After all the presents are opened.  After all the food is eaten.  After all the Bowl Games have been played . . . it is time to pack Christmas up for another year.

You know the drill.  Take the ornaments off of the tree.  Sweep the pine needles up from the floor.  Detach the Christmas lights from the front of the house.  Pack your nativity away for another year.

In a few short hours, you will be in full blown “January mode” and the red and green will be in the attic for 330 more days.

This is a normal process, and an important one.  A Christmas tree just would not look right in your living room in July!  However, as you put your Christmas decor up over the next couple of weeks, let me remind you of a couple of things:

1. As you pack away your garland, don’t box up your God as well.  It is far too easy to live a spiritual life only around Christmas and Easter.  At these holiday times of year, there are cultural prompts that remind us of the Savior and we make it a priority to read devotionals, attend services, and live a God-aware life.  However, Jesus did not just die for the holidays!  He came that we might have life every day of the year.  Do not fall to the temptation of packing away your faith with your decorations this January.
2. God is not contained to the holidays.  At Christmas time, we feel compelled to do things that we do not necessarily do the rest of the year.  Being in the “Christmas Spirit” means being more compassionate, giving, or kind.  In a sense, the idea is, be nicer, kinder, better BECAUSE it is Christmas season . . . you can go back to being “normal” in January.  However, we do not serve a God who is seasonally affected.  Our Heavenly Father is just as gracious on July 24 as He is on December 24.  Jesus is just as compassionate and loving on that blah March morning as He is on Christmas morning.  Isn’t that amazing?  Isn’t that encouraging to know?  Though we are seasonally affected, our God never is.  He gives us special days of celebration to focus our hearts, but His heart never needs refocusing.  We can approach Him every minute of every day and find the same God.

Since our God is always the same.  Since our God is never “boxed” and placed in the attic, we might expect to see Him be at work year round.  That is why this Sunday at Wildwood we will be taking some time to reflect on God’s goodness in the lives of many of our members over the past 12 months.  We will be hearing a number of stories from Wildwood members about how God has been at work in tangible ways . . . not just during the holidays, but ALL THE TIME.  By hearing these stories and praising God for them, we will also be setting our expectations for 2014.  Since our God is not “boxable” and since He never changes, we can expect to see Him work in our lives in the coming year as well.

Join us this Sunday at Wildwood Community Church for either our 9:30 or 10:50 worship service.

In 1847, a French Catholic Priest commissioned a Christmas poem from local winemaker Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure.  This local poet penned the words to “O Holy Night” while traveling to Paris.  After writing the poem, Cappeau believed these verses would do well set to music.  Not being a musician, Cappeau approached noted composer Adolphe-Charles Adam to add music to his message.  After Adam added song to Cappeau’s words, the finished product was first sung by the choir at the Christmas Eve Mass in 1847.  The song quickly became popular and was sung all over France.  After time, however, Cappeau left the Catholic Church to become a socialist.  Adam (the song’s composer) was actually Jewish and did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God.  Once the church saw the exodus of Cappeau and learned of Adam’s religious beliefs, they banned the song from being sung in churches.  In fact, the church’s official stance on the song was that it embodied a “total absence of the spirit of true religion.”

Because this song was blackballed in its home country, it may have never reappeared had it not been for American John Sullivan Dwight who heard the song and fell in love with it.  On top of the fact that Dwight loved the total message of the song, he had a special affinity for the third verse that says of Jesus, “Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother, and in His name all oppression shall cease.”  Dwight was an abolitionist and found in Cappeau’s words a hymn that resonated deep within his soul.  Dwight translated the song into English and on the verge of the United States Civil War, introduced the song to American Churches.  The song gained quick acceptance in the North due to its anti-slavery message.  Once inside the American Church, the song exploded around the world and is one of the most famous Christmas songs today.  Eventually, the French Catholic Church reintroduced the song because of the deep love people had for it.

As I reflect on this story today, I am reminded of a couple of interesting passages of Scripture.  In Philippians 1:15-18 the Apostle Paul says, “It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill.  The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.  The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains.  But what does it matter?  The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached.  And because of this I rejoice.”  Also, Mark 9:38-40 says, “‘Teacher,’ said John, ‘we saw a man driving out demons in Your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.’  ‘Do not stop him,’ Jesus said.  ‘No one who does a miracle in My name can in the next moment say anything bad about Me, for whoever is not against us is for us.‘”  These two passages of Scripture remind me that God does not use perfect people to accomplish His plans.  In fact, He does not always even use believing people to accomplish His plans.  God can call forth praise for Himself from any vessel He chooses to use.  In the case of “O Holy Night,” God used a Socialist French poet and a Jewish composer to inspire praise and worship among His people.  Now THAT is sovereignty.

Sometimes we begin to think that God only chooses those with the most pristine resumes to accomplish His plans, but the fact is that God will do His work through whoever He chooses to use.  This is good news for those of us with less than perfect resumes (read: all of us).  If God can call forth praise from those who reject Him, how much more can He use those of us who (though imperfect) are looking to Him for direction and leaning on His grace for daily strength!  If you are a believer in Christ rejoice this Christmas as you hear “O Holy Night” sung.  On top of the great truth this song puts forth, the story behind it reminds us of God’s gracious intentions of using fallen people to accomplish His grandest plans.

One last note about this great Christmas song . . . in 1906,  Chemist Reginald Fessenden (working with Thomas Edison) turned on a microphone on Christmas Eve and spoke into it, reading the Christmas story from Luke 2.  After reading the story, Fessenden picked up his violin and played the hymn “O Holy Night” into that mic.  What makes this significant was that Fessenden’s performance was the first ever broadcast of music over the new technology of radio.  Telegraph operators on ships and in newspaper offices around the country, instead of hearing their usual codes of clicks and pops, heard clearly the words of the Bible and the beautiful tune of Cappeau and Adam.  If you ever get asked the trivia question, “What was the first song played on radio,” you now know the answer!  From its very beginning, radio (like the printing press before it) was being used to spread the knowledge of Christ to all the people!

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O holy night, O night divine!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here came the wise men from  Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friend.
He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! O praise His name forever,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
His power and glory ever more proclaim!

Lisa Marie Presley.  What an interesting case study in sociology she is.  As the daughter of the legendary King of Rock, Elvis Presley, the ex-wife of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, Lisa Marie is a queen twice over.  But all her marriages and failed relationships are not the part of her life that I want to focus on here. What I want to talk about is her inheritance.  It is quite a story . . . have you heard it?

Lisa Marie Presley was the daughter of Elvis, and when Elvis died, he made Lisa Marie the sole heir of his estate.  At the time, the estate was worth only $5 million, but over the past forty years since Elvis’s death, the estate has grown to a value of over $300 million with the sale of greatest hits albums and tours of Graceland (Elvis’s home in Memphis).  That is some serious change!  But there is something even more interesting to me about Lisa Marie’s inheritance than its large value . . . it was the way in which the inheritance was given.  Lisa Marie was only nine years old when Elvis died, and though the estate was promised to her, she would not take ownership of it until after her 25th birthday.  Think of that. . . she had to wait 16 years to become the owner of the estate.  She was always the heir, but she did not receive the riches until she turned 25.  Until that time, the estate would be under managers who would take care of things until her time came.  Can you imagine what that would be like?

Well, the way many of us think about the Christian life, we certainly can imagine this scenario . . . in fact, we think we live it everyday.  Many people believe that as Christians we are heirs to a great inheritance that we cannot yet partake of.  It is being “held” for us until either Christ returns or we die and go to be with Him.  Until that time, many feel that they are simply an heir awaiting a promise.  Now, when it comes to our ultimate glorification, the ridding of our flesh and the taking on of a new Body in the presence of God, this would be a correct statement.  Those things will not be realized until the end . . . but that is not the sum total of the inheritance and blessing that God has given us.  God has blessed us not just with a promise for the future, but also with a provision for today!  As believers in Jesus Christ, we do not have a time delay on the fortune that has been granted to us.

What do I mean?  For further explanation, look at Galatians 4:1-7 as it says, “Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father.  So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world.  But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.  Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba, Father!’  Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.”

In that passage, Paul tells the Galatians that there once was a time before the birth of Jesus Christ, when God’s people were like Lisa Marie . . . heirs who had received a promise, but it was a promise with a time contingency on it.  When the appropriate time came, the promise would be fulfilled and all their hopes would be realized.  The amazing thing that Paul tells them is this:  That waiting period is over!  It is now time to experience the joy and blessing of all that God has for you.  This “fullness of time” that Paul refers to is the coming of Christ, His death on the cross, and resurrection from the dead.  Because of those things, the time has now come for the people of God to be released from the deadness of the Law and set loose to the freedom that is found through a living relationship with the risen Christ.  Indeed if you have placed your faith in Christ’s death on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins, you have suddenly been named a “son or daughter” of Almighty God!

So what is this great blessing that we do not have to wait for . . . what is it that we get to inherit now without a further waiting period.  These verses tell us:  We get to experience now the incredible blessing of the coming of God’s Holy Spirit into our hearts.  This is something we get to experience right now if we have trusted in Christ.  The Spirit marks us as God’s children, is given as a deposit for future redemption of our bodies, intercedes for us before God our deepest needs and desires as we pray, and gives us the power and provision to live the life that God has called us to.  I don’t know about you, but I would rather have that forevermore than the rights to “Love Me Tender” any day.

So be encouraged, the blessing begins now!  Because you are a child of the King of Kings, we get to partake of His Grace in this Land.  Not sometime in the future, but right now through the blessing of the giving of His Spirit.

This Sunday at Wildwood we will unpack more of what it means to be adopted as a child of the King as a part of our “Adoption Sunday.”  We will look at adoption from two angles:  Our adoption as children of God (this will be the context of the sermon from Galatians 4), AND we will hear testimonies from several Wildwood families who have adopted (or are adopting) children into their homes.  It will be a great Sunday!  Make plans to join us in either our 9:30 or 10:50 service.