Remember the Reason for the Season

Intro for early in the Christmas season

How do y

When do you start celebrating Christmas? When do the lights go up and when does All I Want for Christmas start playing on the radio?

For me, it’s strictly after Thanksgiving, but when I go, I dive in! So I know we still early in the Christmas season, but we’re going to do a Christmas message today! But it’s one for you to apply as you go through the next few weeks! And it’s one from a story in the Bible that really isn’t associated with Christmas honestly.

We’re going to talk about remembering the reason for the season, that corny phrase! What I want us to remember as we go through the Christmas season is that

Jesus wasn’t born so we could celebrate his birthday with our religious rituals.

Don’t get me wrong, rituals are fine! I love the tree, I love the lights, I love the music and family traditions and all of it. But they aren’t why we do Christmas as Christians.

A few years ago my friend Adam and I were in Sam's in the country of Texas in December and I was singing Feliz Navidad along with the radio and a lady turned around and challenged me to sing the Spanish part and I took that challenge. We talked for a second and then as she was leaving she told us Merry Christmas, we smiled and said it back. Then she stopped and said, "I alway like to say Merry Christmas to Americans!" And she stepped closer to us and said, "The people that get offended and just want to say 'Happy Holidays' can take their [expletive] back to their country!" Ugh!

Every year we deal with this stuff, whether it's people getting bent out of shape because the cashier said Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas, or whatever the Starbucks cup is. Is this really what Christians need to be putting energy and their voices to?

We’re going to look at the story of Zacchaeus to see how I think Jesus would want us to interact with people who don’t really get what Christmas is about.

Reach out to people who are curious about Jesus.

Luke 19:1-5

Luke 19:1–5 ESV

He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”

When someone shows interest in Jesus, tell them about Jesus!

Does anybody else like to mess with people when they're curious?

Zacchaeus was interested in figuring out who Jesus was, for whatever reason, so he took a step, well he climbed a tree, and Jesus saw and went for it.

That's what happened at the first Christmas...

Luke 2:8–11 ESV

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

If someone shows an interest pounce on it! Doesn't matter what their interest is..., tell them!

I was at a skate park once and a guy told me his grandma's house was haunted, there's an interest in Jesus, maybe he didn't know it, but it's there!

And when you get that opportunity, focus on Jesus!

Focus on Jesus

Luke 19:6 ESV

So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.

Luke 19:8 ESV

And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”

If someone says, "What's the big deal about saying 'merry Christmas' instead of 'happy holidays'?", don't start telling them about how it's Christmas and that's what we're celebrating and it's a Christian holiday. Tell them it's a big deal because of who it's about!

They won't focus on Jesus unless you do!

They won't focus on Jesus unless you do!

Zacchaeus got focussed on Jesus. He comes down from the tree and he right then starts focussing his whole life on Jesus.

And again, since the first Christmas, Jesus has been the focus.

Luke 1:46–50 ESV

And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

Don’t focus on your right to say “Merry Christmas”, or whatever it is the rest of the year. Move the focus to Jesus! Don’t get caught up in your religion.

Don’t get caught up in your religion.

Luke 19:7 ESV

And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”

But we can get caught up in our religion and the right way of doing things. We get mad at people for not acting like Christians when they aren’t.

Why do we get mad at people who don’t say Merry Christmas? I’m an Alabama fan. Y’all don’t get mad at me for not cheering for UT. You don’t expect me to cheer for UT. Or, people around here are mostly Cardinals fans. I don’t get mad when Cardinals fans don’t cheer for the Yankees like me. Of course not.

So why would we get mad at non-Christians for not saying Merry Christmas. You should want them to say it, but not because you think they’re supposed to, but because they are celebrating our Savior!

The Pharisees got mad that jesus wasn’t doing what a Jewish teacher was supposed to do...

They missed what He was about because they were hung up on their religion.

Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, in a manger, being laid in a feeding trough, flew in the face of the religious expectations for a leader and that’s why so many people missed it.

Make sure that you’re not so worried about saying “Merry Christmas” and Starbucks not putting it on their cups and being at church on Christmas Eve (not that you shouldn’t be at church on Christmas Eve) that you forget you’re celebrating the birth of Jesus. And celebrating that He came to save!

Remember why Jesus came

Luke 19:9–10 ESV

And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

He came to reconcile his people to God and we have to remember that and share his goal.

Don’t celebrate Christmas because it’s Christmas, celebrate because our Savior arrived! He came to seek and save the lost!

Matthew 1:21 ESV

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Remember this season that this is what we’re celebrating. We aren’t celebrating Christmas because it’s Christmas. We’re celebrating that Jesus came to save us! If people don’t get that, don’t get mad, look for a way to show them!