Christ is Christmas
Matthew 2:1-12
“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also. When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.”
As we prepare for Christmas we need to ask ourselves: what is Christmas? Is it Santa Claus and reindeer? Is it decorated trees with trips to visit family and friends? Is it gifts, gathering, and giving? Christmas is a time when we should recognize, remember, and reflect on the coming of Christ into the world, and we need to remember that it is His birthday party. As we look at this time of year we can see that Christ is slowly being removed from the day that is supposed to celebrate His birth. I remember back when the term Xmas was used for Christmas and how when I was living in the world it did not bother me. But now I take notice of this because it was and is a subtle way of removing Christ from Christmas. Now I have seen an argument that Christians are taking the term Xmas way out of portions because we do not understand what Xmas means. The term Xmas comes from the combination of the Greek symbol for the first letter in Christ, which is an X and the Latin term for a festival or gathering of people, which is mass. Well, the argument does not hold water because the majority of us do not know Latin or Greek and it would never have dawned upon us to look at it in this way. Secondly, if the idea was to use the Greek then Xmas should have been written as Masse Christos, which again the majority of us would not have understood. Since Xmas didn’t gather as much momentum as the anti-Christians had hoped, in comes a new term that is guaranteed not to offend anyone: “Happy Holidays.” Now what argument can you give for the complete and total disappearance of Christ from the day that celebrates His birth now?!
The world today is no different from the time of King Herod, some two thousand thirty odd years ago. Then as it is now there are two types of people when it comes to Christmas: those who are exceedingly glad that Christ was born, and those who become fearful of His coming into the world. Let us first look at the latter of these two groups:
• Herod and all of Jerusalem
o Verse 3 of our Scripture tells us that this group was troubled by the coming of the Christ. Why were they troubled to know their Messiah was finally coming? There are two answers to this question:
First, a new king means a change in power. Herod and the religious leaders were living the good life and a new king would change all of that. They would no longer be in control and be in power.
Second, a new king means a change in lifestyle. It means that they have to get right before the Lord. Because the new king will be a swift witness against all who live unrighteous as spoken of in Malachi 3:1-6
“Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the LORD, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years. And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts. For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”
In our day and age we too are Herod and Jerusalem. We fear the coming king and believe that by eliminating the name of Christ Jesus from everything will make us feel better. We believe that if we remove the name of Christ from the event that celebrates His birth that the convection upon our hearts will go away. We believe that if we reduce Christmas to a holiday that we will no longer have to check the condition of our hearts. Like Herod and all of Jerusalem some of us are also troubled.
Now let us look at the former of the two groups of people who experience something because of Christ’s birth.
• The wise men.
o These individuals saw the time of Christ’s birth as a time of great joy, so much so that they traveled hundreds of miles just to worship Him. Because verse 10 of our Scripture tells us that when they saw the star that pointed to the Messiah they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. Now that is not your ordinary joy, it is an overflowing joy without measure.
o Verse 11 says that when they saw the young child they worshipped Him and placed their gifts unto Him. So it is with us that we should approach Christ Jesus with exceeding great joy. And we should come to Him bearing gifts as the wise men did. As a child I remember the story of the little drummer boy whose only gift was a drum song rendered from his heart. We too truly only have one gift to lay before the king, and that is our hearts: our hearts in service to His kingdom, our hearts in obedience to His commands, our hearts in loving one another as Christ loves us. We give Him our heart.
Christ is Christmas and because of His coming into the world many people rejoiced. The wise men rejoiced at the coming king. In Luke 2 we read of the shepherds in the field receiving the good news of the birth of our savior; and they went quickly to look at this wonder. They dropped what they were doing and went to investigate the birth of our savior. Shouldn’t our response to the Word of God be the same as the shepherds: once we hear it we should go quickly to see what the wonder of Christ Jesus is about? Then, after seeing the child in the manger go away rejoicing, praising God, and spreading the good news of His coming.
Christ is Christmas, Jesus is the reason we celebrate this time of year. In this Christmas season gifts play an important role for the celebration of the birth of the world’s savior. And in this celebration we give gifts to our loved ones. The wise men gave gifts to baby Jesus because of their love for who and what He was, the savior of the world. And throughout this Christmas season we will see the nativity scenes and movies that emphasis the giving of gifts from the wise men to the baby Christ and from people to other people. But have we ever stopped to think about the gifts that Christ gave to us? The wise men brought three gifts to Christ – gold, frankincense, and myrrh and in exchange Christ gives us three gifts:
• A life that is forgiven (Romans 5:1). “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:” Christ gives us the gift to believe on Him by faith giving us peace with God. And this is a wonderful gift indeed, because before we believed we were at war with God, a war that we were going to lose.
• A life that is forever (Romans 5:2). “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Christ gives us the gift of hope that through Him we can tap into the grace of God and not worry about the coming end times because we will have life in glory with Him.
• A life that is fortified (Romans 5:3-5). “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” Christ gives us the gift of strength through His love that keeps us strong through times of trouble and strife. His gift of strength worketh in us by the gift of the Holy Spirit which gives to us who believes on Him.
Christ is Christmas, so receive the gifts that Lord Jesus, who came from heaven and lived among us just so you and I could have the greatest Christmas present of all: a life eternal with the Father in heaven.
