I
remember when I was young {very young} and my Mother took me to the local department store (McNeany’s) around Christmastime, and there in the basement by the toy section was Santa Claus. I remember wanting to sit on his lap and waiting for his question, “And now young man, what do you want for Christmas”? I think at that point I got tongue tied and totally forgot what was on my list. (Remember, I’m only about five or six years old. ) Finally, I blurted out, “All I want for Christmas is …”
Oh, you want me to finish it. I think at that time it was some Tonka fire truck or a cowboy hat holster and cap gun (You see I was into Rin Tin Tin, Zorro, and the Lone Ranger at that time).
It happens to many children (and adults) this time of year. I want …--I want …--I want …. I remember when spy movies, James Bond, and TV shows came out and were real popular. I remember there was this toy called six finger. It was a toy gun that looks like a finger on your hand. And there was a briefcase like that which 007 carried with all this trick gadgets. I wanted one of those really bad. I wanted it.
I didn’t get them and I felt that it was not a very good Christmas that year. I’ve never told this to anyone before. I really didn’t think that Christmas came because I did not get those gifts. Now, I know that my parents saw past the cheapness of those items and they did not want me to emulate the cunning, tricking, and spying like qualities of 007.
What I want to focus on tonight is the I want …--I want …. The drive. The desire. The lust.
In our story, The Lion, the Witch, and The wardrobe, it happens to Edmund. I showed it to you earlier. I would like to read that passage from the book. Here’s what it says,
The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle onto the snow, and instantly there appeared a round box, tied with a green silk ribbon, which, when opened, turned out to contain several pounds Turkish Delight. Each piece was sweet and light to the very center and Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious. He was quite warm now, and very comfortable.
While he was eating the Queen kept asking him questions. At first Edmund tried to remember that it is rude to speak with one’s mouth full but soon he forgot about this and thought only of trying to shovel down as much Turkish Delight as he could, and the more he ate, the more he wanted to eat, and he never asked himself why the Queen should be so inquisitive.
Later, C.S. Lewis writes,
At last the Turkish Delight was all finished and Edmund was looking very hard at the empty box and wishing that she would ask him whether he would like some more. Probably the Queen knew quite well what he was thinking; for she knew, though Edmund did not, that this was enchanted Turkish Delight and anyone who had once tasted it would want more and more of it, and would even, if they were allowed, go on eating it till they killed themselves.
Desire. I want …. Appetite. Lust. The Bible has a lot to say about these things. Let’s take a look.
Proverbs 14:12 (NLT)
There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.
Philip. 3:18-19 (NLT)
For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their future is eternal destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and all they think about is this life here on earth.
Col. 3:2 (NLT)
Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth.
Col. 3:5 (NLT)
So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual sin, impurity, lust, and shameful desires. Don’t be greedy for the good things of this life, for that is idolatry.
2 Tim. 3:2-7 (NLT)
For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. 3They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control; they will be cruel and have no interest in what is good. 4They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. 5They will act as if they are religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. You must stay away from people like that.
6They are the kind who work their way into people’s homes and win the confidence of vulnerable women who are burdened with the guilt of sin and controlled by many desires.
1 John 2:15-17 (NLT)
Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love the world, you show that you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16For the world offers only the lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see, and pride in our possessions. These are not from the Father. They are from this evil world. 17And this world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever.
These are just a few that are in the Bible and what it has to say about sinful desires to us.
We can go to the Old Testament and see live stories of godly and ungodly men and women acting this way.
• Cain wanted the blessing that his brother Abel got in sacrifice, so Cain killed Abel.
• Lot wanted the fertile lands and the lifestyle of Sodom and he lost his wife and nearly everything he had.
• King Saul wanted David dead because he was consumed by jealousy. He lost his life and his son and the throne.
• David saw Bathsheba in a tub and couldn’t stop desiring her until he had her. Then he murdered her husband.
• Judas Iscariot wanted Jesus to set up his kingdom right now, and he tried to push Jesus to overturn the religious and Roman establishment. He betrays Jesus for 30 pieces of silver and later commits suicide.
Like Edmund, these and many others acted as if they were eating Turkish Delight and they couldn’t stop—even to the point of death.
That’s the way sin is, my friends. We get a little taste and we can’t stop. We want more and more and it never is fully satisfied. We see it happen all the time on TV and in the movies and in the newspapers. There is a continual battle evil and good, doing what is right or doing evil (Sin). We can’t stop on our own, even though we try and try. Listen to what was said in Romans’ Chapter 7:14-24.
Romans 7:14-24 (NLT)
… The trouble is not with the law but with me, because I am sold into slavery, with sin as my master. 15I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. 16I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience shows that I agree that the law is good. 17But I can’t help myself, because it is sin inside me that makes me do these evil things.
18I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn, I can’t make myself do right. I want to, but I can’t. 19When I want to do good, I don’t. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. 20But if I am doing what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing it; the sin within me is doing it.
21It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22I love God’s law with all my heart. 23But there is another law at work within me that is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin?
Edmund was snagged. He was miserable and was miserable to be around. He lies. He covers up. And he secretly hopes for his brother and sister’s doom. He betrays them when they all get back into Narnia. He sneaks off to the White Witch and reveals the secrets of their whereabouts. Edmund becomes a slave of his desire—his appetite—his, I want …. He was enslaved to Turkish Delight.
Whoa, pastor—this doesn’t sound like a Christmas sermon that everything is so wonderful with a baby, shepherds, Angels, and a little drummer Boy. Don’t be such a downer.
But I wanted you to know, this is the very reason why we have Christmas. The desire for more Turkish Delight. Sin. You know, there was no Christmas until Jesus came. And if Jesus didn’t come, there would be no Carols, shopping, Santas, X- boxes, Christmas trees and decorations, family get-togethers, office parties, cards in the mail, Bing Crosby and “White Christmas”, a Jimmy Stewart and “It’s a Wonderful Life”, Charlie Brown and his Christmas, six finger and a 007 briefcase.
We have Christmas—we celebrate Christmas—because in some way, we are all like Edmund. We are all like little monsters as he was. We are enslaved to our wants and are lusts. Remember, Turkish Delight was not what was wrong. It was Edmund’s desire for it, his lust for it.
What are your wants? What are your lusts? Don’t deny you don’t have them.
Money job
perfect marriage
kids home
car status
health and body
sex alcohol
drugs
None of these things in themselves are bad. It’s only when our lusts and desires for them consume us. When we become little monsters to get what we want even if it hurts or destroys others. Listen to what Paul writes in Galatians 5: 19-21.
Galatians 5:19-21 (NLT)
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these evil results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, 20idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, 21envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other kinds of sin. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
Again, this is the reason we have Christmas and why we should be celebrating it.
Galatians 4:3-5 (NLT)
And that’s the way it was with us before Christ came. We were slaves to the spiritual powers of this world. 4But when the right time came, God sent his Son {Christmas}, born of a woman, subject to the law. 5God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.
It was for freedom that Jesus Christ came. In the story, the Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, Peter, Susan, and Lucy later meet Father Christmas and they each are given gifts that they can use later on. On the surface, I always felt bad that Edmund gets left out and never receives a gift from Father Christmas. But if you read or see the movie, Edmund does receive a gift that is far greater and much too wonderful to describe or even hold in your hand or put batteries into.
Let me read again from the story.
As soon as they had breakfasted they all went out, and there they saw Aslan and Edmund walking together in the dewy grass, apart from the rest of the court. There is no need to tell you (and no one ever heard) what Aslan was saying, but it was a conversation which Edmund never forgot. As the others drew nearer Aslan turned to meet them, bringing Edmund with him.
“Here is your brother,” he said, “And—there is no need to talk to him about what is past. “ Edmund shook hands with each of the others and said to each of them in turn, “I’m sorry,” and everyone said, “That’s all right.” And then everyone wanted very hard to say something which would make it clear that they were all friends with him again—something ordinary and natural—and of course, no one could think of anything in the world to say.
Later, the White Which has a meeting with Aslan.
“You have a traitor there, Aslan,” said the Witch. Of course, every one present knew that she meant Edmund. But Edmund had got past thinking about himself after all he been through and after the talk he’d had that morning. He just went on looking at Aslan. It didn’t seem to matter to him what the Witch said.
Edmund receives forgiveness. He receives grace and mercy and from then on, all he does is stare at Aslan—even when Edmond’s life is on the line.
Because of Christmas, that is what is offered to you and me. Forgiveness. Grace. Mercy. Even though we don’t deserve it . When we accept it from God, our lives change and we become new creatures in Christ.
Galatians 5:22-24 (NLT)
But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict with the law.
24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.
Friends, if you miss this, you will miss Christmas. You may celebrate some holiday with friends and family, but you won’t be celebrating Christmas if you ignore why Jesus really came. If you do, in God’s eyes you are not celebrating Christmas. Jesus Christ is the gift that you want this Christmas.
2 Cor. 9:15 (NLT)
Thank God for his Son—a gift too wonderful for words!
Galatians 6:7-8 (NLT)
Don’t be misled. Remember that you can’t ignore God and get away with it. You will always reap what you sow! 8Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful desires will harvest the consequences of decay and death. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.
Now, God wants us to celebrate Christmas. He wants us to celebrate why Jesus was born. Let’s keep our eyes focused on Him. Stare at Him continually through the holidays. Let’s let Jesus become our Turkish Delight. Let’s let Jesus become our six finger and 007 briefcase. And you know what? It will begin to look a lot more like Christmas from now on.
Let’s pray.
