What Happens after Christmas

TEXT: Luke 2:20

TOPIC: What Happens After Christmas?

Pastor Bobby Earls, First Baptist Church, Center Point, Alabama

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

For many, the first few days after Christmas can be a difficult time. For some, this “Post-Christmas Blues Syndrome” begins almost immediately after all the gifts have been exchanged. The sight of an empty Christmas tree, seemingly deserted, and the once beautifully wrapped gifts, now shredded and scattered across the living room floor is almost too much to bear! I know, that’s how I often feel.

The excitement that not very long ago seemed to fill the house as Christmas lights were unpacked and unraveled and tested, now turns to dread and disappointment as the Christmas decorations now come down to be packed away for another long year.

But does it really have to be this way? Of course not! At least not for those of us who are Christians. When we realize Christmas is far more than the decorations and the gift-giving, then Christmas can be everyday of the year.

So then, what happens after Christmas? To discover the answer to this question, let us look one last time at the Christmas story of Luke 2. We’ll not read the entire passage again. Instead, remember the setting. (Recall the story of Luke 2:1-19, then read verse 20).

20Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

The shepherds had to leave the first Christmas scene yet they did not leave disappointed. Instead, they returned, “glorifying and praising God.”

I. AFTER CHRISTMAS, THERE SHOULD BE PRAISING AND WORSHIP, Luke 2:20

A. Praise and Worship to God for the things we have heard, Luke 2:10-11

B. Praise and Worship to God for the things we have seen, Luke 2:9, 12-13; 15-16

II. AFTER CHRISTMAS, THERE SHOULD BE PROCLAIMING AND WITNESSING, Luke 2:17-18

A. Proclaiming and Witnessing of our own wonderful experiences,

B. Proclaiming and Witnessing of our own wonderful, eternal Savior,