Grave Tidings | The Ghosts of Christmas | Trinity Sermons

Hi everybody, I'm Rob from Trinity Streetsville. Here at Trinity we're just a group of ordinary

people learning to follow Jesus in our own day. Hey, Christmas seems like a funny time

to be talking about a funeral, right? Christmas is about a birth, not a death. And yet, as

Ebenezer Scrooge learned, Christmas is the perfect time for a funeral. All of us will

experience a natural death, but we also have the opportunity to die to ourselves. What

does that mean and how do we do it? Well, stick around and let's find out.

Our first reading is from Romans chapter 6 verses 3 to 11. Don't you know that all of

Romans 6:3–11

us who were baptized in Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore

buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from

the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have

been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him

in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that

the body ruled by sin might be done away with. That we should no longer be slaves to sin

because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now, if we died with Christ, we

believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from

the dead, he cannot die again. Death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he

died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count

yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Our second reading is from the Gospel of Matthew chapter two, verses 10 to 11, 10 to 12. When

they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with

his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and

presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream

not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. The word of

the Lord.

In my first few years as a parish priest, I would say in the first four or five years,

I must have done about 70 funerals. I don't know what was going on at this church. There

was a lot of the people that we did funerals for were members of the church, but many more

were just kind of like friends of brothers, friends. And so there was some of that too.

But when you do that many funerals, it's almost a guarantee that every month of the year from

January through to December, you're going to have a funeral going on. Now I have to

say that actually, since I've come to Trinity, I'm very glad to report that we haven't, I

haven't done nearly as many funerals here at Trinity as I did at this other place. But

I still have learned a very important lesson. And the lesson is that at some point, you're

going to end up doing a funeral during the Christmas season. You're going to end up doing

a Christmas funeral. And as some of you, I should say, some of you know this better than

me. You've experienced this firsthand and you know what it's like to go to a funeral

around Christmas. And it's, it's wrong. It doesn't feel right. Because Christmas in our

minds is all about a birth and not a death. And Christmas is a time for festivities, not

for saying farewell to people. And so, you know, a funeral sometimes feels like that

unwanted guest at a Christmas party that you're having. And you're like, why are you here?

Get out of here. You know, no one, no one invited you. So on the one hand, we would

say that, you know, a funeral doesn't feel like it really belongs at Christmas or does

it or does it? I should just acknowledge off the top, most of you probably didn't come

to church this morning on the Sunday before Christmas expecting to hear a sermon that

has so much to do with death and funerals. But actually there is a greater connection

between Christmas and death than we might think. Take for example, one of my favorite

Christmas carols. This is a what child is this? What child is this who laid to rest

on Mary's lap is sleeping, whom angels greet with anthems sweet while shepherds watch are

keeping. It's lovely. Merry Christmas. But then you get to another verse later on, the

last verse, and it says nails spear shall pierce him through the cross be born for me,

for you hail hail the word made flesh, the babe, the son of Mary nails spears cross.

Merry Christmas or try this one off for size. We all love good old we three Kings. You know,

one of the Kings says, you know, born a King on Bethlehem's plain gold I bring to crown

him again King forever ceasing never over us all terrain. Merry Christmas. And then

another King sings. Mer is mine. It's better perfume breathes a life of gathering gloom

sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, sealed in a stone cold tomb. Merry Christmas. You

know, mer turns out is a spice used to embalm dead bodies like at funerals, even even Hark

the Herald Angels sing says, you know, Jesus was born that man no more may die. The theme

of death is found all throughout Christmas. There's no avoiding it. Christmas isn't just

about a birth. It's also there's also this thing going on with death, especially the

death of Jesus. And actually, if you go to Germany, city of Hamburg, there's a church

there called St. Peter's. And there's this beautiful kind of behind the altar. There's

a big kind of display of all these panels and artwork. And one of the panels has a picture

of the Annunciation, a very Christmasy scene where where Mary is told by the angel that

she is going to give birth to the Christ child. And in that picture, it's wonderful. There's

even a beam of light coming out of heaven, going right down onto Mary's womb. And Jesus,

a little baby Jesus is riding the beam of light into Mary's womb. Right. It's very Christmasy.

Right. But then you zoom in on the photo and what you notice is that little baby Jesus

is already carrying a cross as he comes into Mary's womb. He's preparing to die from the

moment of his birth. Right. Death and Christmas, funerals and Christmas. Well, there is a famous

story about a man who came face to face with death at Christmas time. And that story is

a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. And that man is Ebenezer Scrooge. And today we're

going to be wrapping up this four week Advent teaching series that we've been using. Dickens,

a Christmas Carol to help us hear the Christmas story in a bit of a new way. And Scrooge has

met three ghosts so far. First, he met the ghosts of Jacob Marley, his old business partner

who warned him, Scrooge better change your ways. Otherwise you're going to face some

serious judgment. And then he met the ghosts of Christmas past who took him on a trip down

memory lane and show him some of his memories, both the painful ones, but also the pleasurable

ones that shaped him into the person he was. And then last week we talked about the ghosts

of Christmas present who opened up Scrooge's eyes to see both the blessings and the needs

that were right under his nose the whole time. And now today it is the ghosts of Christmas

future or what Dickens calls the ghosts of Christmas yet to come, who is going to confront

Scrooge with the reality of, get this death. Now, while death may seem kind of weird to

us, you have to understand for Charles Dickens, it was not. In 19th century Victorian England,

the average life expectancy for somebody was like 40 years old and child mortality was

extraordinarily high. Funerals were very visible in public events. They were happening all

the time and people mourned and wailed and wept very, very openly for all to see. Even

Charles Dickens himself, when he was young, he saw a number of his own siblings die as

children. He wore a ring on his finger, a ring that used to belong to his sister-in-law

who also died as a way of remembering her. So you see death shaped his life probably

more than it shapes ours. And it definitely shaped his writing and especially a Christmas

Carol. For example, do you know what the very first line of a Christmas Carol is? If you

read the book, the very first line, it's this, Marley was dead. That's the first line. Merry

Christmas. He was as dead as a doornail. Right? And then you read a little further in this

theme of death discontinues, right? We hear how Scrooge was deeply, deeply wounded by

the death of his sister, Fan. And then you read a little further and Scrooge's nephew

says this weird line where he says something like, we are all just fellow passengers to

the grave. And then of course the climax of the whole story takes place when Scrooge sees

his own death. He sees his own funeral. He sees his own gravestone, right? Merry, Merry

Christmas to us all. But there is a very deep truth here that we cannot miss. Dickens is

teaching us something. It's something that the Bible teaches us as well. And that is

that each of us has an opportunity to die, but not just once, twice. A Christmas Carol

is the story of Scrooge's two deaths, his two funerals. And the same is true for each

of us. We all have the chance to die, not just once, but twice. You see the first death

is the physical death that we all face. The second is a spiritual death. It's a death

to the old self. And Scrooge doesn't just experience his earthly death, but he also

experiences the death of the person that he used to be. He experiences himself dying even

while he's still alive. So you see this Christmas story is ultimately about two ways to die.

It's about two different types of funerals. Now this may sound confusing, so let me clarify.

You see Ebenezer Scrooge and you and me, we will all die a natural death, an earthly demise.

This is the deal that God made with us when he created us. He said, you guys are dust

and to dust you're going to return. Actually at every funeral we say those words. At every

funeral the priest stands up and says earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. You

know the book of James says that people are, no the book of James says you are a mist.

Your life is here and then it's gone. And then the book of Hebrews says people are destined

to die. So that's the natural death. That's the death that we all will die one day. But

the Bible also speaks of a different kind of funeral, a different kind of death. You

see while we're still living, God invites each of us to die to ourselves, to die to

our old ways, to die to our old identities, to put to death the person that we used to

be and instead become someone entirely different in Jesus Christ. Paul experienced this second

death and he wrote about it. He said, I've been crucified with Christ and I no longer

have. He's dead, but Christ lives in me. Two kinds of deaths, two kinds of funerals. So

today I want to do one of the most Christmasy things ever. I want us to go to a funeral.

I want us to attend not one funeral, but two funerals. Let's attend both of Scrooge's

funerals. The first one, the natural one, the physical one, but let's also attend his

second one, the spiritual one, the death to self, the death that leads to life. And as

you can, you're going to see these two funerals are very, very different. So let's begin with

Scrooge's first funeral, right? The ghost of Christmas yet to come comes along and shows

Scrooge what it's going to finally be like when he breathes his last breath and when

he kicks the bucket, right? What is that going to be like for Scrooge, his physical death?

Well, the first thing that we notice is that Scrooge's physical death is overshadowed by

this looming sense of fear. Scrooge finds death very, very scary. As soon as the ghost

shows up, he is terrified by what the future holds. Look at this.

I am in the presence of the spirit of Christmas yet to come. And you're going to show me shadows

of things that have not yet happened but will happen. Spirit of the future, I fear you more

than any other specter I've seen. But even in my fear, I must tell you, I am too lulled.

I cannot change. It's not that I am impenitent. It is just that I... Wouldn't it be better

if I just went home to bed? No. Lead me then.

Now why does Scrooge fear this spirit more than all the rest? You know, he's not alone

because many people fear death. It's called fanatophobia. A lot of people are scared of

dying. And it could be that it's more that they just fear the unknown. It could be that

they fear that they've left some things unfinished in their life. It could be that death scares

them because they fear being forgotten. Or it could be that death scares us not so much

death, but just the dying process is what makes us afraid. I don't know whatever it

is. I think Scrooge's fear of death is something that many, many people feel. So that's the

first thing we noticed about Scrooge's first funeral, his earthly physical death. It's

overshadowed by this fear. But secondly, it's also overshadowed by a legacy of greed. Do

you guys know what a legacy is? A legacy is what we leave behind when we're gone. A legacy

is the impact that our lives made on others and on the world. And Scrooge's legacy, guess

what? It was a legacy of greed and self interest, right? In fact, here's a couple of businessmen

who are discussing Scrooge's death and his legacy.

Very well then. Who's the worst for the loss of a few things last night?

Right back. I got the wrong clip there. Okay. This is, I don't know if I got the right clip

there or not, but this is a lady that and she is talking about witnessing Scrooge's

death. Hold on. Let me see if I can fast forward. No, that's not right either. What's going

on? There it is. That's the one I want. No, that's not the one I want. Ron, are you doing

that or am I doing that? Okay, hold on. Whoa, whoa, whoa. What's going on here? Hold on.

We're just going to watch this one. Who's the worst for the loss of a few things like

these? Not a dead man, I suppose. No, he didn't. If he wanted to keep him after he was dead,

why wasn't he amiable in his lifetime? If he had been, he'd have had somebody with him

when he was struck with death instead of lying, gasping out his last there alone, be himself.

There never was a tour word spoke. There was a judgment on him. Okay. So there you see

these people are, see what they're all holding. They're all holding like little bags of stuff

they've stolen from Scrooge's bedroom. Like after he died, right? Scrooge's legacy was

one of greed. And so when he died, everyone just felt like, well, let's just steal back

from him. He spent his whole life taking and taking and taking. So now we're going to,

we're going to take back. It's our turn to take some stuff back from him. Okay. So that

is, that is the second thing that we learned. His legacy was first, it was overshadowed.

It was overshadowed by fear. Secondly, there was this sense of greed that surrounded it.

And third thing is that it was frankly, a lonely, lonely death. You heard that lady

just say Scrooge breathed his last breath completely alone. There was nobody at his

death bed. And now listen to these businessmen. This time I got it right. These businessmen

are going to talk about how nobody really wants to be with this guy, even in death.

No, I don't know much about it either way. I only know he's dead. When did he die? Last

night, I believe. What was the matter with him? I thought he'd never die. So did he,

I dare say. What's he done with all his money? Left it at his company. Where else? He didn't

leave it to me. That's all I know. Well, the funeral won't cost much that certain. On

my soul, I can't think of anyone who will go to it. I don't mind going if there's a

lunch provided, but I must be fed or else I stay at home. So they'll only go to Scrooge's

funeral if there's a lunch provided. I can't think of anybody who would actually go to

his funeral. They say, you know, when you read an obituary in the paper, one of the

most common things you read is that so and so passed away surrounded by their loved ones

being with others at the time of our death provides us with comfort and consolation,

both for the person who's dying, but also for the person who has, you know, the people

who are left behind being with people is a really important part of the dying process.

But Scrooge, as we learn, had no one, no one visiting him when he was sick, no one present

when he died, nobody going to his funeral and nobody visiting his gravestone except

himself. That could be the greatest scream in the history of cinema. Right. Scrooge's

first funeral, this is the first funeral, his physical death, his natural death is summed

up in that horrible scream. Right. It's marked with looming fear, a legacy of greed and loneliness.

It is not the death that any of us would want to choose for ourselves. And yet that's the

point of this story. In some ways, that's the point. In a way, Scrooge did choose this

in Romans six 23, we are told that for the wages of sin is death, meaning that in some

way Scrooge earned this death. That's what wages are. Wages are what you get paid for

the stuff that you do. And so for his life of sin and his life of greed and his life

of selfishness and isolation, Scrooge earned this death, this fearful, meaningless and lonely

death. You reap what you sow. The Bible tells us that Scrooge's first funeral is this a

vivid picture of the consequences of what happens when you live a life apart from God.

Now if the sermon ended there, you would all go home deeply, deeply depressed and, and

we'd have a horrible Christmas, bah humbug, right? But, but there is good news and that

is Scrooge's story doesn't end with his first funeral, right? The ghost of Christmas yet

to come shows him the possibility of a second funeral, one that he can choose. And here's

the amazing thing. When we choose this second death, we are made new in Jesus and it changes

everything. Now I think I've pinpointed the moment in the movie when Scrooge's second

funeral actually takes place. This is the moment when he dies to his old self. And I

want you to look at his posture and listen to his words here.

Spirit, bid me and help me, help me to sponge away the writing on the stone if I repent.

And I do repent, I do repent. I'll make good wrongs after my fellow men and I'll change.

I'm not the man I was. I'm not the man I was. Believe me, believe me, I'm not the man I was.

I'm not the man I was. I'm not the man I was.

Now, did you hear the words he spoke there? They were very, very important words. The

first thing he said was pity me. In other words, he admits his brokenness. He admits

that he needs mercy and that he cannot save himself. Pity me, he says. The second thing

he says is help me. He admits he doesn't have the power within himself to save himself.

He needs strength from outside. He needs an outside helper to supply him with the strength

he lacks. Third, he says, I repent and to repent is to confess your sins and then to

turn away from those sins. And finally, he says, I'm not the man I was. You see, he is

becoming something new. In this moment, he is becoming something new. In first Corinthians,

second Corinthians, Paul says, if anyone is in Christ, they are new creation. The old

is gone and the new is here. That moment, that was Scrooge's second funeral. He's died.

We saw him die. He now he's been reborn. Now, some skeptics will say, yeah, Rob, but listen,

anybody could say those things. It doesn't necessarily mean that they've changed. And

I would actually agree. How do we know if someone really has died and if Christ really

has taken up residence within them and if they're really alive in a brand new way? Good

question. And there are telltale signs that this happens. The first thing you can always

tell that this has happened in someone's life is that there is some sudden joy in their

life that wasn't there before. The looming fear in Scrooge's life is now gone and it's

been replaced by joy. Look at this. I don't know what to do. I'm as light as a feather.

I'm as happy as an angel. I'm as merry as a schoolboy. I'm as giddy as a drunken man.

I'm merry Christmas Ebenezer. Lord hum dog. You see, he says he's as light as a feather.

Why is he as light as a feather? Because the burdens of his sin, the burden of his guilt

and shame, all that stuff that weighed him down, it has now been forgiven and dealt with.

And now he can be light. He can be full of joy. Jesus said that there will be more rejoicing

in heaven, more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people

who do not need to repent. You see repentance and joy always go together. Now I want to

say that when we repent and when we go through this, this death and rebirth, it doesn't necessarily

mean that all our problems are solved and we'll wake up the next morning and we're dancing

around and we no longer have any kind of issues to resolve. No, our challenges don't simply

disappear. But what does appear is deep, unshakable joy, which is a sure sign that God is at work

in someone's life, bringing renewal and changing their heart, even in the midst of life's messiness.

So that is the first sign that we know this is a legit transformation is that there's

sudden joy. The second sign that means that this is really happening at Scrooge is his

stunning generosity, right? Scrooge immediately upon his conversion, he starts giving away

money. He gives his housekeeper a gold coin. He gives her a raise as well. He yells at

a boy out the window and offers him a tip for some little task he asked him to do. And

then he goes and he buys the biggest Turkey in town and he sends it to his employee, Bob

Cratchit.

Mr. Robert Cratchit to Porter Street, Camden town.

That's you, Robert. These phrases no one else I know of.

I think I know who sent it.

Who?

Who?

Mr. Scrooge.

Oh, dear, oh dear, whatever made you think it might be him?

I don't know. I just think it.

What would make Mr. Scrooge take such leave of his senses suddenly?

Christmas.

I've never seen anybody handle a turkey quite so tenderly. But generosity is the hallmark

of conversion, right? I mean, you know, think of the story of Zacchaeus. Remember the story

of Zacchaeus when Zacchaeus encountered Jesus and was changed. What was the first thing

he did? He gave away his possessions. He paid back all those who had wronged him or he wronged.

Why?

Because when you've received God's lavish and generous love in his undeserved mercy

into your life, how can you not be eager to extend that same generosity and that same

mercy to those around you? Right. So Scrooge's conversion was real. His rebirth was real.

There was a sudden joy. There was this stunning generosity. And thirdly, there was strengthened

relationships. A sure sign that the old person has died and the new life of Christ has arrived

is that relationships get healed in your life and reconciliation starts to take place. For

Scrooge, not only did he become like a second father to Tiny Tim, but he actually goes and

he reconnects and he reconciles with his nephew's family.

Uncle Ebenezer.

Fred.

Is it too late to accept your invitation to dinner?

Too late? I'm delighted. Delighted. My dear, look who it is.

Can you forgive a pig-headed old fool for having no eyes to see with, no ears to hear

with all these years? Yes, dear uncle, you've made Fred so happy.

You see, Paul said that when we are reconciled with God, then we have this new ministry of

being reconciled with each other and reconciling ourselves with those around us in the world.

Right. And again, not all relationships get healed overnight just because the new life

is born within you. But, but, but strengthened relationships are a sure sign that the love

of Christ is growing in you. So there you have it. Stunning joy. No sudden joy, stunning

generosity, strengthened relationship. The old Scrooge is dead. He's buried. It's no

longer he who lives, but it is Christ who lives in him. And it's not just Scrooge that

this can happen for, but for you and me too. Now I warned you about this a few weeks ago

and I said, there's a chance that we, we look at the Christmas carol and we look at Scrooge

and we laugh and we say, Oh, nobody's actually like that. He's, he's just a caricature. Ha,

ha, ha, ha, ha. No, we all can fall into the same trap that Scrooge fell into. The trap

of consumerism and materialism, especially around Christmas, spending more time on screens

than with people. We too can isolate ourselves. We too can overlook the needs of the world,

just like Scrooge did. And we too can hold onto the hurts of the past and we can live

a life separated from God, just like him. Therefore, just like Scrooge needed to die,

we need to die. And just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father,

we too, you and me, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him

in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like

his. This is not a fictional story about Scrooge. This is your story. You too can choose to

die. You too can choose to be reborn. And why not now? I asked the question, why not

now? We've already seen that Christmas is actually a pretty good time for a funeral.

The baby Jesus comes to us with a cross already in his hands, ready to die for us. Are you

ready to die to the old you? Are you ready to let the life of Christ live in you instead?

I want to invite you. I want to invite you this Christmas to attend your own funeral.

For some of you, this idea is like pretty brand new. You've never heard this concept

of dying to yourself. Others of you have been coming to church for years and years and yeah,

you've heard you've heard about it, but you've never actually done it. You've never actually

prayed a prayer like Scrooge prayed. Pity me, help me. I repent. I'm not the person

that I was. If you're willing to pray that prayer and make that decision, then just like

Scrooge, you know what? You're not going to fear death anymore, right? Because Jesus already

died for you and you know that he rose from the dead and he's defeated death itself. So

you too, if you pray this prayer, if you make this decision, you too can say like Paul said,

Hey death, you know, where's your victory now? Where's your sting now death? Death will

not scare you. You no longer fear the end of life because you've already died. So now

the second death holds no power over you because your life is now hidden in Christ and you

can share in his resurrection, right? Secondly, if you pray that prayer, then like Scrooge,

your own life will be filled with a flowing generosity. Cause Jesus said, Hey, freely,

freely you've received now freely give God pours all his love into your life and you

can pour it out into the lives of others. And if you're willing to make this decision

to die this death, then like Scrooge, you too will be reconnected with community. You

will find yourself born into a new family. Scrooge went from isolation to fellowship.

And when we are reborn in Christ, we're reborn into this family, this church where we each

have received the spirit of Jesus, where we are adopted as God's children, where we can

call God father. So, so anyways, let's end this way. Let me ask you, are you ready to

attend your own funeral this Christmas? Are you ready to let go of your old self, the

parts of you that are enslaved by sin and selfishness and rise to the new life of Christ?

Whoever tries to hold onto their life, Jesus says, we'll lose it. But whoever loses their

life for his sake, we'll find it. So what I want to do is I want to pray Scrooge's prayer

for us right now. And I want to invite you to pray it along with me. This is our opportunity

to die to ourselves and be reborn this Christmas. Let us pray. Lord Jesus, I come to you today

and I recognize my need and I confess my brokenness. Pity me. Lord, I cannot save myself. I need

your mercy and your grace to make me whole. God, I turn to you now. I turn to you and

cry out, help me. I cannot walk this path alone. I surrender control. I ask you to rescue

me. Give me the strength and the power that only you can provide. And Lord, I confess

my sins and I lay them at your feet. I repent. As Scrooge did, I repent of the ways I've

lived apart from you. I turn away from my old life. Forgive me, cleanse me, renew me.

And now by faith, I declare, I am not the person I was. I am not the person I was.

I believe your promise that if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. I believe

today the old has gone and the new has come. Jesus, I give you my life. Now shape me, guide

me, fill me with your spirit that I may live in joy and generosity and love in the new

life you have given me. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Thank you for listening to Trinity Sermons. This episode was recorded on December 22nd,

2024 at Trinity Church, Creightonville in Mississauga, Ontario.