Faith Cmmunity Fellwship / Munt Vernn, WA / December 25, 2016 Luke 2:1-20 / Mary s Treasure Well we have finally reached that day which we have been anticipating fr just ver mnth nw Advent is ver and Christmas has arrived. The past mnths planning and preparatin has finally cme t fruitin. And I m curius hw many families here this mrning have already celebrated their Christmas. (Raise yur hands if yu have already exchanged yur gifts and s frth.) Nw, beside hand raising, there are a cuple f ways frm up here that I might be able t guess there are sme families where the kids are all jy and ther which are all full f anxiety. There are sme peple here in new utfits, maybe pened tday, and ther are still in yur usual heretical Seahawks gear. And f curse sme here this mrning have bright clear eyes, and thers are squinting with bldsht eyes due t the many camera flashes yu had t endure psing with every gift pened and a cuple actin phts actually tearing the paper t get a sense mvement. It is kind f a frustrating thing abut Christmas that the preparatins fr Christmas is measured in mnths while the excitement and jy f the hliday is measured in hurs. The preparatin and the celebratin are cmpletely unbalanced and s what d we d t justify this t restre equity well we treasure the time. We create ways t capture and remember tday. (sure the preparatin is mnths, and the celebratin is hurs, but memry is measured in years) And it is amazing hw much technlgy has furthered ur ability t capture mments. Yu can g thrugh albums 30 years ag a cuple pictures in dull clr. 20 years ag, picture and maybe a silent vide. 10 years lts f pictures a few vides with sund and clr. And tday half the peple prbably have their phne in the air recrding r taking phts and immediately publish it nline. (what an amazing change in a single lifetime) But I wnder if we actually spend s much time and effrt tday creating media t remember Christmas that we actually miss the celebratin. Our day might be s full f staring at screens and lking thrugh lens that we frget t fcus n what s ging n n the ther side f technlgy. (Mre interested in capturing a smile than basking in it - mre interested in capturing a memry instead f entering ne) And I hnestly d fear that fr sme peple the many pictures and vides became necessary cause they are the nly memries they have. And the very thing they sught t capture (with this camera) desn t exist here (in the mind) and it never made it dwn here (t the heart) In trying t capture ur treasure; we lse it. And s this mrning I desire t fcus n hw d we keep treasures. Hw d we nt nly capture memries, but shape them int ur minds and refine them int ur hearts? Hw des the Christmas stry becme mre than just anther picture in the pht album f ur life and rather be transfrmed int a stry which dwells in ur mind and heart. Well these are the questins I wish t pursue in Mary s respnse t the first Christmas stry - But Mary treasured all these things and pndered them in her heart. Mments r Messages: I desire t start this message by asking the questin: What did Mary treasure? The verse reads Mary treasured all these things and pndered them in her heart: what are the things 1
Faith Cmmunity Fellwship / Munt Vernn, WA / December 25, 2016 Matthew is referencing? Nw the Christmas stry is quite a cmmn stry, whether yu spend every Sunday in a church r if yu spend the majrity f yur Sundays at hme r at wrk in this culture yu likely knw the Christmas stry quite well. We ve heard it tld many times, we ve seen it displayed all ver, we ve watched n screen, and it even pssible we have acted it ut in sme drama r cantata. We d nt lack infrmatin cncerning the stry s knwing that what shuld Mary have treasured? If yu were Mary (r Jseph) and yu wanted t remember the Christmas stry hw wuld yu have captured? What wuld yur Facebk page lk like? There wuld likely be a 100 pictures f the baby Jesus and 7 gd nes n display There wuld likely be picture f us hlding baby Jesus with big smiles (new family) Maybe yu put a picture f the baby in an animal feeding trugh and pst LOL with a shck face (explaining culdn t make it t hspital) Or maybe yu capture the cuple f hmeless men wh came t see the baby and pst crazy right? And just like ur nativity sets we wuld make sure ur makeup and clthes are ideal befre the pht we d nt want t actually capture peple and place pst birth This is what we are usually capturing. We are capturing mments t remember. And let me say that ur technlgy is fantastic at this. Our cameras and recrders are s gd that they can capture a mment better than ur eye. We have limited attentin, limited clr spectrum, limited range f visin and if this is what we are afraid f missing than living life thrugh technlgy makes all the sense in the wrld. But why then des a picture never quite capture reality? What is missing? Well the answer is in what Mary is treasuring and pndering in her heart. But befre turning t the answer I want t share my wn struggle with the deficiency f depictin. One f my lifelng hbbies is drawing. I lve t draw drawing is a wnderful way fr me t express things when wrds fail. Fr that reasn, I have gifted sme drawings. Only nce thugh have I attempted t draw peple t draw a real-life event I was within. I drew a picture f myself and Jacque n ur wedding day and I prbably spent mre time wrking and re-wrking ur faces (2 square inches n the page) that I did n the rest f the drawing cmbined. (Everything else was cmpleted mnths prir t ur faces) Nw I have shwed the drawing t cuntless peple and I get 2 different reactins: Many are impressed with the drawing and witness nthing specifically wrng with the drawing Others are impressed with the drawing and immediately bserve the faces are wrng Nw I can tell yu mathematically the faces are crrect (while much else is ff). The lines and the shading, the shadws, are exactly where they belng n ur face. And it yet smething is still wrng (thse wh were there quickly ntice it, Jacque bserves it, and t my great frustratin I knw it). What is missing in this drawing nt the mment; it is the message 2
Faith Cmmunity Fellwship / Munt Vernn, WA / December 25, 2016 The human faces pssess 43 muscles which cnstantly wrk in cnjunctin t cmmunicate the mst cmplex messages imaginable. Mre infrmatin exists in the subtle mvements f the face than in the dramatic flailing f limbs, and ften even the wrds which are spken frm it. It is in the faces f peple that their prfund mystery and the wnderful identity is held in tensin. Faces are the spring frm which messages are cnstantly being transmitted. And my drawing perfectly captures the smile in that mment yet misses the prfund mixed messages f lve, jy, affectin, celebratin, cmmitment, srrw, excitement and s frth which existed in thse mments. What we truly treasure are the messages which are being cmmunicated in Christmas. We dn t spend mnths f planning t create the perfect mment we are trying t send the perfect message. Christmas is all abut messages, nt mments. There is a message in the gift which is given that cameras cannt capture There is a message in the grateful smile which a recrder cannt cntain There is a message in the hugs, kisses, and fist pumps beynd the mment Messages are far greater than mments, and technlgy can nly handle the later Mary is nt treasuring the mment as great as it is. Difficult t think f a mment better than the birth f child. (As a father a great srrw is fading memries f thse mments) Nt the mment, instead Mary is treasuring the message which is being expressed in the stry. The all-imprtant but which starts verse 19 cnfirms this. The previus verse talks abut the twns reactin t the shepherds message and all wh heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said t them. But, a cmparisn with the thers. But Mary treasured up all these things and pndered them in her heart. It was the message which the shepherds shared with the twn that Mary treasured the message which the shepherds received frm the angel, D nt be afraid, I bring yu gd news f great jy that will be fr all peple. Tday in the twn f David a Savir has been brn t yu; he is Christ the Lrd. This will be a sign t yu. Yu shall find a baby wrapped in clth and lying in a manger. (Luke 2:11-12) Glry t Gd in the highest, and n earth peace t all n whm his favr rests. (Luke 2:14) This is the message which transcends the mment. And it is the message f Christmas which we are called t treasure. It is the message f Christmas which we must pnder in ur hearts. We need t spend extended time allwing thse wrds develp in ur hearts that in this Child named Jesus brn ver 2,000 years, alng with the wrld, we receive a Savir, wh is the King, and Lrd f all. These are the wrds that have t becme the extended fcus f ur minds, these are the wrds which must make residence in ur hearts Jesus is ur Savir, Christ, Lrd. And if these wrds are hllw, if the message is empty than I prpse we are still settling fr the mment (fr a quick picture) and missing the message (the real stry tld.) Fr as we escape the mment, we cme t realize that every gift is a message. Every gift is the prduct f time, energy, and thught we sacrifice these things in ur gifts. And f 3
Faith Cmmunity Fellwship / Munt Vernn, WA / December 25, 2016 curse, every gift is given at a cst. Christmas is the prduct f Gd s time, energy, and thught and if we fllw the Old Testament we learn just hw much time, energy, and thught Gd had t put int this gift. Christmas cmes at a cst and the cst is the highest imaginable it is Gd giving f his very self. Gd takes that which is mst precius t him, that which has lved and treasured thrughut eternity and he parts with himself in the Eternal Sn. Gd gives the mst precius gift imaginable knwing that it is ging t be reject, that it will be ruined and ultimately destryed. Gd s very heart is displayed in the Christmas gift and it shall be trampled. Yet it is still ffered. Nw what wuld we d in such circumstances. I was asked nce t sell a drawing at a decent price and I laughed saying yu might as well ask me t sell my sul, r my children, nt fr sale. What wuld I d if I knew Jacque wuld reject my drawing, wuld stre it never t lk at it, wuld destry it and place her wn picture in the frame. I wuld have t draw my respnse because wrds culd nt cntain my anger and srrw there wuld be many angry scribbles in red (and defiantly a swrd) I wuld never part with it, and likely never draw it And yet here at Christmas Gd stands ver Bethlehem in the same circumstances he is ging t ffer his mst precius gift, he is ging t give f himself in a mre prfund way than any gd r man has ever given. He is ging t give his sn Jesus knwing the rejectin, shame, and death that is t cme. And as we zm ut frm the Christmas mment as we mve beynd the manger, beynd the hme, beynd, Bethlehem, beynd Judea, beynd the wrld there we see the face f the Father as he reaches dwn ffering the Sn and what d we witness but all 46 muscles displaying the mst prfund message ever spken yu are lve. Yu are s lved I ffer this fr yu. This is hw Gd shwed his lve amng us: He sent his ne and nly Sn int the wrld that we might live thrugh him. 10 This is lve: nt that we lved Gd, but that he lved us and sent his Sn as an atning sacrifice fr ur sins ( 1 Jhn 4:9-10) Hw can we nt treasure this message? Hw can we hear it and nt think abut it ften? Hw can it nt be frever pndered in ur hearts? Hw can we take such a message and settle fr a mment fr picture? Hw d we d that t this stry? Hw d we chse it s ften these Christmases? Let us nt d it this Christmas let us. Let us remember this Christmas nt with the latest technlgy (vides and phnes) but with the ldest resurces ur minds and ur hearts. This Christmas cmmit t treasuring the messages which are being spken in the many memrable mments. Fcus less n gifts which are signs f lve, and lk mre int the faces which displays the message f lve (this Christmas) 4
Faith Cmmunity Fellwship / Munt Vernn, WA / December 25, 2016 Fcus less n the manger this Christmas the sign f Gd s lve, and spend time praying and meditating n face f Gd which displays the mst prfund message f lve imaginable. Let treasure all these things (this message) and pnder them in ur hearts tday, tmrrw, every day, fr eternity. 5