Christmas Day, God's Family At Christmas

I wanted to talk this morning just a little bit about some very common symbols that we see at Christmastime. You're going to need your little teaching outline. Do you have it? It should be in your notes. I hope that some of that got taken care of. You're going to need to refer to this. I'd like you to get that out. I want to say first of all, I'm so glad that Christmas morning is on Sunday once every seven years. This is pretty brutal. I don't know about you, but it's late Christmas Eve and up and so on. But it is a great opportunity for us to acknowledge as we have, I think, this morning the true focus of celebration. I want you to read with me the scripture that's on the top of that sheet. Would you read it? Does anyone need one that maybe just somehow wasn't there? Well, I have it. Let's read. The first scripture is 1 Peter 3.15. Read it out loud and together, would you? But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. I don't know whether it was the mild weather that we've experienced, this beautiful weather for the last month or so, if it was the great bargains at all the stores that had to do with Christmas lights. But to my knowledge, I never remember in the last 20 years, since the energy crisis, it probably never really was, in the 70s, I don't remember seeing so many lights on houses and businesses. Everywhere there's lights. There was like a little war in my neighborhood. And who could have the prettiest lights? We lost, but it was great seeing lights everywhere. How many of you had Christmas lights in your house? I had them on my car, put them on at night. But you know, the symbol of the light, of course, is and always has been a reference to the fact that Jesus called himself the light of the world. And probably unconsciously, I mean, for many people, they don't know why they're putting up the lights. But the meaning behind that has always been a declaration of, we believe that the light has come. The light of the Savior. His name is Jesus. And that's what those in the community of faith understand. But many people put up lights, and I'm not sure that the guy down at the Wexford Professional Building really is saying that, but he's got beautiful lights. And with understanding, you see, that kind of thing helps to make a statement to the world all around us. I want to talk about some other symbols that, whether or not we know about it, are very, very rich in meaning. And there's a very important point here. What we need to understand is the symbols came along as an expression of a spiritual truth that was underlying it, not the other way around. We didn't impose religious meaning on symbols that had been part of the culture. These symbols all came out of spiritual rootage. And so it's important, because we've lost it by and large. And if you forget that, then what I'm going to say doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to you. But if you understand that these things I'm going to talk about here today, they came to be because in the hearts of people there was a spiritual meaning underneath it all. And unfortunately, in some Christian circles, some of the symbols I'm going to talk about have been basically avoided, in some cases even decried. And it's a shame. We've lost the power that was meant to be in some of the symbols of Christmas. I know, for example, I'm going to talk about the Christmas tree in a moment. I know I can take you to churches here in our general vicinity right now, where if you put a Christmas tree on the platform like we have up here, the preacher wouldn't come up and give the message until you got that thing off there, because it stood for something ungodly in his mind. I mean, that's how far it's gotten in some circles. And I think it's just a point of misunderstanding. And notice what it says here. There's a couple of important reasons why we want to talk about these symbols. Look at the next scripture. Read it with me. In the future, when your children ask you, what do these stones mean? Tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. You know the story and how the people of God, under the blessing of God, the river, the Jordan River was stopped in its flow, and the people of two million of them walked through. And the Lord instructed, now put some stones on the side, so when your children say, well, what do these stones mean? You can tell them, God did a miracle. And I appreciated what Jeff said a few moments ago, that he takes some time in his house to explain what these symbols mean. Because folks, our children, many of whom are here with us right now, these things imprint their minds and stay with them for the rest of their lives. And I don't know how many of us have taken an opportunity to use the symbols in that way. And second, I have found that you can open some very interesting conversations with people just based on your sensitivity to explaining a symbol that might be present in your home. So, let's talk first of all about this Advent wreath that's here. How many of you have an Advent wreath in your home somewhere? Many of you do, some of you don't. Now, as it says on your teaching outline, the Advent wreath stands for the testimony of a complete Savior. Now, let me mention something right out of the gate here. When you walk out of our doors, you'll see wreaths, beautiful wreaths all around on the walls. If you went down to the mall tomorrow to get your bargain the day after, you'll see wreaths everywhere. But remember, those all began as Advent wreaths. It's just that candles don't hang sideways very well. But they should all remind you of the testimony of a complete Savior. And for those of you who maybe don't have a Christian tradition, you may not understand, and maybe we all need refreshments, there are four candles, one of which is to be lit every Sunday prior to Christmas. And the word Advent means, of course, what? Coming. It means arrival or pointing toward the arrival of the king who was born on Christmas. Now, the way this works, of course, the candle stands and represents light, and that is the light of the Savior who's come. And interestingly, the prophetic fulfillment of this is very important. You see, one thing that we need to remember, there were 30 some very specific prophecies, listen now, 30 specific prophecies about the first coming of Christ and his life that were fulfilled in detail, including being born in the city of Bethlehem and so on. Anyone want to venture a guess how many prophecies there are about Jesus' second coming? About 200. 200 promises that he's coming again. And you see, when we light this Advent wreath, we are celebrating the fact that the first prophecies were fulfilled in the Messiah, and we are assuring ourselves that just so, the prophecies of his second coming will be fulfilled literally in history when the Lord returns. And so, each candle has significance. And the first one, I'm going to light it right here, is the candle that represents Jesus, the king. In Matthew 4.17, the Bible very clearly describes that the one who will come will bring his kingdom. Jesus, the Bible says, said, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Where the king comes, his kingdom, or rule, is established. And so, the first candle represents the kingdom of God, where his rule, his righteousness, peace, and joy is established. Important for us to recognize here that that rule is a place where the Lord is. And so, when we light this candle, we're saying, Lord, bring your rule in my home. Bring your kingdom. Thy kingdom come in my home. Let thy will be done. The second candle is called the servant candle. And Jesus said that he came not to be served, but to serve and give his life a ransom for many. Mark 10.45, there on your outline. That's why he came. He came to give his life as a ransom and to serve the needs of men. And then the third candle is Jesus, the healer. And we find in the Gospel of Luke, many times, you know, Luke was a physician. He was an M.D. And so, when he talks about Jesus, many times he references his healing and miraculous powers. Remember the prophetic fulfillment Jesus announced in Luke 4.18 when he said, The spirit of the Lord is on me because he's anointed me to preach good news to the poor and to proclaim freedom for prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind and to release the oppressed and proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Direct fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah. And then the fourth week, we light the candle of Jesus, the Savior. And there we see John 10.31 and 2. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. And you see, this is the complete Savior. This is the way we acknowledge the full measure of the provision of God. And when you see a wreath, it should remind you that in Jesus Christ, all of our needs were met. The full provision of God for man was supplied in the coming of Christ. Now, what this does, if you do it in your home, again, I want to say the best way to use this, if you're not doing it now, put it someplace where you gather with your family. The dining room table is a great place. And the first Sunday of Advent, which is usually right after Thanksgiving, you want to light that first candle and go right on around and explain, just real briefly, now we're celebrating this week Jesus the King. And it just takes a little imprint like that that can stay with your loved ones, your kids for a lifetime. And every time you see a wreath out of these doors today, just be reminded of the completeness of God in sending his Son as our Savior. All right? The Advent wreath. A lot more I could say about that. Each of those candles have other meanings, but we'll leave that for now. Second, I want to talk about bells and bows, symbols of a new covenant. Now, we have a little collection of bells here. Look at the scripture there on your outline, would you please, on the back page. Want to take a guess where that scripture, Leviticus 25.10, is? Read it with me. Proclaiming liberty throughout the land to all inhabitants thereof, make a declaration. Want to know where that's inscribed? Where? On the Liberty Bell. Now, to my knowledge, the ACLU hasn't had it sandblasted off yet, but that's where it is. It is on the Liberty Bell in Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Bells have to do with freedom. And in the Bible, it has to do with freedom from sin and condemnation, from the sense of, you know, the oppressive, defeatist, guilt-laden, shame-filled kind of mentality that can befall us when we have failure in our lives. We talked about that last night a little bit. And how Jesus comes to give us hope. You see, on the cross, He took our condemnation and our guilt and our shame. Romans 8 says, There is now, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ. And the bells proclaim that. Now, what is the tying in the Bible? Well, look at the reference in Exodus 28. You see, the high priest, when he went in to give the sacrifice, had bells tied on the bottom of his priestly garment. And when those bells would sound, it would send a message that the sacrifice for sin had been accepted by God. And so the sounding of the bells was a declaration that God had accepted the sacrifice and forgiven the sin of the people. Isn't that a beautiful picture? And so what we're intended to understand by this today is that every time you hear a Christmas bell, don't just think of jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell. I mean, you know. Think about the fact that it's declaring that our sin has been forgiven. That our guilt and our shame has been lifted. And that our Savior has provided for us free access into the presence of our Heavenly Father. It's a beautiful picture, isn't it? And how about these bows? Aren't they beautiful? What does this mean? Well, in essence, what is a bow? It's what you do with the end of the ribbon, right? After you've tied something all together, you've taken a package, wrapped it up, and you take the ends and you wrap them up. And if you're good, you can do this. If you're me, you just kind of do one of these things and that's it. But if you're good, and this is one I believe that looks like it was hand done by somebody. Well, think about this for just a moment. You see, the gift inside the package is what's really important. But the bow says this is really special. Now, this little show of hands here. How many of you received a package with a bow on it? Doesn't it make, and help me out here now, especially the ladies. Don't you put a bow on something? I mean, you know, if you're going to give someone underwear or something, just pass it on to them. But I mean, if it's really nice, what? If it's a special gift, don't you try to put a lovely bow on it because it enhances the gift? Well, look at this scripture with me, would you? Read it with me. I have loved them with cords of human kindness and with ties of love. Hosea 11.4 You see, without question, the Son of God is the gift that the Lord has provided for us. But I believe that scripture is saying that the Lord sends His gift in bands or ties of love wrapped around the gift that He sends to us. And what He's saying is, My Son came to you. He's the gift. He's what you focus on. But there are all kinds of ways that that love is expressed to you. And church, listen, so many people today don't know that God really does love them. And they hear about this Jesus and they hear the Christmas story, but they haven't felt, haven't sensed those bands of love. I pray that you don't leave here today without sensing that band of love around your life. And that you know that what God said in His Son was, I love you so much that I gave you my only begotten Son. But I sent Him expressing love to you. And you know, think of one way right now that God has shown His love to you. Maybe it's your family that's sitting there with you on Christmas morning. You know, maybe it's your job that's been a faithful source of supply. Maybe it's your health today. Maybe it's the fact that your relationship that was once broken is now restored. Maybe it's the new love of your life. Maybe it's the fact that you understand God's Word for the first time. But it's a band, you see. It's an expression of love wrapped for you. Beautiful, isn't it? The Advent wreath, bells and bows. Let's take a look at... Well, just turn to someone right now and say, you know what? That about wraps it up, alright? No, okay. I got one more. Just one more and I'll be done. I want to talk about the Christmas tree. And we have an assortment here. Read with me the Christmas tree. It's the symbol of a broken curse. There's a lot of significance for a believer when it comes to the Christmas tree. Notwithstanding what other cultures may have done with trees. And I had someone tell me, well, you can't really... I mean, I know places where they have trees. They're not Christian. They just bring them in and decorate them with all kinds of weird things and stuff. And it's a pagan tradition. No, it's not. For the believer, there's significance. Let me explain for you. First of all, let me go over here. The tree is evergreen. Evergreen. I mean, we don't bring maples in. We bring in an evergreen tree. That's symbolic of everlasting life. It's a symbol. We decorate it. Before electricity and so on, they decorated them with just the ornaments, which are symbolic of the way that God decorates or beautifies our life with his presence and his good things. And they are surrounded by gifts, which is symbolic, of course, of the gifts that God gives to us. And then later on, as electricity came, the idea of putting lights on the tree was a symbol also of the light of his love coming into our lives. But I want you to imagine this beautiful tree for just a moment, all denuded. All the branches ripped off. Nothing there but the barren trunk right down the middle. And then perhaps the largest branch on the bottom taken and put horizontally across near the top of that barren trunk. And it's a symbol. The God in the universe chose to have his son give his life on a tree. And the Bible says, look at what it says right there on your outline, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. Now that's not just a play on words. That's not just some little kind of poetic statement. That is a message from the Lord. That this tree is to remind us that God put his son on a cross to bear the curse that was on our lives. And it's very important that when you see a tree, it so helps to remind you that that's not just some kind of a seasonal thing. It's a symbol of the lengths to which God went to lift from us the curse that we were living under. Understand that when Jesus took our sin, he accepted upon himself the curse that we had inherited by the fallen nature of original sin. And that if every one of us who are honest would admit that that sin problem, as I talked about last night, continues on in our lives. But the tree is to remind us that God didn't leave us in that condition, but he put his son there. And Jesus accepted on himself on that cross the curse that was on our lives. And so when we gather, and I don't know if you've already gathered around your tree, but wouldn't it be wonderful just to take a moment with your family? Before you tear in all of your packages and open up all of your gifts, just to pause for a moment and say, Lord, thank you that at this tree you took my sin and the curse that was on my life. And you gave me beautiful things and gifts in place of them. And I'm not talking about some kind of sermon. I'm just talking about taking a minute and thanking God for what he did. It can be a powerful thing. And I want to say one last thing in conclusion about this. You may be here today as someone who's never really felt freedom that I've been describing. You might be under an addiction right now in your life. You can't seem to break that curse. I've had more people than I'd like to admit tell me this week that they don't like Christmas time because they feel like there's this continual oppression of negativity, of depression that comes. It's a curse in their life. Others have said, I just feel like there's this failure thing in my life. I don't even want to go into a new year because I don't want to make more resolutions. Can I say to you, and please don't misunderstand this, I'm not saying you kneel down and worship the tree, but wouldn't it be appropriate maybe tonight after everyone's gone to bed just to come and maybe kneel beside that tree and say, God, thank you, that I can be assured that on the tree you bore the curse and broke the power of it over my life. It's a powerful thing. Well, these are the symbols. I had several more, but this is all I want to talk about for today. The advent wreath, a testimony of the complete Savior, the bells and the bows, the promises of the new covenant, God lifting our sin and wrapping his love around us, and the tree, the symbol of the broken curse. Here's what I'd like you to do this morning. I'd like you to stand. We have a few more moments before we're going to end. Let's all stand. I'd like you to do this. I don't want anyone to just get nervous and start heading toward the doughnuts yet. All right? All right. I want you to turn with your family, and then maybe your family, if it's a big family, we'll have to do this together, but if it's a small family or maybe you're here as a single adult today, turn with one another. And I want you to share with one another which of those four specific symbols do you most want to thank God for today and maybe even claim in your life. You know, maybe today you've been really struggling with some guilt in your life and you say, I just want to thank God for the symbol of the bell which says I've been freed from that guilt in my life. Well, I want to thank God that he came to be my complete savior and he's my healer. And as you share that for just a moment, let it be from your own lips an offering of thanks, your gift to the Lord today. Maybe that's the only gift that you'll really give to him directly. Now, if you're new and this is real hard for you, just say, well, hey, I thought I was just going to come and listen. Well, take a moment. Think about it. Which of these four do you give thanks today? And, you know, you decide your family and another family or just your family, but certainly include everyone all around you. Okay, so turn right now and share which of those symbols. I'll call you back together in about five minutes and maybe stop and pray and thank the Lord for it. Turn back and forth with each other. Turn around. Make sure you get those names right. Don't let anyone be left out. Now, look around you. Which of those symbols are you most thankful for today?