CHRISTMAS
DAY
December
25, 2014
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
Hebrews 1:1-9
“TAKE A GOOD HARD LOOK AT CHRISTMAS!”
Hebrews 1:1-9
(NIV 1984) “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through
the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in
these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,
whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom
he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being,
sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had
provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of
the Majesty in heaven. 4 So he became as much superior to the
angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. 5 For to
which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my Son; today I have become
your Father " ? Or again,
"I will be his Father, and he will be my Son" ? 6 And again, when God brings his firstborn into
the world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship
him." 7 In speaking of the angels he says,
"He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire." 8 But about the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, will last
for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your
kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore
God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing
you with the oil of joy."
“It’s
better to give than to receive!” Do any of you know where that paraphrase of
the words of Jesus is found in the Bible? It’s actually found not in the
Gospels as you would expect but in Acts 20:35 where the Apostle Paul quotes
Jesus saying “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Certainly we
recognize the truth of that saying in many areas of Christian life but when it
comes to the real reason for Christmas we actually need to switch it—for us. It’s
better for us to receive than to give when the gift we received is God’s Son
Jesus Christ. With that in mind I want you to ponder the question, “What did
you get for Christmas?” That’s a common question this time of year. It’s heard
in post Christmas phone calls to friends
and family. Teens have probably already texted it to each other. Younger
children will talk about it when they get back to school. So what did you get
for Christmas? Then the comparison games begin with some feeling they get more
and some less. Those comparison games are nothing new. Our text today was
written to some Christians who were comparing
what life had been like as they lived as Old Testament believers without
persecution to their lives as New Testament believers who were now facing
persecution. They wondered if maybe with the gift of Jesus they had gotten the
short end of the stick. To help them the Holy Spirit jumped into action and had
the unidentified writer to the Hebrews set things straight. His words give us
the chance to take a good hard look at Christmas. Good because of what we find
out about our Christmas gift. Hard because of the way the writer writes. What
do we find out? What did we get?
“In the past God spoke to our
forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in
these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.”
Before Jesus came God did speak to His people in various ways. He came to Adam and Eve in the garden. He
spoke to Moses from a burning bush. But mostly He inspired the prophets to
write down and tell to God’s people what they need to hear. Once Jesus became
human and physically walked the earth we received the gift of God speaking to
us through His Son. This doesn’t diminish the Old Testament but points us to
the completing of God’s Word in the New Testament. Old Testament believers did
not have everything God wanted revealed. We do! There’s a reason we find it
easier to read and understand the New Testament rather than the old. And think
of those sayings of Jesus that sink deep into our hearts. Like “It’s more
blessed to give than to receive. Surely I will be with you always even to the
end of the age. Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you
rest. God so loved the world He gave His one and only Son.” How good it is that
God gave us His Son so we could have His words so plain and clear.
There’s
more. “In these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed
heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God's
glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his
powerful word.” We are familiar with small
things being powerful. The atomic bomb sure helped people understand the power
that can be contained in small packages. But that kind of power is limited. The
writer to the Hebrews next focuses our attention on something that’s hard to
grasp. That little baby lying in the manger is the one through whom God made
the entire universe. Jesus is God in human flesh and that baby who needed to be
fed and changed and held was actually keeping the world going, sustaining all
things. Now I can’t really remember anything I did as a baby but I have seen
other babies grab for the items on the mobile hanging over them. I’ve seen them
push and struggle to roll or crawl for the first time. The baby in the manger
could have grabbed a star to play with or danced a jig right out of the womb.
Instead He kept things going that we take for granted like sunlight giving us
warmth and gravity holding us to the earth and photosynthesis to keep the food
chain going. Even though it’s hard to understand how the baby in the manger was
responsible for all this how good to know Jesus is looking out for us.
And
what he did for us. “After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right
hand of the Majesty in heaven.” These are hard words for us to think about
on Christmas morning. They fast forward our focus to the mission Jesus was on,
to purify us from our sins. The peace between God and men that the angels sang
about came at an awful price. It was brokered on a cross of pain and anguish
for this baby grown up. As hard as it is for us to think about what Jesus suffered
for us it’s good for us to know what He accomplished and why He ascended to
heaven to the right hand of God. He provided purification for sins. In each of
our pasts and probably not all that distant past there are sins we are ashamed
of where we deliberately went against conscience and stained our soul. People have
come up with all sorts of sin cleaning techniques. I’ll look at everyone else’s
sins and get bothered by them. Then my stains don’t look so bad. But my sin
stains remain to be seen by others and myself when honesty returns. Even if I’ve
forgotten my shameful sins, daily I’m failing to give God his due. I should be
quaking in my boots at the judgment of God. But I’m not. Neither are you and
even if my subconscious accuses me I’m clean and stain free from sin. So are
you. Because God gave us a gift. Jesus whose blood has cleansed us from every
sin. How good that is.
Now
it’s a little hard to know exactly what was going on when the letter to the
Hebrews was written. You kind of think they had an angel craze going like we
had a decade ago with seminars in hotel meeting rooms to help you get in touch
with your own personal angel and the angel shows on prime time TV. I say that
because of the next hard words from the letter that are good for us to hear. “So he became as much superior to the angels
as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. 5 For to which of the angels did
God ever say, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father " ? Or
again, "I will be his Father, and he will be my Son" ? 6 And again, when God brings his
firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship
him." 7
In speaking of the angels he says, "He makes his angels winds, his
servants flames of fire." While angels
were part of the Christmas story and it’s nice to know God has his angels
watching over us it’s better to know that at Christmas God gave us His Son.
Why? Hallmark cards puts it this way, “When you care enough to send the very
best.” That’s for a greeting card. God did send the very best. Doing that
proves how very much He loves you. Remember that when you have some hard things
to deal with. Maybe you are dealing with some right now in health, or finances or
relationships. Take those worries and cast them on God. He cares for you.
And
will continue to. “But about the Son he
says, "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness
will be the scepter of your kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and
hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by
anointing you with the oil of joy."
More hard to understand everything God is saying words. But good for us to know
the bottom line. Jesus rules in righteousness forever. We don’t need a movie to
tell us heaven is for real. God Himself tells us. And because of God’s gift we
get to be a part of it. It may be hard for us to try to imagine what life in
heaven will be like. We are so stuck to what we know. Because of that it is
hard to deal with the news that a loved one is dying. It will be hard when you
get the news you will be dying soon. But it’s good to know that when that happens we will see Jesus and be a
part of His reign of righteousness. It’s good to know that our loved ones who
have died in the Lord are there right now.
Now back to our question. What did you
get for Christmas? Under the tree were some nice things from nice people who
love you. The real lasting value is seen when I ask you to remember just one
gift you got 4 years ago. Can you do it? What did you really get for Christmas?
In our heart of hearts we Christians know we got God’s Son, Jesus, my Savior.
And while we can spend the rest of the year working on being generous for today
we can say, “It’s better to receive than give!” Thank you Father. Amen.
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