It's hard to believe in Christmas
Speaker: Steve Jeffrey
Date: 25th December 2022
Passages:
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Oh, good morning, everyone, and Merry Christmas.
00:00:03 --> 00:00:04 My name's Steve.
00:00:04 --> 00:00:09 I'm the senior pastor here, so let me add my welcome to the one that you've already
00:00:09 --> 00:00:10 received.
00:00:10 --> 00:00:14 It's great to be in church with you this morning on this Christmas day, a day of anticipation,
00:00:15 --> 00:00:19 of excitement, of joy, and injury.
00:00:20 --> 00:00:26 Apparently about 80 people a year need some form of hospital treatment on Christmas
00:00:26 --> 00:00:35 day, mostly due to Christmas accidents of falls, cuts, burns, all throughout these festive
00:00:35 --> 00:00:35 periods.
00:00:35 --> 00:00:41 Here's a few information for you that you might find helpful and things to avoid this year.
00:00:42 --> 00:00:48 Apparently, hospitals report on average four broken arms per year because of cracker pulling
00:00:48 --> 00:00:49 incidences.
00:00:49 --> 00:00:57 Three people die on average per year testing nine-volt batteries on their tongues.
00:01:00 --> 00:01:01 I mean, who does that?
00:01:01 --> 00:01:02 Yes, exactly.
00:01:04 --> 00:01:05 Those people don't anymore.
00:01:07 --> 00:01:14 Around eight people per year crack their skulls while falling asleep as they're throwing up
00:01:14 --> 00:01:15 in the toilet at the same time.
00:01:16 --> 00:01:23 Eighteen people receive serious burns each year on average, trying on a brand new sweater,
00:01:24 --> 00:01:27 jumper, while they have a lit cigarette in their mouth.
00:01:29 --> 00:01:31 Obviously, cheap material.
00:01:31 --> 00:01:34 The thing just flames up in no time at all.
00:01:34 --> 00:01:47 More than 30 people have died since 1996, watering their plastic Christmas tree with the fairy lights still
00:01:47 --> 00:01:47 on.
00:01:48 --> 00:01:51 There's a whole heap of problems there with that one.
00:01:52 --> 00:02:01 Sorry, 58 people are injured each year by using a sharp knife rather than going to the shed
00:02:01 --> 00:02:02 and getting a screwdriver.
00:02:02 --> 00:02:13 Approximately 10 people a year have to have surgically removed broken parts of plastic toys removed
00:02:13 --> 00:02:14 from the soles of their feet.
00:02:17 --> 00:02:20 This one, I just can't work.
00:02:21 --> 00:02:31 142 people in one year, in one year, one Christmas day alone, were injured because they tried on the
00:02:31 --> 00:02:34 new shirts without taking the pins out of them first.
00:02:36 --> 00:02:37 I mean, it just...
00:02:38 --> 00:02:39 Anyway, have a safe Christmas.
00:02:41 --> 00:02:48 You know, it's a day of joy and celebration and yet it ends up in emergency for so many people.
00:02:48 --> 00:02:51 But it's not just physical injury.
00:02:52 --> 00:02:54 There is also a whole heap of relational injury.
00:02:54 --> 00:03:00 Do you know that one third of Australian families will almost come to blows by the end of the day?
00:03:01 --> 00:03:04 One third of Australian families.
00:03:06 --> 00:03:09 It's a day where there's a veneer of perfection.
00:03:11 --> 00:03:17 A veneer of joy and happiness where you've got to get the food right, the presents right, and everything else right.
00:03:17 --> 00:03:23 And yet what underlies that is a deep hardship in so many ways.
00:03:26 --> 00:03:27 Christmas is hard.
00:03:29 --> 00:03:33 It's a time of joy, but it's also mixed with a day of sadness and hardship.
00:03:33 --> 00:03:34 And even the message of Christmas.
00:03:34 --> 00:03:47 See, what we don't often see in the Christmas narratives as they come out is the fact that it's surrounded by hardship of difficulty.
00:03:48 --> 00:03:52 We often are faced with a sanitized version of Christmas.
00:03:53 --> 00:04:03 I've heard, for instance, nowadays people are getting their narrative scenes and sprinkling them with cinnamon and nutmeg and things to make them smell nice.
00:04:03 --> 00:04:13 I think I said a couple of weeks ago, if you want to go for authenticity, it's animal refuse that should be sprinkled in your nativity scene.
00:04:14 --> 00:04:22 Now over the Christmas season here at St. Paul's, over the last number of weeks, we've been asking the question, is Christmas believable, unbelievable?
00:04:22 --> 00:04:34 We've seen over the last number of weeks that the story of Christmas isn't just a great story, a great myth that you kind of cling to at the end of a hard year.
00:04:34 --> 00:04:38 It's in fact a true story that's historically reliable.
00:04:38 --> 00:04:46 We've seen the evidence for Jesus being a real person, that the New Testament accounts of his life weren't made up, they're historically accurate,
00:04:46 --> 00:04:56 and that the miracles that are described in not just Christmas, but in Easter and the gospel stories have not yet been disproved by science.
00:04:57 --> 00:05:04 That is, the conclusion is it's reasonable to believe in the Christmas narrative as they are portrayed in the gospels.
00:05:05 --> 00:05:13 But still, so many, and even this morning, looking on articles in newspapers, so many people say it's just a great thing to hang on to.
00:05:13 --> 00:05:16 That's all it is. It's just a story.
00:05:17 --> 00:05:21 Don't need to have your life shaped by it in any way whatsoever.
00:05:23 --> 00:05:25 Christmas is hard to swallow.
00:05:26 --> 00:05:28 It's really hard to swallow.
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 But it was on the very first Christmas as well.
00:05:33 --> 00:05:35 We see it in Luke chapter 2.
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 Let's get a glimpse here of what's happening.
00:05:39 --> 00:05:51 When Jesus' parents brought the eight-day-old Jesus to the temple, which was Jewish custom, there was an old man there.
00:05:51 --> 00:05:52 My name is Simeon.
00:05:53 --> 00:05:59 Simeon had been waiting for the long-promised Jewish Messiah and the Jewish ruler.
00:05:59 --> 00:06:08 And when he saw Jesus, he took him in his arms and he spoke what are now famous words.
00:06:09 --> 00:06:12 The noctimitus is what they've become known as.
00:06:13 --> 00:06:21 These words are being used in Christian church services to dismiss the saints for centuries.
00:06:21 --> 00:06:23 It goes something like this.
00:06:23 --> 00:06:31 Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation.
00:06:33 --> 00:06:36 But that's not all that Simeon said.
00:06:38 --> 00:06:41 He also went on from that to say something quite troubling.
00:06:41 --> 00:06:55 This child is destined to cause the falling and the rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be spoken against so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.
00:06:57 --> 00:07:01 And he says to Mary, and a sword will pierce your own soul too.
00:07:03 --> 00:07:06 Now, those words are relatively unknown.
00:07:07 --> 00:07:08 They've not been put to music.
00:07:08 --> 00:07:12 They're not read out in Christmas services around the world.
00:07:14 --> 00:07:16 And it's probably because they're hard words.
00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 They're rather depressing words, even disturbing words.
00:07:20 --> 00:07:26 And yet, they get to the very heart of the meaning of Christmas.
00:07:28 --> 00:07:34 The Christmas story and the words of Simeon tell us that Jesus Christ,
00:07:35 --> 00:07:37 the long-awaited one,
00:07:38 --> 00:07:40 came into this world to be rejected.
00:07:43 --> 00:07:48 Even in the really familiar part of the Christmas story at the beginning of Luke chapter 2,
00:07:49 --> 00:07:52 the bit where it says she wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger
00:07:52 --> 00:07:56 because there was no guest room available for them.
00:07:56 --> 00:07:59 What we are meant to read there
00:07:59 --> 00:08:03 is not that Bethlehem was busy.
00:08:03 --> 00:08:08 What we're meant to read there is right before he is born,
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 he is facing rejection.
00:08:12 --> 00:08:14 Jesus is cast out.
00:08:15 --> 00:08:17 We have no room for him.
00:08:19 --> 00:08:20 He's being shut out.
00:08:20 --> 00:08:29 And we see that as he grows and matures that Jesus came to get people mad.
00:08:30 --> 00:08:35 He came to reveal hearts and have them speak against him.
00:08:36 --> 00:08:37 Why?
00:08:37 --> 00:08:41 Well, it wasn't because he loved rejection.
00:08:41 --> 00:08:46 There are people like that in this world who just love a great fight and love to be rejected.
00:08:46 --> 00:08:47 They just love it.
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 It makes them feel important in some sort of way.
00:08:52 --> 00:08:54 But Jesus came not seeking rejection,
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 but knowing that he in fact would face it.
00:08:56 --> 00:09:02 He embraced the rejection because it's at the very center of the reason that he came.
00:09:02 --> 00:09:07 And if we don't understand the rejection that he faced,
00:09:08 --> 00:09:10 why he faced it,
00:09:11 --> 00:09:13 and the implications for us,
00:09:14 --> 00:09:18 then we can never actually understand Christmas.
00:09:20 --> 00:09:25 That is, Christmas can never, ever be good news for us.
00:09:27 --> 00:09:29 There are three main reasons Jesus faced rejection,
00:09:29 --> 00:09:32 and I want to go through this this morning real quickly.
00:09:32 --> 00:09:34 For being too ordinary,
00:09:34 --> 00:09:36 for exposing human hearts,
00:09:37 --> 00:09:39 and for our acceptance.
00:09:40 --> 00:09:42 So first of all, he was rejected
00:09:42 --> 00:09:44 because he didn't meet
00:09:44 --> 00:09:48 humanity's expectations of a savior and a ruler.
00:09:49 --> 00:09:52 That is, Jesus was not the right kind of person.
00:09:53 --> 00:09:57 He didn't look or act like a savior or a ruler.
00:09:57 --> 00:09:59 He was just too ordinary.
00:09:59 --> 00:10:01 When Jesus presented the temple,
00:10:01 --> 00:10:04 we are told in verse 24,
00:10:05 --> 00:10:10 that Mary and Joseph brought along a couple of doves and a pigeon for the sacrifice.
00:10:11 --> 00:10:12 In other words,
00:10:12 --> 00:10:15 if you go way back hundreds of years,
00:10:15 --> 00:10:16 back into the Old Testament,
00:10:16 --> 00:10:24 you'll discover that that was specifically the sacrifice that was used if you were extremely poor.
00:10:24 --> 00:10:27 That's Mary and Joseph.
00:10:29 --> 00:10:32 That is, Jesus was born into poverty.
00:10:33 --> 00:10:37 He came from the wrong side of town.
00:10:37 --> 00:10:40 He didn't have the credentials for leadership.
00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 In Mark chapter 6,
00:10:42 --> 00:10:44 we are told that his own hometown,
00:10:44 --> 00:10:46 his closest circle of friends,
00:10:47 --> 00:10:47 reject him.
00:10:48 --> 00:10:50 They were offended by him.
00:10:50 --> 00:10:51 And the word there in Mark 6 is,
00:10:51 --> 00:10:53 they were scandalized by him.
00:10:53 --> 00:10:55 Why?
00:10:56 --> 00:11:00 One biblical scholar in his commentary on Mark 6,
00:11:00 --> 00:11:01 I think states it really well.
00:11:01 --> 00:11:03 He writes this,
00:11:03 --> 00:11:10 their discernment could not penetrate the veil of ordinariness that surrounded him.
00:11:10 --> 00:11:17 What were the words in Mark 6 of his townsfolk?
00:11:18 --> 00:11:19 Isn't this guy a carpenter?
00:11:24 --> 00:11:28 Isn't this the guy whose dad died young and raised by a single mum?
00:11:31 --> 00:11:32 This guy's got no connections.
00:11:34 --> 00:11:36 He's on the margins of society.
00:11:36 --> 00:11:38 He's not leadership material.
00:11:38 --> 00:11:41 He wasn't the captain of the Nazareth, you know, soccer team.
00:11:42 --> 00:11:44 He got no connections.
00:11:46 --> 00:11:52 We're even told in Isaiah 53 that he wasn't good looking.
00:11:52 --> 00:11:56 So let's just picture, you know, the traditional baby Jesus.
00:11:58 --> 00:12:00 As I read Isaiah 53,
00:12:01 --> 00:12:04 he had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him.
00:12:04 --> 00:12:09 Nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
00:12:10 --> 00:12:13 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
00:12:13 --> 00:12:16 a man of suffering and familiar with pain,
00:12:16 --> 00:12:19 like one from whom people hide their faces.
00:12:20 --> 00:12:21 He was despised,
00:12:22 --> 00:12:24 and we held him in low esteem.
00:12:25 --> 00:12:26 No blue eyes, no blonde hair,
00:12:27 --> 00:12:28 no lovely curly locks.
00:12:28 --> 00:12:34 Jesus was not a celebrity.
00:12:36 --> 00:12:39 A celebrity has always been,
00:12:39 --> 00:12:41 throughout the history of celebrity culture,
00:12:41 --> 00:12:43 celebrity has always been someone
00:12:43 --> 00:12:45 who has it together on the outside,
00:12:46 --> 00:12:49 even if they are a wreck on the inside.
00:12:50 --> 00:12:52 On the outside, they're beautiful,
00:12:52 --> 00:12:53 and if they're not beautiful,
00:12:53 --> 00:12:54 then they're extremely talented.
00:12:54 --> 00:12:59 It matters not if their relationships are a wreck
00:12:59 --> 00:13:02 and they struggle with addictions.
00:13:02 --> 00:13:06 In a celebrity culture like we are existing in right now,
00:13:07 --> 00:13:12 it's the externals that are validated.
00:13:13 --> 00:13:16 It's the superficial that we regard.
00:13:17 --> 00:13:20 It's the outside, the appearance that matters.
00:13:22 --> 00:13:24 And Jesus comes along and destroys all of that.
00:13:24 --> 00:13:28 He says your status,
00:13:28 --> 00:13:29 your look,
00:13:30 --> 00:13:31 your beauty,
00:13:32 --> 00:13:32 your achievements,
00:13:33 --> 00:13:34 your position,
00:13:35 --> 00:13:36 your connections,
00:13:37 --> 00:13:37 your degrees,
00:13:38 --> 00:13:39 it's nothing.
00:13:41 --> 00:13:43 He doesn't measure any of it.
00:13:43 --> 00:13:44 He's not impressed by any of it.
00:13:46 --> 00:13:49 What matters is your heart and your soul.
00:13:49 --> 00:13:53 And so if you're a Christian sitting in this building
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55 or connecting on stream right now,
00:13:56 --> 00:13:59 what Christmas means for you at the very least
00:13:59 --> 00:14:03 is that you reject all forms of snobbery.
00:14:05 --> 00:14:07 You're not impressed by what people are impressed with
00:14:07 --> 00:14:08 on the outside,
00:14:08 --> 00:14:11 and you're not repelled by what people are repelled by
00:14:11 --> 00:14:13 on the outside.
00:14:13 --> 00:14:18 What you care about is character,
00:14:19 --> 00:14:19 humility,
00:14:19 --> 00:14:20 compassion,
00:14:21 --> 00:14:21 wisdom,
00:14:21 --> 00:14:22 and integrity.
00:14:22 --> 00:14:26 Jesus is rejected
00:14:26 --> 00:14:29 because he is too ordinary
00:14:29 --> 00:14:30 to be the saviour
00:14:30 --> 00:14:31 and the ruler of the world.
00:14:32 --> 00:14:34 The second reason he's rejected
00:14:34 --> 00:14:36 is because he reveals the ordinariness
00:14:36 --> 00:14:38 of our inner lives.
00:14:38 --> 00:14:41 We think he's externally ordinary.
00:14:41 --> 00:14:45 He thinks we're internally ordinary.
00:14:48 --> 00:14:49 Have a look there at verse 35.
00:14:50 --> 00:14:51 This is what Simeon says,
00:14:51 --> 00:14:56 the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.
00:14:58 --> 00:15:01 Jesus Christ showed people who they really were
00:15:01 --> 00:15:03 and they didn't like it.
00:15:03 --> 00:15:05 The book of Romans in the New Testament
00:15:05 --> 00:15:06 tells us that deep down,
00:15:07 --> 00:15:09 every single human being,
00:15:09 --> 00:15:11 every single human heart
00:15:11 --> 00:15:13 is in need for God
00:15:13 --> 00:15:14 and for a saviour.
00:15:15 --> 00:15:17 We all know we are sinners,
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 even if we don't use that terminology,
00:15:19 --> 00:15:20 and therefore,
00:15:20 --> 00:15:22 we need a saviour.
00:15:23 --> 00:15:25 But the way that we have dealt with that
00:15:25 --> 00:15:26 as people
00:15:26 --> 00:15:30 is that we all have this engine
00:15:30 --> 00:15:33 that's revving very high,
00:15:33 --> 00:15:35 deep down inside of our souls,
00:15:35 --> 00:15:37 deep down inside of our hearts.
00:15:37 --> 00:15:39 It's in overdrive all the time,
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 and it's the engine of self-justification.
00:15:43 --> 00:15:46 And that engine desperately,
00:15:46 --> 00:15:49 desperately wants to think that we are okay.
00:15:51 --> 00:15:56 And so we consistently suppress the truth about God.
00:15:56 --> 00:16:01 It does not want to know about God or what he requires.
00:16:02 --> 00:16:04 It doesn't want to know that we need a God
00:16:04 --> 00:16:08 or that there is anything wrong with any of us.
00:16:10 --> 00:16:13 And anything that makes us hard to suppress that truth,
00:16:15 --> 00:16:18 anything that wants to tamper with that engine
00:16:18 --> 00:16:20 that's deep inside of our hearts,
00:16:20 --> 00:16:23 gets us mad.
00:16:25 --> 00:16:25 You know,
00:16:25 --> 00:16:27 same as when someone points out a flaw in you,
00:16:27 --> 00:16:29 your instinct is defensiveness.
00:16:30 --> 00:16:33 That's the engine working in overdrive.
00:16:35 --> 00:16:37 And along comes Jesus Christ,
00:16:37 --> 00:16:38 living a perfect life.
00:16:38 --> 00:16:42 And he gets us mad.
00:16:42 --> 00:16:44 If you read through the Gospels,
00:16:44 --> 00:16:47 you will find that he both mesmerizes and alienates.
00:16:48 --> 00:16:52 He attracts and he infuriates.
00:16:52 --> 00:16:57 He evokes rejection and hostility wherever he goes.
00:16:58 --> 00:17:00 In the Christmas narrative,
00:17:00 --> 00:17:03 King Herod hears that Jesus is born the king,
00:17:04 --> 00:17:05 and he is threatened.
00:17:06 --> 00:17:07 He's a representation of our hearts.
00:17:07 --> 00:17:08 He is threatened,
00:17:08 --> 00:17:11 and he wants to even have the baby Jesus killed.
00:17:13 --> 00:17:16 When Jesus Christ comes to anybody
00:17:16 --> 00:17:20 and reveals himself as the true ruler of our lives,
00:17:20 --> 00:17:23 that gets us mad.
00:17:25 --> 00:17:29 Much easier to have a Jesus constrained
00:17:29 --> 00:17:32 to a sanitized narrative
00:17:32 --> 00:17:36 who just loves everyone.
00:17:37 --> 00:17:43 And people get upset in the end
00:17:43 --> 00:17:46 at any Christian who lives and loves like Jesus
00:17:46 --> 00:17:48 because it reminds them of their own hearts
00:17:48 --> 00:17:50 and their priorities and their actions.
00:17:51 --> 00:17:54 You don't actually have to be perfect to be rejected.
00:17:54 --> 00:17:59 You just don't have to have the same value of those in society around you.
00:17:59 --> 00:18:07 Living a life like Jesus exposes corruption and immorality
00:18:07 --> 00:18:11 and gossip and greed in every culture
00:18:11 --> 00:18:17 because no one likes the depths of the immoral heart being revealed,
00:18:17 --> 00:18:19 nor those who reveal it.
00:18:19 --> 00:18:29 Christmas means there is often not room in the end for those who follow Jesus.
00:18:29 --> 00:18:32 But lastly,
00:18:33 --> 00:18:35 he's rejected for our acceptance.
00:18:36 --> 00:18:37 You see,
00:18:37 --> 00:18:38 Jesus Christ came into this world
00:18:38 --> 00:18:42 knowing that he would violate the world's standards and its priorities.
00:18:42 --> 00:18:43 He would turn them all on their head
00:18:43 --> 00:18:48 and that he would intimidate people with his life and his message,
00:18:48 --> 00:18:53 but he came because of his substitutionary nature of his work.
00:18:54 --> 00:18:57 And he is rejected for that very work.
00:18:57 --> 00:18:59 Let's go back to Isaiah 53 that was read out to us.
00:19:00 --> 00:19:01 Right after it says,
00:19:01 --> 00:19:03 like one with whom people hide their faces
00:19:03 --> 00:19:05 and he was despised and he held him in low esteem,
00:19:06 --> 00:19:06 we read this.
00:19:06 --> 00:19:11 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering
00:19:11 --> 00:19:15 and yet we considered him punished by God,
00:19:15 --> 00:19:17 stricken by him and afflicted.
00:19:17 --> 00:19:20 But he was pierced for our transgressions.
00:19:20 --> 00:19:22 He was crushed for our iniquities.
00:19:23 --> 00:19:26 The punishment that brought us peace was on him
00:19:26 --> 00:19:29 and by his wounds we are healed.
00:19:29 --> 00:19:30 We are like sheep,
00:19:31 --> 00:19:32 have gone astray,
00:19:33 --> 00:19:36 each of us to turn to our own way
00:19:36 --> 00:19:40 and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
00:19:41 --> 00:19:44 What that's basically saying in a nutshell
00:19:44 --> 00:19:47 is that Jesus' rejection
00:19:47 --> 00:19:51 was ultimately for our acceptance.
00:19:52 --> 00:19:55 That is, he didn't get rejected
00:19:55 --> 00:19:59 as an example for us on how to be rejected
00:19:59 --> 00:20:01 and how to deal with rejection.
00:20:02 --> 00:20:04 He came to be rejected
00:20:04 --> 00:20:07 specifically as our saviour.
00:20:08 --> 00:20:10 He was rejected for our transgressions,
00:20:10 --> 00:20:10 for our sin,
00:20:10 --> 00:20:12 for our rejection of God.
00:20:12 --> 00:20:15 Simeon says in verse 34
00:20:15 --> 00:20:19 that Jesus is to be a sign
00:20:19 --> 00:20:22 that will be spoken against.
00:20:24 --> 00:20:27 And because Jesus was spoken against,
00:20:28 --> 00:20:30 we can be spoken for.
00:20:30 --> 00:20:35 Because there's no room for him in the inn,
00:20:36 --> 00:20:41 we get to have a place with God forever with him.
00:20:43 --> 00:20:46 Jesus knew that his acceptance
00:20:46 --> 00:20:51 would be our rejection by God.
00:20:51 --> 00:20:55 But his rejection would be for our acceptance
00:20:55 --> 00:20:59 and he chose rejection for us.
00:21:02 --> 00:21:04 Now Christmas is dangerous
00:21:04 --> 00:21:07 and Christmas is hard news.
00:21:09 --> 00:21:11 But Christmas is the greatest news
00:21:11 --> 00:21:13 and the greatest gift.
00:21:13 --> 00:21:17 But by their very nature,
00:21:18 --> 00:21:21 some gifts are very hard to accept.
00:21:22 --> 00:21:23 So imagine this morning,
00:21:24 --> 00:21:26 a family gathering
00:21:26 --> 00:21:28 and you unwrap,
00:21:28 --> 00:21:29 someone hands you a present,
00:21:29 --> 00:21:31 you unwrap the present
00:21:31 --> 00:21:32 and it's a book titled
00:21:32 --> 00:21:34 How Not to Be an Arrogant So-and-So.
00:21:35 --> 00:21:37 Pick specifically for you.
00:21:37 --> 00:21:42 It's very passive aggressive.
00:21:42 --> 00:21:44 I wouldn't recommend it.
00:21:45 --> 00:21:47 But it's going to hurt your sensibilities.
00:21:48 --> 00:21:50 You unwrap a present like that,
00:21:50 --> 00:21:50 you know,
00:21:50 --> 00:21:52 or a year gym's membership
00:21:52 --> 00:21:52 or a,
00:21:53 --> 00:21:53 you know,
00:21:53 --> 00:21:54 how to,
00:21:54 --> 00:21:54 you know,
00:21:54 --> 00:21:56 lose weight in 10 days
00:21:56 --> 00:21:56 or something,
00:21:56 --> 00:21:56 you know,
00:21:56 --> 00:21:59 it's going to hit your sensibilities
00:21:59 --> 00:22:00 in some kind of way.
00:22:02 --> 00:22:04 And yet it's most likely needed.
00:22:04 --> 00:22:07 The message of Christmas
00:22:07 --> 00:22:09 is so hard to swallow
00:22:09 --> 00:22:11 because it says something
00:22:11 --> 00:22:13 not just about Jesus
00:22:13 --> 00:22:14 but says something
00:22:14 --> 00:22:15 very significant about us.
00:22:18 --> 00:22:20 And yet it's a message
00:22:20 --> 00:22:23 that if you embrace it,
00:22:23 --> 00:22:24 it ultimately leads
00:22:24 --> 00:22:25 to healing and soothing.
00:22:28 --> 00:22:28 You know,
00:22:28 --> 00:22:29 in the same way
00:22:29 --> 00:22:30 that a surgeon
00:22:30 --> 00:22:33 brings healing to your body,
00:22:34 --> 00:22:36 you can't do that
00:22:36 --> 00:22:37 without first
00:22:37 --> 00:22:38 spilling your blood
00:22:38 --> 00:22:39 and cutting you open.
00:22:42 --> 00:22:43 Or a psychologist
00:22:43 --> 00:22:45 to bring healing
00:22:45 --> 00:22:46 to your future
00:22:46 --> 00:22:47 and your present
00:22:47 --> 00:22:48 often has to deal up
00:22:48 --> 00:22:49 some really,
00:22:49 --> 00:22:50 dig up some really bad stuff
00:22:50 --> 00:22:51 from the past
00:22:51 --> 00:22:52 and deal with that.
00:22:54 --> 00:22:55 They're both wounds
00:22:55 --> 00:22:57 that lead to healing
00:22:57 --> 00:22:59 and to health.
00:23:00 --> 00:23:01 The reason Jesus
00:23:01 --> 00:23:02 makes us so uncomfortable
00:23:02 --> 00:23:04 is because he challenges
00:23:04 --> 00:23:05 our worldview.
00:23:05 --> 00:23:06 He challenges
00:23:06 --> 00:23:07 our perceptions
00:23:07 --> 00:23:08 of ourself.
00:23:09 --> 00:23:10 He forces us
00:23:10 --> 00:23:11 to expand
00:23:11 --> 00:23:13 our theory of life
00:23:13 --> 00:23:14 and its purpose
00:23:14 --> 00:23:15 and its goal.
00:23:16 --> 00:23:17 The magnificent,
00:23:17 --> 00:23:18 perfect,
00:23:18 --> 00:23:20 flawless God
00:23:20 --> 00:23:21 comes down
00:23:21 --> 00:23:22 into our
00:23:22 --> 00:23:24 ordinariness.
00:23:25 --> 00:23:26 He immerses himself
00:23:26 --> 00:23:27 into the pain
00:23:27 --> 00:23:28 and the vulnerability
00:23:28 --> 00:23:30 and the suffering
00:23:30 --> 00:23:31 of the ordinary human life.
00:23:31 --> 00:23:33 it took God
00:23:33 --> 00:23:35 to take such
00:23:35 --> 00:23:37 drastic steps
00:23:37 --> 00:23:38 to save us
00:23:38 --> 00:23:40 and that
00:23:40 --> 00:23:42 is offensive
00:23:42 --> 00:23:43 to our sensibilities
00:23:43 --> 00:23:45 to think that we are
00:23:45 --> 00:23:46 that helpless
00:23:46 --> 00:23:47 in our sin
00:23:47 --> 00:23:48 that he has to go
00:23:48 --> 00:23:50 to that kind of lengths
00:23:50 --> 00:23:50 for us
00:23:50 --> 00:23:52 and yet
00:23:52 --> 00:23:55 we cannot know
00:23:55 --> 00:23:55 the blessing
00:23:55 --> 00:23:56 of forgiveness,
00:23:57 --> 00:23:58 of life,
00:23:58 --> 00:23:59 life forever
00:23:59 --> 00:24:01 if we have never
00:24:01 --> 00:24:03 felt the offence
00:24:03 --> 00:24:04 first.
00:24:05 --> 00:24:06 We should feel
00:24:06 --> 00:24:07 the offence
00:24:07 --> 00:24:07 of Christmas
00:24:07 --> 00:24:09 but we must not
00:24:09 --> 00:24:10 take offence
00:24:10 --> 00:24:10 at it.
00:24:11 --> 00:24:13 It is for our joy
00:24:13 --> 00:24:14 and for our acceptance.
00:24:14 --> 00:24:17 It is hard
00:24:17 --> 00:24:17 to believe
00:24:17 --> 00:24:18 in Christmas
00:24:18 --> 00:24:21 because to experience
00:24:21 --> 00:24:22 the joy
00:24:22 --> 00:24:23 and the contentment
00:24:23 --> 00:24:23 and the meaning
00:24:23 --> 00:24:24 and the satisfaction
00:24:24 --> 00:24:25 of Christmas
00:24:25 --> 00:24:26 and the hope
00:24:26 --> 00:24:26 of Christmas
00:24:26 --> 00:24:28 we must take
00:24:28 --> 00:24:29 the sword
00:24:29 --> 00:24:29 to the soul.
00:24:31 --> 00:24:32 We must take
00:24:32 --> 00:24:32 the sword
00:24:32 --> 00:24:33 to the soul
00:24:33 --> 00:24:33 first
00:24:33 --> 00:24:37 but when we do
00:24:37 --> 00:24:38 there is healing
00:24:38 --> 00:24:39 and there is hope
00:24:39 --> 00:24:39 and there is joy.
00:24:41 --> 00:24:42 Make room
00:24:42 --> 00:24:43 in your heart
00:24:43 --> 00:24:43 for the saviour.
00:24:45 --> 00:24:46 Now
00:24:46 --> 00:24:47 if you are someone
00:24:47 --> 00:24:48 who is not sure
00:24:48 --> 00:24:49 about how that
00:24:49 --> 00:24:49 all connects
00:24:49 --> 00:24:50 with the Christian faith
00:24:50 --> 00:24:52 I would encourage you
00:24:52 --> 00:24:52 and invite you
00:24:52 --> 00:24:53 this Christmas season
00:24:53 --> 00:24:55 New Year's resolutions
00:24:55 --> 00:24:56 are just around the corner
00:24:56 --> 00:24:57 so here is maybe
00:24:57 --> 00:24:57 an opportunity
00:24:57 --> 00:24:58 to do that right now.
00:24:59 --> 00:25:00 There is a QR code
00:25:00 --> 00:25:01 there to log in
00:25:01 --> 00:25:03 and to explore
00:25:03 --> 00:25:04 take the next step
00:25:04 --> 00:25:05 of exploring
00:25:05 --> 00:25:07 what is the Christian faith
00:25:07 --> 00:25:07 all about
00:25:07 --> 00:25:08 or come back
00:25:08 --> 00:25:09 in February
00:25:09 --> 00:25:10 because we do
00:25:10 --> 00:25:11 a whole series
00:25:11 --> 00:25:12 of the Christian faith
00:25:12 --> 00:25:14 and how it is good
00:25:14 --> 00:25:15 how it is plausible
00:25:15 --> 00:25:16 and how it is
00:25:16 --> 00:25:17 deeply
00:25:17 --> 00:25:18 deeply satisfying.
00:25:20 --> 00:25:21 This Christmas
00:25:21 --> 00:25:23 make room
00:25:23 --> 00:25:24 in your heart
00:25:24 --> 00:25:25 for the saviour
00:25:25 --> 00:25:26 Jesus Christ.
00:25:26 --> 00:25:27 Merry Christmas.
00:25:27 --> 00:25:27 Merry Christmas.