Taking Christmas Back It Begins with You
Taking Back Christmas • Sermon • Submitted
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· 6 viewsWe will seek to take Christmas back. Christmas is traditionally known as a time of joy, laughter, good tidings and family. We ask the question is this really what happens at Christmas? Our goal is to restore these things this year at Christmas.
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Introducing the Series
Friday night we were invited to Second Baptist Springfield for the Horton/Reynolds Sunday school class party.
I have been reflecting on this year’s Christmas Series. As I walked up to the church, they had on the glass doors and across the front windows this image.
(Show Image)
Notice the words HOPE, LOVE, JOY, and PEACE. These words really stuck out to me. I thought how many of us really feel this at Christmas time? How many of us really feel like hope (when you are searching to find gifts for the kids with no money)? How many of us are filled with love (When the family gathers and don’t invite you or family has passed that you can’t gather with)? How many are filled with joy (When you are trying to find the right gift or just ensure that everyone has a gift)? How many people honestly have Peace during Christmas?
When I look at those words Hope, Love, Joy and Peace, this is what Christ came for. Christ came to bring Hope, Love, Joy and Peace.
Every commercial on TV depicts Christmas as a time filled with these things. There was a commercial last night of a family playing jenga. The dad pulls a big jenga block out and then immediately slips a little black box in the slot and the wife grabs the box with the kids all around and she opens to find and beautiful diamond ring. It looks full of hope, love, joy, and peace.
I can imagine how this would go down if I was to try this. First she is going to say what did you just buy?!? When my credit card purchase hits her phone. Then I can just see the McGuire family enjoying a good game of jenga together and me trying to time it just right to slide the diamond box through. Trust me it would not look like hope, love, joy and peace.
I love this image
(Show Christmas village image)
Just take that in for a moment. Look at the houses all decked out with lights. Snow is on the ground. A horse that is pulling Santa is coming down the street. Everyone is out of their house. They are all dressed in warm clothing. The picture is so full of joy. You can see Christmas trees through the window.
I ask myself is this even possible or realistic and if it is what will it take to get there.
What will it take for us to experience Christmas hope, love, joy, and peace?
I would say one of the biggest barriers this Christmas to experience hope, love, joy and peace is you.
Imagine with me for a moment. This coffee cup represents your life. Life brings with it brokenness.
For some this morning brokenness is represented in brokenness of relationships. Maybe it’s with your children, your ex, the father or mother of your children, your parents, your boss, a family member or friend. I believe this type of brokenness is the most common type of brokenness.
During Christmas time this brokenness of relationships always rears its ugly head.
(Strike the cup one time)
Brokenness may also be represented in this room as something that someone has done to you. You did not deserve it but they hurt you. It could be physically, emotionally or mentally. You did not do anything but they harmed you and started to create brokenness. You constantly question the why to this brokenness.
These two relational brokenness and brokenness as a result of something someone else has done to you are represented in this verse.
10 For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up.
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During the Holidays, this brokenness rears its ugly head and tells you that you are all alone and no one is there to lift you up when you fall.
(Strike the cup)
In order to deal with this brokenness, it is common that people turn to drugs or alcohol to mask the pain from this brokenness. This compounds the problem and creates more pain.
(Strike the cup)
Brokenness also comes from losing people we love and not being able to be with them on the Holidays.
We long for the picture of the Village. We want hope, love, joy and peace but we are left with brokenness that becomes very real at Christmas time.
When we read through the genealogy of Jesus, we find brokenness.
It breaks my heart that Christmas is not full of hope, love, joy, and peace. I want to make every possible effort to seek love, joy, and peace.
I believe to experience these things it starts with us.
1 The historical record of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:
2 Abraham fathered Isaac, Isaac fathered Jacob, Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers,
Matthew 1:
There is brokenness listed here in the family tree of Jesus. Judah is a story of brokenness.
I want to zero in on Judah’s brothers and see this story of brokenness.
1 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.
2 These are the family records of Jacob. At 17 years of age, Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. The young man was working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought a bad report about them to their father.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age, and he made a robe of many colors for him.
4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.
Genesis 37:
At this point, what is Joseph responsible?
Could Joseph control that his father loved him more than his other sons?
NO
Could Joseph control that his brothers hated him because of his fathers love?
NO
Can you imagine if this family was to gather for Christmas today what that might look like?
They could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.
5 Then Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.
6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had:
7 There we were, binding sheaves of grain in the field. Suddenly my sheaf stood up, and your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.”
8 “Are you really going to reign over us?” his brothers asked him. “Are you really going to rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and what he had said.
9 Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers. “Look,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun, moon, and 11 stars were bowing down to me.”
10 He told his father and brothers, but his father rebuked him. “What kind of dream is this that you have had?” he said. “Are your mother and brothers and I going to come and bow down to the ground before you?”
11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
Genesis 37:5-
So perhaps Joseph could have kept his mouth closed. I know there are so many times I wish I would not have said something. Joseph tells his brothers and they hate him even more. His brothers become jealous of you.
You ever deal with jealousy in family. Perhaps you are jealous of another family member or that family member is jealous of you.
12 His brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem.
13 Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers, you know, are pasturing the flocks at Shechem. Get ready. I’m sending you to them.” “I’m ready,” Joseph replied.
14 Then Israel said to him, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem.
15 A man found him there, wandering in the field, and asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16 “I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph said. “Can you tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?”
17 “They’ve moved on from here,” the man said. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
18 They saw him in the distance, and before he had reached them, they plotted to kill him.
19 They said to one another, “Here comes that dreamer!
20 Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”
21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from them. He said, “Let’s not take his life.”
22 Reuben also said to them, “Don’t shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him”—intending to rescue him from their hands and return him to his father.
23 When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off his robe, the robe of many colors that he had on.
24 Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
25 Then they sat down to eat a meal. They looked up, and there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying aromatic gum, balsam, and resin, going down to Egypt.
26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?
27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh,” and they agreed.
28 When Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for 20 pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt.
29 When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.
30 He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone! What am I going to do?”
31 So they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the robe in its blood.
32 They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it. Is it your son’s robe or not?”
33 His father recognized it. “It is my son’s robe,” he said. “A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has been torn to pieces!”
34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.
35 All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” And his father wept for him.
36 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard.
Genesis 37:12-
So much brokenness. Joseph is sold. In today’s terms he would be a slave or trafficked for money. His brothers throw him in a pit. They take his robe that his father had given him.
I know this that many of you have told me about some of your greatest keep sakes and those are things from your mom or dad. It may not have any value to others but to you it has a great amount of value.
Joseph’s brothers take the coat from him throw him in to a pit and then they sell him. They then go back to their father a lie about what has happened to him.
I would say this very much represents brokenness and represents brokenness that some here this morning are facing during this Christmas season.
Now notice what Lydia is doing. Lydia loves art and I have seen some of her videos online so I asked her if during this Christmas season if she would assist me with some sermons.
Lydia the artist is working to put pieces back together.
Joseph is walking through brokenness with His family but God is working through the brokenness to put Joseph’s life back together.
The Great Brokenness of Joseph
The Great Brokenness of Joseph
1 Now Joseph had been taken to Egypt. An Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there.
2 The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egyptian master.
3 When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made everything he did successful,
4 Joseph found favor in his master’s sight and became his personal attendant. Potiphar also put him in charge of his household and placed all that he owned under his authority.
5 From the time that he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house because of Joseph. The Lord’s blessing was on all that he owned, in his house and in his fields.
6 He left all that he owned under Joseph’s authority; he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome.
7 After some time his master’s wife looked longingly at Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.”
8 But he refused. “Look,” he said to his master’s wife, “with me here my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has put all that he owns under my authority.
9 No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?”
10 Although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her.
11 Now one day he went into the house to do his work, and none of the household servants were there.
12 She grabbed him by his garment and said, “Sleep with me!” But leaving his garment in her hand, he escaped and ran outside.
13 When she saw that he had left his garment with her and had run outside,
14 she called the household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “my husband brought a Hebrew man to make fools of us. He came to me so he could sleep with me, and I screamed as loud as I could.
15 When he heard me screaming for help, he left his garment with me and ran outside.”
16 She put Joseph’s garment beside her until his master came home.
17 Then she told him the same story: “The Hebrew slave you brought to us came to make a fool of me,
18 but when I screamed for help, he left his garment with me and ran outside.”
19 When his master heard the story his wife told him—“These are the things your slave did to me”—he was furious
20 and had him thrown into prison, where the king’s prisoners were confined. So Joseph was there in prison.
Genesis 39:1-20
Can you imagine this? Some of you might say yes I can because this has happened to me. I have been accused of things that I did not do.
Potipher’s wife was persistent and wanted Joseph to sleep with her day after day and he would not. Joseph continued to do what was right. Every time she would pursue him, Joseph would refuse and do what was right.
Ever been accused of something you simply did not do?
I believe this is the greatest brokenness of Joseph being accused of something that he did not do.
Can you imagine the thoughts of Joseph? Can you imagine what you would be thinking if this had happened to you? I did the right thing and now I am the one being punished for this.
God why do you keep bringing brokenness on me?
All the while God is crafting the story of Joseph and taking the broken pieces and putting Joseph back together.
21 But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him. He granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.
22 The warden put all the prisoners who were in the prison under Joseph’s authority, and he was responsible for everything that was done there.
23 The warden did not bother with anything under Joseph’s authority, because the Lord was with him, and the Lord made everything that he did successful.
Genesis 39:21—23
1 Joseph could no longer keep his composure in front of all his attendants, so he called out, “Send everyone away from me!” No one was with him when he revealed his identity to his brothers.
2 But he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and also Pharaoh’s household heard it.
3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But they could not answer him because they were terrified in his presence.
4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please, come near me,” and they came near. “I am Joseph, your brother,” he said, “the one you sold into Egypt.
5 And now don’t be worried or angry with yourselves for selling me here, because God sent me ahead of you to preserve life.
6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there will be five more years without plowing or harvesting.
7 God sent me ahead of you to establish you as a remnant within the land and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.
8 Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
Genesis 45:1-
This Christmas Jesus came as God in the flesh. Jesus was not created but he was born of a Virgin. He came to this Earth to bring hope, love, joy, and peace.
Notice that Joseph recognizes the God sent me ahead of you to establish you as a remnant within the land and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.
The artist over here has been working to put the pieces back together. Notice that it is back together but what do you notice about it.
It shows the signs of brokenness. This sign of brokenness is revealed through the cracks in the cup.
Watch what happens when we put a light inside the cup.
Do you see it?
The light begins to shine through the brokenness.
Our lives are broken. When Christ becomes the Lord of our life and we pursue his original design for our lives, the brokenness of our lives begins to reveal the light of Jesus.
It is through the cracks that his light starts to shine.
Love, joy, hope and peace can return this Christmas when we focus on the love of Jesus. He is putting your life back together one piece at a time. The cracks are not there to reveal your faults but they are there to reveal the love of Jesus as he is putting you back together.