The Christmas season is full of hopes and dreams. Some even sing “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas.” This song captures the idea many have of Christmas…that everything is suppose to be perfect. We have the perfect Christmas tree, the perfect lights and decorations, we are going to have the perfect meal, we are going to give and receive the perfect gifts and we are going to be surrounded with perfect people, those we love, our family.
But rarely is this how Christmas is. It may be good but rarely perfect and the higher your expectations are the greater your disappointments will be. Many of us have the same view of our God or of our faith…that once we became a Christian everything is suppose to be perfect. God is on our side. How can we lose? Right? The great evangelist Billy Graham said “Becoming a Christian is not the end of all your problems, just the beginning of facing up to them.” So living the Christian life isn’t living a life of perfection, a life without trials. The Beatle, John Lennon, once said “Life is what happens to you when you‘re busy making other plans.” Phyllis Diller said, “If you want to make God laugh tell him your plans.”
So what am I saying? Am I saying that God is not on our side, that He isn’t really interested in our plans or dreams or that He just likes to mess with us to test our faith? Have you ever shared those same thoughts as I have, where there are those moments we just want to say to God, “C’mon man!!!” and ask yourself “Why does God mess with my dreams?”
We often get this idea from scripture that God is always in control and not to say He is not but we think that the people in the Bible had it made because God or an angel would speak to them and give them the 411. Like the nativity story… think of it, we tell this story like a fairytale, how the angels appeared to Mary and Joseph, the Shepherds, the Wiseman and laid it all out to them; “And they all lived happily ever after.” But Mary did you know? The question asked in a popular Christmas and Easter song, your son would die on a cross. Mary and Joseph had a dream. A dream of a quiet life together raising a family and along came God and a baby changed everything. (Check out Faith Hill’s “A Baby Changes Everything” video on YouTube; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y0_wNPSOaw)
Our thoughts are often not God’s thoughts. Our obedience to God is important to Him but does not alter His plan. A favorite segment of mine on ESPN’s Mike and Mike in the Morning is called “C’mon Man!” where they deride certain athletes for poor performance or bad behavior or sometimes just unfortunate circumstances that occur. Using that theme, let’s get up close and personal with the people from the Bible involved in the Nativity Story. Below is an outline of a message I prepared for a Christmas devotion a few years ago. The Nativity Story is full of surprises and "C'mon man" moments.
I. Begin in Luke
a. Zechariah the priest and Elizabeth
i. Good people
ii. Obeyed God
iii. But no children – “C’Mon Man”
b. Angel appears in their old age
i. Zechariah just going about His business as priest
ii. Alarmed and afraid - “C’Mon Man”
iii. Elizabeth is going to have a child - “C’Mon Man”
iv. For unbelief, Zechariah would not be able to speak - “C’Mon Man”
v. v.20 people were waiting and wondering what was taking so long - “C’Mon Man”
c. Angel appears to Mary
i. Deeply troubled by angel’s message to have child - “C’Mon Man”
ii. Had not known a man
iii. Was engaged - “C’Mon Man”
II. Go to Matthew 1
a. Mary and Joseph engaged, made plans
b. Angel explains going to have a baby by the Holy Spirit
i. Joseph finds out, “C’Mon Man”
ii. Going to break the engagement
c. Angel visits
i. Instructs Joseph to marry
ii. Mary’s son will be Jesus (that’s hard to compete with) - “C’Mon Man”
III. Go back to Luke 2
a. A census to be taken- “C’Mon Man”
i. Must travel with a pregnant women 60-65 miles over rocky terrain in winter to go to Bethlehem from Galilee
ii. Get there and there is no room in the inn - “C’Mon Man”
b. Angels appear to shepherds
i. Terribly afraid - “C’Mon Man”
ii. Told Mary things they heard from the angels
iii. Mary pondered, thought deeply - “C’Mon Man”
IV. Matthew Chapter 2 Jesus was born
a. Wisemen from the East, studied the stars
i. Began to follow the star at birth
ii. Disappeared by the time they got to Jerusalem - “C’Mon Man”
iii. Had to stop and ask Herod for directions once in Jerusalem
b. King Herod’s secret meeting
i. King Herod learns of the birth of a King- “C’Mon Man”
ii. Meets with Wismen
iii. Calls for priest to meet and tell of prophecy
iv. Instructs them to go to Bethlehem and return to him
c. Flee to Egypt
i. Angel appears to Wisemen telling them not to return the way they came
ii. Herod learns he has been deceived by the wiseman - “C’Mon Man”
iii. Herod decrees to kill new born Israelite babies
iv. Angel appears to warn Joseph and instruct them to go to Egypt – “C’Mon Man”
v. While waiting in Egypt waiting for a time to return - “C’Mon Man”
d. After Herod dies
i. Instructs Joseph go back to Israel- “C’Mon Man”
ii. Learns that Herod successor even more ruthless- “C’Mon Man”
iii. Instructed to go to Galilee - “C’Mon Man”
V. So why did God mess with their plans?
a. Mt. 1:22 Now all this happened in order to make true what the Lord had said
i. A son was to be born to a virgin and he will be called “Immanuel”
ii. God is with us
b. Mt. 2:15 Took the Child to Egypt
i. This was done to make come true what the lord had said through the prophet “I called my son out of Egypt.”
c. Mt. 2:17 Killing of the children
i. Prophet Jeremiah foretold it
ii. Sound of weeping, Rachel crying for her children
d. Mt. 2:23 A Nazarene
i. Told to go to Galilee to the town of Nazareth to be safe
ii. So what the prophets had said would come true
iii. “He will be called a Nazarene.”
VI. Take Away
a. God uses what we give him, but he is still in control
i. What we do with our lives is like one strand on a spider’s web
ii. Web may look different but it is still God’s web
b. Remember when the “C’mon man!” moments happen, God is in control
c. Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.
