January 21, 2024 Speaker Randy Wiskirchen So this morning, the title of my message is Life After Christmas. And I chose those verses in Colossians 1:13 through 18. And the impetus for my message was we had the privilege to have Dr. Nix. He's been doing an interim pastor role for us. But he did a wonderful job before Christmas leading up to Christ's birth. And. It was a wonderful series. Dr. Nix has a way sometimes of taking a look at scripture and adding context that you wouldn't typically think about by just reading the scripture. And he did a series, I talked about Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men and others, that I thought were really interesting. So I thought about the build up to Christmas. I want to talk a little bit about what happens after Christmas. Obviously the verses that Rob was or Dr. Nix was sharing are found in the book of Luke. And we know that after his birth, if we were to continue in the book of Luke, there's some important things. First of all, he grew from a boy to a man. If you were to read Luke 2:40 through 50. And eventually he paid the ultimate price on the cross when we look at Romans 5:6 through 8. So I'm going to challenge you this morning just to talk a little bit about the world's, one of the challenges that we have in the world today. And I want to start with a little reflection of what Christmas is and its meaning to many in this world. And most of these are man-made traditions that take place before and after Christmas. So here we are a couple weeks after Christmas. In all the celebrations that go into this special day, many are drained for various reasons, starting with Black Friday. You know, isn't it interesting? I don't know how that day got its name after Thanksgiving.
I'm sure there's some special meaning. I was going to look it up and I didn't get a chance to do that. But isn't it interesting, Black Friday used to happen the Thursday or the Friday after Thanksgiving, now it starts in July. I mean, it really seems like it gets pushed back further and further every year. But so Black Friday, all the family work parties, the shopping that goes into it, fixing Christmas lights when only half of them work. Traveling to visit family and friends, the school programs, work gatherings, all the preparing and snacking of meals, baking Christmas cookies, wrapping gifts, returning unappreciated gifts, taking down the Christmas tree, cleaning up all the needles, unless you're one of those fuddy-duddies that uses an artificial tree, put it back in the box. Isn't it crazy how those things have come and gone too? I mean, you can, now you can get, you can pull the tree out of the box with the lights on and everything and just plug it in and you're ready to go. Years ago it was a little bit more challenging. So anyhow. You know, it's really interesting with all that being said and all that goes into the man-made traditions, it's only 350 days away and we get to do it all over again if you're one of those people. While none of these things are objectionable in themselves, none of them with the exception of giving gifts has anything to do with the circumstances surrounding the birth of Christ. I was at a breakfast with my brothers. A couple Fridays ago and it was right after Christmas and the talk of the restaurant was the relief that Christmas was finally over. And you know when it's all said and done, many people are happy to see Christmas pass and I think part of that reason is they really miss the meaning and appreciation for what really happened on that for Christ's sake. Christ's birth. They don't understand why he came to this world through a virgin birth and would eventually die in a cross and rise victorious over sin. So all of mankind could have their sins forgiven and have a renewed relationship with him by putting their faith in what he's done for us. So as believers, we might respond to the passing of another Christmas celebration. and what lies ahead for us, but it doesn't need to be the way the world reacts or looks to it. So I thought it'd be a good reminder this morning to take a look at the scripture that was read, and I appreciate the reading of the scripture. It kind of speaks to me about what we should be looking forward to in this upcoming year, and about the importance of what started with Christ's birth and ended on the cross. So I'm going to read that one more time if you want to turn there. First Colossians 13 through 18 as we start this morning. You said an hour and 30 minutes, Randy. Is that? That's close. Okay. Alright, Colossians 1:13 through 18. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, in whom we have redemption through his blood and the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God in the firstborn overall creation. For by him, all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions or principles or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things consist. And he is the head of the body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have preeminence. As I was doing some study on this, I saw in a couple places that this paragraph probably contains more concentrated doctrine about Jesus than a lot of other places, not that the other places in the Bible are not important, but these verses say a lot. I thought it would be important to give you a little context to why Paul was writing this and addressing, what he was addressing to the false teachers in the class. like you like the false teachers today they were they were denying the importance of Jesus Christ giving him prominence important status but not preeminence, superiority, superiority and dominance they were confusing all creation teaching that Jesus Christ did not have a real body there was other things going on too talking about how the world was kept together And Paul is taking the opportunity here in these six verses to diffuse this whole situation. He's hitting it head on. He wants to make sure that they understand what's the truth and what's not the truth. So this morning I'd like to just focus on three main points that are important to me and I trust maybe you. As the celebration of Christ's birth passes and we head into the New Year, these three points most likely would be meaningless to most and many around us in the world, which should cause those of us who have accepted Christ as our personal Savior to rejoice and be encouraged to live accordingly, to be motivated to share what those become in contact. It's kind of interesting, isn't it, how people get motivated about some things that we just don't really... are meaningless? I'm sure a lot of people this morning that are all down trodden about the packer loss last night, but you know, it's just a game. It's not, you know, it's meaningless. But I always marvel at the, you know, my drive to church sometimes on Sunday morning when I see, you know, people out on the golf course. I mean, I got to be careful here. You know, out on the golf course and people walking their dogs and doing everything. but enjoying the sweet fellowship that they could be if they were involved with the church. So, hang on, my first point this morning is, Christ is our Savior and it all starts with God. deliver us from the darkness. You know, man's greatest problem is what? It's his sin, right? And, please, the Aston 720 reminds us that indeed there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins. You know, there's unfortunately, there's many that think there's other ways to get right with God. but there is no other human being that could deliver us from the penalty of sin. Acts 4, excuse me, Acts 4:12 says, and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. You know, it doesn't make any difference how much money you put in the offertory basket. It doesn't make any difference how many mature men like me you help across the street. It's not a workspace deal and we should be thankful for that. Only Jesus could deliver and only Jesus could and delivered us. 1 Timothy 2:5 says that there is one God and there is one mediator between God and man. That man, Christ Jesus, is Christ Jesus. So we have been delivered from the authority of Satan and the power of darkness through what that Lord did for us on that, Christ did for us on that cross. He translated us, Colossians 1:13 says, he conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love. The word conveyed describes a deportation of a population or whatever from one country to another. And Jesus moved us into this kingdom of light, making us victorious over Satan's kingdom in darkness. And we should never, never forget the price our Father paid when He gave His Son for you and me and for all mankind. Continuing in that verse, it says He redeemed us in whom we have redemption through His blood. Means to release a prisoner through a payment of ransom. By His death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus met that demand of God's law. Complete ransom has been paid on Calvary. All we need to do is accept that. And it's only done by putting our faith in the finished work of the cross that we can be set free. He has forgiven us, continuing on. The forgiveness of sins, as we mentioned earlier, man has a sin problem. Redemption and forgiveness go together. Forgiveness means to cancel a debt. And Christ has canceled every debt so we can never be enslaved again. God's forgiveness of sinners is an act of His grace, which we were not deserving of. So moving on, the second point that I want to make this morning is Christ is our creator. Everything starts with God. Colossians 1:15 through 17 says, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created for him or through him and for him. And he is before all things and in him all things consist. You know, it's kind of, it's one of those things you kind of have a hard time wrapping your head around. I mean, if he wasn't created, where did he come from? How did he, how did he begin? I guess that's just one of those questions we'll have to ask him when we get, we go in the glory, right? I mean, I don't, killed. Maybe he'll give us an explanation about how that happened. But Jesus was not the first created being. He himself is the creator of all things, which means he wasn't created. Firstborn of all creation means prior to all creation. Jesus Christ is not a created being. He's an eternal God. He created all things, Colossians 1:16 says, for by Him all things were created that are in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. Because Christ created all things, He Himself is uncreated. All things were made by Him, and all things are under His command. May not seem that way sometimes, but we know that God is in control of everything that goes on in our lives and in this world. All things exist for him. Colossians 1:16 says all things were created through him and for him. So we know that God planned it. We know that God produced it. And God did it for his own pleasure, which is another challenging thought. When you take a look at some of the things that are going on in this world, you have to wonder how you can get pleasure out of that. But there is, that is part of his plan. If everything he created existed for him, then nothing can be evil of itself, with the exception of Satan and the fallen angels. Continue on in that second point, he holds all things together. And he is before all things, and in him all things exist. One of the interesting things I found when I was studying this was that in Colossae, the false teachings, they felt that the world was held together by water. That was what was holding everything together. And that's not true. Jesus Christ holds all things together, something that evolution even could never do. This affirms that Jesus Christ is God. Only God can make creation cohere. Jesus Christ made all things, controls all things, and by Him all things together. When I think of evolution, I just think of others. foolishness that goes into that. When you look at how intricate things are, and I know I'm probably preaching to the choir on this a little bit, but again, it's like, what do they say, you take a watch apart and put the 500 pieces into your shoebox and keep shaking and thinking that it's going to put itself together. A watch just doesn't happen. It just, deteriorates, it gets worse. Point number three, My last point I wanted to make this morning, that praise is the head of the church. It all starts with God. Christ is the head of the church, Classes 118, and he is the head of the body of the church who is the beginning, the firstborn, from the dead, that in all things he may have preeminence. No denomination can claim to be the body of Christ. What a special way to put this all together, as him the head and us the body, whatever. The body of Christ is composed of all true believers. So once you put your faith in the finish work of the cross, you become part of the body of Christ. When one trusts Christ, they're being baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ. And each believer remembers the body, and Jesus Christ is the head. You know, we should be motivated, I guess, when you think about that, knowing that we're part of that. When you take a look at all the things that He's done for us, to be serving somebody like that is really a privilege to me. And you should take that seriously. I'm always amazed that when I think about this in some detail, that each one of us has different gifts. We all have the same gifts. And I think sometimes we get into trouble when we... We want to feel somebody else's gifts. We don't like the gifts. Maybe we don't understand the gifts that he's blessed with. But we look at other people and say, I wish I had that gift. I wish I had that person's gift. And we shouldn't look at it like that. We should look deep and understand what God is. Just God was blessed with. We're all different. Body wouldn't work very well, I don't think, if we all have the same set of gifts. I feel it's a privilege to be in the body of Christ and to have that man, God, serve and take direction from. I can't, you know, knowing what I know today, I really couldn't see it, I can't see it any other way. I think it really is where we need to be focused. So I, you know, I hope this, I want to tie this all together and just make it meaningful for us. So let me try to do that. You know, if we focus on man's and the world's traditions around the celebration of Christmas, probably pretty pointless. if we don't really understand the real meaning behind Christ's birth. And this is where I think some of the post-Christmas letdown comes. Because if you don't understand what actually happened on that special day, you're going to get the people around you that are going to be complaining about, oh, I'm glad this is over. And you know what? I want to be careful because I think we can, even as believers, we can be drawn into that. But I want to challenge myself, and I want to challenge you as we go forward into 2024. The celebration shouldn't be, we're glad this is over. We should be saying, we're glad the celebration has just started. And we know the whole story. Like I said earlier, if we would read through the book of Luke, we'd see what happened as Christ grew up and eventually died on that cross for every one of us. So the problem really that I'm trying to make is, or to clarify is that for the most of the world that doesn't understand what happened in that manger. And that's a lot of people. I'm just telling you, I have family members that have no clue about what happened on that day. Have no clue about what happened on Easter, the celebration of Easter when he died on the cross for us. And I don't think it's that uncommon. And I'm not proud of that. I mean, for me, it's a motivation to be bolder with my faith, whatever, and to explain what's happening and what's going on there. But I read this and I thought this was important too. Christmas really should last all year long for us. And we can do that if we do what the shepherds and the wisemen did. We need to go back to where we came from, our offices, our classrooms, our factories, our neighborhoods, our jobs, our family duties, et cetera. Go back to the humdrum of our daily routines. And as we go back, we need to glorify God for what, glorify God and praise Him for what. He did. And that's what the shepherds did. Christmas didn't change their circumstances. Shepherds still went back to being shepherds. The wise men went back to their callings, whatever. And it's not going to change our calling, or our personal whatever. But it changed them deeply and profoundly. And because it changed them, it changed the way that they approached their daily work in their lives. Can you imagine what that was like for the shepherds and the people that were part of that? It changed the way they approached their daily work in their lives. They had seen Christ, the Christ child, and we have seen the account in God's Word. So I think it's a good challenge as we go back to our daily routines. And the motivation for me, and trust me, hopefully for you, Remember these three points that we talked about today and the importance of Christ's birth and why we should be not tucking that away with all the ornaments and the Christmas lights and whatever we talked about earlier. Christ is our savior. As sinners, we needed a savior and Christ sent his son to be that savior. Christ is our creator. Everything that we touch and own was created by Christ. and Christ is the head of the church. We as members of the body of Christ recognize Christ as the head of the church and the body of Christ and we should serve him with much thanksgiving accordingly. So I wanted just to say one other thing this morning. If you're here this morning and you haven't not placed your faith in what Christ did on that cross, please do that. Talk to a board member here or talk to somebody if you don't understand that. I'm sure there's young ones that still haven't done that, but that should be our burden, that we reach out to the lost world through examples and through the messages that we have from God's word and really rejoice in what was done there. I'm so grateful that God's word has been preserved down through the years and that we have it in our hands today. I know sometimes when we're in God's Word and we're seeing things that are playing out, we have to remember that they didn't have all of God's Word, they only had pieces of it, but we are entrusted with the full Bible, whatever, and has everything in it that we need to be used by God and used faithfully. So let's close in prayer if we could this morning. Dearly Father, just thank you for this work here in Oshkosh. As was mentioned earlier, we just lift up all the other grace ministries that are meeting this morning and pray for your blessing upon their time. We are here to encourage each other and work through challenges that we have. We know that ministry can have its challenges. And that's. told that it's never easy taking a stand for Christ is not easy either. So we just pray for each other, we encourage each other, pray for the Saints back at Kettering Bible Church this morning that are meeting as well. We appreciate the opportunity to have the freedom to break away for a Sunday. We're always encouraged by a few times that we get to spend time in other ministries so we're grateful for that. We pray for our brothers and sisters here that that they would continue to build up each other and encourage each other and move forward. We're grateful that there's another work here in the building that is here that we're blessed with as well. So we lift that up and thank you for that. And again, thank you for your word that you left behind. Thank you that we can pick that up any time. We can go to it for any need that we may have. We're grateful for that. We look forward to the rest of our time together this morning as we celebrate around the meal and another special session. So we lift those up this morning. And I just thank you once again for the awesome guide. Amen.
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