Date: December 7th, 2008
Speaker: Pastor Kevin Snyder
Title: Christmas Can Still Can The World
Text: 2 Cor. 9:15
Series: Christmas Can Still Can The World
Introduction
Movie: “It’s a wonderful Life” – story of a man who is shown what town would be like if he hadn’t been born. shown his impact.
A few years ago a Christmas card came out that told of a minister who had a dream. In his dream it was as if Christ had never come. He drove to the church but there was no church. He picked up his Bible and it stopped at Malachi. In his dream he was at a freshly dug grave. As many ministers do, he took some dirt and sprinkled it on the grave. Ordinarily he would say, “Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead through Jesus Christ our Lord.” But in his dream all he could say was, “Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” That was the end of it. If Jesus had not come there would be no resurrection.
It is hard for us to imagine what it would be like if Jesus hadn’t come
Quote
Curse of Knowledge -
Once you know something it is very difficult to remember what it was like before you knew!
And I wonder about that when it comes to Cmas. We come into Cmas not fully able to comprehend the impact of Christ’s coming on our world. What would our world be like if Jesus hadn’t come?
How has the coming of Christ changed the world?
Let me start with the impact identified by some of the first participants in this Cmas Story.
1. Biblical Characters
- Zechariah – Luke 1:79
….because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
79 to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
Saw Jesus as the hope of salvation for people
He saw him as “light to those in darkness”
- Angels
Jesus was the author of peace….the Prince of Peace.
Luke 2: 13 – 14 - Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
- Joseph was told Jesus would save his people from their sins…he was a spiritual deliverer.
Matt. 1:21 - 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
- John in his Gospel identified Jesus as Immanuel – God with us
The Gospel participants saw the coming of Jesus in epic proportions.
- God entered our neighborhood…our world.
- He was as the fulfillment of prophecy,
- the hope of all the world,
- the Saviour,
- the Prince of Peace.
2. Early Church Leaders
In terms of those who put the Bible together they saw Jesus as the hinge of history.
Significant enough to start a whole New Testament.
Bible is divided into 2 parts –
Old Testament – before Christ,
New Testament – about Christ.
In terms of our Bible he is the hinge of history.
But let’s take it further. Think of how Christ’s coming has changed our world….
3. World History
a. Impact on regard for human life
In the ancient world, the pagan world, the world Jesus was born into it was common practice to sacrifice a child, Not one, thousands and thousand of children were murdered.
( i.e. Herod– murder of all the babies in Bethlehem)
If you were being born in ancient Rome or in ancient Greece (and those were the civilized countries) a newborn came out into the most dangerous environment imaginable.
- Abortion was considered a normal part of everyone’s lives.
- In ancient Rome, fathers had the authority to sell, kill, maim, sacrifice or otherwise do with a child as he saw fit. Typically, the father exercised this power if the child was born deformed, weak, disabled, or in any way different than was considered the norm. In these cases, it was not unusual for a Roman father to declare the child unfit to live.
- If you were a girl your chances at a good life were minimal
- Only about ½ of the children born lived beyond age eight.
In 1844 H.L. Hasting visited the Fiji islands. Life was very cheap. You could buy another human being for 7.00 or trade for one musket. They were cheaper than buying a cow! After purchase you could work them, whip them, starve them, or eat them and no one would say a word.
He returned several years later and found that one could not buy a human being for any money and there were now some 1200 churches scattered throughout the islands. The gospel had been preached and people had learned that they were bought with a price, not silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
b. Impact on freedom for all and civil liberties
At the time the Bible was being written slavery was practiced everywhere. It is said that there were more slaves in Rome than free men. Slaves were treated poorly.The teachings and example of Jesus contributed greatly to the abolishment of slavery.Teachings such as the golden rule (Matthew 7:12) strikes out against slavery. Christian master and slave were seen as brothers, (Philemon 16).
“Wilburforce, along with Buxton, Macaulay, and Clark . . . all evangelicals who were converted under Wesley's ministry, were the top leaders in ending slavery (This British action in the 1830's profoundly affected American attitudes which resulted in the Civil War).”
Harriett Beecher Stowe. Daughter of a preacher, married to a preacher; all her brothers were preachers. Her book, Uncle Tom's Cabin ignited the minds and imaginations of people in both North and South.
Abraham Lincoln said upon meeting her for the first time: "So this is the little lady who made this big war,"
Prison reform:
- John Howard,- a Christan was appalled by the conditions he saw in the prisons of England and spent his life working towards more humane conditions for prisoners.
- Elizabeth Fry (England) a follower of Christ ;
Elizabeth Fry was born in Norwich, England, into a well-off Quaker (Society of Friends) family. At 17, inspired by the Quaker William Saveny, she put her religious faith into action by teaching poor children and visiting the sick among poor families.
In 1813 came a key event in Elizabeth Fry's life: she was talked into visiting the women's prison in London, Newgate, where she observed women and their children in horrible conditions. She didn't return to Newgate until 1816, having two more children in that time, but she began working for reforms, including those that became themes for her: segregation of the sexes, female matrons for female prisoners, education, employment (often kitting and sewing), and religious instruction.
"It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of the coming of Christianity. It brought with it, for one thing, an altogether new sense of human life. For the Greeks had shown man his mind; but the Christians showed him his soul. They taught that in the sight of God, all souls were equal, that every human life was sacrosanct and inviolate.
Where the Greeks had identified the beautiful and the good, had thought ugliness to be bad, had shrunk from disease and imperfection and from everything misshapen, horrible, and repulsive, the Christian sought out the diseased, the crippled, the mutilated, to give them help. Love, for the ancient Greek, was never quite distinguished from Venus. For the Christians held that God was love, it took on deep overtones of sacrifice and compassion." - R. R. Palmer (standard college history text)
c. Impact on the poor and needy in our world
Rodney Stark, sociologist at the University of Washington, points out that when a major plague hit the ancient Roman Empire, Christians had surprisingly high survival rates. Why? Most Roman citizens would banish any plague-stricken person from their household. But because Christians had no fear of death, they nursed their sick instead of throwing them out on the streets. Therefore, many Christians survived the plague.
--“2000 Years of Jesus” by Kenneth L. Woodward, NEWSWEEK, March 29, 1999, p.
Think of some of the organizations that have been formed by Christ-followers and made a significant impact on our world
- · Barnardo's Homes (world's largest orphanage system);
- · William Booth's Salvation Army;
- · Henri Dunant, a student evangelist in Geneva, founded the Red Cross in 1865;
- · YMCA was founded in 1844 and grew greatly;
· The missionaries from William Carey on:
- · --CMS (Christian Missionary Society) taught 200,000 to read in East Africa in one generation;
- · --Secured the abolition of widow-burning and child sacrifice;
- · --Brought medicine to the world;
- · --actually founded the educational systems in China, Japan, and Korea.
Today:
World Vision, Wycliffe Bible Translators, Samaritan’s Purse,
Compassion, the list could go on ….
d. Impact on education and the formation of schools and universities
One researcher (Schmidt) points out that every college established in colonial America, save the University of Pennsylvania, was founded by some denomination of Christianity. Prior to the Civil War, 92% of the 182 colleges and universities were established by a branch of the church. Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, William and Mary, the University of California, and Northwestern are a few of the top schools that, although they now bear little resemblance to their Christian founding, were created by Christian denominations.
Likewise, the world's first university, Italy's University of Bologna, was designed to teach canon law.
e. Impact on arts, music & Literature
Christ has greatly influenced art. Many of the greatmasterpieces in art are religious in nature, many of them pertaining directly to Christ and His life. Leonardo De Vinci's, "The Last Supper;" Van Dyck's "Christ and the Tribute Money;" Rembrant's "The Prodigal Son," and many more.
Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander the Great, Caesar, Mohammed, and Napoleon; without science and learning, he shed more light on things human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of school, he spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since, and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a single line, he set more pens in motion, and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art, and songs of praise than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times. –Philip Schaff
f. Impact on law and government. A statement from The World Book Encyclopedia, Volume 10, page 82, reads,"Democratic beliefs in equality, responsibility and care for theweak owe much to Jesus' lessons in brotherhood and love."
g. Impact on economics &Concept of Time
The year 2001 is not 2001 years after Caesar, Buddha, Mohammed, or Napoleon. It is 2001 years after Jesus Christ. The attempt to replace Anno Domini (AD) and BC (Before Christ) with BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era) is yet another exercise in futility.
- The whole idea of progress can be directly linked to Cnity. The idea that there is a beginning and an end. History is moving forward, is a concept connected to cnity.
- It has been said that science would probably never have developed as it has without the values injected into thought by Cnity.
H. Impact on People (Influence)
Quotes
I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires.
But on what did we rest the creation of our genius?
Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.
–Napoleon
Conclusion
"Here is a young man who was born in anobscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty, and then for three years he was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put his foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place he was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself. While he was still a young man, the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross, between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for the only piece of property he had on earth, and that was his coat. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Nineteen centuries wide have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race, and the leader of the column of progress. I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever sailed, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as has that one Solitary life."
Jesus Christ changed our world
….and we celebrate because Christmas can still change the world.
How?
Practical Actions
1. Worship More
- When all around us economies are failing
- When political processes have run off the rails
- We would do well to focus on the one who can still change the world. Governments, and economic systems will come and go, but the most influential person, Jesus, can still change the world.
And we would do well as Christ-followers, this Cmas to focus our eyes on the power of Christ to change the hearts and systems of men.
- It is the Christ who is born at this time of year who is the source of hope.
- Who is the source of peace
- Who is the Savior of our souls
- And
- The Redeemer of our land
This holiday season can be turned into a holy season….a season of worshipping the one, and only one who can still change the hearts, homes, and systems of our world.
And so may you join in the praising of the shepherds, the bended knee of the Wise Men, the song of the angels, and the refrains of Zechariah & Mary as you worship the one who has and can still change the world.
2 Cor. 9:15 sums it up:
“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
2. Love All
One way Christmas can still change the world is that we continue to incarnate the spirit of Jesus in our loving.
The impact on the history of the world has happened as Christ-followers “incarnated” the message, attitudes, values, and practices of Immanuel into every arena of life.
You see folks, whether you get your tree up, your lights on, your family home, the right gifts doesn’t even hit the meter on having a true Cmas. Those things don’t change anything except your credit card bills in Jan.
I want to challenge you to rediscover that Cmas’s that change the world have to do with bringing the love of Christ into our worlds.
- It’s about filling shoeboxes for under-privileged children….that changes our world.
- It’s about giving to help furnish the homes of a couple Mexican families. …to the poor and hungry of our world (CBO)
- It’s about perhaps being involved in making dinner for those who have no place on Cmas day (Co-chair ministerial – as of today we are looking for people who would be willing to make a meal for 80 people)
- It’s about making room in our lives for each other and those in need.
That’s the Christmas activity that still changes the world.
Exercise:
Non-material Cmas Gift Exchange
– last 2 years we have exchanged with each other….not a gift bought , but made or service offered.
This year…tweek it
Keep in the spirit of “Just Walk Across the Room” – great Cmas theme …Think of something you can do for someone in your neighborhood or know in community. Or person God lays on your heart in the church.
Don’t tell them ….just do it.
Write it out….perhaps go together with someone else.
Cider? (Tell someone what you are thinking to do)
email me and tell me what you plan to do or did & impact.
But let’s do one thing for someone…walk across the room (street) this season…. because we believe Cmas can still change the world.
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The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Lk 1:78-79
a Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, which means the Lord saves.
The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Mt 1:21