WEBVTT 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:07.900 So I'm going to invite you to turn to the book of Luke chapter two so we're going to beat today and while you're getting there, I'm going to let you know these hoodies are 00:00:07.900 --> 00:00:09.080 available for you this morning. 00:00:09.100 --> 00:00:13.240 If you would like to purchase one for $30 just you know the church doesn't make any profit off this. 00:00:13.240 --> 00:00:16.120 We charge what we give to have these things produced. 00:00:16.379 --> 00:00:21.110 So if you're interested in picking one up, you can do that on the way out as we are dismissed today. 00:00:22.840 --> 00:00:25.520 We're going to start a series together on Christmas. 00:00:25.520 --> 00:00:28.230 Just so you have a platform of where we're going together. 00:00:28.700 --> 00:00:35.980 Over the next few months, we're going to be talking about the book of Jonah running away from God and the start of this year we're 00:00:35.980 --> 00:00:39.840 going to go to Malakai talking about leaving a godly legacy and what that looks like. 00:00:40.220 --> 00:00:47.580 We'll spend some time before Easter talking about the family, what God's picture is for marriage, family, kids, 00:00:47.580 --> 00:00:52.400 how that works in the life of a church and this Christmas season. 00:00:52.460 --> 00:00:54.920 We're going to spend these next few weeks leading up into Christmas. 00:00:55.640 --> 00:01:02.780 Just discussing the Christmas story together and I'm going to start very simplistic and where we're going to in this series together. 00:01:03.060 --> 00:01:04.840 We're going to talk about leading in the weeks ahead. 00:01:05.019 --> 00:01:12.020 We're going to talk about hope and peace, how to discover hope and peace in our lives and live as people of peace and people of hope. 00:01:12.120 --> 00:01:19.400 And I'm not going to do it in a kind of fluffy way where I just tell you to be hopeful because you should just be hopeful, but to show us really when life is difficult 00:01:19.440 --> 00:01:26.540 and there are things that may rock us, how our faith can sustain in those, in that, and so hope and peace are very important to 00:01:26.540 --> 00:01:31.970 the Christian life and especially it's themed towards the Christmas story and what Jesus brings. 00:01:32.200 --> 00:01:39.400 But today we're going to start a little more simplistic in that foundational in that I want to get more focused on where you are in 00:01:39.400 --> 00:01:46.600 your home as it relates to the idea of Christmas and what it represents because really the home starts as the platform to why 00:01:46.600 --> 00:01:52.520 we do everything that we do and it sets the trajectory of your identification as a family. 00:01:52.860 --> 00:01:59.960 There are certain traditions that you engage as a family that sometimes you don't even think about it, but when you, if you get married and 00:01:59.960 --> 00:02:06.520 you move on in life, there are certain, certain things that you adapt from your home that you didn't even realize was just a tradition to your home that you do when you do them. 00:02:06.520 --> 00:02:09.120 They make you feel like you're at home and those things are important. 00:02:09.199 --> 00:02:16.400 I think especially around the Christmas season, the way that we approach the Christmas season, we can lead Jesus Alva, 00:02:16.460 --> 00:02:23.660 but there's certain traditions that we can bring into the home related to Christmas that puts Christ at the focal point of that and helps our family develop traditions that 00:02:23.660 --> 00:02:28.760 honors the Lord rather than diminishes from what this season is about. 00:02:28.760 --> 00:02:30.360 Like here, here's a sobering moment. 00:02:30.440 --> 00:02:37.460 If you're driving down the road and you just maybe turn to your kids and you ask him what Christmas is about and then you have to remind them that 00:02:37.460 --> 00:02:44.500 it's about Jesus like that, maybe at some point there's, there needs some be some transitions there in home that 00:02:44.500 --> 00:02:51.360 identifies what the Christmas story is really all about in our lives and Christmas season. 00:02:51.420 --> 00:02:58.580 Even talking about the Christmas season, starting off this simplistic, I feel like out of everything that we do, this is going to be the most divisive because 00:02:58.580 --> 00:03:06.100 I can tell you when I hear opinions on Christmas, like it is across the board on how people feel about, about 00:03:06.100 --> 00:03:08.550 this time of year. 00:03:08.700 --> 00:03:15.840 And, statistically, psychologists, counselors will, they'll tell you that this is also one of the most depressing 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:18.120 times of year for people. 00:03:18.220 --> 00:03:25.360 It's a reminder maybe of an absence of a loved one, family disputes getting you around, things that maybe you really don't want to be around or 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:25.860 experienced. 00:03:26.100 --> 00:03:28.910 It might bring up painful memories of the past. 00:03:29.300 --> 00:03:32.300 uh, not to mention just this time of year anyway. 00:03:32.500 --> 00:03:35.190 It's, it gets darker sooner and you're inside longer. 00:03:35.400 --> 00:03:40.370 And so the meaner seasonally in the winter months is more of a depressing state. 00:03:40.700 --> 00:03:46.100 And so the holiday seasons are, it can be a struggle for some of us and others. 00:03:46.340 --> 00:03:53.540 Others of us come to life though, you as soon as you start thinking of like Thanksgiving, Christmas, I don't know about your home but maybe this might be happening 00:03:53.540 --> 00:03:54.100 in my home. 00:03:54.360 --> 00:03:58.770 As soon as that season comes around, like hallmark channel's on instant loop forever. 00:03:58.820 --> 00:04:00.940 It's like you can't escape it. 00:04:00.980 --> 00:04:03.580 Like something about you just comes to life. 00:04:03.600 --> 00:04:07.180 Your inner Martha Stewart wakes up and you're skipping everywhere you go. 00:04:07.260 --> 00:04:08.520 You know what that's like, right? 00:04:08.580 --> 00:04:15.720 Cause cause then you live, if that's you, the typical a typical responses, you might live with the antithesis of that you might live with the person that, 00:04:16.180 --> 00:04:18.260 is the yin to your yang. 00:04:18.279 --> 00:04:18.579 Right. 00:04:18.579 --> 00:04:23.460 You hear, they hear holiday season, they're like, it's the garlic to Dracula, the kryptonite to their life. 00:04:23.480 --> 00:04:27.160 You know, some of you that might, that might feel that way. 00:04:27.160 --> 00:04:33.740 I captured your mugshot to express it this morning, just so you see how you might feel. 00:04:33.760 --> 00:04:41.000 And so I think it's just an important question though to ask, what 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:48.040 does God think about the holidays and when we go around in the hustle and bustle of 00:04:48.040 --> 00:04:53.240 what everything is with Christmas season, how does, how does he view that? 00:04:54.640 --> 00:04:55.520 Yeah. 00:04:55.600 --> 00:05:02.820 You study the early church and they developed, they developed holidays that, centered around to 00:05:02.820 --> 00:05:05.400 really pinnacle moments in church history. 00:05:05.400 --> 00:05:13.520 But they, they had the advent season, which started last week, which leads up to Christmas and then they have, lint, 00:05:13.640 --> 00:05:19.040 which leads up to Easter resurrection Sunday and Monday, Thursday and good Friday. 00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:26.300 And so the early church developed these particular times a year to focus on something significant 00:05:26.300 --> 00:05:29.300 and then, the, for the church. 00:05:29.320 --> 00:05:35.320 But the simplistic question in all of it is w what's God think about the holidays? 00:05:37.420 --> 00:05:42.750 Because really that becomes the basis for how God's people honor him in the way they choose to live their lives. 00:05:42.980 --> 00:05:45.210 I mean, should we even be celebrating Christmas? 00:05:46.040 --> 00:05:53.180 Like when I asked that question, I'm about to go there, in, in a hearing, just 00:05:53.180 --> 00:05:55.260 opinions that have come into our church. 00:05:55.260 --> 00:05:58.250 Like some people even think it's like, it's like a devilish holiday. 00:05:58.820 --> 00:06:04.860 I mean, it would be kind of contradictory for us as a church to agree with that and then be selling Christmas trees in the parking lot that goes to help our church. 00:06:04.940 --> 00:06:06.500 So that's not our approach to it. 00:06:06.540 --> 00:06:13.680 But there's a gamut of repurchase that people have to, and if you, and if you love Christmas, if I'm answering that question, you're like, you better not take 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:14.680 this away for you. 00:06:14.740 --> 00:06:15.160 Really. 00:06:15.340 --> 00:06:18.030 If you don't, you'll you say something negative. 00:06:18.260 --> 00:06:19.600 I don't want to keep doing this. 00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:24.000 You know, like you think Grinch in this, but what does God think about the holidays? 00:06:24.280 --> 00:06:31.320 Well, if you start in Luke chapter two, I'm going to tell you, I'm going to bounce around a lot this morning, but Luke two and when 00:06:31.320 --> 00:06:37.560 you read the gospels, there are two books in the Bible that really even really describe the Christmas season. 00:06:37.860 --> 00:06:38.800 And there's only two chapters. 00:06:38.860 --> 00:06:45.880 And each of those books, the book of Matthew, the first two chapters talks about the Christmas holiday, the first Christmas 00:06:45.880 --> 00:06:48.300 we should say, and what that looked like. 00:06:48.440 --> 00:06:56.040 Matthew follows more of the Jewish tradition in that he quotes several Testament passes, just passages to show how Jesus 00:06:56.040 --> 00:07:03.540 is fulfilling scripture and so, and so Jesus just doesn't appear that God has been working and orchestrating this plan since the 00:07:03.540 --> 00:07:04.820 beginning of time. 00:07:04.820 --> 00:07:08.400 And so Matthew shows that and he shows how that works in the Jewish community. 00:07:08.960 --> 00:07:12.800 Luke, on the other hand, he takes more of a sort of a rustic approach. 00:07:12.800 --> 00:07:18.800 I guess he shows the common man and the story and their approach to Christmas when he appears to the shepherds. 00:07:18.900 --> 00:07:20.800 And that's what Luke is about. 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:28.060 And when you get into chapter two, you see his appearing to the shepherds and then them coming and telling the town and the town coming and looking 00:07:28.060 --> 00:07:31.720 to this new, this Messiah that just was born. 00:07:31.920 --> 00:07:35.960 And in chapter two verse 19 this is at all the Christmas story. 00:07:35.980 --> 00:07:43.000 I want to start here because this is my favorite verse in the whole story that's told in Matthew and Luke and, but this 00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:50.160 is Mary's response and this is how she celebrates the first Christmas it says, but Mary treasured all these things, 00:07:51.840 --> 00:07:59.160 pondering them in her heart and the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all that they had 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:03.900 heard and seen just as had been told to them. 00:08:04.960 --> 00:08:07.350 Not to think when you, when you ask the question, what is God? 00:08:07.500 --> 00:08:11.900 Think about the holidays, this Christmas season, how do we maybe honor him and our family? 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:19.560 It's probably good to start with the first one and maybe, maybe the mother of Jesus give me a good indication as to what 00:08:19.560 --> 00:08:24.040 God or how people have responded throughout this history. 00:08:24.100 --> 00:08:28.900 But you know, when you just asked that question a very general sense, what does God think about the holidays? 00:08:29.020 --> 00:08:34.780 You've got Mary's picture here, but when you approach the scripture, the Bible is pretty indifferent. 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:37.000 Believe it or not. 00:08:39.570 --> 00:08:46.620 Romans chapter 14 is a chapter of scripture that's kinda, it's kinda like the, if I had a title, I'll call it the gray area of the Bible. 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:48.980 Like what do you do with things that you don't know what to do with? 00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:56.180 Or Romans 14 tells you, and it kind of labels it as the gray area of things, but this is what it says in Romans chapter 14 and verse five in regards to 00:08:56.180 --> 00:09:01.740 Christmas, one person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. 00:09:02.900 --> 00:09:06.700 Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. 00:09:08.600 --> 00:09:13.820 So whether or not someone celebrates Christmas when you're thinking, what does the Bible say about this? 00:09:13.820 --> 00:09:14.660 What does God say about this? 00:09:15.020 --> 00:09:19.180 There's not a verse in scripture that says you've got to celebrate Christmas. 00:09:19.560 --> 00:09:22.160 I mean, you saw Mary's response in Luke chapter two. 00:09:22.180 --> 00:09:29.480 And I want to come back to that because I think this time of year is important and I want to point to a why, but when you look at it from just a perspective 00:09:29.480 --> 00:09:36.760 of wanting to find the Bible verse that commands you to observe Christmas, Romans 14 just tells you, let, let 00:09:36.760 --> 00:09:41.700 each person be fully convinced in his own mind how you regard one day over another. 00:09:42.580 --> 00:09:49.620 And what it seems to be saying to us in this passage of scripture is that God is more interested or is interesting to be more in the 00:09:49.620 --> 00:09:50.900 person than in the day. 00:09:52.440 --> 00:09:53.520 Like Sunday. 00:09:53.520 --> 00:09:55.600 There's nothing magical about Sunday. 00:09:57.180 --> 00:10:04.720 But the reason we choose to meet on this day is this happens to be the cultural day that in a week that we 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:07.200 as Americans tend to open our ears to spiritual things. 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:14.980 So if we want to capitalize on that, it sorta makes sense to say, okay, let's, let's gather on Sunday and let's talk about godly things to encourage our lives. 00:10:16.180 --> 00:10:23.200 But it says in this passage is that God's not so much concerned about the day or how you approach certain days in your life, but 00:10:23.200 --> 00:10:27.580 rather what's going on in your heart. 00:10:29.500 --> 00:10:36.540 God's more interested in you than he is and the legalistic practice of just showing up or just participating 00:10:36.540 --> 00:10:38.220 in something because you feel like you should. 00:10:41.060 --> 00:10:48.220 And so God's interest is in you when you study this from a, a cultural standpoint, that there is no Bible verse 00:10:48.220 --> 00:10:50.010 that says you've got to celebrate Christmas. 00:10:50.580 --> 00:10:57.800 In fact, the early church didn't start celebrating this holiday season until the fourth century, but when you celebrate Christmas, you're celebrating 00:10:57.800 --> 00:10:59.680 something that's been around for 1600 years. 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:05.970 And the way that the Christmas celebration started that I can tell from observe, I've looked at history. 00:11:06.460 --> 00:11:08.460 I think Saint Nicholas played a part in that. 00:11:08.500 --> 00:11:09.560 He was a part of the early church. 00:11:09.620 --> 00:11:10.820 He was a very godly individual. 00:11:11.240 --> 00:11:18.300 He started practicing generosity, especially during times a year that they honored as Jesus his birth date. 00:11:18.300 --> 00:11:21.640 And so he would, he would point people to Christ by being very generous. 00:11:21.640 --> 00:11:24.120 Saint Nicholas was a wealthy individual as a young man. 00:11:24.460 --> 00:11:31.620 His parents died when he was young, left him a fortune, and he gave that away to people in need in order to point them to Jesus, love on them as Christ would 00:11:31.620 --> 00:11:32.200 love them. 00:11:32.260 --> 00:11:34.090 That's how that tradition started. 00:11:34.240 --> 00:11:41.520 And it continued to grow until the end of the fourth century that the church, sort of made it a officially unofficial holiday 00:11:41.520 --> 00:11:43.220 that they, that they, honored. 00:11:43.920 --> 00:11:46.910 And this is just my guess, I don't, I have not been able to prove this from history. 00:11:46.920 --> 00:11:47.810 I don't know that anyone has. 00:11:48.800 --> 00:11:55.880 But in early church history, they noticed that the pagan celebrations around them would fall on particular days. 00:11:56.680 --> 00:12:03.860 And so as the, as the early church started to become the dominant people group that were honoring Christ, 00:12:04.180 --> 00:12:08.640 they started to use their influence to replace the pagan holidays with godly holidays. 00:12:08.780 --> 00:12:15.400 I don't even think Jesus was born on December 25th, but it was the winter solstice when they would celebrate pagan worship. 00:12:15.480 --> 00:12:22.580 And so they picked a time of year when they would celebrate and just see, the Eastern West church wasn't even 00:12:22.580 --> 00:12:25.740 specific on which day they would celebrate as Christmas. 00:12:25.740 --> 00:12:30.060 The Christmas holiday falls anywhere from December 25th on 12 days past that. 00:12:30.060 --> 00:12:37.580 And so we celebrate it culturally here on the 25th but the whole point of the holiday wasn't the holiday itself. 00:12:39.040 --> 00:12:46.460 It was to engage the heart where they were to point them to something significant that happened 00:12:46.460 --> 00:12:50.940 in history that was intended to impact our lives, to draw us near to God. 00:12:53.680 --> 00:12:57.490 First Corinthians 10 23 says this, all things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. 00:12:57.880 --> 00:13:00.230 All things are lawful, but not all things Edify. 00:13:02.440 --> 00:13:06.340 So the point of the passage is the pursuit of the edification of the individual. 00:13:06.360 --> 00:13:11.300 What helps you engage God in your relationship? 00:13:11.340 --> 00:13:18.820 What encourages you to draw near to him and the early church saw opportunity to capitalize on 00:13:18.820 --> 00:13:25.520 a season in which they could point people more specifically to what Jesus has done. 00:13:27.790 --> 00:13:32.510 No, if you're thinking this is negative, let me go a little deeper. 00:13:34.060 --> 00:13:41.320 First Isaiah chapter one I could tell you I went through scripture and I've probably found the most negative verse on celebration 00:13:41.320 --> 00:13:45.080 here, but I want to read this and don't worry, we're going to spin this positive in the end. 00:13:45.100 --> 00:13:45.640 Okay. 00:13:46.500 --> 00:13:53.680 Isaiah chapter one in verse verse 13 God is talking about the celebration of certain 00:13:53.680 --> 00:13:53.780 days. 00:13:54.280 --> 00:14:00.300 He gave Israel the celebration of certain days within their uh, calendar year and this is what he said. 00:14:01.620 --> 00:14:04.300 He to this place where he says, bring your worthless offerings. 00:14:04.300 --> 00:14:08.050 No longer incense is an abomination to me. 00:14:08.300 --> 00:14:15.670 Newman and Sabbath, the calling of assemblies, I cannot under iniquity and the solemn assembly, I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts. 00:14:16.380 --> 00:14:18.860 That's, there's this no more plain way to put that. 00:14:19.320 --> 00:14:23.800 I hate, I hate your moon, your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts. 00:14:23.860 --> 00:14:25.280 They have become a burden for me. 00:14:25.300 --> 00:14:26.820 I am weary of bearing them. 00:14:27.800 --> 00:14:35.220 Do you think you'll like this time of year, like if we asked Jesus, how many celebrations 00:14:35.220 --> 00:14:36.660 have you had to show up for this year? 00:14:36.660 --> 00:14:37.160 Jesus. 00:14:37.240 --> 00:14:41.080 He's like, I have 3 million office parties and 20 million kids plays. 00:14:41.080 --> 00:14:42.880 Like, he's like, well, why does he have to show up? 00:14:42.880 --> 00:14:44.800 It's his birthday, you know? 00:14:44.920 --> 00:14:48.800 And he's saying at the end they become a burden to me and we're burying them. 00:14:48.800 --> 00:14:50.820 And so what is, what is God saying in this? 00:14:50.920 --> 00:14:58.020 Because when you, when you look at the old Testament, God commands Israel, he says he commands them 00:14:58.020 --> 00:14:59.040 to have seven feats. 00:14:59.100 --> 00:15:00.740 He commands them to have these new moon festivals. 00:15:01.460 --> 00:15:03.940 Now is he like, is he contradicting himself? 00:15:04.020 --> 00:15:07.160 He's, he says now in this stuff there, they're abomination to him. 00:15:07.160 --> 00:15:07.860 He hates them. 00:15:07.860 --> 00:15:09.710 Do not do the right and he cannot endure them anymore. 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:17.960 And even talks about the calling of the assembly or the worshiping on the Sabbath, the gathering of God's people, he, he's irritated 00:15:17.960 --> 00:15:18.740 by all that. 00:15:18.800 --> 00:15:21.160 And it's pretty bah humbug of him, right? 00:15:21.480 --> 00:15:23.480 I mean, what does it mean? 00:15:26.060 --> 00:15:33.480 You know, when you look at the new moon celebration in Israel, what that represented the 00:15:33.480 --> 00:15:40.140 new moon, if you look at Israel's calendar year, they didn't follow the calendar like we follow, they followed the lunar calendar. 00:15:40.140 --> 00:15:44.160 And so when a new moon happened, it represented a new month. 00:15:46.100 --> 00:15:53.160 And so God wanted them to take particularly each month and he had particular things he wanted to do at the beginning of the month in order for them 00:15:53.160 --> 00:15:55.880 to consecrate themselves to the Lord. 00:15:55.920 --> 00:15:56.990 It was sorta like a reset. 00:15:57.160 --> 00:15:58.940 It's kinda like what we do new year. 00:15:59.080 --> 00:16:03.660 You know, you think you look back at the year and you're like, all these things I didn't do. 00:16:03.660 --> 00:16:07.340 I feel so bad that, I had this list of accomplishments I did not make. 00:16:07.520 --> 00:16:11.860 And so you look at the next year like, okay, new goals, fresh star all over. 00:16:11.920 --> 00:16:16.080 Well, God, God looked at the beginning of each month sort of that way. 00:16:17.100 --> 00:16:18.190 And so he would command Israel. 00:16:18.400 --> 00:16:24.720 He says, okay, I want you to bring animals to sacrifice this in numbers chapter 28 verses 10 to 13. 00:16:24.780 --> 00:16:28.600 He would tell him, I bring these animals, I want you to sacrifice these animals. 00:16:29.080 --> 00:16:30.750 And then there was these, the grain offerings. 00:16:31.160 --> 00:16:34.410 And then there were, there were a drink offerings and then there were burns offerings. 00:16:34.820 --> 00:16:38.140 And then there were sin offerings, which are two different types of sacrificial offerings. 00:16:38.700 --> 00:16:40.550 And then they would blow trumpets over the sacrifice. 00:16:41.160 --> 00:16:46.910 But the whole point of all of it was for them to see the start of the new month as a way to consecrate themselves to the Lord. 00:16:47.180 --> 00:16:53.180 It was really looking on the horizon of what this new month would represent and focusing on giving it to God. 00:16:56.900 --> 00:17:02.920 On top of that, Israel celebrated feasts. 00:17:04.900 --> 00:17:12.200 There were seven feasts Israel had within their practices together during the calendar year. 00:17:12.200 --> 00:17:18.140 And the word feast means it actually means a pointed time in the Hebrew. 00:17:18.200 --> 00:17:22.579 So there was this appointed time they would celebrate the these feasts and Clawson's. 00:17:22.619 --> 00:17:29.680 It says this, therefore no one has to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to festival or these fees 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:31.130 or a new moon or a Sabbath. 00:17:33.080 --> 00:17:39.200 And so God is saying in Isaiah one, he's tired of the way that they represent him in the feast. 00:17:39.300 --> 00:17:44.590 But then in Colassians he's saying like this, if you're thinking, well, all that sounds negative, like God doesn't want me to do holidays. 00:17:45.120 --> 00:17:48.140 Well this is, this is your repeat verse or here, don't judge me either. 00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:51.360 You let my, you let my Martha Stewart go for it. 00:17:51.420 --> 00:17:52.160 That's what it's saying. 00:17:52.220 --> 00:17:59.270 This verse, let no one act as your judge in regard to the, to the food or drink, earn respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 00:17:59.420 --> 00:18:06.800 And God appointed these seven feasts in Israel's history, which means a point in time to ultimately 00:18:06.800 --> 00:18:13.800 point to one significant appointed time, meaning all of the feasts found themselves, 00:18:13.880 --> 00:18:17.360 culminated in everything Jesus was. 00:18:19.960 --> 00:18:23.100 Jesus was the fulfillment of what these feasts represented. 00:18:25.280 --> 00:18:32.520 And so you look at Colossians two 16 and it makes the statement, let no one act as your judge in regard to 00:18:32.520 --> 00:18:33.170 these things. 00:18:34.380 --> 00:18:41.420 And then it tells you why in verse 17 what's the point of the new 00:18:41.420 --> 00:18:45.050 moon and what's the point of the feasts of the old Testament? 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:46.720 Why did they celebrate those holidays? 00:18:49.690 --> 00:18:54.580 It says this, these things which are mere shadows of what is to come. 00:18:55.880 --> 00:19:03.240 But look, but the substance belongs to Christ, 00:19:08.580 --> 00:19:14.280 the holiday tradition, or at least the representation of what Christmas is. 00:19:16.600 --> 00:19:17.140 Yeah. 00:19:17.260 --> 00:19:24.300 Our holiday is loaded with symbolic representations of everything that 00:19:24.300 --> 00:19:32.020 Jesus is Israel in 00:19:32.020 --> 00:19:33.820 the celebration of these feasts. 00:19:35.580 --> 00:19:36.900 We're forgetting the main point. 00:19:40.340 --> 00:19:44.310 That's why I say God's not so much interested in the fact that you do or don't celebrate holidays. 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:56.080 God's more interested in the people that choose to celebrate or not celebrate this holiday I saw 00:19:56.080 --> 00:20:03.100 in Israel the opportunity to leverage and call them to these particular points within their lives in order for their heart to better 00:20:03.100 --> 00:20:05.280 engage them or him. 00:20:05.280 --> 00:20:06.160 Excuse me. 00:20:07.380 --> 00:20:10.240 You know what happens in a person's heart? 00:20:12.660 --> 00:20:19.820 The battle for your heart is always raging and your heart represents something that needs to continue to 00:20:19.860 --> 00:20:22.600 be confronted and challenged in the direction that it's going. 00:20:24.360 --> 00:20:31.500 And the Bible tells us the heart is deceitful above all things, a heart's prone to wandering and Proverbs, it tells us that, there's a way that seems right 00:20:31.540 --> 00:20:34.250 to the men in the end that leads to destruction. 00:20:34.440 --> 00:20:41.200 And so what he's, what he's recognizing the whole point of these fees isn't the fees itself, the whole point of these holidays, that's not the holiday itself. 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:43.020 The whole point of the new moon is not the new moon itself. 00:20:43.320 --> 00:20:49.270 It's to recognize in our lives there comes a place in our heart where it just needs awaken and it needs impact and it needs reminded. 00:20:49.980 --> 00:20:51.820 And there's times that you need to do that. 00:20:51.840 --> 00:20:58.280 And so those days are used as catalyst to spur our lives to the life that we have in Jesus. 00:20:58.340 --> 00:21:03.800 And so I know I can read Bible verses that say, don't, you don't have to celebrate Christmas. 00:21:03.940 --> 00:21:07.380 And we'd be like, yeah, I'm not going to just because just because I want to be rebellious in it. 00:21:07.420 --> 00:21:14.480 But rather what it's saying is when you approach certain opportunities like this, use these as springboards again to awaken 00:21:14.480 --> 00:21:16.780 your heart to what God wants to do in your life. 00:21:19.780 --> 00:21:22.480 So why Christmas? 00:21:26.680 --> 00:21:33.740 God historically created a special time 00:21:33.740 --> 00:21:34.000 of year. 00:21:36.840 --> 00:21:44.760 All of history points to, I may even write it down when you put the date on 00:21:44.760 --> 00:21:52.360 a paper that you signed, Jesus is coming culminated all of 00:21:52.360 --> 00:21:52.900 history. 00:21:52.960 --> 00:22:00.020 When you read scripture from old to new Testament, all of it was to look to the shadow of what things were, 00:22:00.100 --> 00:22:05.540 but the substance belongs to Christ that the old Testament pointed to the arrival of the Messiah. 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:08.140 The new Testament looks back to the coming of a Messiah. 00:22:08.520 --> 00:22:16.140 All of our hope rests in this pinnacle moment and I know we could say things like, well, Easter, 00:22:16.220 --> 00:22:23.340 Easter to me is more important than Christmas because we needed a savior and we don't have salvation without the death and resurrection of 00:22:23.340 --> 00:22:23.860 Jesus. 00:22:23.980 --> 00:22:29.920 To which I would say that's true, but you don't even have the death and resurrection of Jesus unless he comes. 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:31.740 Right? 00:22:31.800 --> 00:22:34.660 I mean, it takes the birth of Christ in order to lead to the death of Christ. 00:22:34.780 --> 00:22:38.980 And so I don't think I put a, I'll put one holiday is more significant. 00:22:38.980 --> 00:22:41.360 The other ultimately culminates in what Easter represents. 00:22:41.360 --> 00:22:48.640 But the whole story of what Jesus is, if I could just connect my heart to that and put my trust in that, 00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:50.860 that's what, that's what Christmas is about. 00:22:53.760 --> 00:23:00.920 And so when you look at the holiday season, above everything, what is intended to 00:23:00.920 --> 00:23:05.220 do is to provoke our hearts to worship. 00:23:07.580 --> 00:23:13.880 So truth is experiences in life help define us. 00:23:15.460 --> 00:23:22.500 You think about when I say to you what makes you who you are, that typically when we think back in our lives, there's maybe certain monumental things that have happened 00:23:22.500 --> 00:23:27.320 in our lives where you think, you know this really helps shape me in who I am. 00:23:27.320 --> 00:23:34.440 And then there's other things that, it may not be one set moment in our lives, but there are certain practices that have happened over the course of time 00:23:34.440 --> 00:23:38.400 that we didn't even realize that we were being shaped by it until later in life. 00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:42.760 But these practices helped culminate what we were becoming. 00:23:42.760 --> 00:23:45.700 And I think the holiday season can something like that. 00:23:45.840 --> 00:23:52.840 When a family gathers around some sort of idea, whether they choose to leave God in it or alphabet, it shapes a pattern that you'll continue to 00:23:52.840 --> 00:23:53.940 display within your life. 00:23:57.600 --> 00:23:58.640 And you're defined by something. 00:24:01.510 --> 00:24:08.620 I think God's desires for us as people to really, in a sense, new moon, our 00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:16.120 hearts to him to look for times in which we set aside something, 00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:22.540 encourages us to set aside our lives to new moon, our hearts to him. 00:24:22.540 --> 00:24:29.780 This is funny, but in thinking about this word, new moon this week, I decided to Google the new moon on YouTube just 00:24:29.780 --> 00:24:31.800 to find whatever song relates to new moon. 00:24:31.840 --> 00:24:34.150 Almost didn't want to say this because of what I found. 00:24:34.220 --> 00:24:41.480 But um, for all you Twilight fans out there, they have a song called new moon and it's loaded with Edward 00:24:41.480 --> 00:24:46.420 and I became the Grinch at every mall in this new moon. 00:24:46.420 --> 00:24:48.080 Almost ruined it for me. 00:24:48.180 --> 00:24:52.350 Took my heart, I gave it back to the Lord of skin. 00:24:53.620 --> 00:25:00.500 But new moon, it's not, it's not the holiday that's special. 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:13.040 It's what happens within the heart as it can engage as the day that creates the uniqueness of what a holiday is and what God desires in it, so 00:25:13.040 --> 00:25:14.950 what does God think about the holidays? 00:25:17.120 --> 00:25:21.780 I think it's different from culture to culture in the grand scheme of things. 00:25:21.860 --> 00:25:28.860 To him it's not that big of a deal, but how we use the seasons to connect 00:25:28.860 --> 00:25:34.540 our heart to him that that's where he cares and so let me do this. 00:25:34.540 --> 00:25:41.640 I'm going to bring us back to the story in Luke for just a moment because when 00:25:41.640 --> 00:25:48.820 you read the Christmas story, the first Christmas story that's ever celebrated, what you see in the story, Matthew chapter 00:25:48.820 --> 00:25:56.340 one, chapter two, Luke chapter one, chapter two when they're telling the story, you see all these characters being discussed, 00:25:56.440 --> 00:26:03.940 the wise men, Herod, shepherds, townspeople, Mary Joseph, and you see all these, all 00:26:03.940 --> 00:26:05.820 these characters discuss. 00:26:06.260 --> 00:26:13.600 But one of the things that I think the authors are trying to get across to us in each of these stories as they're told of these individual characters is how 00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:19.720 they interacted with this time of year where their heart rested. 00:26:21.500 --> 00:26:28.600 Because when you get to what I, what I think is my favorite passage in the Christmas story, it seems like at the end of what is 00:26:28.620 --> 00:26:35.920 the Christmas story in Luke, that, that he's really showing the diversity of 00:26:35.920 --> 00:26:37.240 the way people approach this. 00:26:37.340 --> 00:26:38.240 And here, here's what I mean. 00:26:38.280 --> 00:26:45.840 It says this in verse 18, the shepherds, the shepherds went in verse 18, they declared to the town that 00:26:45.840 --> 00:26:53.140 the Messiah was there and they brought the towns, people in it said this all who heard it, wondered at the things which were told to them about the shepherds. 00:26:54.100 --> 00:26:55.620 And then there's this contrasting word. 00:26:57.080 --> 00:27:04.640 You know, when, when, when you first read this, in verse 18, when it says, and 00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:08.300 all who heard it wondered at the things, I'm thinking this is good. 00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:09.310 This is good and godly. 00:27:09.580 --> 00:27:13.100 There they're wondering about the story that's being told to them. 00:27:13.120 --> 00:27:17.680 How, what a great way to celebrate Christmas that the individuals here are wondering about this. 00:27:17.680 --> 00:27:27.060 And then when you get to verse 19, you realize, Oh, it's not necessarily a good thing, but Mary 00:27:27.060 --> 00:27:35.200 treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart, and 00:27:35.200 --> 00:27:38.960 the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen. 00:27:38.980 --> 00:27:40.800 Just as had been told them. 00:27:44.690 --> 00:27:47.750 Yeah, we talk about Jesus, his ministry. 00:27:48.080 --> 00:27:50.640 Jesus constantly had crowds that followed him around. 00:27:53.140 --> 00:28:00.340 But those crowds, the typical Mark of the crowds was that they were, they were people that wondered but never 00:28:00.340 --> 00:28:01.240 really engaged. 00:28:03.360 --> 00:28:10.600 And that's like kind of like Christmas season now you get to drive around, you get to see all the lights 00:28:10.600 --> 00:28:15.800 to pay, load up the van, go to Thanksgiving point or whatever it is that you do that becomes your Christmas tradition. 00:28:16.400 --> 00:28:21.060 Get out the lights yourself, decorate your house, and you get to go around and you get to see a lot of wandering things. 00:28:21.480 --> 00:28:21.580 Right? 00:28:22.060 --> 00:28:27.220 A lot of, a lot of things that, the Greek also would say is amazed. 00:28:27.360 --> 00:28:29.340 A lot of things that just, they're just nice things. 00:28:32.520 --> 00:28:39.700 But in verse 19, this contrasting word is to help us recognize that doesn't mean that 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:47.160 God engaged your heart in it because what it says about Mary then is that different than just being amazed, like it's a fleeting moment 00:28:47.160 --> 00:28:50.720 of just appreciating the, the glitz and the glamour. 00:28:51.540 --> 00:29:00.200 Mary took an extra step and she treasured these things and 00:29:00.200 --> 00:29:02.120 pondered them in her heart. 00:29:04.340 --> 00:29:11.860 And this word for this word for pondered in Greek, it's kind of a, it's a forceful word that says that there was this collision 00:29:11.860 --> 00:29:13.080 of combining. 00:29:13.080 --> 00:29:19.680 It's this collision of combining what the, what the picture was really of the old Testament, what God's doing in the story right now. 00:29:19.680 --> 00:29:25.480 It's this collision of combining everything that God's culminating in this world in this moment. 00:29:25.700 --> 00:29:32.820 And she's taking it into her life and she's making an impact who she is and what God desires to 00:29:32.820 --> 00:29:34.100 do in her and through her. 00:29:34.100 --> 00:29:41.840 And so I think what happens, the difference in the contrast to this story is that Mary takes the extra beyond just 00:29:41.840 --> 00:29:48.180 simply being amazed and brings it as an attitude of worship. 00:29:53.130 --> 00:30:00.180 I say all this to start in this place this morning because, and we've talked 00:30:00.180 --> 00:30:07.280 about everything that Christmas represents and how to display the attitude of Christmas in this world and what it means to walk in peace 00:30:07.280 --> 00:30:08.760 and hope with God. 00:30:08.920 --> 00:30:17.180 I think the foundation for all of that establishes itself and the whole and 00:30:17.180 --> 00:30:21.740 if I'm being more specific, it really starts in the heart. 00:30:23.500 --> 00:30:24.480 Cause here's the danger. 00:30:25.800 --> 00:30:26.820 the day's dangerous. 00:30:26.820 --> 00:30:31.260 Isaiah chapter one verses 13 and 14, all right? 00:30:31.260 --> 00:30:38.440 Where Israel went through the motions, they did the office party and 00:30:38.440 --> 00:30:42.460 they did the kids singing thing and they did the shopping and they did the setting up of the tree. 00:30:42.460 --> 00:30:43.420 And they did that. 00:30:43.560 --> 00:30:44.060 And they did that. 00:30:44.100 --> 00:30:44.660 And they did that. 00:30:44.680 --> 00:30:45.460 And they did that and they did that and they forgot. 00:30:49.560 --> 00:30:58.660 But the whole point of this celebration is a birthday in the birth that's being honored, Jesus and what Jesus desires more than the holiday as 00:30:58.660 --> 00:30:59.560 the people within it. 00:31:02.010 --> 00:31:09.350 So I don't know what that does to your Christmas, every year I feel like I'm trying to figure it out myself. 00:31:10.740 --> 00:31:10.860 Yeah. 00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:11.930 This is a new year. 00:31:12.060 --> 00:31:12.870 This is a new moon. 00:31:12.980 --> 00:31:13.780 This is a new place. 00:31:16.020 --> 00:31:18.440 You've given me this responsibility in life. 00:31:18.820 --> 00:31:26.560 These people around me, God, how can we become weak 19 and 00:31:26.560 --> 00:31:33.860 avoid Luke 18 I don't think it has to be complicated, but I think 00:31:33.860 --> 00:31:40.860 when you think this way, something as simplistic as putting up lights on a Christmas tree can 00:31:40.880 --> 00:31:42.300 be a time of worship for a family. 00:31:45.540 --> 00:31:50.780 Kids is you hanging around a tree, let's say to your kids, you know how we put lights on a tree? 00:31:52.580 --> 00:31:52.930 Let me think. 00:31:53.240 --> 00:31:54.160 Let me show you in scripture. 00:31:54.680 --> 00:31:55.920 Jesus is called the light of the world. 00:31:55.920 --> 00:32:03.460 And this reminds us has as winter times around and it gets darker and darker outside and things become, hibernated that 00:32:03.460 --> 00:32:05.340 there's still light in Christ. 00:32:05.400 --> 00:32:06.630 And we put it on a green tree. 00:32:06.980 --> 00:32:10.420 Because when everything else is dead around, Jesus still has life. 00:32:10.560 --> 00:32:17.700 And the reason we put a star or an angel on top is because when that beautiful story of life is told, the star of Bethlehem appeared 00:32:17.700 --> 00:32:21.360 in the sky and the angels proclaim the glory of God to the shepherds. 00:32:26.000 --> 00:32:26.780 All of this. 00:32:28.220 --> 00:32:30.080 It's because of the greatest gift we've been given. 00:32:32.300 --> 00:32:39.380 The opportunity for me to make things new amount of life, and this is what I think is saying in Luke chapter is 00:32:39.630 --> 00:32:47.020 it's the encouragement to us and the story is you see the Christmas story unfolding in these two chapter, 00:32:47.060 --> 00:32:50.460 these four chapters in the Bible, two in Matthew and two in Luke. 00:32:50.480 --> 00:32:57.520 There's all of these different characters engaging all these different ways and you get to the really the tail end of what the story is, the end of Luke, and it's saying that 00:32:57.520 --> 00:33:04.520 there are these people that were just amazed by, but there was, there was one, I had a collision 00:33:04.520 --> 00:33:07.360 course, the grace of God. 00:33:10.080 --> 00:33:17.720 Well when it comes to the holidays, the holidays are just a semantical background to what is the most important thing, not 00:33:17.720 --> 00:33:21.740 as God's pursuit for his people as you connect to him.