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Thankful...Even for Christmas? A wife had invited some people to a rather lavish Christmas dinner at the family’s home. At the table, she turned to the couple’s six year old daughter and said, “Would you like to say the blessing?” “I wouldn’t know what to say,” whispered the little girl. “Oh, just say what you hear Mommy say,” the wife answered. So, the little girl bowed her head and said, “Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?” I think, as Christmas 2002 gets closer and closer, we all can identify, at least a little bit, with this mother’s frustration. Recently, I preached on 1 Thessalonians 5 and giving thanks IN everything, but in the midst of all of the hectic preparations, is it possible to be thankful, even for Christmas? Recently, I read about a mental hospital that had a very unique test to determine whether or not patients were ready to get back into the harried and fast-paced world around them. They would bring the patient into a room with an overflowing sink—the faucet was on, and water was rapidly pouring all over the floor. The patient was then handed a mop and bucket and asked to clean up the mess. If he or she had the presence of mind to first turn off the water before starting to mop up, the doctors concluded that the person was ready to get back into society. But if the patient frantically mopped the water while the faucet continued to cause the problem, it was determined that more treatment was needed. So many today go through Christmas mopping furiously, while the source of the hectic rat-race is allowed to continue. You see, normally throughout our lives, we have no problem with making preparations. For a medical examination, we may need to drink a liquid that will cleanse our bodies, and we do it. We may need to refrain from eating in order to ensure an accurate blood level reading, and we do it. When we have visitors, we clean our homes and prepare our favorite recipes, so our guests will enjoy their visit—and we do it, hopefully with a better attitude than the mother I already mentioned. We spend weeks-on-end preparing for a wedding because we want the best for our families and friends. When we want to get ready, we think nothing of the work involved in the preparation. When its what we want; what we think is important, the focus is on us and that is self, the source of so much helter-skelter AND ignoring of the Lord. Well, there is an event about to happen for which we must be prepared. I’m not referring to the shopping, wrapping, decorating, and entertaining for the holiday season. No, I’m speaking of what Christmas is really all about, and unless we prepare for it, we will miss God’s heart. In his book, “A Journey with the Saints,” Thomas Kepler writes, “The secret…of the saints lies in the fact that their lives are centered in God. They never seem hurried…they defer even the smallest of things to God. They live in God.” Such is the focus of true preparation for Christmas—to center our lives in God, and let everything else fall into place. Easier said than done, right? Well, why don’t we spend a few minutes looking at how God Himself prepared for the very first Christmas? You see, if He is living in us and we are living in Him, we will prepare in the same way. Not very long after people were put on this planet, they rebelled against God and demanded their own way. Did God get all anxious and bent out of shape? No, of course not—He had it all figured out from even before the beginning of time. Referring directly to Satan himself, God immediately said, “…I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15) Yes, the day was coming when Someone special would utterly defeat Satan and the sin he encourages people to commit. No committees, no taskforces, no emergency conference calls amongst the Trinity—God was already prepared. As time rolled on, the people of God needed to see who this coming Someone Special was. So Moses, Gideon, King David, and so many others, were brought onto the scene to be physical pictures of a very special spiritual reality—“…God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3: 16) They were all pictures of this Christ—deliverers, if you will, sent by God, throughout all of time, to set the people of God free—even from sin. Finally, in the days of the prophets, God got very specific—Isaiah, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote, “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” (40: 3-5) There would be no more death in the desert; no more meandering through the dryness of sin; no more ups and downs—committing ourselves on the mountain top to be obedient to the Lord, and then, falling into the ravines of disobedience. The time was coming close, and God’s preparations needed to be made known—God already knew them; now, so would we! How would we know? The voice! Oh, it wasn’t the voice of the Messiah Himself, but of another—a forerunner, so to speak—one who would point the way. Luke, in his Christmas story, mentions him even before he speaks of Jesus. And why not? The Old Testament had ended with these words: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” (Malachi 4:5) Jesus would even make the identification of this spirit of Elijah very clear—none other than John the Baptist. (see Matthew 11) But before John could be that voice, he would need to be born—and only a few months before Jesus Himself. One day, while the elderly priest Zechariah was performing his duties in the temple, the angel Gabriel appeared to him and explained how he, and his elderly wife Elizabeth, were going to have a baby—and his name would be John. He also said, “And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.” (1:14) Why? Because, “many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.” (vs. 16) But Zechariah didn’t believe the good news, so he was struck dumb until the child’s birth. At that awesome time, when their relatives wanted to name the baby Zechariah, Jr., both parents declared boldly that the child’s name is John. Why? Simply because his name would tell the story as well. In the Greek, it means, “Favored by the Lord.” And that he would be, for he would be obedient to the call to proclaim the truth of the Lord and point to the true Savior. That very day, as the child was given his name, Zechariah, filled with the Holy Spirit, burst out into praise and worship: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His people, And hath raised up a horn of salvation…for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways.” (vss. 68, 69a, 76b) But how? “To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins…and to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (vss. 77,79) Yes, it was John’s call, but it is also how we will be prepared—one and all called to repentance, hating sin, standing against it, and being free from it. This is actually the definition of “remission,” and it can only happen as we recognize the darkness of our sin, come out of it, and choose to live in His Light. Just a few miles away from Zechariah’s home, lies the little town of Bethlehem. Back before the days of sieges and tanks, a tourist was visiting during the Christmas season. An elderly native of Bethlehem came up to him and asked, “Are you an American?” “Yes,” was his quick reply. “Are you a Christian?” the man proceeded to ask. The tourist answered, “Why, yes, I am.” The old man took the visitor’s hand, and said smiling, “Welcome home!” All of God’s immense preparations were intended to do just that—welcome us home, out of a world of sin and self, and into a realm of trust, peace, and commitment to the Lord. Yes, you can be thankful for even Christmas—IF you prepare for it the way God did—defer everything to Him, live in Him and let Him live in you—and all out of love! Copyright (c)
2005 Christ Our Rock Bible Church. |
