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Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

Email:
Pastor Scott Carson

Secretary Patti Hall

PASTOR'S PENS 2006

Grace Church of Burlington December 17, 2006 “What Will It Take For You to Have a “Merry” Christmas?”             How would you initially answer that question? Personally, if I had everything done ahead of time and had plenty of energy to do all that I need to do, then I would say I could then have a “Merry Christmas.” In order to get everything “done,” we’d already decided to give ourselves less to do, buy less presents and try to simplify the season. But even with that, we once again find ourselves behind on our deadlines and just a tad stressed out. So it still seems like it’s going to be hard to fully “enjoy” Christmas this year again.             Do you feel the same way? No matter how prepared we seem to be, there always seems to be more on our plate than we want so we can never sit down and actually enjoy anything. It’s kind of ironic that with all of the creature comforts that we’ve created for ourselves; fast food restaurants, cell phones, jacuzzis, stereo systems, laptops and PDA’s and and everything else, we’re often more stressed today than ever!             Paul wrote in Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” His suggestion for really “enjoying” Christmas and every other time of our life has an even more drastic simplification process. Paul was writing this letter from his first imprisonment in Rome. He was awaiting the hearing of his appeal to the emperor and then the emperor’s verdict from which he expected to be set free. It wasn’t as bad as his second imprisonment, where he had to ask Timothy to bring a cloak to him. Yet he probably spent a period of about two years in prison, from A.D. 61 to 63. Prison is prison, and Paul was by no means enjoying a summer vacation in Rome. Having been stripped of his traveling capabilities and many of his possessions, Paul wouldn’t have had a lot of reasons to rejoice. Yet it was Paul who encouraged the Philippians to “rejoice” for one simple reason. What does he say? Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!  Paul says to rejoice in the Lord. A lord is literally to whom a person or thing belongs and who has total control. So instead of rejoicing in things that you can buy and call your own, rejoice in the fact that you are owned, that you belong to someone but not just anyone, the Lord Jesus Christ.             Friend, when you committed your life to Christ, God the Father put His name on you. He announced to Satan that you are now HIS property. And since you now belong to Him, you now have special gifts and special privileges. First of all, you have the righteousness and holiness of Jesus Christ! His perfection is given to you and covers you! In God’s eyes you are literally IN Christ, wrapped up in His righteousness. Second of all, the Lord is IN you! You get the gift of the Holy Spirit and the faith that clings to Christ. Acts 2:38) As a result of this, the devil can no longer control you. Through the power of God’s Word and His Spirit, Satan and your sinful nature can no longer tell you what to do (Romans 6). And since you are in Christ and the Holy Spirit is in you, as God’s child, the Father directs all of the affairs of this world to benefit your spiritual well being (Romans 8). He gives you preferential treatment...nothing...absolutely nothing - happens without His permission and purpose. He promises you a lifetime of eternal pleasures in His presence.  You are now part of the eternal family of God. What a pleasure and a privilege this is, so rejoice in it! That’s why Paul could still rejoice.  Even while languishing in prison, he still knew God owned him and that he was on his way to heaven.             Someone made an interesting difference between happiness and joy. They said, “Happiness is based on one happening or another, usually beyond the Christian’s personal control. Scripture, however, advocates not happiness, but joy and rejoicing! Whereas happiness is elusive and often impossible due to suffering circumstances, ‘the joy of salvation’ that God restores in us through the Gospel of Christ survives and even thrives, in spite of unhappy circumstances.”  True “merriness” in Christmas then is found in a simplification of what really makes you happy. It’s found in something you can’t touch or give pleasure to your eyes. Instead, we rejoice at a baby being born in a dirty cattle stall two thousand years ago, a baby who would live and die for our sins. We rejoice in the fact that that little baby came to take ownership of our hearts and souls. That’s where God wants to give each of us, joy in the Lord. Who cares if you don’t get all of those Christmas cards out on time or if you can’t afford that special electric powered Jeep for your child this year? It doesn’t matter if you aren’t completely healthy this year for Christmas! What really matters is that you belong to God. Some day that same Lord who purchased you with His blood is coming to take you Home and it’s some day soon. The Lord is near. When you simplify your joy down to that one simple fact, it makes life much more relaxed. What Paul is getting at is that we don’t have to be in control of everything. Instead, as servants of God under His lordship, we can simply do what we can to serve Him and leave the rest in God’s hands. When things go beyond our control; the baking of the cookies, the buying of the presents, the hanging of the ornaments, etc., we can get short tempered because things aren’t going according to OUR plan as if WE were in charge and the world revolved around what WE wanted. But when we remember that God is LORD and life revolves around what GOD wants and plans, to own our souls, it helps us to accept these setbacks as no big deal. Then, we can rejoice no matter what and have a truly Merry Christmas!