Steven Furtick - Christmas at Elevation Church (02/24/2017)
The Christmas story, viewed through the lens of change in the series "Times and Seasons," shows how God brings transformation—Joseph had to accept and obey unexpected change, while Mary had to birth something divine. The preacher calls us to embrace change this Christmas: accept what God allows, obey His voice, birth what He's planted inside, and push through to see new beginnings, because the greatest change is within us.
Embrace the Change: Looking at Christmas Through a New Lens
It's interesting when you preach the Christmas story every year, you can't change the story, but you want to keep it fresh. And so you have to look at it through different lenses. And this year, because we're finishing a series called Times and Seasons, how things change in our lives, I thought we would look at the Christmas story through the lens of change. And I want to call this sermon today, Embrace the Change. If you want to write a little title down where you can take some notes while I preach, that might be helpful. And you can just write down, Embrace the Change.
Do me a favor, while you're getting settled in, a little interaction. I want you to turn to the person next to you and finish this sentence. And you can finish it any way you want to. So you can lie to them, tell them the truth, it doesn't matter to me. If I could change one thing about myself, it would be... And then you're just going to fill in the sentence. Now notice I didn't say, if I could change one thing about you, because we're into building families, amen, and marriages, not tearing them apart. But if I could change one thing about myself, it would be... And just go ahead and pick somebody next to you, whoever looks the friendliest, and tell them, if I could change one thing about myself, it would be... Go ahead, I'll give you about 30 seconds.
At all of our locations, do it. If I could change... By the way, welcome to all of our locations while you're doing it. Blake Me, Matthews, Providence, Uptown, Rock Hill, Gaston University, Concord, GTA. What's up, guys? Larry Bry in the sling. Larry Bry. The Christmas story is about nothing if not about change. And all change is not created equal. Some changes are voluntary and initiated by us. I love preaching at Christmastime because we're at that time of year where we're too busy to think about much other than just surviving. But we're on the cusp of making goals and resolutions and changes we want to make. And so while I've got the opportunity to speak about change, I think it's a fitting time of the year to do it.
Not All Change Is the Same—Voluntary vs. Forced
But let's just acknowledge that all change is not created equal. There are some changes that you get to choose and some changes that you don't get a vote on. And I've always thought it would be much easier to embrace change if it would announce its arrival well in advance. And let me get ready for it. And I also think it would be easier to embrace changing seasons if the seasons came one at a time. But as many of you know who grew up in the South like I did, in the South, you can experience all four seasons in the same day. Today, you may wake up and be scraping ice off your windshield. And then by lunchtime, you might walk out, hello, it's 72 degrees. You want to rock a tank top to Chili's because it can all change in one day.
And so we have seasons of our life that don't come chronologically or predictably. Are you good at embracing change? I would be, again, if it was a little bit more easy to prepare for. I'm a planner. And so when we think about change, we've got to understand that not only are all of us in different seasons of our life in this room, but all of us are experiencing several seasons at the same time in each of our lives. It may be a time of blessing and increase at work for you, but you're going through hell at home. And nobody even knows it because you hide it at work. You could be going through a season of great blessing in your friendships, but be struggling in your family relationships. You might be blessed in your marriage, but yet you're going to the nursing home after work every day to sit by somebody who's dying who gave you birth.
Because we don't just experience seasons cyclically. We experience several seasons at the same time. And I want to speak a little bit today about embracing the change. All kinds of change. You know, there's different categories of change. I'm going to put a few on the screen. I mean, there's, of course, good change and bad change. All right? There is also change that seems to be bad change when you're going through it. But when you look back on it afterwards, you see that it was some of the most valuable experience that life could ever give you. And it seemed grueling at the time, but it turned out to be a gift in the end. And then there's some change that's just good all around.
Good Change vs. Bad—And the Ones That Surprise You
Like, how many of you... I'm going to play a sound for you. I want to see how many of you remember this sound. If you've ever heard this sound, if you know what it is, I want you to raise your hand. It's kind of like, name that tune. Play the sound. I lost all the students. Come on, keep them up if you know that sound. That's what we used to have to do to get on the Internet. That's called a dial-up modem. That's what it is. And you used to have to check with mom. Mom, can I have the phone line for 30 minutes? It's going to be a busy signal when people come on. You remember the free AOL 40 hours CD that came in the mail. I just want to know, did anybody have a screen name on instant messenger? Back in the day, what was your screen name? Can you say it in church? How many agree that Wi-Fi is a good change? Yes, sir. If you live through it, you know. Good change and bad change.
Then there's big change and small change. Big change and small change. And then there are small changes that make a big difference. Yeah, like when I texted my brother the other day. And what I meant to say was, keep me posted. But there's a thing on your phone called autocorrect. And sometimes it'll make a little change. Just a few letters. And apparently autocorrect wanted to change, keep me posted. To keep menopause. Now, I'm going to tell you something. That could have gone to the wrong person. It's a small change. Not menopause. Menopause is a big change. I'm going to back out of this whole illustration right now. But the point is, there's big change.
And let's go to the next one. There's permanent change. There's temporary change. Right? There's some change that needs to be made right now. And there's some change that we put off to one day. Someday. When I get around to it. There's hard change. And there's easy change. Having a baby. Which is kind of what the Christmas story centers around. Hard change. Or easy change. Kind of depends on what part of the process you're talking about. Or which partner you are in the process. A man talks about we're having a baby. You ain't doing nothing but being in charge of the ice chips, dude. So don't look so proud of yourself. Your part was easy. Your part was easy. But if you're talking about delivery or raising those puppies, you know, that's a little harder.
We Want to Change Situations More Than Ourselves
I'm just talking about change. And I've noticed about change that most of us are much more excited about changing our situations than we are about changing ourselves. And so we get all caught up in stuff we want to change around us. But the greatest change that God wants to make in our lives as this year ends is a change within us. And that's the change of Christmas. I want to cycle back in time a little bit before Jesus was born. And read you very briefly what the angel said to both Joseph and Mary to announce to them that a change was coming.
Can you imagine the change for these two teenagers? Raising the Son of God. Giving birth to the hope of the world. A change that they did not choose. But a change that would change everything and everyone for all time. And I want to use the changes that Joseph and Mary had to make or the changes that they had to embrace. To get you to think about four changes that God may want to make in your life this Christmas. Four changes that God may want to make in your heart. And in your thoughts this Christmas.
Joseph's Change: Accept and Obey the Unexpected
And we're going to begin with Joseph. Joseph is a pretty underrated character, I think. Let's hear it for Joseph, men. Can we hear it for Joseph? Come on, Joseph. Joseph was... Joseph was the one who had to explain to all of his friends, My girlfriend is pregnant, but God got her pregnant. Joseph, you didn't let her do you like that, man? No, see, what happened was, it was an angel. Joseph had to embrace the change. Let's look at it. Matthew chapter 1, verse 18 says, This is how the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, came about. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph. But before they came together... That's not how you're supposed to do it. But before they came together, She was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. And you know everybody in the family was thinking, Yeah, right. Yeah. It's God's baby. Mm-hmm.
Because Joseph, her husband, was faithful to the law, And yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, He had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this... Watch this. Verse 19 says, He had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, An angel of the Lord appeared to him. And see, for God to change your life, First he has to change your mind. Because Joseph had a certain way he was thinking about his situation. This is what I'm going to do. And this is how it's going to be. And this is what it means. But he saw and heard from a messenger from God.
And it says that the angel spoke to him in a dream, Verse 20, Part B, and said, Joseph, son of David, Don't be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, Because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. And so in other words, There's something that Joseph had to accept. And I wonder if there's something that God wants you to accept this Christmas. To accept something that you don't understand. To accept something that you can't control. I think one of the hardest changes in the world Is to change your mind about something that you cannot change. I think it's easier to make changes that we orchestrate And that we're in charge of Than it is to accept changes that we didn't get a vote on.
And so, Joseph had to accept what God allowed. I wonder, does God want you to accept something this Christmas season? To accept a certain challenge that you're facing that doesn't seem fair. To accept a phase of your life that you're in That is more challenging than you expected. To accept, perhaps, a limitation in your life That isn't going to go away. To accept a disability that other people don't have to deal with, But you do. To accept an empty seat at the table Where somebody that you love is gone And they'll never be back. And it's very difficult. To accept the change When you don't get to affect the change.
One of the hardest things In the world Is to accept what God allows. But sometimes you gotta Look at your situation and say You know what? It is what it is. I didn't ask for this But I can't change this. So I'm accepting What God allowed. Even though he didn't ask me What he thought. What I thought About what he was going to do. He knows what he's doing. And God, this Christmas I'm going to accept What you have allowed In my life. I'm going to believe That your hand is working In all things Even the things you didn't cause. I'm going to accept them As a part of my journey At this place in my life He had to accept something.
Obey What God Commands—Even When It Costs You
But then He not only had to accept something He had to obey something. Because it's one thing For the angel to say Hey, Joseph, don't be afraid. But now Joseph has to make the decision To stand by his wife. And to follow through With this plan. Look at verse. 21 The angel goes on She will give birth to a son And you are to give him The name Jesus Because he will save His people from their sins. All this took place To fulfill what the Lord Had said through the prophet The virgin will conceive And give birth To a son And they will call him Emmanuel Which means God with us I'm so glad God is above us But I'm glad that he's also with us And only God could be in two places At the same time To be above us So he can control What concerns us But to be with us So that he can comfort us In whatever we're going through That's not my message, but it's good. I'll preach that next Christmas.
And verse 24 says when Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. Ridicule and all, shame and all, questions and all. I wonder, is God calling you, Joseph, this Christmas to obey something that you don't understand? I wonder, is he calling you to give up something that's hurting you? I wonder, is he calling you to pick up something that you put down somewhere along the line because you got tired? I wonder, is God calling you to offer an apology to someone who hasn't even asked for your forgiveness yet? I wonder, is God calling you in your heart to reconcile something that's been making you bitter for four years now?
Now, I wonder, is he calling you to act on what he's spoken? The good news about God is, you don't have to understand fully to obey immediately. You don't have to know where. it's going to end up. All you got to do is what Joseph did to look back at what God is saying to you and say, let's do this. Let's do this. Come on, somebody say, let's do this. God, I don't know where this is going. I don't know what exactly you're purposing, but let's do this. I'm going to follow through with what you started in my life. I believe you know everything. I believe you can do all things. Let's do this. Let's obey what God is speaking. Let's not make ourselves miserable by ignoring his voice.
Hey, often what seems to be an interruption turns out to be the greatest invitation to experience God in the greatest way in your life. Let's do this. Come on, one more time. Let's hear it for Joseph to accept and obey.
Mary's Change: Birth What God Has Planted Inside
But we all know that Joseph's ankles didn't swell. We all know that Joseph's belly didn't grow. The real hero is Mary in the story. I love Mary. The angel comes up to her and she's very, Mary's very honest. We get a little insight into her humanity here in verse 28, Luke chapter 1, verse 28. Scripture says, the angel came to her and said, greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord was with you. Check this out. Mary was greatly troubled at his words. Usually you would think if an angel showed up and said, greetings, you're highly favored, you will be happy. I mean, this is probably good news. God's about to put you on one of those wedding shows on cable television. Go pay for your cake and your dress and everything.
But Mary knew that when God shows up in your life, he's often going to change something that's very uncomfortable for you. And so she was troubled at his words. But the angel, verse 30, said to her, don't be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God. Listen to verse 31. You will conceive and give birth to a son and you are to call him Jesus. Yeah. Mary, you got to birth something. Joseph had to accept something, obey something. Mary had to birth something.
I wonder, is there something God wants to birth in your life this Christmas season? Something inside of you that's starting to kick and is just about ready to come out? Something you forgot about? Something you can't see? A dream God gave you? A vision God put inside of you? A calling that he placed on your life? Maybe there's a ministry God put inside of you that you're going to have to others. Maybe there's a ministry that you're going to have to others out of the bad things that happen to you. Maybe there's something inside of you that's so small right now, just a gift or a talent or an ability or an idea or a business or a concept or just a new habit that God wants It's just a birth in your life or in your family.
You know what? This might just be the Christmas that you decide to push and give birth to something that God himself planted inside of you. That's a good message for Christmas. It's time to push. Because see, we think if God does something in our lives, it's just going to happen. No. The Christmas story says God will put it inside of you. But when it comes time to give birth, you've got to push. And it's time for you to push this Christmas. It's time for you to push through confusion. It's time for you to push through abuse. It's time for you to push through addiction. Come on. There's a change God wants to make. There's a new beginning God wants to birth. And it's time for you to push.
Give somebody a high five and say it's time to push. Come on, it's time to push. It's time to push. Sound effects and everything. Come on, it's time for you to give birth to what God created you for. Oh, I'm excited! I know you're not married. You're not going to give birth to the only begotten Son of God, the one who underbehave with glory, full of grace and truth. But there is a God inside of you. The Holy Spirit is inside of you. And if God is inside of you, He's got to come out. And if He put a vision inside of you, it's got to come out. And if He put a dream inside of you, I don't care if it's born in a barn, it don't matter how you start, and it doesn't matter what people think, it's got to come out.