Christmas At Rock Point 2021

Well, Merry Christmas Eve Eve Eve? I think it's three eaves. Right? Yeah. Awesome.

You guys are so busy. You had to come tonight. That's awesome. Or you just know you still haven't done any of your Christmas shopping, so you still got that to do. But you know, one of the things about Christmas that can be a little crazy, a little awesome,

somewhere in between is the traditions that surround it. Right? There's so many Christmas traditions and

different things. And and the weird thing with Christmas is we kinda personalize some of those traditions too. Does anybody here does your family have, like, any specific Christmas tradition that you think is just you guys because it's so weird?

I'm not gonna make you tell me what it is. Just be honest. Like, you know, they we get these these traditions are great. I mean, what are they supposed to do? Their their traditions are really supposed to help, like, teach and transfer a value. Like, it's there's something that's important. We do this this moment to celebrate,

to try to transfer this value. They also bring comfort and and, you know, because they're familiar. And they can and and I've heard one person describe tradition as the attempt repeated attempt to capture

one moment again, kind of the the original moment again. Like, you're trying to recapture it. But they're they're they're good, but they can go wrong too. They can go a little bit weird. Like, you know, there's there's ones that you know, there there's traditions maybe, you know, you you probably have that relative or maybe you're the person that every time something kinda odd happens or whatever, you say, oh, we should make this a tradition.

Does anybody have that person in their family? They try to make every stupid thing into a tradition. You're like, hey, uncle Harold. Just because something stupid happened once doesn't mean it needs to happen every year. Alright? Yeah. You get you get that kind of thing with tradition.

And there there's traditions that just shouldn't continue. But traditions can be a problem. They can go wrong. They they they can distract you from the real point. They can also dull your sense to it, your sensitivity to what they're supposed to be about. When we repeatedly do a tradition,

sometimes it dulls. Like, you know, the way brain chemistry works for for human beings, like the way our brains work, they're like machines, computers. They're like, hey. We don't wanna have too much data taken up on certain things. So when you do something repetitively, your your brain learns to put that into autopilot.

That's why some days you can drive to work and not remember how you got there, and you weren't hungover that time. So that could happen. And if you get too much into the distraction of the the tradition instead of what it's about, it can actually destroy the value altogether.

It can replace it and be just something of its own. Like, you know, let me give you one example of of a weird tradition that how it came about. It just makes no sense. In 1971, in Japan, Kentucky Fried Chicken was sitting there and says, you know what? Japanese people don't eat enough fried chicken.

And and they need the heart disease like we need the heart disease, so let's get them the heart disease. So they decided to do an ad campaign, and, you know, Japan, after World War two kept trying to westernize. They loved anything American.

And so they did an ad campaign where they actually made it look it's basically like a lie. They strongly inferred that Americans eat Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas. That's what we do. And they did this ad campaign, and which is weird because Japan's only 1% Christian.

So why would they even care about this? Well, guess what? It worked. Eating Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas became a big deal. It still is to this day. I mean, it's the point like you have to preorder your Kentucky Fried Chicken.

I mean, isn't Kentucky Fried Chicken for when you're out late at night and you're like, I just can't you know, I just I'm so hungry and nothing else is open kind of a thing. I don't know. But but it became a bit and it is a big deal. So think about it. Let me just sum this up. They have this tradition that's based on a lie

about a day that has no meaning to them and involves food that has no nutritional value. But yet it's a big deal. And you're thinking that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Well, why are you here tonight? What's what's Christmas to you?

Could we let all the traditions we have around Christmas, all the things we gotta get done, all the list, all the all the things that have become what this season is, maybe take us so far away from what it's about, what we're supposed to be celebrating. Why would we even come to a service, a church?

Maybe you're here, you don't even go to church. The tradition is you have a family member that lives here that does, and you come to church with them or no Christmas ham. Or if you're Japanese, no KFC.

And maybe tradition for you in Christmas has become about something that's based on a lie because you're not really remembering the truth of what it's about or you just don't know it. About a day that really has no meaning for you personally. And because of that, it's lost any real value.

Well, I wanna talk about what does it mean to realize what Christmas really is.

And and when I preach, if you're new here, I always kinda say a little big idea. And then what I really wanna unpackage here for just a moment before we sing a couple more songs, and and and then you get crushed with the rest of our busyness of the season is this, is that Christmas is about trusting

in the truth of a savior over the traditions of a season. We need to trust in who the savior is, trust in what it really is, have a trust in the truth of what Christmas is about. Over. I didn't say you can't have traditions, but it should be over the traditions of a season.

And I think many of us let the traditions of a season overwhelm our need for the trust in a savior. And some of you come to church like you'd never even knew what it means. You know, Christmas become this mix of Santa and this and that and all these weird things and and and it's bizarre.

So what I wanna do is I wanna look at the the original Christmas story again and talk a little bit. I wanna look at one particular part. But but what I I wanna set up is the first Christmas,

people struggled with their idea of traditions. How traditions had replaced truth. They knew truth, but the traditions started to become more important. And so what happened in the midst of it all, they missed it all. And I don't want us to go through another season of Christmas in the midst of it all, miss it all.

And and if you're in in in Jerusalem, in Israel,

at this time when the first Christmas happened, the Jews, you know, they they knew God. They had God's word. They had the Old Testament. They trusted God. They were waiting for a savior. There's there are so many prophecies. You don't come to church very often. You should look it up. There are so many prophecies hundreds and thousands of years before Jesus came that he fulfilled. It's pretty eerie and weird, but he did. And so they knew. They were expecting a savior to come save them. Because they knew that they couldn't make it they couldn't make themselves perfectly righteous for God. They knew they needed to be rescued. The problem is their traditional understanding

of what this king from heaven was supposed to be started to change because they had these Roman overlords. So they started to have their understanding of this is gonna be a conquering king that's gonna come get rid of our problems.

And then they expect if he's coming from heaven and gonna be the king, it's gonna be huge. It's gonna be obvious. And, you know, he's gonna be born in a palace somewhere, but guess what? He was born in a barn.

And then, you know, he'll be born to people that are known like a a pedigree of family on he the Jesus came with parents that were obscure and poor.

He's born in a town that was like the the backwater little suburb of the the big city. He's had all these things that were not and then the way God decides to announce it with a big choir of angels, that sounds like I get that sounds like, oh, this is a big deal. But guess who they they announce it to?

Some shepherds out in a field at night. And in their culture of the day, tradition was you don't trust shepherds. Trust shepherds are like shifty people. So if you're gonna do something that played into everyone's expectations, the first Christmas could not be more opposite.

And because of that, in the midst of it all, many people missed it all. And I wouldn't want any of us to do the same thing and miss what Christmas is.

And what I wanna look at is there are two people. Well, there's one man and then a group of people that had a very different viewpoint. They came at this idea of the tradition versus trust.

One stuck to his traditions. His traditional view of himself, the traditional view of what's gonna happen and was threatened. The other took a more trust view of who this this this this king is, this this king of the Jews is.

And we're gonna look at a story about a man, a king named Herod, the king in in Israel at the time,

and this group of people called the wise men, which by the way, some of you have been so trapped in tradition. When I said wise men, you manned three of them on on camels. There's probably more like 30 to 70 of them with their families and everything.

Because you wouldn't travel just three at that time, but that's a whole another sermon. Just things about traditional. But let's see what happens. They're both seeking this Jesus. They're both seeking him.

We can see that very different ideas about what that looks like and what their their intent is. So in Matthew chapter two, it says this. Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the reign of King Herod. About that time, some wise men from the Eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem

asking where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his stars that rose and we've come to worship him. They saw his stars. What what these guys were is they're non Jews. They come from the from the East, from like where the old Babylon empire used to be, Babylonian empire. And and and and they were learned. They they they had been watching the sky. And who are they? Why are they even coming looking for Jesus?

Well, back in the old testament, there's story of a guy named Daniel. And and and him and and when the Babylonian emperor overran

the the Jews, they took him and they took their best and their brightest and put him into all this leadership program. And a guy named Daniel rose through the ranks, ends up becoming the second most powerful guy in the land, but he stayed faithful to God. He got thrown into a lion's den once, and and the lions didn't need him. And, you know, so many things happened that that he became known. And he he rose to power in a in a very pagan land.

And then a lot of people started believing in this God. Well, Daniel wrote part of the Old Testament. But Daniel, in there, he put some prophecies that God spoke to him. And one of them said the sign of the king that's gonna come basically to save the world would be this this sign in the sky, the star. So they had that.

They had less of the traditional truth than this king did. But they trusted it. And when that sign showed up, they took off and followed it. And what did they say they wanted to do? Worship him. Basically, surrender their lives to him. Put their faith in him. Put their trust in him over anything else.

Well, look what it says in verse three. King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. Why would the king be so disturbed when they had this tradition? They knew that God was gonna provide for them, that there would be the savior, and now he's not happy about it.

Because he's stuck in his traditional view of what a king is, and guess what job description he has? King. He's like, woah. Woah. Woah. If another king is born, what about me? And he's thinking, wow. What an idiot.

You ever get threatened by by by by something that's threatening your sovereignty of, like, I get to do whatever I wanna do?

So

he called a meeting of his leading priests and teachers of the religious law and asked, where is the Messiah supposed to be born? See, they knew. He could have already known this. He's a king. He grew up there. He's but he's like, what is it? What does the bible say about where he's gonna be born? And they say in Bethlehem and Judea, they said, for this is what the prophet wrote. And you, oh, Bethlehem, and the land of Judah are the not the least among the ruling cities of Judah. For a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.

Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. Then he told them, go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him too.

They were probably wondering why he's doing air quotes and winking at them when he said that. And if you know what he wanted to do, you just read the next chapter. He's trying to kill this baby. He does some horrible things trying to stop this new king. He ends up distraught, fearful, angry, and the end he dies. So his response

to Jesus showing up to this king to Christmas is to stick to his tradition. To stick to his tradition of I'm the king of my life, and I'm not gonna accept another king. I know what's best, and I'm not gonna trust God. I don't need a savior. And so instead of wanting to go and worship him like the wise men did, he wanted to go to war with him.

But man, if you haven't surrendered and sought Jesus as your savior, if you don't seek Jesus to surrender to him, then guess what the Bible says? You're at war with God. You're being Herod. And he never found peace. He never found contentment. He kept his kingship.

He kept the wealth. He kept all the stuff. He kept the power until he died. It didn't end well for him.

But it says after this interview, the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the East guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy.

So so Herod's disturbed and angry and mad and keeps fighting God. They go seek him and they're filled with joy. They're in this little Backwater Town. They went you know, they've traveled for probably months to get here.

And and and they're excited. They entered the house and saw a child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. They went into this bar in this place, and they find and it's they're they're they're way more wealthy than this family. And instead of all the traditions of you're poorer than me, you must not be as important as me, you're in this other country, you're way over here, doesn't matter. They got down and they worshiped him.

And then they opened their treasure chest and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And then when it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod. You see, in the midst of it all, they didn't miss anything at all.

In the midst of all, Herod, who wanted to be king, who had all the understanding of of of what the bible said. He had these priests and these teachers and people around him and he grew up it's like it'd be like if you you grew up coming to church all the time.

And and maybe you come here all the time. Maybe you just come here with relatives and you but you're in church a lot. You've been surrounded by who Jesus is, and you've pretty much just listened and ignored it and stayed king in your life. Because to follow God would be a threat to your kingdom.

Well, the end, it ended poorly for him. These wise men came and they brought they brought who they were. They worshiped. They just they surrendered. They put their faith in him.

And they found joy as we opened up the day. God rested those married gentlemen. They were filled with comfort and joy and peace.

What are you filled with this Christmas? I know this is one of the busiest times of the year for people. It's one of the most stressful, highest rates of depression, highest rates of suicide. So whatever our tradition is in Christmas, most of us are not finding the peace, the comfort, and the joy.

We're finding the stress, the anguish, the frustration. Most of us, our Christmas season feels more like Herod than it does the wise men. They're wise because they sought Jesus to worship him. Herod ended terribly because he sought Jesus to go to war with him.

How about you? Some of you are here and you just you don't get it at all. You're just you you you've blended your theology. There's Santa theology and then actual Christianity.

And and that is I gotta come and do these things because I wanna be on the nice list, so I gotta do enough nice things to get off the naughty list. And you think you can earn God's love. You can't. There's only one list. Perfect or sinful. If you wanna earn God's love, you have to be perfect.

And the last I checked, I'm probably the only one in this room that's even close.

If it wasn't for my pride, arrogance, and lack of understanding of myself, I would be there.

You don't earn God's love. You surrender to it. He came to be a savior. Savior means we couldn't save ourselves. See, the Bible says we are born into this thing called sin. We're not mistakers. Mistakers mean I made a few mistakes, I can clean them up.

We are born with a natural desire to go our own way, to be king, to be Herod. And any threat to our kingdom and what we think and how it should work is a threat to us. And the problem is we run away from the God who loves us, the only one that can fix our problem.

And the only way you can be in his presence trying to earn it would be perfection. We can't do that. And that's why Jesus came from heaven and was born and grew and and then lived a perfect life. And and and then he went to the cross and he died for us. And he took on our sin. And the way you're made right with God

is to put your faith in that, to confess your sin and profess that Jesus is Lord. To seek him like those wise men did.

Or you're gonna get stuck in your traditions. And many of us are are just stuck in in in in a little bit of this and a little bit of that,

and I wouldn't want you to miss it. You know what? My grandma worked really hard to make sure I didn't miss it, and I and and I almost did. When we grew up, we had a tradition. We go to grandma's house, and, you know, it's funny when you get presents from grandma. Right? They're they can be hit and miss.

You never know. Well, my grandma knew exactly what we're getting every year. She was a crocheter. I was doing this, and this kid that does crochet says that's knitting. It's this. So I've corrected my errors in theology there.

And and so but she would make us and she would always make us like something a lot one of her most common things is she'd make us slippers. She got them booties out out of crochet things. And they were awesome, but only as she got older, sometimes it was hit and miss. She started her her her perception

of size started to get weird. Like, one year I got, like, a a size four infant, and then the other one was like Shaquille O'Neal size. I mean, I I could I used that as a sleeping bag, basically. And and it was hard. But but every year, we knew we were gonna get something she made. But every year, they were red and white.

Every year was red and white. And she'd give it to us, and she'd say the same thing. It's red and white so you'll understand what Christmas is really about. She goes, He goes, the red represents the blood of Jesus. That Jesus was born on Christmas so he could die for us. He sacrificed himself to save us.

And when you believe and put your faith in that, he washes you white as snow. Every year she'd say that.

And every year it'd go right past me, just like it's probably going past some of me in this room. And I would just go on with the Christmas. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Jesus, God. Okay. I'd sit in church with her. My family, the same thing. We'd go. But it would be like, great. Great. Great. Great. And then we'd just go on. And I would I would use the stuff, but it it it just it never got past the tradition. I never got to the trust.

But then in high school, my grandma always prayed for me, always stretched for me. And then in high school, a friend of mine ended up leading me to Jesus. I put my trust in him. I surrendered to him. I turned from myself, and I put my faith in what Jesus did. And that changed everything.

And then the next time my grandma made me something that next year, it was different. It was different. I still have it.

She made me this red and white beanie. And I and I I've kept it. I wear it when I put my Christmas lights up every year. Didn't have it on very long this year. Was, like, '83 when I put my Christmas lights on.

But I understood that I'm not just looking at a tradition.

This tradition was pointing me to the real thing. We'll get there. Come on.

This was also the last thing she ever made me because she went home to be with Jesus.

All she wanted me to do was understand who Jesus really is, what Christmas is really about. So I could spend all of eternity loving him and having loving me and see my grandma again.

But just like this beanie, for it to be of any use, you gotta put it on. There you go.

You gotta put Jesus on in your heart, in your life.

You need faith. You need his grace. You need his blood to cover you so he can wash you light.

And in the midst of all of what's going on in the world, in the midst of all that's happening, in the midst of the busyness of the season, in the midst of the umpteenth amounts of Christmas dinners or whatever you're doing, or in the midst of maybe just being really lonely right now, maybe there's nothing going on.

In the midst of all of this, I don't want us to miss it all. I want you to know what my grandma was showing me. That we need a savior, not a season. That we need trust in that truth, not traditions for a season. We need Jesus.

And you know what? I think many of you are here, you know Jesus, but many of you here and you brought friends and family that don't really go to church a lot. You might have told them no ham if you don't come. I don't know. But maybe the tradition is they'll come with you.

If that's you and you're here because you have a family member or friend that keeps inviting you, can I just tell you something? They are being my grandma in your life.

They want you to know the king of kings and lord of lords. They want you to know the god who loves you.

The god who sent his son to come and be born and then die for you. And that is all that matters. That's what makes you right with God. That's what makes this life be able to live with joy despite your circumstances. That's where the peace and the contentment comes from. It's not about your circumstance. It comes despite it. When you are washed white because of the blood of Christ, when you embrace him and you put his faith in him, you could go through the darkest moments and be okay because he's with you.

And that's what they want for you. That's what I want for you. That's what the Lord wants for you. So you know what? I wanna give some of you and some of you online an opportunity to have a new tradition. A tradition of remembering that it was right before Christmas. Christmas Eve, Eve, Eve will be your new tradition,

is that's when you put Jesus on.

That's when you met the Lord. That's when you followed him. That's when you put your faith in him. That's when he forgave you. That's when he he gave you a life. He gave you a future. He gave you eternity. And it doesn't matter what you've been doing. It doesn't matter where you've living. Doesn't matter what's been going on. He loves you that much. That should be your new tradition.

And you can remember that moment.

So let's start something new for you, a new life, an eternal life.

So will you just pray with me? Would you just bow your heads, close your eyes, no one looking around? And if you're in this room and you've never done that, you've never put your faith in Jesus, I don't care how many times you come to church. Have you ever sought Jesus like those wise men and bowed down and given him your life and confessed

your sin and professed that he is Lord? And if you haven't and this is that moment, you want that new tradition, you want that moment in your life right now, then without looking on, just put your hand up.

Say, I wanna pray with you, Bill. Just put your hand up and say, I wanna pray. I see those hands. Keep them up. Just hold them up. It's just me looking and Jesus and a few people that don't listen to instructions.

Awesome. Awesome. I see there's hands all over this room. That's what Christmas is. Well, let's pray together. And if this is you, just pray something like this, but make it your own words. And don't worry if you wanted to, but you didn't raise your hand. You can pray too. God knows your heart.

Just pray something like this, dear Lord, thank you. Thank you that in this moment, in this season, I see you. Thank you that you saw me.

I admit right now that I've tried to be like that King Herod. I've I've done my own thing. I've tried to be king of my own life and I'm sorry. But right now, in the best way I know how I turn to you, I put my faith in you.

I believe that you are the savior, that on Christmas you were born the king of kings, the lord of lords, and you came to spill your blood, to die in my place, to wash me white as snow. In the best way I know how, I put my faith in that right now, and I thank you. Thank you for Christmas.

Help me to go from here and learn what that means more and more each day. Help me to trust your spirit more and more each day. Help me to walk in that joy and that love each day. I thank you. And I pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Amen, church. The son of heaven is here. Before we go, let us remember the night Jesus was born with this last song.

Song.

Amen. Amen. You guys sounded absolutely wonderful. If you're in this room and you made a decision to say yes to Jesus, can I just say welcome to the family and everybody else in the room? Make some noise. Amazing.

A new tradition. A new thing to remember. Incredible. If you made that decision for the first time, please do not keep that to yourself. Share that with your friends and family. If you need to tell someone here, we want to know. So you can do one of two things. You can either go to rockpoint.io

and go to the say yes to Jesus tab, and there's a button there that says let us know. And you can talk to someone and get next steps. Or if you wanna do that now, we have a prayer room directly over there, that you can go to and there's people ready to talk to you. If you just need prayer, period,

you can go over there as well. Or, if you don't feel like doing that, you can do it online as well at rockpoint.io under the need to talk tab. With all that being said, welcome to the family. So exciting. Guys, go enjoy the light show. Go enjoy the food trucks, the snow. It's amazing, incredible,

And we will see you back here on January eighth and ninth. Merry Christmas. Have a great night.