THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS
In our secular age it can
be very difficult to discover
the true meaning of Christmas.
Some see Christmas simply
as a time to have drunken
parties. This is how they
honour the birth of the Lord.
THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS
Others are caught up in the commercialisation of Christmas and see it just as a time for receiving gifts – forgetting the greatest gift of all – God’s gift of his Son.
John 3:16 (ESV) For God so
loved the world, that he gave
his only Son, that whoever
believes in him should not
perish but have eternal life.
Others have allowed the purpose of the day that commemorates the birth of our Lord to be forgotten.
Jesus’ is usurped by other ‘heroes’ - Santa, Rudolph the reindeer, Frosty the snowman and Tiny Tim.
What does all of that have to do with Christmas?
Absolutely nothing!
Many supposed “Christian” countries (including our own) have become so secular that they don’t seem to have room for Jesus.
Employees are instructed to wish customers a vague “Happy Holidays” rather than mentioning “Christmas” because the word makes reference to Christ and might offend atheists or Muslims.
In the US, some
liberals are
protesting against
nativity scenes
being placed in
public, besides
objecting against
any mention of
“Christmas” in
the public arena.
So what is the true meaning of Christmas?
Matt 1:18 (NIV) This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about:
His mother
Mary was pledged to
be married
to Joseph …
… but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
Matt 1:19 (NIV) Because Joseph
her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not
want to expose
her to public disgrace, he
had in mind
to divorce her
quietly.
Matt 1:20-21 (NIV) But
after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said:
“Joseph son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is
from the Holy Spirit.
“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Matt 1:22-23 (NIV) All this took place
to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means
“God with us”).
Matt 1:24 (NIV) When Joseph woke up, he
did what the angel of the
Lord had commanded
him and took Mary home as
his wife.
Matt 1:25 (NIV)
But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
(Matt 1:22-23, NIV)
This is the most profound truth about Christmas. The Father did not send a human or even an angel. The one he sent into the world is none other than the second person of the Triune God.
John 1:1,14 (NIV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us …
The Word was God but the Word became flesh. What does that mean?
It means that Jesus is “God manifest in the flesh” (1 Tim 3:16).
He is “the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being” (Heb 1:3).
He is “the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15)
“In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col 2:9).
The true meaning of Christmas is that God became a man!!!
1 Tim 1:15 (NIV) Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ
Jesus came into the
world to save sinners—
of whom I am the worst.
Like John 3:16, this verse is “the
Gospel in a nutshell.” It squeezes
the message of the Bible into
its irreducible minimum.
The meaning of Christmas has to do with:
A PERSON
A PLAN
A PLACE
A PURPOSE
TO SAVE SINNERS
INTO THE WORLD
CAME
CHRIST JESUS
The person is “Christ.” Christ is a title, not a name. “Christ” (from “Christos” in Greek) means “Messiah” (“Mashiach” in Hebrew) or “Anointed One” in English.
The Messiah was the deliverer that the people of God were waiting for. Centuries earlier Moses foretold, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.” (Deut 18:15)
The person is “Christ.” It was prophesied that:
Satan would wound his heel but he would crush Satan’s head. (Gen 3:15)
He would be of the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Gen 12:3)
He would be a prophet like Moses (Deut 18:15-19), a priest like Melchizedek (Ps 110:4) and a king like David (Ezek 37:24).
He would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14) in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).
He would be the ultimate and final sacrifice for sin (Isa 53:5), prefigured
in the thousands of animals sacrificed in the Old Covenant.
The person is “Christ Jesus.”
Matt 1:21 (NIV) “She will give birth to a son, and
you are to give him the name Jesus, because
he will save his people from their sins.”
Jesus (“Yeshua” in Hebrew) means “Jehovah (Yahweh)
is salvation.”
Acts 4:12 (ESV) “And there is salvation in no
one else, for there is no other name under
heaven given among men by
which we must be saved.”
The plan was “Christ Jesus came.”
This word “came” implies the pre-existence of Jesus. It makes it clear that he existed prior to his birth. If he came, then he had to be in existence before he arrived.
Where did he live before he came?
John 6:51 (NIV) “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.”
The word “came” also implies that Christ was on a mission.
Gal 4:4-5 (ESV) But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
There was a plan and purpose in his coming. He was sent
here by the Father.
John 6:38 (NIV) “For I have come down
from heaven not to do my will but to do
the will of him who sent me.”
The place Jesus came was “into the world.”
This was enemy-occupied territory.
1 John 5:19 (ESV) We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
Satan rules over this world, was man’s sworn enemy from the beginning and was on the lookout for the promised Seed of the Woman who had been prophesied as the one who would crush his head (Gen 3:15).
For Jesus to come into the world, meant that he had to leave the
safety of heaven and his divine glory and enter “hostile territory.”
Jesus came to those to whom he was the object of contempt and hatred.
John 1:11 (NIV) He came to that which was his own,
but his own did not receive him.
He knew they would mock him, insult him, spit on him, beat him, and put a crown of thorns on his head.
He knew they would condemn him unjustly, crucify him, and pierce him with a spear – yet he came anyway.
Isaiah 53:3 (NIV) He was despised and rejected by mankind... Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
He was born to a peasant girl and laid in a humble manger – a feeding trough for animals.
His birth would be greeted not by celebrities, but by poor shepherds.
He was born not in Jerusalem but in Bethlehem – which was “too little to be among the clans of Judah” (Micah 5:2).
He would be raised in obscurity in the town of Nazareth – despised even by other Galileans (John 1:46).
As a man he had to work hard for a living to support his mother and siblings.
So why did he come into this world?
Because it was in this world that God’s creatures had came to ruin.
They had broken his laws, despised his authority and attempted to cast off his yoke.
They had defaced the image of God.
They had become “darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.” (Eph 4:18)
The main reason Jesus came was not to heal or to drive out demons. It was not primarily to set an example, or even to teach.
Of course, he did all that as well, but that was not his main purpose. The purpose was “to save sinners.”
John 3:17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.”
John 10:10 (ESV) “… I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
Acts 16:31 (ESV) And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and
you will be saved...”
Rom 10:9 (ESV) Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
If we had never heard this Scripture before, we might be
waiting in breathless anticipation. “Christ Jesus came into
the world to save …” Who? We might be worried that
we were not included in those he came to save.
Thankfully, it doesn’t say that he came into the
world to save the righteous, or the rich, the
well-educated, or only certain races.
He came into the world to save sinners –
sinners from every race and culture, young
and old, rich and poor, male and female, the uneducated and the learned.
Rom 3:23 (ESV) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Rom 3:10 (NIV) As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one.”
And so Jesus came to save you and me.
Luke 19:8-10 (NIV) All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”… Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
A doctor can only help someone who admits that they’re sick and seeks help.
Similarly, if you’re in denial about your sin-problem, you’re temporarily beyond God’s reach.
If you think you’re not a sinner, then Jesus cannot save you!
1 John 1:8-10 (NIV) If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
The true meaning of Christmas has nothing to do with all of our traditional and cultural trappings, and everything to do with Jesus.
It marks that glorious event in which God invaded human history on a mission to save sinners!
He was born to die!
CHRIST JESUS CAME INTO THE WORLD TO SAVE SINNERS
We live in a fallen world. Christmas marks the times when God decided to do something about our plight.
It is when he set about to redeem the lost, and reconcile those who were estranged.
Just as God sent Jesus on a mission to save, so Jesus has sent us on a mission to save.
Christmas usually presents us with unique opportunities to share the gospel with others. Pray for, and look for opportunities.
1 Pet 3:15 (NIV) … Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect …
Maybe you have plenty and you have a family and friends that love you, but you know others who are poor or lonely?
Why not use this as a time to show God’s love to them?
Gal 6:10 (NIV) Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Luke 14:12-14 (NIV) Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbours; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.
“But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.
“Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Today we have spent time worshiping with our families and friends. We have read the Scriptures and listened to a message about the incarnation of the Son of God.
If we exchange gifts, let us make sure we remember the greatest gift of all that God gave – his Son.
If we spend time with friends and family, let us do it to the glory of God.
Let’s make this Christmas season all about Christ, because that’s what it is about.
AUTHOR: Gavin Paynter
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Jim Padgett, courtesy of https:// commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ Bible_Illustrations_contributed_by_Sweet_Publishing