I have a sad statistic to share with you. A couple years ago, a veterinarian's association reported that the percentage of pet owners who would choose their pet as a companion instead of another human being, a family member or friend, if they were stranded on a desert island is 54%!

Do you get along with your family? You can choose your friends, but not your family! It has been said that "You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them." Do you always feel that way about your family? Christmas is coming, and Christmas often has a lot to do with family. Are you looking forward to Christmas? Are you looking forward to…your FAMILY?

Who is coming to dinner this Christmas? 1.Who is your "FAMILY"? "Families" come in all shapes and sizes. As you look forward to the holidays, are you looking forward to the time you will spend with your various families? Are you looking forward to your own immediate FAMILY? Are you looking forward to the family and relatives that visit or the visits that you will make to extended family? Are you looking forward to the office get-togethers of your "WORK-FAMILY"? Are you looking forward to the many FAMILY OF FRIENDS that come into your lives during the holidays? Are you looking forward to your "CHURCH-FAMILY" and the extra time you will spend together in helping out at church and attending special services?

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it." What "ornaments" will be at your house this Christmas? Are you looking forward to this aspect of Christmas? Does family take priority over much of the other "stuff" that Christmas is all about? Is Christmas about family, about people, to you? Even though there are times when all the commotion of family and other visitors may stress us out and cause some pretty funny scenes like in the movie "Christmas Vacation," I would guess that most of you would consider family to be pretty important at Christmas time.

There was another study that came to a more positive conclusion on the importance of other people in our lives. In 1989, an insurance company polled people with the question: "What do people consider the greatest source of pleasure in their lives?" The overwhelming answer was "FAMILY," selected by 63% of the respondents. In second place was RELIGION, with 8%, then WORK, with 6%, and FRIENDS, with 6%. So it seems that most of us think of our families as the most important things in our lives.

When she turned 21, Tammy Harris from Roanoke, Virginia, began searching for her biological mother. After a year, she had not succeeded. What she didn't know was that her mother, Joyce Schultz, had been trying to locate her for 20 years. According to this news story, there was one more thing Tammy didn't know. Her mother was one of her coworkers at the convenience store where she worked! One day Joyce overheard Tammy talking with another coworker about trying to find her mother. Soon they were comparing birth certificates. When Tammy realized that the co-worker she had known was, in fact, her mother, she fell into her arms! "We held on for the longest time," Tammy said, "It was the best day of my life!" Family is precious! But who is our Family? Each day we rub shoulders with people whom we may barely notice. They might not be our blood relatives, like Tammy and her mother. But if they share a birth in Christ with us, if they are our brothers and sisters in the faith, they are our dearest relatives! How precious is the family of God! How blessed we are as part of this family! We receive blessings through both our earthly families and our heavenly families…

2. What Blessings come through your family? Today we are going to take a look at Jesus' earthly family. I think there are many ways in which they can serve as a model for us. Let's take a look at his aunt and uncle. Read Luke 1:5-7 with me. It says about Jesus' uncle and aunt, Zechariah and Elizabeth, that "Both of them were upright in the sight of God." These two were faithful, godly people who served the Lord in humility. They didn't complain their whole life through about never being able to have the children they wanted to have. They weren't angry at God. They humbly put their trust in God that He knew what was best for them. Have you ever stopped to thank God for godly family? Do you have people in your family who have set godly examples for you? Who have shared their faith in Jesus with you and brought you nearer to Him? Reflect on the examples in your family - near or far - of faithful witnesses to the Lord. What difference have these people made in your life? What influence have they had with you? What influence do they still have with you? Have you allowed them to be your example? And have you tried to emulate them and become an example for others?

Let's look at Jesus' cousin now. Read verses 11-17. Late in their lives, God did bless Zechariah and Elizabeth with the joy of their desire - a child! Jesus would have a cousin! And this cousin would "…go on before the Lord to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children…to ready a people to be prepared for the Lord." Jesus' cousin John was no ordinary man! He prepared the way for Jesus by preparing people to ready their hearts for the Lord! He pointed out that we are sinful and need a Savior. He told us the importance of repenting. But He also pointed out the Savior to us! Do you have a relative or friend who helped prepare you for your relationship with Jesus? Do you have someone who shared the sweet message of Jesus' forgiveness with you? Have you ever thanked them? And by their example, are you also helping prepare someone for a relationship with Christ?

Let's look at Jesus' mother. Read verses 26-31 and 39-45. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a lesson to us in all that a mother can be! She was strong in the face of controversy, being pregnant outside of marriage, in such unusual circumstances. She was willing to risk! Her pregnancy was punishable by death! She had faith! She believed that the Lord would do in her what He said He would. And Mary was faithful. She was a young woman who would now become the mother of God. Her entire life was exemplary to us, right to the end where she had to watch the death of her son. Never did she turn from God. And yet, she knew she was a sinner too, who needed her Son as her Savior just like the rest of us! Do you have a mother like Mary? Or a grandmother? A mother-figure who has made a difference in your life? Have you thanked her? Are you a woman who is a mother or a mother-figure to others? Let Mary be your example!

Finally, let's look at Jesus' "step-father." Read Matthew 1:18-21. A father who can emulate the faith of Joseph has really got something going for him! In Joseph's day, a child out of wedlock was punishable by death. A man was shunned if he helped a woman in this condition. His family would shut him off, and cut him off from any inheritance. The man, as well as the woman, wore the "scarlet letter." Even today, it is difficult to be a stepfather. Joseph's unwavering faith in God's promises and obedience to God is a guide for any father - any parent! Today's society has a high divorce rate and a high birth rate outside of marriage. Millions of children grow up without any father or father-figure. We are reminded to pray for these broken families, to be a father-figure if we can, and to thank our father or the person who helped be a father-figure for us. And in the face of these statistics that seem so bleak, we are reminded that for ALL there is a Heavenly Father who will never be unfaithful to us!

There are so many blessings that come to you through your family! A few winters ago, heavy snows hit North Carolina. Following a wet, 10 cm snowfall, it was interesting to see the effect along Interstate 40. Next to the highway stood several groves of tall pine trees. The branches were bowed down with the heavy snow - so low that branches from one tree were often leaning against the trunk or branches of another. Where trees stood alone, however, the effect of the heavy snow was different. The branches had become heavier and heavier, and since there were no other trees to lean against, the branches snapped. They lay on the ground, dark and alone in the cold snow. When the storms of life hit we need to be standing close to other Christians. Both in our earthly families and our church families. The closer we stand the more we will be able to hold each other up!

So, 3. How Can You be a Blessing to Your Families? Technology is so far ahead of human relations! As for the latter, we are still in the Stone Age! Henri Nouwen once asked, "Why do we human beings learn so much, so soon, about technology, and so little, so late, about loving one another?" Like John the Baptist came to do for the people of that time, we need to help our family and friends prepare to meet the Lord! As we prepare for Christmas during this Advent season, we cannot and must not forget that Jesus is coming again and when He does, that will be the end of the world as we know it. Eternity is forever! You want to plan that eternity with your family together in heaven. So start now!

Some time ago, a man punished his three-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight, and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the tree. Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, "This is for you, Daddy." He was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but his anger flared again when he found that the box was empty. He yelled at her, "Don't you know that when you give someone a present, there's supposed to be something inside of it?" The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, "Oh, Daddy it's not empty. I blew kisses into the box. All for you, Daddy." The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged her forgiveness. The man kept that gold box by his bed for years. Whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there. Let Jesus' love and forgiveness live in your family. That's what will prepare you for Christmas! Sharing Jesus' forgiveness is how you can be a blessing to your family!

As a part of his ministerial education, a college student spent a year with a group of Navajo Indians on a reservation in the Southwest. As he did his research, he lived with one family, sleeping in their hut, eating their food, working with them, and generally living the life of a 20th century Indian. The old grandmother of the family spoke no English at all, yet a very close friendship formed between the two. They spent a great deal of time sharing a friendship that was meaningful to each, yet unexplainable to anyone else. In spite of the language difference, they shared the common language of love and understood each other. The months he learned a few phrases of Navajo, and she picked up a little of the English language. When it was time for him to return to the campus and write his thesis, the tribe held a going-away celebration. It was marked by sadness since the young man had become close to the whole village and all would miss him. As he prepared to get into the pickup truck and leave, the old grandmother came to tell him good-bye. With tears streaming from her eyes, she placed her hands on either side of his face, looked directly into his eyes, and said, "I like me best when I'm with you."

Isn't that the way we feel in the presence of Jesus? Isn't it a good thing that He is our brother and that we belong to his family? He brings out the best in us. We learn to see ourselves as worthy and valuable when we are in His presence. The hurts, the cares, the disappointments of our lives are behind us when we look in His eyes and realize the depth of his love. Our self-esteem no longer depends on what we have done or failed to do; it depends only on the value that Jesus has given us through his act of redemption! To be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ is to generate in other people the Indian grandmother's simple statement: I like me best when I'm with you!" I think we can also say that you will like your family best when you all are with Jesus, and that your family will like you best when you are with Jesus! This way, you will look forward to your family - all of your families - this Christmas! Amen.

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