Christmas Eve: Rejoice

Well, Merry Christmas once again.

I am uh I'm so glad that you guys are here today.

It's such an honor to be able to celebrate and share Christmas with so many amazing people.

Uh if you weren't here at the very beginning, if it's your very first time, welcome to his hands.

We're so happy to have you with us.

We're just a bunch of people who don't have life figured out, but we do believe that we have this one thing figured out, and that's the answer for our lives, which is Jesus.

And so everything we do, uh ultimately, it's not a it's not a performance, it's not a show.

We just love Jesus a lot, and we want we want him to understand what he means to us and that we understand what he's done for us.

So that's why we do everything we do.

We're so glad that you're here.

There's been a theme that's run through the last few songs, and it's joy.

Rejoice, you know, have have joy, joy to the world.

And we believe that the appropriate response to what Jesus did 2,000 years ago when he came to this earth and when he lived out his life, we believe the appropriate response is to be filled with joy, to be totally overjoyed.

So we've been singing about that.

And I'm sure if if you're a person who even mildly likes Christmas, and hopefully you are, um you probably have a favorite Christmas song, right?

Does everyone here have a favorite Christmas song?

You're like, that one is by far my favorite.

Anyone have a least favorite Christmas song?

And please don't say, baby, it's cold outside.

Like, let's just leave that song alone for tonight.

That song is whatever.

Um so I I've got a favorite Christmas song.

I'll get to that in a second, but but it's it's been really fun for me this holiday season because my my two-year-old, who loves music, has sort of fallen in love with Christmas.

He's about to be three, so he understands Christmas now.

And the last month has been him walking around our house singing Christmas songs at the top of his lungs.

But I'm not gonna lie, he's no good.

Like he's not a good singer.

Um, he's two, like he shouldn't be.

It'd be really weird if he was.

But but to make it even worse, he's addicted to his pacifier.

Like he always has a pacifier in his mouth.

It's kind of like having a two-year-old chain smoker at home when we talk to him.

He'll just like plop it out and say something to us and then put it right back in and go on his way.

It's really funny.

And when he's singing Christmas songs with the pacifier in his mouth, you can't understand a word that he's singing.

There is there is one song though, one song that works, and it's the song Deck the Halls.

Because when he's singing with the Passing, the verses, they're just like a garbled mess.

But when he gets to that chorus, that follow up part, that, that, you're like, oh, he's singing Deck the Halls.

You guys, you guys know Deck the Halls, right?

Everybody, does anyone say that's my favorite Christmas song?

I know, right?

No one.

One for this, you know what?

For you, this is for you.

We're gonna sing this song.

We're gonna sing it.

I'm gonna start it, and you're doing this, and uh, and and I'm gonna point to you, and you're gonna finish, and then I'll come back.

I'm gonna just do a little back and forth thing because you know this song, and I want us to make sure that we're having fun.

All right, so here we go, here we go.

Deck the halls with there you go.

This is for you.

All right, one more time.

Here we go.

Tis the season.

Yeah.

Hey, no joke, the first service stunk compared to you guys.

It was a joke.

You guys are awesome.

I'm glad they're not here right now because they would be so ashamed.

Like, no, no joke.

Um, let's go ahead and one more time.

Let's skip to the second verse.

Uh, blaze the.

I just did that on purpose.

No one knows the second verse.

No one knows it.

Everyone's like, what?

There's a second verse?

All right, let's finish it though with a real strong fa la la.

Here we go.

Fall la la la.

Give yourselves a round of applause.

That was pretty good.

That was pretty good.

So so my favorite worship song, well, Christmas song, it's kind of a worship song.

My favorite Christmas song is not, is not Deck the Halls, and don't worry, I'm not gonna make you sing my favorite song because it actually doesn't have words.

It's an instrumental song.

But it's it's probably my favorite Christmas song of all time.

And I just learned the story behind this song a few months ago.

And it blew my mind that I've loved this song for years, in part because it's been a big part of our tradition here at His Hands on Christmas, but I never heard the story behind it, and it's it's amazing.

I want to share this story with you tonight.

I want to start by showing you a picture.

This is a building in the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

And uh, it's a beautiful building.

I love the arches, it's absolutely gorgeous.

This is what that same building looked like in Christmas of 1992.

A little bit different.

And that's because in the early 90s in Bosnia there was a civil war.

And the capital city is where the intensity of that war was felt most, and the whole city was really destroyed.

This is a man named Vadron Smelevich, and uh I know I'm pronouncing that that wrong, but I am not from Bosnia, so forgive me.

Uh Vadron is a world-class cello player.

And in his in his early adulthood, he toured all over Europe playing in symphonies, a very accomplished, classically trained cello player.

He was born in Bosnia.

And when he heard what was going on during the Civil War, he decided to voluntarily leave the comfort of the life that he had and go back to his home.

And when he got there, he was he was heartbroken.

He said, What broke his heart most was that his people had done this to themselves.

This was not some outside force, it wasn't an invading army, his own people had destroyed their beautiful home, and they they had done this to themselves.

Vadron felt compelled to do something.

But rather than do what most people did, which was either A, do nothing, or B, pick up a weapon and join the fight, Vadron got up, and for 22 straight days he took his cello to that same bombed-out ruin of a building, and he played his cello in the midst of the war.

There were snipers, there were bullets, there were mortars, but for 22 straight days every day, Vadron got his cello and he went out and he played it in the midst of a war that was unceasing.

He knew that he was almost certain to die, but somehow he survived.

And years later, a reporter tracked him down and asked him what is an incredible question.

I love the way this question is phrased.

What possessed you to do such an insanely stupid thing?

Because let's be honest, to any rational mind, leaving the comfort of being a cello player in like symphonies, and I'm sure that's hard work, but I'm also sure there's harder jobs in the world, like you left the comfort of being a symphonic cello player to go to war-torn Bosnia to put yourself in harm's way.

For what reason?

What could possess you to do that?

And he said that he wanted to show his people that there was still hope, that there was still a spark of humanity left.

He wanted to give them a reason to have joy in a world that seemed like joy had escaped them completely.

He did it to give people hope.

And it's funny, I heard that story, and that story is the inspiration for this Christmas song that you've probably heard of called Christmas Eve at Serie Avo.

It's an instrumental Christmas song, it's it's awesome.

In fact, there's a part at the very beginning of the song, and if you've heard it, you're very familiar with this.

Guys, go ahead and play it.

It's just a single cello that's playing.

You guys heard the song?

Yeah.

So that cello right there, that is that is a direct nod to Vidron.

He's the inspiration for this song, this Christmas song.

And I got to thinking about that as this friend of mine shared this with me a few months ago, and I was like, man, such a cool story.

Never heard it before, but it's it's amazing to me that that story inspired, of all things, a Christmas song.

Like if it inspired a book, which it did, that makes sense.

If it inspired a movie, that would make sense, but it inspired a Christmas song.

And I kind of thought Jesus was supposed to inspire Christmas songs.

Or at least something really important, like buying stuff.

You know what I mean?

But like that story, why would that inspire a Christmas song of all things?

And as I thought about it, it made total sense.

Because the similarities between Vadron's story and Jesus' story when he came into this world are striking.

In Philippians chapter 2, this man named Paul, an early follower of Jesus, wrote a summary of Jesus' life.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

And here's what he says in Philippians chapter 2, starting in verse 6, he says, Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Instead, he gave up his divine privileges, he took the humble position of a slave, and he was born as a human being.

And it goes on to say that he humbled himself even to death on a cross.

That's the story of Jesus coming into this world, and it's in so many ways like Vedron's.

Because just like Vedron, Jesus left a very comfortable situation.

Except his situation was not having a cush job playing in symphonies.

Jesus left the comfort of heaven.

And I've never been to heaven.

I plan on going one day, but I haven't been there yet.

I can only imagine, though, if you're there and your name is Jesus and you're the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings and the author of all creation and the one who holds all things together, that heaven's probably a pretty sweet place to be.

And Jesus left that.

And just like Vidron, Jesus came to a group of people who had torn their own world apart.

He came to live as one of us.

And the reality is, God handed us a beautiful world, and we messed things up.

We are so good at breaking what we've been given.

Jesus came into a world where his people, us, humanity, had done this to ourselves.

And just like Vidron, Jesus put himself in an unbelievably vulnerable position.

Except instead of taking a cello and going out into the midst of a war, Jesus became one of the most powerless things you can imagine, a newborn child.

Have you ever held a newborn child?

It's terrifying.

I have four kids, and every time we have a child, and it's like the first time I'm holding him, I'm like, oh my, I feel so much pressure.

You know what I mean?

Like, please, please don't move or wiggle or sneeze or anything.

And then I just give, like, here, take it back, take it back.

You know?

Because newborn children are as vulnerable as anything you can imagine.

And how crazy is it that the God of the universe set aside all of his power to become something as powerless as a newborn child?

He put himself in a very vulnerable position.

And just like Vadron, Jesus put himself in harm's way.

Except instead of knowing that there was a possibility, maybe even a probability, that he would die, Jesus knew that his death was a certainty.

He gave his life so that we could have hope, so that we could have joy, so that we could have a restored relationship with God.

And you know what?

Here's the truth any rational person, any rational person would describe that story as insanely stupid.

Like what could possess someone like Jesus to do something so insanely stupid?

You gave up heaven?

You gave up heaven, you gave up all the power of being God.

You came to earth to be born as a baby to save us from the mess that we created.

You didn't have any part in that mess.

And then you gave up your life for us, knowing that many of us would never even accept you.

Many of us would reject you, many of us would walk away.

You did that?

Jesus, what would inspire you to do something so insanely stupid?

Here's the reality love is not rational.

And when you love someone or you love something more than most people do, you will do things that to a rational mind look crazy.

And Jesus is crazy about you.

Jesus is crazy about people.

So the next time you hear the the song Christmas Eve at Sarajevo, I hope you think of Vadron and his cello, but I also hope you think of Jesus, because Vadron is the man who inspired a Christmas song.

Jesus is the man who inspired Christmas itself.

He put himself in an unbelievable situation.

He gave up more than we could possibly imagine just so we could know him, just so we could be connected to him.

And tonight is about how we respond to that.

I'm gonna be honest with you guys.

This is my fifth Christmas Eve here at his hands.

Well, I've been here for 12 years.

This is my fifth time on the stage talking at Christmas, and every year it's it's kind of like, what am I gonna talk about?

Probably Jesus, you know?

I feel like that's a safe bet.

Probably mention his birth at some point in time.

And and let's be let's be serious.

Some of you guys, you've been Jesus followers for a long time.

Some of you guys, you're not sure where you stand with that yet.

You've heard this story before.

This is not the first time you've heard the story of Jesus entering the world.

But have you responded to it appropriately?

That's that's what I want to ask.

Because this is not about telling a story that's been told thousands and thousands of times.

This is about an opportunity to respond.

What is the appropriate response to what Jesus did?

For me, it's it's overwhelming joy.

You know, if that cello player, Vidron, was in the room physically, and I said, Hey, that's the guy.

That's the guy that played the cello, you would probably want to meet him.

You'd probably want to shake his hand.

I mean, if you were like, oh, okay, then you're a jerk.

Um, you know.

And in a room this size, there's at least three jerks.

I mean, it's statistically proven.

But like, the vast majority of you would would totally say, No, I want to meet that man.

And you stand in line, you stand in a line, and you would wait to shake his hand and say, Wow, what you did was so courageous and brave.

You you would respond appropriately.

If you were in the same room as Jesus, how would you respond?

I would fall to my knees and I would I would cry.

I would sob.

Because Jesus did that for me, and I don't deserve that.

I I would I would freak out, I would cry, and I imagine at some point in time Jesus would lift me to my feet and he would look me in the eyes.

And in that moment, I would feel more joy than I've ever felt in my entire life.

In that moment, I would be so overwhelmed I probably couldn't even find words, which, if you know me well, that's that's like a miracle.

If there's not words coming out of my mouth, something has happened.

And I wouldn't have words, I'd probably just have to make sounds like fala or something like that to express the joy coming out of me.

I would be so overjoyed that I'm standing face to face with the man who gave up heaven to come to earth to live as a human being.

Half the time, I don't even want to be a human being, but he he chose that, he came here, he died on a cross for me, for you.

What's the appropriate response to that?

I don't want to go through another Christmas season and go through the motions and wrap gifts and decorate a tree and sing songs and watch claymation like cartoons from 60 years ago, they're kind of creepy.

And like and get offended at which song isn't politically correct enough anymore.

Like, if if that's the appropriate response to Christmas, let's shut it down.

But, but but if the appropriate response to Christmas is to do what those shepherds did that first night that Jesus was born, Matt read that story not long ago.

The angels appeared, they said, I bring you good news that will bring great joy.

When the shepherds heard that, they didn't go like, oh, cool.

And then they went back to she, no, no, no, they were like, let's go see Jesus.

Let's go see this child.

And in Luke chapter 2, verse 20, it says that after they saw him, they went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.

Luke 2:20

It was just as the angels had told them.

The appropriate response to Jesus is just to look at him, to be in awe at who he is and what he's done, and to realize that he did it for you, and then to glorify and praise God because he's real, he's powerful, and he loves you, and he did something insanely stupid to give you hope and to give you life.

So that's the appropriate response, and I want to encourage you tonight to respond.

I want to encourage you to respond.

We're gonna sing a few more songs.

And and you know what?

It's a chance to sit back, it's a chance to listen to some good music.

It's a chance for me, it's always a chance to listen to people who are like way more talented than me and go, wow, I should have practiced something else when I was young.

Um but but this is an opportunity to respond.

Have you responded appropriately to Jesus?

Some of us here, we've been Jesus followers for a long time.

You've responded at some point in your past by giving your life to Jesus.

And maybe the busyness of life has gotten in the way.

Maybe you've just been so crazy, so stressed out, you know, maybe you've been paying attention to all the wrong things.

And this is a great chance to say, no, no, no, I'm gonna be like those shepherds, I'm gonna look at my Jesus and I'm going to worship him.

And I want to encourage you in a moment to worship him to not hold back, because I'm telling you, if he was in this room physically, you would not hold back.

You wouldn't be able to.

You wouldn't be able to.

And he promised in scripture that when two or more gathered in his name, he would be with them.

So I'm telling you, he's here.

So respond appropriately.

And if you're here and you've never given your life to Jesus, first off, I want you to know that you are accepted and loved.

You are not judged, but I I have to be really honest with you.

My heart breaks for you.

Because if you haven't put your faith in Jesus, it means that you've put your faith in something, frankly, far, far less capable of carrying you when you need it most.

Now think about that building.

That first picture we looked at.

We as people have an amazing ability to create beautiful things.

We really do.

Like we're really good at that.

That's because we're actually created in the image of God.

He made us to kind of be like him, and he's a beautiful creator, so we can create beautiful things, but we also have this knack for breaking whatever it is that we make.

And if if you've put your faith in something that you've made, whether that's a career, whether that's some some dream of yours, no matter how beautiful it is, it is capable of being broken.

But what the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus shows us is that Jesus is not capable of being broken.

And when you put your faith in him, your faith is not in something flimsy like a circumstance.

Your faith is in something solid.

Your faith is in someone powerful enough to hold you in his hand.

Your faith is in the one who holds all things together.

He is Jesus, he is the King of kings, he is the Lord of Lords, and he belongs to you because he came for you.

And I would be disobedient not only to my God, but to who you are and how important you are if I didn't give you an opportunity today to respond to Jesus.

And so if you're here and you haven't given your life to him, my prayer for you is that you would.

Because he's awesome, because he's wonderful, that you would rejoice because you have a savior.

A savior was born and he's yours, and he came for you, and you can give him your life because he's already given you yours.

Does anybody need that tonight?

I mean, honestly, does anybody need it?

Would anyone be brave enough to raise your hand and say, you know what?

I came here today thinking I was just going to a Christmas gathering, but I need Jesus in my life, I need something to change.

Is anybody here willing to say I need him?

I'm tired of building my life on things that break and wear down.

I'm tired of putting my hopes in things that are destined to fail me.

I need God.

And I'm giving my life to God tonight.

Is there anyone willing to say I'm doing that?

Raise your hand high, like be proud if that's you.

Thank you.

He loves you so much.

For all of us, whether you've given your life to God like five seconds ago or 50 years ago, we're gonna sing some more songs.

It's a chance to rejoice, it's a chance to respond.

You know the story.

Just respond appropriately, be filled with joy because he loves you.

Pray with me, Jesus.

Thank you so much for coming to this world, for giving yourself completely and totally to us.

Thank you, Jesus, for doing something that any one of us would describe as insanely stupid.

Just for the chance to know you.

Thank you for sacrificing heaven.

Thank you for making yourself vulnerable.

Thank you for putting yourself in a mess that we created, and thank you, Jesus, for being obedient even up to the point of death to rescue us from ourselves.

We love you.

We praise you.

Thank you, God, for this family of people to celebrate with.

It's in your name we pray.

Amen.

Merry Christmas.

We love you guys.