THE OTHER SIDE OF CHRISTMAS

Religion

This sermon was preached at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Cherry Log, Georgia on December 16, 2012 by Pastor Paul Mims.

Luke 1:26-45
No confederate generals were more popular than General George Pickett, General Robert E. Lee, and General Stonewall Jackson. General George Pickett was the leader of the confederate forces as they faced the federal forces at Gettysburg. On the night before the battle the confederate army was lined up for two miles facing the army of General Ulysses Grant. General Grant looked down and saw the forces of the South celebrating. There were fires lit all along the front line. The soldiers were singing. General Grant didn’t know what was happening so he sent some scouts to find out what was going on. They came back and reported that General Pickett had become a father. A son was born and the southern forces were celebrating. General Grant said, “Why then should we not celebrate with him! Get some wood and we will build some fires to the honor of young Pickett.” That night before the great battle of Gettysburg there was not a shot fired, not even a gun was aimed at the enemy and both sides celebrated the birth of the son of General George Pickett.

The birth of this child had tremendous influence on the troops for a brief time. But of course, it did not last long. The very next day as they advanced the battle of Gettysburg resulted in one of the greatest losses of men in our entire American History.

Christmas does have a stilling effect. We are entering a time when we see people as individuals with personal needs and we want to help them. Even for people we don’t know we wish them a Merry Christmas. The attention of the world turns to the Prince of Peace. Then like the battle of Gettysburg it is over – and the world goes about its way.

I want to suggest to you that what we see is a battle and that is what we are engaged in now. C. S. Lewis, the great Christian philosopher said, “There is no neutral ground in the universe. Every square inch, every split second God claims for his own and Satan counterclaims it.”

I. CHRISTMAS CAN PRODUCE PERSONAL CONFLICT.

Christmas produces peace, but it also produces conflict. The very fact that the message of Christ brings peace, hope and joy also produces conflict in our world by the forces arrayed against him. We see it in the experience of Mary. Mary must have had a lot of inner conflict because the Angel Gabriel announced to her that she would be the mother of the Messiah that her people had been expecting for hundreds of years. This conception would be like none other conception known to man. It would be God induced contrary to the laws of physical nature. She said, “How can this be, seeing that I am a virgin, and I know not a man?” Gabriel said, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and you will conceive and you will bear the child.”

If you read between the lines of biblical account you can see Mary’s personal conflict. Luke tells us that Mary leaves Nazareth and hurries to a town in the hill country of Judea and stays for three months with Zachariah and Elizabeth. They would understand for Gabriel had also appeared to tell them that they would have a child in their old age who would become John the Baptist. Mary was submissive to the Lord and said, “Be it unto me as you have said.” But she had to get away and think. How was she going to tell others what had happened? She knew what the others would say about her. “Shame on Mary. Look what she had done.” “Mary, are you kidding?” But she won her personal conflict battle by being obedient to the Lord and knowing that she knew that it all was of God.

The celebration of Christmas can produce personal conflict in us at times. On Monday, fourteen of us went to the Ellijay nursing home and to Cameron Hall to sing carols to the people living there. Although they were enjoying having singing visitors, I thought that down beneath the surface some of them were thinking, “Christmas will not ever be the same again for me and my family.” One year in Myrtle Beach at Christmas I greeted one of our men and said, “My, you look bright today.” He said, “Well, I don’t feel so bright. I’ve got my Christmas depression.” I said, “Tell me about it.” He said, ‘You know, we see all these television programs and they are riding in a sleigh singing songs and going to everybody’s house singing and laughing, and I’m thinking, “Why don’t I feel happy like that?” Sometimes Christmas has the ability to produce in us inner conflicts, especially when we remember the happy times of the past and the expectations of the present.

II. CHRISTMAS CAN PRODUCE RELATIONAL CONFLICTS

Christmas produces joy and all of the marvelous warm feelings we have and it also has the ability to produce relational conflicts. Mary had that too, especially with Joseph. After she came back from visiting Elizabeth for three months, she began to show a little that she was pregnant. You can imagine what Joseph went through when he saw her. “Why, Mary what happened to you?” “Joseph, listen to me.” “Mary, our engagement is off!” He decided not to make a big public issue of it, but to do it quietly and without fanfare.

What about Mary’s parents? Nothing is said about them. But you can imagine that when Mary got back to Nazareth they wanted to know, “What happened to you down there in Judea?” Can you see Mary trying to explain this to her mother? What would her father have said? So you can see that Mary had relational conflicts with be doubted by her fiancé, and doubted by her mother and father.

What about Mary’s girl friends in Nazareth? She comes to talk to them. They have always been friends and have had “girl talk” all through the years. They say to her, “Mary, this never happens like you have described. We are your friends, but you have to own up to this now. You have got to tell the truth. Everyone will think that you are crazy.” This wonderful event was causing her friends to disbelieve and shun her.

What about Mary’s synagogue there in Nazareth? What would her rabbi think? He and this group of people had nourished her every Sabbath day and knew that she was engaged to Joseph. You can imagine the people in the synagogue saying, “Mary, we taught you different from this. We taught you the Ten Commandments. We told you how God wants you to be pure before marriage.” So there was probably a point where most of Mary’s relationships had questions about her. But God protected her and sent Gabriel to tell Joseph that Mary was telling the truth.

We can solve our relational conflicts by living and telling the truth. The truth may not always make peace, but it does set you free to improve the situation.

Christmas is a time when families are together. It is a happy time, but it can be a time when mistrust, suspicion, difficulty, and conflict can come out. But let it be known that in the life of Mary all of these things were present, but God worked all things together for good.

III. CHRISTMAS PRODUCES SOCIETAL CONFLICT

The birth of Jesus caused tremendous conflict in the government of Judea. Herod, afraid that another King was born to take over his line, ordered all of the boys in Bethlehem two years old and under to be killed. Can you imagine the conflict and heartache this caused? How could a story so beautiful, so filled with hope, so drenched in joy, cause such conflict in society? But it is doing it today as well.
The politically correct greeting today is not “Merry Christmas” which means “Blessed worship of the Christ” but “Happy Holidays.” Every year, we see the Christmas wars over manger scenes, observances in public schools and buildings.

“The management of a senior citizens’ apartment complex in Newhall, California has decided the annual Christmas tree has got to go, along with the menorahs, as reported by the Los Angeles Daily News:
On Tuesday of this past week, Tarzana-based JB Partners Group Inc. sent a memo to staff at The Willows senior apartment building demanding they take down Christmas trees and menorahs in communal areas. The company has owned The Willows for four years, but this is the first time it’s given such a directive to staff.

On Wednesday, two dozen residents in the 75-resident complex gathered in the lobby to place a neon green sign that read: “Please Save Our Tree.”

“We’re all angry. We want that tree,” said Fern Scheel, who has lived at the complex for nearly two years. “Where’s our freedom? This is ridiculous.”

Religious freedom and militant atheism are fundamentally incompatible, which is kind of funny for a culture that supposedly worships “tolerance” as the supreme virtue. So much for all those “COEXIST” bumper stickers. Nobody gets to “coexist” with the atheists.

Judging by the article, all of the residents at The Willows are pretty upset by the elimination of the Christmas tree, pointedly including Ms. Franches Schaeffer, who is Jewish. “This tree is a symbol of reverence that we can all enjoy regardless of our religious beliefs,” she said, apparently forgetting that one particular religious belief calls for the aggressive elimination of all others, and does not enjoy any aspect of them in the slightest.”

“The L.A. Daily News writers couldn’t seem to nail down whether anyone actually filed a complaint against the Christmas tree. That’s the thing about militant atheism these days: it can be thin and bloodless, rather than passionate. It has permeated the culture deeply enough to run on cruise control, even when no one takes the wheel.

The newspaper also could not establish exactly which person at the management company suddenly noticed, after four years of management and considerably more years of holiday custom, that Christmas trees are “religious symbols.” None of the ornaments in the picture look like religious symbols.”
I clipped an article several years ago entitled “Scholars Attack Biblical Claims.” This was about 77 biblical scholars who call themselves “The Jesus Seminar.” They have decided that Jesus didn’t really say many of the things that the gospel writers recorded. According to them he never said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the father except by Me.” “There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner that repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance.” He never gave the “Great Commission.” He never said, “I am the Bread of Life.” He never said, “Take up your cross and follow me.” He never instituted the symbolic last meal. He never said, “The Lord’s Prayer.” Do you doubt that the Christmas story of God’s redeeming love produces conflict when the Knight-Ridder papers across the country at Christmastime carried a story of this group of scholars who said in effect, “We don’t believe it.”

I don’t object to anything in the Bible being put under the greatest scrutiny, but I do object to men who claim to be scholars telling us that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were wrong in what they recorded about Jesus. The fact this was released at Christmas in a recent year is no accident. It was meant to produce conflict in the guise of enlightenment.

How are we to handle things like this? We must be steady and firm. We examine what they say and determine the truth for ourselves under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.”

What is really happening as the world looks at Christians celebrating the birth of our Savior is a spiritual struggle. The true side of Christmas produces worship, celebration, and blessings that God is with us. It also produces a spiritual struggle between the forces of God and Satan.

Spiritual conflict is going on in our world and it may be going on in you. You see, God claims every part of your life and Satan tries to counter-claim everything about you. Some of the conflict that you may be feeling is the very same thing that Christmas produces. It is such a blessed and wonderful thing to win a personal spiritual victory here at Christmas.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote:

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

PRAISE BE TO HIS NAME!

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