The Grinch
Notes
Transcript
# 2019-12-15 Sermon - Xmas 2019: The Grinch
> Can you believe it? Only 10 days until Christmas!
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> I wonder how that makes you feel?
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> For some, it might cause blind panic as you think about
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> all you have left to do
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> If you're like me then counting down the days
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> builds the excitement for the big day
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> For others, the thought that Christmas is only 10 days away
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> causes an inner groan, a huff, maybe even an eye roll or two.
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> I think we all know by now how the Grinch would feel
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> about a Christmas countdown.
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> Earlier heard how
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> _Every Who down in Whooville love Christmas alot..._
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> _But the grinch who lived just north of Whoville did not._
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> You can imagine that ten days before Christmas the Whos
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> would be busy putting up their Christmas trees, lights, and decorations.
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> Wrapping presents and making snow… whos.
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> Not the Grinch though,
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> He'd be too grumbling, frowning,
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> and eye-rolling at all the whos Christmas plans.
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> Eventually it all gets too much for the sour old Grinch
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> and on Christmas eve he decides
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> to put an end to Christmas once and for all.
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> But he's the thing.
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> Have you noticed that the Grinch decides to steal Christmas,
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> even though he doesn't really understand what Christmas even is?
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> Did you noticed that when the Adventurers were acting it out for us?
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> In fact, I'd go as far to say that the Grinch
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> has never once looked into the reason
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> the whos are so excited every Christmas season.
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> It's obvious when you think about it,
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> the Grinch thinks he can steal Christmas by stealing
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> all the trappings of Christmas.
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> Food, presents, tinsel, tree - nothing wrong with them.
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> But, if the Grinch _really_ knew anything about Christmas
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> he would know that this is about as effective as trying
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> stop Christmas dinner by stealing the roast potatoes.
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> BUt when, from the top of Mount Crumpet, the Grinch
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> finally sees Christmas at Whoville for all it really is
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> Well, the joy of the celebrating whos is magnetic,
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> It draws the Grinch in and his life is transformed forever!
---
In today's Bible Reading from Luke chapter 2,
we heard about another group of people
whose lives were changed at Christmas.
2000 years ago on a hill outside of Bethlehem
some Shepherds were about to attend history's
first-ever surprise Christmas party.
There they are, a bunch of ordinary, working-class blokes,
minding their own business when all of a sudden an Angel
appears out of nowhere and scares them half to death.
Its an understandable reaction,
In the bible, angels are not chubby little babies with wings
They're members of the heavenly army sent
to dish out God's perfect justice
No wonder the angel told them not to be afraid,
the poor shepherds probably thought they were done for
But instead of Justice,
the angel brings a message of peace and joy and celebration.
You see the angel brings the news that a baby has been born.
The baby that is going to change history forever!
Just listen to the way, the angel describes this baby in Luke 2:11:
_Today in the town of a David a saviour has been born to you, he is Christ, the Lord._
The angel tells us three things about this baby:
he's the saviour,
he's the Christ,
and he's the lord.
Let's pause here and think about just one of those words...
**Saviour**
> someone once said that if what we needed most
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> was was government change, God would have sent a politician
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> If what we need most was information,
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> God would have sent a teacher or scientist
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> But what we needed most was to be saved,
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> so God sent a saviour...
If we need a saviour,
then there must be something we need saving from... right?
Personally, I think it is fairly obvious
that there is something truly broken about our world.
And I don't just mean climate change.
There is something wrong with us.
Humans are capable of the most amazing acts of kindness and compassion
And yet we are also endlessly inventive in the way we hurt,
manipulate, hate, and harm one another
With our words as well as our actions.
You don't need me to tell you that,
We all know it is true.
The bible calls this 'brokenness',
the thing that's we need saving from 'sin',
And it is self-inflicted.
At its root, it is an attitude we have long before it is an action we take.
It is the refusal to find our place in God's story,
to play the part he has for us,
and live and act towards others in the way he intends.
Instead, we rebel against him,
using the gifts and resources he's given us to forge our own story,
to be the main character in our own movie,
the master of our own destiny.
At this point,
many of us simply write God out for our the plotline of our lives
Others keep him around
so long as he says the lines we've written for him.
What none of us do is let him take centre stage as he deserves.
And so we live sinful lives separated from God in the present,
and face eternal separation from him when this life is over.
But the good news of great joy
that the angel brings to the shepherds all those years ago
is that it doesn't need to be this way anymore
God has sent a saviour.
God has sent something who would and would
bridge the gap between us and God.
Someone who could rewrite how our story ends.
The Lord Jesus was born a baby in a manger,
but died 30 years later on a cross to take away our sin,
to take the punishment we deserve for our rejection of God.
And he rose from the dead to open the way for us,
so that we could find our true place in God's story
to live the life of meaning, purpose, and joy that God always intended for us.
A life marked by friendship with him forever.
It is an incredible message that the angel brings.
And you might be wondering, "yeah, well how can we be sure that this is true?"
Well, I wonder if the shepherds were thinking that too,
because the very next thing the angel does is give them a 'sign',
evidence to look for, to prove that this is true.
in v12, the Angel says to the shepherds:
_"This will be a sign to you, you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger"_
Thankfully, the shepherds are not like the Grinch,
they didn't write off Jesus' birth without looking into it for themselves first.
And so they say to each other in v15,
_"let's go to Bethlehem to see this thing that has happened that the Lord has told us about."_
Did you catch that, it's important
They are going to Bethlehem to investigate the evidence for themselves
And what they find fills them with joy and wonder...
in v17 we read that having seen the baby
they go throughout the area amazing everyone
with what they had seen with their own eyes.
They look into the evidence about Jesus
and the truth they discover changes the plotline of their lives forever.
---
So what about you?
Counting down to the big day, December 25
We may not be a sour as the Grinch on Christmas eve.
Maybe we're more excited than a Who after their fifteenth candy cane!
However, we feel about Christmas
it is worth asking some honest questions,
Is there a danger we're more like the grinch than we first thought?
Is there are a chance that we've overlooked
what lies at the heart of Christmas, the Lord Jesus?
Are we at risk of writing off the true meaning of Christmas
before I've had a chance to examine it for myself?
and most of all,
are we willing to be open-minded, to look into the evidence,
and find out the truth about Jesus for ourselves?
If we are, then like the shepherds, and like the Grinch,
we may find that discovering what Christmas is about,
has the power to transform your life forever!
That rather than being the main character in a story
destined to end badly,
You could instead trust in Jesus as your saviour,
and a supporting role in the story of God.
The part you were born to play.
Let's pray.