Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

Welcome to the fourth and final week of our Christmas series called Tangled in the Tinsel. In this series, we’re attempting to recapture Christmas. It’s so easy to get all tangled up in a holiday and yet miss out on what God intended Christmas to be. So we’ve spent four weeks allowing the Word of God to untie us and allow us to refocus our minds and hearts on what this holiday is really all about. Let’s pray and then we’ll do some final untangling.

PRAY

It’s quiz time. We’re going to play a little Who Said It? Who said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive?”

Was it:

A. Mahatma Gandhi
B. Abraham Lincoln
C. Confucius
D. Simon Cowell
E. None of the Above

Who said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive?”

Answer: None of the above.

So who said it? Jesus Christ. Isn’t it interesting how some of Jesus’ sayings have worked their way into our culture and yet our culture doesn’t even know where it came from? This is one of them.

Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” But if you go to the gospels, the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you’re not going to find a record of Jesus saying this. In fact, this statement doesn’t appear in the Bible until long after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. The Apostle Paul quotes this proverb of Jesus in Acts 20.

Paul is in the process of saying goodbye to the elders of the church in the city of Ephesus. He’s on his way to Rome to appear in a trial before Caesar. He knows that he will be martyred because of his faith in Christ, so he’s never going to see these dear friends again. Let’s read part of his final farewell to the Ephesian church.

Beginning in Acts 20:33, Paul says, “I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions.

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”(Acts 20:33-35, NIV)

At first glance, this may seem like an odd Scripture to land on for Christmas Sunday. But in reality, Paul lays out three important keys to untangling our lives and experiencing a wonderful Christmas holiday. And each principle was highlighted by one of the characters in our drama.

So let’s dig into this. The first thing Paul tells us is to be content. The first key to a meaningful Christmas is contentment.

Look at what Paul said in our text. “I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing.” (Acts 20:33, NIV)

Covet is an old-fashioned Bible word but it’s not a word we use a lot today. If you don’t like covet, insert the word “want” or “desire.” It implies a jealous envy for something that somebody else has.

God’s call for us this Christmas is to shift from coveting to contentment. From being selfish to being satisfied.

That’s never an easy thing to do, and it can get even more difficult at Christmastime. It was tough for little Peter in our drama, wasn’t it? It was hard enough knowing that his family was having a rough time financially, but then when he had to compare notes with Charles, he decided to initiate an imaginary competition about who was getting the most presents. Instead of contentment, he fell into the trap of comparison.

There is a Bible principle that we can’t talk about often enough. And that is that comparing destroys contentment.

There are people you know who will have a lavish, abundant holiday. They’re hosting huge family feasts. They’re easily able to buy everything on their kids’ Christmas lists. From the outside looking in, it looks like they’ll be experiencing the perfect Christmas.

But maybe that’s not you. For you, things have been really tight this year. You’re not able to go hog wild this Christmas. There’s nothing wild about your situation and the hog has long since left the barn.

It’s hard enough to experience tough times during the holidays…but when you compare your situation to somebody else’s, it’s going to get a lot worse. If you want to make your Christmas the best that it can be, drop the comparisons and focus on the blessings you do have. In other words, be content.

This is a principle that is peppered throughout the Bible. In Luke 3, John the Baptist said, “…be content with your pay.” (Luke 3:14b, NIV)

Some of you spent this year stuck in that same dead-end job making that same dead-end wage. If you’re absolutely determined to ignore what I’m saying and compare yourself to somebody else, then compare yourself to someone with no job. It makes the words of John the Baptist ring true, doesn’t it? Be content with your pay. It may not buy your family an extravagant Christmas, but God has blessed you with a job. You may not like it. You may not get paid what you’re worth. But you have a job.

In Philippians 4, Paul said, “…I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:11b-13, NIV)

“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” Whatever the circumstances. You may not like your circumstances this Christmas. But contentment is not a situational feeling. It’s not an emotion based on the quality of your circumstances. In fact, it’s not an emotion at all. Contentment isn’t a feeling. It’s a decision of the will. You decide not to compare what other people do have to what you don’t have. You decide to be content.

I can’t tell you exactly how to do that in your situation, but I can tell you this: Christmas will be wasted if you focus on what you don’t have. It will be wasted if you spend all your time wishing your situation was different.

Some of you are in a tough financial spot. Some of you are experiencing poor health. Some of you have lost a relationship that meant a lot to you. If these things are your focus this Christmas, then it will be wasted. You will ruin Christmas for you and your family if you let a woe-is-me attitude dominate your holiday.

So what do we do when we don’t feel like celebrating? Celebrate anyway. Don’t feel like being merry? Be merry anyway. I know this contentment thing doesn’t feel good. It’s not fun. It’s hard. But ultimately, it’s the ticket to experiencing a joyful season that doesn’t depend on your circumstances.

Contentment has always been at the very core of what Christmas is all about. Think about the very first Christmas. Joseph and Mary had traveled to Bethlehem because the government told them to go there for a census. Caesar didn’t care that Mary was nine months pregnant. They had to make the journey to Bethlehem anyway.

And then when they got there, all the hotels were full. No Vacancy signs lit up the little town. That would be bad enough, but then Mary went into labor.

Luke 2 tells us, “While they were [in Bethlehem], the time came for the baby to be born, and [Mary] gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:6-7, NIV)

No nice, clean room with a beautiful cradle to lay her baby in. All they had was a manger, a dirty feeding trough for animals, possibly in a dusty stable or in a dark, damp cave. No fresh baby blankets to wrap up her newborn boy. Just some ratty old cloths.

And yet we have no record of either Joseph or Mary complaining. In fact, we see just the opposite.

Brian showed us this verse in his message last week and we’re going to go back to it again. Luke 2:19 tells us that, “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19, NIV)

Instead of complaining and feeling bitter about her circumstances, Mary treasured up and pondered what God was doing. She was able to see past her situation and find contentment in knowing that God was alive and active in her life.

This Christmas, maybe you need to do a little less running down and a little more treasuring up. A little less self-pitying and a little more God-pondering. A little less complaining and a little more contentment will make Christmas a lot more special for you and all the people that you love.

Let’s go back to our text for a second principle to untangle our Christmas. In Acts 20:34, Paul said, “You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions.” (Acts 20:34, NIV)

Paul was an apostle. He was a great missionary. He wrote the bulk of the New Testament in your Bible. But he was a tentmaker by trade. Apostling and missionarying and Bible writing didn’t always pay the bills. Tentmaking did. Paul’s creative handiwork supported himself and his companions on their many journeys.

And that’s the second principle to making your Christmas everything it can be. Be creative.

Far too many people simply rely on money to make a great Christmas. Kind of like the guy who bought his wife a beautiful diamond ring for Christmas. This thing had a rock the size of a jawbreaker. This fellow was showing it off to one of his buddies before he wrapped it up and put it under the tree.

His friend said, "The ring’s pretty and all, but I thought your wife wanted an SUV for Christmas."

The husband replied, "She did, but where am I gonna find a fake Jeep?"

When it comes to making Christmas merry for our families, far too many of us think it all comes back to money and gifts. Buy everything on the kids’ Christmas lists and it’ll be a holly jolly Christmas. But stop and think back to when you were a kid. What Christmas memories do you hold the closest to your heart? I bet that your best memories aren’t gifts at all.

For me, I always knew it was Christmas when Dad would head into the kitchen and make breakfast for everyone in the family. Dad can make a mean omelet and he would make a special one made-to-order for everybody. As our family has grown with marriages and grandchildren, it takes him a lot longer in the kitchen than it used to…but he still chefs up an omelet for everybody on Christmas Day. It’s a great Christmas memory for me and it simply involved a few eggs…and some creative kitchen work from my dad.

In a lot of ways, Christmas is what you make it. I know that sounds a tad cliché, but it’s true. If you want to make it all about gifts, you can do that. Or you can shoot for something more. You can get creative. You can work hard to discover some new ways to make it special.

I love the way The Message paraphrase reads in Galatians 6. “Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don't be impressed with yourself. Don't compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.” (Galatians 6:4-5, The Message)

Don’t compare yourself to others. Seems like we’ve heard that before, doesn’t it? Instead, do the creative best you can with where you are this Christmas.

In our drama, Peter’s mom was going to have get really creative because they couldn’t afford Christmas gifts this year. Whether you can or cannot afford gifts this year, show your family how much you love them by doing something creative to make a Christmas memory.

Actually this can be tougher for those of us who are doing well financially. If things are tight this Christmas like they were with Peter’s mother, you have to be creative to make the holiday special. You don’t have a choice. But if money’s not a problem, it’s easy to just buy your family off. Buy the nice, expensive gifts and everybody seems happy. The only work involved is a little shopping and little wrapping…and all the while you’re robbing your family of something much more important at Christmastime.

Your family will accumulate something this Christmas. They can accumulate stuff or they can accumulate experiences. Choose experiences. They will outlast any gift.

Last Christmas we took Ryan to downtown Cincinnati to see the trains and all the Christmas displays. It was so much fun. He loved every minute of it. You know how much it cost us to do that? $3. That’s how much it cost to park. For $3, we created not only a memory but an annual Christmas tradition. For $3. It’s something that Ryan and Brock will look forward to every year and will remember for all their lives…for $3.

Accumulate experiences. Work hard. Be creative. Gifts are fine, but work hard to give your family something that will last far longer and will mean much more than a present.

Really, for those of us who are parents, this is a discipleship issue. Christmas can be a key point of discipling our kids. Most of the time, Christmas gifts aren’t going to be faith-builders for your kids. But Christmas experiences absolutely can be. They can be relationship builders. They can be faith-teaching moments.

Jesus was the master at this. Much of Jesus teaching simply came out of what he was experiencing in life with his disciples. His teaching wasn’t contrived or forced. He didn’t often tell his disciples, “Sit down because it’s time for me to teach you.” Instead his teaching flowed naturally out of his experiences with his followers. That kind of experiential teaching could happen because of the amount of time they spent together.

The lesson for us as parents is clear. When we work to help our family accumulate experiences instead of accumulating stuff, there will be discipling moments. When we don’t focus on buying presents but instead give our family our presence, we’ll cultivate experiences that will be memory-makers and faith-builders.

Let’s head back to our focus text for one more principle to untangle our Christmas. In Acts 20:35, Paul writes, “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:35, NIV)

Finally we get to the world-famous quote from Jesus. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

To fully untangle our Christmas, God’s challenge to us is to be caring. It’s the lesson that Charles learned in our drama and it’s God’s desire for all of us this Christmas.

Today in the town of Yellow Springs, Ohio, people are still receiving Christmas presents from an ex-slave named Wheeling Gaunt. The thing is, Wheeling Gaunt died in 1894. Just before he died, he deeded nine acres of land at the south edge of the village to the town of Yellow Springs, with this stipulation. The proceeds of this land were only to be used to buy perpetual Christmas gifts for poor widows, which the village continues to do to this day. Ten pounds of flour and 10 pounds of sugar arrive at the home of every widow in town just in time for holiday baking, thanks to this former slave. There is a plaque in Yellow Springs dedicated to Wheeling Gaunt. On the plaque, there is an inscription that reads, “Not what you get, but what you give.”

The Bible tells us, “Caring for the poor is lending to the LORD, and you will be well repaid.” (Proverbs 19:17, CEV)

When we approach Christmas as an opportunity to be caring for someone who is in a rough season in their lives, we’re making an investment. God remembers what we give them and he promises to credit our account because of it. He promises to bless us because of the people we bless.

Another way to say it? “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35b, NIV)

I love being part of a church that has giving in its DNA. Early each Christmas season, we have a giving tree in our foyer. We have the opportunity to pluck an ornament off the tree and then go purchase a gift for a child who might not be getting much of anything for Christmas. This year, the ornaments flew off the tree like they had wings. They were all gone in one day. So we put more ornaments on the tree for the next Sunday. They were gone in a flash. People were actually asking for us to put more ornaments on the tree so they could give more. That’s awesome. That’s a church that not only believes but lives out the words of Jesus. A lot of you truly believe that it is better to give than to receive.

It’s not just because God has promised to bless us more if we bless others. That’s a very small part of why we give. The ultimate reason giving is better than receiving is because we’re a lot more like Jesus when we give.

We give because God gave. We care because God cared.

1 John puts it so well. “We love because God loved us first.” (1 John 4:19, CEV)

When you boil it all down, strip away all the trappings, and untangle all the tinsel, this is the heartbeat of Christmas. We give, we care, we love because God showed us all those things first. And the only thing we can do is give them all back to Him by giving them to others.

Soren Kierkegaard told this story. Suppose there was a king who loved a humble maiden. The king was like no other king. Every statesmen trembled before his power. No one dared breathe a word against him, for he had the strength to crush all his opponents. And yet this mighty king was melted by love for a humble maiden.

How could he declare his love for her? In an odd sort of way, his very kingliness tied his hands. If he brought her to the palace and crowned her head with jewels and clothed her body in royal robes, she would surely not resist- no one dared resist him. But would she love him?

She would say she loved him of course, but would she truly? Or would she live with him in fear, nursing a private grief for the life she left behind. Would she be happy at his side? How could he know?

If he rode to her forest cottage in his royal carriage, with an armed escort waving bright banners, that too would overwhelm her. He did not want a cringing subject. He wanted her to forget that he was a king and she a humble maiden and to let shared love cross over the gulf between them.

The king, convinced he could not elevate the maiden without crushing her freedom, resolved to descend. He clothed himself as a beggar and approached her cottage incognito, with a worn cloak fluttering loosely about him. He renounced the throne to win her hand.

The Bible tells us that, “Christ was truly God. But he did not try to remain equal with God. Instead he gave up everything and became a slave, when he became like one of us. Christ was humble. He obeyed God and even died on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8, CEV)

The king gave up his throne. He was born in a nasty manger. He was God, and yet he allowed himself to be contained in the confines of a human body. He was arrested because he offended the religious people and cared about the people who were far from God. He was beaten without reason. Mocked without mercy. And then nailed to an instrument of execution called a cross. The cross was the final act of humiliation for the king. It was only the vilest criminals, the scum of society that were crucified. And yet, our king hung on a cross. And the reason, the only reason, was because he loved us.

This Christmas, you can allow yourself to get tangled in the tinsel. To get all swept up in the holiday frenzy. Or you can pause, reflect, remember. Remember the king who gave up everything he had just so he could be with you.

If you’ve never accepted that incredible gift from the king Jesus, we’d love to pray with you about that. If you have questions, we want to talk through them with you. We simply want you to know Jesus, not just at Christmas, but for the rest of your life and for all eternity.

Mike Edmisten

Tags: Tangled in the Tinsel, Acts 20, Christmas, contentment, creativity, family, giving, parenting