Sunday 9 December 2007

THE GIFT OF CHRISTMAS



BEYOND THE MANGER


Shalom--Peace and good will toward men.
OK, get a good grip on your reindeer and polish your sleigh bells because Santa Claus ain’t coming to town, but Jesus is coming soon! In Hebrew, we call Him Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah. Is this Messiah central to your holiday season? I hope so, because remember, Jesus is Lord, & He vuz such a nice Jewish boy. By the way, Jesus didn’t celebrate Christmas, He celebrated a different winter festival. According to the Gospel of John (John 10:22), Jesus, the light of the world, celebrated the festival of lights, better known as the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.


I guess we would agree that the commercialization of Christmas is way over-the-top. Still, there is no denying that Christmas affirms the God of the Bible and the prophetic birth of His Son in Bethlehem. Ancient pagans believed in many gods; Christians proclaim only one. Christmas retailers may depend on our pagan instincts to fuel holiday sales, but the Christmas message still declares the miraculous birth of our royal King. But if we are supposed to be celebrating the birthday of Jesus, why do we get all the goodies?
It seems each year, a babe in a manger gets the press, and everybody else gets the presents. In light of our ostentatious display of opulence in the face of so much suffering, is Christmas still relevant to a lost dying world? And, if so, does that relevance transcend holiday gifts or the 4th quarter retail sales reports? The simple answer is YES!
People are desperate and in need of hope. And that is the promise of Christmas. I hope that we don’t allow Jesus to be lost in all of the holiday trimmings? Jesus came to us without any candy-coating. He still offers the sweetest hope of all time—peace with God and life eternal. Yet consider this rare, raw, real point of fact regarding the original manger scene. Jesus was born at night into a dark, dirty, working stable with dung-crusted straw among filthy, unsanitary animals. But you know what, in some ways it was cleaner than some of the sin-crusted hearts where He would choose to live right now if He was welcome. The inn was full, yet God’s glory brought light into the darkness. Is there room at the inn of our hearts this Christmas season?
Another issue to consider is that while Christmas may be a time of great joy for you, for others, it can be a time of sadness and conflicted emotions. Christmas dreams in reds & greens may be nightmares lived in black & white by families in crisis. Christianity should not a reduced to a religion of consumerism! Therefore, Christmas should mean more than deflated budgets, inflated waste lines, and exploding credit card statements.
Let me ask the hard question. Are we really satiated after our Christmas buying binges and festival feasts? Will we remember the momentary adrenaline rush of ripping through colored paper and pretty bows when the bills come home to roost and our bellies expand to fill our fancy new clothes? We are convinced that more is better and we always want more. Maybe some of just need to admit that we’re a bunch of addicts. We’re consumer junkies
Look, I am not the Christmas grinch but I want to tell you 3 practical Christmas secrets. If you eat like a pig, you’re gonna resemble one. If you spend more than you make, you’ll be poor. Stuff won’t make you happy if your faith can’t give you joy. Things will never satisfy. No, at best, things only pacify. But pacifiers are for infants. I hope that this year we can mature and move from the flair of Christmas and get to the substance? OK, if it not about Jesus, it just ain’t Christmas?
Now in fairness to Santa, there is reason to remember St. Nicholas. He was a solid Christian man from a very wealthy family that lived in Turkey about 200 years after Jesus. Honestly, Nicholas was one of the good guys. He faithfully served the early church as a bishop. Nicholas was so generous that he literally gave all of his wealth away. His kindness spared many young girls from lives of slavery and prostitution. but listen, we still can’t allow a myth to replace truth. Nicholas died and is with Jesus. Jesus is alive and should be reinstated as the King of Christmas
Everybody loves the babe in a manger, but all too many ignore the Savior on the Cross. The infant Jesus doesn’t make demands. It is the living Lord who calls us to carry our cross. A cute kid is more appealing than a bloodied, tortured innocent victim of mob rage. But if your view of Christ is limited to the infant in a manger, may I ask you to recall that Jesus was a sinless middle-aged Jewish man who was brutally beaten and executed to pay for your indiscretions. And Christmas was only the first episode of this saga. The sequel is even better. On Resurrection Sunday, Jesus rose from the grave and that’s not even half of the story. He’s coming back as King of Kings not a helpless baby. The infant Jesus is a very cute marketing concept, but life is only found in His death. I won’t belabour the question, but like Jesus with Nicodemus, I want to inquire, have you been born again? (John 3:3) If not, you have nothing to celebrate. God gave His greatest gift, don’t leave it wrapped in the closet so to speak. Open your heart to receive the love of God. The gift of Christmas won’t be found under a pretty tree. Jesus hung on a tree—a horrible Roman cross. Jesus was born once so we could be twice born. Do you understand this? Do you believe this? If so, will you turn to God for His greatest Christmas gift—life eternal?


Randy Weiss Ph.D

This is excerpted from a much longer article that you can read in full at The Christian Online Magazine. If you would like a free copy of the book Ultimate Questions which explains more fully Gods gift of eternal life, please send your address to me at gerard.shea@gmail.com

1 comment:

Tony said...

A very good article!