Christmas Brings Hope
It is interesting to see how people approach Christmas. There are some who embrace it because of the boost to business and the economy. There are some who embrace Christmas because of its aesthetics. Christmas is pretty. The lights, bows, and tinsel. Let’s face it it’s beautiful when we deck the halls. Some embrace Christmas because of the music. I have Christmas album of a Jewish person playing Christmas Carols on his saxophone. That’s kind of interesting right? Some embrace Christmas because of the chance to be with family and friends. Some embrace Christmas because of the chance to do good.
There are some who shun Christmas because of its consumerism. Some reject the symbols of Christmas as being an infringement upon their civil rights. Other’s reject Christmas symbols saying they are pagan.
Some jump full into the stories and fables of Christmas. These fables often champion belief, compassion, wonder and common hope.
For me this Christmas is about Hope. Stirring in my heart this year has been the fervor to truly center my Christmas Hope of Jesus.
I was stirred when I saw the advertisement of American Atheist who claim you can have Christmas without Christ. Their advertisement espouses all of the good things about the holiday that in their estimation have nothing to do with Christ. Then I looked at some leading churches who promote doing good in the name of a fable character with little public mention of Christ.
Now don’t get me wrong I am not trying to kill off Santa, elves, reindeer, frosty or Rudolf. Neither am I going to jump on a soap box and preach against Christmas because it has pagan roots and traditions. And I know that Jesus was probably born in September and that the manger was probably made of stone and the stable probably a cave. But I have hope this Christmas not because of Christmas, but because Christ did come to our world. My hope is not in the season but in the savior.
I also stand before you today needing the surety that comes from my Hope in Jesus more than ever before. This year has been a year of struggle and partial triumph. It has been a year that I was pushed to my end. I stand before you humbled, fragile and yet stronger in my faith and hope than ever before.
My prayer is that you too will have HOPE this season.
Romans 5:1–8 (NIV84)
Peace and Joy
5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God broke the silence when Jesus was born. Have you ever felt like God went silent.
For over 400 years the prophetic voice had been silent in Israel. Leaders like Alexander the Great had risen and fallen on the world stage. The aftermath leaving Israel on the cross roads while competing empires exercised control over the land. Only for a brief time was there a revolt that gave some independence to Israel. As Rome rose to power so did their influence on this little sliver of a promised land. Although the Roman empire brought some stability it seemed as if the soul of Israel had been lost.
In the silence, the vacuum of prophetic word, zealots would arise. Some were zealous for the law of Moses, some were zealous for political change. Others’ zeal drove them to the dessert where the would set up community longing for a pure lifestyle. And in this time there also arose the messianic promise. A promise that some day a deliverer, a leader would rise that would return the people to their status as blessed among the nations.
It was in just a time that God’s word wold become flesh.
Let me ask you something a little personal. Does it seem like you are in a place where God’s word has become lost to you? Do you know and experience the reality of God’s Word in your life? Or does it seem like God has gone silent? Don’t worry THERE”S HOPE!
At this time, when it seemed like God had gone silent, a man was serving as priest in the temple. His name was Zechariah.
Luke 1:8–17 (NIV84)
8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear.
13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. 16 Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
OK God’s silence is broken when an angel shows up and talks to Zechariah.
Now just a couple of quick things here. First of all note that the promise given is an answer to the last bit of the problem given in the last few verses of the OT in Malachi.
Malachi 4:5 “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.”
Secondly notice Zechariah didn’t believe right? So what happened? He was stricken mute. He would not be able to talk until after John would be born and he obeyed the message giving his son the name told to him by the angel.
Did you ever wonder why God would strike him mute?
I have a thought on that. I think God stuck him mute so that he would not be able to speak out of disbelief. But that’s a whole other talk.
God continued to break the silence when he sent an angel to speak to a young teen aged girl, Mary.
I want you to resist the urge to promote this woman to a place where you cannot relate, because she was an ordinary person, whom God was preparing for the extraordinary. The angel came to Mary and told her she would give birth. This impossible because she was a virgin. This son would Jesus, the savior. He would be called the Son of God. OK we are well past extraordinary at this point. Mary asked, how can this happen.
Luke 1:37 (NIV84)
37 For nothing is impossible with God.” That’s the answer nothing is impossible with God. That is the message of Hope. Nothing is impossible with God.
And then the response of Mary is wonderful.
38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
Let your word have place in me. God breaks the silence and now we can say. God let your word work in me.
John would call this Jesus THE WORD. In a sense Mary was the first to carry the word of God. She gave birth to the WORD. She had to fight the possibility of rejection and humiliation. Carrying the WORD was not comfortable. It would bring her great joy and some great sorrow when she would one day witness the cruelty of men poured out upon her son.
I find it amazing that God entrusted His plan to this young lady. The hope of the world was found in her. And yet it is the vulnerability that gives me even more hope. Because I know that God has also entrusted the Hope of the world in me. And as I believe, as I give place for God’s word to dwell in me not matter how dangerous or inconvenient Hope is born.
Colossians 1:27 (NIV84)
27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Did you catch that? God is looking to speak to you and through you a message of HOPE to a world that so desperately needs to hear it. When you accept the WORD of God into your life, God dwells in you. This Christ in you is the HOPE of the world.
Maybe this is really tough for you to believe right now because it seems like God has gone silent, but I want you to know hope this Christmas. God has spoken and he speaks this fresh Word by His Spirit today.
Probably things in your life have brought some disappointment. People and life don’t act the way we think they should. But our hope is JESUS and he does not disappoint. So while you might be waiting and laboring until this HOPE is born. It will come to pass, and the days will be accomplished.
You might be looking at the biggest challenge ever. God’s Word has spoken and you find yourself looking at a challenge that is bigger than any you could imagine. It is not just a big challenge it is impossible. With God all things are possible. Today you stand in faith knowing your HOPE will not disappoint. Since God called you, He will achieve His purpose in you. He will deal with the loved ones around you that might not understand what God is doing in you. He will provide the protection and the place to perfect His will. He will provide the treasure if he has to send a camel train from the east to do it. God is able and this HOPE is a sure thing; because Jesus is not only the hope for Christmas, but He is the HOPE of the World.
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