A0353_So This Is Christmas
Date: 23rd December 2007 (Sunday PM) Ref: A0353
Place: Kambah Adventure Playground
Title: The Reason
Text: & Luke 2:1-7
Illust: It is estimated that $7000 per minute will be spent in a last minute Christmas shopping frenzy at Melbourne’s Chadstone shopping centre – People complaining about the money being spent the stress of Christmas shopping, of trying to accommodate all the relo’s. ….- So this is Christmas!.
I. Merry Christmas
i. Happy Holidays! / Season Greetings! ~ Drinking / eating / presents / holidays
ii. Let’s face it this is one big commercialised social event – Merry Christmas !!!
iii. And then we contemplate the even darker side, the additional stress placed on families and individuals at this time:
Traditionally when companies “consolidate” – make people redundant – going into Christmas without a job.
The January morning after credit card headache – How are we going to pay this off????
Families breaking under the financial / relationship pressures – shattering
Alcohol & testosterone fuelled violence / destruction & tragedy – saw a young man throw a bottle at a bus. – Why would you do such a thing – Where is your head at.
Then we have interest rate rises looming & the pressure that would put on the mortgage repayments / Stock market jitters.
iv. In some places workers are forbidden from saying Merry Christmas to customers, they have to say “Happy Holidays” - For fear of offending anyone. – Even Santa & Christmas trees are getting the chop.
Seattle airport pulls down its Christmas trees in response to a complaint by a rabbi.
v. Actually anything but a Merry Christmas for many.
II. Christmas Gifts
i. Christmas is about giving, about the giving of a gift, even Santa Clause, St Nicholas is based on historical giving
ii. The Wise men brought kingly gifts & laid them before a small child lying in a animal feed trough sheltering in a cave with the stock. – Precious gifts – Gold, Incense & Myrrh
Matthew 2:9-11 9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. (NKJV)
iii. They were rejoicing and offered precious gifts. ~ At Christmas we celebrate the most precious gift of Christmas time ever given.
John 3:16 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. (NKJV)
iv. Jesus Christ the saviour of the world, born to die on the cross. He is the most precious gift ever given. - A free gift, if you will just believe in Him.
v. Jesus is the Reason for the season.
III. Christmas Greeting
i. Jesus said;
Mark 16:15 “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. (NKJV)
ii. This coming year as we speak to our friends, our relatives, our work colleagues, we need to make every day a Christmas day of bringing a gift, proclaiming the free gift of salvation to this lost & dying world.
iii. The only way the true meaning of Christmas is going to be maintained is when there is a revival in the hearts of men & women to acknowledge their need & to claim the free gift.
iv. Pray for a Holy Ghost revival, pray for conviction of sin, for the Supernatural.
v. I will conclude with the words of martial arts legend, TV & movie actor Chuck Norris.
Some might call me old-fashioned, but I still believe in a white Christmas, chestnuts roasting on an open fire, and family and friends giving thanks to God. Most of all, I still believe what mom taught me: the heart of Christmas is found in a stable not in a store.
vi. Merry Christmas