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Isaiah 9:2-7
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I’m guessing your
childhood memories of Christmas are a little different to mine. You see I’m from Australia. Christmas, for me, meant waking up
very early on Christmas morning, not just because I was excited but
because the sun was up so early.
We’d get up and have a special Christmas breakfast. We’d always have some beautiful ripe
mangoes and maybe a fresh slice of pineapple. Something nice and
tropical. I’d put on my best
church clothes – my finest pair of shorts and my best surfer
T-shirt. Then after church we’d
go home and open our presents and then lunch was hot and sticky because
we were one of the traditional Australian families that still had
a roast lunch even though it was 40 degrees outside. In the afternoon we’d go for a swim
and then some backyard cricket.
And then we might top it all off with a classic Christmas carol
JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE BELLS
JINGLE ALL THE WAY
CHRISTMAS IN AUSTRALIA
ON A SCORCHING SUMMER'S DAY
JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE BELLS
CHRISTMAS TIME IS BEAUT
OH WHAT FUN IT IS TO RIDE
IN A CLAPPED OUT RUSTY UTE
That was the Christmas
of my childhood.
And you’re all sitting
there thinking ‘That’s wrong!’ I know that’s what your thinking because in 14 years of
living in this country the one thing I’ve found English people can’t
understand about Australia is that we have a hot Christmas. Somehow you can forgive everything
else: Neighbours, Rolf Harris, Danni Minogue. The English will forgive a
lot – but one thing that you seem to find inconceivable is a Summer Christmas.
And you know
what? I think you are right. Christmas is a winter celebration. Christmas should be set in the
dark. Our Isaiah reading was very
clear about that. Look at verse 2
2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those
living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
Christmas happens In
the Bleak Midwinter. Christmas
begins in darkness. It’s not
about reflecting the brightness of the world around us. It’s the very opposite. Christmas is
for people walking in darkness.
Christmas is for people living in the shadow of death.
We need to hear that
because Christmas is such a difficult time for so many. And you might feel out of place in the
world if you find Christmas hard. Let me assure you, you’re not out of
place in the Bible. In the Bible,
Christmas is for people in dark places.
Isaiah the prophet
speaks 700 years before the first Christmas. But here he predicts the birth of Christ, the Messiah. And in this verse he paints a powerful
picture of what it looks like to live before Christ comes to us. It’s darkness.
Darkness means three
things. One is ignorance. We speak of people being dim or being
unenlightened. This darkness here
is an ignorace of God. Before
Christ is given to us, the Bible insists we are groping around in the
dark. We do not and cannot know
our Maker.
Spike Milligan is one
of my favourite comedians. A man
who wanted on his gravestone the words: “See, I told you I was ill.” Spike was once asked if he ever
prayed. He answered ‘Yes I do
pray, desperately, all the time.
I just have no idea who I’m praying to.’ I find those words so sad.
Such ignorance of God is tragic.
But it’s so many people today.
I’m sure it’s many
people in this room today. In the dark about God. You don’t know Him – Him who is
your life! That’s darkness.
Secondly, darkness is
where we hide to keep our lives from God. Darkness represents our rebellion. It’s a horrible state to be in really,
but we naturally prefer darkness.
I don’t like the idea of my life being brought out into the
light. No-one wants to be exposed
to the clear light of day. So,
even though it’s a cold, dark captivity, we all like to live apart from
God. We are rebels. Stuck in our ways, stuck in the dark.
Darkness also speaks
of death. Isaiah speaks of living
in the shadow of death. That is a
gripping image. Death overshadows
all we do and leaves us in the cold, in the dark. That’s true for everyone in this
room. You have a certain number
of heart-beats left. And then it
will stop. And every beat moves
you closer to that time. We are
all in the shadow of death – a terrifying darkness.
So that’s the
context of Christmas. That’s where we are as Christ is given to us:
Ignorant, rebellious and under a death-sentence.
Unless you understand
the darkness you’re not going to celebrate the light. Do you realize that, apart from
Christ, you are trapped in ignorance, rebellion and a terrifying death
sentence. That is the bleak mid-winter in which we all find ourselves.
And so Christmas is
not a summer celebration. It’s
not a celebration of our sunny circumstances. Christmas is a celebration in spite of our circumstances. We are in the dark, and there is
nothing in our grasp that will solve these problems. Family, friends, relationships, money,
power, security, acclaim – none of these things can solve the problem of
our darkness. None of them deal
with the fact that we’re ignorant of God, we’re a rebel in His world and
we’re under a death-sentence.
Family, friends, relationships, money, security are wonderful
things but none of them deliver you from the darkness. Can you admit that to yourself? Can you admit it to God? There’s nothing in our world that
should actually cause us to celebrate Christmas – except that an
other-worldly Light has dawned.
What is this
Light? What could possibly
transform our situation from darkness to light, from ignorance to
enlightenment, from rebellion to peace, from death to life? Answer: a baby.
Here’s how the Isaiah
reading goes on…
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government
will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the
increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign
on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness from that time on and for ever.
Here’s the solution. A baby. The One in the manger is Light for a dark world. Because this is no ordinary
child. Just look at His names.
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace. I don’t
know if any of you are pregnant or thinking about names for
children. But naming a child can
put a certain amount of pressure on them. Names sometimes generate expectations that are hard to live up to. Especially if you call them things
like Mighty God. You can imagine
at the school gate, Joseph and Mary saying ‘That’s our boy, Mighty
God. We have high hopes.’ Mighty God is a difficult name to live
up to. Unless of course you are
the Mighty God. And then the name
fits.
Well the Bible is clear, from beginning to
end, Jesus – the holy infant so tender and mild – is the Mighty God, the
Creator and Judge of All. As our reading
from John proclaimed: In the beginning was the Word, He was with God the
Father in the beginning, with His Father and the Spirit they created all
things. And then, on Christmas
morning, the Word who made us, became flesh and made His home among us.
Now if I ask you to picture God, where does
your mind go? Christmas tells us,
look down into the manger. Whatever your idea of God was, now See Him
lying on a bed of straw: There
you see the Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince
of Peace. Because there you see a
God who comes, who turns up, who stoops, who suffers alongside, who
knows, who identifies.
Many people
will say they believe in God today, but which god do you believe in? For
all gods are not the same. Do you
believe in a god out there. A god
separate, aloof, apart. Christmas tells us we don’t know who God is. The gods we had thought existed never
showed up. They never stooped to
make themselves known. But the
God of Christmas morning is the God who showed up. And He shocked the world by showing up
in the manger. Look to the
manger, there you see a God who is not against us, He is not apart from
us. He is not simply God above
us, but God with us, God alongside us, God for us. God the Son has become God our Brother.
And He,
our Brother is the One who verse 6 says takes the government on His
shoulders.
That’s an
great image. The government of
the world on Christ’s shoulders.
Jesus told a
story of finding a lost sheep in a far country and hoisting it on His shoulders
and carrying it home. It’s
similar here. Christmas is the
time when Christ seeks out His lost people and, finding us, He takes our
whole predicament on Himself. He
takes us on His shoulders in all our darkness and He carries us home to
the Father. You see the Christmas
child grew up to live the life you and I should have lived. And then He dies the death you and I
should have died. We are under a
death sentence. Christ on the
cross suffers the death sentence, He suffers the ultimate darkness so
that we can enjoy the light. But
not only that He rose from the dead, delivering us out of the shadow of
death and returned to heaven. And
He did all this carrying us, in all our humanity, back to the
Father.
The
government is on His shoulders. The
Creator has come and taken responsibility for us. He’s taken hold of us, wrenched us
from the powers of darkness and brought us into the light.
Do you
feel like the world is on your shoulders? Maybe at Christmas more than ever you do? Well now the word of God has told you
the government is on His shoulders. Give up the pretence of being in
charge. Being the supreme ruler of your life is a heavy burden which you
were never meant to bear.
Christmas is a call to hand it over to Christ. Because none of us can carry the
government on our shoulders.
None of us can face the darkness on our own. But there in the manger is One who has
stooped down a near infinite distance to be with you, to be alongside
you, to be for you – and to govern you the way you were meant to be
governed.
Will you hand it over to Christ.
Because we all have to do something about Christmas. (Let me finish with this.) Verse 6
says that Christ is a gift. He is
the ultimate Christmas gift. To
US a child is born. To US
a Son is given. There is the
gift. It’s addressed to you. Really to you. And to you. And to you. Christ is given. What a gift! Look at Christ – His perfect life, His
perfect record, His perfect future is yours – He is yours if you
receive Him.
Why not examine the gift this Christmas. I have some Gospels here – accounts of what happened when
the Christmas child grew up. Why
don’t you take one and see for yourself the Wonderful Counsellor, the
Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace in action. Ask yourself whether He can be trusted
to govern your life? Maybe you
want to hand the government of your life to Christ, speak to me or to
Neil afterwards, we’d love to help you unwrap this Christmas gift. Because this gift really is for
you.
I don’t know anyone who leaves a Christmas present unopened on
Christmas day. No matter how
unpromising the gift looks, we unwrap it don’t we? Wouldn’t it be obscene to spurn and
ignore the greatest gift ever offered.
The Light shines. How can
you remain in darkness? Christ
carries the world on His shoulders, why are you trying to do that? Christ is given to you. How can you not receive Him?
Let’s be quiet and I’ll pray for us.
Heavenly Father thank
You for giving us Your Son. Thank
You that He IS Light for a dark world.
Enlighten us all to see Him as THE Christmas gift. May every one of us receive this gift
and hand the government over to His shoulders. In Jesus’ Name we pray.
Amen
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