This past Sunday we talked about the peace of Christmas. If you want to listen to the sermon click here and download it. The movie clips have been edited out.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/4ngu0cjwkld/The Ghost of Christmas Peace.mp3
If you'd rather read text just scroll down.
“The Ghost of Christmas Peace”
Brimfield Faith UMC
December 6, 2009
Luke 3:1-4
Depending on your perspective, the Christmas Season can either be one filled with joy or one filled with discouragements, frustrations and difficulties. Last week, we talked about the hopelessness that has the ability to overcome us during the holiday season. So often, we struggle through life silently and in isolation, refusing to open up about our problems and challenges. After all, everybody has it rough these days and nobody wants to hear about my junk, right? The message of silent struggle is a false message. It is a message that keeps us in bondage. It is a message that drains the life from us.
Together we named the struggle of hopelessness and we attempted to rediscover the meaning of hope during the Advent Season. This morning I hope to rediscover the Advent meaning of peace. The struggle this morning is one of anxiety, guilt, shame, turmoil and chaos. I’ll make a bit of a confession about the Christmas season. One of the things that I struggle with this time of year is all of the charity work that goes on. Everybody and their brother is getting in on the action. Toys for Tots, Coats for Kids, Food for the Hungry, Salvation Army, and the list goes on. Then, the kids are selling stuff at school, ornaments, candy, flowers, and the like. The worst for me is at the cash register they will ask if you would like to donate a dollar to _____ charity. I usually say no, but then I think, “Gosh it was only a dollar.”
I don’t have a problem with people doing good deeds, in fact, I encourage it. My struggle in in the fact that if you say no, you feel like you are a horrible person. I know personally, I don’t feel like I can give to every organization that is asking for money. We tithe to the church and that doesn’t leave us with much additional margin to give to other charities. They are all good organizations, working towards worthy causes. I just don’t have enough to go around.
At any rate, I think most of us can get cynical about all of the charities that are soliciting this time of year. If you don’t and you just give to everyone, you are probably a saint and bless you for that. Most of us probably get a little hard hearted towards the movement just a little bit. The movie that we are going to watch this morning is “The Christmas Carol” addresses some of these age old struggles. It is a classic Christmas story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a wealthy man who is a stingy man. Throughout the years, he has become jaded, greedy, and downright mean. The story unfolds on Christmas Eve as three ghosts of Christmas: past, present, and future visit Scrooge in the night. Through the experience, Scrooge is a renewed man and rediscovers the true Christmas Spirit.
We are going to join Scrooge on his journey towards redemption, in attempts of discovering peace in our own lives. e are going to watch a clip from the beginning of movie. In it you will see the hardness of Scrooge’s heart and inner turmoil that he experiences.
[CLIP OF SCROOGE]
PROPHETS AND JOHN THE BAPTIST
Scrooge is definitely a bitter old man. Don’t all of us have a little bit of Scrooge in us. We are stingy, we hoard, and at times we are even mean. As Scrooge makes his way home on Christmas Eve, the poor of the streets, badger Scrooge for a little bit of help: a coin, a piece of bread, anything on Christmas Eve. While Scrooge’s heart has been hardened over the years, the voices on the street seem to have a penetrating effect on him. As he returns to his house, he is visited by the three Ghosts of Christmas, past, present, and future. The purpose of these voices is to call Scrooge out of that place of bitterness and inner turmoil and into a place of peace and joy.
While you may not ever be visited by the Ghosts of Christmas or read about them in the Bible, God does speak into our lives and in the Scriptures in order to call us out of our own turmoil and chaos. As we the Gospel text was read this morning, we heard one of God’s voices calling out into the word. The voice is that of John the Baptist. John is considered a prophet in the same vein that the prophets of the Old Testament. In the Bible, prophets were God’s mouth piece to the world. They cried out against the injustices of the world, they exposed people’s sinful actions, their wrong motives, and called them back into a relationship with God.
As Jesus is beginning his ministry, John is acting as a prophet and calling the people to repent and be baptized. In Luke 3 it tells of John’s ministry: “He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God’s salvation.’” The people responded in crowds to John’s message. They felt convicted of their evil ways and wanted to receive forgiveness for their wrongs. It was the voice of John that allowed the people to receive and respond fully to the ministry of Jesus later on.
VOICES, SIN, AND REPENTANCE
Although prophets like John the Baptist aren’t common these days, God is still speaking to us. There are voices in our lives that call out to us and call us back to a relationship with God. The voices come in various forms. It can be the friend who falls ill and causes you to reevaluate life. It might be your own near death experience. It might be that you’ve hit a place of rock bottom like George Bailey does in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” How do you hear the voices of the prophets in your life? What do your Ghosts of Christmas look like? Regardless of how you hear God calling to you, he is attempting to do several things in your life.
#1. God’s voice is revealing your sin and its affects.
Sin is one of those funny concepts in today’s culture. Biblically, the word sin was an ancient archery word that meant to miss the mark. Biblically, sin is something that everyone struggles with. Romans states, “That all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Sin results in an alienation from God. It permeates everything relationship we have, every decision that we make, every thought that we have. Sin results in conflict, turmoil, and a lack of peace. Sin is the antithesis of peace. The Hebrew word for peace is “shalom” and it means wholeness, completeness. It is the action of sin that breaks the shalom of God. If you lack peace this Christmas season, sin is ultimately at the root of the problem. God wants to show you your sin so that you can turn away from it and repent of it.
While most of us aren’t as hardened, conflicted or even as rich as Scrooge, we all have a bit of Scrooge in us. Scrooge’s sins were numerous. He was greedy, he was vindictive, he was selfish, and he was hardhearted. At the beginning of the movie, Scrooge’s sinful ways negatively affect Tiny Tim’s family and many others. As we consider Scrooge’s, we should ask ourselves:
What are our sins? What effect on others does our behavior have?
#2. God’s voice is leading you to repentance.
When God gives us the gift of awareness of our sin and its affects, it should move our hearts. It should lead us to a place of brokenness and sorrow. Our response needs to go beyond simply feeling bad about our behavior. It needs to lead to actual repentance. The word repentance means to change direction. In regard to God’s voice, God is calling us to repent of our sin that is to turn away from it and back to God.
Ezekiel talks about repentance of sin like this: “Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. 31 Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!” (Ezekiel 18:30-32).
For Scrooge, repentance comes as he realizes that his behaviors have so negatively affected others. When faced with the prospect of death, he wants to live so that he can change his ways. Repentance is the component that will allowed Scrooge to move from turmoil to peace. IT will allow him to discover redemption.
We must repent of our own sin as well if we are going to discover peace. Repentance call us to rid ourselves of all our offenses. It means to stop actively engaging in the areas that God has revealed as sins.
DISCOVERING PEACE
#3. God’s voice is helping us to discover peace. When we stop our old ways, we can receive a new heart and spirit. We will receive new life. As we receive new life, we can also discover the peace in our hearts that we long for. God’s voice leads us to repentance which allows us to receive a new heart and spirit. Repentance is not just a change of heart. Repentance leads us into action. A good rule of thumb is that your new actions should help make right your sinful actions. If you robbed from God, you should give back to God more than you stole. In Catholic terms it is called penance. Penance these days is ascribed as say a few Hail Mary’s and Our Father’s. True penance is making right what we messed up.
When your heart and conscience are clear, you will be able to experience the peace of God. Your good deeds don’t earn the forgiveness that you have received and they don’t make your sinful actions disappear but they make a difference. They promote peace in others lives and they promote peace in your own lives.
Scrooge discovers Christmas peace through helping others. We are going to watch a clip as Scrooge begins to act out of his new heart and make right his sinful ways.
[CLIP SCROOGE DISCOVERS PEACE]
CONCLUSION - PERSONAL PEACE
The only way for us to experience peace is to be in right relationship with God. As long as we have unconfessed sin in our lives, we will be haunted by the Ghosts of Christmas. The voice of God will cry out against our spirits until we can see the sinful actions in our lives. The acts of confession, repentance, and penance are not easy. They are can be frightening and difficult, but they lead to life.
As we conclude this morning, I want to take a moment and lead you in a prayer of confession and repentance. #1. Confession #2. Repentance #3. Peace through action (Penance)
Prayer: Lord, I confess that there are motives and thoughts in my heart, words that I speak, things that I have done, and things I Have left undone that did not please you. Among the things I struggle with are the following: __________. Please forgive me through the name of Jesus. Amen.
Now be empowered by the Holy Spirit to engaged in acts of peace and generosity. Be filled with the true Ghost of Christmas and know the peace of God!
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