WEBVTT 00:00:00.700 --> 00:00:05.400 Amen. We'll do have a seat. I hope you've enjoyed this morning so far. My name is Graham. 00:00:05.719 --> 00:00:12.040 I've got the delight of being the minister here at Brunsfield, and it's a true joy. It's always a joy to see the nativity. 00:00:12.900 --> 00:00:17.320 I'll be honest and say I thought this morning has been really quiet. I don't know about you, it's been really quiet. 00:00:17.460 --> 00:00:23.440 So what I thought we'd do to get the room a bit energized is just to turn to your neighbor, and here's what I want you to discuss. 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:29.400 But what is your favorite Christmas film? Okay, 30 seconds, make a lot of noise. 00:00:30.020 --> 00:00:35.700 What is your favorite Christmas film? I must say as well, if you have a creche kids or anybody under preschool, 00:00:35.900 --> 00:00:39.939 we've got creche and different activities next door if you want to make use of that. 00:00:40.020 --> 00:00:43.480 So that's through the doors behind me. Favorite Christmas film, 30 seconds. 00:00:46.020 --> 00:00:50.040 Favorite Christmas film. It's a big question, isn't it? There's a lot to choose from, 00:00:50.039 --> 00:00:56.839 but maybe shout out if yours comes up on the screen. We've got the, this is why I like to categorize them, okay? 00:00:56.879 --> 00:01:01.379 We've got the ones in the classic Christmas category. So we've got the snowman. 00:01:02.840 --> 00:01:07.259 Very little love for the snowman, I'm hearing. We have the Muppets Christmas Carol. 00:01:07.700 --> 00:01:12.340 Anyone like that one? That's a classic, yeah? We have, and this was voted number one actually, 00:01:12.780 --> 00:01:15.900 favorite ever Christmas film, It's a Wonderful Life. Never seen it. 00:01:15.900 --> 00:01:23.140 Fourth one, Miracle on 34th Street. That's a classic, isn't it? Okay, so then we've got the 00:01:23.140 --> 00:01:29.300 modern day Christmas classics. Now, this is maybe where I start to kick in. Okay, this for me was 00:01:29.300 --> 00:01:39.100 Christmas for years. Was it Home Alone? It's a good one. We have the holiday. Yeah, oh wow. 00:01:39.099 --> 00:01:45.299 One very keen holiday fan. Okay, definitely this one. Love Actually. 00:01:46.399 --> 00:01:52.079 Hugh Grant, doing his best Hugh Grant thing. We love Hugh Grant. I mean, here's the last one. I love this one. 00:01:52.919 --> 00:01:57.419 Polar Express. It's a good one, is it? Boys and girls, we've even got the ones that are in there, 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:01.299 and this is what I like to call the ones that the adults pretend not to like, but actually love category, okay? 00:02:01.299 --> 00:02:09.439 So, is it just me? Right? We pretend not to love that one, and we definitely, adults, we definitely pretend 00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:17.680 not to like this one. Okay? This is my life at the minute, is this film. Incredible. But I wonder, 00:02:18.079 --> 00:02:21.280 here we go, we're thinking about Christmas films. I wonder if you've ever thought about the fact that 00:02:21.280 --> 00:02:27.620 all these films that we love have essentially got the same storyline. Essentially got the same storyline, 00:02:27.620 --> 00:02:34.840 okay? So, they start out happy. Life is good. People are friends. Things are going well. But then 00:02:34.840 --> 00:02:43.300 for one reason or another, the happiness, it turns to heartache. And smiles turn to frowns. 00:02:44.200 --> 00:02:50.740 And laughter turns to sadness. And joy turns to pain. So, what do we need in our heartache? Well, 00:02:50.740 --> 00:02:58.960 we need a hero. We need an unexpected hero. We need a brave hero. We need a selfless hero who will 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:05.420 sacrifice themselves for the good of the ones that they love. And then because of the hero, 00:03:05.960 --> 00:03:11.900 what do we end up with? We end up with harmony. When we're enemies, they become friends. Wrongs are put 00:03:11.900 --> 00:03:18.840 to right. Fighting turns to hugging. It is happy, heartache, hero, harmony. Essentially, it's the script. 00:03:18.840 --> 00:03:25.140 It's the plot. It's the storyline to every good Christmas film. And it's the storyline that 00:03:25.140 --> 00:03:32.340 captures our hearts at this time of year like no other, isn't it? Happy, heartache, hero, harmony. 00:03:33.500 --> 00:03:38.920 Here's what I wanted to suggest to you this morning, very quickly, very simply, is that there's a reason 00:03:38.920 --> 00:03:46.379 that that captures our hearts like no other at this time of year. And the reason is that the story that 00:03:46.379 --> 00:03:53.259 we love to see acted out in our Christmas films is this true story that we see lived out in the pages 00:03:53.259 --> 00:03:59.759 of the Bible. So, like our beloved Christmas films, the Bible tells us that in the beginning, things were 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:09.419 happy. So, because, you see, right at the heart of the Bible is a beautifully loving God. And he created 00:04:09.419 --> 00:04:15.879 the universe. He created the stars. He created the seas. He gave life to every single living being. 00:04:15.879 --> 00:04:22.259 And God looked on everything that he had made, and he declared that it was good. It was good. 00:04:23.339 --> 00:04:30.120 On the pinnacle of his creation, he created man. He created male and female, rather. He created mankind. 00:04:30.120 --> 00:04:37.720 Every single human being loved and known and valued and stamped with his image, made beautifully in the 00:04:37.720 --> 00:04:43.180 image of this beautiful God. And God looked on everything that he had made with this addition 00:04:43.180 --> 00:04:49.540 of man and woman. He declared that it was very good. You see, here at the beginning of the Bible story 00:04:49.540 --> 00:04:59.459 is the creator living in delightful unity with his creation. The Bible's opening scene is a joyously 00:04:59.459 --> 00:05:05.620 happy one. But that happiness, it soon gives way to heartache. Adam and Eve, we read God's first 00:05:05.620 --> 00:05:12.799 human beings, they turn away from God. They believe Satan's lie, that God isn't all that he's cracked up 00:05:12.799 --> 00:05:20.219 to be, and they rebel against him by rejecting his words. And Houston, we have a problem, because sin 00:05:20.220 --> 00:05:31.400 sin has stained the set. Sin has separated us from our creator, God. And sin's effects run deep into the 00:05:31.400 --> 00:05:38.980 fabric of every single one of us. Now, when I was young, my brothers and I, we used to love playing 00:05:38.980 --> 00:05:43.680 this game that we called football in the hall. And we called it football in the hall because the game 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:47.640 that we used to play was called football, and the arena that we used to choose to play this game 00:05:47.639 --> 00:05:52.839 was the hall. So don't ever let anyone tell you that Scots aren't a creative bunch, okay? So this 00:05:52.839 --> 00:05:57.039 was football in the hall, the game that we loved to play. But we didn't just restrict this game to 00:05:57.039 --> 00:06:02.120 our hall. We used to go on tour, and we used to take it to other people's halls to play this game. 00:06:02.899 --> 00:06:08.779 Remember this one time we went to my cousin's hall, and there we are, we're playing football in the hall. 00:06:09.339 --> 00:06:14.639 My cousin, keen to impress, he swipes with his right, takes a kick, and he gloriously sends the ball 00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:20.779 into the net, so it's just the wall. Hits the ball into the wall. But what he doesn't realize is he 00:06:20.779 --> 00:06:28.800 gloriously hits the ball into the wall. He actually knocks down my auntie's pristine, expensive, top of 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:38.259 the range, loved plate, china plate, smash on the floor. Now, what do we do? We look at him, he looks at 00:06:38.259 --> 00:06:42.800 us. There we are. We're desperately trying to piece it back together. We're desperately trying to 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:46.800 pretend, cover it up like nothing's happened. We're desperately trying to get on with things 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:53.079 and pretend that everything is cool. Trying to convince ourselves that everything will be okay. 00:06:54.199 --> 00:06:59.699 But we forget that my aunt is savvy, and she walks in, she takes one look at the plate that we've tried 00:06:59.699 --> 00:07:06.460 to put back together, and she knows the plate, and she loves the plate, and she sees straight to the truth. 00:07:06.459 --> 00:07:14.399 You see, this is what I love about the Bible, is that it tells me the truth about my world that I live in. 00:07:14.899 --> 00:07:20.259 It tells me the truth about me. It tells me that I am beautiful, and it tells me that I am broken. 00:07:21.039 --> 00:07:28.859 It tells me, actually, that I am just like that plate. And it tells you that you are just like that plate. 00:07:28.860 --> 00:07:38.120 And it tells us that our world is just like that plate. No matter how we try and fix ourselves, no matter 00:07:38.120 --> 00:07:44.720 what we try and tell ourselves, no matter what we try and fill ourselves with, we are beautiful, yet we are 00:07:44.720 --> 00:07:53.300 broken. We are just like that plate. And that brokenness that we all experience is something that we simply 00:07:53.300 --> 00:08:02.160 cannot shake. What do we need? We need a hero. We need a hero. In fact, we don't just need a hero, we need a 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:09.439 savior who's going to save us from our sin and our brokenness. Now, where is this hero going to come from? 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:16.740 Well, he's not going to come from within. Remember, there was a song when I was growing up by this group 00:08:16.740 --> 00:08:21.980 called M People that was Search for the Hero Inside Yourself. Well, I had to look inside myself, and there is no 00:08:21.980 --> 00:08:29.060 hero in there. The answer, the hero through our story is not going to be found within. The hero in our story needs to 00:08:29.060 --> 00:08:37.680 come from above. And the wonderful truth that we see in the Bible is that even in the aftermath of sin, even in the 00:08:37.680 --> 00:08:45.279 aftermath of the consequences, God promised to heal the heartache. He promised to heal the heartache. God promised to 00:08:45.279 --> 00:08:53.100 send a savior who would be the light who would dispel the darkness. God promised to send a king who would 00:08:53.100 --> 00:09:01.399 come and tackle our sin problem head on. And we started thinking last week as a church that God 00:09:01.399 --> 00:09:08.620 described this hero that he would send. Described him as the wonderful counselor. And he described him as the 00:09:08.620 --> 00:09:14.860 mighty God. In other words, you don't just need a king who's going to be able to offer you wise words of 00:09:14.860 --> 00:09:19.620 counsel. He's not going to be able to just lead you with his words. Actually, he's going to be God in the 00:09:19.620 --> 00:09:25.519 flesh who's going to be able to do something, who has the authority and the power to do something to lift 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:33.879 you out of your heartache. So what do we celebrate at Christmas time? Having heard the promise of the 00:09:33.879 --> 00:09:42.100 hero that God would send, we look in the manger and we see the hero's grand unveiling. You see, Jesus is the 00:09:42.100 --> 00:09:52.360 hero who has stepped down into our heartache. And what did this hero do? Well, this God-man lived a 00:09:52.360 --> 00:10:00.960 totally obedient life. The one who is worthy of all praise would live a wholly selfless life. And the life 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:11.759 that would start in the crib would end in the cross. As God's perfect son takes the hit that you and I 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:20.679 deserve for the Lord deserve for our sin upon himself. And why? Well, this hero came to make a way for our 00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:28.700 heartache to be turned into harmony. You see, God's hero came to make a way for you and I to be forgiven 00:10:28.700 --> 00:10:36.279 of our sin and to be made right with our Creator. God's hero came to make a way for you and I to be 00:10:36.279 --> 00:10:43.659 to be begun, to be put back together. God's hero came to change us. God's hero came to lift us out of 00:10:43.659 --> 00:10:50.539 our darkness. And God's hero came to make a way for you and I to be tapped back into the very reason 00:10:50.539 --> 00:10:58.059 that you and I were created in the first place. And that's to worship our God, to glorify him, and to 00:10:58.059 --> 00:11:05.079 enjoy him forever. Friends, if you ask me, the reason that we love our Christmas films 00:11:05.079 --> 00:11:13.939 is that deep down they tap into something that we long for would be true. And so as we look at the 00:11:13.939 --> 00:11:19.859 baby in the manger, as we look at the truth of the child Jesus in the crib, as we think about the 00:11:19.860 --> 00:11:27.080 wonder of the wonder of the man Jesus on the cross, friends, the story is true. The story is true. 00:11:28.120 --> 00:11:37.440 The question is, will you make God's story your story? One of the films that I always love to watch 00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:42.720 at Christmas time, and it's always on, isn't it, is The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. 00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:51.940 C.S. Lewis, the man who wrote these books, essentially, he wrote them with the same plot 00:11:51.940 --> 00:11:58.320 line as every other Christmas film, didn't he? Happy, heartache, hero, harmony. But here's the 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:03.620 thing, as Lewis was telling his stories, he realized he was telling not just a story that 00:12:03.620 --> 00:12:11.759 he liked, he was telling a story that he himself was in. There are many great lines in those films, 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:17.399 many great lines in the films, but here's my favorite from Mr. Beaver, great character. Mr. 00:12:17.460 --> 00:12:23.000 Beaver, he's speaking about Aslan, this character that Lewis has created to give us a picture of 00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:31.580 Jesus. Mr. Beaver, anticipating the day when Aslan returns, says this, there's an old rhyme in these 00:12:31.580 --> 00:12:40.399 parts, that wrong will be right when Aslan comes in sight. At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:47.799 more. When he bears his teeth, winter meets its death. And when he shakes his mane, we shall have 00:12:47.799 --> 00:12:55.879 spring again. See, at Christmas we celebrate the arrival of heaven's hero. And we think about and 00:12:55.879 --> 00:13:06.399 we see a God with open arms who is beckoning us as his creatures to come home to him and to have life 00:13:06.399 --> 00:13:12.340 through his son. We finish with this. This is John chapter 1. 00:13:14.340 --> 00:13:23.039 Yet to all who did receive him, that is Jesus, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:32.019 to become children of God. Children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or husband's will, 00:13:32.019 --> 00:13:40.879 but born of God. Friends, think about your story this morning. Think about the Christmas stories that we love 00:13:40.879 --> 00:13:48.559 to see. We love to see played out in front of us. Here's my question as we end this morning. Will you make your 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:55.299 story God's story? Maybe just as we close, why don't we just take a minute and let's just reflect on that 00:13:55.299 --> 00:14:06.299 together. And then I'll lead us and close us in prayer. Dear God, we thank you so much for Christmas. 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:14.740 And Father, we ask that in amongst all the fun and all the festivities and all the presents, 00:14:15.240 --> 00:14:24.779 that you would help us not to miss the greatest gift of all. Help us to not just see Jesus, 00:14:25.299 --> 00:14:34.259 but to accept Jesus as our King and as our Saviour and as our Hero. Father, thank you so much for 00:14:34.259 --> 00:14:39.579 this morning. Thank you that you're a great God. And we praise you now in Jesus' name. Amen.