Holiday Burden or Christmas Peace

Pastor Burcham’s Sermon
Sunday, December 4, 2011

Black Friday has come and gone. Cyber Monday passed with hardly even a notice, at least by me. I have not purchased one gift yet this year. In fact, I don’t even have a list so I can’t even think about checking it twice. There are no decorations up in my home and the Christmas tree has yet to be taken out of the box. I seriously doubt that any lights will find it to the exterior of my home.

To be perfectly candid with you, Christmas hasn’t even been on my radar. I have been so busy with other things at home and here at church that I haven’t even thought about it; that is, until last Friday. Last Friday, as I looked at my calendar, I realized it’s December. And then I realized that my schedule is completely packed between now and the 25th and, all of a sudden, all of this holiday cheer and all of this holiday celebration quickly became more of a burden than it did a blessing.

As I realize that now I have one more, no, no, ten more things at least to do in the next twenty-some odd days, it has quickly become a burden, not a blessing. And indeed, if all I’m getting ready for is a holiday, a generic celebration of some kind, then I would submit it is nothing more than a burden.

Think about it. You have to buy gifts and you have to wrap the gifts. You have to take out all the decorations to put them up just so you can take them all back down and put them away. You have to gather around with families and there is always that one oddball relative that’s there. You have to travel halfway across the country. It’s more of a burden than a blessing.

I think we can see that evidence in our society this holiday season especially, it starts in what? Oh, September? And goes all the way through to the end of the year, and it’s mounting as each week goes by and as each month goes by. How else can you explain somebody thinking it’s a good idea to take pepper spray to Walmart? How else can you explain the fact that there is a man laying in the middle of the department store and people walk around him, possibly walk over him until finally somebody notices him and he died of a heart attack and nobody paid attention? Is that where we’ve gotten as a society? And all of it is, if it’s just a holiday, if it’s just a generic celebration, then it’s a burden. It’s not a blessing.

What’s interesting, though, is the etymology of the word “holiday.” Just for the record, mostly, I do not look at the etymology of words. This one, though, caught my attention as I looked for the original meaning of “holiday.” The original meaning of “holiday” is holy day. So when they first used the term holiday, it didn’t mean just some generic celebration. No, it’s something that had deep, religious significance to it. It was a holy day, a special day, a sacred day. That’s in stark contrast to what we have turned it into today because our understanding of a holiday is nothing more than a burden. But a holy day promises blessings. We’re getting ready for a holy day.

It’s the holy day of Christmas. It’s the day in which God sent His Son to become part of creation. It’s the day in which Jesus enters into our world and takes on flesh and blood, a holy day that is filled with numerous blessings, not least of which it’s a blessing of peace. After all, the prophet, Isaiah, said that His name will be the Prince of Peace. The angels, in announcing His birth, said that He is to bring peace on earth.

So over the next few weeks, as you and I look at our schedules and our calendars, we have a choice. We can either get ready for a “holiday” or we can prepare for a holy day. I can think of no better way to prepare for the holy day than to seek the peace that is promised in the coming of Jesus.

To seek peace, first of all, peace with God. Now when I say peace with God, I have something a little bit different in mind. Normally, we would think peace with God. “Oh, you mean God making peace with us because that’s what’s necessary, right? We’re the ones who went rogue. We’re the ones who rebelled against God. We’re the ones who have sinned. We’re the ones who are under God’s wrath. We need God to make peace with us.” Certainly, that’s true.

But this morning, really what I’m getting at is not God making peace with us but you making peace with God. You see, I wonder and I suspect that some of you need to make peace with God. You’re distancing yourself from God. You’re keeping Him at arms’ length right now because the dirty little secret is that every single one of us, at some point in time, has been angry with God. We’ve been frustrated with God. We’ve been confused by the things that God has allowed to happen in our lives and so we distance ourselves from God. We keep God at an arm’s length away.

And so, therefore, my question this morning is do you need to make peace with God? Has life not turned out the way you thought it was going to turn out? Have you been praying and praying and praying and it seems that God isn’t answering? Are you confused by the events of life? Why is it the guy who hardly works keeps his job? Meanwhile, you lose your job. Do you wake up in the middle of the night and say, “Now just exactly, God, can you explain to me why is it that I have to have cancer?” “God, I’m a little confused. I’m a little mixed up here. Why is it that my relationship had to end?” “God, could you tell me one more time why did my loved one have to die?” Are you angry with God? Are you frustrated with Him? Are you confused by the things that He’s let happen in your life?

Of all the times of the year, this is not the time of the year to distance yourself from God. This is a time to draw near to God, make peace with God. The only way that you and I can make peace with God is to know that He makes peace with us, to know that God went to great lengths, to great extent to make peace with us.

Listen again to the words of St. Paul to the letter to the Church at Rome, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jesus came to bring peace between us and God. That was His mission. That’s why He took on flesh and blood. That’s why He was born of Mary. That’s why He lived and that’s why He died, so we could have peace with our Father in heaven. He came with just one purpose and that purpose was to reunite us with our heavenly Father. He would go to great lengths to accomplish that, to prove His love for us.

Listen to what St. Paul says a little bit later, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” Think about that for a minute. Jesus didn’t die for the righteous. He didn’t die for the faithful. He didn’t die for those who were worshipping and praising Him. He died for the ungodly. I don’t want to break this to you, but that’s you and that’s me because outside of God coming after us, we are the ungodly and yet, while we were still ungodly, Christ laid down His life for us. St. Paul puts it explicitly, “But God demonstrates His own love of us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” While we were still running in the opposite direction, while we were still disobeying, while we were still rebelling against God, Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. This is the meaning of Christmas. This is the beginning, Jesus entering into our world, being born only so He could die, so He could make the payment for your sin and mine and there would be peace with God. Or as St. Paul says it, “That we’ve been justified,” that is, we’ve been made right with God through Jesus.

The only way you can make peace with God is to know and be convinced in your heart that God has made peace with you because if God was willing to go to that great length, if He was willing to go to that extent, do you think now He would stop short? Do you think the Father in heaven would send His Son into the world, He would turn His back and watch as His Son dies just so He could continue to punish you, just so He could be completely unconcerned with your life and the events that are happening there? If God was willing to go to that great length, that means everything that happens in our lives has a point, has a purpose.

This is why St. Paul can write this, “And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” Sure we do, but then he goes on to say this, “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings.” We will rejoice in our sufferings. Do you mean we’re going to throw a party because the bottom fell out? We’re going to have a grand celebration because my life is falling apart? No. We rejoice in our sufferings because we know that God’s still at work, even in the dirty times, even in the rotten times, even when things fall apart, God is still there. God is still concerned. God will use every circumstance in your life, the good and the bad and turn it around for the good. That’s how we can make peace with God because when we’re angry with God, we’re frustrated with God, we can come back to the point, “But wait a minute, God made peace with me. He went to such great lengths to show His love for me. I don’t like it. I don’t understand it, but I can know that God still is working on His plan. I can trust Him.”

Is it time to make peace with God? Maybe you need to express your frustration, your anger and your confusion to Him. Go ahead, people have been doing it for centuries. We see examples of them in Scripture of His people just pouring themselves out to God, frustrated and angry with God. But then pray to God that you would know the true meaning of this holy day we’re going to celebrate, to feel the impact and the love of God as Jesus enters into the world. Pray that God would help you accept the circumstances, that you would grow from them, that you would learn from them, that you could have peace with that. Don’t keep God at a distance. Make peace with God.

And make peace with yourself. I think all of us need to make peace with ourselves because, after all, this is the season of regret, right? Oh, no, no, no. That’s right, it’s the season of joy. It’s the season of celebration. No, it isn’t. It’s the season of regret because during Christmas time, for whatever reason, we’re flooded with memories, all kinds of memories, good but also bad memories and so all the events of our lives come flooding back to us, even the things that we wished we could forget. They’re the things we regret, the things we’re ashamed of, the things we did or didn’t do, the life-changing, life-altering decisions that we wish we could take back and make a different choice, a different decision but yet we can’t and then we beat ourselves up over it. Maybe not you, I do. Replay again and again the conversations I’ve had, replay the circumstances of life, the choices I’ve made and just beat myself up over it. We need to make peace with ourselves.

If we don’t make peace with ourselves, then we’re a playground for the devil. He loves this kind of stuff. He thinks it’s fantastic. There’s a reason in Scripture he’s called the accuser because he stands by, ready, willing and able to accuse us of everything and anything we’ve ever done. He will remind you, I guarantee you, of everything you’ve ever committed. He will remind you of every bad, poor choice you’ve ever done. He will remind you of the things that you’re ashamed of that you’ll regret and he’ll just keep poking away again and again and again and his ultimate goal is this: To bring you to the conclusion that God’s forgiveness is not enough. You’ll never say it that bluntly, but will you say this? “Yes, I know that God has forgiven me. I just can’t forgive myself.” Does that mean it’s not enough? Think about it for a moment. “Yeah, it’s great that Jesus came and was born. Fantastic. Cool, He died for me. Fantastic, He says my sins are forgiven.” “Yeah, but that’s not enough because I can’t let go.”

Learn to make peace with yourself. Once again, focus in on the holy days we’re preparing for. Focus in on the love of God that came in the form of a child. Focus in on the fact that Jesus came to release you from your past, to wash away your sins and to take away the guilt and the shame. Pray that God would enable you to learn from the past so you don’t repeat the same mistakes again and again. Ask that God would give you the great blessing of not remembering the past.

Scripture says that God chooses not to remember our sins. Pray to God that He would give you that same blessing, that you would not remember your sins. If God has made peace with you, make peace with yourself.

And then make peace with others. If Jesus is the Prince of Peace, if He’s heralded as one who brings peace on earth, then shouldn’t we put that into practice? Shouldn’t we put some legs to that and bring about that peace that Jesus promises? More than likely, all of you are going to be around family and friends, maybe some extended family. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you don’t like all of them. I’m really going to go out on a limb and say some of them just irritate you. They just know how to push the right buttons. There might even be one or two that when you think about them, you get a pit in your stomach and the mere thought of being in the same room with them just kind of horrifies you. Is this the year to make peace with all that? Is this the year to mend relationships and try to come to some sort of an understanding?

St. Paul, a little bit later on in his letter to the Romans, writes this, “If it’s possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” I like the two caveats there because, to me, it smacks of realism. This is realistic what Paul is saying here. He says, first of all, “If it’s possible.” For some people, it’s not possible. Let’s be honest, there are some folks who you know who are just combative. They are just irritating. They are obnoxious and you’re not going to live at peace with them. They’re just not going to allow it. You’re not going to mend that relationship this side of heaven. That’s why he follows up by saying, “As far as it depends on you.” That’s the secret, as far as it depends on you. You can’t control what other people do. You can’t control what they say. You can’t control how they act. You can’t control what they do but you can, by God’s grace, control what you do, control how you act and what you say. So as far as it depends upon you, live at peace with everyone. You can make the first move. You can offer the kind words. You can ignore the improper behavior. You can walk out of the room and go someplace else. As far as it depends upon you, live at peace with everyone.

Can we start working at that now so the days and the weeks ahead, as we get ready for the holy day, we have ourselves prepared and ready? So maybe those one or two individuals who rub you the wrong way, you can say, “As far as it concerns me, I’m going to live at peace with them because that’s one of the great blessings of this holy day that we’re going to celebrate, this birth of Jesus, this Prince of Peace.” We’re not celebrating some holiday, some generic event. We’re simply celebrating a holy day, a holy day that brings with it not least of which is peace.

So in the weeks and days to come, can we seek after that peace? First of all, peace with God, with ourselves and peace with others. Amen.