Blue Christmas Series

Today’s sermon is going to focus on the question: “What If Jesus Had Never Been born? What if Jesus had never existed? What difference would that have made?

In keeping with our sermon series, we’re focusing on secular Christmas music, and this Sunday’s song is an old classic by Elvis Presley called “Blue Christmas.” Now, I’ve taken the liberty of rewriting some of the words – so, this is my version of the classic song – Blue Christmas.

“I'll have a blue Christmas without Him; I'll be so blue just living without Him. Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree - they won't be the same LORD, if you're not here with me.

So when people’s lives without Jesus come calling. That’s when those blue, blue snowflakes will start falling. Your life without Him can’t be right; It will bring darkness instead of light. And, you’ll have a blue, blue, blue, blue Christmas.”

C.S. Lewis made an interesting comment describing the world without Jesus: If Jesus had never come, life would be “always winter but never Christmas.”

Now, this morning, we’re going to start with the premise that when the wisemen came to the city seeking the newborn King, the people in Jerusalem didn’t think there was such a person. Yeah, they had heard that that there were some shepherds that CLAIMED to have seen the Messiah in a barn in Bethlehem. And these same shepherds claimed to have heard about this Jesus from angels that appeared to them in the sky. But NOBODY in Jerusalem seems to have believed it, otherwise – they’d have gone out and tried to find Him.

We’re told that "When Herod the king heard (that there was a new King that had been born), he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him." (Matthew 2:3) They were troubled, but I don’t really know why because, as far as they were concerned, it was just… a story. There was NO messiah in Bethlehem. There was NO King that would be born in a stable. This guy… just didn’t exist.

Now, the question we’re going to ask this morning is this: WHAT IF THEY’D BEEN RIGHT? What if Messiah had not been born? What difference would that have made?

Now, bear in mind… we’re not just asking the question if there had been a MORTAL man named Jesus born in Bethlehem. No, we’re talking about the Biblical idea that GOD became a man and came down from heaven to dwell here among us, and to die on the cross and rise from the dead. Was THAT the Jesus who was born in Bethlehem?

John 1:14 declared “The Word (Jesus) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Jesus had been prophesied in Isaiah 9:6 with these words: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Now, if that were true - if God came down, became mortal, and died for us – well you’d expect Jesus to have a powerful impact on the world. Because, that’s what Acts 17:6 tells us the enemies of Christianity had said about Paul and Silas “These men … have turned the world upside down” (PAUSE)

So, did Jesus (God in the flesh) - did He turn the world upside down? Did He make such a marked impression in people’s lives that the world would never the same again?

Well, there was an Atheist named Tom Holland who wrote a book entitled: “Dominion” and he said that - while he was studying the ancient world – he began to realize that the ancient world was a very cruel place, and that their values were utterly foreign to him. The Spartans routinely murdered “imperfect” children. Infanticide among various nations was common. The bodies of slaves by practically every nation were treated as a source of physical pleasure by those with power. And practically everywhere - the poor and the weak had no rights. “How did we get from there to here?” He asked. How did we get from the evils of the ancient world to what we have now?

Holland’s conclusion was that it was Christianity that brought the change. Christianity revolutionized sex and marriage – Christianity confined sexuality within marriage (monogamous). It demanded that men control themselves and it prohibited all forms of rape. In cultures that dehumanized women, Christianity elevated them. He wrote: In short Christianity utterly transformed the world.

So, Jesus transformed people! He changed people, and He changed their view of WHO they were and HOW they should live their lives. And HOW they should face death.