The War Behind Christmas

Well, Merry Christmas! We can say that now, right? That Turkey Day’s over? We can say each and every day leading up to? And then what do you say on December 26th? Oh, Happy New Year! Yes! Hey, it’s so good to see all of you. My name’s Tim. I get the privilege of being one of the pastors here at Shepherds Gate and as Ben said, we’re so glad that you’re here.

We really hope that you can stick around after the service. If you’re a guest, we’ll be in the West Lobby and come up and introduce yourself and we would just like to thank you for joining us today. Hi to all of our friends watching online, whether you’re streaming, watching later on demand and our friends in Algonac.

We’re glad that we have this ability because we know that today was the first Michigan winner and look at all of you made it here safely, so we’re so thankful for that. As we kick off our Christmas at Shepherds Gate sermon series and so I want to give you just a run-through of what this looks like because we would love nothing more than for you to come back each and every week like we’re here every single Sunday. Rain or shine, snow, ice, we’re gonna be here and really to fully embrace the Christmas season and especially what the scriptures have to say about the birth of our Savior.

We honestly encourage you to come each and every week. Leading up until Christmas Eve, we have six services this year. We have two on the 23rd, four on the 24th, six services.

They’re all identical so that you can bring your loved ones with you and we’ll get more to that later in the service. Some of you as you’re reading through this, maybe you’re trying to figure out or maybe you are figuring out what some of the topics or the texts that we’re gonna read as we go through this sermon series or maybe you’re looking at this and you’re thinking to yourself, man I haven’t even gotten past today. What the heck is that? The war behind Christmas? Like what is war and Christmas doing in the same sentence? That doesn’t seem right, does it? How in the world can there be a war and Christmas and what does that mean? And I think some of you, if you haven’t grown up in church or maybe you have, you may be just surprised at what you learned today because this is the point of the sermon series is to change our perspective but to change our perspective to actually conform it to what is actually in the Word of God.

And if you’re new to Shepherds Gate, you will see a lot of scriptures read today and throughout this sermon series. We believe that God speaks to us through His Word and so we are not afraid to dig deep into the scriptures because we want you to know what it is that God has actually written about Himself and about us and then how we interact and we live out the Christian faith that He has given us. And so when you think about this idea of war and Christmas, like what in the world, what does that mean? Maybe it would be easier to start this way.

Was there tension on earth during the first Christmas? Any historians in the room? Things were not okay. Things were very stressful. People were at war with each other.

Things were very difficult and God in His grace and His mercy was looking down on the earth knowing exactly what was going on and He knew exactly what He was about to do. So let me just give you the topics that we’re going to be covering, the text that we’re going to be covering because today we’re going to look at the war between God and Satan. Next week we’re going to be looking at the tension that existed between Mary and Joseph.

How many of you know there’s a little bit of tension in their relationship during the Christmas account? Anyone ever wonder why God did you send an angel to Mary and then you make Joseph wait? Like do you realize that God’s the one that created the tension in their relationship? How about Herod, the the wicked king and the the kings that came from the West, the Magi? There was a whole lot of tension going on in that interaction. Even when the angel showed up the shepherds first response was what? Fear. Again God created the tension in that moment until the angel said do not be afraid.

And then finally for our Christmas Eve services we’re going to be looking at the spiritual tension which exists between heaven and earth and what actually happens on a spiritual level and really at the end of the day the most important thing that for you or I or the life of the believer is our soul, is our relationship with the Lord. So there was absolutely tension on earth during that first Christmas but thanks be to God we fixed it since then. Two thousand years we have it all fixed.

Amen? Or is this really interesting that it’s November 30th and then tomorrow starts December 1st. Is there tension in your life during this season? Someone you were gonna need a little bit of help this morning. Is there tension in your life during the Christmas season? And what do you think the top three reasons you and I have tension in our lives during this month? Money? Family? Some of you are hesitant to say it maybe because you’re sitting next to them.

Any other guesses? The first one is this. It’s actually tied into money. It’s consumerism.

It’s this idea that we have to buy into what the the stores and the advertisers tell us we should be doing this time of year. Now I’m from small government but I but I will tell you this. I don’t understand what’s happening in our society because the stores now are putting out their Christmas trees on October 1st and I would be okay if we passed a law that said you can’t put out Christmas trees until December 1st.

Anybody else with me? Anybody else? There we go. They plotted at the nine o’clock service too. We’re just gonna pass laws in church this morning.

It’s gonna be great. But buying into this idea that we have to keep up with everybody else and that we have to create this whatever thing that we think that we need to create during the season. The second one is this.

Ready? It’s that we’re all told we should be really really really busy and if you’re not busy you either have no friends or family or you don’t have a life. Like in fact you should just fill up your schedule with all sorts of activities and if you have kids the schools do this to us where they have plays and and all sorts of things that you’re obligated to go to and then you have your family on top of that so there’s this crazy amount of stress packed into just a few weeks of the entire year. And then the last one and you guys already said this you guys know this well one of the biggest tensions that we face is what? Oh come on it’s what? Family.

Because not everyone has a Hallmark family. In fact if you watch the Hallmark Channel there’s always tension in every show and then eventually it gets resolved at the end of the movie. And family can be draining.

Family can be difficult to work with. Now I want to give you some practical advice this morning because it was several years ago that I just decided that I was not going to get stressed out and let other people control my feelings and emotions during the month of December. What do you think about that? You don’t have to clap.

This is you’re just looking at a very stress-free person right now. And here’s why. Because December comes around every single year.

It’s not a surprise. It’s a month that we deal with every single year and you and I can change our perspective. We don’t have to let other people or other influences dictate how we live our lives.

Did you know that? You do not have to let other people dictate how you live your lives. It’s okay to tell people no. And even if it hurts their feelings a little bit at the end of the day you have to do what is best for you and for your family.

And so if you’re a young family listen to me because I know some of you get caught up in this and and you’re trying to keep everybody happy and you’re trying to keep the peace and so you’re constantly orchestrating not only your kids school schedules, your schedule, but also trying to make sure all of your extended family is at peace. Can I just tell you the most important unit you have in your household is your immediate family and you need to protect that at all costs. And it is okay to tell others yes we’ll join you for this but we’re not going to be able to join you for this or this because we want to make sure that we have time together as a family because we only get our kids for a certain period of time.

Some of you young families are so hesitant to say amen maybe because your parents go here I don’t know. Likewise those of you that are grandparents some of you need to ease up. Some of you need to stop trying to control your adult children and dictate what they’re supposed to do and how they’re supposed to do it and our family always celebrates it on this day and our family always does this.

Can I just spoil Christmas for all of you? Jesus was not born on December 25th. Scandalous. They for sure will not use this clip on social media this week.

We don’t even know when he was born. The most important thing is for you to walk through this season and be a healthy person and for your family to be mentally and emotionally healthy. And so today as we look at the message as you think about where all of these things come from we’ll get to the root cause of it and we’ll go back to the beginning and explain it because this is what it says in the very first book of the Bible in the very first verse that in the beginning God is the one that created the heavens and the earth.

He creates everything and he sets in motion all of the things that we enjoy here on this earth leading all the way up to creating us. So he creates us male and female. He creates Adam and Eve.

They’re the first two people on the earth. He puts them in the garden. He lets them have domain over everything.

They get to rule and he tells them real simple instructions. You can have everything you want except for this one tree. Just don’t eat from the tree.

Don’t talk to the tree. Don’t touch the tree. Just stay away from this one tree.

Everything else is here for you to enjoy. Pretty simple instructions from God isn’t it? Until something happens on a spiritual level, something that we don’t even fully comprehend all of the details that took place, but what the scriptures tell us is that there was a fallen angel, the devil, Satan, whatever you want to call him, that got into an argument with God and wanted to be God and so God sends him to the earth and this devil has a conversation with the first man and the first woman and he starts with the woman and he says this to her, did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden? The first thing he does is he tries to cast doubt into her mind and into her heart and she in her way actually repeats what God says and says no no wait well this is what God told us and as she’s telling him what God told them he then lies and says you’re not gonna die. God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God which is what he wanted to be knowing good and evil and for some crazy reason she thought well that sounds good and she ate from the tree that she was told not to and she gave it to Adam and he did the same exact thing and in one moment in time sin was brought into the world.

Now when God comes back and realizes what has taken place and realizes that this is now the new reality for the world he first puts his judgment upon Satan and he says these words to the servant I will put enmity between you and the woman between your offspring and hers and this word enmity is a very interesting word because it means an active hostility that there’s going to be ongoing conflict and tension and war between the devil and all of mankind. The entire offspring of Eve is going to deal with this. You and I are here in 2025 and we are still dealing with the results of one moment in time and oh by the way this can never be reconciled until Jesus comes back.

We will continue to deal with this fallen sinful state that we now find ourselves in and those that were closest to Jesus knew this because Peter said this be alert and of sober mind your enemy if you didn’t know is the devil same guy in the garden he’s alive and active today he prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour the devil wants to destroy you the devil wants to destroy your marriage the devil wants to destroy your family he will stop at nothing to get in and to create division within your life in every aspect that is his mission that is his purpose he knows his days are numbered he knows that he’s doomed he knows that ultimately he will be cast out from all of us for all eternity and the unfortunate part is that we live in this reality where he is alive and active and he can still influence and impact our lives well not only does he curse the devil but he also curses man and woman he starts with the woman he tells her she’s going to have pains and childbirth then he turns to Adam he says by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food you’re gonna have to work hard for what you have all the days of your life you’re gonna have to toil the dirt of this earth you had everything you could hope dream or imagine but you traded it for one piece of fruit and now you get to do this new reality of working in the garden until you return to the ground or another way of saying this until you die you are gonna work until you die since if you were taken for dust you are into dust you will return all of us think of this each and every day are getting closer and closer and closer to death even though some of us buy organic eggs at $22.99 a dozen okay even though some of us put face creams on and we drink purified water and we exercise and we do all of these things to try to prolong our life it doesn’t matter you and I are destined to die because of sin and so now we have this fallen sinful nature that follows us around that we constantly battle each and every day another disciple of Jesus James said it this way you want to know what causes fights and quarrels among you you want to know why that Thanksgiving table might not have been the most ideal situation for you this year and there was some infighting going on with your family or maybe coming up at Christmas they actually come from the desires that war within you that you and I being fallen sinful human beings are constantly drawn to go in the wrong direction to say the wrong things and to do the wrong things and it’s a battle it’s a war that we face each and every day but the reason we read these scriptures the reason we review these scriptures and we talk about those things is so that you can have the proper perspective so that you can say hey I know that I’m gonna wake up today and I know that I’m gonna be drawn to call every single person that is on the road a jerk or a moron today God give me the patience when I’m driving down the street especially now that we have snow on the road isn’t it awesome when we have snow and ice on the road God when I go into the stores this holiday season and there’s all of these people that are in my way God give me the patience to deal with them God when I find out that a family member is coming in town for Christmas that I don’t honestly really want to come into town fact I’d rather they just stay on their side of the state or in their side of the country God please cancel their flight please cause their car to break down I’ll send them a check when they can fix it January 1st I don’t want to deal with this family member I don’t want to have to have the discussions why does it have to be such a stressful time of the year it’s supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year because we live in a fallen sinful world and every day we’re dealing with the tensions and the realities of the life that we live but here’s the good news God never puts us in a situation without providing a way out and in these same verses in Genesis God declares the gospel to us when he says these words in the second part of the verse he says he will crush your head the line of Eve will eventually produce Jesus Christ and he will put to death on the cross he will crush your head anything that you could try to do to separate the people that I’ve created from me and you will strike his heel yeah you’re gonna put him on a cross devil and you’re gonna think that you have won and you’re gonna think that the victory is yours but in fact it’s not the only victor in this life is Jesus Christ and he did not in the way that a lot of people thought he was going to do it he did it by hanging on the cross and putting all of our sins upon himself and breathing his last breath so that three days later as we sang about in the first song he could rise out of that tomb and declare victory over sin and death and the devil for you and for me this is why this is so important because sometimes people will dismiss the Old Testament all throw it away or doesn’t do this or doesn’t do that that’s crazy that’s lunatic don’t ever do that like think about it Jesus is actually declared in the very first pages of Scripture now I want you to see this because God’s plan for Christmas was actually announced in the Garden of Eden God knew that he was gonna have to send Jesus before any of the events took place it’s written this way in Ephesians praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ he’s the one that’s bestowing his blessings upon us in the spiritual realm because he chose us in him what does it say before the creation of the world this gets even better so not only did he know that he was gonna have to send Jesus he also knew that you and I would be alive and active and breathing in 2025 wrap your mind around that for a moment try to just let that soak in that you have a God who is a creator that knows your name and knows that you would be here and loves you and values you and had all of this in his mind before he ever created the world and he’s a God that’s madly in love with you that wants to be in relationship with you and yet so many people push him aside so many people say well I don’t need God or I don’t need the church or whatever pastor go you know whatever and they constantly run away from the God who has created them from the God who sent Jesus to redeem them the Holy Spirit that he wants to live inside of you to help you navigate the world that he knows that we live in and sometimes it’s just mind-blowing like why don’t people who want to be followers of Jesus why don’t people want to embrace who he really is and what this season is really all about not only were you in his mind but he knew he was gonna have to send Jesus before this world was ever created and he knew the exact time that he would have to do it because Galatians tells us the time the set time had fully come that God knew exactly when he would send Jesus his son born of a woman born under the law to redeem us born under sin that we could become his children just as you saw in the baptisms today because we are his sons and daughters and because we’re sons and his sons and daughters that’s what gives us the ability to cry out to him and to cling to him and to have faith and hope in him or maybe you know this verse maybe you’ve heard this verse I want you to hear it again Jesus said that God so loved the world that he created that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life the life you can create on this earth isn’t it folks whether you live 60 70 80 90 years whatever it is that you live that’s not all there is in the in the grand scheme of life for God did not send his son into the world to condemn it in order that the world would be saved through him and again he saves us by his finished work on the cross you cannot leave Jesus in the manger as beautiful as it is and as much as we love celebrating Christmas Jesus has to go to the cross Jesus has to stretch out his arms Jesus has to die for your sins and for my sins and not only has he died and risen again he sits at the right hand of God the Father he’s preparing a place for us this is the scripture we often read at funerals to remind people of the hope that is to come that Jesus is coming back because he says I will come again or in Thessalonians where it says the Lord himself is actually going to come down from heaven and he’s gonna make a whole lot of noise everyone’s gonna know that he’s back and those that have faith in him are gonna be brought up together in the clouds to be with the Lord forever and ever and ever and this is what I love about scripture it tells us everything that we need to know about God from the beginning and how he created the world and how sin came in the world and why we live in the state that we do it also tells us everything that’s gonna happen in the end which spoiler God wins in the end just as he won on the cross so if we know everything that God did at the beginning and we know everything that God did is going to do at the end why do we spend so much time in the middle letting other people dictate our happiness why do we spend so much time in the middle worrying and holding on to unforgiveness and just living life outside of the reality of who God is and why he sent Jesus to this earth again my prayer as we go through this sermon series is that the Christmas perspective that you and I so often have it needs to be challenged but it needs to be challenged in a good way and the focus needs to be brought back to the whole reason for the season of who the person and work of Jesus Christ is and what it is that he so freely offers each and every one of us Christmas is not God retreating from war Christmas is God starting the final campaign to destroy these three things that are constantly vying for our souls now this last week was Thanksgiving and I had the opportunity with my family to do something I never thought I would ever experience in my lifetime I just thought it was too unattainable it’s never ever going to happen and someone gifted us tickets to this place called Ford Field does anyone know and wouldn’t you know my family and I told my boys you know how lucky you are you’re 15 years old you’re 12 years old it was actually my son’s birthday on Thanksgiving that we get to go to the Detroit Lions football game we got to celebrate Thanksgiving with 60,000 people isn’t that amazing and you know it’s so crazy as you’re waiting to get in the line you have to go through the metal detectors and my wife and kids went in first because you know as the man of the husband you should let your family go first and then you go through they all got they all went through and I went through and what do you know happens the thing starts going crazy beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep like great what in the world do I have on me and so then I got moved over to a special line how many know what I’m talking about the special line and then your family goes over here and waits for you and they kind of churn and look back and discuss like what’s your problem so you come over here to the special line 60,000 people trying to get into the same place and lo and behold the person in front of me is a member of our church and she turned around and you would have thought she saw a ghost and really what she saw was her pastor and she said man I’ve been meaning to call you I’ve been meaning to call you I’ve been meaning to call you found out that she just had surgery a couple weeks ago but she didn’t tell anybody here at the church and I said you know what I bet this was just a coincidence I bet God had absolutely nothing to do with orchestrating the events that you and I would be standing here right now and that’s the thing so often in life we go through it alone or we forget to lean on other people to help us and that’s where the body of Christ comes into play and being part of a church in the church community that we don’t all get it right some of you you might be here for the first time it just you know Shepherd’s Gate is far from perfect in fact if you’re looking for a perfect church do not come to Shepherd’s Gate I’ll give you some brochures on the way I’ll tell you all the perfect churches in Metro Detroit but it ain’t this place because we freely admit that we are fallen sinful beings that need God’s grace and mercy every single day amen and it starts with me it starts with me in the struggles that we go through this side of eternity so again our whole our heart’s desire for all of you is that you realize as Christmas is literally going to be celebrated all around the earth which side note did you know for the first 300 years the church didn’t even celebrate Christmas it was too difficult because this time of year was always tied to pagan religions and holidays and 300 years later is when Christmas started getting traction and the Germans started kicking in and Christmas trees and almost everything that we have that we use to celebrate Christmas we just stole from the pagans because Christians that’s what we do we just say oh now it’s a Christmas tree you just put Christ at the front of everything and then it becomes Christian voila boom but even more important than that is that Christmas is all around you Christ is all around you not because of the lights or the songs or the traditions or the movies that you watch it’s because the Savior stepped foot into this world and the reason he stepped foot into this world is to step into human hearts and he wants all people to come to a saving knowledge of him amen now we’re gonna close this way with prayer because I know many of you your hearts are heavy during this time because you have family members that don’t know Jesus you have family members that some of them they’re just rude I got him in my family and imagine being the pastor and you’re having to have the atheists come over and they’re just gonna okay they get to say whatever they want but I know that I can’t say whatever I want and it gets difficult to keep the tongue inside the mouth and to be patient and loving some of you you have co-workers that don’t like your Christmas sweater and don’t like that you talk about Christ or Jesus maybe it’s a neighbor on your street you know many of you I’ve been praying for my neighbors and I’m so thankful that that more and more of them are coming here at the Shepherd’s Gate and I got one that lives right across from me and every single Christmas every single Easter I invite them and I’m gonna do it again whether he likes it or not he’s getting an invite to a Christmas Eve service and for some of you it’s your own kids these kids that you raised in the church you read them the scriptures you’ve prayed with them and for whatever reason this world and the devil and their own sinful desires have led them away and you’re hoping and praying that Christmas 2025 something sparks in their heart in their life and you begin to see that seed of faith that you put in there come alive again in their lives and so this is what we’re gonna do church as we have just a few weeks before our Christmas services I’m gonna ask you to bow your heads and close your eyes and would you go ahead and do that and we’re gonna ask God to put on your heart those that you are already in relationship with whether it’s friends whether it’s neighbors whether it’s co-workers or whether it’s in your family two things this morning one maybe there’s people that you just need patience or you need to forgive them even if you really don’t want to forgive them and number two who are those people that you will intentionally pray for that this month that God will do a deep work in their heart and in their life and grab a hold of their soul and bring them to faith and so with their heads bowed in our eyes closed Heavenly Father I thank you for everyone that’s in this room those that are streaming in online God thank you for your word that makes things crystal clear of who you are and what it is that you have done from the beginning and what it is that you will do in the end but God now is we face another holiday season you know all the dynamics you know the dysfunctions you know the way that the devil has wrecked havoc in relationships and marriages and in families God we humbly come before you and we thank you first and foremost for your son Jesus Christ and the finished work that he has done for every one of us that he is the King of Kings and he is the Lord of Lords and that you are the one that has produced that faith in our hearts and our lives and given us the ability to even declare that but God now that we live in that reality of what it is that you have done for us through your son would you help us extend that same grace and mercy to others and so we pause now to name those people that you have placed in our lives that we will be praying for God we do pray that you will do your finest work once again this Christmas that our neighbors our friends God our family that don’t know you will come to know you as the true king and true Lord so we hand them over to you we ask God move in their lives and help us God to be a conduit for sharing that good news with them we love you we thank you we pray all these things in your most holy and precious name