WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.380 We're on a new series together, and this would be just a three week series. 00:00:03.400 --> 00:00:10.700 We're going to go through the idea of Christmas, and I'm going to give you just the theme of the whole thought in the beginning, and I'm going to draw conclusions 00:00:10.700 --> 00:00:11.860 the rest of the time. 00:00:11.860 --> 00:00:13.980 And an illustration for us at the end. 00:00:14.660 --> 00:00:17.260 And this is the thought I want to get across this morning. 00:00:17.300 --> 00:00:24.460 I want to tell you two, by the end of the end of the day, I want to give you something to take home as a body of believers who trust in Christ 00:00:24.460 --> 00:00:28.020 to have with your families in order to encourage them closer to the Lord. 00:00:29.300 --> 00:00:30.460 But this is what Christmas is about. 00:00:31.360 --> 00:00:36.340 Christmas for us is about God becoming flesh and dwelling, dwelling among us. 00:00:36.800 --> 00:00:36.920 Okay. 00:00:37.780 --> 00:00:44.980 And I know some of us are running around thinking of, maybe you're buying a gift card for that extended family member that you 00:00:45.540 --> 00:00:52.640 have to and, or maybe or maybe you're thinking about trying to get the right present, that when the person opens it 00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:57.560 under the tree, they're going to just think the best thoughts in the world about you. 00:00:57.580 --> 00:00:59.340 Just read their heart in their mind. 00:00:59.340 --> 00:00:59.440 Right. 00:01:00.860 --> 00:01:01.840 Well, Christmas for us. 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:07.700 And that's not a bad thing to have happen, but Christmas for us should be about more than just gift giving. 00:01:09.100 --> 00:01:13.650 Christmas is should be more about than just feeling good around the holiday seasons. 00:01:14.040 --> 00:01:16.760 Christmas should be more about changing your behavior. 00:01:16.760 --> 00:01:20.680 I know the joke goes that there are Christians that are CEOs. 00:01:20.740 --> 00:01:22.460 Christmas and Easter only people. 00:01:23.440 --> 00:01:26.960 and then sometimes around those holidays we make these like declarations before the Lord. 00:01:27.240 --> 00:01:31.040 And I'm going to start going to church every day in 2015. 00:01:31.060 --> 00:01:31.160 Right. 00:01:33.320 --> 00:01:34.410 which is not bad either. 00:01:35.560 --> 00:01:36.780 The Christmas God that. 00:01:38.220 --> 00:01:40.400 Because God became flesh and dwelt among us. 00:01:40.600 --> 00:01:44.310 What Christmas communicates to us is more than more than feeling good on the holidays. 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:44.520 More. 00:01:44.840 --> 00:01:47.220 More than trying to figure out how to improve your behavior more. 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:49.540 More than buying the right gift. 00:01:49.980 --> 00:01:53.260 What Christmas is really about is an encounter with the living God. 00:01:55.160 --> 00:01:56.260 God became flesh. 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:04.900 For the purpose of encountering you or you encountering him, that he may impact your life and you be changed 00:02:04.900 --> 00:02:05.860 for all of eternity. 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:15.040 Christmas is about a collision where God collides with us as people in our culture, in our context, to communicate to 00:02:15.040 --> 00:02:20.020 us the reason he's created us, that we may be set free in him and enjoy him for all of eternity. 00:02:22.200 --> 00:02:27.320 Christmas is a reflection of God's desire to tabernacle with us. 00:02:29.540 --> 00:02:33.120 The word tabernacle literally means to dwell. 00:02:34.720 --> 00:02:41.350 And God's desire is to dwell in us and among us, and work through us as people. 00:02:42.580 --> 00:02:43.780 From the beginning of the Bible. 00:02:44.200 --> 00:02:51.380 The Bible begins to describe for us even the first five books that Moses wrote, that God collides with a broken culture to connect people 00:02:51.380 --> 00:02:54.910 to him, starting from the beginning of creation. 00:02:55.100 --> 00:03:01.360 When creation falls, God sets his plan of redemption, and God continues to show up in the lives of people. 00:03:01.380 --> 00:03:06.040 No matter how much people may reject him, God offers his grace. 00:03:07.740 --> 00:03:08.300 The first fight. 00:03:08.320 --> 00:03:09.900 Go ahead of the fight. 00:03:09.900 --> 00:03:13.500 written by six named Moses cried for us. 00:03:13.760 --> 00:03:20.760 Just press interaction, if not history and creating, people as people and rejected God and, 11 now daughters of 00:03:20.760 --> 00:03:21.660 Genesis. 00:03:21.880 --> 00:03:25.880 So rip all of early here with you get to the life of and then with A.b.e. 00:03:25.880 --> 00:03:31.040 said Moses reveals how God comes to fix it one nation and that we he is clean. 00:03:31.640 --> 00:03:36.680 To choose to is very nice, where he would show his the Messiah who would redeem us as people. 00:03:38.440 --> 00:03:45.540 Moses, as he writes these first five books, writes in the land of having just land the left, the land 00:03:45.540 --> 00:03:46.100 of Egypt. 00:03:47.620 --> 00:03:49.900 He lived with Pharaoh. 00:03:50.060 --> 00:03:51.080 Moses did. 00:03:51.300 --> 00:03:54.440 And Moses was concerned about his. 00:03:54.720 --> 00:03:57.030 The story goes concerned about the nation of Israel. 00:03:57.080 --> 00:04:00.340 And he goes out one day and he sees his people, the Hebrew. 00:04:00.720 --> 00:04:03.230 Hebrew slaves at the time in the land of Egypt being abused. 00:04:03.620 --> 00:04:08.000 And so Moses steps in, it tells us he kills an Egyptian garden and fear of his life and what fear may do. 00:04:08.200 --> 00:04:09.000 He runs and hides. 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:14.460 And as he runs and hides, God give them back to the land of Egypt. 00:04:14.460 --> 00:04:20.920 After 40 years and he says, go before Pharaoh, and I want you to tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go. 00:04:23.560 --> 00:04:30.820 And Moses writes this book of God interacting with Egypt and interacting with Israel 00:04:30.820 --> 00:04:32.450 in the midst of a broken culture. 00:04:34.020 --> 00:04:41.400 And it's in the context of Egypt that we begin to really learn through the scriptures and through through God's Word, 00:04:41.460 --> 00:04:46.560 and especially beginning with the books of Moses, how God desires to collide with us in our lives. 00:04:48.200 --> 00:04:52.640 When you look at the contexts of the nation of Egypt, give me a click here. 00:04:53.900 --> 00:04:54.820 I'm going to just not use this. 00:04:55.860 --> 00:04:56.960 The nation of Egypt. 00:04:56.960 --> 00:05:00.720 There is a several temples that exist within the land of Egypt. 00:05:00.900 --> 00:05:06.280 Several temples that they would refer to or look at as tabernacles, dwelling places of their gods, the land of Egypt. 00:05:06.580 --> 00:05:13.720 Archaeology tells us that they believed and worshiped in some 80 plus gods, 80 gods that they know of for sure, and they would 00:05:13.720 --> 00:05:17.580 build these temples as God's dwelling place, where they would gather for worship. 00:05:18.380 --> 00:05:25.760 And you'll notice as they would walk into these temples, this specific temple is in the land of Thebes, dedicated to the god Amun-ra, which 00:05:25.760 --> 00:05:29.810 is the most prominent and popular god that came to rise in the land of Egypt. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:37.220 Along the sides there are these goat heads, these goats that guard this place going into the temple for 00:05:37.220 --> 00:05:38.020 worship. 00:05:38.020 --> 00:05:44.880 The goat head was the symbol for Amun-ra, who was the god that the people of Egypt worshiped? 00:05:44.880 --> 00:05:47.860 Just below the goat head you'll see another figure. 00:05:48.640 --> 00:05:50.280 That figure is Pharaoh. 00:05:51.640 --> 00:05:52.180 Pharaoh? 00:05:52.180 --> 00:05:58.200 During the time of Moses, there was a pharaoh who ruled, and no one knows for sure, according to history, which pharaoh would have been exactly? 00:05:58.380 --> 00:06:04.690 Some people debate as to the topic, but just for the generic idea of what we'll communicate this morning, we're going to call him Pharaoh. 00:06:05.980 --> 00:06:09.400 Pharaoh was honored as if he were a god going into these temples. 00:06:09.420 --> 00:06:16.560 And so when you walk in, you would see the figures of the gods they would worship, especially on the outside of the temple and below these figures of worship 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:23.620 you would often see Pharaoh and Pharaoh was honored not only as a as a god in human form, but a connection 00:06:23.620 --> 00:06:27.660 between the people of Egypt and the god they would gather to worship. 00:06:27.660 --> 00:06:34.960 Pharaoh was seen as the connecting piece to keep the peace or the order in the life of the Egyptians, as he would minister 00:06:34.980 --> 00:06:36.680 in these temples before the gods. 00:06:37.160 --> 00:06:39.620 He was the liaison from the people to the gods. 00:06:40.060 --> 00:06:47.180 In fact, when the Egyptians would worship in their temples, they would write hieroglyphics on the walls like we read books 00:06:47.180 --> 00:06:47.640 today. 00:06:47.660 --> 00:06:51.010 The Egyptians dependent upon drawings or hieroglyphics. 00:06:51.060 --> 00:06:56.460 And it communicated to them their spiritual truths that were important. 00:06:56.480 --> 00:06:57.100 So give me the next slide. 00:06:59.340 --> 00:07:03.540 When you look upon these temple walls, especially in the temple. 00:07:03.540 --> 00:07:04.600 I was just showing you. 00:07:04.600 --> 00:07:11.620 This is a picture of Pharaoh and Pharaoh's hand he's handing to the God standing behind him what they would cause Maat 00:07:11.620 --> 00:07:12.920 or order. 00:07:12.920 --> 00:07:14.440 It was the symbol for order. 00:07:15.280 --> 00:07:22.300 And so Pharaoh was seen as the one who would offer order to the gods in order to please the gods, that the gods may continue to do well in 00:07:22.300 --> 00:07:23.480 the land of Egypt. 00:07:24.360 --> 00:07:26.660 And the Pharaoh couldn't minister in all these temples. 00:07:26.660 --> 00:07:29.980 In fact, he very seldom would do things within these temples. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:31.580 But what Pharaoh would appoint were priests. 00:07:31.720 --> 00:07:38.820 And when the priests would minister in these temples, they would say in the services that they were doing these services 00:07:38.820 --> 00:07:43.500 and acts on behalf of Pharaoh at different points of the ceremony. 00:07:44.420 --> 00:07:51.600 In fact, the priests would even go out to the outer courts of the temple, and they would offer sacrifices of the lives of weak individuals. 00:07:51.620 --> 00:07:54.800 They would call them in order to please the gods. 00:07:56.120 --> 00:07:59.640 Pharaoh was considered such a godlike figure in the land of Egypt. 00:07:59.700 --> 00:08:00.570 Go and give me the next click. 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:01.460 When? 00:08:01.560 --> 00:08:08.820 When you would see Pharaoh travel, he would travel in an encampment that had an outer court and the outer court, 00:08:08.880 --> 00:08:12.380 if he were going to war, would contain all the people that were prepared for battle. 00:08:12.700 --> 00:08:20.000 And inside of the outer court was a tent of two rooms, and within the two rooms you see pictured in the larger room is 00:08:20.040 --> 00:08:23.960 slaves or priests that are coming before Pharaoh and worship of him. 00:08:24.660 --> 00:08:25.530 And give me the next slide. 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:31.520 If we were to blow up that little tent in the in the background, you would see that these individuals are kneeling down in worship. 00:08:31.520 --> 00:08:34.330 Now, let me tell you how we know what Pharaoh is in this picture. 00:08:35.020 --> 00:08:36.210 And in Egypt. 00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:36.900 Egyptian tradition. 00:08:36.900 --> 00:08:43.940 Whenever Pharaoh was described in writing, they would draw an oval shape to represent Pharaoh, and inside of that oval shape 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:47.540 they would give an inscription as to what particular pharaoh they were talking about. 00:08:48.220 --> 00:08:53.480 And so this symbol was actually drawn for Ramses the second on one of the temples. 00:08:53.900 --> 00:08:58.740 And so inside of this inner, this inner holy place, they would look at people would gather to worship. 00:08:58.760 --> 00:09:05.760 And inside the inner room where Pharaoh stayed, you see the two winged creatures, which are the gods, Horus 00:09:05.760 --> 00:09:12.860 on either side of Pharaoh as he sat before all of the people of Egypt that were a part of this gathering, and people would 00:09:12.860 --> 00:09:14.900 come and to worship him. 00:09:16.260 --> 00:09:18.000 Now, how did God feel about that? 00:09:19.560 --> 00:09:26.740 Well, the Bible tells us in Exodus chapter 32 and verse 17 describing the nation of 00:09:26.740 --> 00:09:30.420 Israel who just left this form of worship, being introduced to this form of worship. 00:09:30.660 --> 00:09:37.680 And the and the Egyptians who were engaged in this worship, they said they sacrificed to demons who were not God. 00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:40.840 To gods whom they have not known. 00:09:41.800 --> 00:09:43.090 New gods who came lately. 00:09:43.580 --> 00:09:45.300 Whom your fathers did not dread. 00:09:46.800 --> 00:09:50.090 I want to tell you this word gods, and this translation is the word for Elohim. 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:55.960 And the word Elohim within the Bible can mean anything representing an authority figure. 00:09:57.320 --> 00:10:01.400 it's even used in Scripture to refer to men who operate as judges. 00:10:01.400 --> 00:10:05.480 They're described as being Elohim, those who operate in as authority figures. 00:10:05.480 --> 00:10:12.620 And what God is saying in this passage of Scripture is that these worship ceremonies that were taking place in these temples, they were worship ceremonies 00:10:12.620 --> 00:10:14.260 taking place towards something. 00:10:14.300 --> 00:10:15.180 But they weren't me. 00:10:15.180 --> 00:10:18.140 They weren't god gods saying, but rather they were this. 00:10:19.000 --> 00:10:19.420 There were demons. 00:10:21.500 --> 00:10:24.840 They were gathering to worship demons, and they were demons that weren't even. 00:10:24.880 --> 00:10:25.870 They weren't even great demons. 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:28.840 They were new, they showed up even later. 00:10:29.580 --> 00:10:31.320 They're not the eternal God. 00:10:31.320 --> 00:10:35.080 There's these demons that came up and manipulated the people later. 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:38.420 And even in the New Testament, the Bible says in Second Corinthians chapter ten. 00:10:38.820 --> 00:10:39.900 Give me, show me the passage. 00:10:40.620 --> 00:10:47.860 It says, what do I mean, then, that a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 00:10:47.940 --> 00:10:49.260 I mean, should we be concerned about that? 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:57.400 And so Paul says, no, but I say that the things with the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons 00:10:58.600 --> 00:10:59.260 and not to God. 00:11:00.580 --> 00:11:02.990 And I do not want you to become sharers in demons. 00:11:07.340 --> 00:11:09.720 there's a way that we choose to participate within life. 00:11:10.760 --> 00:11:12.300 That's either God honoring or it isn't. 00:11:14.020 --> 00:11:15.070 Let me let me just give you an illustration. 00:11:16.280 --> 00:11:16.940 there was a. 00:11:18.180 --> 00:11:21.960 There was a lady who went from America to India. 00:11:22.900 --> 00:11:24.260 India has over 300 million gods. 00:11:25.520 --> 00:11:27.080 She walks into the front room of this house. 00:11:27.220 --> 00:11:33.520 And inside of this front room there was all of these idols standing and incense being burned in the very front room. 00:11:33.520 --> 00:11:36.280 When you walk into the home, you know what the family is about. 00:11:36.280 --> 00:11:37.220 They are worshipping idols. 00:11:37.240 --> 00:11:44.460 And she goes home from this trip and she tells her family, that was just kind of ridiculous that they would have these statue figures and think that that's what their God 00:11:44.460 --> 00:11:47.160 was about, and they would worship that and just found that unique. 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:54.580 And then there was this lady that traveled from India, and she came to America, and she walks into the front home of America, and she looks 00:11:54.580 --> 00:11:59.460 inside and she finds it so unique, the way that the very front room is set up. 00:11:59.460 --> 00:12:06.620 And she goes back home and she tells her family, she, it's really strange what they worship there when you walk into their front room, every chair, 00:12:06.680 --> 00:12:09.750 everything that living room was about, all of it pointed to the television. 00:12:14.040 --> 00:12:15.470 We're good within our culture. 00:12:16.740 --> 00:12:18.560 And masking our gods, right? 00:12:19.920 --> 00:12:21.420 Finding ways to. 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:23.340 Make them acceptable. 00:12:24.460 --> 00:12:25.560 I'm not saying TV is bad. 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:28.420 When God creates things. 00:12:29.560 --> 00:12:30.620 It's what we do with it. 00:12:31.320 --> 00:12:33.040 The material that God creates is all moral. 00:12:34.260 --> 00:12:39.000 What you choose to do with it is where the importance lies, right? 00:12:39.180 --> 00:12:42.490 God created the earth, and the earth belongs to him, and therefore glory belongs to him. 00:12:43.640 --> 00:12:48.900 But when we change the attitude of the worship to be directed towards something else, God says it belongs to demons. 00:12:50.860 --> 00:12:52.280 And I just want us to be aware. 00:12:52.280 --> 00:12:55.000 We see the word demons and we think, ooh, scary. 00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:56.900 You know, I don't ever want to meet whatever that is. 00:12:58.120 --> 00:13:01.620 But I'll tell you when our interaction in this world is with something that's of a demonic force. 00:13:01.720 --> 00:13:05.440 The Bible tells us in Second Corinthians ten that even Satan appears as an angel of light. 00:13:07.540 --> 00:13:12.720 Meaning if Satan came into this room, you're not going to see him with red horns, red tail, and a pitchfork, right? 00:13:13.160 --> 00:13:13.950 That's for Halloween. 00:13:15.060 --> 00:13:16.380 Well, don't even dress like that. 00:13:16.840 --> 00:13:17.460 It's not even funny. 00:13:19.460 --> 00:13:20.520 But Satan doesn't appear that way. 00:13:22.060 --> 00:13:23.000 He appears as an angel of light. 00:13:25.440 --> 00:13:28.920 Satan wants us to believe that what he possesses is the truth. 00:13:29.200 --> 00:13:35.360 And when he shows up in the Garden of Eden, he doesn't just present some sort of large lie, he just slightly twists the truth. 00:13:37.460 --> 00:13:41.410 When God created Satan, he made him the most beautiful angel out of all his creation. 00:13:41.640 --> 00:13:43.720 And when he showed up in the Garden of Eden, the Bible calls him a serpent. 00:13:44.220 --> 00:13:46.260 But I don't think he necessarily had to be a physical serpent. 00:13:47.180 --> 00:13:50.160 I think the nature of that text is describing the behavior of Satan. 00:13:51.020 --> 00:13:55.020 In fact, that same word serpent can also be described in the Hebrew text as one who shines. 00:13:56.340 --> 00:13:59.880 So he's shining in the beauty, acting as if he was wicked like a serpent. 00:14:00.840 --> 00:14:03.360 Adam and Eve, fooled by the beauty, embraces what it is. 00:14:03.420 --> 00:14:11.140 And the Bible tells us in first John chapter four and verse one, brothers believe not every spirit, because many false prophets go into the world, meaning 00:14:11.140 --> 00:14:18.360 there are spiritual feelings that you could have that could make you think they are God, but there are nothing other than demonic influence. 00:14:20.620 --> 00:14:22.280 What you choose to do in that moment. 00:14:24.060 --> 00:14:24.740 Could be God honoring. 00:14:26.820 --> 00:14:27.560 What does God do? 00:14:29.680 --> 00:14:35.660 The story tells us that when God goes back, or when Moses goes back into the land of Egypt, he goes before Pharaoh. 00:14:37.280 --> 00:14:44.720 And I'll tell you the picture that we just painted of Pharaoh as being the representation before God, as being God himself, that the people are gathering to worship a man coming and challenging Pharaoh 00:14:44.720 --> 00:14:46.280 is just not something you do lightly. 00:14:47.700 --> 00:14:49.240 And Moses presents to Pharaoh. 00:14:49.760 --> 00:14:51.750 What's going to end up being the ten plagues? 00:14:51.960 --> 00:14:58.080 And every plague that God brings on the land of Egypt is an assault against the gods that they worship. 00:14:59.540 --> 00:15:06.680 So much so that the last god, the one who comes to take the firstborn of the lives of all the children in the land of Egypt, is an assault 00:15:06.680 --> 00:15:09.200 against every God that the land of Egypt worships. 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:13.240 Demonstrating himself as the God. 00:15:15.320 --> 00:15:18.390 And God collides with a broken culture. 00:15:20.440 --> 00:15:27.620 When God draws the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt, he tries to contextualize 00:15:27.620 --> 00:15:32.120 or he does contextualize their understanding of worship in order to communicate his truth to them. 00:15:32.660 --> 00:15:33.770 In fact, go and give me the next slide. 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:39.560 When the nation of Israel are told to build a place of worship. 00:15:39.560 --> 00:15:43.060 God calls this the Tabernacle, or the place where God will dwell. 00:15:44.160 --> 00:15:51.400 And the symbolism to the tabernacle is very unique because it represents what the land of Egypt, the people of Egypt, would do when Pharaoh 00:15:51.400 --> 00:15:59.300 would travel, and the nation of Israel for the next 40 years will be wandering through the wilderness, traveling, and 00:15:59.300 --> 00:16:01.060 they create an outer court. 00:16:01.060 --> 00:16:08.260 And inside of the outer court they place a tent, and in the tent there are two rooms, and in the first room the priests go in to minister before 00:16:08.260 --> 00:16:10.560 God, offering things to him. 00:16:10.580 --> 00:16:17.680 And in the inner court there is the ark of the covenant, and on the ark of the covenant are angels with wings that surround the ark. 00:16:17.700 --> 00:16:24.780 But instead of the image of Pharaoh being placed there, whom God has just crushed, God removes the idols and allows 00:16:24.780 --> 00:16:26.760 his presence to dwell there. 00:16:27.720 --> 00:16:29.820 God tabernacles with his people. 00:16:31.960 --> 00:16:34.480 God shows us the way that he chooses to work within our culture. 00:16:36.780 --> 00:16:39.000 He doesn't just reject us and shove us aside. 00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:41.450 He doesn't just allow us to embrace what's incorrect. 00:16:41.820 --> 00:16:47.680 He works within our cultural context to communicate his truth or his truth to us as people. 00:16:49.380 --> 00:16:52.620 He removes the idols and he shows himself. 00:16:55.700 --> 00:16:57.170 Christmas can be like that. 00:16:59.640 --> 00:17:02.960 The point of Christmas is about God colliding with us in our cultural context. 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:07.020 That God would tabernacle with us. 00:17:09.980 --> 00:17:17.079 And to refuse to embrace the message of what Christmas is about is to set up the idols of everything that Christmas represents culturally to us 00:17:17.079 --> 00:17:19.700 as people, void of the God in which it was intended to communicate. 00:17:23.040 --> 00:17:30.120 And God uses this cultural context to communicate to us as people that what he desires to do is dwell 00:17:30.120 --> 00:17:32.580 among us and remove all of our idolatry. 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:35.020 That as we go through our lives, we can see the glory of who he is. 00:17:37.080 --> 00:17:39.260 In fact, he says it in Exodus 25. 00:17:39.340 --> 00:17:42.380 Give me the slide tear says next is 25 eight. 00:17:42.460 --> 00:17:47.300 Let them construct a sanctuary for me, that I may dwell among them. 00:17:49.940 --> 00:17:50.140 In. 00:17:50.140 --> 00:17:56.100 The beauty of this story is that when you look at what God did with people of Moses, he created a worship context for them. 00:17:56.100 --> 00:17:56.600 They could understand. 00:17:56.840 --> 00:18:02.060 But instead of the false gods, he puts himself there as the one true God that they can continue to worship. 00:18:02.360 --> 00:18:08.740 But not only does the tabernacle show them how to worship this one true God, the Tabernacle. 00:18:08.740 --> 00:18:13.320 Its purpose was to point to everything that Jesus would fulfill for us as people. 00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:17.860 In fact, just as God collided with the Egyptian culture. 00:18:17.860 --> 00:18:21.700 So Jesus personally collided into our culture by becoming flesh for us. 00:18:23.080 --> 00:18:28.580 Now, I'll tell you this the most important event in all of human history by far is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. 00:18:30.500 --> 00:18:32.900 But you can't have the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. 00:18:33.820 --> 00:18:34.910 Without the coming of Jesus. 00:18:37.040 --> 00:18:38.160 God becomes physical. 00:18:38.840 --> 00:18:39.220 Personal. 00:18:40.600 --> 00:18:44.800 And God collides with mankind because we all need an encounter with him. 00:18:46.940 --> 00:18:53.460 And so when you read John chapter one and verse 14, it says this, and the word became flesh. 00:18:54.180 --> 00:18:55.220 The word's referring to Jesus. 00:18:56.740 --> 00:18:57.780 And dwelt among us. 00:18:57.820 --> 00:19:00.580 That word dwelt literally means tabernacle in the Greek. 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:09.570 Jesus became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we saw his glory, the glory of the only begotten from the father, full of grace and truth. 00:19:11.360 --> 00:19:17.540 And it's when Jesus arrives that Jesus tells us, do you know the tabernacle that I created as illustration of what God would do? 00:19:17.540 --> 00:19:18.480 Well that's me. 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:19.630 I'm coming to fulfill it. 00:19:20.780 --> 00:19:25.020 In fact, Jesus said in John 219, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 00:19:25.940 --> 00:19:28.780 In Matthew 12 six I tell you something greater than the temple is here. 00:19:29.960 --> 00:19:34.440 John referred to Jesus and John the Baptist in John chapter one and verse 29. 00:19:34.820 --> 00:19:37.940 He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:41.920 Jesus in John 14 I am the way, the truth, and the life. 00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:49.560 When they would walk into the temple, the outer court, the room into that was considered the doorway was considered the way and into the holy place where the priest would 00:19:49.560 --> 00:19:53.280 worship that was considered the truth, and into the Holy of Holies. 00:19:53.280 --> 00:19:54.460 That was the life. 00:19:56.560 --> 00:19:59.880 Jesus at a temple ceremony in Israel. 00:19:59.880 --> 00:20:06.960 They had a ceremony where during this festival they would go and take these lights, these torches, and they would go around the entire temple and light up the 00:20:06.960 --> 00:20:09.040 outside of the temple with these torches. 00:20:09.080 --> 00:20:12.600 In the middle of the ceremony, Jesus stands up before all of the people. 00:20:12.600 --> 00:20:15.460 He says, I am the light of the world. 00:20:17.080 --> 00:20:18.170 And this Christ died on the cross. 00:20:20.040 --> 00:20:21.660 The Bible tells us the veil was torn. 00:20:23.700 --> 00:20:25.530 And when that veil was torn. 00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:27.070 It's in three of the four Gospels. 00:20:27.620 --> 00:20:33.040 It's a symbol that the Spirit of God was no longer present within the tabernacle or temple. 00:20:33.120 --> 00:20:38.740 But now that Christ has become the sacrifice, his spirit would now dwell within his people. 00:20:41.260 --> 00:20:41.720 All of it. 00:20:43.300 --> 00:20:45.820 The tabernacle in the beginning was to point to Christ. 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:50.520 That Christ may come to dwell among us and die for our sins. 00:20:51.580 --> 00:20:58.800 That in dying for our sins, God would finally reconcile his people back to him and the reason for which he came. 00:20:59.900 --> 00:21:03.940 That we could have a collision with God. 00:21:04.140 --> 00:21:05.540 An encounter with him. 00:21:06.780 --> 00:21:08.020 That would change our lives. 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:15.160 So much so that as we trust in what Christ has done for all of eternity, we rejoice in the presence of God. 00:21:15.600 --> 00:21:18.060 Everything within the temple represented Jesus. 00:21:19.660 --> 00:21:24.910 And when you would walk into the temple, the only things that took place within this temple happened around these objects. 00:21:24.980 --> 00:21:26.260 You would walk into the inner court. 00:21:26.620 --> 00:21:27.290 There was the altar. 00:21:27.420 --> 00:21:32.520 The sacrifice would take place for the lamb of the Passover especially would go there. 00:21:32.540 --> 00:21:33.680 And so you would walk into the temple. 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:37.510 There would be the sacrificial place symbolizing Jesus would be the sacrifice. 00:21:37.580 --> 00:21:40.380 And you would walk behind the that altar of sacrifice. 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:47.400 And there was the laver where you would cleanse yourself, reflecting of the forgiveness that God would give ultimately, that Christ bring by 00:21:47.400 --> 00:21:49.620 brought by giving his life for you. 00:21:49.640 --> 00:21:52.200 And you would go to into the holy place as a priest. 00:21:52.220 --> 00:21:54.250 And there was the table of showbread. 00:21:54.340 --> 00:21:57.220 And that's where Jesus was represented as the word of life. 00:21:57.280 --> 00:21:59.590 And he communicates life to us in His word. 00:22:00.040 --> 00:22:02.040 And on the left was the candle stand. 00:22:02.220 --> 00:22:03.980 And Jesus is the light of the world. 00:22:03.980 --> 00:22:08.720 And he gave us his spirit, that his spirit may burn with light within us. 00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:13.210 And before the mercy seat or the ark of the covenant was the table of incense. 00:22:13.380 --> 00:22:20.800 And because of Jesus's sacrifice, we can now become before God's very presence, offering ourselves before him and offering prayer 00:22:20.800 --> 00:22:22.580 of praise before our Lord. 00:22:22.600 --> 00:22:29.660 And upon that ark of the covenant, the blood of an animal was shed, and Jesus being the ultimate that was shed for our 00:22:29.660 --> 00:22:31.860 sins, that we could be reconciled to God. 00:22:31.980 --> 00:22:34.800 All of what happened in this two room temple. 00:22:36.220 --> 00:22:36.880 Was for Christ. 00:22:38.940 --> 00:22:41.810 So that God could collide with you. 00:22:42.840 --> 00:22:44.090 And that we could worship him. 00:22:45.860 --> 00:22:46.840 God's point in the temple. 00:22:48.100 --> 00:22:55.400 What's the point of his coming that us people and seeing his coming would trust in him that you would become his 00:22:55.400 --> 00:22:55.880 tabernacle? 00:22:57.600 --> 00:23:02.420 So the Bible tells us in first Corinthians 316 says, that's not it. 00:23:03.360 --> 00:23:04.560 Click on. 00:23:05.500 --> 00:23:06.740 Is it in there? 00:23:06.740 --> 00:23:07.180 First Corinthians 316. 00:23:09.980 --> 00:23:10.280 One more. 00:23:15.020 --> 00:23:15.680 Do you not know? 00:23:15.760 --> 00:23:16.420 I'll just read it to you. 00:23:16.520 --> 00:23:23.030 Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells within you? 00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:31.960 The Bible tells us to those that have trusted in Christ in first Corinthians 316, that you are the temple of God, and just as the Spirit of God dwelled within 00:23:31.960 --> 00:23:34.560 the tabernacle, now his presence is within you. 00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:42.480 Peter and first Peter in chapter two and Ephesians chapter two described it the same way. 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:45.400 Listen the way Peter says it, as you come to know him. 00:23:45.940 --> 00:23:50.860 The living Stone talking about Jesus, rejected by men, but chosen by God and precious to him. 00:23:50.860 --> 00:23:57.900 You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual 00:23:57.900 --> 00:24:00.900 sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 00:24:01.980 --> 00:24:06.400 And what he's saying to us is, do you remember when the tabernacle was built and only the priests could go into the holy place? 00:24:07.360 --> 00:24:10.430 Well, now everyone who's put their faith in Christ are now priests. 00:24:10.440 --> 00:24:17.600 God is not gender biased in this that men, women, you hold the priesthood in Christ coming before his presence. 00:24:17.600 --> 00:24:23.160 And the Bible describes in first Peter two four that you are living stones, meaning before. 00:24:23.160 --> 00:24:28.540 Yes, God built this temple building, but now God is building all of us into the temple that he desires. 00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:29.700 We are his people. 00:24:29.800 --> 00:24:31.260 We are his tabernacle. 00:24:31.260 --> 00:24:33.000 He dwells within you. 00:24:35.680 --> 00:24:37.580 And so the question then becomes for us as people. 00:24:39.220 --> 00:24:41.460 As God tabernacles with you. 00:24:42.440 --> 00:24:44.780 How can you bring Jesus into this world? 00:24:46.700 --> 00:24:47.430 And to your family. 00:24:50.080 --> 00:24:51.900 How can you use Christmas? 00:24:53.820 --> 00:25:00.340 For what God intends, rather than void of the goodness for which God created it or God allowed it. 00:25:02.220 --> 00:25:02.760 What do we do? 00:25:04.820 --> 00:25:07.440 This was a day for us to honor in Christ. 00:25:09.740 --> 00:25:12.320 Well, there are three ways that we can respond to our culture like God did. 00:25:13.500 --> 00:25:18.960 We could reject Christmas altogether because of paganus that's developed within it. 00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:25.260 We can just embrace all of the seasonal greetings that come along with Christmas and reject God. 00:25:26.840 --> 00:25:27.540 Or we can redeem it. 00:25:29.220 --> 00:25:32.690 Being the tabernacle of God, we can use it for his glory as he intends. 00:25:34.800 --> 00:25:39.460 The Christmas is all about relating God relating to us so that we can encounter him. 00:25:40.860 --> 00:25:46.400 And so if we as people walk away from Christmas without reaching out to the Lord as he has brought himself near to you. 00:25:46.760 --> 00:25:48.120 Christmas is a fail. 00:25:51.180 --> 00:25:53.000 Because Christmas is a reflection of his glory. 00:25:55.420 --> 00:25:59.300 In the early church when the Christmas holiday was celebrated. 00:25:59.620 --> 00:26:02.820 You should probably know that the Christmas tradition wasn't even started until the fourth century. 00:26:05.240 --> 00:26:11.230 In fact, most people don't even know when Jesus was born, and I would say the one that ones that do had a lucky guess. 00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:19.940 When you read early church history, there's a leaning towards the end of December, beginning of January as Jesus's possible 00:26:19.940 --> 00:26:20.640 birth date. 00:26:20.700 --> 00:26:27.740 But some people reject that because when you read the Christmas story, you see that the shepherds are outside just hanging out with the sheep at night, and the shepherds tended 00:26:27.740 --> 00:26:28.840 to walk with their sheep. 00:26:28.840 --> 00:26:34.950 But when it was when it was cold and winter outside, they tended to find some some solace and some sort of indoors. 00:26:35.020 --> 00:26:37.620 But on that night they're outside and the angel appears. 00:26:37.640 --> 00:26:44.960 And so some people look at that story and they tend to think, well, Jesus probably wasn't born in the winter, but the reason they don't know when Jesus was necessarily born 00:26:44.960 --> 00:26:49.250 is because when someone was born, their birth date was not a day that was celebrated. 00:26:50.380 --> 00:26:53.160 Birth dates were not done in the first few centuries. 00:26:55.020 --> 00:26:56.820 What they honored was death. 00:26:58.840 --> 00:27:00.880 When a saint died who followed Christ. 00:27:02.180 --> 00:27:03.390 That to them was worthy of celebration. 00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:07.330 Because it was a life that was well lived for the Lord. 00:27:08.580 --> 00:27:12.600 And so they would honor and celebrate an individual who gave themselves for Christ. 00:27:14.820 --> 00:27:21.900 When it comes to Jesus's birthday, the history records anywhere from the end of November to the end of 00:27:21.900 --> 00:27:25.560 May that people would pinpoint to a time that Christ would have possibly been born. 00:27:27.020 --> 00:27:27.900 But here's what Christmas began. 00:27:29.500 --> 00:27:35.400 The tendency, or the thought of the majority, was that it happened around this time of year that Jesus was born. 00:27:35.400 --> 00:27:42.920 But as more and more people came to know Christ, there were individuals in the Roman Empire that were coming from pagan backgrounds into 00:27:42.920 --> 00:27:44.460 this new relationship with Christ. 00:27:46.340 --> 00:27:47.680 And their pagan backgrounds. 00:27:47.900 --> 00:27:54.940 Almost all of the pagan civilizations during that time had some some sort of celebration where they would honor the winter solstice and dedicate it 00:27:54.940 --> 00:27:56.040 to whatever God it belonged to. 00:27:57.940 --> 00:28:02.570 And around 336 AD, a Christian leader comes along and thinks, you know what? 00:28:03.740 --> 00:28:04.980 We don't have a day like that for Jesus. 00:28:06.280 --> 00:28:09.040 And more than anything, every day belongs to Jesus. 00:28:10.840 --> 00:28:12.540 And so let's just create a celebration to honor Christ. 00:28:14.440 --> 00:28:21.680 And so, rather than the temptation of those who come out of the pagan background to go back and to continue to worship in these holidays towards a God that is not real, 00:28:21.740 --> 00:28:23.360 that may be demonic. 00:28:25.060 --> 00:28:25.790 Her is demonic. 00:28:27.980 --> 00:28:29.870 The Ottoman Christ in Christmas. 00:28:31.840 --> 00:28:32.930 And in our culture today. 00:28:33.220 --> 00:28:34.240 Go ahead and tear and give me the last click. 00:28:35.960 --> 00:28:38.340 We have a lot of symbols in Christmas. 00:28:40.500 --> 00:28:41.080 Can I tell you something? 00:28:43.040 --> 00:28:47.630 You can look at these symbols and use them according to American cultural tradition. 00:28:49.480 --> 00:28:52.680 Or you can look at these symbols and realize that these symbols started in history. 00:28:53.700 --> 00:28:55.320 Because all of them were intended to point to Christ. 00:28:57.780 --> 00:28:59.140 From the angel you put on your tree. 00:28:59.260 --> 00:29:00.740 To the star that you may love. 00:29:00.800 --> 00:29:01.840 That goes on your Christmas tree. 00:29:01.960 --> 00:29:05.220 To the lights, to the candy cane, to the presents, to Santa Claus. 00:29:07.400 --> 00:29:08.620 All of them have tradition in Christ. 00:29:10.700 --> 00:29:17.780 I just want you to know, Santa Claus was a part of the Nicene Creed in early church history, an important 00:29:17.780 --> 00:29:21.740 document that came into existence around the fourth century, the beginning of the fourth century. 00:29:23.000 --> 00:29:25.160 Santa Claus spent time in jail because of his faith in Christ. 00:29:26.580 --> 00:29:29.860 Santa is not Satan with the words rearranged. 00:29:31.780 --> 00:29:33.180 The reason we call them Santa Claus today. 00:29:33.480 --> 00:29:36.080 His name was Saint Nicholas, as they would refer to in history. 00:29:36.660 --> 00:29:41.410 When his tradition got to the Dutch people, they called him Sinterklaas for Saint Nicholas. 00:29:42.640 --> 00:29:47.460 And when the Dutch brought it to America, we turned Sinterklaas into Santa Claus. 00:29:50.040 --> 00:29:50.660 But he loved to hear. 00:29:53.100 --> 00:29:54.240 And he sought to honor them with his life. 00:29:56.960 --> 00:29:59.620 And the stories and the traditions that we have in Christmas. 00:30:01.360 --> 00:30:02.680 Are intended to point people to Jesus. 00:30:04.220 --> 00:30:05.660 Not become traditions in themselves. 00:30:07.520 --> 00:30:11.100 When traditions become traditions for the sake of traditions, we void them of God. 00:30:13.240 --> 00:30:13.890 Christmas. 00:30:15.480 --> 00:30:16.340 I was all about a collision. 00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:20.340 Christmas is all about a tabernacle. 00:30:23.220 --> 00:30:24.340 God created a tabernacle. 00:30:25.700 --> 00:30:26.380 Point to Jesus. 00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:31.420 Jesus gave his life that he made tabernacle in you. 00:30:33.020 --> 00:30:36.380 But in Tabernacling in you may point others to him. 00:30:38.600 --> 00:30:45.140 To take a holiday like Christmas, and not to use it for the opportunity that it's been given to us to honor and glorify God. 00:30:46.740 --> 00:30:49.690 As to dishonor the God who came to tabernacle among us. 00:30:51.540 --> 00:30:52.580 I'll say all that to say. 00:30:52.620 --> 00:30:54.200 Now, don't make yourself crazy over that. 00:30:55.560 --> 00:30:56.100 But just use it. 00:30:58.680 --> 00:30:59.060 Every year. 00:30:59.100 --> 00:31:06.200 As a church family, we always print a book that explains the traditions of Christian history as it relates to Christmas, and we put that book on our information table 00:31:06.200 --> 00:31:06.650 outside. 00:31:08.320 --> 00:31:15.560 Some of the stories are easier for younger kids to pick up, and some are more arbitrary concepts for some older, older children or even the adults 00:31:15.560 --> 00:31:16.320 to learn about. 00:31:17.060 --> 00:31:17.940 Here's my encouragement to you. 00:31:19.800 --> 00:31:21.360 We have this holiday to redeem our culture. 00:31:23.040 --> 00:31:26.460 To communicate a truth that's very important to our families and the people around us. 00:31:28.260 --> 00:31:29.320 We'll have to make a big deal about it. 00:31:30.560 --> 00:31:31.310 When your kids running by. 00:31:31.480 --> 00:31:34.560 And once that candy came, it's an opportunity for you as a parent. 00:31:36.260 --> 00:31:37.940 To bring the presence of God into your family. 00:31:39.240 --> 00:31:41.060 To communicate the truth of what Jesus is about. 00:31:42.700 --> 00:31:45.930 That the collision that God brought into our life doesn't end with us. 00:31:47.180 --> 00:31:51.810 Well, it's a collision that we bring into the rest of our Christmas season, that we use it for what God desires. 00:31:54.040 --> 00:32:01.080 Every one of the pictures on the screen have something to do with Christ, and more than a behavior change, more than a feel good Christmas season. 00:32:01.300 --> 00:32:07.920 What we need as peoples, an encounter with the living God we need reminded of how much Jesus cares for us. 00:32:10.020 --> 00:32:15.700 Now Psalm 4610 says, we need to just pause within our heart and be still and know that He is God. 00:32:17.340 --> 00:32:24.360 And the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season in our lives, it's easy to not just take time and spend with your kids 00:32:24.360 --> 00:32:31.030 around the Christmas tree or whatever you might have, and just share the significance of why we do what we do on Christmas. 00:32:32.210 --> 00:32:35.580 That when they look at this holiday, they don't think it's all about me and getting one on one. 00:32:37.020 --> 00:32:39.840 With the grace of God who's come into our lives, that we may encounter him. 00:32:41.800 --> 00:32:47.200 Its encouragement this morning as a church family, develop tradition in your family. 00:32:49.580 --> 00:32:50.220 Not a tradition. 00:32:50.540 --> 00:32:52.020 That's tradition for the sake of tradition. 00:32:53.800 --> 00:32:55.460 But a tradition that your family knows. 00:32:55.460 --> 00:33:02.240 It just points them to Jesus that every time they think about a candy cane or a star on top of the tree, which you'll grab the book in a minute and read about those things. 00:33:03.940 --> 00:33:04.810 They think about Jesus. 00:33:06.380 --> 00:33:08.980 And the most important gift that they've ever received in his life. 00:33:09.060 --> 00:33:16.180 Coming to Earth and encountering them, that they may spend eternity with him because of the life that he has given on their behalf, as they trust in what Christ has 00:33:16.180 --> 00:33:16.420 done.