A message for Akron Alliance Fellowship Church, Sunday, December 17, 2023.
For the “Live in Church” audio of this message, select here.
This year has gone by so quickly, we’re now only one week away from Christmas. Next Sunday is Christmas Eve, which is typically one of the busiest shopping days of the entire year.
Many of us may be already done with our Christmas shopping, but there are real traditional diehards out there who enjoy the excitement of last-minute shopping. I remember a long time ago in another universe where there was a Revco drug store open very close to the Zayre Department store in Warrensville Heights, Ohio across from Thistledown Racetrack. I was in the Revco store standing in line with gifts for me and my family, and there were about ten of us getting checked out just before midnight. Even though it was at the very last minute, I haven’t forgotten that part of the experience to this day. All of us in line had smiles on our faces because we got what we needed for gifts, and the next thing to look forward to is to wrap presents at about 3:00 AM Christmas morning.
Mission accomplished.
Well, this message is not about what you’re doing next week. This is about the week before Christmas, which is a marker for a number of people that are actively preparing for Christmas and everything that it brings.
The website Lifetime Organizing is out there for people who have no idea what they are doing right now and, for whatever reason, cannot conceptualize what needs to be done just before Christmas. Here is a checklist that Lifetime Organizing provides to help those people out. As a clue, they note that your Christmas shopping should have been done yesterday.
Sunday, December 17: Finish wrapping all gifts.
Sunday, December 17: Write your menus and grocery list for the week of Christmas, including special food for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and ingredients for holiday baking.
Monday, December 18: Buy groceries for the week, including all your special Christmas foods.
Tuesday, December 19: Finish making all your Christmas goodies, such as Christmas cookies and candy.
Wednesday, December 20-Thursday, December 21: Clean your house and finish decorating, if needed.
Friday, December 22-Saturday, December 23: Make all food and snacks for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Sunday, December 24-Monday, December 25: Time to celebrate and enjoy time with family and friends!1
Now, for those of you that are this year’s designated planners, these are all suggestions. The real world dictates that your life plan at Christmas time may be closer to my Revco example than what Lifetime Organizing claims.
Either way, the week before Christmas is much more than planning or shopping before company comes over. The week before Christmas should be a week of reflection on the reason for this season. The week before Christmas should include a time of reflection as to the goodness of Jesus Christ and the fact that it was planned all along for Jesus to become like one of us to be our perfect sacrifice in love.
Here’s the thing that I want all of us to see. We all understand what it is to rush around town before we can slow down and celebrate Christmas, but let’s also remember that all of us must have hearts of gratitude in anticipation of not just Christmas day, but the reason for Christmas Day—the appearance of Christ and the expectation of the second coming of Christ. Now, I say this with a cautionary tone because Christmas, for some, is not a great time of the year…and I am sensitive to this fact. If Christmas time is not a good time for someone, friends and family will need to rally around that person by being a reflection of the life of Christ and sharing the peace that only He can bring.
If I can share one thing that will help you through this season, it is this. Do not live as if you have to suck it up and just deal during Christmas when memories of grief and sorrow over loss bubble up. Give all of it to Jesus. It’s not about getting over it. It’s about getting through it with Jesus. All the more reason to use this time to really draw upon the peace of God:
John 14:27 NIV
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Philippians 4:6-8 NIV
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
We readily recognize the business and busyness of this time of year, but even when we KNOW that we should find ways to pace ourselves and slow down, what often happens is that we move from one busy task to another busy task, and we find ourselves making excuses why we can’t take the time for self-care because there are so many things that need to be accomplished.
Let’s now take our minds off the secular events of Christmas and focus more on the spiritual aspect of Christmas. Let’s carve out some time, right now, to focus on these things that are good and pleasing for us and for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
How many of you are aware of Advent? The meaning of the word “advent” is “coming.”2 Advent is the celebration of Christmas for a few weeks before its official date of December 25. It is essentially a countdown of the celebration of the comings of Jesus Christ.3 Christmas, as we know, is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ (the First Advent of Christ), but Advent also references the next two visits of Jesus—the gathering of the Body of Christ, His church, in the air, and the Second Advent of Jesus Christ, His return to earth. For believers in Jesus, these next two events are well worth our attention!
Suffice it to say that Jesus, during His first trip to earth, came specifically to be our Savior. His returns to earth will be to gather His bride, the church, and then not much longer after that, He will return, with His feet on the ground, to reign and render judgment.
Advent gives us a greater focus on how Jesus has revealed Himself and how He will reveal Himself in the future. We often speak of the imminent return of Jesus, but may I remind everyone that it (the Rapture) can happen at any moment.
Advent begins traditionally on the fourth Sunday before Christmas (this year it was December 3rd), and it involves keeping the life that we live in perspective WITH the recognition of Christ as the center of everything that they do. In fact, the focus of Advent is associated to acknowledging the life and actions of Jesus. If you are serious about following Advent, you may go as far as keeping a calendar and reading a number of devotionals pertaining to Jesus and His attributes, or you may keep a wreath of candles that can be lighted over time for the four weeks leading up to Christmas. All of this is done to reflect upon the first appearance of Jesus as a sacrifice for our sins, and that He will indeed return again.
I’ve selected four themes that will help us to prayerfully see more of Jesus during this time of the year. Each of these are a reflection of Jesus and the fruits of the Spirit that we are to live by. For the record, we should pray that all believers center on these things to help make today’s world a better place:
1. Hope and faith
If you were to look up the word “hope” in the dictionary, one of the definitions is a “desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment.”4 It involves feelings of expectation, and there is a focus on a future event or events that one looks forward to. Advent is a way for us to focus on the coming of Christ, and it is also a reminder that we look forward to an eternity with Him in our future.
As we only have the capability of retaining knowledge of the past and living merely in the present, the future will always be mysterious for every human being. How do we reconcile this with our own human reasoning? The reality is that we can’t really reconcile this without faith. Faith allows us to reconcile the promises of God, which is based on what is written in His Word, and believe that He will fulfill His promise based upon His track record. As we have the infallible Word of God at our fingertips and the ability to seek the Lord at any time with prayer and communication, He will help us in our faith as we go if we simply rely upon Him as a resource and trust Him.
Hebrews 11:1 NIV
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Note the words “confidence” and “assurance.” The New Living Translation refers to faith as the reality of what we hope for and the evidence of things we cannot see. All of this speaks of the fulfillment of a promise that only God can reassure us. We have hope because of our faith. It is a necessity within your relationship with Jesus.
Hebrews 11:6 ESV
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Our challenge every day is to take our life in this world and, frankly, often redirect our way back to a place where our focus is on living for Jesus in service for Him as if it was our last day on earth. If you live according to the world, you will not be able to focus on Jesus. But if you live by the lyrics of the hymn Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.5
One of the things that admittedly calms me in moments of stress are humming or singing hymns. It’s because I have learned that if I want to take the immediate stresses of life off my back, I need to sing to myself or hum a hymn that puts my focus directly on Jesus. It begins there, because it is important for all of us to get into God’s Word and be reassured of His calming presence. He never fails on delivering us time and time again.
Romans 15:13 ESV
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Use this time in this season to get yourself to a place where nothing else really matters but the goodness of God in your relationship with Jesus. He is our hope.
Hebrews 10:23 ESV
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
2. Peace
We serve a Savior that also desires to lessen our burdens and give us the peace that the world can never give to us.
Matthew 11:28-30 NIV
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
John 16:33 NLT
“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
Our world will always be filled with conflict because that’s what the world will always offer. It’s stressful and can cause consternation and feelings of helplessness. But you can’t worry about something that Jesus already knows about and is well within His control. Give your burdens to Him and experience His peace.
3. Love
These principles are in no particular order of importance. They all have value as we draw nearer to our Lord and Savior. Of these principles, love is the very nature and essence of God. He came to earth as a Savior because God loves us beyond measure (John 3:16). Our lives must be a reflection of Jesus and His love for all mankind. Our gospel message must be shared with faith, hope and love.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 12-13 NIV
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 16:13-14 ESV
13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love.
4. Joy
A great Christmas card to hand out is one with the word “joy” stamped on the front of the card. Joy is more than just a happy feeling. It’s interesting how often we use the word “happiness” as a means of getting through the cares of life. Happiness, on its own merit, only goes so far. It is often rooted in our own desires. Notice that happiness is not one of the characteristics of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Joy comes directly from the relationship that we have with Jesus.
Galatians 5:22-24 ESV
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Joy is rooted in contentment that all is well because of Jesus Christ. His presence in your life should cause you to rejoice! He chose you to be in His family! He wants you to trust in Him and experience the joy that comes only from Him.
1 Peter 1:8-9 ESV
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
I love John’s words that follow about the essence of a healthy relationship with Jesus and the resulting joy that comes from it:
John 15:9-11 ESV
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
We all must take the time, during this busy season, to experience the love of Jesus Christ, the wonder of His first appearance and the expectation of His return. It is the presence of Jesus in our lives, now and in the future, that bring us great peace and the fullness of joy.
2 Thessalonians 3:16 ESV
Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.
Copyright © 2023 Melvin Gaines
1 Aimee. (2017, December 12). The week before Christmas checklist. Lifetime Organizing. https://www.lifetimeorganizing.com/the-week-before-christmas-checklist/
2 Lifeway Christian Resources. (2023, October 13). 8 ways to celebrate Advent as a Church. Lifeway. https://www.lifeway.com/en/articles/pastor-christmas-advent,-celebrating-the-coming-of-christ
3 Advent – definition, examples, related words and more at wordnik. Wordnik.com. (n.d.). https://www.wordnik.com/words/advent
4 “Hope.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hope. Accessed 13 Dec. 2023.
5 Lemmel, H. (n.d.). Hymn: Turn your eyes upon jesus. hymnal.net. https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/645
Melvin Gaines 