The Christmas Spirit

Text: Luke 1:46-55

Place Preached - (Mississauga International Baptist Church)

Date Preached - (12/16/01)

INTRODUCTION:

One of the phrases that you hear a lot at this time of the year is the "Christmas spirit, we need to have the Christmas spirit."

Just what is the Christmas spirit?

To Scrooge the Christmas spirit was a ghost.

To the liquor industry the Christmas spirit comes in a bottle.

Is it the truce that takes place in the family where nobody brings up the issues, the quarrels?

For some people it is expressed in a card that conveys a sentiment of well being.

The average household sends and receives 18 Christmas Cards a year.  This past Friday (Dec. 14th ) is the high day for card sales.

For some the Christmas spirit is an attitude of happiness found in the fellowship of friends, the party spirit, and the big turkey dinner.

For many, however, the Christmas spirit is not so trivial or so frivolous or so fun. For many the Christmas spirit is one of profound sadness, increased depression because all that is wrong in their life is then measured against the perceived merriment of the time.

For others it's a time for saying thanks for some very basic things.

"When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings with toys at Christmas, why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?"  - G. K. Chesterton

Mostly though, I guess the spirit of Christmas is giving presents, if the mall is any indication.

Let’s get down to the central issue...what is the true spirit of Christmas? Is it fun? Is it fellowship? Is it giving? What is it?

Well, as always, the best answer to that question is to go the Bible.

How is it exemplified in some of the main participants in the real Christmas story?

Elizabeth - Luke 1:41

Zacharias - Luke 1:67

The realm of the angels – Luke 2:13

The shepherds' response -  Luke 2:20

Simeon – Luke 2:25

Notice how many of these people have an unusually described relationship to the Holy Spirit...

Anna - Luke 2:36

The wise men - Matthew 2:2

Elizabeth, Zacharias, angels, shepherds, Simeon, Anna basically had one response. And that one response, in a word - "worship."

This then is the supreme attitude of Christmas. This time of all times is a time of worship.

Now to find a pattern for our worship, we are drawn to another person.  None other than His mother Mary.  Without question she gives the most magnificent psalm of worship in the whole New Testament (Luke 1:46-55).  It is her psalm of praise to God for the coming of Jesus Christ.

Mary knew that she was to be the mother of the Son of God. She had been told that. Back in verse 35.  And so she bursts forth in the only appropriate response and that is the response of worship.

Now in the prayers of Roman Catholics, Mary is called the Mother of God.  There is a sense in which she is – as the mother of Jesus Christ (Who is God).

Many have perverted that reality into developing the worship of Mary as somehow contributing to the divinity of Jesus Christ. In fact, in many cases you will find Jesus is somewhat incidental and Mary is the main figure.

These are unalterable, fixed, unchanging doctrines in the Roman Catholic Church. And here are the five that relate to Mary:

1. The Immaculate Conception of Mary.

It does not mean that she immaculately conceived Jesus Christ. It means that she was immaculately conceived by her mother. It is teaching the virgin birth of Mary.

2. The sinlessness of Mary

Teaching that she lived her entire life and never sinned. She was free from original sin.

3. The perpetual virginity of Mary.

4. The Assumption of Mary

Or the bodily ascension of Mary into heaven. It is a doctrine teaching that Mary never died.

5. That Mary is the Queen of Heaven.

When she ascended into heaven she was coronated as the Queen of Heaven, a position of sovereignty and a position of authority.  Jesus Himself is put in a position on occasion to be appealing to His sovereign mother.

So the whole plan of Salvation rested then on Mary's authority and on Mary's agreement. Now all of that presents a perverse picture of Mary. If that's true of Mary, then she is the object of worship.

But in this hymn, Mary is not the worshiped, Mary is the worshiper. It is a hymn of worship from Mary to God.

Now, let us look at the elements that are in this psalm that speak of the significance and the meaning of worship.

I. The attitude of worship. Vs.46-48

What are the characteristics of a right attitude in worship?

A. It is internal.

"My soul doth magnify the Lord." And then "My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." The term "soul" and the term "spirit" speak of the inner person.

Worship rises from inside. It's not something you do on the outside. It's not a performance. It's not a set of words or a set of actions. It is in the mind and the will and the emotion. It sums up the whole inner being.

It is not singing a hymn alone. It is not reading words in a Bible, hearing a sermon. It is not just giving something in the offering. Those are effects of a worshiping heart, but they cannot stand alone as true worship.

Superficial worship finds no place of acceptance with God.

Isaiah 29:13  Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

In the Christmas vernacular, “ they put things about Me on their Christmas cards, they sing My carols but they do not honor Me.”

B. It is intense.

Notice, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."

The word "magnify" is the word megaluno. Now you know a little about the word mega. It often gets transliterated over into English when we want to say something is bigger than normal.

Literally the word means to cause to swell, or to cause to grow, or to crescendo.

We like Mary are to give the very greatest and best exaltation and worship to God.  This is something that ought to grow and grow in our lives!!

The Lord is not satisfied with less….

Malachi 1:7-8  Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.         8  And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts.

"Thou desirest truth in the inward parts."  (Psalm  51:6)

LOOK UP & READ Isaiah 1:11-15

C. It is habitual.

"My soul exalts," or magnifies, continuous action present tense. It isn't that it's just related to an event or a moment. It goes on and on and on. It isn't just that you rejoiced when you were saved, it is that you started rejoicing then and never will stop.

True worship becomes a way of life because it's fixed on something that never changes. God never changes. Christ never changes. Salvation never changes. His promises never change. Our future never changes. The Spirit never leaves.

If worship for you only happens on Sunday when it sort of gets pumped up, or around the Christmas season or other special events, you're kidding yourself about whether you're a true worshiper.

It doesn't matter what goes on in life. And when you begin to ebb and flow in your attitude and your joy comes and goes, it is because you have attached yourself to another priority than the unchanging work of God and the unchanging presence of Christ.

You have attached your joy to the changing circumstances of life.

D. It is humble.

A humble heart is a heart that has no thought for itself.  Pride is the worship of self.  And it competes with God.

Pride remembers all wrongs done to it.  Pride wants to retaliate.

Humility is being so focused on God that what may or may not be yours is of little consequence. You don't focus on you. You're not the issue.

Now we see this in Mary, verse 48, "For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: "

We are rather anxious to spread even our smallest successes to all who will listen and some who have to listen.  And our initial response might be, "My soul doth magnify myself."

If she does glance at herself for only the brief moment, it is only to wonder how she could ever be noticed by God. How could God have ever concluded that she was one to be favored? Why her?

Those who are truly pure and godly and righteous don't think they are, because among the functions of godliness and purity and righteousness is that of searching out every nook and cranny of your iniquity. And the more godly you are the less godly you believe yourself to be. The essence of true spirituality is not to think you have it.

Isaiah 57:15  For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

What is the attitude of worship? A deep heartfelt inner spring of intense gratitude and joy that bursts forth habitually from a humble soul.  That's the spirit of Christmas.

II. The Object of worship.

"My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." The object of worship is God. All the glory goes to Him. All the honor goes to Him. All the worship goes to Him.

Luke 4:8  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve

1 Timothy 1:17  Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

I really couldn't get in to worshiping Him for His other attributes if it weren't that He was my Savior.

If He weren't a Savior, none of us would be worshiping Him, we would be hiding in fear, wouldn't we?

"You shall call His name Jesus for He shall...what?...save His people from their sins," that's what Jesus means, Savior...Savior. And if it weren't for the fact that He was Savior, nothing else would mean anything.

So she worships God the Savior. The object of worship is the God who saves.

III. The cause of worship.

What makes it happen? What motivates it? Well, three things.

A. What God does for me personally.

Vs. 48 - "From henceforth all generations shall call me blessed"

Why, Mary? "He that is mighty hath done to me great things." It's as if she's saying, "Can you believe that a holy God would do this for me, a sinner?"

That's where worship starts, it doesn't mean anything that God is a Savior unless you've experienced His salvation, right? It has to come down to you.  You must personally experience the saving reality of Jesus Christ.

It has to start with what the Lord has done for you.  And what you and I need is to be saved from our sins.

B. Praise rises from what the Lord has done for others.

Verse 50 - Cf Psalm 103:17

She realizes that the Lord is going to do the same for others and that brings joy to her heart. Her own salvation and the salvation of others.

C. What God does for His own.

Look at verse 51 "He hath shewed strength with his arm;" that is He's shown them strength and power.  In contrast He doesn't do good things for those who reject Him.

Verse 53, "He hath filled the hungry with good things," That's cause for worship; the faithfulness of God to meet every need of His own beloved people.

By the way, in verses 51 to 55, seven verbs are used to describe a recitation of what God does for His own.

CONCLUSION:

What is the spirit of Christmas? Worship, nothing more and nothing less.

As you go back through the history of the Christmases and you touch those Christmas carols, you touch the most brilliant poets and articulators of Christmas truth and their attitude is always worship.

William Dix who died in 1898 wrote the words to, "What child is this?"  And you know how that ends, "So bring Him incense, gold and myrrh, come, peasant king to own Him, the King of kings salvation brings, let loving hearts enthrone Him." That's worship.

Charles Wesley who wrote six thousand hymns penned these words - "Hail the heaven born Prince of Peace, hail the Son of righteousness," that means worship. "Light and life to all He brings, risen with healing in His wings, mild He lays His glory by," that's the incarnation, "born that man no more may die, born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth. Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King." That's Salvation and that’s worship!!

And maybe it was John Francis Wade who died in 1786 who summed it all up in the simple words, "O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord."

REVIEW Main Points….

ATTITUDE  - Internal / Intense / Habitual / Humble

OBJECT – The God who saves

CAUSE – What God has done for me and for others, and what He does for His own.