Text: Luke 1:2638

Topic: The spirit of Christmas needs to be superseded by the Spirit of Christ.

Introduction:

• The "spirit of Christmas" is something we all long for. It's characterized by kindness, generosity, peace, goodwill, warm relationships.

Illustration: On a WWI battlefield during a Christmas Eve , a British soldier sings "The Lord Is My Shepherd." To everyone's surprise, a German soldier joins in. On Christmas day, a British soldier produces a football, and both sides play a game. The next day, the carnage resumes.

• The Christmas spirit will produce a truce, but no peace. We need something more.

The spirit of Christmas needs to be superseded by the Spirit of Christ.

• The spirit of Christmas is annual; the Spirit of Christ is eternal.
• The spirit of Christmas is sentimental; the Spirit of Christ is supernatural.
• The spirit of Christmas is a human product; the Spirit of Christ a divine Person.

The Spirit who raised Christ up from the dead can actually come into our lives.

• This isn't an annual event; this is a perpetual indwelling.
• None of us really grasps what it means to have the Holy Spirit dwell within.
• We need to think in terms of our relationship to the kingdom within us.

Illustration: An illiterate man visits the Salvation Army. He wants a red sweater with words on it like the Army's; his wife, also illiterate, sews what she sees in a nearby store: "this business under new management."

The Spirit enables us to gladly come under the kingdom and make ourselves available for service.

• Mary essentially says, "I am available. I will be whatever you want me to be."
• If we could have that same attitude, the spirit of Christ would rule year round.
• Our problem is a tendency to resist the Spirit; Paul calls it a battle of our flesh.

Illustration: The cuckoo doesn't build its own nest, but lays its eggs in the nests of thrushes, which feed the baby cuckoos because they have the biggest mouths. Cuckoos, much bigger than thrushes, eventually force the thrush babies out of the nest, so the mom is feeding only the cuckoo.

Conclusion: The human heart longs for three things:

• An experience of Christ crucified for forgiveness of sin.
• Christ risen and ascended to the Father for access to him.
• Christ's indwelling power through the Holy Spirit, so we might be changed.