Rev. David Holwick ZN All I Want For Christmas
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
December 5, 2010
Luke 1:76-79
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I. Peace on Earth would be nice.
A. Something new in Disney World!
Celebration, a specially-built series of small towns
with 11,000 inhabitants, just had its first murder.
A man was found dead in his kitchen, and apparently the
killer then drove the victim's car some miles away.
Then a few days later, another man had a shootout with
police before he turned his gun on himself.
Darrin and Danielle Stark used to work in Celebration.
They left just in time!
Remember Lot's wife - don't look back!
Is no place sacred?
B. Peace is one of the hallmarks of Christmas.
1) We recall the angels' announcement at Jesus' birth that
there would be peace on Earth.
2) Lately, Christmas has been producing the opposite.
Most of you have probably heard of the battling billboards
near the Lincoln Tunnel.
The one by the atheists shows Wise Men approaching a manger
and the words, "You KNOW it's just a myth. This season,
celebrate REASON."
Not to be outdone, the Catholics erected one on the New York
side.
Theirs had the opposite message: "You know it's real.
This season, celebrate Jesus."
Lots of internet blogs have thrown in their two cents on it.
Andrew Belonsky writes:
"The worst part of this whole thing is that the [atheist]
billboard provides the Christian Right with more
ammunition to decry the nation's moral decay...
And the last thing evangelicals need is another reason to
get on their pulpit and wag their finger at the rest
of us." [1]
C. Since peace is not in great supply, what is Bible talking about?
1) There are different aspects to peace.
2) Ultimate peace is still in the future.
3) But there is a very real peace you can experience right now.
II. Peace within ourselves.
A. Most people find Christmas to be energizing and healing.
1) There is something eternal about it, something that rises
above the typical monotony of life.
2) The experience of George Frederic Handel.
Handel was a genius at music but a real loser at handling
business.
Operas that might take him 2 months to compose would only
be performed for three days, or maybe a week if he was
lucky.
He drove himself relentlessly to recover from one failure
after another, and finally his health began to fail.
In 1737 he had a stroke.
Then his eyes began to weaken.
By 1741 he was swimming in debt.
It seemed certain he would land in debtor's prison.
On April 8 of that year, he gave what he considered his
farewell concert.
Miserably discouraged, he felt forced to retire from public
activities at the age of fifty-six.
Then two unforeseen events converged to change his life.
A wealthy friend, Charles Jennens, gave Handel a manuscript
based on the life of Christ.
The words were taken entirely from the Bible.
Handel also received a commission to compose work for a
charity performance.
He decided to put the words of the manuscript to music.
He locked himself in his house in London and began to
compose.
He was so absorbed that he rarely left his room even to eat.
Within 6 days part one was complete.
In 9 more days he had finished part two, and in another
6, part three.
In all, 260 pages of manuscript were completed in the
remarkably short time of 24 days.
One biographer has said that it will remain, perhaps forever,
the greatest feat in the history of music composition.
Handel's title for the commissioned work was simply
"Messiah."
From that point on, he wrote Biblical works rather than
secular operas.
#2658
It did more than pay his bills - it gave him a new
perspective on life.
On one occasion an orchestra presented Handel's "Messiah"
so beautifully that the applause was thunderous, and
everyone turned toward the composer.
Handel stood up and with his finger pointing upward,
silently indicated that the glory should be given to God
rather than to himself.
#21708
B. Are you at peace?
1) The busyness of this holiday can unhinge anyone.
2) But God wants you to feel contented and secure.
a) You won't get this feeling from finding the perfect
gift or listening to an All-Christmas radio station.
b) True peace can only come when you are centered on what
is eternal.
III. Peace with others.
A. Christmas doesn't just represent a good feeling inside us.
1) The goal of Jesus' coming is to heal society as well.
2) Many of the Old Testament prophecies that point to the
coming of the Messiah empathize he will bring peace.
a) Isaiah says even carnivorous animals will be at peace
with each other.
b) Both Isaiah and Micah say people will convert their
weapons to farming implements. Mic 4:3
Philadelphia hasn't gotten this message yet.
A company there called Urban Outfitters offered a
new ornament for the Christmas season.
The catalog proclaimed, "Bust a cap in your tree with
this superglittery ornament in the shape of a
handgun."
The black revolver ornament is only 6 bucks.
They thought it put an "ironic twist" on the holidays.
It sold out, of course.
#33882
c) God's day of universal peace obviously hasn't come yet.
1> But it is good to dream about it.
B. The spirit of Christmas can be stronger than war.
In December 1944, the German army invaded the Ardennes Forest
in the famous Battle of the Bulge.
During the fighting, three American soldiers were cut off from
their unit and one of them was wounded in the leg.
For two days and nights they wandered in the snow, until finally
they found refuge in the home of Elisabeth Vincken and her
12-year-old son Fritz.
Elisabeth took them in and began to prepare Christmas Eve dinner.
Before they could eat there was a knock at the door.
Elizabeth opened it and expected more American soldiers but
instead she was confronted by four German soldiers.
They had also been cut off from their unit.
Elisabeth invited them in to share Christmas dinner with her
family and her other guests.
When the Germans asked who the guests were, she admitted they
were Americans.
The Germans raised their rifles only to be told by Elisabeth
that it was Christmas Eve and there was going to be no
shooting in her house.
She told them to put their weapons in a shed and join them for
a peaceful Christmas dinner.
They did.
The Americans were stunned to see four German soldiers enter
the house.
Elisabeth took their guns away, too, and sat everyone down
around the table.
She said grace, one that Fritz remembered was not a rote prayer
but a heartfelt supplication to God for his safety and peace.
One of the Germans examined the wounded soldier's leg and said
he would survive.
After a restful night, the soldiers went their separate ways
but not before the Germans gave the Americans a compass and
directions on how to get back to their lines.
Fritz was deeply moved by this encounter and told the story
often.
He spent years unsuccessfully searching for the American and
German soldiers.
Then in March 1995 the story was featured on the "Unsolved
Mysteries" television show.
Following the program, a nursing home chaplain in Maryland
called to say he knew a man who had been telling this same
story.
In January 1996, Vincken went to the nursing home to meet
Ralph Blank, a veteran of the 8th Division during the war.
Blank showed Vincken the compass the German soldiers had given
him.
Vincken said the high point of his life was hearing this man
say his mother had saved his life.
In recalling the story in his 1985 visit to Germany, President
Reagan noted that it "needs to be told and retold because
none of us can ever hear too much about building peace
and reconciliation."
#28565
IV. Peace with God.
A. We have a problem with peace.
1) We don't have peace with others, and within ourselves,
because we have a deeper rebellion - sin against God.
2) To receive the other kinds of peace, you first have to
settle our conflict with God.
3) This is why Jesus came to be born.
a) He took on our nature so he could show us God's nature.
b) And he had to do more than be born - he had to die.
1> He came and died for our salvation.
B. This is what Christmas is really about.
1) Pastor Jack Crabtree writes:
If we read the clues in our culture -- Hollywood Christmas stories,
Christmas cards, even some sermons -- it becomes apparent what
the "true meaning of Christmas" is supposed to be.
Christmas is the celebration of love, generosity, benevolence,
kindness, brotherhood, and family bonding.
The true meaning of Christmas -- according to this way of thinking
-- is a kind of Hallmark sentimentality.
It portrays a world where there is no strife, no anger, no hatred,
and no criticism.
It is a world in which there is no warfare in any of its forms.
Is that, in fact, the true meaning of Christmas?
No, it is not.
The true meaning of Christmas is not about humans loving humans.
The true meaning of Christmas is about God loving man.
It is about God giving the most amazing and spectacular gift to a
certain chosen few.
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2) According to today's passage, this was the mission of John.
a) Not just to promote the coming of the Messiah, but to
let people know God's purpose in it.
b) That purpose for Christmas is that we might have
knowledge of salvation, through forgiveness of sins.
c) Only then will our feet find the path of peace. Lk 1:79
C. Salvation comes through the Babe.
1) Bummer birthdays.
It was two days before Christmas.
There was a long line at the post office as people were
trying frantically to use overnight mail to get Christmas
packages to people on time.
A woman with three little girls in tow finally reached the
counter.
"Can you get this package to Phoenix, Arizona tomorrow?"
she asked.
"I can, lady but it will cost you."
"How much?"
"$47.40"
"Gracious," she said. "That's a lot, but I've got to do it.
This present is for my father.
It has to be there before Christmas...
because you see, Christmas is also his birthday."
"Man! What a bum deal that is!" said the postal clerk.
"I sure am glad I don't know anyone born on Christmas."
Someone in the line spoke up.
"I sure am glad I do!"
#63457
2) Let me ask you something...
Do you know the one born on Christmas day?
Do you really know Him as Lord and Savior?
3) Do you know this One who came to redeem and save?
Have you accepted Him into your life?
Is He at the center of this season for you?
4) That's when you will truly know this peace that only
God can give.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] "Jersey Blogs: Billboard Battle," by Kelly Heyboer, The Star-Ledger
newspaper (Newark, New Jersey),December 1, 2010, page 13.
# 2658 “Handel Discovers His Real Gift,” by Dr. B. Bruce Humphrey,
Dynamic Preaching <www.sermons.com>, Disk “A”, August 5, 1992;
Original source is Charles Ludwig, George Frederick Handel
(Mott Media, 1987), p. 148. Additional material for the
illustration was gathered from “Handel’s Messiah: About the
Messiah,” <http://www.messiahcd.com/Information/about_The_
Messiah/about_the_messiah.html>, which was itself derived from
Patrick Kavanaugh, “Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers.”
#21708 “Handel Pointed To Heaven,” Fredericksburg Bible Illustrator
Supplements, Gerald Rodgers collection.
#28565 “Confession Is Good For the Soul,” by Mary Southerland,
Abe Kudra collection.
#28875 “The True Meaning of Christmas,” by Jack Crabtree,
<http://www.mckenziestudycenter.org/theology/articles/xmas.html>
December 1, 1993.
#33882 “An Ornament of Un-Brotherly Love,” by Randy Cassingham, “This Is
True” internet newsletter, December 3, 2006.
#63457 “It's A Bummer To Be Born On Christmas,” by Rev. Jim Pollard;
First Presbyterian Church; Harbor Springs, Michigan; Kerux
Sermon #62910, December 7, 2008.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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