Why Christmas Never Lives Up to the Buildup

00:00:00.000 | [Christmas music]

00:00:03.600 | Well, Christmas anticipation is thick in the air.

00:00:07.300 | Christmas music dominates the airwaves, and the smell of pumpkin spice permeates everything.

00:00:13.300 | Beautiful lights brighten the night sky, and in less than one week from today, Christmas will be done.

00:00:21.500 | All the gifts will be unwrapped and worn or played with, or returned to the store for cash or credit.

00:00:28.200 | And we're going to take the trees down and the lights down, and we'll toss them out or we'll box them up for another year.

00:00:35.200 | And it happens every year. There's this subtle sense, this subtle pang of letdown.

00:00:40.100 | And you can call me a Scrooge to bring it up this time of the year, but I find this sensation rather predictable.

00:00:46.900 | Perhaps it's because we have overspent and underslept and maybe overeaten.

00:00:52.500 | Whatever the cause is, Christmas never seems to live up to the buildup.

00:00:57.300 | So why is that? To answer this question, a couple of years back, Pastor Matt Chandler preached an Advent sermon on Zephaniah 3,

00:01:04.600 | verses 14 to 20, in a sermon titled "God's Protection and Delight."

00:01:09.800 | And the sermon includes an insightful and helpful meditation on this point to ready us and to steady us for this season.

00:01:17.700 | Here now is a little clip from Pastor Matt Chandler, a survivor of brain cancer, preaching from Zephaniah chapter 3.

00:01:25.400 | In verse 15, the text says, "Why do we sing and shout and clap and rejoice with all our hearts?

00:01:31.500 | Because according to verse 15, our punishment has been removed."

00:01:35.800 | And that's awesome. Like our punishment has been removed.

00:01:40.200 | We are lawbreakers. We have rebelled against God.

00:01:43.300 | And in Christ, all of our punishment has been removed.

00:01:46.800 | That's true right now. That your judgment day, Christian, has already occurred.

00:01:54.900 | Now you will stand in front of God and you will give an account.

00:01:58.100 | And I don't know, for illustration points only, when they open up that file and pull your file out and slap it down,

00:02:06.400 | it will be dripping with the blood of Christ.

00:02:09.100 | And when they open up the first page, it will say, "Holy, spotless, blameless."

00:02:15.200 | Not because of you, but because of Christ.

00:02:17.100 | There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ.

00:02:19.800 | Yeah, I'm preaching. You can clap.

00:02:23.700 | Right? This is what God has done.

00:02:26.800 | This is why we look back upon the first coming of Christ and we sing and we shout and we rejoice with all our hearts

00:02:32.700 | in the God of our salvation.

00:02:34.600 | And because there is no punishment for us, we will never again fear harm.

00:02:38.900 | Now again, we're in the space between. We're in the already, but not yet.

00:02:42.800 | It's a scary thing to live in a Genesis 3 world.

00:02:45.900 | I had to go get an MRI this past week. It was nerve-wracking.

00:02:50.100 | Why though, right?

00:02:51.600 | I mean, if I die, don't I gain?

00:02:55.400 | Yeah, but I was still nervous.

00:02:58.700 | I had no control over it. I was still nervous.

00:03:01.900 | Met with a woman last night and her teenagers whose husband died Tuesday morning.

00:03:09.200 | There's some fear there, right?

00:03:10.600 | So we're in this space between. We're in the already, but not yet.

00:03:14.000 | We know what Christ has purchased.

00:03:15.600 | He's refining us, working us, moving in us, revealing in us,

00:03:19.300 | churning our hearts, stirring up affection.

00:03:22.400 | And so we look forward to the second coming of Christ where all of this has been consummated completely.

00:03:28.000 | So we rejoice because punishment has been removed and we will never fear harm.

00:03:32.000 | And then I love the verse 17. Our God is a mighty warrior who saves.

00:03:36.800 | I love the imagery of God being a mighty warrior.

00:03:40.600 | Think about that. God killed death.

00:03:44.800 | That's incredible.

00:03:46.800 | What enemy could you and I have that the warrior God of the universe wouldn't smirk at?

00:03:52.800 | Our God is a warrior. He takes great delight in you.

00:03:56.900 | According to the text, he will no longer rebuke you.

00:04:01.300 | And then I love this. I've just got a question about it.

00:04:03.500 | It says God rejoices over us in singing.

00:04:07.600 | So quick question. I don't have an answer to but it's a great question.

00:04:10.700 | If the spoken word of God created the expanse of the universe,

00:04:17.300 | so powerful was the let there be light,

00:04:22.700 | that the universe continues to this day to expand in every direction.

00:04:28.200 | What does the singing of God do over the hearts of men and women?

00:04:34.300 | In verse 18, we see that there'll be no mourning. In verse 19, there's no more oppression.

00:04:38.400 | The lame will be rescued. The exiles will be gathered.

00:04:41.200 | And then in verse 20, we will all be brought home.

00:04:44.400 | I love verse 20. See, if we're honest, that all of us have a bit of a restless heart, right?

00:04:50.000 | We have this anticipation that one day that restlessness will end.

00:04:54.700 | And so we've been paying it forward our whole lives, have we not?

00:04:58.400 | You just can't wait to get to high school.

00:05:01.300 | And then you can't wait to get a car. And then you can't wait to get out of high school.

00:05:05.100 | And then you can't wait to get to college. And then you can't wait to get out of college.

00:05:09.700 | And then you can't wait to get a good job.

00:05:12.200 | You can't wait to find a man or a woman to marry.

00:05:15.700 | You can't wait to make a certain amount of money.

00:05:17.500 | You can't wait to buy your first home. Can't wait to have a kid.

00:05:20.300 | Can't wait for that kid to go to school. Can't wait for that kid to get out of your house.

00:05:24.400 | Can't wait to, right? You just keep paying it forward.

00:05:28.500 | And yet, that I'm not quite there yet is persistent.

00:05:33.700 | And it just doesn't go away. Like Bono nailed it, didn't he?

00:05:37.600 | And I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

00:05:41.800 | And then some Christians grabbed that and brutalized great theology.

00:05:46.600 | They sang, "And I finally found what I'm looking for."

00:05:49.100 | No, no, no. You're ignoring the theology of the song.

00:05:52.100 | The theology of the song is that we're in the space between.

00:05:55.600 | That all this is true about us right now in Christ.

00:05:58.300 | And yet in the space between, the refining fire of God's love is purifying,

00:06:02.700 | transforming, working for our good.

00:06:06.400 | What we long for is the second advent.

00:06:09.100 | And in the coming of Christ, his life, death, and resurrection,

00:06:12.400 | our hearts have found their home.

00:06:15.400 | They breathe. They rest while we anticipate the coming of Christ.

00:06:21.700 | And listen, this is what Christmas is all about.

00:06:24.700 | So we're Chandler Manor is decked out.

00:06:27.700 | All right, stockings are up. Trees are up.

00:06:30.600 | Trees, plural. Lost that fight about eight years ago.

00:06:32.700 | I don't even get in anymore. I'm just like, "All right, how many?

00:06:35.100 | Just two? Okay, let's go get them."

00:06:36.600 | And so trees are up.

00:06:38.100 | It honestly looks like Christmas vacation vomited in my house.

00:06:42.900 | So we're ready to roll.

00:06:44.400 | And my 10-year-old, for whatever it's him right now, is just geeked out of his mind.

00:06:48.800 | A couple of times a day, we'll get asked, "How many more days?"

00:06:51.800 | So there's a couple of presents wrapped.

00:06:53.400 | They're under the tree.

00:06:54.300 | Every little movement forward kind of ratchets up the anticipation.

00:06:58.800 | And so we're not far. Come up here.

00:07:00.900 | Do around 6,000 services. Collapse and sleep. Wake up.

00:07:05.200 | We'll open up presents. Family will come over.

00:07:07.500 | We'll laugh. We'll have a great time with them.

00:07:09.300 | And then everyone will go home and we'll—not that night,

00:07:11.500 | but we'll start to take everything down.

00:07:13.100 | And nobody's allowed to say this, but we all feel it.

00:07:15.500 | There'll be a tinge of disappointment.

00:07:17.100 | That was it. That was it. Since Thanksgiving, we've been gearing towards this.

00:07:20.800 | We've been amped about this.

00:07:22.000 | You'll be frustrated with your kids because they're a little selfish heart.

00:07:25.000 | They'll just do something with a present that you spent good money for.

00:07:28.200 | And they're like, "Well, really, I wanted the one, not the 360."

00:07:34.200 | And you'll do what godly parents do, which is threaten.

00:07:37.000 | "I'll take all your presents back. I'll start a fire, if you know what I'm saying."

00:07:45.300 | So what's wired into this season is a sense of anticipation.

00:07:51.200 | It's almost magical what occurs if you're really into Christmas.

00:07:55.900 | I mean, we were slated this week to go out and look at lights.

00:07:58.900 | We're already three deep into Christmas parties.

00:08:01.200 | Got another one tonight. On Thursday, the Flower Mound Campus and Elders.

00:08:04.500 | We're going to go around this neighborhood and sing carols and hand out Advent guides.

00:08:07.300 | And I mean, we're all in. My kids are all in.

00:08:10.600 | There's this great anticipation for what is to come and we're all going to be disappointed.

00:08:17.800 | Okay, so apparently you're not following me.

00:08:22.200 | The reason we're going to be disappointed is because all of this is a shadow of a greater reality.

00:08:29.200 | What's going on right now is meant to dial me in to an anticipation for that day that being disappointed is impossible.

00:08:40.700 | Like so rich and deep is the love of God that at the consummation of all things,

00:08:46.400 | 10 billion years from now, it'll be just as fresh, just as beautiful, and just as freeing as it's ever been.

00:08:55.900 | That's the inexhaustible well of God's grace.

00:08:58.300 | You know, you experience some of the first time, it's just incredible.

00:09:01.400 | And then the more you experience, the more it kind of loses its luster.

00:09:04.000 | Well, according to the Word of God, according to what happens at the consummation of all things,

00:09:09.500 | that the Apostle Paul tells us in the book of Ephesians, that it'll take the coming ages,

00:09:13.600 | millennia, for us to even get a sense of how deep the love of God is for those he loves,

00:09:19.800 | the treasures of his grace.

00:09:22.100 | And so I don't know how you're wired.

00:09:23.800 | I think of 10 billion years, I'm like, I don't care what it is, I'm going to be bored out of my mind.

00:09:28.200 | Right, I can't even now do something more than a day or two before I'm like, all right, what's next?

00:09:34.000 | And yet so deep is the inexhaustible well of God that for eternity, our delight increases,

00:09:42.500 | our joy grows.

00:09:44.700 | This is what Christmas is all about.

00:09:46.700 | We look back upon the coming of Christ, and we rejoice in what's true right now.

00:09:52.000 | We sing, we shout, we rejoice because these things are true right now.

00:09:55.300 | Our punishment has been removed.

00:09:56.900 | That's true right now.

00:09:58.300 | Fear is losing its power over us right now.

00:10:01.700 | We've moved farther.

00:10:02.900 | We've grown.

00:10:03.700 | We've seen God work in us, all right?

00:10:06.400 | God is a mighty warrior who has saved and continues to battle on our behalf.

00:10:11.900 | There is a loss of power of mourning over our lives.

00:10:16.800 | We mourn, but don't mourn like those who don't have hope.

00:10:19.700 | We mourn like those who have hope.

00:10:21.700 | The woman last night we met with, Michael and I did, who lost her husband on Tuesday.

00:10:26.500 | She felt guilty for not sobbing and breaking down in our conversation.

00:10:32.100 | I'm like, sister, like everyone's praying for you the peace that passes understanding.

00:10:37.200 | Don't feel bad about this.

00:10:38.600 | Rejoice and be glad that you're mourning like someone who has hope.

00:10:43.900 | This is true right now.

00:10:45.500 | Yes, no more oppression.

00:10:47.600 | Oppression is losing its power.

00:10:50.400 | The lame rescued disease losing its power.

00:10:54.900 | The exiles will be gathered.

00:10:57.200 | Brothers, sisters, we are aliens, strangers, exiles in this world.

00:11:03.600 | And yet Christ, the great rescuer, the great redeemer, gathers,

00:11:07.400 | and that we have been brought home now.

00:11:10.700 | And so we sit in that and we rejoice in that while looking for the second coming,

00:11:19.600 | pleading for the second advent.

00:11:23.200 | This is why John ends the book of Revelation with, "Come, Lord Jesus, Maranatha."

00:11:32.400 | I'll end the clip here.

00:11:33.400 | It's such a great reminder.

00:11:35.700 | Christmas is wonderful as it is.

00:11:38.200 | It's not the thing.

00:11:39.900 | This season will never satisfy our hearts.

00:11:42.700 | There's a second advent coming, and that should rivet our hearts like a child waiting

00:11:48.300 | for some Christmas morning that hasn't yet happened.

00:11:51.000 | In other words, we have a longing that remains and cannot ever get pacified,

00:11:54.800 | even in our best holiday celebrations.

00:11:58.100 | That is so helpful.

00:11:59.600 | Matt Chandler, thank you, brother, for that reminder and for pressing us to think about it.

00:12:04.100 | Again, that was from his advent sermon titled, "God's Protection and Delight"

00:12:07.900 | on Zephaniah 3, verses 14 to 20.

00:12:11.200 | You can find it online at the Village Church website.

00:12:15.000 | Well, Christmas draws closer, and we have one final Christmas episode.

00:12:19.400 | And it's a question about the marvelous fact that Jesus learned obedience as a boy.

00:12:24.200 | Scripture tells us Jesus as a boy, "Increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and men."

00:12:32.600 | Huh? So how on earth did Jesus grow in maturity and why?

00:12:38.200 | And how will this give substance to our Christmas celebration this year?

00:12:42.400 | That's the next episode, and it will be launching on Sunday night at 7 p.m.

00:12:47.500 | Central Time, which is Christmas Eve, or you can listen to it Christmas Day or later on Monday.

00:12:53.300 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.

00:12:54.900 | Thanks for listening to the podcast, and we'll see you then.

00:12:57.200 | .

00:13:02.200 | .

Why Christmas Never Lives Up to the Buildup

Chapters