I know Christmas is over so this post is a little late, but something I can't shake the thoughts from my head about the focus of Christmas. I think the tendency for most people is to focus on the gift of Christmas. We focus on how Jesus birth was God's gift to the world to give us hope and life. I don't disagree with any of that, but I don't think that any of the above should be said without explaining the reason why Jesus had to come.
If all we teach and talk about is how much God loves us and that Jesus is the hope of the world. Emmanuel, God with us. The bringer of life. The gift of peace. I think we cheapen grace and do a disservice to our children and everyone who has not come into relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus birth must always be prefaced with Man's fall.
We need to remember that the only reason why Jesus had to come was because we sinned. "God with us" takes a whole different meaning when we remember that we were already with God. God was with us, but we left Him. We had life, we chose to die. We had peace, we chose worry, chaos, and destruction. Moreover, Jesus didn't have to come. God already gave us everything we could ever want or need, and still we chose not to trust God. We chose not to thank Him by choosing to live for ourselves. We chose to trust in ourselves and our ability rather than in the One who gave us life, peace, and full satisfaction in a relationship with Him (Jas 4:1-10). And this is the kicker, the beauty of grace. The unfathomable love of God shown in Him deciding to come to earth in human from to redeem man even though He didn't have to. Even though we slapped Him in the face after He gave us everything, He still chose to demonstrate His love for us (Romans 5:8) Man! That grace and love is something that I can never fully capture or ever express in Words.
However there is still one more thing I think we fail to remember at Christmas. We forget that ultimately, the purpose Jesus came to earth was to die. That's something we definitely gloss over now-a-days. Jesus came to earth to DIE! So that we might LIVE! That just adds a whole new depth to the love of God that I think we miss at Christmas. We miss out by not remembering and keep a whole new generation from truly understanding God's grace by not teaching this Truth (Col 1:9-23). If we don't teach this or communicate it to ourselves and those who are lost the result is an attitude of entitlement. When all we hear and know is God loves me, sent Jesus for me, and died for me we end up with a human centered theology. We are communicating to ourselves and others that God is supposed to do things for me because I deserve it. "God loves me, I'm special." I only say this because this is what I've heard in talking to people. It's dangerous and really misses the point of grace. This thinking makes ineffective ambassadors of Christ. God didn't send Jesus to die because we're special. Jesus didn't die because He deserved it. We need to paint Christmas against the backdrop of the Cross (Col 2:6-15).
The truth of the cross is that an innocent man died in the place of the one who deserved to die (Luke 23:13-25). We are the ones deserving of death. We are the ones who accumulated a debt we couldn't pay. We took on this debt when we decided not to trust that our Creator knows and wants the best for us. Because of our lack of trust we chose to do things God said would be bad for us and the consequences for that distrust is death. Therefore God chose to make a way through the Jesus to allow us to come back into relationship with Him by trusting in Jesus. Jesus is deserving of our trust because He died for us when He didn't have to. He sacrificed Himself so that we could gain life. That's the real message of Christmas I think we often forget or overlook.
The Christmas story doesn't begin in the little town of Bethlehem. The Christmas story started in Genesis 3, the day man chose to turn away from God and run towards death. The Christmas story begins there when God set out to draw us back to Him away from death and toward life in Him, His Son Jesus Christ.
Reflection Questions:
1. Do you think that most people remember the reason why Jesus had to come in the first place during Christmas?
2. Do you think that Christmas would take on a whole new meaning if people remembered why Jesus came?
3. Would your Christmas traditions and focus change if the Christmas story was told with the preface of the need for Jesus?
4. Would your Christmas gatherings be more effective as evangelistic encounters when the focus of Christmas is painted against this backdrop of the need for Jesus?
1 comment:
This Christmas, one thing stuck out to me as I read through the Christmas story: the insight of the Magi. The wise men (probably Gentiles) knew that the Christ was coming in the Hebrew Scriptures, they left their homes for a long journey to greet the King, and they brought gifts that signified and honored Immanuel. The gold is suitable for a King, the frankincense is for a priest and their worship, and the myrrh was used for the death of kings (or very wealthy people) as they were embalmed in Egypt and elsewhere in the Near East. All of these gifts were extraordinary for the young couple from Nazareth. They also provided a means for living as they had to flee Herod into Egypt. King, Priest, Sacrifice... these wise men were truly wise. They knew better than most who this baby was and they know better than most of us do today.
I think it is good that you are still meditating on the meaning of Christmas and the birth of the Messiah. We like to open our presents and move on... Thanks for reminding me about the presence of the Messiah among us in the sacrificial gift of Jesus Christ our Lord. Thanks for showing us why He came in the first place.
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