From Humbug to Hallelujah
The line at the mall seemed never-ending. It stretched all the way from Kohls to Sears. Hundreds of small children waiting to get a chance to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Each one would be asked, “Have you been a good girl this year? Have you been a good boy?”
We all know why, don’t we? It all stems from the song we knew when we were kids: "He’s makin’ a list, checkin' it twice; gonna find out who's naughty and nice. . . ." There are some, of course, who do not take this keeping a list thing seriously. I saw a person wearing a T-shirt once that said, "I'm on Santa's 'Naughty List' and proud of it!"
But I remember as a child, being very concerned about this. My uncles and my parents played the thing to the gills – they would blackmail us into all sorts of stellar behavior with threats that Santa was watching.
Santa's list reminds me of another phrase we hear during this season: "Year-end Inventory." Taking year-end inventory is essential not only for the business of selling, but also for the business of living. We ask ourselves: "How am I doing? What kind of person am I becoming? What about my mistakes? Is it too late to change?" There are times in life when we must stop and take stock--before it is too late.
Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol is the story of a man who is forced to take stock of his life. When Ebenezer Scrooge returns to his home on Christmas Eve, he is visited by the ghost of his business partner Jacob Marley, who had died seven years earlier.
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While we do not subscribe to Dickens's speculations concerning the afterlife—there is no justification from Scripture for a theology that human spirits are condemned to wander the earth as penance--still, we can appreciate the message. Dickens presents us with a vivid image of what we could call "the Law of the Harvest." Galatians 6:7–8 says, "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." The first principle we confront in this portion of Dickens’s story is that we must face the consequences of our words and deeds.
Scrooge was being confronted with the truth about life. It’s a truth we all need to learn: that our actions have consequences. We may be unaware of them in the present, but that does not mean they don't exist. If there is any point to be gained by Santa's list or Marley's chain, it’s the fact that life accumulates. Our naughty-ness or nice-ness eventually catches up with us. The Bible says, “Be sure your sin will find you out.” (Num 32:23)
But let me hasten to add that I am not speaking at this point about the basis for our salvation and having eternal life. We receive the forgiveness of sin and the gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ, by God's grace and mercy. But many have misinterpreted grace to mean that it no longer matters how we live. Some reason mistakenly that since good works cannot save us, then good works are not important. But Scripture points out that we were created to do good works. Galatians speaks of our actions in terms of sowing and reaping. We have talked before about Jesus words in Matthew chapter 7, where Jesus draws a huge parallel between faith and good deeds:
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
In another passage Paul balances God's grace and our responsibility: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. [we studied these words in our Bible Top 40 series, remember? But listen to the next verse:] For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Eph. 2:8–10). No one can read these words think that our actions are unimportant. They have consequences. Our faith must bear fruit--or we must question if it was really true faith in the first place.
Scrooge was given a vivid image of the consequences of his choices. He had given all his efforts to selfish pursuits. Instead of bearing fruit that glorified God and served others, he had forged a chain of bondage and judgment. As we reflect on Scrooge, we see that the links of his chains are miserliness, coldness, and the love of money. In the story, we learn that he was a landlord who heartlessly had poor people thrown in to prison for unpaid rent. He also refused to give to charities, turning a cold heart to requests for their aid. He was uncaring as an employer and had no concern for the struggle his stinginess caused the Cratchit family. The cold links of bitterness, selfishness, and pride wound their way around him.
But what about us? Have we, like Scrooge, sown seeds that we deeply regret? Have we, too, forged some Christmas chains that keep us from experiencing the true meaning of this season? At this time of year, many of us are chained by materialism. We are caught by the allure of wanting and getting more and better things. Or we may have hammered links of bitterness and hurt onto our chain because of old wounds. Or we may be bound by unrealistic expectations of harmony in our homes, so we experience disappointment and anxiety as we approach every gathering of our families. Or we may be weighed down by worry and resentment over the financial stress of the season.
And what about our children? We must ask ourselves if we are in any way forging links in their chains: links of greed; of over-stimulation and expectation, largely due our own lack of control or our fear of saying no; of thinking Christmas is about presents, instead of being about the presence of God in Christ.
These are not small matters. When we lose perspective, we lose the true meaning of this season, and our spirits know it. We fall under the humbug spell, living in ways that cause sadness rather than joy, frustration rather than freedom, and conflict rather than harmony.
The Law of the Harvest leaves us with little hope. There seems to be nothing we can do to change--unless we discover a power outside ourselves that can help us make lasting changes.
Isn’t the hope of Christ's coming the hope of change? Isn’t he promise of the gospel that we are not doomed to wear the chains we have forged in life! Our painful past need not lock us into a hopeless future.
God's greatest gift in Jesus Christ is the power to change. In fact, change is God's main business. Jesus breaks the chains that hold us fast in selfishness, pride, materialism, and regret. He sets us free. The chains break when we realize that Christmas is not about us! It is about others. Even as God gave his Son to us at Christmas, so Christmas reminds us to give to others. I encourage you to say to yourself frequently, "Christmas is not about me." That thought alone can snap the toughest links, like a blowtorch melting an icicle. This theme is at the heart of Dickens’s story.
Christmas reminds us that we were created for community, for fellowship, for love. Like Scrooge however, we can lose sight of this fact, think that business, money and possessions are an end in themselves, instead of being a means to care for others.
"But you were always a good man of business, Jacob," faltered Scrooge.
"Business!" cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"
We may have no idea how our behavior toward another person
may affect not only their lives, but also our own. When William
McKinley was President of the United States, he had to make a decision about
the appointment of an ambassador to a foreign country. Two candidates were
equally qualified. As McKinley compared the two, he remembered the time when he
was still a congressman. He recalled boarding a streetcar at the rush hour and
getting the last vacant seat. Soon an elderly woman got on, carrying a heavy
clothes basket. No one got up to offer her a seat, so she walked the length of
the car and stood in the aisle, hardly able to keep her balance as the vehicle
swayed from side to side. One of the two men McKinley was considering for
ambassador was sitting next to where the woman was standing. Instead of getting
up and helping her, however, he deliberately shifted his newspaper so it would
look like he hadn't seen her. When McKinley noticed this, he walked down the
aisle, graciously took her basket, and offered her his seat. The man was
unaware that anyone was watching, but that one little act of selfishness would
later deprive him of perhaps the crowning honor of his lifetime.
Freedom comes in giving ourselves to others, as God gave his Son to us. In fact, we will tap the greatest power of Christmas when we focus on what God has done, not on what we do. Ultimately, chain-breaking power is not found in our actions, nor in our kind deeds. They have their place. But the real power is found in what God has done. God sent Jesus Christ into the world to break the bonds that hold us. As we read the rest of Scrooge's story we will be touched by the drama of his conversion. As moving as this is, however, we must realize that this is essentially a "humanistic" conversion. As a parable of human transformation, this story is powerful. As a presentation of theology, it is significantly deficient at crucial points. Lasting change is empowered by the Living Lord! "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13, emphasis added). We don’t need to have an encounter with the spirits of Christmas past present and future to affect change in our lives – in fact, they will not change us. But an encounter with the Spirit of God who can create within us a new life, will change us forever.
Change is God's main business. We are not doomed to wear the chain forged in life! Our painful past and bad choices need not lock us into a hopeless future. God reveals our need so that He can provide our deliverance; he forces us to acknowledge our sin so that we can receive our salvation. His greatest gift in Jesus Christ is the power to change. The hope of Christ's coming is the hope of change.
The
Lord has come to set us free!
Let me
turn the metaphor around and ask: What holy
chains do you want to make? What links of love do you want to forge? What
bonds of friendship do you want to
renew? What chain of events do you
want to set in motion that will make this one of the best Christmases ever?
Instead
of telling ourselves that things will never change, we can say to ourselves:
"I will focus on how God can set me free in Christ this Christmas."
In Christ, you see, God can transform all things for his
purposes. Our regrets can fuel the determination to live so that we will have
nothing more to regret. As we will see in Scrooge, sadness itself can become
the catalyst of joy, when we determine that we will be remembered as people who
knew how to make things right.
Christ can transform our desires to get to desires to give.
Christ can empower us to make an apology that melts the
frost of alienation;
Christ can empower the first step to encourage another to
draw closer;
Christ can empower us to express the creative love that
unlocks blessings beyond our imaginations.
Let's take a few moments for silence. During this time I encourage you to simply reflect on what the Lord has impressed on you in this service and this message.
Closing prayer: Almighty and Ever-gracious God, we confess that we have freely put ourselves into bondage by our selfish, sinful thoughts, words, and deeds. We have been prisoners of our own desires, captives of the humbug spell of selfishness and bitterness. And many of us had lost hope of ever changing. We thank you for the glorious message of Jesus' coming--that you can change us. Change us, Lord. Bring us the life-change of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. And change our lives so that your Spirit empowers us to be faithful in every moment. Show your tender mercy and lead us on the paths of peace. In the name of Jesus, who broke the chains of death and all other chains, we ask it. Amen.