Christmas Is Over. Now What?

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You’ve all heard this happen: After Christmas, some children brag about what they got from Santa. (Actually some adults do, too.) It can turn into a competition for who got the biggest gift or the best present. There are different reasons why people brag, and none of them are good. But humans have been bragging from the beginning. 

In the world that Jeremiah lived in, there was plenty of evil and sin. Plenty of bragging, and plenty of idolatry. Many of God’s people had stopped worshipping in their hearts, though they still made an outward show of being religious. The leaders of the people were corrupt and unreliable; they were deceitful, liars who said one thing but did another. 

People in the community who were weakest, who were the most vulnerable, were abused and misused and taken advantage of. And the gap between those who had a lot and those who had a little was growing wider. The rich were getting richer, and the poor were getting poorer.

I’m sure this is sounding familiar to you. Yes, Jeremiah’s society looked a lot like the world that we live in today. But guess what? People kept on bragging then, and they keep on bragging today. They looked hard for something that they could say was better than someone else’s.

You all already know this, of course, but I’m going to say it anyway. It does not pay to compare yourself to someone else. There will always be someone who has more than you do, and someone who has less. When we compare ourselves to other people, we’re going to feel pride or shame or sometimes both.

The people in Jeremiah’s day, even though it was a bad situation that was getting worse, liked to brag. If they had money they bragged about their money. Maybe they didn’t have much money but they were physically strong and healthy, so they bragged about that. Maybe they didn’t have wealth or health but they had a measure of wisdom, understanding, or plain old common sense, so they bragged about that and they put down those who had less.

But the Lord spoke through his prophet and said, “The wise should not boast in their wisdom; the strong should not boast in their strength; the wealthy should not boast in their wealth. If they have to boast, let them boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the Lord; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the Lord.” [Jeremiah 9:23,24]

In other words, “If you have to brag,” said our Creator, “brag about this. Brag that you understand me. Brag that you know all about me.”

[PAUSE]

Well now, wait a minute. What does this mean? Stop and think about it. What is God really saying to his people? 

Let me ask you another question. Is there anyone alive who really understands God? Anyone who knows all about God?

No. There is no one. Never has been, never will be. Paul wrote to the Romans, “How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!”

And Isaiah told the people that God said, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.”

So what God was really saying through Jeremiah is what we already know: We have nothing to brag about. We have no reason to put anyone else down, no cause to puff ourselves up and feel superior. That’s why Peter told the early church, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God.”

What does all this have to do with Christmas? What does it have to do with Cornerstone United Methodist Church? Let me tell you, because I love to tell the story. 

We do not yet fully know God. Paul said in I Corinthians that the day will come when we will know as we are known—and what a day of rejoicing that will be!—but we cannot fully know God before we make it home to glory.

And this, my friends, is the thrill, the beauty, the excitement of Christmas and the excitement of living a life of holiness: Jesus came so that we can increasingly know God. More and more. Each day can be sweeter than the day before because we can know God more and more. Jesus came so that we can always seek God, always go to higher heights and deeper depths. 

Maybe we’ll read a scripture that we’ve read a hundred times before and find new meaning, new glory in it. We can lie awake on our beds and God will give us a song in the night. We might be driving down Bullard Avenue and the Lord will touch our hearts to pray for someone standing at the bus stop, and we’ll do it gladly (although please keep driving; don’t stop and lay hands on anyone you don’t know!). We can be watching the evening news and the Lord might stir us up to volunteer somewhere, to work to help someone else somewhere. And when God touches your heart to renew, or restore, or reinvigorate you, harden not your heart.

Jesus came as a baby so he could grow like us, suffer like us, experience our limitations and still carry on. He could grow weary and sad; he could feel anger and pain, happiness and satisfaction, he could struggle to become a good adult while suffering what other children experienced. The Bible says he learned obedience through the things that he suffered. So like him, we learn to obey God so we can know God better. And the more we know God, the more we will understand what makes God happy. 

What does God delight in? Steadfast love, or mercy. Righteousness. Justice.

That’s what Jeremiah said to the people around him. That’s what I’m saying to you today. And that is the good news of Christmas. 

Christmas Day is over, but this is true 24/7, 365: God delights in mercy, righteousness, and justice.

What is mercy? It means God gives us chances, limitless chances, to try again. Pastor Conrad said to you last week that when we didn’t get it right in 2025, we have a chance to do better in 2026. God’s steadfast love never forsakes us, never abandons us, never leaves us alone. Mercy. 

Righteousness, as my own pastor has said, is wrong made right. Our sins are all under the blood. We are forgiven and made whole, cleansed from all evil. The worst things we have done are not greater than God, and we can always—always—be forgiven. Righteousness. 

Justice. I want to say here that I do not have a good definition for justice. It’s too complicated. There are too many variables. It has to be fair for everyone. I can’t adequately define it but I know God loves it, and so I can relax and let the Lord work justice. Let God define it and let God implement it because we know only God can figure all of it out, put all the puzzle pieces together to truly offer “liberty and justice for all.” Justice.

Mercy, righteousness, and justice. God delights in them. And when we offer mercy to someone, when we live in righteousness, when we work for justice in holiness, just imagine how happy that makes our Lord! 

But this is about more than what you can do for others. This is about what God is eager to do for you. I want you to take this personally. Sit back and concentrate on this good news. 

You have things on your mind—maybe family members that you’re worried about, bills that are coming due, decisions that you have to make, some news from your doctor—but right now, please, try to focus on this good news: justice, righteousness, and mercy for you. Christmas for you, all year long. Jesus came so we could know that God is happy to bless us. It is God’s good pleasure to work justice, righteousness, and mercy for us. We don’t understand God. 

We can’t fully know God. But we can be confident that we are loved, that God is busy working on our behalf, and that God is blessing us. Right now.

Justice – Somewhere along the line, you have been wronged. Someone mistreated you, cheated you, abused you. Maybe you’re still carrying scars from that. I’m here to say that God is working justice for you—not vengeance, but justice, so that you will be compensated somehow for the evil done to you. I can’t say how, I can’t say when, but I know God loves justice and God loves you, so he is working it out for you.

Righteousness – wrong made right, things fixed as only God can fix them when we take our hands off and let the Lord have his way…It’s not an instant process. But through Jesus, God is mending what was broken. God is working to set free what was bound. This is righteousness, and God loves to see this happen.

Mercy – our sins are forgiven, our failures transformed and turned to blessings somehow through God’s limitless creative power. It’s on God’s timetable, not ours, but God’s word is true and when Paul wrote that “all things work together for good, for those who love God” we know that means all things. Everything. Our deepest shame, our hardest pain, can be transformed into something beautiful. Something good. Come and kneel at the altar, offer it up to God and take your hands off again, and trust that mercy will work on your behalf.