Saturday, December 14, 2013
121113: Unwrapping Christmas #2 -- The Gift
Message: Unwrapping Christmas #2
I.
Introduction
a.
A gift holds
endless possibilities until you open it and find out what is actually
inside. Sometimes you are excited by
what you find, sometimes disappointed, but you don’t know what is in it until
you open it up.
II.
Body
a.
Last Week we
talked about the wrapping paper and today we are going to talk about the gift
of Christmas, so let’s look back at the portion of scripture we read last week. In it there are a group of shepherds in a
field when angels show up and tell them to go into town (Bethlehem) to see a
gift.
a.
Read Luke 2:15-20
– “When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to
one another, ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which
the Lord has told us about.’ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and
the baby, who was lying in the manger.
When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been
told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the
shepherds said to them. But Mary
treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and
praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as
they had been told.”
b.
They see and find
a baby…and are excited about it.
Why? What use is a baby?
b.
Illus: Practical
Gift Givers…the Ladder
a.
Sometimes the
gift you get isn’t what you expected or what you wished for but it is exactly
what you need most.
c.
Israel
a.
During this time
the nation of Israel had been taken over by The Romans. They were oppressed, taxed, put under a king
from Edom, and ridiculed for being backwards and weird.
b.
More than
anything they were wishing for a person to save them and give them freedom from
Rome. Someone powerful, someone strong,
someone that could rescue them.
c.
But sometimes the
gift you wish for isn’t exactly what you need most.
d.
What they got was
what they needed…a baby.
d.
Jesus
a.
It wasn’t a baby
they needed, not any baby, but this baby because of who he was and what he would
do.
b.
Read Luke 2:8-14
– “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over
their flocks at night. An angel of the
Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were
terrified. But the angel said to them,
‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news
of great joy that will be for all the people.
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ
the Lord. This will be a sign to
you: You will find a baby wrapped in
cloths and lying in a manger.’ Suddenly
a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and
saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his
favor rests.’
i.
This baby would:
a.
Bring Good News
i.
When we get good
news it brings about hope, hope that things will get better. That Jesus would come to this world gives us
hope that things will get better.
b.
Bring Great Joy
i.
The word means an
inner feeling of gladness. It has the
same root as the word used for Grace, which is getting what we don’t
deserve. In this case we are glad, not
just jumping up and down glad, but a deep down satisfaction because God would
give us something we don’t deserve, himself.
c.
Be for All People
i.
It wasn’t just
for Israel or for that time, but for us all…Jesus came for you personally, he
knew you would be born some day and you would need forgiveness and love, so he
came.
d.
Be a Savior,
Christ, and Lord
i.
He came to save
us and lead us. That salvation would
come to completion 33 years later in his life, when he would choose to die for
humanity. We are all messed up and dirty
and because of that we are separated from God who is perfect. We needed someone to take our place, and Jesus
was willing to take our sin upon Himself so that we wouldn’t have to continue
to be separated from God.
ii.
Our baby would
grow and become our savior, and if we choose we can accept that forgiveness and
make him our Lord, God, master
e.
Would Bring Peace
i.
This peace wasn’t
an end of Roman rulership but a peace and freedom from sin, so we could have
peace with God.
III.
Conclusion
a.
Jesus might not
be what you wished for or where expecting for Christmas, but He is what you
need the most.
b.
Gifts can be
accepted or rejected though, and it is up to you whether you will accept the
gift of Jesus
c.
So I want to ask
you tonight, do you want to accept the gift of Jesus tonight? Do you want to make Jesus your Savior, your
Christ, and your Lord?
Friday, December 6, 2013
120413: Unwrapping Christmas #1 -- The Gift Wrap
Unwrapping Christmas #1
I.
Introduction
a.
Well
Christmas is almost upon us, and we are surrounded during this month with all
kinds of things to remind us of it…lights, trees, wreaths, holly, candy canes,
stockings, mistletoe, poinsettia, nativity scenes, and pictures of Santa
b.
During
this time of year it is easy to lose focus on the things that don’t really
matter, completely forgetting why we are doing those things in the first place.
c.
It is
like we have a gift that is wrapped beautifully, it has glossy wrapping paper,
and ribbons. And all we do is keep the
gift wrapped, without ever opening it.
We just stare and stare but forget that there is a gift, far superior to
the wrapping paper, inside that is ready for us to enjoy. But instead we just focus on the outside,
without getting to the center.
d.
Tonight
I want to indulge in the wrapping paper a little bit, I want to see why we do
some of our Christmas traditions and see a quick glimpse of the gift they are
wrapping up for us.
II.
Body
a.
December
25th
a.
The
early church celebrated January 6th calling it the Feast of the
Epiphany, which was a time to remember the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist
as well as the visit of the Magi to the young child Jesus.
b.
During
this time there were also many pagan celebrations going on around the 25th
of December.
i.
Most of
them were in celebration of the winter solstice (the shortest day of the
year). The sun was celebrated as being
reborn.
ii.
The
Roman festival of Saturnalia (celebrating the Titian Cronos) was during this
time as well, celebrating the return of the God of Harvest. (again a rebirth being celebrated).
c.
Christians
decided to take over the celebrations and repurpose them to direct people to
the one true God. They took the
symbolism of light being returned to the world and used it for their own
purposes.
d.
More
than likely the birth of Jesus was between March and May, not during the
winter.
b.
Santa
Claus
a.
Over
time the celebration of Jesus’ birth (celebrated by going to church) got
blended with another holiday (Saint Nicholas’ day). On that day children would typically get
gifts.
b.
So who
was Saint Nick? Nicholas lived in Turkey
in the 300’s. His parents ended up
dying, leaving him with a fortune. After
some time of travelling he ended up in the Holy Land (Israel) where he had a
life changing experience and devoted his life to Christ.
c.
After
returning to his home town of Myrna he became known for his generosity.
d.
During
one period of time there were 3 daughters of a man who had no dowry, thus they
could not get married, and most that couldn’t’ get married would end up in
slavery or prostitution.
e.
Nicholas
heard of the problem and snuck to their house at night, putting in 3 bags of
money for their dowry.
f.
It is
legend that he placed them in their stockings which were hung up to dry that
night (thus our use of stockings hung on the chimney…with care)
g.
Over
time he became merged with other traditions of jolly elves and men who
travelled with reindeer, or went down chimneys, or gave presents, or gave coal,
or worked with elves, or wore red, or had a beard, or said ho ho ho.
h.
The
giving of gifts was to help us remember the gift that God gave us, his Son, so
that we could have eternal life with him.
c.
Candy
Canes
a.
In 1670
a priest started handing out candy canes to keep kids quiet during the
Christmas mass.
b.
Now we
have lots of traditions why it looks the way it looks
i.
White
shows Jesus’ purity
ii.
Red
shows the blood he shed
iii.
3 fine stripes
of red remind of the trinity
iv.
The
shape looks both like a shepherd’s staff (Jesus is our shepherd), and the
letter J for Jesus
v.
The
flavor is peppermint, related to the hyssop plant used for purification and
sacrifice
vi.
It is
made out of hard candy because Jesus is our rock
d.
Plants
a.
Poinsettia
i.
In the
1500’s a little girl in Mexico was too poor to give a gift for the Christ child
on the altar on Christmas Eve.
ii.
She
ended up gathering some weeds form the side of the road putting them on the
altar, the weeds bloomed into Poinsettia.
iii.
The
flower was known as Flores de Noche Buena (flowers of the holy night). The red representing the blood He would spill
and the star shape to remind of the star that led the wisemen to Jesus
b.
Holly
i.
This was
a plant used by druids for the celebration of the solstice, but Christians
again repurposed them to represent something new.
ii.
The
pointed leaves represent the crown and thorns and the red berries represent the
blood on the cross
c.
Trees
(lights)
i.
In the
700’s a man named Boniface went to Germany to share the gospel converting
many. He left and came back years later
to find them still celebrating a pagan holiday in which they would sacrifice a
young man under an oak tree called “Odin’s tree”. He inturrpted the service by chopping down
the oak. The people were stunned.
ii.
Later he
arrived back at the oak and they found a fir tree growing from it. He used it explain the trinity to those who
were there. He told them to “let Christ
be at the center of your households.” So
they took them inside, hanging them upside down so as to help with the trinity
teaching.
iii.
The
evergreen represented everlasting life as well.
iv.
Over
time they started putting them right side up.
During the 1400’s the tree became a representation of the Paradise Tree
(garden of Eden). They were decorated
with apples (fruit of the tree of good and deal) and white wafers (to remind of
communion and those Jesus’ death). They
would do a play about the fall of man and end it with a prophecy of the Savior
to come.
v.
Over time the decorations became cookies of different shapes and then
ornaments.
vi.
Lights were introduced by Martin Luther in the 1500’s (originally
candles). He put them on to show his
kids the beauty of the stars of God’s creation.
A star was added on the top as a remembrance of the star of Bethlehem.
vii.
Eventually these lights also took on the meaning of Jesus being the
light of the world. (and stopped being such a fire hazard)
III.
Conclusion
a. So…I know a lot of this seems like…well history
class. But I wanted to show you
something really important tonight…the stuff we do at Christmas isn’t about the
stuff but about the one the stuff is supposed to point us to (the gift inside
the wrapping paper)
b. Read Luke 2:6-15 – “While they were there,
the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a
son. She wrapped him cloths and placed
him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were shepherds living out in the fields
nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel said to them, ‘Do not be
afraid. I bring you good news of great
joy that will be for all the people.
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ
the Lord. This will be a sign to
you: You will find a baby wrapped in
cloths and lying in a manger.’ Suddenly
a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and
saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his
favor rests.’ When the angels had left
them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let’s go to
Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us
about.’”
c. The present to us is Jesus, and that should
be our focus, not the wrappings. So
don’t get so caught up in the other stuff without remember God came to this
earth to save you from your sins, because he loves you. Let’s take a moment and thank God for that
gift. And make it a point every day over
the next 21 days to remember that.
d. Pray
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)