ADVENT SERMON SERIES
All I Want for Christmas is…A Savior
Matthew 2:1-14
Pastor
Have you heard about the
little boy who loved going to church? He enjoyed the music, scriptures, sermon
and the fellowship. The only part about going to church that the little boy
didn’t like, were those long pastor-prayers! He really liked his minister, but
his minister prayed long, long pastoral prayers. And sometimes it seemed to the
little boy that the prayer would never end.
Then one Sunday, the little boy’s parents
invited the minister home for lunch. And would you believe it? His mom asked
the minister to pray the prayer of thanksgiving before the meal. “Oh, no,”
thought the little boy, “We will never get to eat. I’m starving and Pastor will
pray forever.” But to his surprise, the minister’s prayer was brief and to the
point. The minister prayer, “Oh Lord, bless this home. Bless this family. Bless
our church family. And bless this food. Amen.”
The little boy was so astonished by the minister’s
short prayer that he couldn’t help himself. He looked at the minister and blurted
out what he was thinking: “Dude! You don’t mess around when you’re hungry!”
Well, I don’t want to “mess
around” on this Sunday morning before Christmas because I know that whether we
realize it or not, we’re hungry. We are all hungry for God. We are all hungry
for our Savior. We are all hungry for Christmas because, you see, this is
precisely what Christmas is all about. We need a Savior. We are starved for a
Savior. And a Savior is given!
The name “Jesus” means literally “The Lord is
Salvation,” or “God Saves,” or “Savior.” Jesus came at Christmas to do for us
what we cannot do for ourselves. God sent His only Son into the world to be our
Savior, but from what does He save us? Of course, Jesus saves us from our sins,
but Jesus saves us from other things as well.
CHRIST SAVES US FROM DISILLUSIONMENT.
Outside of the Bible, one of the most famous
Christmas stories is “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. Let me ask you
something: What can you remember about that story? Most people know it is about
a gruff, miserly character named Ebenezer Scrooge. We probably also recall that
there is a little crippled boy in the story named Tiny Tim Cratchit who (the
opposite of Scrooge) is most always happy and who is always saying, “God bless
us, everyone.”
We remember that much about
the story. But if we look closer, we see that this is a story about conversion and
oh my, did Scrooge ever need converting! I mean he was a despicable character; selfish,
arrogant, greedy, hard-hearted, mean-spirited, uncaring, unsympathetic, unchristian
tightwad. His famous Bah-Humbug-response to Christmas has become the sad symbol
of such disillusioned spirit.
As the story unfolds, Scrooge is visited by
ghosts who subject him to a haunting the likes of which few characters in fiction
have experienced. Scared out of his wits, Scrooge is forced to see himself as
he really is. The visits of the ghosts and the Christ-like unconditional love
of the Cratchit family (who keep on loving him even though he has treated them
horribly) combine to convert Scrooge. And now with a second chance, he begins a
transformation.
A skinflint no more, he begins to act instead as
an ever-loving grandfather type. He begins to love Christmas. He begins to get
into the loving spirit of the season, sending presents to the Cratchits and a
large amount of money to charity. He dresses up and goes to his nephew’s house
for Christmas dinner and announces that, of all things, he is giving his clerk,
Bob Cratchit, a nice raise.
Why are we so fascinated with
this story? It’s not just that it’s a well-written story. There is something
more here. You see, the truth is, this is our
story. Deep down inside, deeper than some of us even realize, we all relate to
Scrooge! We all must face our true selves. We all need transformation from
selfishness to love, or to put it more dramatically, we all need a Savior!
Good news! Two thousand years ago, God saw the
sick disillusioned Scrooge-like spirit of the world, and God knew that would
not work, so God sent His Son to save us and change us and show us a better
way. Christ came to transform us from greedy, selfish, disillusioned people
into generous, loving, gracious servant people. Do you see? Christ saves us
from disillusionment.
CHRIST SAVES US FROM DEFEAT.
In 1939 a man named Robert May worked in the
publicity department for Montgomery Ward stores. He was asked for publicity and
marketing purposes to come up with a new story-angle for Christmas. He combined
two stories, the story of Santa Claus
and the story of The Ugly Duckling,
and created his new story called Rudolph,
the Red Nosed Reindeer.
The Rudolph story quickly
caught on and over the next couple of years, Montgomery Ward distributed over
six million coloring books telling the story of Rudolph, the Red-Nosed
Reindeer. May’s story became so popular that 10 years later in 1949, Mr. May’s
brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, wrote a song about it. Gene Autry recorded it and
that’s why we know it today.
You know why we like the Rudolph story so much,
don’t you? Not just because it’s a cute child-friendly story, not just because
the song has fun words and a catchy tune. We like this story because it’s about
rising above defeat. It’s about turning a handicap into an advantage. It’s
about turning a defeat into a victory.
You remember early on, like the Ugly Duckling before
him, Rudolph was despised, rejected, teased and taunted because of his red nose
but then in the end he becomes the hero. He saves the day with his “nose so
bright.”
Now, let me remind you of another Rudolph... Wilma
Rudolph. She was a tall long-legged girl from Clarksville, Tennessee,
representing the United States in the 1956 and 1960 Olympic Games.
When the 1960 Olympic Games
were over, Wilma Rudolph had become the first American woman ever to win three
gold medals in track and along the way she set a number of world records. It
was a remarkable achievement even more amazing than you might think, because, for
the first one-third of her life, Wilma Rudolph couldn’t even walk. Her left leg
was paralyzed. The doctors were not encouraging at all. They told Wilma’s
family that she would never be able to walk without the aid of heavy braces.
But Wilma Rudolph’s mother refused to accept these
limitations. She started praying daily asking God to bring strength to Wilma’s
weak legs. And she began massaging and exercising Wilma’s legs when Wilma was
four years old, determined to help her little girl walk. She trained the older
brothers and sisters how to massage and rub and exercise Wilma’s weak left leg.
Four times every day for almost five years, the family members took turns
working with little Wilma... and more times than that every day they prayed for
her. Finally Wilma got better and got a brace for her leg and then progressed
to a heavy high top shoe. One day when Wilma was about nine, her mother looked
out to see her daughter running and jumping and playing basketball—and Wilma
was bare-footed.
Wilma Rudolph went on to
become the fastest woman in her generation because she and her family refused
to quit when life dealt them a very hard blow. They were people of faith and hard
work and they refused to accept defeat.
Remember that powerful verse in Paul’s letter to
the Philippians: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
(Phil. 4:13) I like the way my seminary professor paraphrased this. He said it
means: “Bring it on! I’m ready to face it! Christ is my strength.”
When Christ came into the world as a baby born
in a stable, He came to a world where many people felt down and out and
defeated. He came to show them and us that He will be with us always and that
He can lift us above anything that threatens to defeat us. He showed us in a
manger and He showed us on the cross that His love is the most powerful thing
in the world... and that if we believe in Him and trust Him, nothing need
defeat us. Christmas comes around once each year to remind us of that. Christ
can save us from disillusionment. Christ can save us from defeat.