Almost all of us have something that we fear. Some of those fears are a little more unique than others. I read about some phobias this week that I’d never heard of before:
Peladophobia: the fear of bald people.
Chaetophobia: fear of hairy people.
Porphyrophobia: fear of the color purple.
Auroraphobia: fear of the northern lights.
Calyprophobia: fear of obscure meanings.
Odontophobia: fear of teeth.
Phobophobia: fear of being afraid.
I think many of us fear the unknown. Many Christians fear being attacked by a hostile world. Parents fear seeing their children targeted in a world that’s increasingly hostile to their faith.
But in v. 14, Peter tells Christians facing extreme persecution, “Be not afraid of their terror (intimidation), neither be troubled.”
Our response to this world’s intimidation and hostility does not need to be fear. God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, of love, of a sound mind (2 Tim. 1:7).
In fact, v. 15 says there is a hope that is in us. Our response to this world’s hostility should be hope, not fear.
This morning we saw why we should love life. Tonight we’ll see why we should love the good life. Look at verse 10 “For he that will love life, and see good days.”
This is what most people today want-the good life. They want to love life and see good days.
That’s what we say to each other “Have a good day.” Our founding documents say that’s our inalienable right-life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We want a happy life. We want the good life.
The problem is we look in the wrong places. Most people think they’ll find the good life in cars, houses, money, clothes, drugs, alcohol, etc.
Solomon is an biblical example. We saw this in Ecclesiastes. Here’s the man who has everything. 2 Chron. 9:4 says the Queen of Sheba had her breath taken away by all his wealth and power. But Solomon says in Eccles. 2:17 after all his pursuits of happiness, “Therefore I hated life.”
How many people today really love life and see truly good days?
We’re in a section of this letter where Peter calls us as Christians to submit to God-given authorities. In chapter 2, he tells Christians citizens to submit to government authorities, even pagan authorities. He tells Christians employees to submit to their bosses, even mean bosses. We saw last week that he calls wives to submit to their own husbands, even unsaved husbands, because through her testimony and life, he may be won to Christ.
But in verse 7, Peter turns to the men. So, husbands, if you were “amening” a little too loudly lastly week, if you were thinking “Hey. This is great. I always thought I liked Peter the bold fisherman. He really was a man’s man. He told the women and let us off the hook.” Actually verses 1-6 were just the bait to get us on the hook and this week he’s going to reel us in.
During the Christmas season, we hear a lot of Christmas carols. But one of the most popular is, “Silent Night.” And not just for Christians, but for all Americans.
I was amazed when I went online and found it’s been performed by everyone from the Vienna Boys Choir to Willie Nelson, from Nat King Cole to Neil Diamond, from Johnny Cash to Josh Groban, from Bing Crosby to Boyz2Men.It’s a very popular song.
And to tell the truth, it’s one of my favorites. But even though it’s a popular song, have you ever thought about the words? Was it really a silent night? The night, of course, refers to the night of Jesus’ birth. And for those of you who remember your first baby’s birth, “Was it that silent?”
Remember Mary went into labor that night. And as far as I know most of us wouldn’t characterize childbirth with words like “mild” or “calm” or “silent.” And most newborns aren’t very good at sticking to noise curfews either, are they? Then you add a stable of barnyard animals, and it’s somewhat difficult to believe that it was really a silent night.Maybe it wasn’t really a silent night.
And yet all of us this Christmas want a silent night. And I don’t just mean that the neighbor kid would turn down his music. I’m referring to the silent night of your soul. “Does your soul feel safe at night? Do you sleep in heavenly peace? What if you passed away in your sleep? Where would you go?
When I was kid I prayed “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray thee Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake I pray thee Lord my soul to take.”
I was praying for a silent night. That I could rest secure. That I could sleep knowing my soul was safe.
Do you know if you died tonight, that your soul would be safe? Do you sleep in heavenly peace?
In this sermon, we’ll look at three silent nights that will answer these questions.
For the past few years I’ve begun my Christmas sermons with a popular Christmas song-”Silent Night,” “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas,” and last year “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.” Probably all of us have favorite Christmas songs that we enjoy hearing and singing this time of year.
This morning we’re going to look at what many have called the first Christmas song. A song that can bring peace to our worry-filled hearts.
In the first part of Luke 1, the angel Gabriel appears to two women telling them they’re pregnant. Mary’s cousin Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah are “well stricken in years” that phrase was used of people in their 80s, but in v. 13, Gabriel tells Zechariah his wife is expecting. Then in v. 28 Gabriel comes to Mary and tells her she will be pregnant.
Two women find out they are expecting baby boys with two different reactions. One elderly married woman who couldn’t get pregnant was told she would be. Her young unmarried cousin who shouldn’t be pregnant is told she’s about to be.
How would you react if you were Mary? She’s probably about 15 years old, and an angel pops out of nowhere and tells you you’re going to have a baby-who is the Son of God.
Like Mary, you may have a lot to worry about. And so you need to hear Mary’s song.
In a few days, my wife and I will get on a plane with our two girls and head down to Grammy’s house in Raleigh, NC. Now I love my in-laws. And I love southern winters. I lived in the south for eight years. And it’s nice when “a really cold day” is in the low 40s.
And yet there’s something about going out on Christmas day to play football in t-shirts and even shorts, that just doesn’t seem right to someone like me who grew up in Indiana.
A couple years ago, her family took us to see the musical “White Christmas.” You even got a free cookie and hot chocolate at intermission. But all the talk about a “White Christmas” seemed a little artificial since it was in the mid 60s outside. We weren’t even wearing jackets.
I find it interesting that Irving Berlin reportedly wrote the song, “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” at the side of his pool in LA.
Yet that’s the reason the song is so popular. Because no matter where you’re at this time of year, the song stirs up Christmas emotions.
They say Bing Crosby’s version sold 50 million copies. And when you count other versions, the song has sold 100 million. It’s ranked as the #1 Christmas song of all time.
But what really made the song popular was the way it struck a chord with the soldiers fighting in the WWII. And with their families who were waiting for them back home.
Imagine being a young kid in WWII on the other side of the world. Some of you were. You’re eating army rations or starving in a POW camp. Fearing for your life. Thousands of miles away from your family and your home. Or imagine being a family member.
And think of those words. I’ll just read them and spare you my singing.
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the treetops glisten,
and children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white
You see the soldiers’ dream was for more than just frozen precipitation or some Yankee weather. It was what? An aching longing to be home. They wanted the war to be over. They wanted to go home and enjoy their families and live their lives.
For them dreaming of a white Christmas was a noble dream-an aching longing for a better future.
And yet long before WWII, someone else was dreaming a similar dream. Someone else had an aching longing for a better future. And that someone was God.
And here in this passage, 700 years before Christ, the prophet Isaiah tells us about God’s aching longing.
And in v. 18 we read, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
This is the white Christmas God is longing for-for us-that our lives stained by crimson-red, would be washed as white as snow.
There are a lot of Christmas questions I could ask you today, like…
Will you be traveling out of town?
Will you be seeing friends and family?
Have you finished your shopping?
But my question for you this morning is “Who are you kissing this Christmas?”
Now when I ask that question, the first thing we probably think of is famous song sung in 1952 by a 13 year boy, named Jimmy Boyd who told us about how he saw his mommy kissing Santa Claus. The song was commissioned by Neiman Marcus to promote their store’s Christmas card that year.
But the Catholic Church in Boston condemned the song for mixing kissing and Christmas, but little Jimmy met with the Archdiocese and explained that kissing under the mistletoe has been a longtime Christmas tradition. After the meeting the ban was lifted, and the song went on to become the year’s #1 hit. It has become a classic—sung by many famous artists over the decades. And even made into a movie a few years ago.
Now regardless of what you think of the song, you’d have to admit, that it’s a clever idea. Clearly Santa is just Daddy in disguise, but to little eyes this would be a scandal.
And so that brings us back to my question for you this morning is “Who will you be kissing this Christmas?”
Let me make some recommendations of who you should kiss. Here’s my top 4.
#4 Kiss your mom.
That’s just a no brainer. If your mom’s still alive, kiss her.
#3 Kiss your kids.
I love kissing my little girls they’re so cute and cuddly and kissable.
Maybe you say “But my kids are in their 60s. They’re not cute, cuddly or kissable.” Well kiss them anyway.
#2 Kiss your spouse.
This is something you should do all the time. I read recently that the way a wife can keep her husband loyal is by giving him a 6 second kiss every morning before he goes out the door. Try it this week. You may gross your kids out. You may want to brush your teeth before he goes to work. But kiss your spouse.
This brings us to the #1 Person you should kiss this Christmas. And that is the Person of Jesus Christ. Kiss the Son of God.
If this sounds a little strange, it’s because we need to understand Ps. 2. This was written 1,000 years before the first Christmas—by David the great King of Israel.
There are many people today, including Christians, who are angry and bitter and critical. But they would justify it by saying, “But you don’t know what happened to me? This person has hurt me, or mistreated me or let me down. Therefore I have the right to criticize or slander and hold a grudge against him.”
Other Christians say, “I’ve been hurt unjustly, but I will not become bitter, I will not retaliate and criticize and slander. I choose to return evil for good, to bless rather than curse.”
If you had to choose between 2 options this morning:
2 answers on a test, A or B. Would you say…
A) I’m willing to suffer. Or
B) I’m wanting my rights?
I think most people today would want their rights.
Everyone wants their rights-ethnic rights, reproductive rights, immigrant rights, homosexual rights, workplace rights. And they’ll express their grievances with walkouts or boycotts or strikes or even political uprisings.
Now I’m not saying there’s never a place for arbitration between labor and management. The Bible says “the laborer is worthy of his hire” (1 Tim. 5:18). The Bible has a lot to say about working hard and giving an honest day’s work and it also talks about paying people fairly and taking care of the less fortunate.
The question we’re looking at today is: A Christian’s response to government? How should a Christian respond to authority?
If I had gone around the lobby before church and asked the question “What do you think about our government?” I’m sure I would have gotten a lot of opinions, a lot of strong opinions-probably some negative opinions.
Of course this week we had the opportunity to cast a ballot in local elections. Our city elected a new mayor. The city of Elwood elected a mayor whose family comes to our church and whose wife works in our school.
But what happens when you don’t like the results of the election? When you’re stuck with someone as your authority who you don’t like?
The world is changing around us. But are we changing the world? Are we influencing those around us?
You might say, “But some people don’t want to change.” And that’s true. I heard about a man in Nashville who bought a new radio, brought it home, placed it on the refrigerator, and plugged it in. He turned it to WSM 650, home of the Grand Ole Opry, and then he pulled off all the knobs! That was the only station he wanted. He didn’t want anything to change.
You say “With so many people who don’t want to change, how can we, as Christians influence those around us?”
We look at the life of a man like Steve Jobs. There’s a guy who influenced those around him.
His just-released biography reveals that it was cancer that brought his life into focus. He no longer wanted to go out. No longer wanted to travel the world. He put all his focus on the products. He knew the couple of things he wanted to do, the iPhone and then the iPad. If we as Christians had that kind of focus, we could influence those around us.
In these two verses tonight we find the two most important issues in the world-men’s souls and God’s glory.
