Sermon Central
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A Season For Giving
Contributed by Charles Payne on Dec 18, 2025 (message contributor)
Summary: You have to admit that something happens every December. It is a worldwide phenomenon. Much larger and much older than any single denomination. A season on generosity unrivaled by any other time of the year. We acn identify the cause.
A SEASON FOR GIVING Worldwide phenomenon
Origins — Corruption — Restoration to Heaven’s Gifts
PROLOGUE
(I’m going to go out on a limb and say that most everyone here today falls into one of four categories)
Already finished shopping for Christmas presents
Is currently shopping for Christmas presents
Thinking about what presents to buy for Christmas
Thinking about what you want for Christmas
TRUE OR NO?
I. WHY CHRISTMAS BECAME A SEASON OF GIVING
Whether you celebrate Christmas as a religious Holiday
Or as a National Holiday
June 28, 1870
Congress passed House Bill 2224, signed by President Ulysses S. Grant, which declared Christmas Day (December 25) a federal holiday for the first time.
It was part of a law that created four official federal holidays:
New Year’s Day – January 1
Independence Day – July 4
Thanksgiving Day – last Thursday in November
Christmas Day – December 25
Or if you are like me
Just because judges, public schools, atheist groups say I shouldn’t
At least in Texas we have the Merry Christmas Law (Texas) (HB 308), enacted in 2013, allows public schools in that state to use greetings like “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Hanukkah,” or “Happy Holidays,” and to display holiday symbols (Christmas tree, menorah, etc.) under certain conditions.
Not Gift Day / Family Day Some schools and workplaces propose:
Not Old Soviet Union, China (under Mao cult) Cuba Eastern Europe
Replaced Christmas with New Year’s Day
Introduced Father Frost (Ded Moroz) instead of Santa
New Year Tree instead of Christmas tree
Not pagan groups Winter Solstice / Yule
I’M NOT HERE TODAY TO TALK ABOUT CHRISTMAS
I WANT TO TALK ABOUT SOMETHING THAT HAPPENS AT CHRISTMAS TIME
NO MATTER WHERE YOU DRAW THE LINE
You have to admit
There is no other time of year like the Christmas season.
Even people who do not worship Christ become generous.
As Winston Churchill once observed, “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”
Even the hardest heart softens.
Enemies reconcile.
Strangers feel like neighbors.
But why? Where did this tradition begin?
Is it cultural or commercial?
Or is it spiritual at its core?
Anyone here who doesn’t know The Dairy of Anne Frank?
“The Diary of a Young Girl”
(in Dutch: “The Secret Annex”).
In July 1942, to avoid arrest and deportation, the Frank family went into hiding in a concealed part of her father’s office building.
In August 1944, the people in the Secret Annex were discovered (likely after being betrayed).
Anne and the others were arrested and taken to concentration camps.
Anne and her sister Margot died of typhus in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in early 1945, only weeks before the camp was liberated.
She was 15 years old.
A quote widely attributed to Anne Frank: “No one has ever become poor by giving.”
Something spiritual happens in December.
Behind the lights and stores is a biblical pattern.
Salvation Army Centers it’s Seasonal Giving
Around Holidays
Angel Tree: gifts for over one million children nationally
Winnebago County: 2,100+ children served
Lubbock, Texas: 1,200+ children
2024 Christmas Campaign regional total: $322,312, highest in five years
EVEN IN A SECULAR WORLD:
People still feel the pull to give.
The church sees this and understands why.
As Amy Carmichael
Born in Northern Ireland
went to India in 1895, where she would remain 55 years without furlough.
where she encountered the hidden trafficking of young girls in Hindu temple prostitution.
She rescued children—especially young girls—who were being sold or dedicated to temples.
Founded the Dohnavur Fellowship (1901), a home for rescued children.
wrote, “You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.”
This is the hidden truth of Christmas.
II. ANCIENT ROOTS IN GENEROSITY
Long before the department store,
people tied December giving to
celebration, harvest, and hope.
IN SCRIPTURE, GIVING WAS TIED TO FESTIVAL:
Passover, Tabernacles, Firstfruits, and Sabbath offerings all required giving with joy.
“None shall appear before Me empty-handed” (Exodus 23:15).
Giving during worship was not an obligation only—it was a response to grace.
In Israel, offerings were tied to God’s provision, never to guilt or pressure.
Pierre Corneille famous 17 century French playwright
Corneille was devoutly Christian.
Many of his plays reflect Christian ethics, especially “Polyeucte,” (poh lee uct)
which tells the story of a Christian martyr in pagan Rome.
He died in 1684 in Paris.
captured the heart of this: “The manner of giving is worth more than the gift.”
III. WHAT EARLY CHRISTIANS ACTUALLY DID
Long before formal denominations existed, believers honored Jesus’ birth:
1st & 2nd century Christian writings reference public Scripture reading of the Nativity.
Ignatius (AD 110) affirms Jesus’ birth as essential to faith and worship. Speaks of believers honoring Christ’s birth as proof of His humanity.
Justin Martyr (AD 150) describes Christians gathering to read the birth accounts publicly.
