Have We Forgotten Whose Birtday It Is? (Christmas Sermon)

Wouldn’t that be an odd birthday party!!!

This is the way many celebrate the Lord’s Birthday.

Have we forgotten whose birthday we are celebrating at Christmas?

It is not:

• Frosty the snowman

• Rudolph the red nose reindeer

• Santa Claus

We are celebrating the birth of Christ.

We will soon be celebrating our favorite holiday of the year…CHRISTMAS

If you ask people what their favorite SEASON most folks will answer that it is SPRING or FALL.

Why?

Because these two seasons give us a mixture of WINTER and SUMMER at the same time. That is; in these seasons it is not TOO HOT nor is it TOO COLD.

However, if you ask people what their FAVORITE HOLIDAY is, overwhelmingly many would say -- CHRISTMAS.

But it is sad today everyone in our society does not feel the way we feel about Christmas.

For example the secularists today are doing everything they can to wipe Christmas off of our calendars.

There are sixteen Christmas songs that do not even mention the name Christmas. Songs like:

• Baby, It’s Cold outside

• Winter Wonderland

• Frosty the Snowman

• Home for the Holidays

• Jingle Bell Rock

• Silver Bells

And many more! There is not anything wrong with these songs but they do not mention Christ. No wonder our children are growing up not knowing what we are celebrating at Christmas.

The secularist would like to make it so that the name of Christ cannot be mentioned at ANYTIME in ANYPLACE.

Illus: For example, some want to change the Christmas tree into calling it the HOLIDAY TREE!!!

The secularist will not be happy until they:

• Remove every nativity scene from public properties

• Remove God’s name from the pledge of allegiance

• Remove God’s name from every coin

• Remove every Christmas carol that talks about God from the schools

• Remove all the Christian drama from the schools

• Remove every ten commandment plaque from public buildings

They want the word CHRISTMAS to be taken from our dictionary because you cannot spell Christmas without spelling CHRIST.

It reminds us of Acts 5:28, when they said, “…Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us.”

They were telling the disciples, STOP IT, WE WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS GOSPEL OF CHRIST ANY LONGER.

Make no mistake about it; Christmas is being attacked like it has never been attacked before.

There are stores today like “Macy’s that are instructing their employees to greet the customers by saying, “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings,” but do not wish them a “Merry Christmas” because this may offend someone.

I want them to know it offends me that they do not want their employees to wish their customers a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Someone might say WHAT IS WRONG WITHT THESE PEOPLE?

These merchants do not mind making a third of their income from Christmas sales, but they do not want to acknowledge that without Christ there would be no Christmas.

They know that when we wish each other a “Merry Christmas,” we are acknowledging that “Christ is the reason for the season”.

But Christmas is a very special day for ALMOST everyone.

• It is such an exciting time in our life before Christmas get here we start counting the days for it to arrive.

• It is such an exciting time families began to make plans to travel to other cities to be with their families’ months in advance.

• It is such an exciting time stores began to stock their stores with toys and gifts for Christmas.

WHY DO PEOPLE ENJOY CHRISTMAS SO MUCH?

Because it is a time of giving and the spirit of giving brings the best out of all of us.

Christmas is a time of Giving because we know that it all began with God giving His beloved Son to die for our sins.

We call Christmas the Lord’s birthday!

Illus: I like the way we celebrate Christmas here at the First Baptist.

Six weeks before Christmas we start taking up a special offering we call the LORD’S BIRTHDAY.

After six weeks our deacons meet we take that special offering and we as a church make a decision to buy Him a present to show Him how much we love Him.

I like this tradition here at the church also because taking up a special offering for His birthday teaches the children of this church that CHRIST IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!

This year one of the gifts we are going to buy Him is a NEW FREEZER for the kitchen in the fellowship hall. Once we buy it we will dedicate it to Him.