Family Caroling - Waiting
Message Description
Wexford Campus Pastor Russ Brasher shares the anticipation the Christmas season brings as we celebrate the greatest gift from God.
Message Transcript
Well, good morning. Good morning. Hello, folks. Merry Christmas, everyone. Welcome to Orchard Hill Church on a special family caroling service. Can I just tell you, you all sounded wonderful. Wonderful. Thank you. I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. And shout out to those three little kids that were up here earlier, your answers were perfect. Okay. Good job. Hey, let me pray for us as we jump into God's word:
Father, we thank you. We thank you for today. We thank you for a chance to come together to worship you, to have fun through Christmas caroling and teaching. I pray that this time in sharing brings you glory, and it stirs all of our hearts to draw closer to you, resulting in changed lives because of your son, Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.
Ladies and gentlemen, friends and family, little ones and older ones, I bring you exciting news. I have an announcement to make. Christmas morning is now, as of today, officially only, say it with me, three days away. Who's excited for Christmas? That's right. Christmas is only three days away. And that means the waiting, the waiting is almost over.
But even though it's only three days left to wait, I think we can all agree, especially all the kids in the room, that waiting for Christmas morning is really hard to do. I know this to be true, and let me tell you a story to prove it. Once upon a time in the late 1900s, I was about 8 years old. I woke up one morning and I found a brand-new Sega Genesis with the new, Tonic the Hedgehog 2 Game waiting in my bedroom for me. And I jumped with joy out of bed and I played Sega all day long. It was the greatest day of my life. And the next morning, I woke up ready to do the same thing all over again for the rest of my life. But when I woke up that next morning, something was missing. I realized something. My SEGA was gone. I know. And then, the reality of life hit me. All of it had just been a dream. I know. Trust me, I was there.
But have you ever had a dream like that before? You know what I'm going through, right? It's one thing when it's a bad dream and you wake up and you're like, oh, yes, that wasn't real. It's another thing when you have a perfect dream, the best dream, and you wake up and realize it wasn't real. Later that morning, I went down, and my mom could tell that I was visibly upset. And as a good, loving mom, she asked, son, what's wrong? And I explained the heartbreaking story to her. And my mom, trying to make me feel better, my mom thought she was helping by saying to me what she said next. But it's actually a thing that no kid ever wants to hear during the Christmas season. Do you know what she said? She said, son, well, I guess you're just gonna have to wait. Wait and see what happens on Christmas morning. “No!” I screamed in anguish. Mom, do you know how hard it is to wait? Especially wait for the one thing you need in life. Sega.
Well, I'm here this morning to share even more good news with you. After a very long period of waiting, I did in fact open up a brand-new Sega Genesis that Christmas morning. And I lived the dream of playing Sonic for the rest of my life. But it truly was, and became, one of my most cherished childhood memories. You know, when I think about that and waiting, I have a Christmas question that I want to ask all of you guys. What is it about Christmas that makes waiting so hard to do? I want you to go ahead and look at your neighbor and I want you to share the first word that pops into your head to try to answer this question. What about waiting around Christmas is so hard to do? Go ahead, share with your neighbors.
Did we have some good answers? Did we have some bad answers? All right, well, hey, let me, let me give you my answer. What is it about Christmas that makes waiting so hard to do? The best answer that I could come up with is the word gifts. Anybody else have gifts? Gifts are what makes waiting for Christmas so hard. Think about it. Kids cannot fall asleep on Christmas Eve night. Why? Because they are waiting to receive gifts. But it's not just the receiving of gifts that makes Christmas hard to wait for. If you've ever gotten the perfect gift to give someone, you also have a hard time waiting to give gifts during Christmas. I have this experience. Let me tell you another story.
I wanna show you a picture and introduce you to someone. This my friends, go ahead, throw it up. There is Charles Barkley. That's right, this is Charles Barkley. And he is the newest addition to the Brasher family. But here's what you need to know about Charles Barkley. He was supposed to be a Christmas morning surprise gift to my kids. But I had to go pick up Charles Barkley in Indianapolis on Thursday, December 19th. And when I picked that little guy up and I saw his adorableness and his cuteness, and then I showed my wife, we couldn't wait to give it to our kids. And so that night, six days before Christmas even started, Barkley met the family, because I just couldn't wait to give a gift, a Christmas gift. There you have it. Welcome Charles Barkley. He's amazing.
You see, giving gifts makes waiting for Christmas just as hard as receiving gifts. To know this, and give you more example, one recent poll suggests that 75%, 3/4 of the adults in this room, prefer to give gifts rather than receive gifts. That true of anyone in here? You prefer to give rather than receive. This helps explain why Americans last year in 2023 spent $964 billion on Christmas gifts. That's b with a billion. For you little ones in the room, to help you picture just what $964 billion can get you, what do you think is the top one of the top Christmas gifts every year to give to people, kids and adults? What do you think? Shout it out. What do you think? Not video games. At this point, I can't make out anything you guys are saying, so I'm just going to tell you the answer. Legos. Who said Legos? Who said Legos? Legos are one of the top gifts. And let me tell you this. $964 billion can buy you enough Legos to stack them 1 million miles high up into the sky. That's enough distance to track or stack your Legos around the earth 40 times. That's a lot of money and a lot of Legos.
So what is it about Christmas that makes waiting so hard? It's gifts. Both receiving and giving gifts. And so, knowing this, I have another question I want to ask us. What makes receiving and giving gifts so important to us? Do the same thing. Turn to your neighbor and share the first word that pops into your head about why gifts receiving or giving are so important to us. Go ahead. All right. Any good answers? Any kind of weird answers? I'm sure there's a lot in a room this size. Let me give you my answer. My answer is one word. Love. Who had love? All right, the rest of you, get out. I'm just kidding.
I say love because I know this, and I know it again from personal experience, that all of us, deep down in our hearts, whether we want to admit it or not, regardless of your age, desire to feel known and loved. We all desire to feel known and loved. And gifts, even if they're temporary and they don't last, gifts have a way of fulfilling this important desire in each of our hearts.
An article I read recently titled “Why Presence? A History and Psychology Behind Gifts”. Here's what part of it says:
“One of the primary motivations behind gifts is to express love, affection, or appreciation. Gifting is a simple way to let someone know that we care and we are taking an action to show this to them with gifts. Giving gifts allows us to communicate our feelings in a tangible and meaningful way. Gifts strengthen bonds and foster deeper connections with loved ones.”
I think we could agree with that. So in a quick recap, what we've discovered through our questions so far is this — waiting for Christmas is hard. Duh. Russ, tell me something I don't know. It's hard because we eagerly wait to both receive and give gifts of love. And, gifts are important to us because it shows us either that we know for ourselves that we are known or loved, or we can show someone else that they are known and loved.
And so, since it is Christmas, I would like to give all of you a gift. And it's right here. It's right here. I would like to give it all, but I hope that this gift is one that shows all of us that we are indeed known and loved. And I have to preface before I go any further. I know that what I'm about to do is very corny, very cheesy. But it's Christmas season, and what can you expect from a guy already wearing a cheesy Christmas sweater live on stage? I don't see any of you else wearing this, so I get the right to do this, okay? But here's what I have for you today right here as a gift. And let me open it. It is, can anyone guess it? A new puppy for everyone! No, I'm just kidding. It's a Bible. I'm not sure why some of you are so disappointed right now. But I give the gift of a Bible this morning.
Specifically, I want to give you the gift of a story found in Scripture. It's one in which Jesus himself told in the form of a parable. And Jesus, one thing you need to know about Jesus, is he was and still is a master storyteller. And Jesus would often use parables. He would use them to get people like us. He would use them to get our attention so that we could hopefully better see and understand the heart of God. Randy Newman, in his book “Mere Evangelism,” said:
“The goal for Jesus when using parables to tell stories about God, is not just to tell a story that makes people say, that makes sense or that sounds good. For Jesus, using parables was how he would pepper or season the heart of a person with imagery, so people would walk away saying, ‘God sounds wonderful!” Or, “I hope what you are telling me Jesus about God is true.’”
This particular story is not typically associated with Christmas, but it is a story that involves both waiting and a gift. So it is Christmas enough for today. Being that we're still three days away. The story I want to share with you guys is from the New Testament Gospel of Luke. It's the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Listen, as I read to you a Christmas story, starting in Luke chapter 15, verse 11. You can follow along on the screens:
“Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. Yuck! He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
What a story so far, isn’t it? We’re halfway through, so wake up your dad, and we’re going to keep going:
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
What a story, isn't it? The gift that Jesus gives us to be able to see into the heart of God, to see just how much God loves us and desires for us to feel fully known and loved by Him. We get this story, and let me try to explain this gift to you with a little help and insight from author and pastor Tim Keller. We read that the first son in our story goes to the father and asks for his inheritance. In other words, Tim Keller describes in his book the Prodigal God what the son actually says to the father. He says, father, I want your stuff, but I don't want you. He says, waiting for you to die is going to be too hard. So can you just give me what I deserve and want now once you die so that I can go live my life the way I want? Can you just do that for me, dad? Exactly.
But the father gives the son what he asks for, and soon the son takes the money and runs away from the father. The son goes off and lives a wild life, having good time after good time. But soon the money runs out, the good times stop, and once a famine comes in, it makes life for the son unbearable. And the next thing we know, the son is now working in a field of pigs, starving and longing for the leftovers that the pigs won't eat.
So the son comes to his senses and he starts to prepare a speech. And he says to himself, I will make. Here's what I'll do. I will go back to my father. I will go back home. And his plan is to go back home and apologize, to beg for forgiveness, to ask his father for a job so he can earn enough money to pay his father back for what he has done. And so the son takes off. And what happens next in this story is actually my favorite part. The story tells us that while the son was still a long way off, the father sees his son coming back home. And the father takes off running towards his son. And he wraps his arms around his son and gives him a huge hug and a big old kiss.
And I would imagine at this point in the story that the son is probably a little bit shocked, confused, taken back. He's asking himself, doesn't the father, does he remember who I am? Does he remember what I did to him? But in his confused state, the son also remembers his plan, to beg his father for forgiveness and ask for a job.
So the son tries to do his prepared speech. Father, I've sinned against you. I am not worthy to be called your son. Could I have a job so I could pay you back and earn my way back into the family? But the father, so filled with compassion for his son, interrupts the son, yells, “Quick, go get the family robe! Go get the family ring! Put it on him. My son is back. Go get some sandals so we can dance the night away. Kill the fattened calf. Cause we are gonna throw a party to celebrate, invite the whole neighborhood to show how excited we are that my son is back. We will celebrate.”
And this, I think, becomes the father's greatest day of his life. What the father does for the son is important, and we can't miss it. What the father does for the son is says, you don't get to earn your way back. I won't let you earn it back. The father says, because of who I am, the good father, and because of who you are, my son, I am choosing to bring you back. Bring you back fully restored into the family, free of charge. What the father says to the son, is this is my gift that I have been waiting to give you.
And next, the other son, the older brother, comes into the story. The older son is angry at the father and refuses to go into the party and celebrate that his younger brother's back. So the father, again with compassion, goes now to the older son, to the older brother who's angry. He says, I've listened to you, Father, my whole life. I have done everything you've asked for me. Not once have I ever asked you for anything. Not once have I ever disobeyed, or disappointed you. So why? Why, Father, are you wasting what is mine? Why are you giving away what I deserve, what I've earned, and giving it to my loser little brother? And with the same heart of compassion, the father now responds to the son, this time saying, everything I have is already yours. And your brother is home. We have to celebrate. Would you please come inside and celebrate with us?
And this is how the story that Jesus tells the Parable of The Prodigal Son ends. What a story, what a gift Jesus gives us. And now that our story is over, it's time to unpack the gift. And we unpack it by starting to compare the two brothers, deciding for ourselves which one of us, if we were honest, do we relate more with? I think the younger brother is naturally easier, at least at first, to relate to. For me at least. He has an easier picture of what sin is, understanding it and admitting it, if we're honest. A heart that says to God the Father, God, thanks, but no thanks. I want your blessings, but I don't really want you. I want to be in control of my life. I want to be my own God, just give me what I want and I will be on my way. This is what Tim Keller calls again in his book, a very traditional depiction of sin.
But what about the older brother? What about the state of his heart towards the Father? Maybe harder to see at first, maybe harder to relate to, but the older son's heart was still just as far from the Father as the younger brother. What Jesus wants us to see in this story, according to Keller, and I would agree, is both of the brothers hearts are actually far from the Father. Both don't actually want the Father, they both just want the Father's things. The only difference is how they chose to go about getting it, what they think they want, what they think they need in life.
The younger brother chose to be “bad” in order to get what he wants. The older brother chose to be “good” to get what he wants. Neither brother actually just wants to be close in genuine relationship with the Father. Keller says that the younger brother's sin is easy to notice, but the older brother's sin is harder to see, because it actually was his goodness that got in the way. His sin was self righteousness. It was the older brother's reason for doing good that got him caught up all these years and distanced his heart from the Father. It was his moralistic attitude and approach to relationships. Again, this one might be harder for us admit sometimes that's true of us.
The older brother thinks the Father's love must be earned, so he is good, works hard at being good all the time just to earn and keep the Father's love, which gives him what he wants. Good standing, honor, prestige in the community, access to the Father's things.
But this also created in the older brother an entitled heart towards the Father. One that says, I have been good Father, therefore I, I deserve your love. Not only do I deserve it, but I have earned, so give it to me. And what Jesus is trying to get people like you and me to see by telling this story is that both sons are actually lost, both missing out on true relationship with the Father.
So I have one more question to ask us. One more Christmas question. Why did I pick this gift to give us today? Why did I pick this story? The gift of Jesus, in my opinion, is the best gift I have ever personally received, and the only gift I could ever give you that has any true importance. Ephesians 2:8-9 says this:
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”
The other thing we have to point out, not just comparing the brothers, but identify the Father. And in this story, God is the Father. The Father represents and gives us access to see into the heart of God. And when we read this story, we see that God the Father's heart is full of compassion. Compassion towards his sons and therefore, compassion towards each of us. We see God the Father desire for both his sons, therefore both of us, or all of us to know that we are We see God the Father waiting, waiting for his sons to come back and be in relationship with him, the same way that God is waiting for us to be in relationship with Him. We see God the Father going out, initiating this relationship to meet both his sons in their lost state, just like we see in Scripture God doing with each of us. And lastly, we see God the Father offer the gift to both his sons. The gift of love. The same gift he offers all of us today.
Whether you identified more with the Son who ran away from God, or the Son who stayed close to God but for the wrong reasons, I bring one more dose of good news to us today. The gift waiting for you and I from God is the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, born on Christmas Day. The gift that is received through faith, offered to anyone who chooses to believe in Jesus. It's a gift of love, grace, and mercy to be welcomed home and once again in relationship with God, the Good Father.
The gift of Jesus to those who identify more with the younger brother who have run away from God means this—listen closely. No matter who you are, no matter what you've done, the Gospel today says you are welcomed back home. You are welcomed back into relationship with the Father because of the gift of Jesus Christ. What Jesus has done for us on the cross, taking our shame, taking our punishment, what we actually deserve and exchanging it with love, grace and mercy. Oh, what a gift Jesus is to us.
To those who feel and can relate, if we're honest, more to the older brother. And to be honest, I'm both of them, some days. Some more than the other. The gift of Jesus, to those who are still trying to earn your way back to God, doing the right things for all the wrong reasons. The gift of Jesus is this—to look at the cross of Jesus Christ and allow your heart to be melted and moved. Melted and moved at what it actually cost Jesus to bring you and I home. You see, this gift cost Jesus his life. He did it for you and for me, before we could even speak a word or we could even attempt to try to earn his love, this gift was given to us. It is the most freeing thing in the world to know that you are fully known and fully loved by God. Not because of what you can do, not because of what you can offer, not because of what you do or don't bring to the table or anything else. It's a gift simply because of who God is, the good Father. And it's a gift that he desires for his children, for each of you to come home and to be in relationship with Him. What a gift Jesus is to us. This gift is the most important gift that we could ever personally receive this Christmas season. And it's the most important gift you could actually ever offer and give to someone to show them that they too are fully known and loved. Because it's a gift of love that all of our hearts desperately desires.
As we look to wrap up, you know, I can always tell something about my wife, Lyndsay. We've been married for about 15 years now and I've picked up on some of her tells. Husbands, can you relate? Some of them, we know when to run and some of them, we know when to stay. This is one that you know when to stay. Whenever my wife Lyndsay is in a good mood, when she's having a good day, when she's full of joy, do you know what my wife does? She sings. And the other husbands like, that's my woman too. My wife sings. Doesn't matter what she's doing, she's singing about what she's doing. Doesn't matter what she's trying to say to us, she's singing it and saying us. It's like a real life musical that sometimes great and sometimes is like I'm stuck in an opera. But my wife, when she's feeling known and loved by the Lord, she sings.
And this got me thinking. I wonder if this is where the idea of Christmas Carolyn came from in the first place? Maybe, maybe not. I didn't Google it, so we'll go with it. But it would make sense if you base it solely on how my wife chooses to express joy and happiness. And the Christmas season does bring with it a bunch of joy, does it not? Especially from a Christian perspective, when you understand the gift of Jesus and what it is, that that is the reason we celebrate Christmas. So out of curiosity, I looked up on Billboard.com what the top Christmas songs are that people around Christmas time want to sing to express the joy and happiness that the Christmas season brings. Let's see if you can guess the top five. Starting at number five. You ready? Shout it out what you think it is. Nope, you're wrong.
Number five, “Holly Jolly Christmas” by Burl Ives. Anyone get it right? All right, we got four left. Let's see if you can get this one. Number four is “Jingle Bell Rock” by Bobby Helms. All right, number three, most popular is “Last Christmas” by Wham. I feel like you got to say it like that, because it's in the title. All right, we're getting down to the final two. Can you guess number two? Close. “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee. And if you can't guess to the next one. Are you even in the Christmas spirit? What's number one? “All I Want for Christmas” by Mariah Carey. Good job, everybody. You all kind of pass.
And here's the thing about this list. It's a pretty good list that I promise if you play it at any Christmas party, it will deliver. It's full of smashes, but it is none of these lists, on this list, none of these songs are my personal favorite for Christmas season to sing to express joy and happiness. Mine is a song called “Light of the World” by Lauren Daigle. And as another gift to you, I am not going to sing this. I will simply read the lyrics. Here's how the song starts:
The world waits for a miracle
The heart longs for a little bit of hope
Glory to the light of the world
Jesus is here
As we wait three more days for Christmas morning, please remember this. In the gift of Jesus Christ, our waiting is already over. Our waiting is already over because the light of the world is here. Jesus is the reason, the true reason that we celebrate the Christmas season. So celebrate the gift of Jesus by receiving it or giving it this holiday season with faith. A gift that tells the world that shows and reminds you and I, we are fully known and loved by God the good, good Father. It's a story, a Christmas story kinda that makes us sit back and hope it's true. And in Jesus we don't have to hope. We know it is true. The gift of love is here. What greater gift is there to receive or give this Christmas morning? Let's pray.
Father, thank you. Thank you for the gift of love. Jesus Christ, he is the reason we come to celebrate Christmas. He's the reason we exchange gifts. He's the reason that we have hope. And so we thank you. And Lord today whether we identified more with the younger brother or the older brother, may we focus on the Father, who full of compassion will do anything no matter what it costs to bring us home and relationship with you. We thank you. In your name we pray. Amen.
Merry Christmas everybody!
This transcript was automatically generated. Please excuse errors.