significance of His life."
That night McGimsey wrote some thoughts on the back of an envelope. And those words, became the basis of a powerful haunting song that went this way:
“Sweet Little Jesus Boy, they made you be born in a manger
Sweet little Holy Child, didn’t know who You was.
Didn’t know You’d come to save us, Lord - to take our sins away.
Our eyes was blind, we couldn’t see.
We didn’t know who you was.”
McGimsey was frustrated by what he’d seen.
Why would people choose to live like that?
Why would they seek out such a depraved lifestyle that – especially on Christmas Eve?
Didn’t they know that this was a time to celebrate the birth of Son of God?
Well, they probably did know… they just didn’t care.
You see, for those singers and the “partiers” and drunks on the sidewalk Jesus was just a little baby in a manger. He was cute, but irrelevant.
That’s how many people like their religion… cute, but not particularly threatening.
ILLUS: I’ve read a couple of surveys where people were asked their attitudes toward Jesus and the church. In one of those, a preacher surveyed college students on a near by campus. When they were asked what they thought of when they heard the name “Jesus” the students smiled and their eyes lit up. They said things like:
“Jesus is beautiful,”
“He is a wise man, like a shaman or a guru,”
“He came to liberate women.”
One girl even said, “He was enlightened. I’m on my way to becoming Christian.”
Well, that’s great!
But then, they asked folks their reaction to the word “Christian” and the mood darkened.
“Christians and the Church have messed things up,” said one.
and “The Church took the teachings of Jesus and turned them into dogmatic rules.”
Dan Kimball sermoncentral.com March 07
Now, there could be a number of reasons why these students would react that way. They could have had a bad experience in a harsh, dogmatic congregation. But I suspect that there was another reason they shied away from church.
For most of these kids, Jesus was a nice guy, non-threatening… just like a baby in a manger. But once He grew up and started making demands and called for holiness and righteousness and a change of life style… Now, He’s gone to meddling.
You see, that’s what happened in the story of baby Jesus. King Herod hears the story from the Wise men and tells them to go and find this child. And when they have found Him come back and tell Herod… so that he can go and worship this child too.
Of course, Herod has no intention of worshipping Christ. He intended to kill Him.
What? He wants to kill this baby?
This cute little kid?
WHY????
Well, the Wisemen had told Herod that this cute little kid was going to be the next king of Israel. And, of course, the problem was – Herod was King of Israel! And he had no intention of sharing that throne.
If Jesus had simply been just another Jewish baby in Bethlehem Herod wouldn’t have minded. But this baby - this Christ-child - was a threat to him. And that threat needed to be removed.
In the song I wrote about the Christmas tree I note that: “The Story of the baby Jesus still can make me smile, but the little baby soon became a man”
You see, a lot of people in our society have connected the dots. They know that this innocent, harmless Christ-child is going to grow up. And they know one day He becomes a resurrected God.
They don’t reject the baby in the manger.
What they reject is the Savior on the cross.
I want you to turn with me to Philippians 2:5-11
“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Jesus came as a baby to show us a God who cared enough to become vulnerable for us.
He came to set us an example of humility and sacrifice.
He came to show us how much God loved us.
But He also came to claim His kingdom.
He came to build a church that would honor Him by it’s purity and its obedience.
He came to create a kingdom that would understand that His is “the highest place and (that He deserves) the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11
That’s what a lot of people reject
They don’t want a Jesus like that
Most people would just as soon be the kings of their own world. The rulers of their own domain. They want to be the ones who decide what is right and wrong in their own lives.
If they let Jesus become King of their lives… well, they might have to change.
That’s why Christmas is rejected by many in this world … it IS about Jesus
But… there are people out there who think they can be acceptable to God without Jesus. And that’s why the next few verses are important. Look again AT John 1:12-13
“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
Now, let’s break that down.
You can’t become a child of God by “Natural descent”
Under the Old Testament, you were a Jew because you were born of Jewish parents…but you can’t become a Christian that way. You have to make a personal choice to become a Christian.
And You can’t become a child of God by “human decision”
In other words… you can’t just decide that you’re good enough to be acceptable to God.
Jesus came to drive home what God has always said:
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23
There’s no way that you or I could ever be good enough to be good enough for God so Jesus was sent
To take our place.
To cover our sins with His blood.
To cleanse us from all the things that shame us…
And to bring us to God as pure and holy new creations.
And lastly You can’t become a child of God by a “husband’s will”
In the days of Jesus, families were patriarchal – the fathers made decisions for the family. But I can’t decide for my child or my wife. Nor can I make that decision for you to become Christians. You have to make that decision yourselves.
ILLUS: Rod Cameron tells of the time when he was a missionary in Africa a man desperately wanted to become a Christian and wanted to be baptized right away. But he also wanted Rod to baptize his wife and baby child as well.
Rod thought about that for a few moments and then said “OK… but why stop there. You’re big strong man, and I’m a big strong man. Let’s just go down into the village and drag as many people as we can find down to the river and baptize all of them as well.”
“BUT, you can’t do that” the other man sputtered.
“Why not?” asked Rod
“Because they may not want to get baptized! They have to want to become Christians”
“That’s right,” Rod said. “And does your baby want to be baptized?
“No” the man replied
Suddenly it became clear to this African man that the decision to become a Christian was a personal one that even a father could not impose on his child.
CLOSE: Gene Dulin tells of standing in Austria, looking at a hand carved nativity scene. The figures were a bit larger than life size and was one of the most beautiful that he had ever seen. As he stood thinking about the meaning of the nativity, a grandmother stopped with her 3 year old grandchild. She stooped over and began talking with the child. She pointed to Mary, then to Joseph, and to the baby. Dulin says he couldn’t understand her language, but he knew she was telling the story of Jesus to her grandchild. Then Dulin added,
"For 2000 years parents and grandparents have passed on the story of Jesus. It has changed millions of lives and the whole world."
That’s the real meaning of Christmas.
