Sermon for Sunday December 24th, 2006
Christmas and Culture by Rodney Buchanan
Luke 2:25-2:32
Christmas is about God breaking through at surprising times, and showing up in
unusual places in the world. You never know when, where, or how God is going to
show up. The Bible is full of stories of how God broke into the world at the
very time that people thought he was nowhere to be found. We think of God’s
meeting with Abraham, promising to make him the father of many nations. We think
of the Red Sea and God’s deliverance of Israel from slavery. God shows up on
Mount Carmel as Elijah offers his sacrifice. He appears with Shadrach, Meshach
and Abednego in the fiery furnace. He shows up with Daniel in the Lion’s den.
And, foremost, he shows up in Bethlehem as the angels announce the arrival of
God on earth: Emmanuel.
God continues to show up in our day, though largely unnoticed by an unbelieving
world. When he comes again it will be impossible to ignore him, for “every eye
will see him” (Revelation 1:7). But until then, we need to have eyes that see
and ears that hear. There are many examples that I could use, but take this one
for a start. Akiane Kramarik is only 12-years-old, but she has abilities far
beyond her years. Her mother chose to give birth to her underwater at the family
home on July 9, 1994 in Mount Morris, Illinois. The family now lives in Idaho.
Akiane speaks four languages, writes poetry, plays piano and composes her own
music, and most of all she paints. Her paintings have deep expression and
magnificent, living colors. She explains that she had a spiritual encounter with
God at the ripe old age of four, and that now her paintings are attempts to help
people experience God through her eyes. She claims to have actually visited
heaven and gives vivid expression to what she saw there. She wants to put on
canvas what she has seen in her visions and dreams. She says, “I want my art to
draw people’s attention to God. I want my poetry to keep people’s attention to
God.” Her desire is that people find hope in her paintings. The picture of Jesus
here is entitled, “Father forgiven them,” and was painted when she was 9. The
next one is called “The Journey” — also painted when she was 9. This painting is
called “Planted Eyes,” and the one next to it is called “Prince of Peace.” Both
were painted when she was only 8. Her web site defines her goal as: “To be an
inspiration for others and to be the gift to God.” That’s very profound for a
12-year-old — “to be the gift of God.”
But the interesting part of the story is that Akiane did not come from a
Christian home. Her American father is a culinary art instructor and chef, and
her stay-at-home, Lithuanian mother was an atheist. There was no teaching in the
home about the Christian faith, they never went to church and there was no talk
of God. The entire family has now converted to Christianity, but home was not
the place where she received any spiritual training. She has appeared on many TV
shows, and been featured in several magazines. How did God break through to a
4-year-old girl in an atheistic home? I have absolutely no idea. Why did he do
it? Well, he gave this girl a vision and a mission. But beyond that, this is
just what God does. He chooses unusual people in unexpected places. Jesus was
not born in the Temple, he was born in a stable. His father was not a priest, he
was a peasant. His mother was not wealthy, they lived in poverty. They did not
live in Jerusalem, they lived in Nazareth. No one really knew about Jesus’ birth
and very few cared anything about it. But God was changing the world, and only a
handful of people were in on the secret, and even they did not understand the
full impact of what was happening.
There are just three brief things I would like to say this morning. The first is
this: Christmas informs the culture. Whatever the culture in which we find
ourselves, the message of Christmas informs us. The message is that God loves
the world and he cares about us. Now we are looking into God’s face. The angels
said to the shepherds: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy
that will be for all the people, and then exploded with praise as they said,
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests”
(Luke 2:10 & 14).
Whether the world wants to hear it or not, the message of Christmas is one of
good news of great joy. Christmas announces that there is reason to hope. The
number of people whose lives have been changed since the birth of Christ is
incalculable. But not only have individuals been changed, whole cultures and
entire nations have been changed.
Christmas informs the culture that there is meaning and purpose in the world,
for the God who created the world has come to redeem the world. Christmas
informs the world that the true King of the world has been born, and he will set
up his everlasting kingdom. Isaiah prophesied about this when he wrote: “For to
us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his
shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will
be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing
and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this” (Isaiah 9:6-7). This is the
message with which Christmas informs the world.
The second thing I would remind you of is: Christmas transforms the culture. We
not only have good news of great joy; our message is not mere words about hope
and peace, the Christmas message is changing the world. The Bible talks of the
transformation of individuals and also the transformation of the world. The
Scriptures first call us to personal transformation: “Do not conform any longer
to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good,
pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2). But we are transformed in order to
transform the culture around us.
The story is told of a man who was reading the paper while his children were in
bed. Much to his chagrin, a young daughter appeared who said she could not
sleep. He told her to go back to bed, but she began to cry. So he conceived a
plan. In the paper was a picture of the world, and he cut the picture into
several pieces. He handed his daughter the pieces and some tape. “Go sit in the
dining room, and see if you can put the world back together,” he said. He sat
back to relax, but after only a few sips of his coffee, his daughter came
bounding back with the world put back together. He was amazed and said,
“Sweetie, how did you do that so fast?” She said, “It was easy, Daddy. On the
back side of the page was a picture of a man. When you make the man right, you
make the world right.” Transformed people transform the world.
The problem is that Christians have typically seen Christianity as being only
about them. Their goal is to “get saved.” They want to have their sins forgiven.
They want to go to heaven. Many American style Christians don’t see much beyond
that. Christmas is not just about having your sins forgiven, it is about being
transformed. You become a new person and are truly changed. In turn, you begin
to change the world. The culture is not just influenced, but begins to be
changed as changed individuals live in it, participate in it, rub shoulders with
others in the culture.
Unfortunately, many Christians have retreated from the “world,” and are afraid
of it. We withdraw from the world. We don’t want to be influenced by the world
or contaminated by it, and in protecting ourselves from the world, we have
failed to be an influence in the world. As Jesus said, we are to be salt and
light to the world, but the salt has lost its flavor and the light has been
hidden under a bushel. You can’t do what salt is supposed to do if you stay in
the shaker, and you can’t do what light is supposed to do if you never go into
the darkness. There is nothing to fear for Emmanuel is here — God is with us.
Here is how Paul saw it: “From one man he made every nation of men, that they
should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the
exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and
perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of
us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being’” (Acts 17:26-28). We have
seen the world as our enemy, rather than our mission field. But Jesus’ message
is subversive. It seeks to undermine the present world order and replace it with
his kingdom. Christians are to be a kind of fifth column in the culture. We live
in the culture, but our true loyalty is not to the culture, our nation or to the
world, it is to Christ and his kingdom.
Unfortunately, this is not how many Christians see their lives. In spite of the
fact that nine out of ten Americans affiliate themselves with a religious group,
and less than 5 percent of Americans claim a faith outside of the
Judeo-Christian faith, nearly a quarter of those surveyed would describe God as
distant and not active in the world. Most see God as a cosmic force which set
the laws of nature in motion, not as the engaging Father who came in person to
seek and save the world.
It is like the parable I read recently by Paul Kooistra, where he said, “I
remember that one fateful day when Coach took me aside. I knew what was coming.
‘You don’t have to tell me,’ I said. ‘I’m off the team, aren’t I?’ ‘Well,’ said
Coach, ‘you never were really ON the team. You made that uniform you’re wearing
out of rags and towels, and your helmet is a toy space helmet. You show up at
practice and then either steal the ball and make us chase you to get it back, or
you try to tackle people at inappropriate times.’” Then he writes, “It was all
true what he was saying. And yet, I thought something is brewing inside the head
of this Coach. He sees something in me, some kind of raw talent that he can
mold.” The potential is there, the question is whether we will get in the game.
Will we be the transformed who transform our culture, or will we be transformed
by the culture? Stanley Hauerwas, professor at Duke, says, “It’s hard to
remember that Jesus did not come to make us safe, but rather to make us
disciples, citizens of God’s new age, a kingdom of surprise.”
The third thing I would like to point out is: Christmas forms a new culture.
Christ’s birth was the signal of something new. His kingdom would replace the
kingdom of the world. Christmas is the announcement of the kingdom of God
breaking through — a new world order. Let the world never forget who its Creator
is, for he is coming to claim his creation. Furthermore, let it never forget
that Jesus is King, for he is returning to reign. We confidently say with the
writer of Revelation: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our
Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15).
This is something the world has been looking forward to since the first day of
creation. Paul explains it this way: “The creation waits in eager expectation
for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to
frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it,
in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and
brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole
creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present
time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of
our bodies. For in this hope we were saved” (Romans 8:19-24).
Many Christians operate as though we live in two realms: one foot is in the
spiritual world, and the other is in the material world. In their thinking, one
is eternal and the other is temporary, one is good and the other evil, but we
are citizens of both and have a sort of dual allegiance. We live as though there
are certain things we have to do in order to get along in the “real” world, but
in our spiritual side we can pretend the world does not exist. The message of
Christmas is that the kingdom of the world is becoming the kingdom of God. What
is mortal is about to be swallowed up by life (2 Corinthians 5:4). The message
of Christmas is that, as the hymn says, “Jesus Who died shall be satisfied, And
earth and Heaven be one.” Jesus has laid claim to earth. It cannot just do as it
pleases. The King is coming. In fact, he is already here. God is always
operating with a bigger agenda than we are.
The story is told that golfing great, Arnold Palmer, once played a series of
exhibition matches in Saudi Arabia. The king was so impressed that he told
Palmer that he wanted to give him a gift. But Palmer said, “It really isn’t
necessary, Your Highness. I’m honored just to have been invited.” But the king
insisted, “I would be deeply upset if you would not allow me to give you a
gift.” Palmer thought for a moment and finally said, “All right. How about a
golf club? That would be a beautiful memento of my visit to your country.” The
next day, delivered to Arnold Palmer’s hotel, was the title to a golf club —
thousands of acres, trees, lakes, and a clubhouse.
We have such a small idea of what God wants to do with us and our world. We have
lost sight of the larger gift that God wants to give us. We just want him to
forgive our sins or solve our problems, but Christmas is about a whole new world
that is coming.
Rodney J. Buchanan
December 24, 2006
Mulberry St. UMC
Mount Vernon, OH