A Gospel Christmas Carol

Greeting

Good morning Lighthouse!

It is so great to be here with you all this morning celebrating Christmas at Lighthouse!

Turn around and tell somebody, “You look great this morning!”

Once again, it’s an honor to host you and your family today. And in the interest of time, I’m going to get right into my message this morning. You may be seated.

Introduction

How many families like to play games when you gather for Christmas? That’s a lot of fun, isn’t it?

We’re going start today’s message with a little game. It won’t take long.

Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to play GUESS THAT MOVIE. I’m going to cue up a song, and when you hear it, I want you to say what movie that song is from.

Everyone get it?

OK here we go. The first one is a lay up. It’s a softball to get everyone going. Let’s play that song.

[The Grinch Who Stole Christmas]

That’s right; The Grinch who Stole Christmas is correct!

All right lets play the next one.

[Home Alone]

Iconic! Come on, how many of you still watch that movie every year like clock work? I feel like the Christmas season begins when my boys sit down and watch Home Alone. That is the official start of Christmas at the Herrera household.

OK, this one is harder. You ready for it?

[A Christmas Carol]

All right, that’s the Charles Dickens Classic, A Christmas Carol.

Now I know that is not nearly as popular as the Grinch or Home Alone, but I grew up on that movie before Home Alone came out.

And I’ll go ahead and give you the title of my message now, A Gospel Christmas Carol.

Ebenezer Scrooge

In the movie we are introduced to a man who is totally consumed with his wealth. Everything in his life comes secondary to his wealth. Friends, relationships, family… all of that is secondary to making and stacking his money.

On Christmas Eve Scrooge is visited by his now deceased business partner names Jacob Marley who warns him that he is making a fatal mistake by living his life this way. He then tells him that he is going to be visited by three ghosts who will show him how his past, present and future have been shaped by this kind of life that he is living.

Marley disappears and then the first ghost takes Ebenezer Scrooge back in time to show him that he wasn’t always consumed with greed, and that he was once a joyful person. But over time, he allowed greed to overtake him.

This fills his heart with sorrow, but there’s nothing he can do about it but reflect on how he got to where he is at.

Then the next ghost appears and shows him his present. Now presently this ghost reveals to Scrooge that he mistreats people. He doesn’t treat his employees fairly. They’re being over worked and under paid, and the worst part about it is that their families are paying the ultimate sacrifice. This makes Scrooge feel a lot of remorse for how he is leading his company.

Then finally, the ghost of the future appears and shows him that his life will have no legacy. He will die an old and greedy person, and when he does, there will be no one at his funeral and he will have been surrounded by no one.

Waking up on Christmas morning Ebenezer repents from his ways and then he fully embodies the meaning of Christmas and shocks his employees and anyone that he meets on Christmas day.

Charles Dickens

Now, I wondered, what compelled Charles Dickens, the author of this incredible movie to write a Christmas Carol. Here’s what I found out when I researched it.

First, he observed the growing inequity between the wealthy and the poor during his time. The rich were getting richer, and the poor were getting poorer.

Second, Charles Dickens father fell into massive debt and ended up being forced to work in a factory to repay his debts and went a long period of time without seeing or spending any time with his own children. So, part of this story is a Father wound that Charles Dickens had.

Third, Charles Dickens observed the increasing commercialization of Christmas and wanted to restore the real reason of Christmas back into the holiday.

And then finally, Charles Dickens was flat out broke and needed money. He had written a couple of stinkers and really needed this book to be well received, and so out of struggle came a master piece.

And this got me to thinking about how the gospel shapes the Christmas Story in many ways, and what should our response be?

The Inappropriate Response

Let me start by calling out and challenging what I believe to be the inappropriate response to the gospel and Christmas.

Not too long ago, in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, there was this saying “Keep Christ in Christmas!”

And I think this started off with good intention. We wanted to remind people that the birth of Jesus, the Savior of the World, was the true reason for the season.

However, I think it went a little sideways.

Like, there were a lot of Christians who were triggered when people would say Happy Holidays.

Like, someone would say Happy Holidays and we’d say back, in an angry tone, “Oh no, Merry Christmas!”

Does anyone remember that?

It started all right, but there were people who were MEAN about it!

“Merry Christmas you pagan sinner who is on your way to a devils hell!”

Like, that might be taking it a bit too far..

And then, someone of you remember this, there was the Red Cup controversy at Starbucks.

Oh my word…

Starbucks previously used coffee cups that said Merry Christmas, and then they decided that they would no longer use those cups and switch to Red Cups instead.

Christians lost their mind.

I saw a headline while digging up this image that said, “Evangelicals believe that Starbucks has declared war on Christmas.”

And I am sorry church, but not for one second did I get on board with that illegitimate outrage. If this non-Christian company wants to use red cups and that offends you, then all you have to do is go to another coffee shop.

I mean, it’s not that deep bro!

I turned that in to a sermon series at Lighthouse. I did!

Our December series was called “Red Cup Christmas.” That’s how much of a cultural moment it was.

But I want to show you a tweet from one of the Pastors that I enjoy following. Pastor Rich Villodas tweets this every year at this time.

“This holiday season, let’s keep Christ in Christians.”

There you go! That’s the real reason for right season right there!

Christ in Us

So what then is the appropriate response?

Well, it is a lot like the Christmas Carol and Scrooge. When Scrooge woke up that Christmas morning he embodied the true meaning of Christmas.

And I believe that what the world needs more of right now is that Christians would embody the message of Jesus. As a matter of fact, our gift to the world, and our response to the world, is that we who profess to be followers of Jesus would fully embody the message that is in our Bibles.

So how do we do that?

We begin to embody the message of Jesus when we acknowledge that Jesus has rescued us from our past.

In the Christmas Carol, Scrooge sees his past and he is haunted by it. Some of you can understand what that feels like because when you look back at who you were before Christ, you aren’t proud of that. But the difference between Scrooge and someone who has been born again is that we aren’t haunted by our past.

Sure, we’ve made mistakes. We’ve got it wrong. We have regrets.

But we aren’t haunted by our past because Jesus has forgiven us from our past.

Psalm 103:12 (NIV)

as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

So rather than being haunted from our mistakes we worship God for rescuing us from who we used to be. We aren’t that person anymore, and our past doesn’t have a grip on us any longer.

I don’t have to make peace with my past because it’s gone. I’m a totally new and forgiven person.

[Transition]

We also embody the message of Jesus by Living a Surrendered Life through the Holy Spirit

This is how we presently live. We are never alone. We have the Spirit of God within us, and it is shaping us to become more like Jesus.

John 14:26 (ESV)

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Scrooge is shown a picture of his present reality, and he’s overcome with how awful he is treating people. He didn’t realize the extent of how his mistreatment of others was causing them to suffer.

And hear me… I wonder how we make others feel when we become snarky and mean to other people during this time of the year.

When the Holy Spirit is living in us, it starts to produce fruit in us such as love, joy, peace, goodness, gentleness, kindness…

This is going to make us a person who does look after the hurting.

This is going to make us a person who does serve those in the margins.

If that’s NOT happening in our life, we have to ask ourselves, are we letting the Holy Spirit transform us on a daily basis?

Someone said it this way, “The Holy Spirit doesn’t make me better than you, it makes me better than me!”

[Transition]

And finally, when we embody the message of Jesus, we don’t have to be afraid of our future. With Christ in us, our future is secure!

Have you ever talked to someone who believed in eternity, but had no idea if they were doing it right? They’d joke around like, “Well, if I make it to heaven…”

Here’s what Paul tells us.

Colossians 1:27 (NIV)

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

We don’t live with a fear of the future. Christ in us gives us the hope that our future is secure and that we will be together with our Lord and Savior for all of eternity.

Conclusion

In the Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is terrified of who he has become.

Christmas Day is the chance for him to redeem himself and come out from that kind of life that he was living.

And, just as Scrooge awakens to a new life on Christmas morning, we too are offered a new life through Jesus. The Gospel invites us to leave behind our past and embrace a future filled with hope and purpose.

But in the Gospel Story, we don’t redeem ourselves. You see, it’s Jesus who does all of the work for us. And that’s what we’re celebrating.

Jesus enters our world as a baby. He takes on flesh. He lives among humanity.

I heard someone say that when Jesus took on human flesh, he was putting on his work clothes. He was on this earth with a mission in mind.

You are that mission.

He so loves you that he came into this world for you.

When you surrender your life to Jesus, you do so knowing that he’s done everything required to save you from your past, from your present, and even for your future.

Look around this room. There are no perfect people here, just forgiven people!

And if this Christmas season your life looks a bit like Ebenezer Scrooge, you’re struggling with your past or your present, and it gives you anxiety for your future, then we want to give you the chance to surrender your life to Jesus today.

Call