Christmas ReMix 2011
Part One
Bad Santa
December 4, 2011

(Advent Video)
(Candle-Lighting / Tammy and Brianna Baker)

Well, the Christmas season officially began a week ago on Thursday night at midnight. After a day full of family gatherings and football games and feasting on turkey and dressing, millions of Americans kicked off Christmas with Black Friday midnight madness.

And our family was out there with the masses for the first time. I was amazed when we pulled up to the Alcoa Exchange parking lot at 11:30 p.m., and we saw the hundreds of people lined up all the way around the buildings to get into Best Buy, Target, Kohls, and Old Navy.

Our girls surveyed the scene, and they decided that they really wanted to shop in Rue 21, since there were only about a dozen people waiting to get into that store. While standing in line, we heard from one shopper who had already been to the Wal-Mart opening at 10:00 p.m., and she told tales of people coming to blows over waffle irons.

We didn’t see anything like that, thank goodness. But I did have my cell phone camera ready to video any skirmishes that broke out.

The next day on the news I heard all the reports of Black Friday Mayhem, including a woman who fired pepper spray on customers that she was jostling with at a Los Angeles Wal-Mart and eager shoppers who didn’t want to miss out on the bargains so they stepped over the body of a 61-year old man who had a heart attack and died at the entrance to a Target in West Virginia.

His wife asked the question that anybody who has ever experienced Black Friday needs to ponder: What is wrong with these people?

I wondered that myself that night as I dutifully went to McDonalds for nutritional supplements as my wife waited in line for one and a half hours to check out of Kohl’s Department Store. I wondered if I had done the right thing in coming out to the madness. I mean, the whole experience was kind of fun in a crazy sort of way, but I don’t think you can go through it without at least questioning your own sense of values.

Black Friday is just one of those things that can go terribly wrong during the Christmas season.

How do you feel about all the trappings of Christmas?

I know you have so much to do – shopping and decorating and cooking and special events. And then there are the bills and the unreasonable expectations and the stress of all the added things that have to be done.

A poll by Consumer Reports says that 35 million Americans despise one thing most about Christmas – having to be nice!

What do you most despise about Christmas?
"Having to be nice all the time!"
– 35 million Americans, Consumer Reports survey

That’s funny, isn’t it?

And then 90% say that at least one thing about the holidays stresses them out, from standing in long lines to gaining weight to getting into debt or receiving disappointing gifts and having to listen to Christmas music on radio stations for a solid month.

Holiday Stresses
Standing in long lines
Gaining weight from all the parties and holiday foods
Getting into debt
Receiving disappointing gifts
Christmas music for a whole month

There’s no doubt that we’re all going to be under a lot of strain over the next few weeks.
So what I wanted to do this morning as we begin celebrating Christmas in worship is to share with you some simple tips to help you experience Christmas the right way.

None of us wants to go through the holidays with a Scrooge or Grinch mentality, and we don’t want to come across as a Bad Santa.

Let’s begin with the words of Jesus that we need to take to heart:

"Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions." – the words of Jesus recorded in Luke 12:15

This may the thing that a lot of Black Friday shoppers forget. Whenever you’re focused on the gifts you are hoping to receive or the gifts that you’re wanting to give, then it’s likely that your celebration of Christmas could be disappointing. So how do we celebrate Christmas the right way?

How to Celebrate Christmas
1. Keep the Gospel message of Christmas front and center.

"Fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." – II Corinthians 4:17

Now we all know that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus. But if you want to keep your attitude and heart right throughout the season, you’ve got to bring that message into your holiday celebration beyond just going to Sunday service. Because we have an amazing ability to get distracted by all the peripheral things and miss the main point.

In December of 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first flight of an airplane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. When the event was over, Wilber rushed to the local telegraph office and sent the following message: WE HAVE FLOWN FOR 12 SECONDS – WE WILL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!

Upon receiving the telegram, their sister Katherine went to the newspaper office and told the editor about her brothers’ new flying machine and suggested that he do an interview with them when they got home for Christmas. The editor told her that was good, and he would be sure and put something in the paper regarding the boys.

Two days later here was the headline on page 6 of the newspaper: WRIGHT BROTHERS HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!

The most important story of the year – the first airplane flight – was completely missed.

You don’t want to go through this season shopping and cooking and going to a bunch of events without keeping the main thing in front of you – Jesus came to earth: He is Emmanuel – God with us.

The night before Thanksgiving last week, I gathered the girls into our family room, and we watched the classic Charles Dickens’ story, A Christmas Carol. The one with George C. Scott as Scrooge. Now that movie doesn’t explicitly mention Jesus, but it does remind us that Christmas is about something very special, and we ought not to miss it.

This last week, then, we had a conversation about the Christmas celebration of Advent. Advent means coming, because the people of Israel looked forward to the coming Messiah for thousands of years, and today because Jesus did come, we can look forward to His coming again.

Now I’m not saying I’ve got it all figured out. But I know as I teach my girls that we celebrate Christmas because God gave us the greatest gift ever in Christ, I’m also reminding myself and staying centered on the real reason for the season.

How to Celebrate Christmas
2. Give something to Jesus for Christmas.

The Gospels record that a few days before his death, Mary Magdalene broke open an expensive jar of perfume, and used the entire contents to anoint Jesus’ feet. One of the disciples was critical of the waste, but Jesus praised her for this act of worship.

So how do we give something to Jesus for Christmas?

Here’s what Jesus says about giving to Him:
"Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and give to God what is God’s." – Jesus’ words recorded in Mark 12:17
In other words, you give to others what you should and what you desire, but you also give to Jesus what belongs to Him – your heart, your praise, your worship, your attention, your allegiance.

One way to keep negativity and stress away over the holidays away is to spend time in prayer or reading the Scriptures. Find a quiet place and read the Christmas story again and think about what it was like to receive the gift of God’s Son. And then think about all the good things that will be yours completely when you meet Jesus face to face. The Scriptures say if you will draw near to God, then He will draw near to you, and the gift that Jesus would most want at Christmas or anytime is for you to receive His love and to spend some time loving Him back.

How to Celebrate Christmas
3. Give yourself to others for Christmas.

"This is how God showed His love among us – He sent His One and Only Son into the world that we might live through Him . . . Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." – I John 4:9, 11

Last Sunday night, after our family had done so much to celebrate Thanksgiving and kick off the holiday season, I was laying down with Abbie at bedtime, as we often do with our girls, and I asked her, "What was the best part of your Thanksgiving weekend? What did you enjoy the most?"

She didn’t say anything for a moment or two, so I thought I’d prompt her. "Was it the dinner at Granny’s or going shopping at midnight or going to the movie on Friday or the time you spent playing with your friends this weekend?"

And then Abbie said, "It was when you and I went outside and threw the football."

Now Abbie is a charmer, and I’m sure she was buttering me up a little for Christmas, but don’t you know I felt all warm and toasty inside? Because that is one of the best parts of the holidays – spending time with family and friends you love. If you want to keep your Christmas spirit strong, give of your time and attention and affection to others, just as God gave Himself to us in Christ.

How to Celebrate Christmas
4. Appreciate God’s gifts to you at Christmas.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights." – James 1:17

You know, as parents we like to pick out gifts for our children that we know they will enjoy, and we get great delight on Christmas morning watching them open those presents with excitement and joy. If they don’t appreciate them or like them, we would be so disappointed. Because the gifts are given to show our love.

So it is with God. He has given us all so many gifts – salvation in Christ, a family, life itself, a roof over your head, maybe a job or good friends and the promise that one day He is going to make all things right. He wants you to enjoy and appreciate His gifts. Understand that God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him. So spend some time over the next three weeks reflecting on all the ways God has blessed you, and give Him praise again and again for those good gifts.

Three weeks – just 21 days until Christmas. Will it be the most wonderful time of the year for you?

You know it can be. God has done His part. Jesus has come to earth, and He hopefully you have allowed Him to come into your heart, and everyday He wants to come into your life.

So let’s all do our part, too. You decide that no matter the situation, you are going to make this a very Merry Christmas.

No Bad Santas allowed.