What Christmas is All About. #1, What Christmas Is Not All About!

Wow, it’s been fifty years.  Sure doesn’t seem like it.  December 9^th will be the 50^th anniversary of the first showing of Charlie Brown Christmas.  And while most of us grew up watching the animated special there were a number of hesitations about the show when it was aired.  As a matter of fact, for the sponsor and the network all they were kind of hoping was that it wouldn’t be a complete disaster, and they would be able to shelve it and hopefully people would forget all about it. 

And maybe you are wondering what the problem was.  It wasn’t a problem; it was a multitude of problems.  When Coca Cola and CBS first started the project they were visualizing a little light hearted animated Christmas special with laugh tracks and secular themes.  Instead they ended up with this melancholy tale complete with jazz music, what kid listens to jazz? And a reading from the King James Version of the Bible.   

Peanuts creator Charles Shultz insisted that no laugh track be used, in the meeting Shultz said “The network should let the people at home enjoy the show at their own speed, in their own way” and then he walked out of the room ending the argument. Sounds like Schulz had a little bit of Lucy in him that day.  

Shultz also refused to use adult actors for the voices and instead he cast neighbourhood children for the parts to preserve the innocence but also to make it a little funnier and edgier.  One snag was that some of the kids were so young they couldn’t read and had to be fed their parts line by line.  The only adult voice used was for Snoopy.   

But in spite of their worst fears Charlie Brown Christmas has become an enduring part of  the Christmas Season. How many folks here have watched the Charlie Brown Christmas at some point in their life?   

And the entire show comes down to the question asked by Charlie Brown “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” 

And over the next few weeks we will be looking at: What Christmas is all About, but today we are going to look at some of the answers given in the movie, because that was what was frustrating to Charlie Brown, what he was hearing from the others. 

And even fifty years later I think we can find a snapshot of society in the cast of Charlie Brown’s Christmas. 

For Snoopy Christmas is all about Christmas  It doesn’t take long for us to discover that Snoopy is a big Christmas fan, he seems to love Christmas, but what he really loves is the idea of Christmas. 

He loves all the hoopla and the excitement, the lights and the glitz.  Snoopy would be right at the curb for the parade of lights, and be first in line to see the Christmas tree lit in Grand Parade.  And we all know people like Snoopy.   

My sister decorates for Christmas at Halloween, and then she dresses up as Mrs. Santa Claus and hands out candy canes to the trick or treaters while Christmas music plays in the background. 

There is a lady who works at Tim Hortons who is obsessed with Christmas, I’m sure if you went in on March 17 and asked her she could tell you how many days it is until Christmas, and she talks about trees and lights, gifts and meals but that’s where it ends.  I’ve invited her out to our Christmas services and she’s not interested, I think they would interfere with the celebrations. 

For her Christmas is all about the holiday and family and food.  And those aren’t bad things, but they aren’t what Christmas is all about.   

For too many folks a Holy Day has simply become a holiday, and we have lots of holidays to pick from.   

You can have a day off on Thanksgiving, or Labour Day or Canada Day.  And along with the holiday comes the opportunity to spend the time with family and with family comes food.  It’s like church: There’s no meeting without eating. 

But you can have burgers on Canada Day and Ham on Easter and if you are a big turkey fan, that’s what Thanksgiving is for, you really don’t need Christmas.

And it’s easy to get caught up in all the hype of Christmas without understanding what Christmas is all about.   

Jesus came to give you eternal life, not a holiday. 

In contrast to Snoopy we see Lucy and For Lucy Christmas is all about the Effort.    Lucy is so wrapped up in making sure that everything is just right for Christmas she misses Christmas.  She’s organizing the Christmas play, is responsible for finding the perfect tree and even needs to find time to help Charlie Brown get into the Christmas spirit.   

When Charlie Brown confesses to Lucy during their counselling session that he doesn’t understand Christmas and it leaves him feeling down instead of happy her solution is easy.  She says, “You need involvement, you need to get involved in some real Christmas projects.”  And then she recruits him to direct the Christmas play, because for her that’s what makes Christmas, Christmas.  All the stuff you do. 

There’s gifts and cards to be bought.  Food to be cooked, presents to be wrapped, letters to be written and cards to be mailed.  There are the staff parties to attend, turkeys to be stuffed and church appearances to be made.   

And it’s not just that she’s busy, Snoopy is busy but he’s happy busy.  The season lights a fire in Snoopy he’s laughing and dancing, not one bit of stress will you find in our canine friend.   

But the hustle and bustle of the season just makes Lucy grumpier and more cynical.  She is stressed and resents what she has to do and ultimately she tells Charlie Brown  “ Look, Charlie, let’s face it. We all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket. It’s run by a big eastern syndicate, you know.” 

Sociologist Robert Lynd nailed the difference between Snoopy and Lucy with this statement “There are some people who want to throw their arms round you simply because it is Christmas; there are other people who want to strangle you simply because it is Christmas.”  It doesn’t take long to figure out who’s who here. 

There are lots of people who are like Lucy and Christmas means lists and obligations and lots of stress and regrets.  And there is enough stress and regrets in life without adding Christmas to the pile.  So Christmas isn’t about the stuff we do.

Jesus came to give you eternal life, not just more things to do.

And then there is Sally, Sally is Charlie Browns’ baby sister.  The little girl who read Sally’s lines was so young that she didn’t know how to read and she had to be fed the lines, bit by bit and then she would repeat them back.  And For Sally Christmas is all about Sally  

She wants Charlie Brown to help her write her letter to Santa and when he tells her he’s busy she just brushes it off and forces the paper and pencil on him.   

Her one concession to what others are feeling is summed up when she finishes her letter to Santa by dictating “If it seems to complicated, make it easy on yourself and just send money.  How about tens and twenties?”   

For some folks all of Christmas revolves around what’s in it for them.  And it’s all about making them happy?  Will the date work for them?  Will the food work for them? Will the gift be what they were expecting and hoping for? They even insist on picking the Christmas special that everyone will watch.    

Sally sums it up when she tells her brother “All I want is what I have coming to me.  All I want is my fair share.” 

And we might expect that of a four-year-old, but not adults.  But for many that is the reality.  Regardless of our pious denials most of us will be looking forward to what’s under the tree, with our name on it. 

Probably, if we were willing to be totally honest we could say with C.S. Lewis “I never had a selfless thought since I was born.”

But here is the reality, Christmas isn’t about the stuff we do and it’s certainly not about the stuff we get. 

Jesus came to give you eternal life, not Christmas presents. 

Let’s not forget the hero of our story, because for Charlie Brown Christmas is all about Despair And Charlie Brown isn’t alone.  

For the past few years we’ve had a Blue Christmas service, on December 21^st, this year we are simply calling it “Silent Night”  but the tag line remains the same. “Christmas isn’t Merry for everyone.” 

Shane Kelly. Manager of the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy says “Christmas is a time of happiness, reunions, family time, and these celebrations can heighten feelings of loneliness and despair.”

At the beginning of the story Charlie Brown tells Linus “I think there’s something wrong with me Linus, Christmas is coming, but I’m not happy.  I don’t feel the way I’m suppose to feel.  I just don’t understand Christmas, I guess. I like getting presents and sending Christmas cards and decorating trees and all that, but I’m still not happy.  I always end up feeling depressed.”     

Christmas seemed to magnify and polarize what Charlie Brown felt his life was like the rest of the year, in one scene he goes out and looks in his empty mail box for the Christmas Cards that aren’t there and he says.  “I know nobody likes me why do we need a holiday season to emphasize it?” 

For some it might be a reminder of someone who is no longer there, either through death, divorce or simply distance.  But when everyone else is celebrating family their loss becomes more pronounced.   

Or maybe it’s because we can’t afford the expectations that are placed upon us by society. 

In his 1973 song “If We Make it Through December” Merle Haggert Sang.

“Got laid off down at the factory 
And their timing’s not the greatest in the world;
Heaven knows I been working hard,
Wanted Christmas to be right for daddy’s girl;
I don’t mean to hate December,
It’s meant to be the happy time of year;
And my little girl don’t understand
Why daddy can’t afford no Christmas here” 

And nobody else in the story understands, to them Charlie Brown is just being Charlie Brown. 

And simply saying “cheer up”, or “get involved” or reminding them how others are worse off than they are doesn’t help. 

If you find yourself in that camp, I would like to invite you out to our Silent Night Service on December 21^st, we won’t try to force you to cheer up, it is simply a time of reflection in a service that is a little quieter than most of our Christmas offerings.  

Jesus came to give you eternal life, not despair. 

For Linus Christmas is all about Christmas And maybe you are thinking, “Denn must be losing it, that’s what he said about Snoopy.” But Snoopy and Linus are at opposite ends of the Christmas spectrum.   

Snoopy is all about the secular aspects of Christmas while Linus seems to be all about the spiritual side of it.   

Linus seems to be the one who gets it, he recites the Christmas story from memory, from the King James version no less, and he challenges people to look deeper into the Christmas story.  

After he recites the Christmas story he proudly turns to Charlie Brown and proclaims: “And that’s what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown.”   

And we all know people like, Linus they are the ones the “Keep Christ in Christmas”  button on their winter coat, the “Jesus is the reason for the season” bumper sticker on their cars and the inflatable nativity scene on their front lawn.  Not that there is anything wrong with an inflatable nativity scene.   

They are the first to challenge the commercialization of Christmas and sometimes they go to the extreme of demanding that we fire Santa and shoot all the reindeer, pull down the lights and return the presents.   

The problem is that on January 1^st they pack up Christmas, along with their nativity scene and put it away for another year.  Sure, they keep Christ in Christmas but that’s where he stays, in Christmas.   Just as some people are guilty of leaving Christ on the Cross after the Easter story Linus is content to leave the baby Jesus sleeping quietly in the manger after Christmas is over.

Linus wants to keep Christ in Christmas the same way he wants to keep the Great Pumpkin in Halloween.  That’s where he belongs. 

But how much difference has the Christmas story made in the life of Linus?  In the opening scene when Charlie Brown is deep in despair Linus encourages him by saying “Out of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you’re the Charlie Browniest.”  Linus where’s the love?

Jesus came to give you eternal life, not a religious celebration.

And maybe at this point you are thinking, “Wow If Christmas isn’t even about Christmas what is it about?”   

Well, over the next few weeks we are going to travel back in time 2000 years to see if we can find the answers. 

But here are some things to keep in mind as we look ahead.

Christmas Isn’t Just a Day or an Event.  As long as we see Christmas as December 25^th or even view it in a broader sense as “The Christmas Season” we will miss what Christmas is all about. 

American President Calvin Coolidge said  “Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.”  You see Christmas has to be as valid and valuable in July as it is in December. 

If Christmas doesn’t make a difference in how we live every day, not just December 25^th than it has made a difference at all.  Because when we celebrate the birth of Christ we should be celebrating something bigger than a baby being born in a barn 2000 years ago.  With the birth of Jesus, we need to be celebrating changed lives, a changed world and changed eternities. 

Otherwise we are like the shepherds who were invited to celebrate the birth of the Messiah, they showed up they rejoiced and they disappeared.  Not a mention again of the shepherds, Jesus birth had a great immediate impact on them, but nothing long lasting and certainly nothing eternal.

Christmas has to last longer than the leftovers if we are to truly understand what Christmas is all about.  Charles Dickens wrote “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”

Because Dickens understood the truth that if Christmas doesn’t change your life, then you’ve missed what Christmas is all about

And Christmas Isn’t About a Baby Being Born  Too many people who proudly talk about keeping Christ in Christmas or reminding people that Jesus is the reason for the season have a one dimensional view of Jesus and it is summed up in Luke 2:7 ^KJV And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And truthfully that’s how it all began, Paul reminds us of that in Galatians 4:4  But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.  I love that passage, because it reminds us that Jesus wasn’t born at just any time he was born at the right time.  But let’s never forget that the baby born in the manger wasn’t just the son of Mary, he was the Son of God. 

Too often in our haste to make sure that at Christmas people take the time to celebrate Christ’s birth we miss the enormity of Christ’s birth.

Ken Herr in the Wesleyan Bible Commentary reminds us “This was not just another baby or another birthday. God was born in human likeness—the Divine taking upon himself the limitations of humanity.” 

Which is why Paul reminded the early Christians in Philippians 2:6-7  Though he (Jesus) was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.  Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.

Did you catch that?  Jesus was God! God!  He created the universe, he shaped the planets in his hand and cast the milky way into the night sky, he always was and always will be and he chose to come to earth as a new born child.

God chose to take part in the full range of the human experience, beginning with the trauma of his birth, and I can’t imagine much more traumatic in this life than the birth experience for the new born.  Everybody coos and talks about how beautiful of an experience birth is, if a new born could talk I’m not sure they would agree that what they had just gone through was beautiful.

And for the next thirty-three years Jesus lived his life just as we live our lives, from potty training to puberty, Jesus experienced life just like us. 

When your teenager says in the midst of their angst.  “You just don’t understand” they somehow think you were magically conceived as an adult and never went through what they are going through. 

In the same way we sometimes yell at God, “You just don’t understand.”  But we are reminded in  Hebrews 2:18  Since he (Jesus)  himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.  I would suspect that Jesus fell and skinned his knees, that he had the cold and measles, that he was probably teased at some point by other kids.

He may have had his heart broken by the little girl with red hair and peered into an empty mailbox waiting for the card that would never appear.  

What is Christmas about?  Sure it began with a child being born of a virgin, far from home.  And there were angels and shepherds and wise men with gifts.  But that was just the beginning.  And for some it seems to have ended thirty-three years and six miles down the road when Jesus was crucified, but that too was just a beginning.   

Who will define Christmas this year for you?  You will.   

The Scandal of Grace

They held his hands firmly against the un-planed timber and placed the rough iron spikes over the junction of his wrists.  The roman centurion lifted the mall and drove the first spike home with one swing.  The man bucked and twisted in agony as the metal pierced his wrist like white hot fire, pinning his left side to the cross.

The second spike followed in his right wrist but the shock from the first wound tempered the pain.  As the two guards crossed his feet over each other most of the fight was gone out of him and even the involuntary protest from his body was minimized as the spike was driven home, impaling both feet to the upright member.

As he lay there in the hot Palestinian sun his mind raced back over the short span of his life, everyone thought he had so much potential and yet here he was nailed to a cross.  At what point did he go wrong he thought, when was it that he crossed over the line that made this day inevitable. 

He drifted in and out of consciousness as the pain did its work and he had almost slipped into the silent cocoon of oblivion when the cross was lifted and dropped into the hole prepared for it. 

If he thought the pain couldn’t get any worse he was wrong, as his weight crashed down on the three spikes holding him to the cross it was as if every nerve ending in his body had suddenly been stripped at once and then his body convulsed against the splintered wood behind him.

And the day was just beginning.  As he hung on the cross the sun rose slowly across the horizon, the heat increasing and speeding the process of dehydration and death. 

Through the haze of his pain he could hear the taunts coming from the crowd gathered around the three crosses.   “He saved others, let him save himself if he is really God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

“If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”

The abuse continued until finally he heard one of the other two hanging with him yell out insults ending with, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”

And he could stand it no more, struggling to catch his breath, he pushed himself against the spikes to take the pressure off his diaphragm and then in a ragged voice he spoke saying,   “Jesus, Remember me when you come into power!”  

The man of course was one of the two criminals crucified with Christ.  And these words are recorded in Luke 23:42

We don’t know much about the thief that hung with Christ on that day.  His plea to Jesus is only recorded in Luke chapter 23 and his name, Dismas comes to us only through legend. 

What we do know is this:  it was that criminal who was the first person in the history of the world to taste the Grace and redemption that Jesus Had to offer.

Listen to the words of the thief, Luke 23:40-42 But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”

And with those words two thousand years ago, on a Friday afternoon, when mankind had fallen to the lowest point in it’s history, a miracle happened.  A man was born again! 

The thief on the cross became a new creation.  He may have been crucified as a criminal, he may have lived as a thief, but he died spotless. 

And we celebrate that.  The story of the thief on the cross is so cool.  Until you suddenly stop and think about it and realize that the reward that the thief got was exactly the same reward as your dear sainted Grandmother who became a Christian when she was a babe in arms, never ever cussed or had a bad thought in her entire life.   

And maybe you are thinking, That’s not fair.  It was John F Kennedy who said “Life is unfair”, and might I add that there are times that grace seems unfair as well, it’s why some people refer to the Scandal of Grace. 

We’ve been talking about Grace for the past six weeks, and we’ve looked at Grace displayed in an unlikely person, in an unlikely place, at an unlikely time and two weeks ago we saw how Jesus displayed grace at the table when he invited his 12 closest friends to celebrate with him at the last supper even knowing that those who were there would betray him, deny him and doubt him. 

And then last week we looked at Grace in an Awkward Situation, when even after Peter had denied him three times Jesus didn’t give him what he deserved, he didn’t deny Peter, instead he embraced him and forgave him.

But Jesus knew that some people would struggle with this concept of Grace, grace unearned and undeserved.  And so he told a story to address that very topic.  It’s found in Matthew chapter 20, and here is the short version. 

It was harvest time and the owner of a vineyard needed to hire some day workers to help harvest the grapes in his vineyard.  So early one morning he went to where the day workers hung out looking for work and hired a group, agreeing to pay them a day’s wage.  Later that morning he realized that he would need more workers so he went back and hired another group, telling them he would pay them what was right.  And that part of the story repeated itself at noon, three o’clock and five o’clock.

When the work day ended the owner of the vineyard told his foreman to pay all of the workers, starting with those who were hired at five o’clock.  And each group of workers got paid exactly the same amount, a day’s wage.  And those who worked for one hour were a lot more excited about what they made then those who worked for twelve hours.  And really, who would blame the?. 

Let’s pick up the story in    Matthew 20:10-12 When those hired first came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day’s wage.  When they received their pay, they protested to the owner,  ’Those people worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’

And this was the response of the owner of the vineyard.  Matthew 20:13 He answered one of them, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair! Didn’t you agree to work all day for the usual wage?’

When your dear sainted Grandmother accepted Christ at the age of two, she was offered the same grace that the thief on the cross received, and the reward was exactly the same, an eternity with God.

Now before we get into the story a couple of observations about death bed conversions that I have made over the years.

We all like the concept of the death bed conversion when it comes to those we love.  That even though they never had time for God, we hope in those last few moments, with their last gasp of breath that they too will call out to God saying “Jesus remember me.”

And truthfully that is the hope I present at every funeral I preach. 

Poet William Camden was writing of a man who was killed when he was thrown from his galloping horse, when he penned these words: “Betwixt the stirrup and the ground,

Mercy I asked, mercy I found.”

And history records any number of deathbed conversions including Oscar Wilde, Buffalo Bill Cody, John Wayne and others.  Which is just fun thinking of Oscar Wilde and the Duke as neighbours in heaven.

But some people wonder if it’s fair, fair to others or fair to God.  Someone once said “A deathbed profession is burning the candle of your lifet for the devil and then blowing the smoke in the face of God.”  Another person said “Many a man who was planning on coming to God at the eleventh hour died at 10:45.”

Now I know that we are all getting up on our spiritual high horse and silently protesting that we aren’t like that, that we would always celebrate the fact that someone stepped over the line of faith, regardless of when it happens.

And most of us like the fact that we’ll get to meet John Wayne in heaven.    Oh stop it, hypocrisy doesn’t look good on you, you know very well that only goes so far.

On January 24th 1989 Ted Bundy was executed after confessing to the murder of 30 people, media outlets all over the US requested interviews with Bundy that he turned down, but on the day before he was to be executed he requested an interview with Dr. James Dobson from Focus on the Family. 

Bundy felt that there was a very real correlation between the escalating use of pornography in his life from the time he was a young teen and what he had ended up doing and he wanted to warn people about that.   If you watch the interviews you come away knowing why they referred to him as the Gentlemen Killer. 

But that is not what we are here to talk about here today.  In a later interview, with Dobson not Bundy, Bundy was dead by then, James Dobson talked about how he felt that Ted Bundy had been truly remorseful about what he had done and in those final hours had asked Christ’s forgiveness and turned his life over to Jesus.

How does that make you feel?  That Ted Bundy, a self-confessed killer, in the last hours of his life could have a death bed conversion?   When you get to heaven he could be your neighbour.  Bet that knocked you off your high horse.

Through the years I have discovered that we want grace for ourselves and those we love but we want karma for everyone else.  “Well they got what they deserved, they made their bed and now they are going to have to lay in it.”

But the story of Dismas and for that matter the story of Ted Bundy and each of our stories goes back to Ephesians 2:8-9  God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.   

So the story of the thief on the cross is a story of grace.  But it’s only half of the story, because Dismas wasn’t the only one crucified with Jesus that day. 

There were two thieves and there are two stories.  It is interesting that there are two men in the story, because throughout the gospels Jesus tells stories of two people.  There were two brothers, there were two builders, there were two men working in a field, two women milling grain and there were the two men who came to the temple to pray. 

And the reason that Jesus told stories about two people is because one person wouldn’t be enough for the story and three people would simply confuse it.

And so Jesus ends his life between two men, and the lesson we learn from these two are the lessons we learn from Jesus’ stories. 

They Both Started in the Same Place The men crucified with Jesus weren’t nice people.  Matthew and Mark both call them thieves and Luke simply refers to them as criminals. 

And Dismas himself confirms that when defends Christ in the scripture that was read earlier, Luke 23:39-41 One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”  But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die?  We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.”  

There was no doubt that these men were sinners.  Nobody here would deny it.  They weren’t misunderstood, they weren’t victims of their childhoods, they were sinners.  We know that. And it’s easy to categorize people when we have descriptions like criminal and thief and the like.  Well they are bad people, they are sinners. 

If you were going to try and categorize people on a scale of good and bad where would you start?

Say my iPulpit here is a scale and these sticky notes are people.   

So if we wanted to think of someone really good, maybe Mother Theresa, where would you put her?  Here on the top.  And if we were going to think of the thief on the cross, where would he go?  Maybe down here, not all the way down that would be reserved for people like Hitler and Stalin but pretty far down.

So then, where would I put Denn?  Down here by Dismas or up here by Mother Theresa?  There seems to be a big gap between the two, but understand the gap now between Mother Theresa and God is astronomical.  That’s why Paul wrote in Romans 3:23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 

We all start in the same place.  And we need to realize the same thing that Dismas did, that we are all sinners.

The next thing that we discover about the two thieves on the cross was that They Both Had the Same Choice Like the stories that Jesus told using two people each of these men had the power within their grasp to make the same choice.  The each could have rejected Christ or they each could have accepted Christ. 

They each had the opportunity to make either choice.  And we are told that there are only two choices, accept Christ or reject Christ.  No middle ground.  No “But I’m a good person, or I’m a spiritual person, or I’m a moral person.”  Jesus said very plainly in John 14:6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”

If we go back to my fancy iPulpit with the sticky notes, here is Dismas, here is Mother Theresa and Denn is somewhere in the middle but God is way up there and there is no way that we can bridge that gulf on our own, we can’t be good enough, or moral enough or spiritual enough.

That’s why Paul reminds us in Romans 3:10 As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one.”  Not even Mother Theresa or Billy Graham or your dear sainted Grand Mother who got saved when she was only 2, and certainly not me or you.

Oh we try, we try to be good and moral and spiritual.  We try to bridge that gulf but in the end the truth is recorded in Isaiah 64:6 We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.  

This is one of my favourite movie scenes, one I’m sure you are all familiar with.  (Crocodile Dundee that’s not a knife)

I just picture Denn showing up in heaven and saying to Saint Peter “Look at all my good deeds, look at my righteousness, look at my holiness.”  And Peter saying “That’s not holiness this is holiness” and opening up the door so I can see all of God and his holiness and it’s like 10,000 suns.  And I look down and the little bit I hold in my hands  looks like dirty rags.

You see here is the true scandal of Grace, 2 Corinthians 5:21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

We are all offered the same choice.  And we need to realize the same thing that Dismas did, that it is our choice to make.

The Each Made their own Choice

One thief rejected Christ and one thief accepted Christ.  It was just that simple.  One chose an eternity without God and one chose an eternity with God. 

How? What could this common criminal have done on the cross that would have gained him admittance to heaven.  Nothing, at least not in himself.  But he understood some basic math, he knew that 1 + 2 = 3.

The formula is laid down in John 1:12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.

So the formula is this Believing in his name, plus accepting him equals becoming the children of God.  Some say, “well I believe in Christ” that’s not enough, James the brother of Christ tells us in the book that bears his name, James 2:19 You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.

Belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God is not enough, if you don’t receive that which he offers.  The entire Bible can be summed up by saying, “God created us, we blew it, Jesus paid for it, we must accept Him.”  That’s what the thief did he traveled the longest distance in the world, the distance from his head, knowing that Jesus was the Son of God, to heart receiving what Jesus could do for him.

Let’s go back to our Story.  Luke 23:41-42  We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.”  Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”

First of all, he acknowledged the fact that he was a sinner, We deserve to die for our crimes Then he acknowledged the righteousness of Christ when he said but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” And finally he asked Christ to do what he couldn’t do “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”1 + 2 = 3, Believe + Receive = Become a child of God.

I’m not sure what type of scene was in heaven that afternoon.  I’m thinking that right up to the point that the thief spoke it must have been like a wake as the angels looked down in unbelief as mankind hung God on a cross. 

They couldn’t believe what was actually happening, but then, then all of heaven began to celebrate, because Christ had said back in Luke 15:10  In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”

That same Grace is available for each one of us today.   Regardless of where you are on the scale.  And so I leave you with two thoughts.  William Barclay wrote in relation to this story “It is literally true that while there is life there is hope.”

On the other side of the coin, years ago someone reminded me that there is one story of a deathbed conversion in the bible to show that it’s possible, but there is only one to show that it’s not probable.  Let me remind you of the same thing that Paul reminded his readers of 2000 years ago in 2 Corinthians 6:2  For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.

Grace in an Awkward Situation

Grace in an Awkward Situation

I knew something changed between us, all the talk we made was small, but what do you say to someone when they’ve heard you say it all.  It’s an awkward conversation in a most peculiar way.  How did we get from saying I love you to I’ll see you around some day?

I remember when I first heard that song when Great Big Sea released it late in the last century.  I thought, Peter must have felt like that.  What a day he had.  I’m sure that he could identify with our friend Murphy.   He argued with the other disciples over who would be greatest, wouldn’t let Christ wash his feet and boasted that he would die for Christ.  In Gethsemane he fell asleep when he was supposed to be praying then he freaked out in the garden with a sword and cut a dude’s ear off, and then vehemently denied Christ, not once not twice but three times.  Ever have one of those days? Hey stuff happens. Does it ever.  

But who would have thought Peter?  He was the leader of the apostles, one of Christ’s closest friends, do you remember the old hymn that said “He walks with me and he talks with me”?  Peter could have written that. Like how much more spiritual can you get.  But so often that is the very type of person who is subject to Satan’s greatest attack.  The person in the highest position is the one with the farthest to fall. 

But who was Peter?  Well his birth name was Simon and he was the son of Jonas, he was the first apostle, brought to Christ by his brother Andrew, and was renamed Peter by Jesus.  He was part of the inner circle with John and James the “Son’s of Thunder”. It was John and Peter who went ahead to arrange the upper room for the last supper.  It was Peter who walked on the water, a man wholly devoted to Christ and yet he was still just a man. 

It was Peter who said, “We know you are the Holy One of God.” And “you are the messiah sent from God.”

And when Jesus told the 12 that they would all desert him in His hour of need it was Peter who said  Mark 14:29  Peter said to him, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will.”

The phrase that is translated  deserts you is actually one word in the Greek and that is σκανδαλίζω  skandalizō  (scan da lid zo), it’s where we get our word scandalize, and it means to trip up, stumble, entice to sin or to offend.  And so Peter is saying, “Jesus I would never sin against you.” 

Let’s remember that whenever we use the word never we’d better watch out, it’s an awfully big word, and an awfully long time. About the time we use that word Satan pulls out all the stops.   “I don’t know how they could do that; I would never commit adultery.”  “I would never cuss” “I would never lose my temper like that.”  

Never is a long time.  The very word stumble is indicative of the kind of mistake it is.  This isn’t “Well I think I’ll go out and murder 17 people today.”  This is a slip of the tongue that hurts a fellow Christian, this is a flash of anger, and this is a careless thought or action. 

The second part of Peter’s boast comes two verses later in Mark 14:31  “No!” Peter declared emphatically. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!”

How often have we heard such a boast, for that matter how often have we made such a boast?  “O Lord I would never do anything to bring reproach on your name, even if I have to die for you.”  I’m sure that Christ would concur, the problem isn’t getting people to die for you, it’s getting people to live for you.

This is week five our moments of Grace series, and we’ve looked at Grace displayed in an unlikely person, in an unlikely place, at an unlikely time and last week we saw how Jesus displayed grace at the table and he invited his 12 closest friends to celebrate with him at the last supper even knowing that those who were there would betray him, deny him and doubt him. 

And we referenced this story last week, that even though Jesus knew that Peter would deny him before the night was over, he still extended his grace to him at the Last Supper. 

Now let’s recognize that Peter didn’t plunge from saint to sinner overnight. How often we think that Peter got up and said, “Well this is the day.”  It may appear that way but if the truth was known it just don’t happen that way.  Usually a lot happens before the actual fall takes place.  Satan knows that, he doesn’t open up with the heavy stuff right off, he gradually wears down the defenses and then zap he’s done it to you again. 

They tell us, although I don’t know from actual experience, that if you put a frog in a cool pot of water and slowly bring it to a boil that said frog will stay in the pot until it is cooked, because the gradual rise in temperature doesn’t give him adequate warning about the danger, but if you were to toss the same frog in a boiling kettle there would be all kinds of activity as he tried to get out. 

Now I want to know how did they find this out, and what other critters did they use first?  A cat?  A dog?  You never hear about the horse in the kettle theory do you?

Friends, Peter was walking a well-trod path.  A path that others had walked before him and that plenty have walked since.

If we go to the Garden of Gethsemane, after the Last Supper and before the arrest of Jesus we hear him tell his apostles: Mark 14:38  Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

And then in Mark 14:39-40  Then Jesus left them again and prayed the same prayer as before.  When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open. And they didn’t know what to say.

The first downward step for Peter was when He Stopped Praying. Christ has gone to the garden to await the troops that Judas was bringing.  And Jesus gathers the inner circle to him, John, James and Peter and in verse 40 he asks them to watch and pray.   

Now the one essential ingredient in any relationship is communication.  You cannot sustain a relationship without talking. In work, sports, love, and God the common denominator for success is communication.  Nowhere in the bible are we commanded to preach always, or sing always, or teach always.  But we are told in Luke 18:1 One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.

And Paul commands us in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Never stop praying. 

The first downward step for Peter was when his prayer life went on the skids.  The best relationship in the world cannot stand up to silence. 

It was Dietrich Bonhoeffer who wrote  “Prayer does not mean simply to pour out one's heart. It means rather to find the way to God and to speak with him, whether the heart is full or empty.”

When we stop talking to God we lose the strength that he offers.  I realize that some people think that their prayers have to be in King James English with all the thees and thous in the right places.  And that is perfectly alright if that is what you are comfortable with. 

Other folks just can’t get into that, like they don’t talk to others like that, how many people come up to me following the service and say, “thou hast preached a fine message my sovereign preacher, I shalst endeavour to followest thy words in my daily endeavors.”  Wow wouldn’t that freak me out.   Bottom line is that it really doesn’t matter how you talk to God, as long as you talk to him. 

Mark 14:53-54  They took Jesus to the high priest’s home where the leading priests, the elders, and the teachers of religious law had gathered.  Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and went right into the high priest’s courtyard. There he sat with the guards, warming himself by the fire.

That second sentence in that passage is the second step in Peter’s downward trek. The scriptures tell us that Peter followed at a distance.  He Stopped Following.  I mean sure he followed, where were the other eleven?  But he followed at a distance, not up close where you’d expect to see the leader of the twelve. After all he was Christ’s friend and companion for three years.  Like he wasn’t just an acquaintance.  I can just hear Peter now, “don’t worry Jesus I’m behind you, way behind you.”   Love made Peter ashamed to run, fear made him ashamed to get too close.  The disciples chose the left side of the road and ran; Jesus chose the right side of the road and obeyed.  But Peter chose the middle of the road; you know where you find yellow stripes and dead skunks.

Once you stop communicating with someone, then you no longer know where they are and where they are going.  And it isn’t long before your paths usually diverge.  In 1982 twenty-eight of us from bible college in New Brunswick headed for the world headquarters of the Wesleyan church which was located in Marion Indiana at the time (kind of like going to Mecca), something like a thirty-hour trip. 

The problem was that we were driving six cars and only the driver of the lead car knew how to get to Marion.  Along the way we somehow managed to lose the last car and as he was struggling to keep up, he was pulled over by a Vermont state trooper for exceeding the speed limit by a mere 48 kmh.  When he explained the State Trooper told him that it didn’t matter how fast he drove he wouldn’t catch up, how come? Because he had missed the right exit about thirty miles back.  It doesn’t matter how fast you’re going if’n you’re going in the wrong direction. 

It doesn’t take long for you to start following Christ from a distance once you have stopped talking to him on a regular basis. 

Peter’s third step downward is at the end of the passage we read a couple of minutes ago Mark 14:53-54  They took Jesus to the high priest’s home where the leading priests, the elders, and the teachers of religious law had gathered.  Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and went right into the high priest’s courtyard. There he sat with the guards, warming himself by the fire.

Seriously Peter, you are sitting with the guards?   These weren’t guards from an armoured truck, or guards from the local prison, these were temple police, the very ones who arrested Christ, these are those who eventually and ultimately were responsible for the crucifixion. 

The path away from Christ eventually leads into the path of the ungodly. He Stopped Fellowshipping  Fellowshipping is just a churchy word for hanging out with God’s people.  Peter would have been better off hiding in the shadows with the disciples or standing in the courtyard with his master but instead he was warming his hands over the devil’s fire. 

And David told us a long time ago in Psalm 1:1 Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers.

The converse of that is also true, the man who does follow the advice of the wicked, and stands around with sinners and joins in with mockers, is not blessed and that is right where our old buddy Peter found himself.  Now that does not mean that we isolate ourselves.  Christ never intended us to live in monasteries.  Remember one of the chief complaints against him is that he was a friend of sinners.  But they weren’t his primary social contact, most of the time he was in the company of his disciples. 

And remember that Christ was intent on winning those sinners into the kingdom and not simply having a good time with them.  Church is for fellowship as well as for worship.  When we go into the New Testament we discover that the entire lives of the early believers were interwoven with the church. 

And that’s why we have coffee after the service, and why we have the Great I Hate Winter Beach Party, and weekly Life Groups and why the ladies are planning a Christmas event next month, it’s so we can sit around and talk to people who aren’t using the Lord’s name in vain and cussing and telling smutty stories.  Because like it or not you are different then the world. Or at least you are supposed to be. 

The bible reminds us in Hebrews 10:25  And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Church isn’t just some place you go, it is something you do. 

And then you know the rest of the story, if you don’t Peter goes on to do exactly what Jesus said he would do, he denies Christ, not once, not twice but three times.

When Peter assured Jesus that he would never deny him I’m sure he was sincere.  But it kind of comes back to Yogi Berra’s words.  “In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.”  In theory Peter was convinced that he would never deny Jesus, but in practice. . .

Peter’s first two denials were simple, when people commented that Peter looked like one of Jesus’s disciples, and he said “ Not sure what you are talking about, but you’ve got the wrong guy.” 

But listen to what happens when he’s given one more opportunity

Mark 14:71-72  Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know this man you’re talking about!”  And immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And he broke down and wept.

And that should have been the end of the story.  Peter had done exactly what Jesus said he would do and exactly what Peter said he wouldn’t do.  This wasn’t like Peter hadn’t been warned, he just didn’t pay attention. 

Now remember that justice is getting what you deserve.  So what did Peter deserve?  Good question and a question that Peter knew the answer to, because it was spelled out earlier in the story. 

Back in the book of Matthew Jesus has appointed the 12 and is preparing to send them out.  After Matthew lists the 12 by name, a list that includes Peter, we read Matthew 10:5  Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions: And then Jesus tells them a whole bunch of things that he expects of them.  And part of that list is recorded in  Matthew 10:32-33  “Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.  But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.”

Sounds simple enough, acknowledge me publicly here on earth, I will acknowledge you in heaven.  Deny me here on earth, I will also deny you in heaven.”   

I wonder when the rooster crowed and Peter wept if he wept because of his actions, was he weeping because he had denied Christ, or did he weep because he suddenly realized the consequences of his behaviour.  That justice dictated that just as he had denied Jesus that Jesus could justly deny him.

Luke’s account contains a detail that is missing from Mark’s account.  We read in Luke 22:60-61  But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.  At that moment the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered that the Lord had said, “Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.”

Wow, talk about an awkward situation.  What do you say to someone when they’ve heard you say it all. 

But that isn’t what happened.  Maybe you know the rest of the story, maybe you don’t.  That day ends with Jesus being crucified.  And we are told that he was buried in a borrowed tomb and that the eleven remaining disciples went back to the upper room where they had celebrated the Passover feast less than 24 hours before. 

And we don’t know what happened there as they grieved the loss of their friend.  I would suspect that there was guilt, that there were recriminations, that the words “if only” were spoken more than a few times. 

But we do know that on the third day that things changed.  Because on the third day when Mary Magdalene and her friends went to the tomb to finish preparing the body of Jesus they found the tomb empty, guarded by an angel.   And listen to what the angel told the women that day Mark 16:6-7  The angel said, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body.  Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died.”

Did you catch that?  Not just his disciples, but make sure you tell Peter. 

If you know the story it wasn’t long after the resurrection that Jesus met Peter on the beach at the sea of Galilee, back where it had all begun three years earlier.  And three times, the same number of times that Peter denied Jesus, Jesus asked Peter “Do you love me?”

If you go back to the song that the team sang for us earlier, the question asked was: “But what do you say to someone when they've heard you say it all?”  Apparently the answer, at least in this case is “I love you, I love you, I love you.” 

Remember Grace is getting what you don’t deserve.  And that is exactly what Peter got, what he didn’t deserve.  Christ forgave him for his past and entrusted him with his future.  Peter would go on to become the leader of the New Testament Church.  Many years later Peter would write to the early church, he began by telling them in 1 Peter 1:2  . . . May God give you more and more grace and peace.  And he finished his letter with these words.   1 Peter 5:12  My purpose in writing is to encourage you and assure you that what you are experiencing is truly part of God’s grace for you. Stand firm in this grace.

And so in conclusion, my prayer for you today is: May God give you more and more grace and peace. 

And my purpose for preaching this message today is to encourage you and assure you that what you are experiencing is truly part of God’s grace for you. Stand firm in this grace.