A Perfect Tree
Subject: Christmas
Theme: Christmas Object Lesson
Preaching Passage: Varied
Sermonic Process: Devotional
Introduction: I can remember the search for the perfect tree when I was a child. My dad would load the family into the old van and we would drive along country roads looking deep into the forest for the one we wanted. We never knew who the forest belonged to, but it seemed no one was too concerned about Christmas Tree hunters. Finally dad would spot one that looked right and we would pull onto the shoulder of the road and pile out of the van. Dad would untie the extension ladder from the roof and loop his saw over his shoulder and then we would trudge through hopelessly deep snow until we reached the base of the tree. Now you need to understand that my father belongs to that rare group of men who believe that the only perfectly formed Christmas trees to be found are found on the top six feet of a sixty foot douglas fir. So out would come the ladder to be extended to the very last rung, and with a quick command to us kids to hold the ladder dad was off. Mom was usually looking in the opposite direction praying for his deliverance and we kids would take turns backing up to see how far up dad was going. Finally he would reach the top and begin to saw (sawing noises). Now I imagine sawing in a snowmobile suit at the top of a ladder is tough, but it must have been the thinness of the air that caused him to stop from time to time and steady himself on the ladder. Finally we would hear the sound of wood cracking and dad would yell for us to watch out. Then came the best part as the top 10% of the tree fell away and the remainder gave a bit of a buck we would watch dad’s wild gyration as he sought to grab a few branches and keep from being flung backwards into the wilderness of trees.
I guess I shouldn’t tell too many stories, but it seems that there is something genetic that passes from father to son when it comes to seeking out the perfect tree. For in my first year of marriage I was determined that I would find the best tree to be had in Southern Ontario. Now I didn’t know where to go to cut my own, but I had seen a truck unloading trees at the local gas station and I decided to stop in and see what I could find. I looked at every tree sitting there, all bundled up with plastic netting to hold the branches in, but over in the corner I found it, the best looking bundle on the lot. It was nearly twice the money of the rest of the trees but then it was twice the size of those scrawny things. I guess things look smaller in the great expanse of the outdoors and perhaps I should have gathered a clue from the fact that I couldn’t close the tailgate on my pick-up because there was three feet of tree hanging out, but when I got it home and dragged into the old Victorian Parsonage in Waterford I tried to stand it up only to find it was still at a 65º angle when it touched the 10 foot ceilings! I didn’t own a saw and so I had to go to the neighbors and borrow theirs, but once I had it I dutifully cut a foot and a half from the tree. Now it stood up perfectly. Unfortunate I had forgotten that the tree stand adds nine inches to the height and so I had to lop off another foot. But this time it seemed right. Then we cut away the plastic netting! Wow, you would hardly know we were newly weds with no furniture, the living room was nearly lost in branches. For hours we labored, fastening the thousands of lights I had purchased, finally I reached the top, only to realize that there was no way to place the angel which needed about six inches of clearance as the top branch was touching the ceiling. With no way to remove more from the bottom of the tree I suddenly remembered my fathers technique of tree cutting and decided to lop nine inches off the top. Fortunately Michelle’s angel had a big skirt and hardly anyone noticed that tree was less than pointed; I guess it helped that you had to stand in the kitchen 15 feet away if you wanted to see the whole thing.
So much is made today of the true meaning of Christmas, many people look at the Christmas Tree and see it not as a true part of the holiday season, but as a pagan imposter. However I believe that just as we no longer recognize our days of the week or months of the year as the names of pagan gods, so too the Christmas Tree has become simply a part of our Christmas ritual; and I am reminded that Jesus was often one to use a popular image or scene at hand to illustrate important spiritual truths, so tonight I want to talk to you about God’s Christmas tree.
Proposition: As we look at the Christmas tree we can find a picture of what Jesus came to do and we discover that just as we pile gifts under our tree; Jesus has given tremendous gifts to each of us and they can be found under his tree.
I. The Tree of Jesus
1. The Greek word for tree is XULAN which in the Bible is used five times to refer to the cross on which Jesus died and four times is used for the tree of life in Revelation.
2. 1 Peter 2:24 – Is an example of how it is used to picture the cross as a tree.
3. Luke 23:31 – Shows us a unique example where Jesus refers to himself as a tree, when women were mourning as he was led to the cross. He told them, if men do this when the tree is green, what will they do when it is dry. He was pointing forward to a much more terrible reality that would come upon the Jews after his rejection.
4. Throughout the Old Testament the Messiah is likened to a tree. In Isaiah he is seen as a shoot from the stump of Jesse and also the Branch of the Lord and the Righteous Branch.
5. Appl.: We must never lose sight of the fact that the angels who announced the child’s birth announced him as the Savior and we know that from the beginning there loomed a tree in the path of the Christ, the tree of the cross that would bring salvation to many. God’s Christmas tree is the person and work of his son.
II. The Gifts That Are Found Under Jesus Tree
1. It is always exciting to watch the gifts appear under the tree every year, and to speculate as to what they might contain, but much more than salvation has come to us as a free gift under the tree of the cross.
2. Romans 5:1-11 – Here is one list of the many gifts that we have received as a result of our savior’s cross work.
a. As we open the first gift we find inside the record of all the sin we have ever committed and all those that we ever will commit, and written across the front in blood the word – Justified. We have been made right with God, not because of what we have done, but based on the cross of Jesus – our criminal record has been expunged.
b. As we open the second package we find a dove, the symbol of peace and attached to it a note that states we are no longer at war with God, but through Jesus Christ we have peace.
c. The third gift we find is a golden key, the key chain reveals that this is the key to the very presence of God and along with it the card reads, to be used always and often, uninhibited access to the presence of God. Access to confess, access to worship, access to commune, access to find rest. There is to be no fear, because we come not in our own name, but in the name of Jesus Christ.
d. The fourth gift is an interesting one. It states that the process of transformation has been given to us, that we have been given the hope of the glory of God. It is the hope and expectation that as we grow in faith more of Christ’s character will be revealed in us and that one day, the process will be complete and that we will be completely perfected.
e. The fifth package has what looks like climbing gear, with a special harness and a rope. This is for hanging in there in the tough times, and not only hanging in there, but for pressing onwards, not on our own strength, but because the rope has been fastened before us by our Lord who endured tribulation and trouble and has anchored the way in solid rock. This is a gift we often fail to use or value, but as surely as we live we will face trouble and trials, let’s not take for granted the gifts God has given us.
f. Here is another gift – it is the title deed to our life, it has been written over to God, signed by Jesus Christ in his blood and sealed with the Holy Spirit, who is the deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. There is a day coming when the Lord will return and claim all those that have been marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit, but in the mean time the Holy Spirit is at work in each one of us to make us the people he desires we should be.
g. The next gift holds a legal document which states that we have been pardoned and that no judgment remains for us because Jesus Christ has taken all the judgment we were meant to bear. We have been spared from God’s wrath. Tucked into the corner of this framed document is a ticket of admission into heaven, again signed by the Lord Jesus Christ, on the back is scrawled the message – ‘Looking forward to seeing you there’.
h. Finally we find a package with a fantastic sweatshirt in it. Written across the front in bold letters are the words, ‘Reconciled to God’. The card tells us that we are to wear the sweater with pride, it is a boast, but not a boast in ourselves, it is a boast of what Christ has done for us. To be reconciled means to be changed from enmity to friendship.
Conclusion: As we gaze with wonder upon the tree of Jesus and the gifts that are piled high under it we are given the assurance that far better than any warranty offered by the world, these gifts are guaranteed by God himself, having been bought with something far more precious than money, the blood of the perfect sacrifice. These gifts only scratch the surface or God’s Christmas gift to us, if we wanted to we could stay here all night opening up the gifts that have been given us through the Lord Jesus Christ. But instead lets be content to thank him for all he has given and to commit ourselves to using the gifts as they were meant to be used – a veritable treasure given for every believer.
