Go Home and Tell This Christmas
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Around this time of year we, along with most other churches throughout the world, approach the Christmas season with sermons surrounding Christ’s birth. We talk about the details of Mary and Joseph, the specifics leading up to His birth, and the implications of his coming. We speak on the subjects of joy, grace, peace, hope, and love. We remind ourselves that Christmas is all about Christ and not about us.
Last week we reemphasized this truth by looking at OT prophecy and the reality that Christ was the long awaited One.
He was the original plan before the foundations of the world.
He was the fulfillment of God’s past dealings with mankind.
He is the only hope for humanity today.
Indeed, Christmas is more than a holiday, it is a Holy Day reminding us of the purpose of Christ’s coming.
As we studied last week,
1. Sin is severe and results in judgement
2. Sin separates us from a Holy God
3. Sin has been defeated by Jesus
Friend, Christ came to seek and to save those who are lost.
Last week we emphasized that this season is supposed to be all about Christ.
And as we looked at John 1, we see John’s emphasis on Him alone.
That is the Word - Jesus Christ who has always been
Jesus Christ - God the Son
Jesus Christ - who made all things
Jesus Christ - the light of the world
Jesus Christ - who was foretold of and rejected
Jesus Christ - Who, when received, gives the right to become a child of God
Jesus Christ - Who became flesh and dwelt among us.
Jesus - The fulfillment of all expectation, leading up to His coming - actually came.
God said He would come and He did.
And as we wrapped up last week, we walked away remembering John 1:14
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John recognized that deity took on humanity, and the result was beholding Jesus’ glory.
John and those who looked on Christ, gazed with astonishment, at the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
And we are wise and blessed to gaze upon who Christ is, and the implications of His grace in our lives.
You know, we are a blessed people.
Not just in a material sense, although our physical blessings are noteworthy.
But friend, as the assembly of the redeemed, we are the most blessed populace on the planet!
As we reflect on this year together, and our study of Romans, it should not take you long to remember how spiritually blessed we are.
As you well remember:
The righteousness of God is extended to the unrighteous through faith in the Gospel.
In Romans 1-3 we learned of our problem apart from the Gospel in that we are all sinners and our sin requires the just judgement of God. Because we are inherently sinful, we deserve eternal punishment apart from God in Hell. None of us are exempt from this just verdict. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
However, as we learned in Romans 4-5, God has provided righteousness to us through the Gospel. God came to us in the person of Jesus Christ and lived a perfect, sinless life. Through God’s gracious gift of His Son, He provided what we can never attain on our own. In spite of our depravity (inherent sin nature), God provided a way of peace to those who are dead in Adam, through life in Jesus Christ.
Now, as we learned in Romans 6-8, the power of this righteousness provided by God has freed us from being slaves to our sin nature, and has allowed us to serve God instead. No longer am I bound to fulfill the desires of my flesh, but I have the privilege to submit to God. And although I am yet to be freed from the presence of sin (it’s all around me, and frankly, still within me), I am freed from its power over me. God has brought me into his family and is enabling me to change from what I used to be, and into what I am to become. My sinfulness is to become less and less present, and Christ-likeness is to become more and more present as he sanctifies me. And through the ups and downs of this struggle, God’s love is everlasting.
But why, Why would God do such a gracious thing in my life?
Well, according to Romans 9-11, it wasn’t because of some inherent goodness on my part. As we zoomed in and studied these passages out at a turn-by-turn view, we learned of the Sovereignty of God and how his reasoning for being so gracious to me was solely because of His goodness and mercy. These chapters emphasized the dually true aspects of God’s Sovereignty and Human Responsibility. Although it is clear that God chose me in spite of me, I genuinely expressed faith in Him at conversion. And because his grace in my life is not dependent on me, my focus for Christian living is not on me either. It began by His grace and it continues by His grace - if Romans 9-11 taught us anything, it taught us that this life is not about us! It is all about Him! Our dependence, gratitude, and affections are to be directed toward Him! He is the only One worthy of our all!
And as Paul makes a transition in 12-16 to how all of this belief translates into how we behave, we learn that true conversion manifests itself in tangible ways. Because of God’s good gift to us through the Gospel, we now present ourselves wholly to Him as living sacrifices. We center our hearts and minds on His glory and refresh daily in Gospel truth. Because of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus (the Gospel) our daily lives are different. That offense, this disagreement, submission to authority, preferences, joy in people work, and our approach to being generous with God’s good gifts to us all are filtered now by what we know to be true because of the Gospel.
Jesus dying for me changes how I respond to those in my life who hurt me.
Jesus coming back from the dead changes how I respond to situations that seem hopeless.
Jesus providing eternal life to me changes my priorities on a daily basis and the goals of the relationships in my life.
Friend, the Gospel changes everything!
We don’t visit Gospel truth at conversion then move on to higher things from there. We visit Gospel truth at conversion then every day of this progressive sanctification process to follow.
We are blessed beyond measure because God in His grace, introduced us to the transformative work of His grace through the Gospel!
Friend, God has had marvelous compassion on you and has done great things for you!
And as we reflect on His grace, it produces joy, and peace, and hope, and love. The celebration of the coming of Christ, viewed through the lens of the Gospel, is something to celebrate indeed!
Now, as you contemplate your coming week, I want to encourage you to think outside your own celebration.
I was reading this week a sermon by Charles Hadden Spurgeon from 1856, and was encouraged by his outward focus on Christmas. And I would like to invite you on this journey with me this morning,
If you would, please turn to Mark 5 this morning. (5:19)
Typically in services leading up to Christmas we visit Matthew 1 or Luke 2. And is you are looking to begin your Christmas morning with your family, those are good chapters to choose from.
However, this morning we will take a little different of a turn - a turn from the specifics of this Holy Day to the implications of it in a genuine recipient.
In Mark 5 we encounter a man who was possessed by demons. It’s an intense story, but in a nutshell this man was demonically possessed and lived in a graveyard of sorts. He was a danger to himself and to society, yet he was unable to be bound by anything or anyone. That is until Christ came on the scene.
You see in John 5, immediately upon seeing Christ, this man ran to the feet of Jesus. As the story unfolds, Christ cast the demons out of the man and into a herd of swine close by. As Mark is writing, he speaks of how those who were feeding the swine ran away into the city and told everyone what had happened, and in turn, the people came out to see it for themselves.
And upon seeing Jesus and the previously possessed man, they found him in a completely different state than normal - he was clothed, sitting, and in his right mind.
Christ had done a transformative work - and the people didn’t know how to respond!
In fact, they asked Christ to leave - because their fear of what they didn’t understand overwhelmed them.
And as Christ enters the boat:
18 And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him.
19 However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.”
20 And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled.
v. 18 - This is a natural response right! If someone completely transformed your life, you would want to be with Him!
However,
v. 19 - Jesus didn’t permit him to do that right then. Instead he gave him a commandment.
Here in v. 19 as we park and ponder for a minute, we see the place, the people, and the purpose of his mission.
You see this maniac was to go home.
He was to go to the place where things were real, and where vulnerability is at it’s best. He was to go home - a place that he hadn’t frequented in a while. A place where bridges had been burnt and where uncertainty lived. Jesus was sending him back to where he needed to be.
Not only was he to go to a specific place, but he was called to a specific people -
To the ones who knew best his past, his character, and his failures. He was called to go spend time with the ones he hurt, the ones he had disagreements with, with the ones that he hadn’t seen for some time.
But also, he was called to this place and people for a purpose.
You see the Lord had compassion on this man and had done great things for him. He brought him out of bondage and delivered him to freedom. He took what was hopeless and now was filled with hope. He took his anger, fear, and destruction and exchanged that for joy, peace, and life. Literally, he took him out of the graveyard and sent him home!
Friend, as you look at the life of Christ and what he came to do, if his grace has impacted your life and eternity, if you have now realized the great things he has done for you and the compassion he has shown to you - the go home and tell about it.
And as you tell of His grace in your life, be sure to make it about God and his grace.
Spurgeon wrote:
The New Park Street Pulpit Sermons, Vol. III Going Home—A Christmas Sermon (No. 109)
It is not, “Tell thy friends how great things thou hast done thyself,” but “how great things the Lord hath done for thee.” The man who always dwells upon free will and the power of the creature, and denies the doctrines of grace, invariably mixes up a great deal of what he has done himself in telling his experience; but the believer in free grace, who holds the great cardinal truths of the gospel, ignores this, and declares, “I will tell what the Lord hath done for me. It is true I must tell how I was first made to pray; but I will tell it thus—
‘Grace taught my soul to pray,
Grace made my eyes o’erflow.’
It is true, I must tell in how many troubles and trials God has been with me; but I will tell it thus.—
‘’Twas grace which kept me to this day,
And will not let me go.’ ”
We began this year in Philippians 2 and have spent extensive time together looking at both the light of the gospel in your own life and how to share that light with others.
The first Sunday of the year, we looked at Philippians 2:13-16
13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
14 Do all things without complaining and disputing,
15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
16 holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.
v. 13 - God is the one who gives His own the desire (will) and the ability (to do) His good pleasure.
Your obedience is a matter of dependence and insufficiency, not self-sufficiency.
Then Paul transitions from the groundwork of this process to the practical outflow
v. 14 - guard your heart
v. 15 - because your mission is in the middle of those who are indifferent or directly oppose righteousness.
Paul wrote it as those who are crooked and perverse because they don’t understand the Word.
In truth, Believers are to be straight models for distorted lives.
And in the middle of those who are indifferent and those who are obstinate - YOU ARE TO SHINE AS LIGHTS.
Flashlight - many parts
Battery - stores energy
Lightbulb - emits light from the energy of the battery
Mirror - reflects the light emitted from the bulb produced by the energy of the battery
The battery has a power source - but is limited in capacity and longevity - must be recharged
Bulb has a lot of potential, but must have a power source
Mirror doesn’t produce the light, but enhances and extends the purpose of the whole device.
Church family, believer, let me challenge you to think missionally this Christmas.
Christ came for a purpose.
That purpose has transformed your heart, life, and eternity.
Allow His purpose to infuse your purpose, and go home and tell your friends about what he has done.