The Center of Christmas
Notes
Transcript
Well, it’s Christmas Eve, and we have gathered to celebrate in song, to worship in prayer and to focus on Christ at Christmas. We have looked at the advent candles of hope, peace, joy and love.
But you may have noticed there’s one candle left. The center candle, also called the Christ candle. The Christ candle is saved for last and lit on either Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. And so this being Christmas Eve we have lit all four outside candles as well as the center candle in celebration of Christmas.
The Christ candle is in the center because the Christ candle reminds us that Jesus is the center of Christmas. Yes, Christmas is a time of hope, peace, joy and love, but this is only because of Jesus. And so this afternoon I want us to look at Jesus as the center of Christmas.
I want to look at how Jesus Brings:
Jesus Brings True Hope
Jesus Brings True Peace
Jesus Brings True Joy
Jesus Brings True Love
Jesus Brings True Hope
Jesus Brings True Hope
Jesus is the center of hope at Christmas because all true hope in the world is centered on and only comes from Jesus Christ.
Christmas is about the hope of the Old Testament people waiting all those long years for Christ to come. And it’s also about us who are waiting and longing for Christ’s return. God promised to send Jesus the first time, and he did. God has promised to send Jesus a second time, and he will.
Paul tells us in Ro 8:25
25 Now if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.
In Ro 5:5 he says,
5 This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Because God sent his Son into the world, you and I have hope. We have hope for today because Christ is with us. We have hope for tomorrow because Christ will never leave us. And we have hope for eternity, because Christ is coming back to take us to be with him forever.
Too many people live without hope today because they live without Christ. Jesus is the center of our hope at Christmas, because all true hope is found in him. There is no true hope without Christ.
Jesus Brings True Peace
Jesus Brings True Peace
Secondly, Jesus is the center of our peace at Christmas because there is no true peace without Christ.
Our world is sadly lacking peace today because our world is lacking Christ. The religious leaders of this world won’t bring you peace. The political leaders of this world won’t bring you peace. The pop psychologists of this world won’t bring you peace. All the drugs and medication in the world won’t bring you real peace.
Only Jesus brings true and lasting peace. He is the Prince of Peace. He is the Savior who came to bring peace between you and God. He is the coming King who comes to reign in peace over all the earth.
Look at Luke 2:13-14
13 Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: 14 Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors!
The angels sang songs of peace on earth, goodwill towards men. Jesus is the center of our peace at Christmas, because there is no true peace without Christ.
Jesus Brings True Joy
Jesus Brings True Joy
Thirdly, Jesus Brings True Joy. Jesus brings the joy of salvation – there is no real joy without salvation, and no real salvation without joy.
We see this in Luke 2:10-11
10 But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: 11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.
The angels proclaimed good news of great joy for all the people. The Shepherds were so overjoyed they too proclaimed the good news to the entire town and went back to their fields praising God. We often confuse joy with happiness.
This world offers a lot of happiness through entertainment, excitement, and thrills, but very little joy. Joy is deeper than happiness. Happiness is temporary and dependent on circumstances.
But Jesus offers a joy that transcends circumstances. Christmas is often a tough time with little happiness for people. But Jesus offers a joy that sustains us, even in your deepest sorrows.
True joy doesn’t mean we will never be sad. It means that even in our saddest hours we have joy in the promises of Christ.
Jesus brings a joy that is deeper than happiness and even deeper than our sorrows. There is no true joy without Christ.
Jesus Brings True Love
Jesus Brings True Love
And Jesus brings true love at Christmas. God’s love for sinners is the greatest of all the advent candles outside of the Christ candle. Jesus is at the very center of Christmas because of God’s love for us.
16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
God sent His Son to be our atoning sacrifice. Christmas reminds us of that love, but also reminds us we are supposed to love one another as well.
10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another.
The world is full of caring people who do loving things for others. But, if we dig into those loving things we always find a hidden agenda. Some personal gain or self-glorifying status symbol. Only Jesus brings true self-sacrificial love.
Paul ties a lot of this together in Romans 5:5.
5 This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Jesus brings hope, peace, and joy by and through God’s love for us. Only in Jesus can we find true hope, peace, joy and love because it’s only through Jesus that God resides in us. “God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
The Bible tells us that God is love, and that all love comes from God in 1 John 4:7-8.
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
The very nature of God is love. The love we MUST have for one another is modeled by the perfect relationship between the three persons of the Trinity – one God, three persons in a perfect relationship of love.
We are created in God’s image. Every act of love in this world finds its source in Him. God is love, and all love comes from him.
This is how God showed his love among us. He sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. God is love, and all love comes from him. There is no true love without Christ. The story of Christmas is all about the kind of true love from which hope, peace and joy flow.
Our natural desire, yet selfish, is to be loved. We see that play out in society today. Through the desire to be loved people, especially our youth, join and/or get involved with various social identity groups and online groups. They all promise tolerance and acceptance veiled as true love.
The problem with tolerance and acceptance is that in order to accept or tolerate one view or value you must not tolerate or accept any opposing views or values. That has led to cancel culture. The lack of true love can’t allow opposing values and views to exist.
But, the Christmas story is about God’s love for those who oppose Him. God sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our opposition to Him. Jesus brings the Father’s love and grace to ALL who believe in Him. So, in order to have true hope, peace, joy and love Jesus must be the center of Christmas.
So, as you watch the Christ candle burning this afternoon in the center of all the other candles, remember that Christ is the reason for Christmas. He is the one who brings true hope, peace, joy and love for us all.
Let us draw near to him to worship, to praise, to follow and believe.
