Communion Message
(The light of Christmas)
December 18-19, 1999
Pastor Rick Miller

Christmas is such a joy. Sometimes I wonder what people see in Christmas. I saw a lady, not a lady, I saw a T-shirt with a picture of a lady on it. She was all in curlers and a bathrobe and had a look on her face like don't even talk to me. And across the bottom the caption said; listen honey, why should I get excited about a holiday where we sit in front of a dead tree and eat candy out of our socks? I was just kind of thinking about that, and you know, for a lot of people Christmas has no more meaning than that. There are so many wonderful, wonderful things about Christmas and the celebration that we make it because of the meaning that's behind it. I think of the traditions that we have in our families about Christmas and we all have them. We all have different things. Some of them we share other families do the same thing, but there are different ones that mean special things to us. We've got some Christmas ornaments that we put on our tree every year that I remember having on the trees at my house all growing up. When I got a family of my own my mom gave those to me and we put them on the tree still, and every time I see those it brings back such a flood of memories, such an awesome impact of all the things over the years that have added up, that bring back family and Christmas and what it means. I'm fortunate that I basically grew up in a family that was a Christian family, and so for me Christ is tied in with Christmas to the core. It's not a holiday; it's an event because of Christ. I look around at the different things that Christmas brings and I began to realize that, you know, Christmas is really a celebration of Christ coming, but Christ from the day He was born, was born to die. And I don't think that you can fully appreciate Christmas unless you fully appreciate the cross. There's a painting that hangs in the City Museum and Art Gallery in Manchester England painted by a gentleman who spent three years in the holy land. And while he sat on the roof of his house in Jerusalem he was moved to paint a portrait of Christ, but it's a very interesting one. It's very different. It's painted about a portion of Christ's life that there's not much said about, when He was a young adult, working for His father in His father's carpentry shop. And the picture is of the late afternoon. The sun is setting in the West and streaming in through the door, and here's this young Jesus standing up from His workbench that He's been working at all day, and He's standing up in the doorway to stretch His muscles and as He does you see the shadow on the wall behind Him is the shape of the cross. And through all of that working and growing that He did, there was an ultimate end, there was a purpose. The very reason He was born was for the cross. And I look around at all of the different decorations and all of the things, and I'll tell you something that really strikes me. I love the lights. I love the lights on the houses, and one of my great joys each year is to go out and put the lights up on the front of our house. And for me it's got a very special significance because I understand that Christ was the light of the world. And I drive by those houses the rest of the year and I think about what's going on behind those doors that no one knows about; the disappointment, and the darkness, or the fear, the relationships that are struggling. The frustration of day-to-day life, and every day we go by those houses and we have no idea what's going on behind them. But there is a light in this world that Christ brought on the day He was born that culminated in its luminosity on the cross. What an awesome, awesome thing. I don't know what this year has brought for you. For some people sitting here it's been a year of joy. It's been a year of excitement. You've seen God doing awesome things in your life. There are others may be standing right next to you that this year has been full of disappointment, hurt, and frustration, but in either case God is alive and He is at work. He is thriving in our body, in our family right here. And God brought you as a part of this family. You are here for reason. Because on whatever side of that roller coaster you're on of life, whatever life has thrown at you, there is a consistency in Jesus Christ. The thing that excites me also about Christ is for His whole life He was building up to that point, and for the last few moments before He died on the cross, He gathered some people together, those closest to Him, and He spent sometime. In our college class right now were studying those last few hours of the life of Christ, and the things that He taught they didn't understand. You're going through some things right now maybe you don't understand about your life. They didn't understand what He was telling them then either, but a few days later they understood. It all made sense. It all came together. You may not understand right now what God is doing, but you will, you will, because the light is shining. He got those men together, and He did something that was very interesting. He took some very common things. Things that were there on the Passover table already, but He changed it all. He gave it completely new significance. He said there's something far more important than what you're seeing here. Let me share something with you. There is going to come time that I won't be here, and I want you to do something to remember this time that we're spending. Pass it down so that you'll remember for all-time what I came to do. And I'm going to make you a promise He said, I will not do this again until I can do it with you in My home in heaven. And He passed out the wine and the bread and He said I want you to take this; I want you to eat it. But I'm going to anticipate from this day on doing it with you. One of the exciting things about Christmas is the anticipation, and I just wonder every time that we meet together on Sunday and we have our communion, I just in my own mind, my own little heart, I picture Christ sitting up there full of anticipation looking forward to that time where He shares this with us. Won't that be exciting? I want you take the cup and take the bread, and I'm going to read out of Luke. He said then at the proper time Jesus and the twelve apostles sat down together at the table, and Jesus said I have look forward to this hour with deep longing anxious to eat this Passover meal with you before My suffering begins. For I tell you now that I won't eat it again until it comes to fulfillment in the kingdom of God. Then He took a loaf of bread and when He had thanked God for it he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying this is this is My body given for you do this in remembrance of Me, and after supper He took the cup of wine and said this wine is a token of God's new covenant to save you, an agreement sealed with the blood that I will pour out for you.

Would you kneel as we go before God, as we look to the cross, as we understand that He came to die to build a bridge for us to have a relationship with Him. Father I thank you so much for that infinite love that You showed, going so far beyond anything that we would every imagine that we could even dream, but Father from the very breath, first breath, that You took on this earth there was a purpose for You to die, so that we could live. Father one of the last things You did was to set this covenant to say to us that You were going to seal this agreement with Your blood that You shed on the cross. Father I thank you so much for that demonstration, that setting of a precedent. Then You told us that You were going to anticipate doing this with us and we look so forward to that day. Father we take this bread that You broke in pieces and gave to Your disciples, that You told them about Your body that was given for us, and You told us to eat this in remembrance of You. So Father right now we eat and we remember what You've done. Let's eat together. Father you told us of the token of the new covenant Your blood was shed to demonstrate not just Your love, but Your desire to know us, to be involved in our lives, and to anticipate that time that we will see each other face-to- face, and we look ahead to that and we thank You so much Father for Your birth and for Your death that built a bridge for us to know You intimately, to have fellowship with You, to call You Abba Father. We thank you so much, and we likewise seal the covenant with You by the drinking of this cup. Let's drink together. Father we love you. We give You praise. We honor Your name. And Father as we look around at Christmas and see the lights we know Father it's You that is the light to this world. Speak to our hearts Father and show us the things that we can do to be a light to those around us. We give You praise and honor, and we thank you our almighty King, in Jesus' precious name, amen. Amen. Would you just stand and thank the people around you for being here to worship with you that make this a wonderful day in God's house.