The Christmas Gift
Notes
Transcript
Around this time of year we need to ask ourselves—are we happy? Christmas is a time that is supposed to bring joy, love, peace and happiness yet the majority of Americans claim depression around Christmas. We buy the gifts, we string the light, we sing the songs, and we put on a happy face for all too see. But are we truly happy and if not How can we be truly happy?
You will notice that if you read both before and after this text this morning Israel’s biggest problem is idolatry. And if you ask most people they would say idolatry isn’t a big struggle these days. Some people may state that Idolatry is your Tv or money or something you spend all your time doing, but at it’s core Idolatry is the worship of other gods. See Isaiah was dealing with the worship of multiple gods. In America it’s not other gods it Why worship any God at all. We want to remove any sense of Lordship over our lives.
So it isn’t the many gods we struggle with-It’s the idea of worshiping any god that we struggle with. All people across the world chase happiness. We try to find happiness, joy, and peace in anything we can get our hands onto. And to some extent everyone is on the right path:
Happiness is not within us!
It’s why everyone is driven to find happiness in other things. We are built to search for joy. From the moment we are born we search for peace, joy, and happiness.
Last we we talked about the Christmas tree or at least the Christmas branch. This week we will discuss the gift.
See the problem we face ultimately stems from Idolatry. We are pursuing our own desire in some way. We not be bowing down to idol gods, but we are chasing ideas, we are chasing a dream, we are chasing joy and all the while we are running God is simply calling us to stop for a moment. To see the gift he has given us through the birth of Jesus Christ. Idolatry is wide spread.
So the problem is Idolatry, the gift/promise is the servant.
Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.
There are several things this servant does to impart Happiness and order in a world full of dread and chaos.
The first thing we read is the servant will bring justice to the nations. Now when we think of Justice we think of law and order. We think righteousness, fairness, and firm decisions which is true, but behind all those must lie the Word of God. The only way to be just or fair is to be accurate and faithful to the way things are supposed to be.
happiness floods us the closer we get to the plumb line, The closer we get to the ways of God. The servant carries out the Word of God.
God says I know the answer to the problem the world faces. I will send my son, as a servant—who I find delight in and I will put my Spirit upon him why?-To carry the word of God.
The first thing we need to do to find happiness is to carry the Word of God to people. We need to serve the justly and to do so we must set aside our thoughts, our prejudices, our desires, and carry the Word of God—because that’s where just comes from. That’s the plumb line we need to grow close too.
Baby Jesus came to bear the gift of the Word!
Secondly, He brings the word Gently
He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street;
He doesn’t come to startle you or frighten you. He doesn’t come to give you a guilt trip of why you should receive him as Savior—Churches are good at guilt trips if I am being honest. But that’s not what he came to do. He came gently in the night. His entrance didn’t draw a crowed, people’s lives weren’t disturbed. He just entered.
See people have become afraid of accepting Jesus because we preach the Jesus in the temple. We preach how God wants to radically change your life. We preach the confrontational side of who he is and although he is that it’s only to a select group of people. It’s only to the over rightous drawing out of their own righteousness.
a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.
Jesus brings the gift of Tenderness
Now I love this verse and specifically around Christmas. Because is many circumstances babies bring out the best in people. I’ve watched as all of my children got loved on by everyone. It’s something about their toothless goofy grin that can brighten even the worst day. They don’t judge, they don’t condemn, they smile. But if you know babies you know they wear their emotions on their face. A smile can turn to crying in seconds and crying into a smile just the same.
Christmas brings the idea of this gentle child—someone who is willing to spend time with the bruised and broken in order to bring joy and peace.But notice how he does it: By bringing forth justice. We don’t need to break people with the truth of God’s Word. Spend any amount of time with anyone and you’ll find they are already broken. We need to bring the word gently to men the broken reed and to stir the fainting fire.
The gift of a Servant will not only bring the Word of God to the people, but the will bring it in such a way that it will mend the broken hearted, and relight the fire of the Holy Spirit inside of them.
He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.
Do you know why we are told not to grow weary in doing good? Because it’s easier to buy new than it is to fix something broken. How many times have we thrown something away because it was broken and we went to the store and bought a new one. Why because it’s to us it seems worth our time to just get new than it is to figure out what the problem is and to repair it.
God gives us the gift of time. He knows it takes more time, money, and resources to fix something broken than it does to make something new. It takes 9 month to create a new human. I have spent years with God mending things that are broken in my life.
A servants biggest asset is his time and his willingness to work. Spreading the word isn’t just tell people how to find Jesus, it’s getting in touch with them—and helping them to apply salve to their wounds. To find in the word of God the words of healing they need.
That’s why Jesus came. He came not as what they wanted—a man of power and might and a string arm, but he came as what they needed. A silent dr. coming to reaching into the wounds of people in order to bring healing and growth.
It’s easy to grow weary when mending people-but Jesus brings the
Gift of Patient Endurance
Someone who will stick with you through the tough times.
Then look at these promises
“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations,
Isaiah, prophesying about Jesus, allows God to speak- who says I will give you as a covenant.
What’s a covenant? An agreement or contract. What’s this contract for?
to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.
The gift of Sight and Freedom
In other words the gift of being shown the way to freedom. And through Jesus he has made us guides to the lost.
Now can the blind lead the blind? No—it means in order to receive this gift or promise we must be carrying the word of God/ The Spirit of God.
I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.
Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”
The gift of Happiness isn’t found in the things of this world. The gift of Happiness is found only in the word of God, but also and ultimately in the sharing of the word of God. The spreading of the Gospel--
That is the true Christmas Gift God has given us
What’s this new thing:
Salvation- mending of what’s broken-and time of being made whole. But that wholeness only comes from the Word of God brought forth by God’s people.