The Gifts of Christmas: The Gift of Peace, 12/21/14

Sermon 12-21-14 The gifts of Christmas -  peace  Luke 2:8-14 KJV

⁸ And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. ¹⁰ And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. ¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ¹⁴ Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Series- the gifts of Christmas

The welcome – Love – Joy - Peace

The progression of love joy and peace

Christmas Card - Peas on earth, gouda wheel, two men                    PICTURE

We are busy people.  Somewhere along the way, we will find time to sit down by the Christmas tree and take a deep breath. There is a peace that comes to our souls. 

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  Mt 11:29

Do we enjoy peace?  There are so many activities. 

my kids requested a new kind of Christmas this year.  Smaller

the  joy we have found in helping strangers

Like to talk today about personal peace and world peace..lets start w world

As a race we are not very good at peace

in the entire recorded history, dating back 2000 years before Christ; that would be something over 4000 years, there has only been about 292 years of peace in the world.   They estimate that there have been more than 14,000 wars and as many as 3.6 billion people killed. 

Trip to Washington DC- I was impressed

Peace medals – treaties broken                                          PICTURE

There is much fighting in the world 

We are fighting the Taliban - The Russians are fighting the Ukrainians

The Palestinians and the Israelis are fighting - The Sudanese are fighting each other - Isis is fighting everyone

Why?  We want your land. We don’t like u.  We want a world with u gone.

You won’t do it our way.

There is something that we want bad enough to kill you

Regarding world peace there is a thought that I take comfort in about jesus

An interesting thing that I believe about Jesus

He is not just ours.  not just a Methodist, Presbyt or an American Jesus

We think of Jesus as being ours, or belonging to our denomination.  Methodist Jesus.  American Jesus.

Jesus is global.  Universal.

When he comes back, it is peace to all

All nations will come to the holy mountain Isaiah 2:2 Micah 4:2

2 This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:² In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills and all nations will stream to it. ³ Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,     to the temple of the God of Jacob.  He will teach us his ways,    so that we may walk in his paths.”  The law will go out from Zion,     the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
⁴ He will judge between the nations     and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares    and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation,  nor will they train for war anymore.

War, striving and stress come from wanting things

And wanting things to go our way

Do you want to find peace, let go of the thing

Story of the two monks that never fought
There were two monks who lived together for forty years and never argued. Not even once.
On day, one said to the other
Don't you think it's time we had an argument, at least once?
The other monk said, fine, let's start. What shall we argue about?
How about this piece of bread, said the first monk.
Okay, fine. Let's argue about the bread. How will we do it? Said the second.
The first said, this bread is mine. It belongs to me.
The second said, well, if it is, then take it.

our lives are fast paced, heart pounding, go go go go

The postcard that I found in the dickens book vs an email today

in our lives the adrenalin is flowing and the ears are ringing with the jarring sounds of home and work.

It is hard to contemplate the Cross of Christ

we need to Stop the unrelenting schedules in our brain
Stop it. Cut back on activities. Get some air into your life, your soul.
Reduce the external forces - make room for the internal forces

NFM ropes……..all tied up- worried about it

I want to be sure of employment

I want things to run smoothly at church

I want to fix that relationship

I don’t want my great grandma to die

I don’t want to die

          Did I think that I was going to live for ever?

We have to learn to let go and trust God

Healthy people tell others and themselves

relax… everything is ok

It is the work of the Holy Spirit

All is well

We can’t think about two things at the same time

We can be consumed with worry or we can let go of whatever & trust God

We can hold on to one, but not both

Interesting how we try to force god to fix things the way that we want them.

Serenity prayer – long version

God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, Courage to change the things which should be changed, and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. Living one day at a time, Enjoying one moment at a time, Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, Taking, as Jesus did, This sinful world as it is, Not as I would have it, Trusting that You will make all things right, If I surrender to Your will, So that I may be reasonably happy in this life, And supremely happy with You forever in the next.  Amen.

An Interesting scripture   isaiah 26:3 NKJV

You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on u, Because he trusts in u

Jesus life begins and ends with a message of peace

Peace on earth, goodwill to men and women

After his resurrection Jesus in jn 20- breathes on them. 

peace be unto you

¹⁹ On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.  ²¹ Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” ²² And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is still breathing a message of peace to all who would hear

To all who would draw near

You want the peace?

Let go of the worries, let go of the stuff and seize upon the heart of our God

Merry Christmas

The Gifts of Christmas: The Gift of Joy, 12/14/14

Sermon 12-14-14 the gifts of Christmas - The gift of joy  Romans 5:1-8 NIV

5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we^[a] 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^[b] boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we^[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to 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 person, though for a good person 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

introduction

The gifts of Christmas

Week three: the gift of joy

Why this scripture.  Not really a Christmas one? It is joyful – to me.

Because real joy is a spiritual thing

One of my favorites.

1.   While we were still sinners Christ died……

2.   We have a hope- the love of god is spread out in our hearts

Last week we talked about love

Today lets talk about joy

List of joys of Christmas

Joy to the world

Mary pondered a new baby

When the wise men saw the star they rejoiced with great joy

While sheperds watched their flocks by nite glad tidings told an angel bright

How great their joy

Christmas is full of joy

Christianity is full of joy Gal 5²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control.

Spirituality is not measured by whether or not we get our way.

Love, joy, peace, patience

Happiness vs. joy

The difference between happiness and joy

Happiness is dependent on circumstances

Mary and the baby……….

Mary is 9 months pregnant.  She has been riding a donkey for days, she is engaged to a poor man, she is about to give birth in a stable.  Nothing joyful about this.

The baby is the son of God

Joy is found by those who find something deeper to trust.  Something that transcends how its going

The shepherds saw the baby and went back to their old life……
 glorifying and praising God
the wise men saw the baby and started their long journey back - rejoicing with exceeding great joy

Mary pondered all of these things

Joy is a very deeply spiritual thing

1.   While we were still sinners Christ died……

2.   We have a hope- the love of god is spread out in our hearts

Happy = short term

Joy = deeply significant

I got kissed- short term

What it means- I am loved, deeply significant

Joy runs much deeper.

It can be accompanied by good circumstances, but it is something you can have regardless of circumstances.

The twins at ChristmasA family had two sons. One was an optimist, the other an incurable pessimist. To see whether this was due to heredity or environment, the parents decided to perform an experiment. They placed the pessimist in a room full of brand new toys and left him there for half an hour. Then they left the optimist in the garage, where they had just unloaded a dump truck of horse manure.

Thirty minutes later they opened the door to the first room and saw their son crying his eyes out in the corner. “What’s the matter,” cried the mother, “can’t you see all those wonderful toys?” “Yes,” the boy replied, “but if I play with the Yo-Yo over there it might cut off the circulation in my finger, and if I play with that skateboard I might fall off and scrape my knee, and if I play with that football it might hit me in the eye!”

Then the parents went out to the garage to check on their other son. When they opened the door they saw him digging through the horse manure in an ecstasy of joy and delight. “What in the world are you doing?” exclaimed the surprised father. The boy looked up at his parents and, with a big smile, said, “I just know there’s a pony in here somewhere!”

Lavonne

Wow, if people had any idea what you have had to live through

No, I would love to tell people about the things that I have had the joy of experiencing in life

Joy is much talked about…..
Few people actually have it

Turn up the heat and you will see who is grounded in faith and who is depending on the circumstances of life

It is not measured immediately

You might not leave church today ecstatic w joy

We all have our moments

Sanctification is a process

My trip to lowes yesterday………

Lets talk about some pictures of  joy.

I was invited to an open house.  Someone wanted me

At the open house they acted excited to see me

That feels good, way down deep.

Pets can bring you joy.

We have two cats, cats are about themselves

But a good dog………..

My daughter has a new dog.  G-dog.  George.

We end up watching him a lot.

When I call his name he runs to me like I am the greatest thing in the world.

When you know you are loved, it feels very joyful

catching up with an old friend…….

restoring a broken relationship

When you are lost and found

Alli comes home from Chicago

Becky and pam Dittmer meet us at the airport

Royals in the wildcard game

Something is going my way

Something of deep significance

How to find joy

We find joy when we stop wanting stuff……..

Shoes and tvs, but also to stop wanting things to go our way

some things we manage, some things are out of our control

we would like to be the boss of the world

this allows us to see the good and rest in the good that is here around us

and when we see the good that is, we can be grateful…….

Thankfulness is such a joyful thing

Conclusion

Bill belcher is dying.

A good man.  A Christian man.  He knew where he was going.

Many talk s about faith

Even in the pain of losing a loved one, there is a joy for a life well lived.

The joy is a release.  A release from worldy affairs.

Remember the treasure in the field mt 13

Joy is like a treasure in the field………waiting for you to find it

Joy is A launch! We are in! accepted among the brethren.  Shepherds were in.  joy to the world.  Eyes leak at the thought of being accepted.  Gold frankinsense and mud.  God accepts our mud.  Joy propels us to live as new people.

Finally let me speak of joy in Christ.

Life is up, life is down, life is whatever……………

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us

Joy

Possibly the  greatest source of joy in live is to be accepted and loved by that person that is most significant to you

if you are a child and you are in trouble, to be welcomed by mom or dad

if you have had a hard day at work and you go home and your wife loves you.

Nothing better than that.

At Christmas, God our father, the most significant one, tells us that we are loved, for he has sent his son into the world to love us, forgive us and die for us….

We are all looking for that thing.  The fountain of youth.  The buried treasure.  When the Christmas story sinks in, we find that we have a smile, not only on our face but also deep within our hearts.  The brokenness is resolved.  We know why we are here.  we rise from the Christmas experience with lives that are full.

The Gifts of Christmas: The Gift of Love, 12/7/14

Sermon 12-7-14 The gifts of Christmas-The gift of love

John 3:16-17 NIV

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Our series- the gifts of Christmas - Today – Love

Love joy peace – sound so droll and boring

Advent candles – love, joy, peace, hope

          Shepherds Wise-men angels – Santa

Love joy peace – sound so droll and boring

Really is anything more amazing than love

Do you remember the first time that someone said it to you…….i love u

We are on a life journey seeking it

Go dog go……..do you like my hat?

It is desperately needed

Love means I want you

Un love means I reject you

Some churches preach a message of eternal rejection -  you are out

You are bad

Grew up not feeling loved - I wasn’t wanted

Boys town. – when someone knows that you love them… they chage

The frog and prince- every one of us needs to know that we are loved

Songs about love

There are a bunch

Love came down at Christmas

Light of the world, shine on me, love is the answer

Country songs……..

There is a little pressure to find love

Our biological clocks tick

In seminary they said that they dogs and kids better love you when you go to visit the folks

Our first attempt to love others often begins at Christmas. 

Shopping when I was 19 at the campus bookstore

First time we bought others gifts.  How that made us feel. 

We hear talk of C and E Christians.  Don't knock them. 

it is a place to start.  Love is contagious, it is transformative. 

It causes an increasing desire to be apart of what God is doing.  

While we were yet sinners...we were loved. 

Dave Hackett’s story of being kicked out of school, and his father’s words.

The most powerful thing in the world is love. 

It has healed many a brokenness. 

It is the soul’s purpose in this world, to love. 

At Christmas we find that we are loved by god. 

Many of our 1st attempts to live a life of love sprang out of Christmas

And Love is all around us

Melody porters wedding - friends – welcome of a friend

Jessica Muller’s reception w my kids

Police called to Longview lake

My kids love me

Julie’s wedding

Love is intuitive

You can tell if someone loves you

If they are capable of it or not

We like hanging around with people that love us

Christmas is about God’s love

Jn 3:16

An obscure Christmas passage

But Christmas is about love, first and foremost

Love.  God so loved the world – he sent his son

He restored the relationship

He broke the enmity.

What is enmity?

How we experience it and live with it

How delightful it is when it is broken and relationships are restored

Christmas is about Incarnation – God with us

What if we stop talking about Christianity as a “let’s leave”

And instead think in terms of – let’s go here and now, in god’s world

Incarnation –

Jesus didn’t come to take us out – he came to be with us and to live with us

We should do the same – investing in one another

Love.  You are loved.  Our lives ideally are about loving others.

God’s love is amazing

Dave mentioned last week– tie a yellow ribbon- ribbons everywhere

Love is indiscriminate

          The shade of a tree

          The light of a lamp

          The smell of a rose

How delightful it is to know that we are accepted.  Welcomed - Wanted

The gift of a friend, The love of a pet - the gift of love

Conclusion

Christmas –

We are so easily beguiled by society,

by marketing; it seems shallow because it is

But the real message of Christmas is still amazing

Remember when someone said, I love you?

It is possibly the most powerful moment of our lives

What do we say to our loved ones when they are dying?

I love you

Imagine that the last words you hear on this earth are, I love you.

No longer being blasted by junk mail, TV ads or email begging us to go spend money

The last words We hear are the message clear and clean- I love you

I love you.

God so loved the world.

Merry Christmas.  It is yours for the embracing.  God so loved the world.

Jesus' Wish List, Matthew 14:13-21, 12/22/2013

Santa vs Jesus video                                                                     VIDEO

 Sermon 12-22-13 What makes a great Christmas – jesus’ wish list  Matthew 14:13-21

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”

 When I was a kid if it was your birthday, you would get 4 gifts, your sisters would get one

It wasn’t their birthday, but they got something so they didn’t feel left out

 We are often worried sick about getting the right gift

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

 What does jesus want for his birthday?

·        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

·        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 3^rd 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

 We do not exist for ourselves.  We exist to be the hands and feet of Jesus

The more we give the more joy we find

 How can we make it more about Jesus and less about us?

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