A Christmas for the Savages.
Jesse Bennett
Bible Baptist Church
700 N Tucker Ave
Shawnee Ok 74840
James 4:1-2 and 5:5-6
I read the passage this morning in the King James, but I would like to read for you the NIV version of this same passage.
1What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God.
What do Savages do for the Christmas holidays?
I’m not talking about some 3rd world nation.
Jdimytai Damour, 34, had been hired by an employment agency as a temporary worker at the Wal-Mart store in Valley Stream and had been on the job about a week when he died
The 6-foot-5, 270-pound man died of asphyxiation after being crushed by a crowd the Friday after Thanksgiving, they broke down the electronic doors in frantic pursuit of bargains. At least four other people were treated at hospitals, including a woman who was eight months pregnant.
James 5:5-6
5Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
6Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. (Not opposing you)
That man at Wal-mart was not there enemy.
Now you know what savages do at Christmas! They start out by trampling an innocent man to death to save $20 on a Television Set.
What have we become? A lawless mob of savages that have little or no regard for our fellow man. How do we live with ourselves setting in front of our televisions saying “I got this killer deal at Wal-Mart”. ?
Is that what our lives have been reduced to? A mindless, thoughtless mob of bargain hunting vampires willing to kill to fill that void “materialism”. All the while, lacking everything, because as a nation we don’t ask God to fill that void in our lives.
It is easy to spot a nation that does not have eternal life. There focus is on the things of this world and not on the things of God.
WHAT IS YOUR GOD? "Whatever you love most, serve most, seek out most, give to the most, worship the most, and care about the most is your god. Your “god” can be: your career, your bank account, the way you look, a particular position or degree, influence, power, or physical pleasure.
It can even be something that is considered intrinsically good, yet you allow it to dominate your life more than God – such as your marriage or your family.
Your “god” is whatever you allow to control you.
Were your treasure is there your heart is also!
I don’t know about you but I was here at 9:30 this morning and when I came to open the door I didn’t see a line of people waiting outside for me to open the door so they could come into God’s house and worship. A when we gathered to study God’s word there were less than ___ in Sunday School class.
Never once was I in danger of getting trampled to death by folks wanting to hear and learn the Word of God. And I don’t think I was alone I don’t suppose there was a pastor at least in the United States that was in any danger.
Have we lost our desire for God and traded his wonderful gift, the birth of his one and only Son Jesus Christ for a cheap imitation?
Christmas has become the Holliday of savage shopper, will to kill for the killer deal!
The real joy of Christmas
Wonder of God’s Gift of his son for us.
God became man so that he might deliver man from his sins. "This is a faithful saying . . . Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Tim. 1:15). God became man so that he might, as almighty God, save redeem fallen man. God became man so that he might, as fully human, bear the punishment that must fall upon guilty man. The virgin birth, then, is not the whole story. The ultimate purpose of the virgin birth was to affect the entrance of the God-man. But the purpose of God uniting with man was not an end in itself, but a means to an end.
Jesus Christ is the mediator between God and man, the only mediator between God and man.
Now if this doesn’t get you excited about Jesus coming to earth as a baby born of a virgin, to save you and redeem all of mankind, maybe you are a mindless savage.
We celebrate the birth of our king!!!
We celebrate the redemption of all mankind.
We celebrate the fact that God so loved the world….
We celebrate the angels singing and proclaiming his coming…
We celebrate the Sheppard the lowest of the low hearing this announcement.
We celebrate the wise man acknowledgement and worship of his birth…..
We celebrate Emanuel “””””God is with us””””””””
And as God has given to us so we give to one another.
And in the spirit of Giving we remember those less fortunate than ourselves……
Let’s take time this Christmas to remember….It’s not about me or me giving everyone the perfect gift. It’s about the perfect gift that God has given to us.
Christmas is about God’s perfect salvation.
Christmas is about Love and Love for the brethren
Christmas is about wanting “not for things” but a relationship with Jesus.
Christmas is about sharing the Good New of the gospel
Christmas is about--Good tidings that shall be to all men, for today is born in the city of David a Child. The hope of all humanity. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
I love Christmas because it is all about love.
Not about collecting things and filling that void under the Christmas tree.
Our hearts desire should be centered on God and his glory, wanting to live for Him and serve Him all the day of our lives.
Our hearts should leap for Joy when we enter this place of worship and come to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior.
We should look upon the Bible, God’s Holy Word with as much or more vigor as we scan the Newspaper inserts looking for a killer deal on a new gadget the world says we can’t live without.
We should stand in the Lords house and praise him at least as much or more than we stand in line at Wal-Mart with our full cart of goodies and our later empty wallets.
We should give to the Lord our time-money and desire.
You want to have a stress free Christmas----cast all your cares and burdens on the Lord for his burden is light and his load is easy to bare.
Merry Christmas…and May you accept the greatest gift of all God’s Son. And Eternal Salvation.
Then you will have real peace on earth a good will toward men……..
