Christmas Chaos - Christmas Eve Service - Jeff Ryan - 3TC Podcast - 12/24/2024

Pastor Jeff discusses the true meaning of Christmas, contrasting cultural messages of retail and location with the biblical message of rescue. It is important to understand Christmas as a time of God's rescue plan, not retail, and the significance of the Kingdom of God. 

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Transcript

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Welcome to the three timbers podcast. We hope this will encourage and uplift you today. Sometimes we misunderstand what it is to be the church. I know before I really understood the church I love that the only people that went to church were the perfect people, the people that never, ever made a mistake, that always had everything in their life together. And then I realized that I was there, and there had to be other people like me. So being a part of the church doesn't mean being perfect or knowing everything. It's knowing that you are forgiven. Christmas is as much about Easter as Easter is about Christmas. It reminds us that the two are connected, that we need saving because we are imperfect people. And so what we want to do, and we're very intentional about this as a church, is we want to take a few moments just to to bow our heads and close our eyes and confess to God what he already knows, those moments where maybe we just weren't perfect. We all have them. And then we will read together the confession of faith that is in your bulletin and beyond this great the good news of the forgiveness in Jesus, let us go to God in prayer and confession. Father, you know each of us. We know those areas, Lord, which we fall short. And Lord, I know I fall short in so so many areas. And Lord, we come to you and we confess. And Lord, though our minds can accuse ourselves of being this, that and the other thing, and never being good enough, but in you, we find acceptance. We are accepted Lord by your grace and by Your mercy. So Father, I pray that those things that we have been carrying around, meeting ourselves up about Lord, that we would leave them where they belong, at the cross, and we would celebrate the hope that we have this Christmas, that hope was born this night, and we ask this in the name of Jesus. We read with me now the call to confession and the good news, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Friends, that is good news. Amen. Well, I love Christmases. I know many of you have it today that we have been waiting for for about a year, and it's exciting that it is here, and tomorrow morning, all of the kids and some of us adults will wake up way too early to go out and to see what Santa has under the tree for all of us, and I really like Christmas. I love a lot of things about Christmas, but if you ask my family, they would tell you the thing I probably like the most about Christmas are Christmas movies. I love Christmas movies, and I have to confess, and I am man enough to confess that I watch a lot of Hallmark Christmas movies. Now I watched them for all of the plot twists and all of the turns and all of the things that you just never see coming. How are they ever going to get together? They don't like each other, and yet it seems to work out. But I also like the classic movies we watched the other night home alone. This is a classic movie about a kid who gets so frustrated with his family he says, I wish you weren't here. And the next morning, he wakes up and they're not there, and then he has to defend his house against those who would break into it. I love Polar Express. I'm in the minority in my family on that, but I love this movie because it's about a skeptic struggling to believe in what Christmas is really about, elf is always a favorite, because here's a grown man trying to find his identity with the father he didn't even know that he had, and all of the things that surround that, and that is so much fun to watch. And of course, there is the Grinch. You know the Grinch, the person that is ostracized, who's grumpy, who's mean, don't look at the person next to you and do not elbow them right now, that's not a good move. But I was watching all of these movies this Christmas season, and it dawned on me, they all have something in common in every one of these movies, and yes, even the Hallmark movies, there is a moment where it is a Christmas crisis. There is a crisis that each and every lead character, or characters come to, that they have to figure out, how do I really understand? How do I really view Christmas? And as I was thinking about all of these different Christmas crisis that all of these characters went through, it dawned on me, we are in the midst of a Christmas crisis ourself. Now. It's been building for a lot of years, but it really is here, and that is that we don't really understand or accept anymore the true meaning of Christmas. Sure, we think it's about the message, the message that. We get from our culture, we think that maybe it's about where we need to be, a location, like a map somehow, to tell us where we need to be to really understand Christmas, or maybe it's just about the magic of Christmas that we hear so much about and we watch in movies and TVs without ever understanding. Now let's think about this for a minute. If we think that Christmas is about the message, well, what does the message in our culture tell us? The message in our culture tells us that whatever they tell you on TV and the radio and commercials and that you gotta buy this and you gotta have that, but Christmas isn't about retail. Christmas is about rescue. We see that in John 316 For God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. So Christmas is about rescue and not retail. The message that we get at Christmas is you've gotta be at this store, you've gotta be online, and you have to be in this particular place. Christmas isn't about just a location. Christmas is about love, for where your heart is there, your treasure will be also. And lastly, so often we think that Christmas is about the magic of Christmas, but let's define that the magic of Christmas in our world today is people are just a little bit nicer. People are just a little bit more generous, and maybe they are. But Christmas isn't about just kindness, it's about the Kingdom of God. So the question that we want to kind of talk about for a few minutes here is Christmas really just about the messengers, and the message in our world. Is it just about kind of the location or the map of where you are, or it's just about the magic that is out there? I think if we look at the Christmas story, we'll have a better understanding. But before we hear God's word, we can pray for you, Please, Father, we thank You for Your Word, which is a lamp unto our feet. And Father, you know that I cannot bring anything to your word So Lord, I pray that you would empty me of me. I pray Lord, that your spirit would speak to each and every one of us. I pray, Lord that we would hear your truth, maybe for the first time in a long time, or the first time ever, Lord, but we would hear it. We would allow it to speak to us right where we are, Lord, I pray that you would bring comfort to those who need comfort. I pray, Lord that you would bring conviction to those of us who need conviction, and I pray Lord that you would be honored in all we ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Now, when we think about Christmas, one of the first images of the Christmas story, or the Christmas characters that jump out at us are angels, right? If you got an nativity scene, you've got an angel. If you walk around and you look at lights, you see a lot of angels everywhere. Angels aren't just confined to the Christmas story. We see some 500 years ago the appearance of an angel in Daniel. We see in Luke chapter one, the appearance of an angel to Zechariah. And we see how angels work in Mary and Joseph's life. But here's the thing, that when angels appear, that they always do, they bring a message from God. And that message from God is this, that God has a plan for your life. God has a plan for the world. And so what we see here in the Christmas story is an angel showing up and telling Mary, God has a plan for your life. God has a plan for the world. Now, imagine Mary being there, and an angel appears, and the angel says two things, the Lord is with you, and you have found great favor. Can you imagine hearing this in this moment? Can you imagine there she was, young Mary, a teenage girl, trying to find her way in the world, the world, telling her what she can and cannot do, and an angel appears and tells her these things. And before she can even think about what the angel just said, The angel unpacks God's plan for her life. He says this, number one, he says, You're going to give birth to a son. Mary's like, how am I even pregnant? You're going to give him the name Jesus. I didn't even know I was going to have a child. Now you're giving me the name, and he will be the Son of the Most High and his kingdom will have no end. That is a lot for her to take in. And here, in this moment, we see, really, the first Christmas crisis of the Christmas story. See, Mary has to decide, is the messenger credible and is the message believable? And that's where a lot of people are today. Is the message of Christmas credible? And is the message of Christmas believable? Now, Mary had to be overwhelmed, because the world would look at her and say, you're young, you're female, you're poor, you're not that educated. This message cannot be for you, that God can't do anything with you because of who you are or who you were, or based on your age or your gender or something like that. And so often we believe that God doesn't have a greater Kingdom plan for our life, but he does, see sometimes we listen to the wrong messengers. And the wrong message. Sometimes we believe, well, how could God use us for anything? But can I tell you something here tonight, on Christmas Eve, 2024 God has a plan for your life. God will use you for a greater Kingdom purpose than you are aware of. That's part of what Christmas is about that despite our failings, despite our fear, despite all of the things that we don't get right and haven't done right, that God has a plan for your life, for your family, for everything, but we have to understand, is the messenger credible? And is the message believable? Because that's what Christmas is about. So here's Mary. She's got a Christmas crisis. Would she believe? It's almost like in Polar Express. This whole movie was about a young man struggling to believe. Is this really real? Here's how Mary responded in the midst of her Christmas crisis. Luke 138 says this, I am the Lord's servant. Mary answered, may your word to me be fulfilled. Then the angel left her in the midst of this overwhelming moment for this young girl, where angel showed up and says, The Lord has has found favor with you, she believed. She believed in the credibility of the messenger, and she believed in the believability of the message. She didn't understand everything in that moment, just like we can't understand everything in the moments when we have a Christmas crisis in our life. So here's the question I want to put humbly before us tonight. Do you believe in the credibility of the Messenger of Christmas, God's word. And do you believe the message of Christmas, that God has a plan for your life, that God has a plan for this world? See, Mary had peace in that moment, because she believed the movie Polar Express is again one of my favorite movies, because it's all about believing. And the young man at the end of the movie, he can hear the bell ringing. Why? Because he believed. And when you believe, it changes everything. It shows what the true meaning of Christmas is all about. Because when you think about Christmas. We often think about retail, but it's really about rescue. Think about how broken the world was when Christ was born. Think about how deplorable, how how detestable people treated each other. Think about the meanness and the loneliness. Think about the brokenness and the badness that was in the world. It's not very different than our world today, and yet God with us, Emmanuel. That's what Emmanuel needs. God with us. That is the hope of Christmas when you believe. And that's what we see with Mary. It changed her. It changed Joseph. I can't even imagine what Joseph must have been thinking here he was pledged betrothed to be married to Mary. It's even more serious than an engagement. I mean, for all intents and purposes, they were married, except for the final ceremony, and then all of a sudden, Mary's pregnant by Immaculate Conception. How upset, how angry, how disturbed must he have been to hear that he just wanted to divorce her quietly. He knew that the community would shame her, but he didn't want to do it. He was a man of great character and great faith, but he had to be a man, a young man, who was crushed and devastated that the love of his life. He had to cry out, God, I don't understand this. What is happening, God, my world is falling apart around me. But when the angel appeared to Joseph and talked to him about who this child would be, understand who Joseph was. Joseph was the son of David. He was in the line of David. He was an heir of David. He had a Christmas crisis that he had to make a decision. He had to decide what was more believable, what he saw with his eyes, or what his faith told him. He had to decide he had a Christmas crisis of belief, as Mary did, as many of us do. Do you really believe the message of Christmas. Here's how he responded When Joseph woke up. He did when the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife, but he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son, and he gave him the name Jesus. Joseph knew that God had a plan for him and for Mary and for the world, and so he could believe. And Joseph probably never thought of this plan. But think about this, Joseph was the foster father of Jesus. He became the adopted father. Daughter of Jesus, how special is it when we foster and we adopt? Because God is saying, I choose you to be with this child. See, Christmas is about the message when you understand what that message is really about. Probably of all of the characters in the Christmas story, my favorite are the shepherds. They were outdoors men. They were rough. They were rough. They were tumble. They worked with their hands. So I'm very similar to them in a lot of ways, because you all know me like that. But these guys, they were rough around the edges, right? They were untrustworthy. They were unclean, unkept, smelly. They were looked down upon by every people. They were not the most educated people in the world. They had a job that can only be described with one word, just yuck. That was their job, and they're out doing their job, and they're in the fields, and then an angel appears. It says, Fear not. I bring you good news of great joy. So what does that tell us? It tells us they were scared. I want you to imagine going out of the parking lot tonight after service, and an angel appears to you, do you think you would become or do you think you might be a little nervous? I would be very nervous. So the angel knew, so God knew that the shepherds were going to be filled with fear. He says, Fear not. He says, I bring you good news of great joy. He says, today in the city of David, the Messiah has been born. He's in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes. And in that moment, do you know what the angels gave the shepherds? The same thing that God gives you and I a map to the Messiah. See, Christmas is about a map to the Messiah, and that's what the shepherds received. They received a map that would lead them to Jesus. They received a map that would lead them to hope and peace and joy and redemption and reconciliation. They just had to follow the map to the Messiah, but before they could even answer, a whole multitude of heavenly hosts appeared and began sinning. So if you thought you were overwhelmed with one, I want you to be in Memorial Stadium with a bunch of angels and start to sing, because that's what was happening in this moment. But how would they respond? How would they respond in this moment where God let them know the good news of great joy and gave them a map to the Messiah? Think about treasure maps. X marks the spot. If somebody gave you a map and said, Follow this map, and at the end, you're going to find the greatest treasure the world has ever known. Would you follow that map? I would here's what the shepherds did When the angels had left them and gone into heaven. The shepherd said to one another, let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord told us about So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in a manger. They followed the map to the Messiah, and it changed everything, because God had a plan for their life. God has a plan for your life. God has a plan for this world, and I want you to think about this. They went from being outcasts to being evangelists. They went from being looked down upon to now lifting up the good news of great joy. And what I love about this text and and I really want to make sure you see this, that this proclamation by the angels, this announcement of the map to the Messiah was both public and personal. Let me read to you what it says. The angel said, good news of great joy for all people. So anyone who wants to follow the map to the Messiah is welcome. It does not matter where you're from or what your income is, or your background is, or mistakes that you have made. It is open to all people, but look how it's personal. The angel said, a Savior has been born unto you. Christmas is personal. God sent you and I a gift, and all we have to do is follow the map and it will lead us to the Messiah. The angel said, this is the Savior, this is the Christ, this is the Lord. And I love what happens here with the shepherds, and it's the same thing that happened with Mary and Joseph. And I want to make sure you understand that it's okay too. They didn't know everything in that moment. They weren't able to quote this and quote that. They didn't understand everything, but they believed and they followed. And see that's so important, we want to understand what Christmas is about. It's about believing in the message of Christmas and following the map to the Messiah we talked about earlier in the service. Look, we're not perfect people. Just because we're in church, we're all. All of us are broken people. All of us make mistakes. You don't have to be perfect to be in the church, but when you're in the church, you get to know the one who is perfect. And so what we see here is that they went from outcasts, these shepherds who were outcasts, who now leading the broadcast of the good news of great joy to the world. It would be a journey. It wouldn't just be a couple of steps and they would be there, but they were willing to follow the map. They were willing to go wherever it twisted it was turned, because they knew what was waiting for them at the end of the map they are following. So can I ask this question, and can I ask it respectfully, what's waiting for you at the map you're following? Maybe your map is about financial freedom. Maybe the map is about a better job or a bigger house or a nicer car or more likes or more followers. What's waiting for you at the map you're following, if it's not the good news of the great joy of the birth of Jesus, then we're not understanding Christmas correctly. It's important that we understand what Christmas is about. Probably one of the biggest things, at least, that I see when I watch all the movies and when I go to the stores, it's always the magic of Christmas. Now there. There's something to that, but we've taken that a little bit too far. But think about this, when it comes to Christmas. Christmas is known by every country around the world that's celebrated. Don't misunderstand me, not every country, not every person believes, and not everyone celebrate, but it's one of the few things that cuts across all boundaries of life, geography, finances, ethnicity, gender, everything, people are at least aware of Christmas. There is a level of understanding. There is a level of intelligence. And when you look at the Christmas story, we see Mary and Joseph, who are young and poor. We see the shepherds who were a little bit rough around the edges. And then we come to the wise men. Now, these were educated men. These were men of honor. These were men in today's world, they would have had multiple degrees and all kinds of letters behind their names. They were really, really smart, which shows us that the gospel and Christmas isn't just for one group or another. It is for all of us. But I want you to understand this about Christmas. Christmas is about God coming to us. It's about God meeting us where we are. It's about God revealing Himself to us in a way that we can understand. It's about God saying to you he wants to have a relationship with you, so much so that he came. You see, that's how God works. God will meet you wherever you are in life. You don't have to be in a certain place to know God wherever you are right now, God will meet you there. God wants to have a relationship with you, and that's what we see here. These men were smart. They would have been very learned in a lot of things, including the Old Testament prophecy about the star that would come out of Jacob. These men were understanding astronomy and stars, but when they would see this star, they would know there was something different about this star. It was moving in a way that could only be described as magical. The brightness of the star, maybe it was the Shekinah glory that surrounded the angels when they came in the good news of the great joy to the shepherds. We don't know, but we know that these men saw something, and it was different, and what they may have lacked in a spiritual light. They understood that God was real and God was doing something, and they wanted to find out what this was all about. And so they would take a journey that would change them. They would take a journey, but it wouldn't be without crisis. And I think this last crisis of these last three characters is so profound, because I think it's the one that we all find ourselves in. They had to decide what they believe. Was it what other people thought, or was it what God was showing them? And their Christmas crisis came in the form of Herod. Herod was a king, and he was an awful man. He was a man that if you disagreed with him. Even if you were his family, he would kill you. He was a man who had great power and wasn't afraid to use it. He was a man that led with intimidation and cruelty. And so when he called the wise men, he said, Hey guys, when you find that baby, let me know, because I'm going to go worship him. And he didn't. He was threatened by the power of the Christ child. He wanted to have the child killed. And so right here, right now, here comes the crisis moment for the wise men. Were they more concerned about what someone else thought, what someone else could do to them, or were they more concerned about following where God was leading them? And that's where so many of us. Are today, we get caught up in other people's thoughts and opinions instead of God's. So what was it that they would do? Here is their answer in Matthew two after they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, and having been worn in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. I want you to picture this scene. I want you to picture the smartest people that we can find in our culture today, and I want you to picture them now lying prostrate, face down on the ground, in front of a two year old child. Why? Because the magic of Christmas is that God will change your heart. God will humble you. God will let you know that you're loved. God will let you know that he has got a great plan for your life when you believe. And so we see these men, and they are so humble, and there is a joy like we can't even imagine. I know there will be such joy tomorrow morning on the faces of children as they open the presents that Santa has brought them. There will be joy in all of our faces when we're with our family and our friends in the presence that are under the tree. But that is not the joy of knowing Jesus. That's not the joy of having a heart that was once hopeless now filled with hope. That is not the joy of a life that was once without peace now filled with peace. That is not the joy of living a loveless life now knowing that you are so loved by God. Because the magic of Christmas is that God loves us and that we are saved. And their hearts were free to express and they gave up the gifts they had to Jesus, the gold, the frankincense, they just said, I'm going to give everything I have to Jesus, and that's what Christmas is. Christmas is about giving everything you have and are to Jesus because you know he loves you, because you know he has a plan for your life and what I love. And when I read this, it really impacted me, because in a dream, it told the wife and not to go back the way they came. Because if they would go back, they would go back to hatred and to anger and to death and to all types of things that Herod would do to them. And see, we can't go back anymore, because once you really understand what Christmas is, you don't have to go back to living that way or thinking that way, or believing that way, or believing that God doesn't have a plan, or God doesn't care, or God doesn't love because he does. And so when I read that, I was like, Yes, Lord, I don't have to go back. We don't have to go back to thinking the way we used to think, to living the way we used to live, because there is a magic about Christmas and the star led them away. For so many Christmas is about the message. The world tells us, buy this, get this. The world tells us Christmas is about retail, but really it's about rescue. The world would have you believe that Christmas is all about where you are, the store, the website, even the place that you'll wake up tomorrow morning. But Christmas isn't about location. Christmas is about the love that God has for you. So many people think Christmas is about the magic. It's all just about people get to be kind for just a couple more hours, but Christmas is about the Kingdom of God. So I guess the answer to the question is Christmas about the messenger, the map and the magic. I guess it can be if you really understand what Christmas is all about. Amen. One of the things that we're going to do here in a minute again, I want to encourage you. Hopefully you have your light. All you have to do is twist it to turn it on for our candlelight service. We're going to take a moment here and pray, but before we do, I just want to first of all, thank you for coming to be a part of our service. We want to encourage you. We have a lot of cookies out of the lobby. It is a two cookie minimal. You have to eat at least two cookies before you get late. If you are a guest tonight, if you are here for the first time, we actually have a gift bag for you that we would love to give you, Mister Garrett, and this morning we'll be out there to give that to you if you're a guest, just our way to say thank you, and we're so glad that you can be with us here this morning. We have lots of activities coming up, starting in January, with our branches, midweek ministry on Wednesday, starting our pursuit ministry with our middle school and high school starting. So lots of opportunities to be involved, but before we do that, would you join me in a word of prayer? Amen? Father, as we gather, we are mindful Lord that as we celebrate, we know those. There are those who mourn, those who are without a loved one for the first time, those who are missing someone special or just those that they are separated from by miles. Father, we pray that you would bring comfort to those to know Lord, that we are not alone, that you are with us. Father, we pray for those who will be spending their Christmas in the hospital, those who are struggling with health issues or recent diagnosis, or have a family member who is father. Would you comfort them? Father? We thank you for our military families who serve selflessly and faithfully. Father, would you keep them safe? Would you allow this to be a quiet night around the world where all people would lay down their arms and get on their knees? We pray, Lord for all of our leaders, state, local and national. Lord that you would give them wisdom. Father, we pray for those who are struggling with mental health. The Lord, they would know it's okay not to be okay. Pray. Lord that those who need help would seek it out. Father, we pray for the big C church around the world. The Lord, we would be that light in the darkness, Father, we pray for your churches here in our community. Lord, would you use them to be a city on a hill that cannot be hidden for those Lord who would come? Lord, I pray for those who are here tonight that maybe this is their first step in following them back to the Messiah Lord that they would take that journey so that they could truly understand the good news of great joy, Father, we thank you for the forgiveness and the grace and the mercy that this night reminds us of as you would journey to the Cross 33 years later to die for our sins, Father, I pray that we could all let go of what we have been carrying around, the regret, the shame, the hurt and the pain. I pray Lord, that we would look to love our neighbor as ourself as we love you most, and we love you first. Father, thank you for how much you love us. And Lord, we give ourselves to you, our hope, our joy and our peace. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen, would you please stand and Raise your raise Your hands. Amen. Holy, See, heavenly. Down From Let us sing Christ. O Singh, want to thank you for being with us from the three tippers family, we want to say to all of you, Merry Christmas. We hope that you have a wonderful day, night and week. Hear these words. The Lord, bless you and keep you. The Lord, make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord, turn his face to you and give you peace. Go with the peace, hope, love and joy of the birth of our Savior. Amen, amen, have a great day. Merry Christmas. Thank you for joining us. For more information about three timbers, church ministries and services. Visit three timbers.org. We would love for you to join us in person. You.