Tuesday, December 05, 2006
How to Celebrate Jesus' Birthday
(Matthew 2:1-12)
by Rev. Stephen Price
Introduction:
If Jesus really is the Prince of Peace, as the Bible says, then why is it that his birthday is so stressful?
Well, there are probably many answers to this question, but one answer is that his birthday presents the ultimate time management nightmare.
Think about it. With most people’s birthdays you just have to buy one person a gift, and then attend or host one party. This can all be done in a day.
With Jesus’ birthday, you have to buy everyone under the sun a gift or send them a card. You also have to attend or host many events or parties. You end up buying things for people out of obligation and spending time with people out of obligation. You know, if some relative or person you never even see or talk to all year sends you a card or gift, you feel like you need to do something for them.
Although it isn’t Jesus’ fault, Christmas can put more unreasonable demands on us that any other birthday or holiday. We pretty much have to set aside a whole season to get everything done, and most of us take time off work to meet the demands of Christmas.
Jesus’ birthday is meant to bring peace. The problem is, we tend to focus on the wrong things.
A few years ago when I lived in Chico, I got very caught up in the holiday rush. I had been busy as the interim pastor of a church and finishing up a semester in my masters degree program. I got a late start buying gifts.
The week before Christmas I tried to shop, but the one little mall that Chico has was packed. I couldn’t find a parking place within a mile. But all of the newspapers, television ads, and street signs were telling me that I needed to hurry up and buy gifts, and counting down the days I had left to shop.
About two days before Christmas, I still had not left Chico to see my family here in Fresno. That’s because I had not yet bought Noel a gift and I didn’t want to show up for the family Christmas empty-handed. I wanted to buy him a watch, but had no idea how I would get anywhere close to the mall due to the crowded parking lots.
Then I got an idea. I knew a family that lived right behind the mall. They had told me that they had a trap door through the fence of their back yard to get across the street to the mall and that they never had to worry about parking during the Christmas rush. Since I was their pastor at the time, I decided to stop by and ask to use their trap door.
After I had totally surprised them with my visit and was ushered through the house and into the back yard, I saw that getting through the trap door was not going to be easy. I ended up having to squeeze through some bushes with stickers that scraped up my arms. Then I had to bend down really low and almost craw through what turned out to be the bottom half of a fence board that could be removed.
As I crawled through the hole in the fence, my foot got caught on the baseboard and I fell into a puddle of mud on the other side. As I laid there in the mud, I had my wake up call about the meaning of Christmas. I could not believe that I had been so brainwashed by the culture and had bought so far into materialism that there I was lying in the mud after having tried to crawl through a neighbor’s trap door to get to the mall, just because I was in a panic over needing to buy gifts by a deadline. And the gifts weren’t even for Jesus.
Right then and there, I realized that to enjoy a sense of peace at Christmas, I would have to change my focus.
To find peace at Christmas, we need to focus on what really matters, which is receiving God’s gift to us – Jesus.
So how do we do that? Why do we want to do that? Let’s take a look at the experience of the first people on record to seek God’s gift to them at Christmas time, a group of pagan astrologers on the year that Jesus was born.
The Bible calls them “Magi” or “Wise Men” from the East. They were actually astrologers, or men who could predict the future by looking at the stars. In the traditional nativity scenes there are only three of these guys, but there were actually more. Three guys looking for Jesus would not have worried Herod. It would have taken a lot more.
So what can we learn from the astrologers about finding God’s peace at Christmas?
First, we must invest time with God
The astrologers took no small journey. Coming from either Babylon, Persia, or Saudi Arabia, they would have spent about two years getting to Bethlehem – one way. Their total time investment in seeing Jesus in person as a baby was about four years. And these were pagan astrologers. How many Christians would give up four years for a chance to see Jesus as a two-year old?
Our human nature wants results without putting in the time. I’d like to be fit without going to the gym every day. I’d like to have more money without spending more time at work. I’d like to have more satisfying relationships, as long as the people just show up when it’s convenient for me. And I’d like be closer to God, but sometimes even 30 minutes seems like too long out of my day to spend focused on God.
Can anyone relate?
To receive God’s gift of peace through Jesus, we won’t do it by just spending time with God hour a week. We have to spend regular time with God.
Second, we have to be willing to leave the familiar behind
Like I said before, these astrologers came to Bethlehem from somewhere in the Far East. This was before cell phones, email, or even mail for that matter. There were no planes to fly back and visit home on weekends. They just took off and left everything, not knowing when they would return, if ever.
Some of us might not be quite like that. Some of us might cling to the familiar a little more than we care to admit. Some of us might tend to resist change.
Change, and leaving the familiar often hurts but it leads to growth. I learned this in Pilates class. My instructor asked us to do some unfamiliar or uncomfortable things with our bodies. My body naturally resisted some of the moves. It would hurt the next day. But in the end, I achieved the results I wanted.
Are we willing to do unfamiliar or uncomfortable things to grow as a Christian?
Are we willing to abandon the familiarity of our lives to know Jesus?
Are we willing to commit our lives to God no matter what God asks us to do?
When we achieve the freedom to do this, we are further on our way to receiving God’s gift of peace through Jesus.
Third, we must give God precious gifts as an act of worship
The astrologers brought costly gifts to Jesus. They worshipped him as a king more significantly than some of the Jews and religious people would later. Later on, a lot of Jesus’ followers would be more selfish, and follow Him around to see what they could get from him. They would follow Him around hoping to see miracles or get food. The astrologers brought valuable gifts and worshipped Jesus when he was only two. They came to give.
When we are young, Christmas is about the gifts we get. We don’t always buy our dads the most valuable gifts at Christmas. In many houses, the dad gets a tie or a bottle of cologne with every kid’s name on it in the house. But as we get older and mature, we are able to give our dads better gifts.
Hopefully, this happens as we mature as Christians. When we are baby Christians, we come to God mainly to get things we need. Most of our prayers are about asking for things for ourselves. That’s okay when we are new Christians.
Later, however, as we mature in faith, we should be able to give God more. We should be able to give God more of ourselves, our time, our abilities, and even our money.
Giving selflessly to God is freeing, and is part of how we receive God’s gift of peace to us through Jesus.
Fourth, we need to recognize and respond to God’s personal invitation
The wise men received and responded to a personal invitation from God in the form of a star. Just as the Jews received God’s invitation through the Hebrew Scriptures.
The point is, that God invites people to receive the gift of Jesus using ways that are relevant to us.
The astrologers saw a star. The Jews read prophecy. If you are a computer programmer, God might send a pop-up or email. If you are a teenager, he might be talking to you on your myspace account.
God loves and invites each of us to draw closer to Him in a personal way. It’s up to us to recognize and respond to God’s invitation in our lives. This is how we receive the gift of peace through Jesus.
Finally, the reason we need to recognize and respond to God’s invitation is so that God can use us for His glory.
The astrologers’ gifts saved Jesus. The gold would have paid for his family’s escape to Egypt. The Frankincense and Myrrh were worth a lot on the Egyptian market. God had a purpose in the astrologer’s gifts, even if they were not aware of it.
Plus, God used the astrologers to save Jesus by telling them in a dream not to go back to Herod. The astrologers understood the dream and obeyed.
God used these astrologers to protect the One who would save us. God used pagan astrologers to His glory and for His purpose.
In the same way, God wants to use us. God wants to do something through your life and through mine. God wants to do something that will not only glorify Him but bring deep meaning and purpose to our lives. Something that will bring great satisfaction and peace.
But first, we must open God’s gift this Christmas.
Like the astrologers, we must invest time with God.
We must be willing to leave the familiar behind.
We must offer ourselves as a gift to God
And we must be ready to respond to God, each in our own personal way.
Will you open God’s gift this Christmas???
Conclusion:
I challenge you to clarify your values about Christmas and decide what is really important.
Imagine yourself looking back on the Christmas season of 2006. How do you want to remember spending it?
Now imagine that you have a rare illness and this will be your last Christmas to live? What would you spend it doing?
Will you receive God’s gift of peace through Jesus Christ this holiday season?
Or will you get caught up in the pagan “Christmas rush,’ just trying to buy gifts and fulfill social obligations by the deadline.
Christmas can be your deadline or it can be your lifeline. It all depends on what you do with God’s gift.
If you open it, you will not only gain peace and a sense of deeper meaning during the holidays and into the New Year, but for the rest of your life.
by Rev. Stephen Price
Introduction:
If Jesus really is the Prince of Peace, as the Bible says, then why is it that his birthday is so stressful?
Well, there are probably many answers to this question, but one answer is that his birthday presents the ultimate time management nightmare.
Think about it. With most people’s birthdays you just have to buy one person a gift, and then attend or host one party. This can all be done in a day.
With Jesus’ birthday, you have to buy everyone under the sun a gift or send them a card. You also have to attend or host many events or parties. You end up buying things for people out of obligation and spending time with people out of obligation. You know, if some relative or person you never even see or talk to all year sends you a card or gift, you feel like you need to do something for them.
Although it isn’t Jesus’ fault, Christmas can put more unreasonable demands on us that any other birthday or holiday. We pretty much have to set aside a whole season to get everything done, and most of us take time off work to meet the demands of Christmas.
Jesus’ birthday is meant to bring peace. The problem is, we tend to focus on the wrong things.
A few years ago when I lived in Chico, I got very caught up in the holiday rush. I had been busy as the interim pastor of a church and finishing up a semester in my masters degree program. I got a late start buying gifts.
The week before Christmas I tried to shop, but the one little mall that Chico has was packed. I couldn’t find a parking place within a mile. But all of the newspapers, television ads, and street signs were telling me that I needed to hurry up and buy gifts, and counting down the days I had left to shop.
About two days before Christmas, I still had not left Chico to see my family here in Fresno. That’s because I had not yet bought Noel a gift and I didn’t want to show up for the family Christmas empty-handed. I wanted to buy him a watch, but had no idea how I would get anywhere close to the mall due to the crowded parking lots.
Then I got an idea. I knew a family that lived right behind the mall. They had told me that they had a trap door through the fence of their back yard to get across the street to the mall and that they never had to worry about parking during the Christmas rush. Since I was their pastor at the time, I decided to stop by and ask to use their trap door.
After I had totally surprised them with my visit and was ushered through the house and into the back yard, I saw that getting through the trap door was not going to be easy. I ended up having to squeeze through some bushes with stickers that scraped up my arms. Then I had to bend down really low and almost craw through what turned out to be the bottom half of a fence board that could be removed.
As I crawled through the hole in the fence, my foot got caught on the baseboard and I fell into a puddle of mud on the other side. As I laid there in the mud, I had my wake up call about the meaning of Christmas. I could not believe that I had been so brainwashed by the culture and had bought so far into materialism that there I was lying in the mud after having tried to crawl through a neighbor’s trap door to get to the mall, just because I was in a panic over needing to buy gifts by a deadline. And the gifts weren’t even for Jesus.
Right then and there, I realized that to enjoy a sense of peace at Christmas, I would have to change my focus.
To find peace at Christmas, we need to focus on what really matters, which is receiving God’s gift to us – Jesus.
So how do we do that? Why do we want to do that? Let’s take a look at the experience of the first people on record to seek God’s gift to them at Christmas time, a group of pagan astrologers on the year that Jesus was born.
The Bible calls them “Magi” or “Wise Men” from the East. They were actually astrologers, or men who could predict the future by looking at the stars. In the traditional nativity scenes there are only three of these guys, but there were actually more. Three guys looking for Jesus would not have worried Herod. It would have taken a lot more.
So what can we learn from the astrologers about finding God’s peace at Christmas?
First, we must invest time with God
The astrologers took no small journey. Coming from either Babylon, Persia, or Saudi Arabia, they would have spent about two years getting to Bethlehem – one way. Their total time investment in seeing Jesus in person as a baby was about four years. And these were pagan astrologers. How many Christians would give up four years for a chance to see Jesus as a two-year old?
Our human nature wants results without putting in the time. I’d like to be fit without going to the gym every day. I’d like to have more money without spending more time at work. I’d like to have more satisfying relationships, as long as the people just show up when it’s convenient for me. And I’d like be closer to God, but sometimes even 30 minutes seems like too long out of my day to spend focused on God.
Can anyone relate?
To receive God’s gift of peace through Jesus, we won’t do it by just spending time with God hour a week. We have to spend regular time with God.
Second, we have to be willing to leave the familiar behind
Like I said before, these astrologers came to Bethlehem from somewhere in the Far East. This was before cell phones, email, or even mail for that matter. There were no planes to fly back and visit home on weekends. They just took off and left everything, not knowing when they would return, if ever.
Some of us might not be quite like that. Some of us might cling to the familiar a little more than we care to admit. Some of us might tend to resist change.
Change, and leaving the familiar often hurts but it leads to growth. I learned this in Pilates class. My instructor asked us to do some unfamiliar or uncomfortable things with our bodies. My body naturally resisted some of the moves. It would hurt the next day. But in the end, I achieved the results I wanted.
Are we willing to do unfamiliar or uncomfortable things to grow as a Christian?
Are we willing to abandon the familiarity of our lives to know Jesus?
Are we willing to commit our lives to God no matter what God asks us to do?
When we achieve the freedom to do this, we are further on our way to receiving God’s gift of peace through Jesus.
Third, we must give God precious gifts as an act of worship
The astrologers brought costly gifts to Jesus. They worshipped him as a king more significantly than some of the Jews and religious people would later. Later on, a lot of Jesus’ followers would be more selfish, and follow Him around to see what they could get from him. They would follow Him around hoping to see miracles or get food. The astrologers brought valuable gifts and worshipped Jesus when he was only two. They came to give.
When we are young, Christmas is about the gifts we get. We don’t always buy our dads the most valuable gifts at Christmas. In many houses, the dad gets a tie or a bottle of cologne with every kid’s name on it in the house. But as we get older and mature, we are able to give our dads better gifts.
Hopefully, this happens as we mature as Christians. When we are baby Christians, we come to God mainly to get things we need. Most of our prayers are about asking for things for ourselves. That’s okay when we are new Christians.
Later, however, as we mature in faith, we should be able to give God more. We should be able to give God more of ourselves, our time, our abilities, and even our money.
Giving selflessly to God is freeing, and is part of how we receive God’s gift of peace to us through Jesus.
Fourth, we need to recognize and respond to God’s personal invitation
The wise men received and responded to a personal invitation from God in the form of a star. Just as the Jews received God’s invitation through the Hebrew Scriptures.
The point is, that God invites people to receive the gift of Jesus using ways that are relevant to us.
The astrologers saw a star. The Jews read prophecy. If you are a computer programmer, God might send a pop-up or email. If you are a teenager, he might be talking to you on your myspace account.
God loves and invites each of us to draw closer to Him in a personal way. It’s up to us to recognize and respond to God’s invitation in our lives. This is how we receive the gift of peace through Jesus.
Finally, the reason we need to recognize and respond to God’s invitation is so that God can use us for His glory.
The astrologers’ gifts saved Jesus. The gold would have paid for his family’s escape to Egypt. The Frankincense and Myrrh were worth a lot on the Egyptian market. God had a purpose in the astrologer’s gifts, even if they were not aware of it.
Plus, God used the astrologers to save Jesus by telling them in a dream not to go back to Herod. The astrologers understood the dream and obeyed.
God used these astrologers to protect the One who would save us. God used pagan astrologers to His glory and for His purpose.
In the same way, God wants to use us. God wants to do something through your life and through mine. God wants to do something that will not only glorify Him but bring deep meaning and purpose to our lives. Something that will bring great satisfaction and peace.
But first, we must open God’s gift this Christmas.
Like the astrologers, we must invest time with God.
We must be willing to leave the familiar behind.
We must offer ourselves as a gift to God
And we must be ready to respond to God, each in our own personal way.
Will you open God’s gift this Christmas???
Conclusion:
I challenge you to clarify your values about Christmas and decide what is really important.
Imagine yourself looking back on the Christmas season of 2006. How do you want to remember spending it?
Now imagine that you have a rare illness and this will be your last Christmas to live? What would you spend it doing?
Will you receive God’s gift of peace through Jesus Christ this holiday season?
Or will you get caught up in the pagan “Christmas rush,’ just trying to buy gifts and fulfill social obligations by the deadline.
Christmas can be your deadline or it can be your lifeline. It all depends on what you do with God’s gift.
If you open it, you will not only gain peace and a sense of deeper meaning during the holidays and into the New Year, but for the rest of your life.
