The Lutheran Hour
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"Promises for a Grinch-Proof Christmas"
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Text: Malachi 3:1-7
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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you in the Name of our Advent Savior, who has come and is coming again for you. Amen!
On a journey through a bookstore the other day, I came across a “Holiday Survival Guide.” A holiday survival guide? Has it come to that now? Isn’t this the time of year where we’re supposed to be happy, and joyful, and relaxed? Well, maybe you know as well as I do, while the holidays are supposed to be joyful and relaxed, many times they’re exactly the opposite of that!
The “Holiday Survival Guide” outlined warnings, “Signs That You Were Headed for a Holiday Meltdown.” Well, it wasn’t very comforting to read. In fact, here are some of the signs:
– “You have super-high expectations” — are there any perfectionists out there?
– “You tend to overbook” — it’s hard to say “no,” isn’t it?
– “You have family friction” – oh boy, relationships can be challenging, can’t they?
– “You cut back on sleep to get everything done” — guilty as charged!
– “Your clothes are feeling tight already” — ouch! Now, that one really hurts.
– “You’re strapped for cash” — spending can be painful.
– “You’re struggling with existing problems” – Well, I think with that last one, we’ve covered just about everyone, haven’t we?After hearing these signs, who isn’t close to a holiday meltdown? Who isn’t overloaded with seasonal stress? With too many tasks on your to-do list, clamoring crowds everywhere you go, the pressure of doing everything perfectly, the frequent friction found in family visits (try saying that ten times fast), who isn’t teetering on the edge of turning into a Grinch!
You remember the Grinch, don’t you? It’s the famous story penned by Dr. Seuss: “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” Even fifty-five years after its original publication, the story is still part of TV’s holiday hit shows. For those of you who might want to know, I have it taped on my DVR and I love watching that cartoon to this day! Isn’t the puppy dog reindeer just the cutest thing? But the story isn’t just alive and well on TV, it’s alive and well in peoples lives today too, isn’t it?
You remember the story, don’t you? The Grinch had, what some might say, was a yearly holiday meltdown as all the Whos who lived in Who-ville celebrated Christmas with gusto. Mr. Grinch lived in a cave on Mount Crumpit, 3000 feet above the happy Whos. But every Christmas, the Grinch couldn’t stand what he saw and heard from atop his perch. From the valley below came happy singing and waves of joyful noise. It drove him crazy. So he decided in his two-sizes-too-small Grinch heart to invade Who-ville and steal it all away!
Now, the storyline may be a bit far-fetched with a green Grinch, and a group of happy Whos, and even the Grinch’s dog Max who stepped into the reindeer role, like I’ve said before. But, in your very real lives today, do you find your Christmas being stolen away by the stress of the season? Does the Grinch story contain a bit of reality as your holiday preparation time is so easily filled with strain, tension, and anxiety?
This time of year is supposed to be a time of peaceful and joyful celebration. It’s not supposed to be a complicated mess. And it doesn’t have to be this way. The reason for the season is very simple: God came to help us. He came to save us from this crazy, broken world and to rescue us from a life hurling toward decay and death.
Why did He do this? Because He loves us, He loves us with a love greater than we can understand. With that love He sent Jesus, His Son, to do the job. The Message of Christmas is that, in Jesus, God showed us the depth of His heart, the joy of knowing that He really cares for us. As the Christmas carol declares: “Joy to the world; the Lord has come!” Jesus, our Savior, was born in Bethlehem.
Oh what a message! Oh, what a blessing. But oh, how that message seems to get drowned out by the Grinch-filled noise and confusion of the season.
Who has time to reflect on the joy of the season when your joy is stolen away by the person who sped into the parking place you were waiting for in the crowded store lot?
Who has time to experience a “silent night, holy night” when you can barely get enough sleep as you try to keep up with all the things you’ve got to do?
Who has an opportunity to enjoy the message of God’s love when grumpy crowds or stressed-out family members are anything but loving?
The reality of this time of year, unfortunately, is that so much of what the season is meant to be for all of us gets stolen away by the powerful invasion of rising tension levels and overwhelming holiday demands.
Do you feel that happening in your life today? Is your compassion stolen away as you rush from task to task? Is your time with loved ones stolen away as too many areas of involvement command your attention?
Is the real spirit of generosity stolen away as you feel the pressure to spend, spend, spend, and keep up with the latest and greatest gizmos and gadgets available?
Instead of this time of year becoming the entry point of peace for your life, a time of refreshment and a renewal, is it just another thing draining you of real joy and peace?
Well, that’s just how the Grinch works. The Grinch invaded Who-ville while all the Whos were sleeping. He took the popguns, bicycles, roller skates, and drums, the checkerboards, tricycles, popcorn, and plums! He swiped the Who goodies and put a stop to the feast. He even stole the Who pudding and took the roast beast!
So, how’s your heart doing today? How’s your celebration spirit doing today? You may very well feel as if the Grinch invaded your heart and soul and emptied you of anything that brings joy.
If that’s the case, my friend, I want you to know that you’re not alone. This season can be one of the most difficult times of the year. It can be difficult because during this season our deepest needs are brought to the surface. Such joyous events can suddenly make you feel vulnerable, sad, or stressed. When the pressure is on, like during the holidays, many times, there’s no hiding from such things.
But remember, this is Advent; we’re still getting ready. Even if you are suffering from the struggles of the season the Advent prepared, Christmas Gift of the beauty, the joy and the wonder of the season can still be yours! This year, actually, right now!
You might say that I want to give you an Advent solution to Grinch-proof your Christmas.
At your lowest low, in your deepest valley, at the heights of your stress, when you’re ready to give up, that’s when you can see the reason for this season most clearly and that’s when the power of the promises of our precious Savior are most sure. Often that’s when we see most clearly that we do indeed need a Savior.You don’t need another product. You don’t need another task on your to-do list. You need a Savior. I need a Savior. We need a Savior who can bear the burdens that are much too heavy for you and me. You need a Savior who can comfort you in your sadness. You need a Savior who can strengthen you when stressed. You need a Savior who can bring peace into the chaos. You need a Savior who can put you back together when you face your own broken and shattered life.
And, my friend, you have a Savior like that, His Name is Jesus. And the Bible says that “He will save His people from their sins!”In the very last book of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi, we hear the words that counter the invasion of holiday stress and Grinchery. We hear about the amazing Advent arrival of God’s Messenger even God Himself. His presence shakes up everything that would make you crumble. His arrival sends stress scurrying. His coming puts a halt to the invasion of everything destructive.
Listen to God’s powerful words of promise again: “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts” (Malachi 3:1).
In this final message of the Old Testament written over 400 years before the coming of Jesus, God promised weary and stressed-out people that what they were waiting for would truly come, what they needed and anticipated would most definitely arrive. These words point to John the Baptist, the messenger who prepared the way for the ministry of the Son of God, promising also the amazing arrival of Jesus, the Christ. It wouldn’t be a Grinch that triumphed. It wouldn’t be an invasion of chaos that set the tone for their lives or won the day. It would be a cleansing and restoring Savior, Jesus Christ!
What would happen to holiday heartlessness, to the stress of the season? Well, the Savior would wash it all away. Listen to the Prophet Malachi: But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old, as in former years” (Malachi 3:1-4).
There is help from God when the holidays seem to be stealing away our joy. How? Like a refiner of silver, He burns away false ideas, deceptive promises, and destructive actions, and places you on the life-giving ground of truth. Like laundry soap, He washes away the junk in your life, the sin and the corruption, and makes you clean again. In fact, the word for refine can mean to filter. Jesus is not only the Refuge you can call on when you’re weary; He is not only the Stronghold of truth who gives you clarity; but His presence in your life filters out everything that would take life out of you.
In Jesus, God gives you a “Grinch-proof” life. When Jesus took all your sin and brokenness upon Himself and died on the cross for you, He made sure that nothing would ever rob you of God’s love again. When Jesus rose again from the dead, miraculously defeating the life-ending consequences of sin, He made certain that nothing would ever steal hope and eternal life from you. Now, that doesn’t mean that everything in this world will be rosy and bright; it does mean that the power of God, the promises of God, the strength and the courage that comes from knowing Him by faith, it will be yours no matter the circumstance!
For the Bible declares in Romans 8: “neither death nor life, nor angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39 NIV).
Nothing will separate you from God’s love, dear friend. Nothing can steal away the life He gives!
The Grinch may have his day, but the Grinch won’t have his way! Remember the story. After he stole all the Christmas décor in Who-ville, after he invaded the town and made off with everything from Christmas trees to the roast beast, he listened for the cries of disappointment from Who-ville. He stood on Mount Crumpit and waited for life to come crashing down. But, what did he hear instead? Singing! Songs of Christmas joy. The Seuss story continued:
And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: “How could it be so?
It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
It came without packages, boxes, or bags!”
And he puzzled three hours, `till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something that he hadn’t before!
“Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.
Maybe Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more!”Well, if you know the Bible’s message, it means a whole lot more. Yes, more than the stresses, the chaos, or the pressures of this life, you have a Savior who laid His life down so that even when all seems lost and life is in disarray, you have a reason still to sing. You have a source of joy. You have the gift of life that lasts forever. You have hope even there of a new beginning because He’s come and He’s coming again.
Malachi says it plainly. “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty.
So, I’m wondering if you need a Grinch-proof Christmas season or a Grinch-proof life today? Will you listen to the life-giving voice of God? Will you call upon Him in your day of trouble? Will you see the saving work of Jesus for you and welcome Him as your Refuge, your Strength, and your Savior?
He is a mighty God. He will do battle for you. The prophet Malachi talked about the power of God. He said: “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts” (vs.5).
God will do battle against all the things that try to steal away the love and righteousness He desires for all people. He will fight against those things in you and around you. If you need a change in your life, knowing God by faith is the key to that change!
At the end of the Grinch holiday special, you remember that the Grinch experienced real change, real heart growth. That changed everything. That heart, once two sizes too small, his heart grew three sizes that Christmas Day in all.
But the Christmas message is so much more than merely our hearts growing a bit. The Christmas message is that God has a gracious heart transplant for you and me. He has a gracious gift of righteousness, forgiveness, joy, and peace for us. It’s His gifts that change our lives. It’s His gifts that root our service, our worship, and our song. It is the Babe in the manger and the Lord who’s coming again to judge the living and the dead who brings life to us that will never end.
Would you receive God’s heart, His love as a gift this season? Will you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? And if you are swallowed up by stress, would you let God revive your heart with His joy?
God offers you His heart today in the Person and work of Jesus, the One whose arrival was prepared for by John the Baptist, the One who is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises. Receive His Gift by faith. Trust in His living Word of hope and promise. Let Him enliven your heart with the amazing Advent arrival of Jesus, let Him strengthen your heart with His Word to overcome the challenges of the stress of this life, and let God put your graced-enlivened heart to work for others.
For the beginning, the middle, and the eternal end of this holiday special is Jesus Christ, your Savior, your strength, your refuge; an Advent Answer for a Grinch-proof Christmas.
But let God Himself, through His Prophet Malachi, say it even better for you and me today. In Malachi 3:6-7, “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed……..Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.”
At His invitation, by His Spirit, turn your life over to Him today! Return to God and let the Lord Himself stop the invasion of Grinchery into your life this holy season! Call upon Him in prayer, read His Word, attend worship and Bible Study at Church; or if you’d like, let us help, we can provide you with resources of God’s promises, His gifts to stop the onslaught of stress and chaos in this world! Advent is a preparation season. It’s time to return to the reason for the season. I pray that you receive that gift that Good News today and forever. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for December 9, 2012
Topic: Why is Christmas on December 25th?ANNOUNCER: Now, more Christmas traditions with Pastor Gregory Seltz. I’m Mark Eischer. The date of Christmas, December 25th; wasn’t that taken from a pagan festival?
SELTZ: That is a great question, Mark, because the real birth, real life, real death, and real resurrection of Jesus are important for our real lives. So, as we get closer to the celebration of Christ’s birth, it’s important to answer such questions. So, let’s start with the facts and I think we’ll end up addressing the debate.
ANNOUNCER: All right. What facts?
SELTZ: Interestingly enough, it doesn’t appear that early Christians had a specific day to celebrate the birthday of Jesus. The celebration of Christ’s birth was combined with one of the earliest church celebrations, Epiphany. That was on January 6th and it commemorated the baptism of Jesus and the start of His public ministry. You see, for those early believers, the ultimate focus was on Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Of course, He had to be born to do all that; so, it wasn’t really, until the late 200s A.D., where historical documents begin to mention a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. In fact, some lean toward a spring date–some time in March, April, or May.
ANNOUNCER: Those didn’t stick.
SELTZ: No. In fact, there was another factor that Christians were wrestling with. Believers were still battling Roman paganism, too, so followers of Christ felt that the Roman celebration of the sun’s birth, just before the shortest day of the year on December 21st, would be worth commandeering in order to give attention to Christ. In that way, it is an application of St. Paul’s principle in 2 Corinthians 10: “Take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV). So, they took the date of December 25th captive in order to turn the Empire’s attention to the true God manifest in Jesus. So, ultimately, that date remained in force after Emperor Constantine declared Christianity the Roman Empire’s favored religion in 336 A.D.
ANNOUNCER: All right, but the pagan associations with that date could make some Christians uncomfortable and give those who doubt Christianity more fuel
SELTZ: This is where the debate part of this answer comes in. One argument is that, because December 25th was borrowed from a pagan worship festival, Christianity is just another humanly developed religion trying to gain power in the world. But that is completely untrue. While pagan festivals are clearly rooted in humanly developed myths, the Christian faith is based solidly on facts and eyewitness testimony.
ANNOUNCER: And people don’t realize this often, but the Bible is the most well-documented ancient literature in history, right?
SELTZ: Right. There’s over twenty-four thousand pieces of documental evidence in existence for the New Testament alone! The content and age of these documents prove the accuracy and truthfulness of the Biblical accounts–including the account of Jesus’ birth. To give you a contrast, if you studied about Aristotle in school and believe that he existed and spoke certain things, you are basing your belief on only forty-nine ancient historical documents. Forty-nine compared to 24,000! Christianity was not borrowed from a pagan religion. The early Christians used popular celebrations to proclaim the good news of Jesus for all.
ANNOUNCER: Any other nuances to this debate?
SELTZ: Well, there is an important one, Mark. The nature of the Christian faith is completely unique among the world religions, philosophies, and ideologies. Christmas highlights this uniqueness. Every world religion and thought-system directs humanity to solve its own problems, to help itself, to earn its own salvation. Christianity is completely different. Like Christmas, it comes into our lives with a proclamation of hope. It’s something we humans would never have thought of or developed. While other religions direct us to striving, God’s Word shows us our Savior.
ANNOUNCER: And, Jesus is not just another spiritual leader come to show us how to be better people; He came to be our One and Only Savior.
SELTZ: Exactly, The Bible is clear, “While we were dead in our sins, we were made alive again through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.” This is the miraculous uniqueness of the Christian faith. I “plead the 25th!” For, if you see the truth of your own helplessness, then, you are ready to receive the gift of salvation in Jesus. Christmas is a perfect time to get to know the very real Savior you’ve been given.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you Pastor Seltz. No one need doubt the real birth of Christ, even though not everyone knows why He was born. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music Selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by Chris Bergmann. Used by permission.
“Comfort, Comfort Ye My People” by J.S. Bach. From Hymns for All Saints: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany (© 2005 Concordia Publishing House)
“Fuga sopra il Magnificat” by J.S. Bach. Organ Music for the Church Year, vol. 1 (© 1995 Japan Lutheran Hour)
“On December Five and Twenty” arr. John Leavitt. From On Christmas Night by John Leavitt (© 2006 John Leavitt)