12-19-21 The Disciplines of Christmas

Ok, here are a few bad jokes for you: but first, what do you say before you tell Christmas jokes? These will sleigh you! What is the best Christmas present ever? A broken drum. You can’t beat it. What do you call Santa when he’s wearing earmuffs? Anything, he can’t hear you. Why is Santa afraid of chimneys? He’s Claus-trophobic. What nationality is Santa? North Polish. What do you call an elf that can sing and dance? Elfish. How do you know if Santa is nearby? You can sense his presents. What do you get when you cross Santa with a duck? A Christmas quacker. And we all like Christmas, because it’s a time when most people get Santamental.1 Last week we talked about the dependency of Christmas. If you missed that message, it means that just as Jesus came as a child into the world, totally and fully dependent on the Father for everything, we also need to learn how to become fully dependent on the Father. We need to continue to develop a conscious sense of the presence of God and of dependence on the Holy Spirit’s power in our lives. Just as Jesus walked in total dependence on His Father, we have to rest in the same source of power for daily living. And as we do that, we will receive and display Jesus’ life in us. 2 And so today I want to talk about the disciplines of Christmas. Dependence on God is huge for our walk and can’t be underestimated, but we won’t ever grow in our Christian lives unless we grow in discipline and self-control.3 1 Timothy 4:7 AMP “discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness [keeping yourself spiritually fit].” Some versions translate this word ‘discipline’ as “train yourselves.” The NKJV says to “exercise yourself toward godliness”. In other words, we’ve got to do the work, we’ve got to put time and effort into our spiritual walk and our relationship with Christ. 1 Liles, Maryn. “150 Funny Christmas Jokes for Kids and Adults.” Parade, 29 November 2021, https://parade.com/1059328/marynliles/christmas-jokes/. Accessed 18 December 2021. 2 Boa, Kenneth. Conformed to His Image: Biblical and Practical Approaches to Spiritual Formation, P76. Zondervan, 2001. 3 ibid. Disciplines of Christmas | 1 You won’t get in shape if you don’t exercise, you won’t learn an instrument, talent, or skill unless you practice, and you won’t pass a test if you don’t study. Sadly, though, there are a lot christians out there who think that just because they mentally assent, or agree with a set of doctrines, that they don’t have to do this kind of work or put any more effort into their spiritual lives. The thought is that because we’re positionally in Jesus Christ when we get saved, and because God won’t ever love us any more or any less that now we just don’t have to do anything, we just sit back and watch the show as God does everything. That’s not how it works. James 2:20 ICB You foolish person! Must you be shown that faith that does nothing is worth nothing? Now, there is a little truth in some of the thought process as far as we are totally loved and positionally in Christ as soon as we get saved and we can’t do anything to earn salvation or earn God’s love. The problem is, though, that if we don’t even try to walk like Jesus walked, if we don’t attempt to do what Jesus did, if we don’t put any effort into growing in holiness, then we’re not really his disciples, we don’t really care what He said about how to live our lives, and we eventually just start to look like everyone else in the world even if God has mercy still and we get to go to heaven when we die. Following Jesus takes discipline. That’s where the word disciple comes from. It takes work, it takes time, and it takes effort to learn how to walk like Jesus walked, how to be dependent on the Father like He was. I’ll say our catchphrase for the month again, but grace is not opposed to effort, it’s opposed to earning. And I want to talk about growing in spiritual discipline today in the context of the Christmas story. Let’s pray before we get started. Father in Heaven, we honor Your glorious, holy, matchless Name. Thank you for meeting with us today and pouring out Your Spirit on us. Disciplines of Christmas | 2 Holy Spirit, thank you that you enable God’s will in us and through us, that You help us even though we aren’t worthy to have you live in our hearts. Jesus, may You manifest Your presence in Your body today through the reading of Your word. May You speak to us about ways we can grow with You, and give us the strength and the grace to do what You say. We love You Lord, and ask you to speak to us this morning, in Jesus’ Name, amen. Let’s start in Luke 2. Luke 2:1-7 NKJV “And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. 4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. 6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” I want us to start with verse 4 here, because it’s often the starting point of our journey into becoming disciples of Jesus, the beginning of our road to look more like Jesus. Luke 2:4 NKJV Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David.” Joseph went up, the Bible says. He got up and moved. He stood up and he went somewhere; he went to Bethlehem. In this case he was forced to go (there was a decree that he had to go be counted), but he still went. As simple as this point is that I want to make, it’s true; just get moving! Get started with some spiritual disciplines! Put one foot in front of the other even if you don’t exactly know where Jesus is leading you or how you’re going to get there - just get moving; do something with Jesus! Disciplines of Christmas | 3 Read your Bible for a while, listen to a worship song, pray, call a friend and talk about Jesus, say a 30 second prayer before your business meeting or your chores, or even just think about Jesus for 2 minutes and how good He is. Whatever you choose to do, do something! Get up and get moving! How sad is it for christians that won’t do any spiritual activities with Jesus during the week? Their so-called relationship with God is relegated to a liturgy they sit through so they can get a feel-good check mark for being a “good church-going person.” But that’s just not good enough. At least, it’s not good enough if you want to grow with the Lord, grow in your faith, and grow in your maturity; you’ve got to actually do something! You’ve got to get out of Galilee where it’s comfortable and get on the road to Bethlehem. Now, to bring some balance here; I'm not saying that going to church once a week is bad; obviously that’s a very, very good thing and it’s very important. It’s better to be built up and fed once a week than not at all. And gathering together with other believers is an hugely important spiritual discipline; it matters a lot. Corporate gatherings play a major role for people following God in both the Old and New Testaments and breakthrough, and healing, and other miracles happen when God’s people come together and become the body. Sunday is my favorite day of the week because I get to see God move and I get to see each one of you. But coming to church consistently is crucial to our walk with Jesus as a spiritual discipline; it’s one of the baseline disciplines. If you’re trying to pick something to do spiritually, and you haven’t developed this discipline yet, please start with this one because you’ll see growth. And ultimately, what I’m talking about has to do with holistically bringing Jesus into your moments. It has to do with choosing to do something each day that invites God into your life. Disciplines of Christmas | 4 When you invite Jesus into your moments, then He can bring His kingdom to where you are and He can bring His will to bear in your work, in your family, and in your heart regardless of whether or not it’s sunday or you’re around other believers. And for that to happen, we need to practice; we need to put some effort into spiritual disciplines; we've gotta get out of Galilee where it’s comfortable and get on the road to Bethlehem, the road to where Jesus is. Many of you know this, but Bethlehem means “house of bread.” It’s so cool that God planned out exactly where the Savior would be born. You need spiritual food, and I’ll give it to you. It will come from the house of bread; here, I’ll name the town ‘house of bread’ so you won’t miss it when the Messiah comes. They still missed it; but the point is that Jesus is the bread of life, and He was born in Bethlehem. John 6:35 NKJV And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” Jesus is our bread, our food, our life. If you want to eat spiritually, if you want to have strength to make it through this life you need to get up and go to where the food is. But sadly, there are a lot of people who just don’t want to make the journey. It could be laziness, it could be unbelief, or just plain apathy. Right after Jesus talks about Himself as bread He says that many won’t believe Him. John 6:36 NKJV “But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.” Again, don’t just settle for seeing Jesus in church, don’t just settle for the sunday-morning feel-goods and then call it enough. You can stop there in your walk with Christ, but you won’t be able to move into the fullness of dynamism and power that is the manifest life of Jesus Christ flowing in you and through you! G.K. Chesteron said, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” Disciplines of Christmas | 5 In other words if you do choose to get up and move forward towards Jesus each day, towards the house of bread, towards Bethlehem, it may be hard. That's true. But no one who has actually tried pursuing Jesus hardcore day in and day out with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength will tell you it doesn’t work or that it’s a lifestyle lacking joy, peace, grace, purpose or fulfillment. I want to go back to Luke 2:4. I love the word the Bible uses when it says Joseph ‘went up’ to Bethlehem. Luke 2:4 NKJV Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David.” The word means to ‘go up,’ to ‘come up,’ to ‘climb up,’ to ascend,’ to ‘spring up,’ to ‘grow up,’ and to “rise up.” God is telling us, that if we want to meet Jesus, to ‘get up there’ into the spiritual realms with Jesus! That is where Jesus lives, by the way. He is seated at the right hand of the Father now that He has ascended, or ‘gone up’ to heaven. Mark 16:19 NKJV “ So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.” Set your eyes on Him and meet Jesus there - get up there with Him so you won’t have your gaze set on all of the garbage that's on fire around us. Now, when I say ‘go up in the spiritual realm,’ I am talking about moving into some of the spiritual disciplines and placing your heart and your thoughts on Jesus so you can interact with Him as a person would speak to their friend. This word “went up” is used about Jesus a lot, especially when He went to go meet with His Father, or when He went to go pray. Matthew 14:23 NKJV “And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.” Jesus went up to meet with His Father; He was moving into two spiritual disciplines here; prayer and solitude. Disciplines of Christmas | 6 I’m not going to talk much about prayer and solitude today, but my point is that God wants us to “go up there” to where He is, in the spiritual realm so that we can meet with Him. And to do that, we first have to get started; we have to be intentional to do something spiritual, and second we have to focus our eyes on Jesus. To illustrate this a little, in Revelation we have a physical picture of this happening. God has two witnesses on the earth and they’re killed. And then God brings them back to life and calls them to come up to heaven. Revelation 11:11-13 NKJV “Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. 13 In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven.” In this story, we’re seeing a picture of a spiritual truth; this is how God wants us to be, too. We were formerly dead in our trespasses and sins, the Bible says, but when we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we were brought to spiritual life; we were born anew into the family of God, sons and daughters of the King. And then, God calls us higher, He calls us to get up and go with Him, He calls us to ascend to meet Him through worship, praise, prayer, fasting, solitude, silence, and other spiritual disciplines. As a side note, the term for “went up,” also means to rise up, or to arise. And it’s a glorious picture of true worship from the heart. As praises rise up from our hearts, to our lungs, to our lips, and up and out to God, He hears them and the cloud of His glory begins to fall to bring us unto Himself in Spirit. Psalm 22:3 NKJV “But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel.” Disciplines of Christmas | 7 Now, this ‘rising up’ is also illustrated in worship because as we stand to our feet, we literally ‘rise up’ in praise, in warfare, and in a physical posture before God so He receives the honor and weight we give Him. Then He brings His will to bear in our circumstances and situations. Psalm 135:1-2 NKJV “Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord; Praise Him, O you servants of the Lord! 2 You who stand in the house of the Lord, In the courts of the house of our God.” ‘Rising up’ in worship also has to do with our hands; as we “rise up” or raise our hands to God in dependence upon Him, waiting to receive His strength, grace, and provision, as we raise our hands in thanksgiving for what He’s done and for who He is, and as we raise them to reach out and reach up to Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes. Jesus makes Himself manifest, or known, among us and begins to touch people, to meet needs, to answer prayers, to heal the sick, bind up the brokenhearted, and set the captives free! Psalm 63:3-4 NKJV “Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You. 4 Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.” But my point is that praise and worship are spiritual disciplines we can walk in, that we can grow in as we continue our journey towards the Savior in Bethlehem, towards Jesus, the bread of life. And just showing up, just jumping into spiritual disciplines and choosing to participate will work wonders in our spiritual lives. You see, we’re only transformed by the choices we make and the actions we take day by day. That’s what disciplining ourselves means, training ourselves to walk like Jesus walked. In other words, grace and dependency alone won’t transform us. Growth in spiritual disciplines is what molds us, shapes us, and grows us into the person God created us to be. As we grow in spiritual disciplines, we’ll grow in dependence on God, too.4 4 Willard, Dallas. The Spirit of the Disciplines, P92. HarperCollins, 1990. Disciplines of Christmas | 8 In other words, the disciplines actually teach us how to “let go and let God '' in our daily lives. I think that phrase often gets overused and used in the wrong context; but really the whole of our spiritual journey is learning how to let go of our old, sinful, prideful human nature and let God guide us in His pathways. I love Dallas Willard’s definition of spiritual disciplines; he says they are really “nothing more than the love of Jesus, with the resolute will to be like Him who we love.”5 And love has a lot of action to go along with it. Now, it doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t love without action - but for love to be love at all it has to be made manifest, or it has to be brought into existence by action. You all know this one. God loved us, so He did something. John 3:16 NKJV “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” God loved, so He gave. Love is the key, right? John 13:35 NLT “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” You can tell if a person is a real follower of Jesus by their love. But giving is also the key then, because giving is love in action. Jack Hayford outlines this in his book The Key to Everything, and says: Learning and applying the key to everything (giving) involves the growing of a heart attitude which gives the right thing at the right time in the right way and for the right reasons. This kind of giving takes many forms: there are times to give up, not in resignation or in abandonment to despair, but in a surrender of self-righteousness. There are times to forgive; to release what otherwise could be held as a grudge of bitterness, anger, pain, or stress over either real or perceived injustice. There are times to give over; to place our circumstances and situations into the hands of the Creator-Judge of the universe because He’s the only one who can 5 Willard, Dallas. The Spirit of the Disciplines, Pxii. HarperCollins, 1990. Disciplines of Christmas | 9 handle it in His perfect might and perfect justice. There are times to give to; that means we’re generous with our resources towards a person or group we’re called to give to. There are times to give in to simple obedience because God has shown us patterns to follow so we can be released from self-centeredness, survival mindset, or self-protecting fear. And finally, there are times to give wisely because we understand the reciprocal laws of God which promise a great, bountiful return if we give. And that return is His way of making it possible for us to learn how to give over and over and over again. To make that a little simpler; giving is key; giving of our time, our talent, and our treasure. Showing to church as a spiritual discipline has to do with giving of our time; serving people in various ways as we are gifted has to do with giving of our talents, and giving of tithes and offerings has to with giving of our treasure. Tithing is a huge spiritual discipline that’s very important. Nothing shows where a person’s priorities are better than where their money goes. If you’ve ever watched detective shows, I feel like you always hear some phrase to find the criminal about “following the money.” It’s true though, in our lives too. Look at what you do with your money and you’ll see how much you’re committed to following Jesus. That may sound blunt, but it’s blunt and almost crazy how much Jesus talks about money. He discussed the topic of money more often than He spoke of faith and prayer combined. Think about that for a second. He talked about money more than he talked about faith and prayer combined! Jesus typically taught in parables—and 11 of His 40 parables were either about money or He was talking about money as a way to teach us spiritual truths. That’s almost 30% of His parables.That’s a lot! So tithing, the giving of our firstfruits is a very very important spiritual discipline! Disciplines of Christmas | 10 And so the key to everything is actually giving; that’s what we’re talking about. And giving that is born from love of God and that flows out of us in God’s way, is never in a way we’re most afraid of, or in a way that brings us fear and anxiety. Our fears would say that giving means we’re left with less, and if we give everything, we’ll be left with nothing. But that’s both the demonic and the sin nature talking.6 Jesus says not to be afraid to give everything we are to Him and for Him! Don’t be afraid to pursue Him with all that you are! You won’t be left with nothing, as the enemy would have you believe. In fact, if you give Jesus everything, you’ll receive everything you could ever dream of, only it won’t be tainted by the flesh, by sin, or by this fallen world. I want you, for a second to just imagine Jesus putting His arm around you, speaking softly and sweetly, and saying to you today that you don’t have to be afraid to love. You don’t have to be afraid to give, and you don’t have to be afraid to walk His pathways. Jesus Himself whispers to you in His strong, comforting, loving voice; Luke 12:32 NKJV “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” God loves you! And it makes His heart happy to give you good things. You see, He loved, and so He gave. And He demonstrates His love for us by giving us the opportunity to be with Jesus, right now, whenever we want to! And we just need to discipline ourselves to be with Him! That’s the discipline of Christmas; its the journey to be where He is! Will you get up and walk to Bethlehem to see the King? Will you make the trek when it’s cold, when it’s difficult, when it’s lonely. Will you make the daily choice to move towards the God who came all the way down from heaven to earth to be with you and me? 6 Hayford, Jack W. The Key to Everything P29-30. Creation House, 1993. Disciplines of Christmas | 11 Let’s finish the story. Luke 2:8-21 NKJV Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” 15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. 17 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. 18 And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them. 21 And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the Child, His name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. If you’ll notice, the story ends with worship. Yes, worship is a spiritual discipline, but it’s also the end goal. If you go to Bethlehem to the house of bread to see Jesus, the bread of life, you will look in God’s face with joy and gladness, not with bitter shame, wrath, or bitterness. Disciplines of Christmas | 12 The angels at the beginning of the Christmas story sing glory to God in the highest, and in revelation, at the end, they sing holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty. Revelation 4:8 NKJV “The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” And it won’t just be shepherds and angels giving God glory; it will be everyone. Revelation 15:4 NKJV Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, For Your judgments have been manifested.” Let’s pray. Jesus, manifest Your presence among us! We glorify Your most Holy Name! We honor You, we fear You, we give You the weight of honor You deserve in this place today. We say that You are holy, You are mighty, You are glorious and worthy of praise. We know that who you call, you equip for the journey and strengthen. So I ask today that you would pour out your mercy and grace! Pour out Your love and kindness, pour out Your power, Your care, and Your goodness on us, right now, in Jesus Name! Holy Spirit fill this place, fill our hearts, and fill our hands so that we can go and grow in knowing You intimately. Fill us up so we can give as You have given to us, not in fear and doubt but in joyful generosity of heart. Help us be more disciplined in areas of our lives that will draw us closer to You, and bring forth Your fruit of the Spirit in us, even as Mary brought You forth as the fruit of her womb. We give you glory, Lord Jesus Christ, and we ask that You would honor Your own Name in majesty, power, and might. We love You Lord! In Jesus Name, amen! Disciplines of Christmas | 13