The Best Christmas Ever

1 | How have I experienced the tension?

Tonight we arrive at the moment of great expectation.

Tomorrow is a day in which much of the world pause with varying traditions, from KFC and cakes being consumed in Japan, to Brooms being hidden in Norway so that witches don’t take them out for a joy ride while you are sleeping, in Venezuela many Catholic worshippers will go to Christmas mass riding on roller blades, decently well known is that in Germany children will look for the Christmas pickle on the tree, less well known is that in Ukraine they will be looking for the Christmas Spider.

All that to say… Christmas comes with expectations, traditions, and a bunch of fun that is meant to bring each participant something to look forward to as the year ends and the cold of winter sets in.

And yet as we look forward to tomorrow, it's hard to imagine you like me haven’t felt distracted by all of it.

For those of us who follow Jesus you likely set out a month ago with all the intention in the world to dwell on Jesus throughout Advent and yet the wondrous traditions and busyness of the season can drown out our focus with distraction.

This Christmas season we have been sitting in a teaching Series entitled “Best Christmas Ever” where we have entered into the world of classic Christmas Films like A Muppets Christmas Carol and Miracle on 34th Street to discover what makes for the best Christmas Ever and how do those realities find their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus.

Tonight we close out the series with a fitting and timeless classic of A Charlie Brown Christmas as Charlie attempts to discover is there more to Christmas than the mere distractions of it all…

2 | How have you experienced this tension?

*Play Clip 1*

This scene reminds of a short story CS Lewis once wrote about two different holidays celebrated on the same day… Exmas which is a wearying holiday that focuses us ever more on ourselves.

And Crissmas which few celebrate which he describes does rather the opposite… we take the focus off of the trappings onto a belief that good news of great joy has already come.

He concludes it is not credible to believe these two holidays are indeed one in the same.

Now that is a bit overstating the point, but still I feel that same tension every year, which holiday am I truly celebrating…

Which brings us to our question for the evening, what truly makes The Best Christmas Ever?

3 | What do the Scriptures say about this tension?

Christmas wasn’t a holiday celebrated by Jesus’ earliest followers, instead it was adapted to December 25 in 336 AD.

And yet the opportunity for distraction wasn’t some new concept that arrived with Christmas.

When Paul wrote a letter to the church in Corinth, they were being distracted in their pursuit of Jesus by false teachers who were proclaiming a different Gospel.

Paul wrote to them…

Read 2 Corinthians 11:3

2 Corinthians 11:3 ESV

But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

The human heart and mind are easily distracted, all the way up the family tree to the Garden.

We are capable of being deceived by counter programming against God’s design…

As one author calls it in our modern context we are being “entertained to death.”

Now all of that sounds pretty severe, the question is what can you or I do tonight, tomorrow, and any day when we are distracted, doubt riddled, or consumed with anything else that takes our hearts and minds away from Jesus?

The simple answer is beat yourself up over it.

That is right. Think about how you are the worst follower of Jesus around. Everyone else has their spiritual act put together. So you better shape up.

No!

That would be an awful solution, because that kind of toxic shame has no ability to lead to long term growth or improvement.

Our brains literally cannot respond in healthy ways to bad motivators.

So then we have to find a different motivator than guilting ourselves toward Jesus…

Thankfully, Charlie Brown did the leg work on this journey for us…

Throughout his story he goes from place to place, making every effort to move away from the distractions and noise.

He ends up directing the Christmas Production for his friends, but even this production isn’t immune from the chaos of the season.

That is until Linus comes takes the stage, and gifts Charlie and us the solution to our quest away from distraction…

*Play Clip 2*

Charlie discovers there is hope away from the noise.

It isn’t through fighting fire with fire, beating back distraction through more effort.

It is through simply quieting the scene and taking the moment to refocus our hearts and minds on Jesus.

Paul would write to the church in Colossae…

Read Colossians 3:1-2

Colossians 3:1–2 ESV

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

We declutter the holiday not through more, but through less.

We quietly take moments to set our desires on what only Jesus has brought and what he will bring.

We begin to believe that the real things are the things that cannot be taken away rather than the stuff of planet earth that cannot last into eternity.

For many of you this isn’t some brand new concept. And so you may be thinking, ya I already know that one… give me something new or fresh!

But often times the Scriptures don’t offer some grand new concept, instead God offers up foundational truths that are meant to sink down deep into our souls over time to bring us his light, life, and freedom as we walk in the way of Jesus.

Jesus was an expert at simplifying his attention to dwell on things above.

And from that dwelling he would come back to people with clarity and intentionality.

This isn’t exclusively a Christmas only concept. This is a good reminder for September 15, March 12, or November 3 as well.

But for us, here tonight, Christmas offers a brilliant opportunity to follow in the way of Jesus. To draw near and to allow our hearts and minds to be captivated by the beauty and simplicity of the unbelievable lengths in which the Son of God would go to bring about his Kingdom and to invite us to participate in this new work.

I would like to read a retelling of the story of Jesus’ first arrival from The Kingdom of God Bible Storybook, entitled The King with Us…

*Slides for each page*

The Story of Humanity is one unending quest by God to dwell with his creation. To the point of sending his own presence, Jesus, to become creation himself.

Our King stepped down from his throne, away from the constant praise of angelic messengers, and instead he arrives in a drafty desert cave in a rural region of an enemy occupied colony during the Iron Age. Where instead he is greeted by the worship of Shepherds, social outcasts of the lowest order.

How many Kings would go to this length to rescue his people?

He didn’t stay behind in his fortified Heavenly dwelling and send someone else to do the hard work. Instead he went to the front lines of spiritual forces, he would grow up to overcome temptation from the Serpent, distractions from the world around him, finally face mockery and death from his own creations as the creator hung from a tree.

Just to raise from another cave three days later.

This is the extent our King has gone to redeem and restore what was lost.

4 | How can the Gospel bring resolution to this tension in your life?

The hope of Christmas will not be found under the tree or in stockings this year, not in KFC Chicken buckets, or in hiding our brooms in Norway.

No, it is the fantastic news that God became flesh and dwelt among us.

That he wasn’t okay sitting ideally by watching humanity move itself toward darkness, death, and bondage.

Instead he has come to dwell among us!

If you are here tonight and you wouldn’t say you follow Jesus, perhaps you view Jesus as one good option among many…

How many others would do what Jesus has done? What other gods would even be capable of it?

Know this, you are invited to come and bear witness to the King of the Cosmos taking on human flesh, so that you could experience life, light and freedom. Tonight, tomorrow, and for all of eternity.

As we go to sleep tonight and enjoy the holiday tomorrow, whether we will be visiting the parks, spending time with friends for brunch, going to a movie, or sitting down with family for dinner…

Whatever, wherever… carry the hope, simplicity, and good news of the best Christmas Ever in your heart.