On December 9^th, 1965, a American Christmas classic was born.

“A Charlie Brown Christmas” made its television debut.

It was a phenomena that took the country by storm. 15 and a half million households…Almost half the people watching television in America that night…were watching “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” 

Since that historic night, now for half a century, billions of people have tuned in every December to watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

There are a number of things that made it unique.

For example, most cartoons hired adults to be the voices of animated children. But Charles Schulz and his production team decided to have actual kids read the parts of the Peanuts gang.

The shows soundtrack was also unique. There was no laugh track underneath to keep it going. No ambient noise was added to the background. Just the bare sound of children’s voices against an uncluttered background.

But perhaps what set “A Charlie Brown Christmas” apart from every other Christmas special was the way it answered a single question.

“What is Christmas all about?” 

All the other Christmas specials of the time, like Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, and Frosty the Snowman…were answering this question with a vague, non-offensive “its about being nice”…or “its about being accepted and loved.”

But Charlie Brown didn’t mince words. The whole show was set up around the disappointment of a sentimental, commercial Christmas…and Charlie Brown’s quest for it’s true meaning.

In his quest, Charlie Brown decides to direct the town’s Christmas play. But, no one is listening to him. He loses control of all his actors. So, he brings in a Christmas tree to usher in the Christmas spirit…whatever that is.

Most of you know, the tree is an utter failure…the Christmas play is an utter failure…and so Charlie Brown FEELS like an utter failure.

In the climax of the show, he yells rhetorically, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” 

And Linus, in his calm and matter of fact style replies, “Sure, Charlie Brown. I can tell you what Christmas is all about.”

Then a pause and Linus says, “Lights Please”. The empty theater goes dark…and a single spotlight rests on Linus.

For the next 51 seconds, Linus quotes from memory a passage from Luke chapter 2 about the birth of Christ.

Those 51 seconds would be echoed on television every December for the next 51 years.

Here’s the passage that Linus recites.

Luke 2:8-14

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 

    “Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

There is something odd about this monologue, and I don’t just mean the fact that the Bible got 51 seconds of uninterrupted airtime on network television, which was a bit of a miracle in and of itself.

 No, there are a couple of things happening when Linus recites this Scripture that many of you may never have noticed…that give a new kind of depth and meaning to this scene.

See, every single one of the Peanuts’ gang has their calling card. Charlie Brown, has the yellow & shirt with the zig-zag black stripe across the front…that pretty much epitomizes his up and down mood. 

Lucy has that blue dress, a shrill domineering yell, and that 5-cent-per-session Psychiatric practice. Schroeder has his piano…and Snoopy has his doghouse….

…and Linus has his blanket.

Linus is rarely separated from his blanket. He feels about it like you feel about your smartphone…he gets panic attacks if he misplaces it.

It is…in every sense of the word…his security blanket. It makes him feel safe. Comforted. It brings him peace. 

The other thing you might not remember is the role that Linus is assigned in the Christmas play. He is going to be a shepherd.

In fact, there is a scene where Lucy (his big sister) tells him “Get rid of that stupid blanket! What’s a Christmas shepherd going to look like holding a stupid blanket like that?”

Linus replies:

“This is one Christmas shepherd whose going to keep his trusty blanket with him”

But something happens when the lights turn on Linus.

He transforms.

For someone who is so tied to his blanket…right in the middle of his monologue,

…

Linus drops his blanket to the ground. 

Do you know when he does it?

Luke 2:9-10

When he recites the part about the lights shining on the shepherds…and the angels telling them to “FEAR NOT”.

See, up until that point… …Linus refused to give up his security blanket.

but now, standing in the light as a Christmas shepherd…hearing himself recite the message of the angels… “Fear Not, because Christ is born”… 

…Linus drops his blanket.

“Lights Up, Blankets Down: How God Answers Our Fear With Himself”- Matt 1:18-23; John 1:1-18 

You know, its been said by some that all religions start at different points but end at the same place. The same God. The same set of morals and values.

I think that idea is backwards.

Rather, I think all religions start at the same point…and from there, end up in very different places with very different gods. 

Every religion starts by looking at the chaos of the world, the decay, the brokenness, the evil… and asking 2 questions.

One is Charlie Brown’s question “What is life all about?” With all this darkness…with all my failure…can anybody give me a reason to keep going?

The other question that every religion is trying to answer is Linus’ question: “How do I drop the blanket? How do I not fear? Where can I find peace & security?" 

Christmas…and Christianity…answer those 2 questions very differently from any other world religion.

See, every other religion, every other philosophy answers those questions with a WHAT. An idea. A moral. A value.

Every other religion answers those questions with a sort of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer or Frosty the Snowman philosophy… “Its all about love. Its all about being included and accepted. Its all about doing your best.”

But Christianity is the only one that answers not with an idea or a value…but with a person. 

“Fear Not. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, WHO is Christ the Lord.” 

This advent season, my goal is to show you all the ways that even though you may claim to be a Xian…even though you’ve had your tree lit up since the day after Halloween… that you may not be celebrating Xmas at all.

That you may have never dropped the blanket…and maybe still, your soul is asking “Does anybody know what Christ is all about?”

John 1:1-5, 9, 14, 16-18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

Matt 1:18-23

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 

    “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

           and they shall call his name Immanuel”   

(which means, God with us). 

Today, I want to show you that the Good News of Christmas…the news that caused frightened Shepherds to take heart, that gave Joseph the courage to marry the Mother of Jesus, and the news that enabled Linus to finally drop his blanket

…is NOT some sentimental message about values or morality…rather…it's the news that the God who created this whole thing...called himself the “WITH US GOD”.

The problem with all the world’s religions and philosophies is not their starting point…its their ending point. Its not in their questions, but in their answer. See..

Humans tend to answer our fear with control.

This morning, we read the 3 accounts of Jesus’ birth in the Bible.

You may have noticed that one of those 3 was not like the other.

Matthew and Luke read like a story. They are local.

They are close up, they are in the field with the shepherds, they are next to Mary at the manger.

You could make endless Xmas movies about Matthew and Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth. 

But John’s is distinctly different. Its remarkably theological. Its philosophical. Its not nearly as tangible as the other 2 accounts.

The Word made flesh?

The light that shines in the darkness?

It seems more metaphor than it does real life.

But actually, John’s account is dealing more directly with “real life” than you probably realize.

At the time John writes this, there are 2 prevalent ideas about how to solve the worlds’ problems. About how to answer the question every human asks… “When I look at what’s wrong with the world around me, how do I overcome my fear?” 

First there were the Hebrews.

The Hebrews had lots of faith in their family and their religion.

They could trace their lineage from Abraham, to Isaac, to Moses, to King David and they heard the stories of God’s provision for their people freeing them from slavery in Egypt, feeding them manna from heaven, parting the red sea to rescue them from their enemies.

And the Hebrew people would look at their heritage, and developed the idea that because they were born into this family, this race, that they had a special position with God.

At the very foundation of their theology, was this idea of the Word of God.

For centuries, God used these men called prophets f to deliver messages to them. And those messages would be written down and recorded and taken as an authority for the Hebrew people.

But not only did they understand the Word of God in a static sense, as words on a page, they understood the Word of God in a dynamic, active sense.

When God spoke…things happened.

In the very first book of the Torah, it is God’s Word that created.

The prophet Isaiah wrote that God’s word goes out to all the nations and it “never returns void.” In other words, it does something. They understood it to have some kind of power and it always accomplishes what it set out to accomplish.

Every time God acted in the world, he did it by his word.

In other words, if God is going to fix the world, he’s going to do it with his WORD…the same one that the prophets wrote down…and the same living and active word that created the world.

God is going speak in power…like he did at creation. Like he did at the Red Sea, like he did on Mt. Sinai.

And he is going to save all those in his special family. The Jews.

He’s going to give control to God’s special people who will be able to rule according to his world and get everything back on track.

Those are the Hebrews.

The other group trying to solve the problems of the world at the time John writes are the Greeks. 

They are completely different from the Hebrews. Where the Hebrews were all about theology (understanding the world through God’s Word), the Greeks were all about Philosophy (understanding the world through our own knowledge). 

So they came up with this concept of the LOGOS or the “Word”.

Basically, the LOGOS is the meaning of life.

If somehow, by thinking and understanding, you could tap into this LOGOS... this word…this “meaning of life” you would be able to control your own and others actions and not be so afraid of the unknown.

For both the Hebrews and the Greeks, the WORD was a concept…it didn’t really have structure around it.

For the Hebrews, it was the Words from the mouth of God, spoken, then gone…until he speaks again.

For the Greeks, it was a concept, a way of thinking…a philosophy.

Then John writes this-

John 1:1 

When he says “in the beginning was the LOGOS…and the LOGOS was GOD” he is blowing open categories.

To the Hebrews, it would kind of feel like somebody standing up in the middle of the Republican National Convention in this last election year and saying, “President Obama had some pretty good ideas.”

To the Greeks, it would kind of feel like the keynote speaker at an Atheisits’ Evolution seminar starting his speech off, “When God created the world…”

…or, maybe like Linus quoting Scripture on network television.

Nobody, the Hebrews or the Greeks, would have been very comfortable with this idea.

The Hebrews would have told John, “Don’t say “Logos”. That’s what the Pagans say”

The Greeks would have said, “Don’t bring that old traditional religion in the conversation, we've moved on to something better.” 

Now, look at the other subject of John’s prologue.

John 1:4-5

Light and dark.

John says, “This Word, this LOGOS, that is not only FROM God, but IS GOD, and is WITH GOD…you can only find the meaning of life in Him. You can only find the answer to the question you are all asking in Him.

You can only find the light to overcome the darkness in him.

 So, if the light is the WORD, the LOGOS

…what is the darkness he has overcome?

(Thanks to Tim Keller from his book “Hidden Christmas on these next 2 re: Darkness, pg 6) 

In the Bible, “darkness” refers to 2 things.

Evil and ignorance. 

Evil…that’s what we fear.

Think about what was going on when Jesus was born.

Violence, injustice, abuse of power, refugees fleeing oppression, families being torn apart, constant fear and grief.

Not too far off what’s going on in the world today.

Remember, the fear of evil and chaos is where every religion starts. 

But darkness in the Bible also represents ignorance.

We are “in the dark” about how to cure evil and suffering. 

So our problem is 2 fold.

On one hand, we all know the world is broken. We see evil happening everywhere.

On the other hand, know one knows exactly what to do about it…but that hasn’t stopped us from trying.

There is a famous prophecy about Jesus’ birth from the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 9:2

The people who walked in darkness (in evil and ignorance) will see a great light.

Isaiah goes on to talk about a son who will be born

That he’s a wonderful counselor, an everlasting father, a mighty God, and a prince of peace. He says the government will be on his shoulders…and no one will be able to rule like will.

But this is the medicine for the disease. Its antidote for the poison. This is the answer to the problem.

The problem you can find in Isaiah chapter 8

Isaiah 8:19 & 22

Isaiah says, “When you feared the darkness, the evil, in your darkness (your ignorance) you tried to take control.”

He says, “You tried spirituality. You went to all the spiritual gurus and tried to figure it out.”

Then he says, “You tried practicality. You looked to the earth. You looked to human resources to fix the darkness. You looked to your experts, your scholars, your government, your economy, your technology, your military might…but none of it worked. You are in darkness about how to fix the darkness.

Listen, humanity’s problem since Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden has been this evil, this chaos, this broken down life.

And in our ignorance we’ve scrambled for control.

We’ve thought, “If we can just advance, in knowledge, in technology, in medicine…if we can just evolve more…then we’ll finally solve it.”

Yet, the 20^th century was the bloodiest and deadliest century in recorded history.

Yet still, we have an election year that has divided our country primarily because there are two groups of people who once again think they have the solution…

Kind of like the Hebrews and the Greeks.

The family values & religious vs. the humanists

The Word vs the LOGOS.

2000 years after Jesus is born, we still walk in the ignorance of thinking if we get control, if our group, our party, people with our values get control…that we can fix the darkness.

But that’s not true.

It's just Linus’ blanket.

It's a little blue security blanket and when its taken away, we scream and cry.

But when we have it, even though we feel safer, we are still in ignorance, because we’ve looked to the earth to bring light...

But we’re still in the darkness.

So if you’re team won the election, congratulations…but we’re not out of the dark…and no administration, no government, no matter how closely they match your take on the world…is going to lead us there.

Listen, you will never overcome fear with control.

Just like a security blanket doesn’t really make you safe.

You have to see the light.

You have to let the light shine on you…like the shepherds in that field then the angels showed up…

Or the spotlight on Linus standing on that stage…

…when you finally see the light that has shined into the world…you can drop your blanket…

Over the next 3 weeks, I’m going to show you 4 different security blankets we pick up. 4 different ways we try to answer our fears by taking control. 

And maybe you think, “I’m a Christian…I let go and let God”

Well, maybe you do…but I think you’ll find over this Advent series that though you may spend time WITH GOD… you often do it with a security blanket held tightly in your hand.

But that’s for the next 3 weeks…for now, lets talk about the God handles our darkness. While Humans answer our fear with control…

2) God answers our fear with his humanity.

 When Jesus was born into the world, there was a power struggle happening.

The Romans were ruling over the Hebrews…and the Hebrews wanted power.

One group had control…the other group thought the answer was to get control back. 

But the Hebrews hadn’t heard a Word from God in 400 years.

There had been no prophet. No one to speak for God.

God had gone silent.

There was no word.

Of course, the Hebrews expected that when God showed back up on the scene…that he would come in power.

That he would use broken humanity’s formula for solving the darkness. 

He would speak his word to some great prophet King warrior who would overthrow their oppressors and bring order to the world.

Problem is, that’s not Xiainity. That’s Islam.

That’s not Jesus, that’s Muhammad.

Islam teaches that Muhammad is a prophet of Allah…who received a word from Allah, and then he spread that word through force…through government and military might. 

But if you are looking for that from Jesus you aren’t reading John chapter 1. 

John 1:1 & 14

See, Jesus is the incarnate Son of God.

He is not a prophet WITH Gods word…

From before the foundation of the world, The Jesus the Son has been WITH God the Father…

He isn’t a mouthpiece FOR God…he IS GOD. 

And not only is he WITH GOD….v 14 says He is WITH US.

When Isaiah, and later Matthew called Jesus Immanuel…he was calling Jesus literally the “With US” God.

John calls him the WORD made flesh.

The Glory, the Light of God…among us.

The Glory that shone round about the shepherds…the glory that made shepherds drop their staffs…and Linus drop his blanket…was fully and completely in Jesus Christ. 

While humans were busy going about solving their fears by clamoring for more Control, by tightly having a tug of war with a light blue security blanket…the God who controlled the entire universe was becoming a fragile, dependent, Hebrew, baby…born in the darkness of a stable... laid in an animal trough by the hands of his teenage mother. 

While humans were fighting wars to overcome their fear with control… the fingers that created the galaxies…

….were wrapped around the thumb of a Galilean carpenter with no political influence at all.

Matt 1:20-21

Joseph had no platform. He had never spoken at a conference. Never led an army…all he had was what the shepherds had…a visit from an angel who said, “In this child, in this Jesus, you have the answer to your question…the light to your darkness…Don’t be afraid…

Matt 1:23

He is Immanuel. This child…this Jesus is the “WITH US” God.

You know, I think sometimes we forget that Immanuel isn’t just a baby at Christmas.

Jesus grows up…and he’s still Immanuel.

Do you remember how Jesus called his disciples?

He didn’t wait for Peter, and James, and John, and Matthew to find him…Jesus went TO THEM.

And he curiously said, “Follow Me”

Which was very odd for a Rabbi at this time in 3 ways.

First of all, when a Hebrew disciple wanted to learn from a Rabbi, the disciple went to the Rabbi and said, “Can I follow you?”

But Jesus went TO his disciples…when they weren’t even looking for him. In fact, most of them were looking the other direction.

Most of them were clinging to their security blankets…their control.

Peter, James and John had their families’ fishing business.

Matthew was working for the Roman government as very wealthy tax collector.

Simon the Zealot was a alt-right conservative looking for a military leader.

Yet, the WITH US God walked up to them and said “Follow ME”. He came to them. He didn’t wait for them to come to Him.

Immanuel.

Second, a Rabbi would only take the best of the best. There was a vetting process for Rabbinic disciples. They had to know the Torah backwards and forwards…. But these guys were blue collar simple people. They weren’t studying for their Torah exams…they were fishing…and tax collecting…and planning a government takeover.

But, Jesus chose THEM…As Linus says, “Of all the Charlie Browns in the world they were the Charlie Browniest!”

IMMANUEL.

Third, A Rabbi at this time would never had said, “Follow Me!”

He would have said, “Follow the law”

He would have said, “Come Let me teach you to follow the WORD of GOD!”

But Jesus said FOLLOW ME!

Why?

Because he is Immanuel. He is the LOGOS. The meaning of Life. He is the word made Flesh. 

John 14:6

He didn’t come to show us the way…He is the Way.

He didn’t come to point us to truth…He IS THE TRUTH.

He didn’t come to help us find life. He is the LIFE.

He is the Truth you can hug. God in a manger.

John 8:12

When Jesus says FOLLOW ME…it is the most IMMANUEL thing he could say.

Because he is the light of the world and whoever follows him will not walk in Evil and Ignorant darkness, but, will have the LIGHT of LIFE. 

He is not a concept. He is not a religion.

In Jesus Christ, the glory of God has shone on us.

Are you willing to stand in that light….and drop your little blue security blanket…whatever it is you think makes you safe…and proclaim like the shepherds did, and like Linus did “Glory to God in highest, and on Earth Peace among those with whom God is pleased” 

You know, there something that always bothered me about that moment Linus dropped his blanket.

The problem was, as soon as he finished quoting the Christmas story from Luke…he picked his blanket back up and walked off stage.

But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense to me. 

Not only do we do that every Christmas, we do it every Sunday.

We come in and read and think about the Word of God together, we sing messages of “Do not Fear” to each other…and for an hour and a half, we drop our blankets.

But we pick them right back up, usually before we hit one of the City Stoplights blinking bright red and green right out on Church St.

You know why? Because we don’t really believe Immanuel. We don’t realty believe he’s God With US.

We think we come to him in here…but we don’t think he is With US out there. And our security blankets of families, husbands, wives, alcohol, boyfriends, girlfriends, houses, cars, toys, sex, politics, grades, popularity…they feel closer than God…but they aren’t…and they will not save you.

That always bothered me about Linus…until I noticed what happened at the end of Charlie Brown Christmas.

Remember? At the end, the play is a failure. Charlie Brown’s Christmas is a failure. Snoopy has gone commercial trying to win money with a light display, Sally is just trying to get $20 bills from Santa…and Charlie Browns pitiful little Christmas tree is nearly dead, weighted down by a single ornament. 

Charlie Brown exclaims “I’ve killed it. Everything I touch gets ruined.”

There’s never been a more accurate description of our depravity. Our sin. Our struggle to squelch our fears with control.

Everything we touch gets ruined.

That's the curse. In all the ways we struggled to get control from God…we just end up making it worse.

But remember what happens?

Charlie Brown walks away from the cursed little tree disgusted…but his friends come around it and Linus says, “You know, this isn’t such a bad little tree. All it needs is a little love.” 

And then, as they sing “Hark the Herald Angels”…a song about the glory of God shining to shepherds…the reminder that Linus needs…Linus finally and for good drops his blanket…he gives his security away…and he wraps it around the base of Charlie Brown’s dead little tree…and somehow, magically, miraculously…it turns full and green.

Charlie Brown comes back…sees the tree…sees his friends…and joins in their song.

“Hark the Herald Angels sing

Glory to the Newborn King

Pleased as man with men to dwell

Jesus our Emmanuel.”

See… 

3) Blankets get left at the foot of The Christmas Tree, and that’s what Christmas is all about.

On the cross, we see Jesus not only descending to humanity…but underneath humanity.

He becomes the cursed little tree for us.

He dies for our sin.

The WITH US GOD becomes our sin for us.

As the song “Joy to the World” says..

“No more let sins and sorrows grow

Nor thorns infest the ground

He comes to make His blessings flow

Far as the curse is found”

And when he returns….when the government is finally on his shoulders, and not ours…all the dead little trees will live again.

Because Jesus laid down his WITHNESS with his Father…because Jesus dropped his blanket to give us REAL security WITH GOD…now we can drop our blankets…at the foot of the Cross..the real Christmas tree.

And, just like Linus…now that we don't cling to money, or possessions, or relationships, or anything else for security…now that we cling to GOD himself for security…we give all our blankets away to bless others…so that they join in singing…HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING! GLORY TO THE NEWBORN KING.

Don’t be afraid.

In Jesus the Lights have gone UP…so put your blankets down.