The true meaning of Christmas

The true meaning of Christmas

Every year, no matter what channel we watch on TV. No matter where we are on social media or website online, it seems every year this time of the year, there's always something about the true meaning of Christmas. And that's not a bad thing. It's a really good thing if you think about it. People are trying to get back to the true meaning of Christmas, but in all reality, it seems that we forget it. It seems like we're trying to remind ourselves, but we do a terrible job at truly getting the true meaning of Christmas.

We get caught up in planning and Christmas parties and decoration, Christmas gifts, and we're planning these events, we're planning this, we're planning that, we're planning our tree. We're planning the theme of the tree, the theme of the house, the outside decorations. We're planning. Everything. We forget about Christ. We forget about why we celebrate this Christmas season. Because it's much more than gifts. It's much more than a dinner. It's about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ being born.

What I want to know is how often do we truly slow down and do we really think about the true meaning of Christmas? Now we say that we do. We say that we remember Christ's birth, we have the nativity scenes, we have all this other stuff to put in place that we try to remember. But how often do we truly slow down and give reverence to this Christmas season? Because it seems to me that year after year, we put Christ aside for everything else. And I'm not saying all these things are bad. It's great to have Christmas dinner with family. It's great to get together with family. It's great to give each other gifts. It shows generosity. It shows that the verse that says it's. More blessed to give than to receive. It shows that that's true. Generosity is never a bad thing. But we cannot put anything before God. We cannot forget the true meaning of Christmas.

So what we're going to do this morning and also in the next week. We're going to look at some things about Christmas today. We're going to start off by looking at John the Baptist. We're going to look at some prophecy. That's one thing we're going to concentrate on a lot this week and next week is prophecy because we don't realize how often prophecy helps us. Not only does it show us that God had his hand in all of it, but it's a very good apologetic argument as well. It's a very good argument to help bring people to Christ, because without God, how in the world could somebody have said something hundreds of years before it took place? And it happened just the way they said that it would. Without Christ, that wouldn't be possible.

But before we get into John the Baptist, I want to look at some prophecy. I want to go back to the book of Malachi chapter 3, verse one. It says, “Behold, I'm going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his people, and the messenger of the covenant and whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.”

So just a couple of things that we can see here throughout this just one little verse. We can see that God had a plan because he said that he was going to send his messenger. He was going to send someone to be the forerunner of Christ, someone who could pave the way, someone who could come and get the people right for the Messiah to come. And we know that person is John the Baptist. He is the messenger. He is the forerunner of Christ.

Now, when I say that God had a plan throughout all of this, this was not just a haphazard thrown together, this is going to happen and this is going to happen kind of plan. No, this was a very intricate plan, plan for years and years and years. We can see throughout the Old Testament the prophecy. Not only of Christ, but also of John the Baptist as well. Because the Forerunner is coming, just like here in Malachi chapter 3. You know, it's estimated that Malachi was reading written 433 to 424 BC. So somewhere around 400 years before all this took place, somebody said this was going to take place.

That's what I'm talking about when I'm talk about prophecy. There's no way. Without God having a plan, there's no way that any of this could happen. And I've said this several times before, but any of us can go downtown, we can stand on the street corner and we could say this is going to happen. But when these people said it, it happened. It happened just the way they said it was going to, hundreds of years later. Without God, that's not possible. It is simply impossible for that to happen just the way they said it was going to that many years later. There wasn't around to see it. They couldn't orchestrate it all. They wasn't there. But God was. He's still there today. He's still on the throne today.

Jump down to Malachi chapter 4 verses 5 and 6 for just a second. It says, “Behold, I'm going to send you Elijah the Prophet, before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of their children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”

So again, what we're seeing is someone is going to come before the Christ. Someone is going to come. Before the Messiah. And again, we know that person is John the Baptist and we know that he is going to be an Elijah like person. It's not going to be Elijah that's going to come, but someone with the power of Elijah, someone that God has put in this place for this reason specifically. And remember that Elijah like person as we move on and we're starting in the book of Luke here in just a few minutes, we'll start looking at this again. And just remember, this Elijah like person is very important.

But throughout all of this, we can know, we can understand that God is in control. We know that he is in control because everything took place the way that he said that it would. Take a look at Isaiah chapter 41, verse 10. It says, “do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be anxiously, I'll look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with my righteousness right hand.”

Now we go to this verse a lot. We think about this verse a lot when we're in trouble, when we're going through things. But we should be thinking about it all the time. We need to realize all the time that God is in control. No matter what is happening, no matter the bad things that are happening, we need to realize God is in control. If we look out throughout the Old Testament, we see the Israelites. They struggled. They went through this trial, they did this, they went through that. God was in control the whole time. In our lives, when we're struggling, we need to realize that God is in control. No matter what, God is always in control. Remember that.

Step on down. Look at Luke chapter 1 verses 5 through 7. It says, “In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, the division of Abraha. He had a wife from the daughters of Aaron. Her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous in the sight of God walking blamelessly and all the commandments and requirements of the Lord, but they had no child. Because Elizabeth was barren and they were both advanced in years.”

So what we're doing now is we know that there is going to be a messenger coming. We know there is prophecy of this messenger, of this forerunner of Christ. And now we're getting a little bit of preview as to who this is going to be. We're starting with the parents. We're starting with Zacharias and Elizabeth. Now Zacharias was a priest. Elizabeth was his wife, and if you caught it there she was thought to be barren. They were both advanced in years. Now we don't know exactly how old they were at the time, they're speculation. But in reality we don't know how old they were at the time. But we know they were both past childbearing years or thought to have been past childbearing years. And they haven't had a child yet either. It is thought that Elizabeth was barren. They didn't think they could have children. But remember, God is in control. Remember that God can use anybody. You know, we may think that we have this problem or that problem and that God can't use us. Remember, God can use anybody. Elizabeth thought she was too old. Mary was a virgin. Moses wasn't a good speaker. Abraham was very old. Job lost everything. Just a handful of people in the scripture that we're not perfect. But they did great work for God. None of us are perfect. We all have our flaws. We have our place where we can improve on some things that we could work on a little bit. But we can do God's work. Never forget that. Never get to the point where we think we can't do anything for God.

Because no matter what we think our flaw is, God can still use us. Because Elizabeth thought she was too old. She thought that she was barren. She thought that she could not have a child. What we'll see here in the next week or so, we will see that she gives birth to the forerunner of Christ. Because with God in the mix, with God in the picture, we don't have to look at our failures, we don't have to look at what we think is the least part of us, because He can use all of us.

Because we look at things like that as a problem, we look at things like that as a challenge. But God doesn't look at it that way. Because our problems are not a problem for him. Our challenges are not a challenge for God because we know that nothing is impossible for God. So this little problem, if you will, of Elizabeth, thought to have been barren of her and Zacharias both being advanced in years, being older, that's not a problem at all. And that's what we're going to see here in the scripture. It's not an issue whatsoever.

Move down. Let's look at Luke chapter 111 through 17. It says, “An Angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right of the altar of incense. Zacharias was troubled when he saw the Angel, and fear gripped him. But the Angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son. You will give him the name. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back into the Lord their God. It is he who will go as a forerunner. Before him, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts and fathers back to the children, and disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

So here is where we see. That an Angel of the Lord appeared to Zacharias. He was performing his priestly duty. And then Angel, the Lord appeared to him and said, Your petition has been heard, Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son you will give in the name John. Now, this is not something that would ordinarily have happened. This is something extraordinary. This is something that's crazy that God made happen. And Zacharias, he was troubled. Even said he was in fear. Fear gripped him. Now, ordinarily we would think, well, why in the world would he be scared? An Angel came and saw him. That's great. That's wonderful things. Let's ask some questions here. Now think about that if that was you. Well, if you were standing there doing your regular job, an Angel came down and sat beside of you. Probably scare you to death. You did to Zacharias.

Now keep in mind, if you go by Luke chapter one, verse six, they were both righteous in the sight of God. They were walking blamelessly. They were doing what they were supposed to do. They were followers of God. They were doing exactly what God had told them to do. When this Angel appeared to Zacharias, it was crazy. You didn't think this was something that was going to happen. And then he told him something even crazier. He said your wife will give birth. Elizabeth will bear you a son. You will name him John. You will be joy and glad. Many will rejoice. Then in verse 17 he will go as the forerunner. This is prophecy being fulfilled.

Move on. Let's finish up what we're going to look at today. Look at 18 through 25. We'll close here in just a few minutes. It says, “Zachariah said to the Angel, How will I know for certain? For I'm an old man, and my wife has advanced in years. And the Angel answered and said to him, I'm Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I've been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news, and behold. You shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which have been fulfilled in their proper time. The people were waiting for Zacharias and wondering at his delay in the temple, but when he came out, he was unable to speak to them and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. He kept making signs to them and remained mute. When the days of his priestly service were ended, he went back home. After these days, Elizabeth, his wife, became pregnant and she kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying this is the way the Lord has dealt with me and the days when he looked. With favor upon me to take away my disgrace among men.”

All right, we see what has happened here. We see that Zacharias questioned the Angel Gabriel. And he did that by saying, well, how can I know for certain? I'm an old man. My wife is advanced in years. She's older as well. Is this really going to happen? Are you sure this is going to happen? He doubted the Angel. And if you remember right there what happened, he became mute. He was unable to speak until all these things had taken place.

Now, one thing that I've always thought was interesting about this is when he came out of the temple, he was unable to speak and he was trying to make signs to them to tell them what had happened. Because just think about his position. He had just got visited by an Angel. He was just told that this miracle is going to happen because he didn't think that him and his wife could have children. He's just told that this is going to happen. So this wonderful miracle has taken place. He's all these things are going to happen. These wonderful things are going to happen. So. Prophecy is going to be fulfilled and he can't tell anybody.

So he's there trying to make signs, trying to tell them what is going to take place, and there's not really a way that you can sign that. Did anybody ever played the game charades? You know how hard it is to tell somebody about one little object, maybe a cat? You know how hard it is to do that? It's incredibly frustrating when you can't talk and you're trying to get people to understand what you're trying to say. Imagine what Zacharias was going through. This wonderful thing had just happened to him and he wants to tell the world and he can't tell anybody because he can't speak.

Another obvious lesson here. Don't doubt God. When something crazy in our lives happen. Don't doubt God. When we pray, don't doubt God. We have to remember that when God is in control, everything is possible. When God is in control, there's nothing that cannot be done because He. Has everything taken care of? He has a plan, and no matter what, that plan will be fulfilled. Just like it was fulfilled with John the Baptist. Just like it was fulfilled with Christ himself. God's plan will happen.

So just a few things I want to go back and look at again this morning. The first thing that we talked about was remember that God is in control. We've talked about this, we've looked at this throughout everything that we've talked about today. Remember that God has had a plan all along. He's had a very intricate. From the beginning. From the beginning of time. His plan is always correct. His plan is right. Remember that he was in control then, he's still in control now.

The next thing that we talked about was that God can use anyone. He can use you and I. He can use any person to do His will. Don't look at our limitations. Don't look at what we perceive as problems. Because our problems, our limitations that we look at, that's not a problem for God. He can take care of that. That's not a problem at all. That's the last thing that he is concerned about is what we think is the problem.

And finally, this morning, remember not to doubt God. Don't doubt his will, don't doubt his power, don't doubt his ability. Remember that with God all things are possible, even when the world says you can't do it. Even when society says that's not even possible. With God it is. Remember that today.

Invitation.