Don’t Put Christmas Away!

1st Sunday after Christmas, 12/27/20 Colossians 3:12-17 Don’t Put Christmas Away! I. Instead, put Christ on in attitude. II. Instead, put Christ on in gratitude. I didn’t see any yesterday, but I’m sure if I spent some time looking, I would have seen one or more. No, I’m not speaking about snowmen made out of the dusting of Christmas Day snow we received. I’m talking about live Christmas trees out at the curb, ready for pick-up by a trash collector. And how many people will already have all their Christmas decorations packed up and stored in attics and closets by the end of today? While most people want to enjoy their Christmas decorations at least for a few days after Christmas, there are people who want to be done with Christmas as soon as Dec. 26 rolls around. They put their Christmas decorations up right after Thanksgiving and they’ve enjoyed them enough. For them, it’s time to move on. Maybe you share that opinion to one degree or another. And, if so, that’s fine. There aren’t any rules or laws about Christmas decorations. You’re free to enjoy them longer or not. And yet my encouragement for you this morning is don’t put Christmas away. So, what do I mean by that? Am I contradicting myself? Christmas for Christians is not simply an event to celebrate on a day or two a year and then move on to whatever is next on your calendar. For Christians, Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ who came into this world to be our Savior from sin. He lived and died and rose again to establish an eternal relationship with you, one that continues even after your Christmas trees and decorations are removed and packed away. Christmas makes an eternal difference in your life. St. Paul speaks about that very thing in this morning’s sermon text from Colossians 3. In a way, he tells you not to put Christmas away, but to put Christ on. Listen again to the opening words of our text, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves.” Clothe yourselves. Did you receive a sweater or some slippers for Christmas? If so, did you try them on? Most likely you did, as soon as you unwrapped them. Paul urges us as Christmas Christians to put Christmas on spiritually. So, don’t put Christmas away. Instead put Christ on. Let’s see what that means as we continue to ponder the meaning of Christmas for our daily lives. Part I. I hope it didn’t happen at your celebration of Christmas this year. And what is that? I hope no one said or did something that “ruined” your celebration. People try to be on their best behavior when celebrating Christmas with others, but you know how things can go wrong in a heartbeat. Someone says something that slightly offends someone else, and the offended person takes that as an opening to retaliate and the next thing you know, the joy that once filled the room has evaporated, and the stench of ugly words fills the air. It’s sad, but it happens. It’s almost as if the birth of Jesus meant nothing to them. And, if something similar didn’t happen already to you, it will probably sooner than later. People that you love will say or do something that would give the impression that they have forgotten all about the truth that a Savior has been born for them. They’re speaking and living as if Jesus had never arrived. That shouldn’t surprise us. Every Christian still battles with a sinful nature every day and far too often that sinful nature gets the best of them, the best of us. We live like Christmas doesn’t matter. So, what’s the solution to this dismal ordeal? Don’t put Christmas away. Instead, put Christ on. Listen to Paul explain that for you. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” That’s quite a list of things to put on. Let’s look at the first five together: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Paul here urges inward and outward Christlikeness. Let what Christ has made you on the inside show outwardly to others. That starts with realizing that, at your baptism, the Lord Jesus made you his own child by faith in him. That faith naturally produces the fruits of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. It genuinely cares about someone who is giving you every reason not to. That’s Christlikeness inside and out. Next, Paul tells you to put on forgiveness. He says it like this, “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” That concept is exactly the opposite of the way our world operates. The world expects you to get even or get run over again. Jesus tells you to put on forgiveness. That should be easy to do when someone asks for it. But what if they don’t? What if we’re bearing a grudge against them and we’re struggling to forgive them? Forgive as Jesus did. Recall his words on the cross, asking his Father to forgive the people who were crucifying him. There’s your power to forgive others! Thirdly, Paul tells us, “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Recall that this is Christian love, not some sappy, unreliable worldly love. This is the love that knows the object and wants what is best for it and is willing to act on it. In other words, Christian love for another person knows that person’s faults and weaknesses, but wants what is best for that person and is willing to do what it takes to accomplish it. That’s the kind of love Jesus has for you. The “best” that he wants for you is life with him and he did what it took to accomplish it for you. Don’t put Christmas away. Instead, put Christ on in attitude. Considering what Paul wrote here, having that kind of attitude toward others isn’t going to be easy. After all, how much sin from others against you should you be willing take? As much as Jesus did. But that’s hard. In fact, for us that’s impossible. But that’s why Jesus was born into this world. He came to forgive others in a way that we never could, and he did it in our place. And then he took our sins on himself and suffered the punishment for us. That’s why his Father sent him into this world that first Christmas. And now we have the opportunity, having seen God’s love for us, to show that love towards others. That doesn’t mean we’ll overlook the sins of others. We have the responsibility also to call people to repentance in a loving way. But ask yourself, “Who needs for me to show them Christlikeness in the days ahead? Pick someone out. And then put Christ on in attitude. Part II. Not much has changed in a month. Last November I stood right there and recorded a Thanksgiving video message for you in which I admitted it might be a little more difficult to be thankful this Thanksgiving because of what we’re going through here and around the world. And here we are a month later and not much has changed. And yet twice in the closing verses of our text Paul urges us to be thankful. As you ponder how you wanted to celebrate Christmas but couldn’t, maybe thankfulness is in a little hard to come by. So, how can you do what Paul is urging you to do? Don’t put Christmas away. Instead put Christ on in gratitude. Paul doesn’t mention a thing about the outward circumstances of Christians here. That’s because he isn’t urging you to be thankful because your life is one unending joy ride. He knows that isn’t the case with any Christian. In fact, the Christian life can be very difficult at times as it gets blasted by the people of this world. So, how can we be thankful? By recalling what Christmas did for you spiritually. Jesus was born in a stable in Bethlehem to win your forgiveness and eternal life. He came to open the gates of heaven to you and all who trust in him. He came to redeem you to be his own forever. Those tremendous spiritual blessings are yours no matter what’s happening around you. And your fellow Christians are surrounding you to remind you of it. Listen to Paul’s description of your Christian fellowship, “Be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Focus your attention on the word of God. Encourage your fellow Christians to do the same. Encourage each other to be thankful. Don’t put Christmas away! Instead, put Christ on in gratitude. This is the week for new year’s resolutions. Will you be making one or more? Maybe that’s not your thing to do. But let me encourage you to do what your Lord Jesus calls for you to do here in his word. Be thankful. Recall what Christmas means for you. Even if this Christmas wasn’t what you wanted it to be, or even if 2021 isn’t much better or any better than 2020 was, recall what Christmas means for you and be thankful. “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Lk. 2:11). Don’t put Christmas away! Put Christ on and let others see him through you. May the Lord bless your efforts to live for him in this new year! Amen.