Santa
vs Jesus
video
VIDEO
13 When Jesus heard what
had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of
this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When
Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed
their sick. 15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him
and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the
crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” 16 Jesus
replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” 17 “We
have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. 18 “Bring
them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the
people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and
looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave
them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They
all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of
broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those
who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
What does Jesus want for Christmas?
Here again, this is not a passage about
Christmas
Where
is Joseph and Mary and what about the baby?
The
topic today is “what does Jesus want for his birthday”
It
wasn’t their birthday, but they got something so they didn’t feel left out
Or
making sure that someone gets what they wanted for Christmas.
But
it isn’t their birthday.
Its
Jesus’ birthday
Imagine
its your birthday and everyone else gets gifts except you.
That
is what many American christmas’s look like
·
He
wants us to believe in him
·
He
wants us to love him
Remember Mary and Martha? Luke 10
We think of the kingdom as a place for us to
sit and soak it up.
It is.
But that is not all that it is, and if we
stop there we are missing a critical part of Jesus teaching.
A
bell's not a bell till you ring it a song's not a song till you sing it
and love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay
Love isn’t love till you give it away
and love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay
Love isn’t love till you give it away
·
He
wants us to show our love for him by loving others
In our scripture today, the 5000 are
fed. What does Jesus do?
We
remember this as a story where jesus saves the day
But
notice, he expects his followers to act.
They
say, “This
is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they
can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
In
other words, send the needy people away, they are not a part of our group
Jesus
says……..
16 Jesus
replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
In
other words, You take
responsibility for them
This is not the only place where Jesus
expresses such sentiment
We separate Salvation and good works
We
have thrown out the baby with the bathwater
Luke
4:18-19 Jesus begins his ministry quoting Isaiah 61
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because
he has anointed me to
proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim
freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
Nothing
said about saving them for heaven
Consider some of the Sayings of Jesus:
Famous
sayings, all centered on helping others
·
Last
supper John 13 – love one another as I have loved you
·
From
the sermon on the mount - Turn the other cheek
·
Go
the second mile [but you don’t have to go three]
·
Do
unto others as you would have them do unto you [not just an old saying]
·
Feeding
of the 5,000 - You give them something to eat
·
Matthew
25:31-36
31 “When the Son of Man
comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his
glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered
before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd
separates the sheep from the goats.33 He will put the sheep on
his right and the goats on his left. 34 “Then the King will say
to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your
inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the
world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to
eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you
invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed
me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came
to visit me.’
Friends,
the kingdom is not just about what we believe
Its
about how we treat others
·
At
the end of the good Samaritan story- lk 10 - Go thou and do likewise
·
The
angels announcement…….peace on earth. Good will to men.
When i was a kid I thought that good
Christians believed right and studied the bible
And
that bad Christians helped the poor because they didn’t know what to believe.
There
is no gospel without us reaching out and living others.
You cant separate your relationship w
god from your relationship w others
1
John 3:16-18
16 This is how we know
what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay
down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone
has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity
on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear
children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in
truth.
You
cant separate your relationship w god from your relationship w others
The
disciples wanted to send them away.
Jesus
said, you give them something to eat
Heavens
resources don’t fall from the sky they come from us
note
the sequence of events.
Jesus
takes the five loaves and two fish from the disciples,
blesses
them, and then gives them back to the disciples to distribute.
The
resources that God uses to multiply miracles to meet people’s needs come from
our hands.
When
we obediently release what is in our hands,
Jesus
blesses it, multiplies it, and then gives it back to us for the purpose of
distribution.
This
is Kingdom Economics 101.
We only have 5 loaves
We
are living in the worst economy since the great depression
But
but but we cant
The
woman who was ruining her marriage over shopping.
Go
see how other people live
Maybe
we will stop buying duplicates of things we already have
Christmas
Junk 50% off
PICTURE
Spiritual
malaise is a result of our materialism
Black
Friday shopping deaths
Yes
we can, of course we can
To
buy things for ourselves and our loved ones and not help the needy is to have a
birthday for Jesus where everyone gets a present except for him
Our
willingness to help others is life and death for them
Coats
to Westport – Greg
PICTURE
No
more malaria
We
are born into the blessings of a first world economy
Tom
brokaw………will my grandkids grow up in a weaker America?
They
are still born on 3rd base.
God
releases the resources of heaven through obedient people.
You
are created to be the channel through which God’s blessings flow to meet the
needs of God’s children.
But
Jesus needs what you are holding in your hand!
If god loves us, why doesn’t he do
something about the hunger and suffering
He
has
We
are the something that god has done. We are his answer
You
are the evidence of Gods goodness
By
this shall all me know that you are my disciples, if you have love Jn 13
At
Michael slaughters church- they say -please whatever you spend on your family
for Christmas; please bring an equal amount to give for hunger relief
The
more we give the more joy we find
Its
not too late. Its only Dec 22nd
·
Start
new traditions in your home
·
Visit
a food pantry
·
Help
at a clothes closet
·
Adopt
a family together
·
Etc.
It’s
Jesus birthday. Let’s get him something. Let’s give him our lives,
our hearts, our all.
Amen.
Let’s
pray
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