St. Timothy's Church

Christmas 2009

“Christmas: Proactive, Reactive, and Inactive”

The Rev W Terry Sweeney

John 1.1-14

December 24, 2009

In the Name of God: + Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Merry Christmas!

I pray this very night, the Lord touch you with His mighty hand so as to know His presence upon you.

Did you know that one-third of the seven billion inhabitants of the world claim to be followers of Christ?

That’s a big number – 2.3 billion Christians – most of which observe a form of remembering this night with significance to their faith.

What is it about Christmas that should make every person on the planet stop what they’re doing and worship God through Jesus Christ?

If Jesus is who the bible claims he is, then he is the single most significant and important person ever . . . . if that is true then every person on the planet should be worshipping Him tonight.

To explore this further I want to use the sending/receiving of Christmas cards as an analogy that will help us understand the importance of this night for the entire world.

The analogy is broken into three parts: proactive, reactive, inactive.

First, Proactive. Proactive means we take the initiative. We make a list, check it twice and then get cards into the mail.

In thinking about God and why this night is so important, we must admit that in the Incarnation, God becoming a human person, and what He did through Jesus we’d have to say that He has taken the initiative – how?

In the fullness of time, the bible tells us He sent His Son to be born of a virgin.

John the Evangelist does it this way: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

In another place John tells us that God so loved the world . . . . His initiative was for everyone.

God out of knowledge and mercy sent His Son to humiliate Himself, and became man.

God used flesh and blood, language, human abilities and human limitations to bring His message of forgiveness of sin, and new life in His Kingdom to us who are born into sin and who are enemies of the cross until we are born again.

That is a mystery which we believe thru faith as given thru the scripture.

The barriers we run into today are that of technology, science, post modern rational minds living in a scientific age.

It’s funny that many today tell their children about a jolly, elf like character or a tooth fairy or even let them dress up like ghosts and goblins but get all upset if someone mentions Merry Christmas or anything to do with Jesus Christ.

We’d willingly substitute a fairy tale (that they accept once they’re older or figure out for themselves) for the truth wrapped up in mystery.

Now we move onto the second possibility, Reactive means I tear off the return address of the card that comes to our house and, usually just before Christmas, shoot off a card to the person who’s sent it to me.

Faith is taking in God’s proactive message to us, taking it in and then reacting.

God’s birth as a baby, born in a cave/barn, wrapped in rags and visited by angels and shepherds to a young virgin mother and a faithful step-father initiates the Good News of the Kingdom of Heaven . . . . that by itself requires a reaction.

If you were in a burning house, with no possibility of escape – if death was moments away and suddenly you heard a voice and then saw a hand that offered escape would you just stand there?

No, you’d react . . . . you’d grab the hand believing escape is possible.

The birth of Jesus marks the escape from sure and certain spiritual and physical death, resulting in eternal separation from God.

Romans 10.9-10, “That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."

Ephesians 2.4, 8, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. . . . 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast.

 

God has proactively broken into this world through the birth of Jesus, offered forgiveness and reconciliation with Himself and waits for our response.

Lastly there is, Inactive which means I open the card and think fondly of the sender, but the only greeting she or he gets is the telepathic kind.

I take little, if any action. . . . I don’t respond back in a positive way.

This is generally a company or organization that I’m affiliated with such as Anglicans for Life or American Anglican Communion but it can be someone I hardly know; maybe I get lazy; maybe just indifferent to their kind gesture.

Remaining inactive to God’s proactive reaching out to us is a fatal, eternal mistake.

The Bible tells us that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life . . . . the only one who can save us.

The problem is there are many who see no reason to be saved . . . . saved from what, they ask?

After all their highest goal is to have the freedom to live in any way they want to – so to be saved is a ridiculous idea.

The reality is that the hell they live in is the false hope and malaise of a progressive, consumer driven, secular culture that lives in the moment for ourselves alone and looks for every avenue possible to drive out the Good news of Christ from even the simplest part of life.

Treating this night as simply a night to fulfill a traditional holiday obligation is a tragic response to God’s great Love for us.

Treating this night as a night primarily to hand out gifts – or eat rich foods – or drink spiked eggnog misses the point and moves us away from the simplicity yet grandeur of the cradle where Jesus lay.

God proactively reached into time and space and made an offer to give us real freedom and reconciliation through His Son whose life would be spent for us.

God offers us real freedom from the self and all it desires which will enslave us and destroy our potential to be all that God can make us.

God offers us, through Jesus, life and liberty to have total freedom wrapped not in law but in Grace.

Abundance that is found in self-denial, morality, simplicity, moderation yet is amazing in its exorbitant charity, care for others, and generosity.

Tonight and tomorrow and the day after and the day after that – every day – God proactively acts on our behalf . . . . . we can have two responses.

One is to be reactive – give ourselves to Him and live under the headship of His Son.

I find this night so amazingly important because God chose to use weakness for strength; a poor virgin instead of a rich queen; a city of a great king and not the power center of Rome . . . . . .

His Son was ushered into this world just as He was announced by angels – but not to multitudes but to a few low class shepherds in the course of their common work.

God’s ways constantly catch us off guard – This child is one of any number – born but the world in mass has no idea what God has just done.

The night goes on without much fan fair except for a handful who worship the child and after that Herod tries to kill Him.

He’s born and from that moment he’s destined for the cross. . . . he will be raised in a town with a bad reputation and when he’s about thirty he will leave his home and set up residence in a fishing town, Capernaum, where he will befriend a band of unlikely followers who will be insanely ignorant of who He is, will deny even knowing him, will act as cowards who let him die alone but will eventually find the courage to claim Him as God and Savior even at the expense of their death.

Reacting to Christ in faith means a life of change, a life of doing His will and living to the fullest through His guidance and good pleasure, finding our greatest pleasure in serving Him and others in His Name.

Yet a good part of the world chooses to ignore Him for a false works based religion or self-centered spirituality clothed in religious language that is really idolatrous.

Their reaction is to be inactive - not to respond to Him but to continue to live for ourselves, to place us first and foremost, to follow our rules and to seek every pleasure that makes us feel good.

They chase after dreams of an easy life – look forward to a healthy retirement and carefree days . . . the American dream consumes their moments . . . basically they live for material gain, wealth, comfort and the freedom to do what ever they think best.

One reaction is like getting a Christmas card and really enjoying it for its message – then out of gratitude responding back with a card of your own.

The second response is like getting a Christmas card and either throwing it in the trash or putting it a pile with others and not giving it a second thought.

John tells us that Jesus is God made flesh.

Thru Him all things came to be and that through Him man is reconciled. . . restored to a relationship with God . . . . to live a new life, a regenerated life out of thanksgiving.

This night is therefore eternally important to the entire world . . . . . . .

With all the hustle and bustle going on right now, if the world realized who has come into the world and what his life and death and resurrection really meant should they world not stop right now and bow down and give thanks to Him?

I want to wish you’re the Merriest of Christmas’ and a joy filled New Year –

A year where we consistently hear the word of God coming to us proactively and that out of great love for Him react with open hearts to Him.

God Bless You!

Amen.

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