The Preparation of Christmas

Preparation for Tomorrow Morning

Many of us have spent countless days and hours preparing for tomorrow when your family or friends will get together and open the gifts that have been wrapped under the tree. All that time planning what you will get and then bringing it home, wrapping it up and then setting it under the tree.

(Some of you told your wife “it should be here any time” but really you are going to stop at Target tonight to get the gift)

For some, this preparation can be difficult because you don’t like shopping, you don’t like spending that money, it is difficult. You think to yourself, “all this work is for something that will last but a few minutes.”

STORY OF MY LAST NIGHT IN PORTLAND

We were packing our entire house up to move back to South Dakota and we had the entire kitchen cleaned and packed except for one last load of dishes. Ashley asked me to put the soap in and get it started, so I grabbed the soap off the counter loaded it up, and then put a little extra in, and then because I’m such a generous person, a little more, closed the door and started it up. About 15 minutes later I hear my wife yell, “Micah what did you do!” (How many of you kids like playing with bubbles?, you’re going to love what happens next)I ran into the Kitchen to find my wife over a floor COVERED in bubbles. Turns out you shouldn’t put dish soap in the dishwasher. (Kids ask your mom if you can do this!)

But let me tell you, seeing all those bubbles, I knew I had messed up and created a huge problem to clean up, but it was really cool! Never before had I seen such beautiful chaos.

Then I looked over at my angry wife and realized, never before had I seen such beautiful anger!

Preparation of Christ

RECAP

We have talked the past couple of week about how God uses the people you would least think of to accomplish his grand plan.

He used a poor carpenter named Joseph to lead his family even in the midst of crazy circumstances.

God appoints a young poor, virgin named Mary to have the Christ child.

Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin has a baby who, when Mary comes into the room with Jesus in her womb, literally starts break dancing. (That’s in the original greek so it’s harder to find)

He sends angels to the shepherds, who probably spent more time around sheep then people, and they come to celebrate with the new family.

God places a star in the sky to guide wisemen from afar to the Christ child.

Jesus is finally born in a feeding trough because they couldn’t get a room in the Best Western.

There a jealous, paranoid king named Herod who tries to kill the baby.

The scene is beautifully chaotic. This preparation is messy, challenging, confusing, dangerous yet in the midst of it we, with our families, celebrate the day when this preparation produces the greatest gift we could ever receive, it literally produced our salvation. That day our salvation lie in the manger waiting for the day when he would die upon the cross to purchase us from our sins.

Christ’s Preparation

We celebrate tomorrow because the day has finally arrived we have been preparing for and soon it will be over. Yet in reality when we celebrate Christmas, this is only the beginning of preparation for our gift from God.

We are going to see a messy story, a painful discouraging, heartbreaking story. Where a perfect man will live a glorious life yet his ministry ended in a brutal death. Jesus died, not just because he was a good man, he died because he was God and man wanted to be him.

His life on earth started messy and chaotic, it ended in chaos and death yet because of it, he produced new life. God’s preparation brings new life, forgiveness of sins and hope for the future.

God is has been preparing some of you for this night because tonight is when the gospel will sink in. You have been living a life that has produced chaos.

“For God so loved the world he gave his only son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.”

This is the purpose of Christmas.

Bow your heads with me. If you don’t know Jesus tonight and this presentation has spoken to you and you’d like to receive Jesus as your savior, will you look up at me. No one else looking, just shoot me a quick glance to let me know that God has prepared you for tonight.