A Jesus-Focused Christmas | Daniel Goulding | Echoes Church

Well, hey, Echoes Church. It's good to be with you wherever you are today, sitting in your living room, hanging out with family.

Again, thank you so much for your grace as we're doing a worship experience at home, getting ready to prepare for the the many Christmas services our teams are about to pull off. And so just excited to get to be with you. I've got a couple thoughts I wanted to kinda circle us around. Again, we're we're just days away from Christmas. And if your life is anything like mine, it's probably a season of chaos, and I feel like it's something that we say

every year. Like, how do we how do we keep Christ at the center of Christmas? And so I just again, couple thoughts on how we're in the middle of a season that is usually chaotic, full of, you know, eggnog and Christmas shopping and white elephant gifting?

How do we try to remember what this season is really about? How do we keep Christ here at the center? I was reading a thing the other day. We're talking about how many hours women will spend compared to men shopping in the Christmas season. And they say normally women spend thirty to forty hours shopping for Christmas gifts, whereas men spend about five to ten hours. And the truth is, is most of the men listening to this probably would agree, the majority of those hours are just wandering around Bed Bath and Beyond trying to figure out like, okay, which of these candles do you actually get? And so just know if you're you're you're in the mall, you see a guy wandering around aimlessly,

just help the guy out. We don't really know what we're doing. We're trying our best, just trying to figure all this stuff out. But here's really my heart. Here's my hope as kind of the pastor of Echo's church is that all of us this Christmas would

would not get to the end of this season going in. We let the busyness, we let the chaos kind of consume us. And, yes, we we had all the the cookies and we did all the stuff on the calendar, but we kinda forgot the whole purpose of this whole thing. And so, again, just a few thoughts on how you and I practically

Jesus, how we keep Christ at the center of the Christmas experience this year. So I wanna go all the way back to a prophecy that's found about fourteen hundred years before Jesus's birth. Again, the amazing part about who Jesus is and how he came to this earth. If you look at all the prophecies that he fulfilled,

statistically it would have been almost impossible for somebody to guess and fulfill all the things that Jesus fulfilled when he was born, where he was born, and how he was born.

But there's a story in Numbers chapter 24 verse 17, there's a there's a prophecy I should say that a guy named Balaam talks about it. Yes, it's the same Balaam that had the talking donkey.

And he talked about who the Messiah was going to be, who Jesus was going to be, who he's supposed to be for you and I this Christmas season. So Numbers chapter 24 verse 17, he says, I I see him,

but not now. I behold him, but not near. Right? He's talking about this idea that, like, I can see this messiah that's coming. It's coming soon, but it's not now. It's not it's not near. And then he says a star will rise from Jacob. A scepter will emerge from Israel.

I think it's interesting that fourteen hundred years before

the birth of Jesus, we have a prophecy saying that Jesus was gonna be born as a star. Right? And you put that into the context of our world. Right? You think about the the Hollywood stars and the way you get those is you gotta live a life of infamy. Right? You gotta be famous. You gotta have a following. You gotta, you know, be an actor or be a musician or something like that. And it's interesting when you look at the fact that Jesus was described as somebody that was gonna come and be a star, yet you look at how he lived. He he almost did everything opposite if the goal was to build a following. Right? He was constantly pushing away crowds. He was constantly trying

to dispel the the chaos that was constantly building around him about the the miracles that he was doing. I think it's interesting that Jesus' star power came not from like stardom, but it came from serving. Right? It came from it came from sacrifice. But here's I think the point. Here's again the goal for all of us sitting here in our our living rooms watching this as a family just a few days before Christmas

is that Jesus always came to be the star of the show. Right? And I think we all I think we all know that, but I think sometimes the busyness of the season just kinda gets the best of us. And all of a sudden, we look up and we go, man, how did we how did we forget

Jesus in the middle of all this? So I got I got three simple practical things I want us to try to focus on center around in these last few days that we have as we we lead to Christmas. How do you and I practically keep Jesus at the center of this season?

I think the first point is you gotta remember that you and I are supposed to wait for his arrival. Right? This season historically is called Advent. Advent is the four weeks leading up to Christmas. The word Advent literally means an expectant waiting. It's this idea of like, yes, we're we're waiting,

but we're waiting because there's something worth waiting for. And I don't know if you've ever been in a season of waiting, but man, sometimes they're really, really difficult. Truthfully, I'm probably the worst person in the world at waiting. I want everything to be done and I want it to be done yesterday.

You ask my wife, you ask my kids, anytime we try to do like a a surprise gift, I can never get to Christmas. I can never get to the birthday. I'm just like, here it is. Right? Like, just I just want to share the good news with people. I think there's something in us that struggles

with waiting. And I would venture to guess that some of you sitting here today would say that I identify feeling like I'm in a season of waiting. Maybe it's a miracle that you're looking for financially. Maybe it's a miracle you're looking for

in a relationship that you have. Maybe it's something that's happening inside of your body. You find yourself today in the season of waiting, let me just encourage you to not to not waste the season of waiting. And that maybe one of the greatest gifts that God can give to us this Christmas season

is to remind us that this whole thing was always designed with waiting built into it. Right?

Again, I think we often forget because we live in the New Testament era. We we know the stories. We've read the bible. We we forget what that night would have been like before Jesus was born. What those years, those decades, those centuries would have been like before Jesus was born for the nation of Israel.

See, this was a people who knew who God was and God had promised them that eventually Messiah was going to come,

but they thought that God had left them. And for four hundred years, they were just they were just waiting. They were waiting for this Messiah that they had heard about to come one day. They they knew the prophets had spoke about that there was a day that was going to come where God was actually going to become one of them. And they didn't know what it was gonna look like. They didn't really understand how it would all work.

But for four hundred years, they found themselves in a season of waiting. And I just wanna remind all of us today, again, waiting

is a part of our our our Christian experience. It's a part of our human experience. And sometimes what the enemy will do is he will he'll come into our seasons of waiting and he'll he'll just begin to speak lies to us. And instead of letting our waiting moments

be something that builds in us and begins to build faith and build trust, it can actually be the thing that begins to actually pull us away from God. Isaiah chapter 40 verse 31 says, but those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles, and they will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. I just wanna remind you this Christmas season that God is worth waiting for.

Again, don't know what it is. I don't know what it is that you're desperately needing God to show up and if it's a financial thing, if it's a relationship thing, if it's a health thing.

But I think the miracle of Christmas reminds us that God will always show up at the right time. That God is a God that shows up and he he he's working even when we can't see it. I think my encouragement to you is to not rush and begin to try to take control of your life if you find yourself in a waiting season today.

Again, I don't know if you've ever done it before, but I think some of the worst decisions I've made in my life are in those moments where where God is challenging me to kinda just trust his timing.

Instead of trusting his timing, I decided to take things into my own hands. And some of the greatest mistakes, some of the biggest pitfalls I've fallen into in my life are when I've tried to take control and do stuff myself.

Again, I wrote it down this way through taking notes. I think the only thing that's worse than waiting on God is wishing that you had. I think sometimes the the worst thing that can happen is not waiting on God, but making a decision where later you go, man, I I wish I had just waited.

Don't let the urgent thing draw you to do the the thing that you know that God is telling you not to do. Don't this season begin to take control and do this yourself. How do we how do we keep Jesus at the center of this Christmas season? We've got to remember that waiting was built into it. We've got to wait for his arrival in wherever it is in your life you're wanting God to show up right now. And here's the second one. This is gonna seem like a no doubt one, but we've gotta celebrate his birth. Right?

We've gotta celebrate the fact that Jesus actually became one of us. Christmas is the greatest miracle in the world because it's the only this is the only story of a faith tradition

where God actually became one of us. Instead of giving us a list of rules of how to get to him and a list of guidelines on how to figure out how to be a better human and to get all the sin out of your life and to work your way to God and ascend to the the the the heights that God is at,

God actually became one of us. And and, it took four hundred years. It took a season of waiting, but eventually, Jesus actually became one of us. And the truth is is when God shows up, man, everything changes. This was the moment for you and I and for the nation of Israel when Jesus was born in that manger

that everything changed. I love the story. Matthew chapter one verse 23. It says, look, the virgin will conceive a child and she will give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God is with us.

The reason that Christmas is such an incredible moment in history, arguably the most important event in human history,

is because it's the day that the incarnation happened. The incarnation just means that God became one of us, that he actually think about it for a second. God that was in heaven. Jesus who was in heaven being worshiped by legions of angels, thousands and thousands, potentially millions of angels worshiping the name of Jesus.

He chooses to leave that to come down and to be born of a virgin in a manger in a know nothing town. Why? Because it was what what started the process of God redeeming you and I. It began the restoration for all of humanity.

We've got to remember this Christmas season that that's the most important thing that we've got to center ourselves around. And so I don't know what it looks like for you. Again, what we try to do as a family is every Christmas morning before the chaos of the presents, before the traditions with the family, we sit down and literally we as a family, we read the Christmas story together and we try to do our best to remember.

Yeah. The pageantry, the Santa stuff, the presents, the gifting, man, it's awesome. Do it. Celebrate it. Have have an amazing Christmas season. But don't forget in the middle of it, the reason that all of this is even a thing is because God actually became one of us. And Jesus was born

in a manger and became the ransom that paved the way for you and I to have a relationship with God again. So this Christmas season, don't don't miss don't miss the incarnation. Don't don't forget to celebrate his birth.

I love when you look at the my mom always had mangers growing up. She had a not not mangers, nativity scenes. She collected them. She had, I mean literally like dozens and dozens of these nativity scenes all over our house and it doesn't matter which ones you look at. If they're made out of wood, if they're like these ornate,

really decorated ones,

all of them you'll notice there's one thing. Everything in those nativity scenes, they all center around a little baby, right? If you again, you were like me, I think it a Catholic tradition. You didn't put baby Jesus in the manger until Christmas morning. You got kept him in a drawer, but eventually you pulled him out and you put him in the manger and everything else, the animals, the wise men, all of it was centered around this little baby in the manger.

And I think that's the picture. I think that's the picture for you and I to remember that Jesus is the star that is supposed to be at the center of our lives, the center of our world, but for sure, the center of this Christmas season. So how do we practically how do we keep Jesus at the center of this season?

We first, we wait for his arrival. And secondly, we make a priority to celebrate his birth. It's what Christmas is for. The reason I think this matters is that when you and I make Jesus the focus, I think peace is the result.

And the sad reality is so many people, the holiday season is not a peaceful season. It's a season of anxiety. It's a season of comparison. It's a season of frustration.

It's a season of looking at all the stuff in your life that you don't have, the relationships that you don't have, the job that you wish was different, the the family dynamics that are really messy. And I think here's the opportunity.

Why is every nativity scene centered around the birth of Jesus? Because that's the only way that the human hearts, the human soul finds rest and finds peace. It's what Paul says in Philippians chapter four verse seven.

He says, when you put Jesus at the center, then you will experience God's peace, exceeds anything that we can understand. He says that his peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

My prayer is that this holiday season, this Christmas season, that your home, your hearts, your soul would be filled with peace. Let me just remind you, it doesn't matter how many gifts you get. It doesn't matter if you actually go on the driveway

and have the car with the red bow that's out there, which I'm convinced is not actually a real thing that actually happens to people. It only happens in commercials. But even if it does, the truth is is that's not what will bring peace to our hearts and our soul. It's only in the person of Jesus that we can find peace.

So we're gonna make a decision to wait for his arrival. We're gonna celebrate his birth. And then here's the last thing I got for you this morning. We're going to make a decision to follow his example.

This is the thing I think that often gets lost in this whole idea of Jesus and in his birth. Right? Jesus didn't just come so that we could celebrate his birth. Jesus actually showed up so that we could learn and have a model to actually model our lives after.

Jesus shows us what was possible. He shows us who we're supposed to be, how we're supposed to live this life again. I wrote it down this way that I don't think Jesus came to just be adored. He came to be imitated.

And I think oftentimes the reason that we don't experience the peace that's available from heaven through the resurrection power of Jesus is because we we don't actually imitate his life. We we don't actually follow his example. We don't do the things that he did that led to the life that he had. Again, is what the gospel of Mark chapter 10 tells us that says in verse 45, so even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. And then in first John chapter two, the apostle John says that those who say that they those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.

It's this it's this invitation for you and I to really begin to walk in and live in the life of peace that's available only through Jesus. How do we do it? We've got to model our lives and live as Jesus did.

How did Jesus live? I mean, that that's a that's a whole sermon series that we could go into. Right? But the I think the primary thing that Jesus did is he lived a life of sacrifice and he lived a life of service. And so often, those are counterintuitive to what our world tells us to do.

Think again, this season we're living in right now. Right? The Christmas season is nothing but, you know, advertisements everywhere trying to tell you that if you just buy this thing, if you just get this gift, if your house just looks like this, if your, you know, party looks like this, then you'll finally have peace. And the truth is is none of that stuff is actually real.

The counterintuitive nature, the the the paradoxical nature of the invitation of Jesus is that if you're willing to live a life like Jesus lived, which is sacrificial, service focused, others oriented,

you can actually begin to live a life of purpose and meaning and significance and have a soul that is at rest and is full of peace. My heart, my hope for you this Christmas season is that you wanna get to the end of it going, man, I feel like we just did all this stuff,

and I'm actually more full of anxiety now. Right? Some of us are gonna wake up in a couple weeks and get the credit card statement in the mail and realize, man, all we did was buy ourselves some temporary moments of happiness,

but the the joy that I thought was gonna be there is gone. And the gifts are awesome. Right? I think, again, the scripture say that under the sun, when you know who you are in Christ, this life can have a a a ton of joy in it. But when you try to find meaning in the things and in the stuff, all of sudden you wake up going, man, what what was the point of all of this? It's why they say that so many people during the holidays, they actually depression and anxiety go through the roof.

Why? You would think that this is a season of joy and celebration, but the truth is is we so often, we just run after the things of this world. My hope, my heart for you this holiday season is that you would remember.

This whole thing is about Jesus. Let let's not forget it. We're going to gather here in a couple days and, I mean, our team's got an amazing Christmas service plan for you. I hope you grab all of your neighbors, all your family, all of your friends and show up, and we're going to worship and celebrate the birth of Jesus

because we still believe that he's the hope of the world. So here's my ask again. I got three things for you this year. How do you keep Jesus at the center of your home? Wait for his arrival. Remember the power of waiting.

Celebrate his birth. Make it a big deal in your house. That all of this is centered around the fact that Jesus was born. He became one of us, and he's actually with us. Emmanuel, God with us. And then follow his example. Begin to lean in and go, God, where in this next year can I begin to follow your example in places that I haven't before? God, where can I be obedient that I haven't been before? How can I begin to live into the life that you died for me to have? I love you guys so much. I can't wait to celebrate with you on Christmas. I hope to see all of you there. Let me pray for you.

Father, I thank you. God, thank you for every single person that's listening to this this morning. God, I pray right now that you would invade their homes. God, you would invade their hearts. That the peace that the scripture says that surpasses all understanding would be palpable

in their homes and in their lives and in their hearts.

God, I pray that we would be people who live into the life that you died for us to have. And that God, we wanna just settle for the things of this world and going through the motions and doing this stuff and hoping that as we get nicer cars and bigger houses that we'll finally have a life that's content and a soul that is at peace.

And father, I pray that we actually begin to take you at your word and believe that you are who you say that you are. Father, we thank you for what Christmas means that you became one of us. You actually stepped into our mess and made a way for us to be ransomed and redeemed in the eyes of God. Jesus, we love you so much. It's in your name we pray.

Amen. Wasn't that message powerful? I hope it stirred something in you. Our team is praying that as you head into Christmas week, you feel his peace and presence in a real way. We can't wait to see you for Christmas at Echoes. Bring your friends, your family, your neighbors.

Let's fill the room with hope, joy, and the sound of worship. We'll see you soon.