Title: Christmas Past, Christmas Present, Christmas Future
Text: Matthew 1:18-24 , Luke 2:1-20
Date: 12/9/2007
Location: Sulphur Spring Baptist church
Introduction: In 1843 Charles Dickens was in dept and needed to make some money as quick as possible to be able to pay off the debt. So he wrote a little Christmas book called “A Christmas Carol.” The book was an instant success, selling 6 thousand copies in just one week. The story of mean old Ebenezer Scrooge, and poor little, ‘tiny Tim’ has been a Christmas classic ever since.
Dickens used three ghosts to help him tell the story. The Ghost of Christmas Past, The ghost of Christmas present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to come. I want to use the same idea this morning to tell the story of Christmas. But of course our guide will be The Holy Spirit instead of Ghosts.
I. LET’S BEGIN BY TAKING A LOOK AT CHRISTMAS PAST, AS IT IS RECORDED IN THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW.
It’s a simple, yet fascinating story. A young Jewish girl named Mary who was probably no more than 13 or 14 years old was engaged to marry a man by the name of Joseph. But before they were married, an Angel of God appeared to Mary and told her that she was going to give birth to a son. Mary didn’t understand how this could happen since she was still a virgin. The angel explained to her that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and that she would become pregnant and give birth to a son. Even though she didn’t understand everything, Mary told the angel that she was willing to do whatever God wanted her to do.
Meanwhile, in a couple of months it became evident to everyone including Joseph that Mary was pregnant. You can imagine what he must have thought. Joseph had made his mind up to divorce her quietly, because even though he would have been within his right to have Mary killed for committing adultery, he was a very loving and caring man, and he didn’t want any harm to come to Mary or her baby.
But then the angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and explained everything to him and convinced him to go ahead with his plans make Mary his wife because the child she was carrying had been conceived by Holy Spirit. The angel also told Joseph that when the baby was born that he was to name the child “Jesus, because He would save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:18-23
Now for the rest of the story I want to show you a short video clip.
Play video clip “Luke 1:1-20” – from the DVD “Focus on the Holidays” by Group
Obviously we could spend all of our time this morning talking about the significance of these two passages of Scripture. But for now I simply want to remind you that God sent his only begotten Son into the world as an innocent child and entrusted him to an ordinary couple named Mary and Joseph.
II. NOW LETS SPEND A FEW MINUTES THINKING ABOUT CHRISTMAS PRESENT.
It’s been 2000 years and the simple, yet fascinating story of Mary & Joseph and baby Jesus being born in a manger in the little town of Bethlehem just doesn’t seem to be good enough any more. I guess you could say that some people are doing their best to see that it is fazed out.
Today people are more familiar with stories like “How The Grinch stole Christmas” or “Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer,” or ‘The Santa Clause,” than they are the Real Christmas story.
I received an e-mail this week that I believe sums up Christmas Present very well. It is entitled “A month before Christmas” and it goes like this:
’Twas the month before Christmas when all through our land,
Not a Christian was praying nor taking a stand.
Why the PC Police had taken away,
The reason for Christmas - no one could say.
The children were told by their schools not to sing,
About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.
It might hurt people’s feelings, the teachers would say
December 25th is just a " Holiday ".
Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit
Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!
CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod
Something was changing, something quite odd!
Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa
In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.
As Targets are hanging their trees upside down
At Lowe’s the word Christmas - was no where to be found.
At K-Mart and Staples and Penny’s and Sears
You won’t hear the word Christmas; it won’t touch your ears.
Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-is-ty
Are words that were used to intimidate me.
Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen
On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !
At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter
To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.
And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith
Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace
The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded
The reason for the season, stopped before it started.
So as you celebrate "Winter Break" under your "DreamTree"
Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.
Choose your words carefully, choose what you say
Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS, not Happy Holidays!
Now I want to point out that this year I haven’t heard of any of the stores mentioned in this e-mail telling their employees not to say Merry Christmas, or not using the word Christmas in their advertising. However, many of them did do that last year, and if it wasn’t for the public outcry they would never have continued their Anti-Christmas campaign.
In addition several politicians and celebrities were mentioned in this e-mail. As far as I know none of them have said anything negative about Christ or Christmas.
But I wanted to share this with you because it does give us a pretty accurate snapshot of the cultural and spiritual climates that exist in America today. Another example of the cultural shift that is taking place in our nation today is the release of the movie “The Golden Compass” which began showing in theaters around the nation on Friday night. As I mentioned in my newsletter article this week the movie is based on a series of books written by a man by the name of Phillip Pullman, who is a devout atheist and secular humanist.
In an interview conducted in 2003 Pullman said that his books were about ‘killing God.’ He has even stated that he wants to "kill God in the minds of children." In the final book of his trilogy two of his characters who represent Adam and Eve do just that. It breaks my heart to think that we have gotten so far away from God as a nation that this type of movie can not only be made but that it would be released during one of the most sacred times of the year for Christians.
Now I want you to see another short video clip which also does a good job of comparing Christmas Present with Christmas Past.
Play video “what is missing” – from the DVD “Focus on the Holidays” by Group
In Christmas past the focus was on Christ’s birth.
In Christmas present the focus has shifted from Christ to us, and what we want to get for Christmas.
III. NOW FOR CHRISTMAS FUTURE.
In “A Christmas Carol” the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come takes the form of a grim spirit completely robed in black, who does not speak and whose body is entirely hidden except for one pointing hand. This spirit frightens Scrooge more than the other two. It horrifies him by showing him visions of the Cratchit family grieving for Tiny Tim, as well as his own lonely death. It even allows him to see and hear some of the cold comments that some of the people who were attending his funeral made. Scrooge learned a valuable lesson through this experience. He somehow learned that he could avoid the horrible future that he had been shown, and alter the fate of Tiny Tim—but only if he made some drastic changes in his life.
Of course you know the rest of the story. When he woke up the next morning he is a changed man. He sent the Cratchit family a large turkey, gave a large donation to a local charity and even though Bob Cratchit was late for work the next day, Scrooge still gave him a nice raise.
Unfortunately The Angel of Christmas Future has some pretty frightening things to show us this morning as well.
Can you imagine a day and time when “Christmas” is no longer a day where the majority of Americans remember and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ?
Can you imagine a day and time when schools and government offices will no longer be allowed to display manger scenes or use the word “Christmas” in any of their displays or signs?
Can you believe that a day is coming when school choirs will no longer be allowed to sing “Silent night” or “Oh little town of Bethlehem at their Christmas concerts?” And of course that too will change. Instead of “Christmas concerts” they will be called “Winter Concerts.”
Can you comprehend a day and time where Christmas will simply become a “Secular Holiday?” A holiday where people get the day off from work to spend time with their family and friends and gorge themselves with food. The main focus of Christmas Future will be the exchange of gifts with each other
Now some of you may be thinking to yourself, “Oh that will never happen?” But I’m here to tell you that some of those things are already taking place and if something doesn’t change…. If the tide doesn’t turn…. If the pendulum doesn’t start swinging back in the other direction not only is the celebration of Christmas in trouble, but Christianity and the church as we know it are in danger of becoming obsolete.
I am in the process of reading a book entitled “UnChristian,” which was written by a man named David Kinnaman. Kinnaman is the president of the Barna Group, which conducts polls and does research concerning religion and religious beliefs in America.
Like Scrooge I have been horrified at some of the things I’ve read in this book.
In the introduction of the book, Kinnaman says, “You may be astonished to learn just how significant the dilemma is – and how the negative perceptions that your friends, neighbors, and colleagues have of Christianity will shape your life and our culture in the years to come.”
Kinnman says that in 1996, the Barna Group did a survey and found out that even though there had been a decline in the number of people who identified themselves as Christians that 85 percent of the people had a favorable opinion of Christianity and it’s role in society.
But that was then. Today, the number of among young adults who have a negative opinion of Christianity has tripled. Even though these young people and their opinions are still in the minority it is troubling to think that there has been such a drastic shift in just 10 years.
When asked whether they had a positive or negative view of “Evangelical Christians” 49 percent of young people between the ages of 16-29 said that they had a negative impression, while only 3 percent had a positive impression.
When asked to describe Christianity these same young adults used terms and phrases like “Old Fashioned,” “Intolerant,” “Judgmental,” “boring,” and “out of touch with reality.”
This is a wake up call to the church, just as Scooge’s nighttime visions were a wake up call to him. Unless we make some changes, and make them soon, Christmas, the church, and Christianity as a whole are going to continue to lose their appeal and their respect. And unfortunately if that trend continues churches all over the nation will begin to decline and lose their ability to make a positive impact on our Post-Christian society.
But the good news is if Ebenezer Scrooge can change, then so can we.
