Good morning and Merry Christmas! Welcome to WestShore Community Church.
Now, when you hear "happy holidays", what does that refer to? [Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, Ramadan, Hindus - Pancha Ganapati, Buddhists - Bodhi Day (Dec. 8), Seinfeld - "Festivus", Christmas].
But this year, all of those holidays have been eclipsed by a new holiday that towers over them all - Pokemon Day. Santa has been usurped by Pikachu. The elves have been replaced by Ash, Misty, and Brock. And instead of reindeers named Donner and Blitzen, we have strange little creatures with names like Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle.
Do your children spend hours memorizing the names and characteristics of Pokemon characters, trading Pokemon cards, playing the Pokemon board game and computer game, watching the Pokemon TV show? Do you wish they would spend just a fraction of that energy on their homework? Do you wish you could find the person who invented Pokemon and give them a "Pokemon" in the eye?
If your child is between the ages of 4 and 12, chances are that their Christmas wish list includes something having to do with Pokemon. Resistance is futile. Which brings us back to the topic of Christmas. What difference does Christmas make anyway? Is it just a time to enlarge our children’s cache of Pokemon cards and paraphernalia? Is it . . .
- A time to give joy to children? Yes [examples]. But it’s also an opportunity to spend money we don’t have to buy toys we can’t afford.
- A time to celebrate family? Yes [examples]. But for many, it’s a depressing time of the year. It’s an especially hard time for those who are widowed or divorced.
- A time to honor the values of selflessness, compassion and service, to reach out to those less fortunate? Yes [examples]. But if you’ve been to Great Northern Mall during one of their Christmas sales, you can see that those values are sometimes disregarded.
This is why, on the day after Christmas, we wake up with a "Holiday hangover" and we say to ourselves, "Is that all there is to Christmas?" The good news is that the answer to that question is "no". As much as we enjoy and appreciate all of those things - the celebration of family and community, the sense of wonder and joy in the faces of children, the good cheer, the Christmas spirit - they aren’t all there is to Christmas.
There’s something more to Christmas, something that lasts after the presents are all opened and the lights are taken down: a miracle. A miracle that gives hope and meaning to life 365 days a year, a miracle which has been changing lives for two thousand years. It’s the of the birth of Jesus Christ, when God became a man, a human being, one of us. We call that miracle the incarnation.
This morning, I’d like for us to look at what this miracle means to us and can mean to us this Christmas season and every day of our lives.
First, it means that God understands us/me, from the inside out.
"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." -- Hebrews 4:14-16 (NIV)
Our ability to understand someone else depends on how much we share in common.
· We instinctively feel a kinship with those who have experienced what we are experiencing. That’s why support groups are so popular [divorce recovery, AA, eating disorders, elder care]
How many of you have teenagers? How many of you are convinced that you understand them? That they understand you?
· You understand your teenagers better than they understand you. They have never been adults, but you have been a teenager.
· Your understanding is not a theoretical one. Although the world they are growing up in is very different, you have actually experienced many of the things they are going through. Your knowledge comes from personal experience.
· Our ability to empathize with our teenagers is limited by the fact that we are no longer one of them. But Jesus continues to be both fully man and fully God.
Jesus understands. Whatever you are going through, He understands, because He’s been there. He shared our weaknesses in every way (v. 15). He understands what it’s like:
- To be tired and weary, overwhelmed
- To be unjustly criticized and accused
- To suffer unjustly
- To be betrayed by a close friend
- To be deserted by those closest to you
- To be slandered and have your reputation trashed
- To be tempted to strike back, take revenge
- To be tempted to take the easy way out
- To see those you care about suffer
- To struggle against opposition and critics
- To face (apparent) defeat and the loss of everything you’ve worked for
- To face premature death
He understands the force of temptation better than anyone else, because he never yielded to it. The one who gives in right away doesn’t fully appreciate the strength of temptation.
Second, it means that we/I can know God.
"In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being . . . . "
-- Hebrews 1:1-3 (NIV)
Jesus Christ reveals God perfectly. There is no characteristic which they do not share. If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus.
"Jesus answered, ’I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.’ Philip said, ’Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.’ Jesus answered: ’Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.’"
-- John 14:6-10 (NIV)
God can be known. He isn’t just a divine being out there somewhere, unapproachable, incomprehensible. He isn’t just a force or a "higher power." He’s not just a projection of our own minds, the sum total of our hopes and ideals. He is a real, personal being who can be known, with whom we can have a personal relationship. And that knowledge, that personal relationship, comes through Jesus Christ.
God desires that we know Him. This is even more amazing. God is not indifferent to us. He wants us to know Him. He has revealed Himself to us in Christ for that very purpose. God is actively seeking a relationship with us.
Think of the person you admire most. Now imagine finding out that this person knows who you are, wants to meet you, and has sent out the person closest to them in order to invite you to be a part of his or her inner circle. The reality is even more unbelievable! God, the creator and ruler of the universe, desires to have a personal relationship with you and me.
Third, it means that Christ is able to save us/me.
"Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil - and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death . . . . for this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted." -- Hebrews 2:14-18 (NIV)
· Only one who was fully human could pay the penalty for the sins of human beings.
· Only one who is both fully man and fully God can bridge the gap between God and man, uniting what had been torn apart by sin.
· Christ can save us/me; His death is sufficient to pay the penalty for my sin.
Conclusion
Christmas is much more than Santa and Pokemon. It’s more than children and family and good will and the Christmas spirit. Christmas is a miracle. A miracle in which God became man. And because of that miracle, we can know God. We can have a personal relationship with God. We can have our sins forgiven and receive eternal life.
What do you have to do? Just say "yes." Just accept it as a gift. You can’t earn it, you can’t deserve it, you can’t buy it, you can’t merit it in any way. All you can do is receive it as a gift from God. We invite you to do that today, even this morning.
(For an .rtf file of this and other sermons, see www.journeychurchonline.org/messages.htm)
