Allen Jackson - Lead With Faith, Holiday Edition - Part 1
It's an honor to be with you today. Our topic is "Leading with Our Faith in the Midst of the Holidays". You know, it's an important time of the year. You're gonna be gathered with friends and family and co-workers, all sorts of collections of people. We don't wanna just exchange gifts or greetings or enjoy our favorite holiday food. I wanna bring our faith into those discussions. So we're gonna talk about some ways we can do that in a way that will not cause us to be excluded from the holidays next year. I promise it'll be fun. Grab your Bible and a notepad, but most importantly, open your heart.
I want to, in this session and the next at least, do a holiday edition of "Leading with Faith". For the next few weeks we have the opportunity to gather with family and friends and other big gatherings at school and at work, I mean, there'll just be any number of collections of people that are available to us because of the holidays for which that won't be true in just a few more weeks. So there's a very unique opportunity to lead with our faith and what I'd like to do is try to process that with you a little bit and then to give you some tools so that you can be prepared to make an impact for the kingdom of God. But it is such an important time.
You know, the purposes and the plans of God are moving forward in the earth at a pace and you just see the wickedness marching. I assure you the purposes of God are moving forward even more rapidly. That there's a divine script unfolding all around us. We're living in the midst of something that I really don't think can be understood in any other way than the supernatural. The question that I wanna pose to you is to what extent do you intend to be a part of that. Or do you have the imagination that you're born again, you're saved, you're converted, you've got a ticket for heaven, and you're just gonna go sit in the bleachers and watch?
I hope not because, if you're willing, God will enable you to use your strength and your days under the sun in such a way that you could be rewarded for all eternity. I would submit that's a better way to travel. And I'm gonna start with the Be-attitudes of the holidays. It's a difficult time of the year. The incidence of depression and discouragement is higher at the end of the year than any other season of the year, but I don't believe that has to be true. I think we can make some choices to counteract that a little bit, so I wanna start real quickly with some Be-attitudes of the holidays.
First of all, Be Prepared. The holidays are coming. You've got the same family tree filled with fruits and nuts that you had last year. Shouldn't be a surprise. You've done this before. So be prepared to make a difference for the kingdom of God. Don't be caught unprepared. Don't be surprised. Don't say, "Well, it never occurred to me that", and it's a rinse and repeat of what you've seen before. Let's determine that we'll be prepared this holiday as never before to make a difference for the kingdom of God.
The second Be-attitude is to Be Flexible. You know, we make our plans and we get everything scripted the way we want it to go, and then reality happens. And reality very seldom considers our plans. "Well, I didn't know they'd be late," or "I didn't know a flight would get canceled," or "I didn't know somebody was gonna get sick". And then all those intrusions seem to cascade upon us. Emotionally, we go, "Well, I just wasn't prepared". Be prepared to be flexible. It's not gonna work as perfectly as you would like. The light in your oven will go out, the turkey will be overdone or underdone or too smoky or not smoky enough or something. Somebody will show up with a guest and you've got one more person than you have places set. Or something. And don't allow it to collapse your joy.
The third piece is to Be Purposeful. Let's begin this holiday with the intent to make a kingdom difference, not just to shop or to cook or to decorate. And I know many of you have significant emotional investments in those things and I'm not challenging that. I think it's okay to celebrate the holiday season. I mean, some of you do it with an enthusiasm that started in July. You're trying to make the 21st century edition of "Christmas Vacation". That's okay with me, but let's be equally intent on a kingdom purpose for the holiday. Let's have objectives. What would it look like for, to have the most spiritually influential or impactful holiday season that you've ever had? Think about it. Ask the Lord about it, begin to pray about it.
Number four: Be Helpful. "See, and I don't know how to do all this stuff. You're gonna talk to me about praying prayers, I don't know how to do that". I'll give you a way you could change, you be more helpful than you've ever been. Wash more dishes, say "Thank you" more frequently, don't require others to wait on you, facilitate good outcomes, show up with the best attitude that your friends or families or co-workers have ever seen. Make them wonder what happened to you. "Never seen her be that cooperative". Decide to do it on purpose, not because you feel like it, not because you want to, but it's a way to honor the Lord. It's a way to serve the Lord. After all, the entire season, "holiday" is a corruption of "holy days". You're getting those breaks in your schedule and days off work and days out of school because we are celebrating holy days. So why, as the people of God, don't we bring an attitude of holiness to the holy days? "Well, I just don't like how secular it is". Well, okay, just get your holy self on out there to the holy days and be more helpful than you've ever been.
Number five: Be Available, primarily to the Lord. Be available to the Lord. For the next few weeks, I would start every day saying, "Lord, whatever you have today, I'm on assignment". What would that look like? Who do I know for whom an act of kindness would make a big difference? Who is it in my sphere of influence where a kind word could change the outcome of their day or their attitude or their holiday? Be available. And the last one on your Be-Attitudes list is to Be Grateful. Now, for some of us, it's not an easy time of the year. We've had losses, we've had difficult things happen, and oftentimes the end of the year is a reminder of some of those things or maybe your life isn't the way you would like it to be.
You know, maybe the kids aren't coming home or maybe the kids are coming home or... everybody brings joy, some with their arrival and some with their departure, but everybody brings joy. You know, maybe the grandkids aren't available or maybe they're too available. I mean, they're just, it's really easy to understand why you're unhappy and it's easy to get focused on that. "Well, it's not going the way I wanted it. I'm not getting my way," or "They never include me the way I wanna be included," or "I've been left off of this, or pushed out of that," or "I've been invited to too many," or "There's", whatever. Just determine at the beginning of the holiday season, "I am going to be grateful. Lord, I'm gonna worship you. I'm gonna give thanks to you. You are the one that I'm directing my thankful attitude towards. You're the one that sent your Son to change my life in time and eternity". There's no circumstance. "The Christmas trees are more expensive".
I'm not gonna stop worshiping the Lord because the knuckleheads have inflated what things cost and then tell me it's my imagination. Apparently, I have a very active imagination. I actually built these from Scripture but I'm not gonna walk you through all the verses. 1 Peter 3 says: "In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have". Always be prepared. Okay, for the next few weeks, be prepared. I'm gonna give you some tools, I'm gonna offer some suggestions, I'm gonna bundle up some prayers and send 'em with you and you can put 'em in your phone. Take a picture of your outline. I'll direct you towards some tools where you can, I mean, we will give you some things to choose from, but you have to decide to be prepared. It's too late to be in the moment and go, "Wait, what did he say? And when was that? And what was I supposed to do"?
That's not preparation. Be prepared to give a reason for why you have hope. Stop being part of the choir of complaining. There's enough negative voices. You know why they can take, some of our elite universities can take some of our at least higher-scoring students and motivate them on behalf of antisemitism? Because for generations now, we've been coaching young people to hate our country. How about you use your holiday to teach everybody that's within earshot of you why you love this place? You say, "Well, everybody wouldn't like that".
Ephesians chapter 5 takes us into a little bigger picture, really the heart of this issue, I think. "To be imitators of God, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God". This is part of a much larger conversation that started in chapter 4, but for the sake of brevity, this is really kind of the summary component. And the instruction is to be an imitator of God and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us. It's a message that has been dominant in contemporary evangelicalism in our nation. I'm an advocate for that. I believe in the love of God. I believe we have to give expression to the love of God. But it's confusing this time of the year because, as we gather with families and friends, it's not easy always to know how to do that because we are all works in progress.
And when we gather, what does that look like? It's not an easy question. And I think this passage is very insightful. It begins with this fundamental notion to live a life of love as Christ loved us. And then in verse 3 it says: "But among you there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality, or any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people". It's a thought. He said, "Listen, amongst the people of God there shouldn't even be a hint of immorality or any kind of impurity or greed. It's just not appropriate for God's people". And the next sentence is if his mind is running and he says, "Well, wait a minute," he said, "In fact, there shouldn't be any obscenity or foolish talk or coarse joking, those are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure". It's just like once he started pulling this thread, he said, "Of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person, such a person is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God".
Now, all of that's in the context of living a life of love. He said, "Among you, these things just can't happen. There's no room for them. There's no place for them. It's not love to make room for them". And then he tells us why in the next sentence: "Let no one deceive you with empty words," excuse me, "for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore don't be partners with them". A more literal translation says: "Have nothing to do with them". So we have this rather stark presentation. It says: "Be imitators of God and live a life of love". Okay, but then we're given some definition on what that looks like. He said, "Among you, there's a distinction between people who intend to honor God and people who don't".
When you're with people who have no intention of honoring God, the ground rules are different. I think we understand we have to be a light in those places, that there may be conversations that we don't enter into. There may be humor that's expressed that we choose not to engage with. There may be behaviors or activities or whatever and we have reason to say, "Listen, you know, my faith kind of leaves me a little apart from that. I'm happy to be your friend, I'll be around you, but there's a fundamental difference in the authority that I answer to".
I mean, after all, that's the verse we just read. It said to be prepared to give an answer for the hope that we have. Among you, these things can't hurt, but if we're with people who imagine themselves to be godly and they are practicing ungodliness, that's a different discussion altogether. Not an easy one. Not a comfortable one. Doesn't mean that we have to turn our holidays into a theological debate. We do have to understand the nature of the kingdom of God. And if we care about the people that we're gathering with, at the very least we wanna be prepared for those interactions because our interaction might be a component that brings some freedom and deliverance to them, if God were so merciful as to choose to do that. And Paul ends this little passage with a warning. He said: "Let no one deceive you with empty words". See, I think one of the things that we're facing in the Christian community is widespread deception.
We act as if God really doesn't have an opinion and if he does, then my opinion is just as significant as his. And that is not a biblical attitude. God establishes truth. God establishes right and wrong. Look at 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 19. It says: "He's committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us". In all these places we're gonna be for these next few weeks, we're going as ambassadors for the kingdom of God. There's gonna be a God appeal made through our lives. "Well, really, Pastor, all I wanted to do was take dessert".
God's making an appeal through us. There are some things you and I can do to prepare because I think this needs some pretty practical coaching 'cause I interact with enough of you, and you come to me with your personal circumstances and the individual stories and we can't do this on a one-on-one basis, but there are some things we can do to prepare. We have to respect authority. If we're going into someone else's home or someone, it's another environment and we are entering as a guest, our role is different. So as much as I would love for you to begin a holiday meal with a prayer, if you're a guest in that setting it's really not appropriate to climb up on the table and say, "I'm here as an ambassador for the kingdom of God. And buckle up 'cause I'm about to drop the Word of the Lord upon you".
You don't have that authority unless you've been invited. If it's a group of people and you'd like to bless the food or you'd like to have a prayer, it would be appropriate to ask permission in a private setting, not at the table when there's no gracious way for them to say, "No, I think you're crazy". Be respectful of the authority that you're under. That doesn't mean you submit to evil. That's another discussion. We'll do that in another series. There's a second component of preparation. There are settings in which you'll gather this holiday season where you will be the primary authority. If it's your home and it's your table, you have the authority to offer a prayer. If it's your gathering, if you're the one that extended the invitation, the nature of that gathering reflects your values and your views and your hopes and your dreams and your aspirations.
Are you honoring the Lord? Are you creating an environment and a series of interactions that represent the faith that you want to display? There's a third component of preparation and I would encourage you to prepare prayerfully for every one of these holiday opportunities that you will have. Spend a little time talking to the Lord about it, listening to the Lord about it. There may be people that you're gonna gather with and you think they need to hear a word from God, and God may have somebody else entirely that he thinks needs a note of encouragement. Spend some time prayerfully preparing. You say, "Well, I don't know how to do that. I'm not one of those goofy prayer people". Oh, you are. You're listening to a church service on a Saturday night. That makes you goofy. I'm not suggesting anything any more bizarre than say, "Lord, before I gather with my family or my friends," for whatever the activity is or whatever the event is, "I'd like to ask you to be there".
It may be an office function or a school function or a neighborhood function. It may not be an overtly Christian thing, but "Father, I'd like to ask you to be there. Rather than me just blend in or participate or be entertained or be entertaining, I would like to go on your behalf. Is there any way I could do that, Father, and be an encouragement to someone or a help to someone or serve someone could Christ in me be visible enough that you could trust me to send somebody to me with a question or I could offer a sentence prayer for them, I could have a 'Let's pray' moment in the middle of that"?
See, you can do that. None of those prayers or ideas are beyond you. They don't require Greek or Hebrew, you don't have to feel spiritual or holy. What you have to have is the intent. We go back to our Be-Attitudes for the holidays. So a little intercession. Intercession means you're praying for someone other than yourself. See, this is the time of year we get so wrapped up in what I want, and how I want it to go, and who I wanna be with, and what I wanna do for this person, and what I want done for me, and how I want this to go, and then life starts happening, and we get torqued. "It's not the way I wanted it".
Okay, I got that. Me too. But let's not surrender. Let's walk into this holiday season with a purposefulness and an intentionality and a determination to make a difference for the kingdom of God. Have a plan, an objective. You can do this as a family. Years ago, when my brothers and I were still at home, my brothers had a classmate. They went to a different school than I did. I was special. Not in the best sense of the word. But they had a classmate who was battling an ill, he had a brain tumor and his family weren't church people. And we knew them through the horse business, so we interacted with them and we had connections with them. And I remember the holiday. We had a plan. We were gonna invite the young man to come spend an afternoon with us.
And the friendships were in place that made that appropriate but we had a discussion, I remember my parents got us together and said, "Listen, we're not gonna let this young man leave our house without talking to him about eternity". And so, the Christmas story became a part of the afternoon and why Jesus came became a part of the afternoon. And we prayed together and we weren't in the habit of getting, well, there were three boys in our house. There were many things we would do in the afternoon, but getting together for prayer with our friend was not one of them. But that day, we understood we had an assignment. And that wasn't all we did that Christmas. Wasn't the only thing we did, but there was an expression of intentionality in the midst of that. Please don't let these next few weeks go past without you being purposeful about your faith.
See, we have to demonstrate that we're trustworthy to the Lord, that his purposes matter to us, that the people that he puts around us are important enough to us that we're willing to climb over some of those awkward moments. I would have never done that at that point in my life without parental threats. I wasn't that comfortable with my faith. I was intimidated by people with life-threatening diseases. That young man went to heaven and I understand it may be a little beyond what you're comfortable with, but it's worth it. If you'll allow me and I mean this as respectfully as I can, it's not about you. It really isn't. We're on an assignment and if I can add to that one more phrase without being overly offensive, don't be weird. Spiritual is not weird.
Our most important preparation for the holidays is our self-preparation. Let's ask the Lord to give us a heart in the right place before we begin those gatherings. Let's pray:
Father, I thank you that you love us, that you have forgiven us, and I pray as we prepare ourselves to gather with friends and families that we will go, filled with your grace and your love and your mercy. I thank you for that and for your goodness to us, in Jesus's name, amen.