“The Christmas Story”

Let us start of tonight with a word of prayer.

In the recent weeks, we’ve been talking about the basic doctrines of our Christian faith. We’ve talked about:

The attributes of the Holy Spirit.

What scripture says about prayer.

The biblical meaning of faith.

God’s perfect word, the bible.

What is the gospel?

Earning and Honoring.

Understanding Grace

We changed gears a little bit last week, and talked about the importance of fixing our eyes on Jesus, especially during the season that’s now upon us. The holiday season. A time, due to our on making, of stress and worry for a lot of us. We’ve seemed to have changed a time that should be peaceful, and serine for us, into a time of chaos and turmoil.

But this week, Since we’ve already learned that fixing our eyes on Jesus can get us through any circumstances we may encounter in this life, let’s focus on the very beginning of the Christian faith, the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Did you know that the first time the birth of Jesus was officially celebrated on December 25th was around the year 500? That was 450 years after Gods last recorded visit to earth. The early celebrations of Christmas are thought to have derived from Roman and other European festivals that marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of the winter solstice. The holiday developed further with the legend of St Nicholas who lived in the late 500’s and is believed to have been a bishop of one of the churches in Asia Minor. But most of the miracles attributed to St Nicholas are dubious at best. Nevertheless many countries named him there patron saint and celebrated his birthday on December 6th. They called it St Nicholas Day. Since Christmas, the celebration of the birth of Christ, and St Nicolas Day were so close together the two traditions were combined in the 12th century and celebrated on December 25th with the name Christmas prevailing as the name of both celebrations. Therefore we have what we have today in the celebration of Jesus’ birth. As you know, in the secular world we now live in, the birth of Jesus has almost taken a back seat to the old traditions of St Nicholas Day.

But for Christians, December 25th marks the day of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, that changed the world forever. God’s coming to earth to save mankind. But what If Christmas Doesn’t Come?

Is there a possibility that Christmas won’t come this year? You can bet your bottom dollar it is, a very good possibility. We may go through all the routines of Christmas, observe all the traditions of Christmas, say all the greetings of Christmas, sing all the hymns of Christmas, yet miss Christmas entirely. Christmas won’t come to a lot of folks around the world, that will even be worshiping in Christian churches during the Christmas season.

Christmas Day Will Come

It is certain the Christmas season will come, but less certain that Christ will come along with it. It’s certain that everything associated with Christmas will be here, but less certain that Christmas itself will be present.

Christmas Day will come. The earth will make its 359th revolution, and December the 25th will be here. Its coming is decreed in the heavens by God Himself. It will come.

A shopping season which depends heavily on the appeal of Christmas will come. We will see over crowded and beautifully decorated stores and shops. Many retail businesses will do their biggest volume of sales and make their greatest profits during this Christmas season. All the Christmas decorations will help mark the holiday season. In the stores we will see colorful lights, stars, angels, even nativity scenes, and hear the music of Christmas being softly played over the intercoms.

The Christmas season will come. A festive spirit will be in the air. We will be traveling homeward by the thousands. There will be the joyful reuniting of families and friends. There will be the exchanging of gifts and well wishes, Christmas parties, and banquets.

The legends and myths of Christmas will be told all over again. We will hear the stories about the wise men and tell again about legends of the Christmas tree and mistletoe. We will be reminded of such mythical characters as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Santa Claus, that jolly ole man from the North Pole. We will all be here placing gladness, and joy, in the hearts of children everywhere.

The religious season will also be here. Our churches will be lite up and beautifully decorated. Christmas music will be sung and played on all the radio stations. All the popular Christmas shows and movies will be aired on TV for people of all ages. I’ll probably watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” for the 50th time. All the Christmas stories will be told and Christmas sermons will be preached. Yet, with all that, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Christmas will come. Religious forums may be empty of Christ. They may not be cradles for the Christ child.

But Will Christmas Really Come?

Christmas comes when Christ is born again into human hearts. The apostle John, who doesn’t tell the story of Christmas in his Gospel, does however tell us the meaning of Christmas: In John 1:14 the apostle tells us “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us”. And John might have added: “in our kind of world today.”

In Our Kind of World Today? Hmm?? What would that suggest? If Christmas comes, it means that Christ will be born and dwell among us in the kind of world we live in today. Note these three meanings:

First, Christ will be born.

Christmas is the celebration of something that happened in the distant past, the most important event recorded in human history. But it’s more than that. It is about something that should happen now. Christ should be born again today. He should be born in the hearts of every human being on earth. The Word should become flesh again, in our hearts. Not in the unique way that He did on that first Christmas day, but nevertheless in some real sense.

There should be a feeling of urgency, and expectancy, as we approach the Christmas season. It should be the kind of urgency Paul felt for the Galatian church in Galatians 4:19 Paul writes:“19 My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you,” Christ should be formed in us this Christmas!

We speak of the birth of a new ideas, or hope being born in human hearts. Should it be strange that we should think of Christ being born into our lives again, and into the world again this Christmas? If He’s not, then Christmas will not come.

(sing acapella)

O holy Child of Bethlehem! Descend to us we pray;

Cast out our sin, and enter in; Be born in us today!

Second, Christ will dwell among us.

Jesus was not a hermit or recluse. He lived among the people. When John the Baptist began his public ministry, he came from the wilderness, a kind of reclusive existence. But when Jesus began His public ministry, He left Nazareth, He left the townspeople whom He knew and loved. He left His family, His neighbors, and His friends. We do not find seclusion in the life of Jesus as we did in the life of John the Baptist, except when He went to be alone with the Father to pray. Jesus loved all people, He was involved in deep interpersonal relationships. But Jesus’ enemies used His popularity against Him as a weapon of criticism. He is a friend of tax collectors and sinners, they’ed say. They used His popularity as distorted, damaging propaganda. In Matthew 11:19 the Pharisees said, “Behold a glutton, and a drunkard”. He was characterized as a party man engaging in irresponsible social behavior. While always interested in the larger crowds of people, Jesus established meaningful relationships within the intimate group of His disciples, especially with His inner circle of Peter, James and John. One of the most difficult things Jesus ever had to do was to tell His disciples that He would soon be leaving them. He had become so much a part of their lives, He knew how deeply they would be hurt. In John 16:6 He said: “But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts.”

How badly we need Christ among us today. We need Him in the midst of all our personal relationships. Our personal relationships are were we really struggle the most. We relate better to the physical world, to things, to the world of science, even the sports world. But we have a hard time getting along with each other. How desperately we need Him opening up channels of communication; promoting goodwill and acceptance; relaxing our anxieties, and overcoming our fears, hatreds, and prejudices. How greatly we need Christ giving self worth and dignity to each of us, reminding us that we are somebody that’s needed, that we are children of the living God. As Christ truly lives in us, He will live among us.

Third, Christ will live in our kind of world.

Jesus lived in the world of His time. He didn’t return to some past era, nor did He project Himself into the future. He was 100% God, and 100% a man of His time. In the Gospels we hear Him talking about shepherds, farmers, merchants, and fishermen who had the marks of their times upon their lives. These were people of His world. But our world today is much different. The Christ of Christmas, if He is born in us, must live in our kind of world today.

Living in the first century, we may picture Him among the lilies of the fields, along quiet waysides where donkeys, or walking was the chief mode of transportation. In fishing boats upon the blue waters of the Sea of Galilee, and in marketplaces with open air stalls. But this isn’t our kind of world today. Jesus Christ must live in our world today.

The world today is an urban culture and will become so more and more as time races on. We have huge city centers joined together with miles of suburbs. The task of revealing Christ to the city is far more difficult than it was to introduce Him to the frontier and rural life of our nation. We met with greater success then than we’re having in our large cities today.

Today it’s a scientific world that will become so more and more. It is a technological world that will become the same. It is a commercial world that will become even more commercial. Our hectic pace of life will become more maddening. The Christ who only had face to face communication with the people of His day, must also be the Christ of the internet. The Christ who rode a donkey must also be the Christ of our interstate highway system.

The gifts of science, technology, and commerce are not unmixed. They can be used in such ways that they are both good and bad. The church should thank God for His good gifts. We should write hymns of praise for the blessings of science, technology, and commerce; and this praise should be offered to God in the name of Jesus Christ. But we must not be blind to the dangers and excesses of these great gifts when improperly used. We need the ethical awareness, moral strength, and social dedication which Christ can only give lest all this modern technology will turn upon us to destroy us.

How will Christ be born in our world today? What will enable Christ to be born in us?

Christ will be born if our lives today if we don’t crowd Him out.

In Luke’s story of Christmas, he tells how Mary and Joseph sought lodging at an inn in Bethlehem. But Jesus was born in a manger. Luke knew the world would forever be curious as to why Jesus was born in a manger and not at the inn. So he gave us a simple explanation in Luke 2:7:“And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn”.

Luke does not condemn the innkeeper. He does not say he did something wrong. He merely states a fact. The inn was crowded. There was no room for Jesus.

The same is true with our lives today. We may not have room for Jesus. Not because our lives may be filled with evil, but they may be cluttered up with good things and respectable things. So many of the choices we make this Christmas may not be between the good and the bad but between the good and the best. But, many of us choose the good when the best could be ours. Jesus Christ is God’s best gift that could possibly be offered to us. It is tragic when we choose some lesser good in preference to Him.

Christ will be born if we really want Him in our lives and in our world.

Sometimes we are torn between wanting and not wanting Christ in our lives. And the tension between wanting and not wanting Him closes the door on us. We often want His comfort but not His cross we need to take up daily. His forgiveness but not His judgment. We want His love without loving in return. We want His acceptance of us but not His rejection of our pride and prejudices.

We have to become like the merchant about whom Jesus talked about in Matthew 13:45-46. He was a seeker of fine pearls who, when he had found a pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Jesus Christ is the Value above all values, the Good above all goods, the Person above all persons. We have to be willing to give all for Him, and we have to be willing to be separated from anything that keeps Him from us.

Christ will be born if we are humbly open to Him.

The manger in which Jesus was born is a symbol of humility. There was no pride, arrogance, condescension, or exclusiveness about it. Through its doors entered lowly cattle. And through those same doors went the mother of the Son of God to give birth to Him. The baby was wrapped in swaddling clothes, and His crib was a manger filled with hay. You can’t get anymore humble than that.

Christ is still born today into humble hearts. All pride must go. He turns from hearts that boast of virtue, and enters hearts that lay claim to the goodness of God as known in Christ Jesus. It is still true that a broken and contrite heart God will not despise. And Christ will not despise it either.

Whatever the way is to the manger in Bethlehem this Christmas, whether by Christmas sermons, Christmas Carols or by prayer, our prayer should be: “Let the Word become flesh and dwell among us. Let Christ be born again.”

Let’s pray together:

Lord, thank you for your word that reveals to us your awesome character and love. We pray that the Word would become flesh and dwell among us in our hearts. Help us to fix our eyes on Jesus this Christmas season, for our good, and for your glory. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

As we are singing our last hymn tonight, and we’re reflecting on how Jesus can dwell among us in our hearts this Christmas season, and if you’ve never honored God by asking the Lord Jesus to come into your heart and be your personal Lord and savior, this would be the perfect time to do just that. God has made that so easy for us, all you have to do is JUST DO IT. The Bible says it’s fool proof. The Bible says that anyone, and I do mean anyone, who calls on the name of the Lord WILL BE SAVED. It doesn’t matter what your past may look like. Remember the apostle Paul, before the Lord saved him on that road to Damascus, how he persecuted the church, and King David who commited adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband murdered. Those two men of God commited terrible sins, and the Lord forgave them. The Lord doesn’t care about your past. What He cares about is your future. And He wants all people to spend that future with Him in eternity, in that place called heaven. Don’t wait another second. If you have any doubt at all about your eternal security, or what’s going to happen when you die, I beg you to settle it. Get it taken care of right now, right here. Right where you are sitting, just quietly, with heads bowed, and your heart’s toward God, just pray a little prayer like this..............say..