CHRISTMAS MORATORIUM

Rev John Westendorp

 

Text: Matthew 1:21

Scripture Readings: Isaiah 9:1-11 & Matthew 1:18-25

 

Introduction

How many of us know what a MORATORIUM is? Show of hands…? Let me explain.

A moratorium is a legal term. It’s especially used in the world of big finance.

It means a DELAY: A delay on the payment of a debt in order to re-evaluate it.

When we do that it’s called defaulting on our debt.

When the government does it it’s called a moratorium.

The word moratorium is used for giving something a miss... for a while.

 

There is a cynical side in me that wants to suggest a moratorium on Christmas:
That we give all our Christmas celebration a miss... for a while;
A MORATORIUM so that we can re-evaluate the situation.

 

Sometimes I get the uneasy feeling that Christmas is a commercial plot:
A devious scheme to part us from our hard-earned money.
We are now being encouraged to buy at New Year sales in preparation for next Christmas.
Let’s face it... Christmas is big business that puts lots of money into the pockets of the wealthy.
And it leaves the poor with debts that will take most of next year to pay off.
So let’s have a moratorium on Christmas presents.

 

Or just think of what we are doing to our world.
Planet earth’s resources are limited. Forests are decreasing and speeding up global warming.
But who cares – we’ll keep chopping down the trees to make more and more Christmas cards.
To provide Christmas trees and to make nice wrapping paper that gets trashed on Boxing Day!
And we’ll use more power and cause more pollution just for all our Christmas lighting...!
So let’s have a moratorium on Christmas cards and decorations.

 

And while we’re at it how about a moratorium on Father Christmas?
Well – okay, we all enjoy a bit of fun and celebration. But think about it...!
History books tell me that there was a man called Jesus of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem.
They don’t tell me anything about a jolly old fellow who runs a toyshop at the North Pole.
His transportation: a flying sled powered by reindeer. The aerodynamics are mind-boggling.
So maybe we should have a moratorium on Santa too.

 

And what about babies in mangers... in cattle feeding troughs?
Plenty of other babies have been born in very unusual places... and in total poverty.
And some of those babies of humble birth probably grew up to be famous and important people.
We don’t make a fuss about them. We don’t even remember their birthdays.
So let’s have a moratorium on nativity scenes as well.

 

A] THE NAMING OF THE BABY OF BETHLEHEM.

 

Some of you may be just a little shocked by my suggestions.

Maybe I’m knocking the very things that you hold dear.
Especially when I suggest we should have a moratorium on babies in mangers.
Because isn’t that after all what Christmas is really all about?

 

Well – let’s think it through a little further.

Let’s do that particularly by thinking of the name given to that baby at his birth... Jesus!

 

When expectant young parents look for baby names they want names that not only sound nice.
They generally also look at the meaning behind the name. Most names have meanings.
So baby names are usually chosen with great care by the parents.

 

But… when the child born in the manger in Bethlehem is given a name...
Joseph and Mary hadn’t spent hours reading books full of baby names.
God Himself gave that child his names.
God was the Father of that child and so He named the baby.
God sent an angel to tell Joseph what the baby’s name would be.
“You will give him the name Jesus.”

 

Parents often do not just limit themselves to one name.
Many of us here in church not only have a Christian name and a family name.
We also have one or two middle names as well.
And I imagine that your parents chose those names with great care.
So too God didn’t just give that baby in Bethlehem this one name either.

Already in the days of Isaiah God spoke about the coming of the Christ child.
A lovely prediction of what was to happen that first Christmas.
“For to us a child is born... to us a son is given...!”
And then God himself gives that child a number of meaningful names.
“And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

 

That immediately brings home an important point for us to remember.
The naming of this child reminds us that Christmas is about God.
God names this baby because He is the Father.
And the names He is given focus on God. One of His names is even ‘Mighty God!’

 

The point is: Christmas is about God... not Santa and not his reindeer.
So it’s okay to have a moratorium on Rudolph and gifts and presents.
Christmas is about God... not first of all about Christmas cards and Christmas trees.
So it’s okay to have a moratorium on decorations and Christmas parties.

 

The original Christmas was very much a God-centred event.
So you can certainly give all those other things a miss... for a while… if you like.
But it’s extremely dangerous to try and give God a miss.
A moratorium on Christmas celebrations...? Okay!
But a moratorium on God...? Not if you know what’s good for you!

 

* (Optional break for some verses of an appropriate Christmas carol) *

 

B] THE BABY’S NAME REMINDS US OF GOD.

 

Baby names are chosen with care... not only for their sound... but because names have meanings.

 

For example KEN or KENNETH means “handsome”.
I’m not going to ask the KENNETHs in the congregation to stand up and prove it.
Because there might just be an exception and I’d hate to embarrass anyone.

 

The name HELEN means bright. And of course every Helen knows how true that is. Or is it...?

If your name is PETER your name comes from a Greek word meaning ‘rock’.
So every Peter here has a rock-solid character. Or do they...?

Some parents named their daughter Irene… which means peace.
But it’s a safe bet that not every Irene is a peaceful person.

 

The point is that names for babies are chosen carefully because they have meaning;
Even though those names don’t always reflect very well the character of the child.
So young parents hunt carefully through booklets of baby names.
And they sincerely hope that the name will fit.

 

We saw already that for Joseph and Mary it was easy... God Himself named the child.
And because God gave this child that name it not only means just... something!
No! In the Bible when God gives a name then that name absolutely fits.
That name then accurately reflects the very character of the person given that name.

 

God sends an angel to Joseph to tell him to name the baby “Jesus”.

And that name literally means “God saves”. Yahweh... Jehovah saves.

 

So we see in yet a second way why Christmas is all about God.
Not only does God Himself name this special baby.
But now the name He is given also spells out what God will do through this Child.
’Jesus’ is name that is about God and His plans for His world.

 

Today many folk would be shocked to hear a Christian pastor call for a Christmas moratorium.
Christmas is an important event... also in the Christian church.
But many of those same people probably think nothing about a moratorium on God.
In fact... isn’t that precisely what many, many people today are doing...?
They have a moratorium on God even while they are celebrating Christmas.
Santa… and parties… and presents… and holidays… but God doesn’t come into it.

They’re giving God a miss... for a while.
Oh, they have every intention of lifting that moratorium… one day.
They’ll lift the moratorium on God when they get old... or when they face death.
But right now God doesn’t seem all that relevant. Give Him a miss... for a while.

 

In the Christ child of Bethlehem and in the name Jesus we see that Christmas is about God.
But it is about the God whom you cannot just give a miss... for a while.
Christmas reminds us that God is a God who is involved with us.

God Himself comes to us to be present with us in the person of His Son.
God gives him the name “Jesus” to show that God is not an absentee landlord.
In that name, Jesus, God shows that He involves himself in our affairs.
That’s why another name He is given is “Emmanuel”... meaning “God with us”.

 

It is dangerous to give that God, who involves Himself in our lives, a miss.
When we do, the sad results are seen all round us.
We live in a culture that has put a moratorium on God.

But we pay the penalty for giving God a miss in a dozen different ways.
We pay for it in alcoholism and drug abuse, crime and road rage.
We pay for it soaring suicide rates and in broken relationships.
In lawless and dysfunctional lives because God is no longer at the centre.

 

So if there is one thing that every Christmas ought to remind us about it is this:
God comes to us in Jesus to be lovingly and caringly involved in our lives.
Don’t give Him a miss... don’t have a moratorium on God.

 

* (Optional break for some verses of an appropriate Christmas carol) *

 

C] THE BABY’S NAME MEANS SAVIOUR.

 

Christmas is about God because the name ‘Jesus’ puts the emphasis on God.

It literally means: The Lord saves.
And because God gives that name it accurately pictures for us who Jesus is.
It means that Jesus really is a Saviour!

 

That’s what the angels also told the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem.
Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you...!
The Saviour... Jesus... whose name means “Yahweh saves”!

 

Today you might say: So! Big deal! What does this SAVING involve?
On one of our many trips between Sydney and Toowoomba we saw some roadside graffiti.
Graffiti is bad news – it’s vandalism.
But this was good graffiti – religious graffiti – Christian graffiti.
In bright colours someone had painted on some rocks at Uralla: Jesus Saves!
But underneath some wag had written: Which Bank?

 

The name Jesus means: ‘God saves’. But that’s got nothing to do with banking or investing.
It means that you and I needed a rescue mission.
And I can only explain that to you by making another statement – a strong one.
Everyone here this morning... myself, you... your parents... your children...
all of us, older people and younger folk...
all of us are by nature lawbreakers and rebels before God.

Apart from Jesus you and I are under the wrath of God.
Come judgment day, God’s anger will be unleashed and we will be destroyed.

 

In today’s culture that does not go over well... we’re in denial about that as a society.
The word ‘sin’ is no longer part of our vocabulary.
And many people today would want to protest loud and long:
Hey preacher! You got it all wrong! I’m no lawbreaker.
You’re wrong: I got best and fairest award in football this year.
You’re wrong: My school report reads: “co-operative and helpful”. I’m no rebel.

 

But you ARE a rebel and lawbreaker.
Okay! You’ve never killed anyone.
And you’ve never stolen anything – at least you never got caught.
And you never dabbled in sex outside of the marriage bond
well, anyway, you did it in such a way that no one got hurt.
You believe you’ve kept all the standards that society sets.
How then can you be a lawbreaker and rebel? That’s crazy.

 

No, friends, it’s not crazy.
Society may well set standards of right and wrong that you can just about keep! But...
God has also set some standards of right and wrong.
The Ten Commandments... the Sermon on the Mount... the Golden Rule...!
And when God sets his standards they are considerably higher than society’s standards.

 

God’s standard is... that not only murder is wrong – so is hatred...
that not only adultery is wrong – so is looking at a woman lustfully…
that not only theft is wrong – but so is coveting.
In fact God has said that we are to be perfect as He is perfect.
And when God scores us by that standard He doesn’t grade by class averages.
Whoever is not totally and absolutely perfect comes under his eternal anger.

 

So just take a little survey as to how you measure up to God’s standard.
God says that we are to forgive others seventy times seven... how do score on forgiveness?
God says that we ought always do to others what we would want them to do to us.
Is that the way you related to your family this past week?

God says that we are to serve Him with all our being... did we really do that?
And we are to love others as ourselves... how did we go on that this past year?

 

Let’s face it: God’s demands are extremely high... too high for us to live up to.
We deserve only God’s just judgment.
If you doubt that read the third chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans in the Bible
There is no one righteous, not even one.

 

That is why I said that we are lawbreakers and rebels... all of us!
In fact sin is not even just something that we do sometimes.
Sin is part and parcel of what we are by nature.

 

But that is exactly why Jesus came to be born in a stable at Bethlehem.

And that’s why He was given the name Jesus – meaning “Saviour”.
Because He saves us from the penalty of sin that we as rebels and law-breakers deserve.
He came because He agreed to be punished for all our wrong-doing.
He saves us from God’s holy anger and from His awful just judgment.

 

This is why Christians never limit their focus only to Bethlehem and Christmas.
Even as we celebrate Christmas we are already thinking of a place called Calvary.
A hill where there once stood a cross where a man was executed in our place...
so that God would accept us again as His children.
So that as we trust in what Jesus did we are saved... saved from eternal judgment.

 

It’s no drama then to have a moratorium on Christmas... or on Santa... or on presents.

Give them a miss... for a while. That’s okay... if you want to do that.

 

But should we also have a moratorium on nativity scenes and the Baby in the Manger...?

Well, let me put it you this way.
If all you see in Bethlehem is a humble baby in a cattle stall
then have a moratorium on babies in mangers by all means.
Moratorium means to give it a miss for a while
while you think things thru – and you should do that.

But if you see much more in Bethlehem and in the Baby in the manger than that...
If He is what His name tells Him to be – our Saviour... our Rescuer...
If He grew up and died on a cross on Calvary...
If He rose again and lives today...
then please, please don’t have a moratorium on Him
but make Him the centre of your Christmas celebrations
and the centre of your life.

 

Let me conclude by putting it this way.
Because of what Jesus did, because He saves us...
God put a moratorium on His anger and His judgment.
When we trust in the finished work of Jesus then God gives our judgment a miss.
And then not just for a little while either... but permanently.
A permanent moratorium on eternal punishment.
Why? Because Jesus took the punishment for us. That’s why he came!

It’s not a good idea to have a moratorium on God.
You can give God a miss because you think you don’t need Him.
But that puts you on a collision course with the Almighty.
Because then you have no one to save you.
The issue then is not whether God will judge you.
The only issue is when that will happen.

 

Trust in Jesus and have God put a moratorium on your sin and your eternal punishment.

 

Amen