Getting into the True Spirit of Christmas

Introduction

Getting into the True Spirit of Christmas, is what I have titled this sermon. Christmas is less than three weeks away and this is an opportunity for us to show the love of Christ to the world. I have made a short list of some of the things that Christians do or should do, not only at Christmas time, but year round.

The Christmas season is upon us, you see it in the stores every time you walk in. Christmas music is playing, sales are on

As a Christian, what are some of the greatest thing that we can do?

Tithing/love offering /or giving of your time if you don’t have money

serving the church. remember the church is not a building but the people

giving to the poor

taking care of the widows and the orphans

serving in the church

teaching our children about the Lord

supporting or spouse with respect and love

telling the lost about the Gospel of Jesus Christ

What do all of these have in common? they are all rooted in love.

Every thing on this list can be done out of love or out of self gratification or puffing your self up.

(ESV) 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Trying to trap Jesus one of the scribes asked Him, “what is the greatest commandment?”

(ESV) 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

The Great Commandment

The sacrificial system was everything to the Israelite people. This was how God told them to come into His presence. And these two commandments were grater than that.

28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

There are two commands here

Love the Lord with heart, soul, mind, and all your strength

Love your neighbor as yourself

Jesus says there is no other commandment greater than these!

These two commandments come from and

You see the Lord knew the scriptures well, and us being His disciples should follow in His footprints. We are starting a fundamentals of Christianity class at the first of the year and one of the things that we will be doing is memorization of Bible versus. Why do we think as adults that it is okay to have our children memorize scripture if we are not doing it our selves as adults or young adults.

I just got done listening to the book the Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. It is an amazing book. One thing that it showed me is evil things can happen in a snap of a finger. You could be at home reading your Bible one day and in a concentration camp the next without your Bible. What do you have up here (head) what do you have treasured away in here (heart). Is it the latest sit-come on TV or a Video game, because that will do you no good in that situation. What is your treasure.

(ESV) 4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

(ESV) 17 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

17 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

The Christmas season is all about these two commandments that the Lord commanded.

The commandments in Deuteronomy and Leviticus could not be followed completely until the fulfilment of Jesus Christ coming to the earth.

Until the fulfilled time of the coming of the Messiah being born by a virgin, and then ultimately dying on the cross and raising from the dead, mankind had very little hope in keeping the full commandments of loving God and their fellow man as there self.

Without the regeneration power of the Holy Spirit working in us, we can not love God with all our heart, soul, and might, and we cannot love our neighbor as our self. And the Holy Spirit could not come and reside within us until Christ was born, killed, and raised from the dead.

This is why I celebrate Christmas. I know that Jesus was probably not born in December, but I don’t care. I love the true spirit of Christmas. This is a chance to celebrate my LORD and my God coming to this earth as a helpless babe ultimately to die for my sins because He loves me.

Now I can Love Him with all my Heart, and with all my soul, and with all my might. And because of this I most certainly can love my fellow man as my self. Praise God!

So as we go through this Christmas and then the new year lets Love one another in our giving and in our teaching and in our serving, Because God has enabled us to do so.

Look at some of the people in the Old Testament

God brought His people into the promise land, He took them out of a land of bondadge

Moses

We talked a few weeks ago about

35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”