"The Best Christmas Ever"

The Best Christmas EVER

“Living in a material world

And I am a material girl

You know that we are living in a material world

And I am a material girl”

The princess of pop, Madonna, has sung the lyrics of this song many times. And as we enter the season of Advent and Christmas, Madonna’s lyrics seem to ring louder and louder. We are living in a material world, and we have increasingly become as someone put it a “culture of stuff.” We accumulate stuff. We buy stuff for ourselves and stuff for others. We live in an age where the more stuff we have the more successful and happier we appear to be. And friends, the truth is that none of us are immune to materialism.

Every year at Christmastime, news stations run video segments of crazy shoppers pushing and shoving each other to get their hands on the best gifts for the best prices. Some people have even been killed when trampled beneath the greedy masses. The season has grown so ugly, that more and more churches are choosing to contend with the rampant consumerism by giving more sermons that elevate the story of Christ’s birth with an eye toward selfless, sacrificial living.

My purpose today in this message is not to give us a tip on bargain shopping. Instead, I’d like for us to put our thinking caps on and consider what the Bible has to say about money, wealth, material goods, and prosperity. As we journey through life, few of us will actually stop to think through the ramifications of how we use money and our role as stewards of God’s resources.
Today, let’s look at a case study of a well-known Bible person who was well-to-do. The story of Abram’s journey spans Genesis chapters 12-25. As we look at Genesis 12 and 13 together today, we will consider God’s perspective on material blessings.
God blessed Abram.

At the end of Genesis 11, Abram’s father, Terah, removed his family from Ur which was in Southern Iraq to settle in Haran which is in Eastern Syria. And, in Chapter 12, God tells Abram that his family is going to relocate again. This time he will move his family from Haran to Canaan (modern day Israel, Lebanon, and Southern Syria) which comprises a distance of about 400 miles. Remember, back then, this was considered a monumental move. Imagine you did not have access to a car. You did not have the luxury of renting a truck from U-Haul, Budget, or Penske. Everything you owned had to be carried by animals.

It’s scary enough driving a moving truck across the country.

Lady Renee, DJ and I drove across the country in our move and it was a stressful experience. But, think about having to move and deal with crazy animals at the same time. Relocating a family back then was a big deal especially since Abram was 75 years old. So, what does this tell us about Abram? It tells us Abram risked everything in order to follow God and leave his comfort behind in Haran.

But we see that God makes some promises to Abram in the process of this move. What does Genesis 12:1-3 (NIV) tell us?
The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. ‘I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.’

So, how does God bless Abram? (three promises)

God blessed him with the promise of offspring.

If we have been around the church, we have probably heard that Abram and his wife Sarai could not conceive a child. At this point Abram was about 75 years old. To him, God’s promise must have seemed crazy.

He may have thought, “God, I’m 75 here. My wife is 65. I don’t know if you remember in health education, but it’s really late.” But, God’s promise is that he will make Abram into a great nation. What does that mean? Well, it takes many people to form a nation so God must mean that he’s going to bless him with offspring.

We see later in Chapter 15 where God says: “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them … So shall your offspring be.” Not only does God promise him with an abundance of offspring, but he also promises him something else.

God blessed him with the promise of material blessings.

God not only promises an abundance of children, but he also says to Abram in the second part of verse two: “I will bless you.” Many scholars believe that the blessing that God is referring to here is one of material abundance. How do we know this?

Well, if you turn with me to Genesis 13:2 it says, “Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.” And then in verse six it says Abram and his nephew Lot were so wealthy that, “the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together.” So, it is quite clear that God had blessed Abram with an abundance of riches.

God blessed Abram with a name of honor.

Lastly, we are told that God promises to honor Abram’s name. Post-relocation Abram would no longer be known by his neighbors. In some ways, he would lose his identity. Abram would leave his native country for a foreign new world. However, God promises him that people would remember his name even in future generations.

So, we see here that God commands Abram to leave Ur, but he does not leave him empty handed. God’s going to bless him for his obedience. The natural connection that people want to make is that since God blessed Abram in these ways he must also want to bless me in the exact same way.

But that is not true. We are often disappointed by God because we live as if he should always bless us in these ways. Dear church family, God loves his children so much, but he never promises us that we will always be healthy, wealthy, or prosperous after we receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. If we read the New Testament, Jesus says the very opposite.

It is more blessed to give than to receive.

So here is what I was thinking will make this the best Christmas ever. Not how pretty the church looks on Christmas Eve, not how great the music is, not the stuff we get, not the food we eat, not the moments we create, not the feelings we experience. What if we were to get so filled up with the love of God that we were to become conduits of God’s blessing to other people around us, people who are under-resourced, who are hurting, who don’t have much hope?

What if we were to get so filled up with the love of God that we were to see and then pray for and then help and listen to and stop and be with and give to people who have a need? Well then, it would be the best Christmas ever.

Here is the main point I want to make. If we make this a Christmas of compassion, it will not just be good for people on the receiving end; it will also be good for you and me. This is one of the most profound teachings of Jesus: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” The key word here is blessed. Jesus doesn’t just say it is better to give. He doesn’t just say you’re supposed to give.

He doesn’t just say God wants you to give. He says, “It is more blessed …” To be blessed means to be enriched, to be enhanced, to be given more life. Jesus is saying it is a better way to live to be a giver than to be a taker.

I was reading this week about a study of young people. Students in a high school who are below grade reading level got assigned randomly to one of two groups. One of the groups helped tutor younger children, and the other group didn’t do anything. No volunteering, no serving. The students who were in the serving group ended up being 12 times more likely to graduate from high school than the students in the non-serving control group.

Again, they weren’t being helped; they were helping. High school students involved in volunteering are less likely to drop out, less likely to be involved in substance abuse, less likely candidates for teenage pregnancy, more likely to graduate, more likely to vote, more likely to have a higher level of esteem, and more likely to go on to college.

It is better to give than to receive. That is true also for people at the other end of the age spectrum. A study of folks in their 80s or so showed that those volunteering with school children had a higher level of life satisfaction, a higher level of mental health, less illness, less loneliness, less depression, and a lower mortality rate than those who did not serve. If you serve, if you give your time and your heart, you will live longer.

What Jesus says is true: it is more blessed, it is better, it is more life-giving to give than to receive.

Go on an adventure of compassion this season. How do we help children who are in need all around the world? How do we help hurting, suffering people? This could be the best Christmas ever. Go on that adventure with your small group, your friend, your spouse, your family, or all by yourself. Pray: Jesus, I know God so loved the world that he gave. What can I give? What do you want me to do? Where would you lead me?

Apart from what you get, apart from the emotions you might experience, apart from the songs you might hear or sights you might see, it will be the best Christmas ever. It is more blessed to give.

I’ll give you a picture of where the taker road leads to. It has been around forever, but it tells the story so vividly, I thought I would close with it. It is a story about how you catch a monkey. The idea is that you get a jar with a narrow opening and attach a rope to it or hook it up to something and then put something inside that the monkey wants, like a banana or an orange or an iPhone. Then the monkey will come along and grab what is inside, but because he makes a fist to grab, he can’t get his fist out of the jar. And the monkey will be trapped, just stuck there, hour after hour.

You would think someone would come along and say, “Monkey, that banana is doing you no good. It isn’t even making you happy. You can’t benefit from it at all. If you keep clutching it, it means nothing but slavery and death. If you let it go, then you’ll have freedom, joy, and life with other monkeys.” But the monkey can’t let it go.

That’s the story. Apparently in real life, no monkey has ever actually been caught this way. Monkeys aren’t that stingy or greedy. But do you know what species it does work with? Humans! We have a lot of monkey jars.

A guy comes up to Jesus, an able person, a rich young ruler, he is called. He says, “Good teacher, what do I need to do to inherit eternal life? How do I know the blessed life, the good life? I’ve been following all the rules. I’ve been leading a good, respectable, religious life.” Jesus says, “You need to do one more thing. Take your hand out of the monkey jar. Take all that stuff your heart is wrapped around that you’re clutching onto and sell it. Give it to people who need it. Then come and follow me. Let God be your God instead of the monkey jar, and then your life will really start.”

That man walks away from Jesus very sad, because he would not take his hand out of the monkey jar. He would be okay following Jesus as long as he could bring the monkey jar with him.

Another guy comes to Jesus one time, and this guy is desperate. This guy is not particularly respectable. He is a tax collector. But he has a lot of stuff. He has his hand in the monkey jar. Jesus gives him the same message. His name is Zacchaeus, and a miracle happens. Because when a hand comes out of the monkey jar, it is always a miracle.

Zacchaeus’s mind gets changed, and he starts to think about where the monkey jar has been getting him. His heart gets changed, and he says, “All right Jesus, I’m taking my hand out. All the people I have been exploiting and using, I’m going to give them four times what I’ve taken from them, and I’m going to give away half of everything I own.”

Those two guys get to the end of their lives. Which one do you think had regrets?

How do you make this the best Christmas ever? Get your hand out of the monkey jar. All right, God. Give me a heart like yours. I want to do what you did, to so love the world that I give the best I have. That is the blessed life. That is the best Christmas ever.