Saving Santa
Scott Bayles, pastor
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 12/4/2011
Well, it’s time to start getting into that Christmas spirit again!
Thanksgiving is behind us. Black Friday has come and gone. It’s almost impossible not to think about Christmas. Trees have been going up in living rooms all around town. Lights are being hung along rooftops and railings (sometimes at the risk of life and limb). Stores are stocking up on all things Christmas related. Some people, my wife being one of them, get frustrated with how early department stores and shopping centers start putting out their Christmas décor and promotions.
This year, Halloween was barely over when Wal-Mart cleared out all the costumes and candy in order to make room for Christmas stuff. It use to bother me seeing Christmas goods in October, but now-a-days I don’t know, maybe it’s just that I’ve mellowed out, but I don’t mind it at all. Christmas is the best time of the year; why not start revving up for it as early as possible?
I don’t know what Christmas was like in your house growing up, but for me Christmas wasn’t really about Christ. I grew up in a Christian home, but I don’t remember ever going to a Christmas Eve church service or reading the Nativity story or anything like that around Christmas time. The church we grew up in actually discouraged people from celebrating Jesus’ birthday at Christmas because they thought it was unbiblical. We were taught that it was a pagan holiday. Of course, we were still encouraged to enjoy stories about Santa Claus and reindeer, and hid presents under the Christmas tree; just so long as we didn’t drag Jesus into it.
So that’s pretty much what we did. I remember my sister and me writing our Christmas wish lists and mailing them to the North Pole. I recall setting out a plate full of cookies and a glass of milk for Santa on Christmas Eve. I’ll never forget sitting at the top of the stairs with my sister, whispering to each other and hoping that our parents didn’t catch us out of bed, as we waited to catch a glimpse of that jolly fat man in the red suit!
Of course, today I’ve come to realize that Jesus really is the reason for the season—that Christians ought to celebrate the birth of Jesus and do everything we can to keep Christ in Christmas. When Ashley and I started having our own kids we made the decision that Christmas was going to be about Christ and that we wouldn’t fill our kids’ heads with fairytales about toy-making elves or flying reindeer. That doesn’t, however, mean that Santa gets left out of Christmas.
Far from being a dangerous distraction from the real meaning of Christmas, believe it or not, even Santa can be saved. As you probably already know, Santa Claus is an alias for Saint Nicholas—or good old St. Nick. While the myths and legends that have cropped up around Saint Nicholas have come completely untethered from history, the truth is—Saint Nicholas was a real person, a Christian, who lived in the third century, roughly two hundred years after the death of Jesus.
Nick was born to a wealthy family in Patara, Lycia (an ancient city in modern day Turkey). Sadly, a plague swept through the region and claimed the lives of his parents when Nicholas was still a young man. Thankfully, his mom and dad left behind a legacy of faith. Heartbroken but hopeful, Nicholas clung to Jesus as his savior and the Holy Spirit as his comforter, and he went on to become a true hero of the faith.
To be fair, the details of Nicholas’ life are sketchy. Dozens of stories have been told of his life and eventually hundreds of churches would be named after him, but very little of his life was documented until a couple hundred years after his death, which means that most of what know was passed on through oral tradition. It’s difficult to discern exactly where the facts end and where the fantasy begins. Many of the St. Nicholas stories seem to be truth interwoven with embellishments. Nevertheless, history does give us the broad brush strokes of his life, which paints a clear picture of the kind of person Saint Nicholas really was.
So what do we know and what can we learn from the life of Saint Nicholas?
First, we know—as his name and title imply—that Nicholas was a saint.
• A SAINT
Now let me define exactly what I mean by saint. The Bible teaches that everyone who is born of the Spirit—everyone who accepts Jesus as their Lord and Savior—is a saint. For instance, in Psalm 30, a song David wrote for the dedication of the temple, it says, “Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name” (Psalm 30:4 ESV). So David is referring to everyone gathered at the temple to worship God as his saints. In the New Testament, the Bible continues to use the word saint to refer to all believers. In fact, Paul often addressed many of his letters like this: “To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints” (Romans 1:7 ESV).
So the Bible clearly teaches that everyone who has been sanctified and set apart by God is a saint. I read a story earlier this week about a Wisconsin mom who was trying to teach her kids how God sees them. She told them that when they receive Jesus as Savior that He then sees them clean and without sin. Actually, He sees them as saints. So she could call them Saint Sawyer or Saint Mylee or Saint Charlie. She kept this up all week, periodically calling them her little saints. Then, towards the end of the week, the family was going for a ride in the car when one of the one of the sons asked, “Can I be funny for a minute?” This prompted the parent’s curiosity so they answered, “Sure.” Then the boy proclaimed, “I don’t want to be a Saint; I’d rather be a Packer!”
Even though all Christians are saints, we don’t always act like saints, do we? And some of us seem to be a little more sanctified than others, right? Well that’s nothing new, so by the second century, people started using the word saint similar to how we use it today. When we say, “Nancy is such a saint,” or “John is real saint,” normally what we mean is, “this person has tremendous patients,” or “this person is remarkably kindhearted.” Essentially we use the word saint to describe people that really demonstrate Christlike character. Even Paul seems to use the word that way at least once, when he tells the church in Rome, “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the church in Cenchreae. So you should welcome her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints” (Romans 16:1-2 HCSB). It sounds to me like Paul is saying that Phoebe is a real saint, an outstanding example of what a Christian ought to be.
Nicholas became known as Saint Nicholas the same way. Seven centuries before the Catholic church started a formal process for elevating believers to sainthood, Nicholas earned to the title (or nickname) Saint Nicholas because he lived his life in such a way that when people looked at him—they could see Jesus!
That’s what being a saint means. It means living a life that overflows with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness goodness, faithfulness and self-control! It means letting your light shine before people in such a way that they will see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
How well does your life reflect the fruit of God’s Spirit? When people look at you, can they see Jesus? This Christmas, let’s commit ourselves to being a little more like Santa, to being saintly in the way we live our lives and interact with other people. In addition to being a saint, history also tells us that Nicholas was a scholar.
• SCHOLAR
Saint Nicholas was a devout student of Scripture—his faith firmly rooted in the Word of God. In fact, Nicholas was so strong in the Scriptures that he was invited to participate in the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.
During this early stage of church history, all of the New Testament books had been written and circulated, but they hadn’t yet been complied into a singles volume. Not all churches had copies of every book and several fake (pseudepigraphal) books had started to be circulated. So, in order to help bring unity to the churches, Emperor Constantine—who was a Christian himself—convened a meeting of pastors and church leaders from all over the empire to discern what was truly God’s word and God’s will.
These giants of the faith saturated themselves in God’s Word, carefully weeding out destructive heresies that had crept into the church. Saint Nicholas valiantly defended the deity of Christ and the doctrine of the Trinity. He also helped compose what’s now known as the Nicene Creed—a short statement of faith that helped codify the essential doctrines of the Christian faith and could be easily memorized or reproduced and distributed to Bible-less Christians.
Today, we have more Bibles than we know what to do with. You’ve probably got several of them at home just collecting dust. David Nygren once said, “If all the neglected Bibles were dusted off simultaneously, we would have a record dust storm and the sun would be eclipsed for a whole week.”
Folks, I can’t stress to you enough how important it is to get into God’s Word and get God’s Word into you! After Moses gave the Ten Commandments to the people of Israel, God spoke to the nation, saying, “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:6-9 NIV).
In other words, God wants us to make his Word a part of every aspect of life. John MacArthur once said, “I have found that my spiritual growth is directly proportionate to the amount of time and effort I put into the study of Scripture.” I’ve found the same in my life and I’ll bet you have too. We need to be like the psalmist who said, “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you… I will study your commandments and reflect on your ways. I will delight in your decrees and not forget your word.” (Psalm 119:11,15 NLT).
Hiding God’s Word in our hearts will help us to become so familiar with the essentials of the Christian faith that when a counterfeit looms on the horizon, we, like Saint Nicholas, will recognize it instantly. Finally, in addition to being a saint and a biblical scholar, Nicholas was also a shepherd.
• SHEPHERD
I don’t mean that Santa tended sheep; rather, he took care of God’s people. Of course, back then they used the Latin term Bishop, which is still used in the King James and New King James versions of the Bible today. But the Bible makes clear in multiple passages that bishop, overseer, elder, pastor, and shepherd are all various words referring to the same responsibility—the tending of God’ flock. In the last chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus asked Peter:
“Simon son of John, do you love me?”
“Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.”
“Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said. (John 21:16 NLT).
Since that day, Jesus has entrusted the shepherding of his church to godly men of good reputation. Saint Nick was appointed as Bishop/Shepherd over the church in Myra, a city on the southern Mediterranean Sea coast. There he guided and guarded God’s people. Not only did he preach and teach God’s word, but he demonstrated genuine care for the people of Myra. He was well-known for his generosity and compassion, especially toward widows and orphans.
One of the most famous stories of Nicholas’ life involves a man from Myra who had fallen on hard times. Very poor, he had three daughters of an age to be married. In those days a young woman’s family had to have something of value, a dowry, to offer prospective husbands. The larger the dowry, the better the chance a young woman would find a good husband. Without a dowry, a woman was unlikely to marry. This poor man’s daughters, without dowries, were therefore destined to be sold into slavery or forced into prostitution.
Word of the family’s misfortune reached Nicholas, who had the wealth inherited from his parents. Coming in secret by night, he snuck in through an open window, and dropped a bag of gold in a stocking left hanging by the fire to dry. He did this for each of the three daughters, and it wasn’t until his third trip that the father caught him and spread that word about Nicholas’ kindness and generosity.
This, of course, is where the tradition of hanging stockings “by the chimney with care in hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be there” comes from. Nicholas really cared about God’s people and that’s what made him such a good Shepherd.
Peter offers both plea and a promise to those who are shepherds of God’s flock. He says, “To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be… And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.” (1 Peter 5:1-4 NIV).
We’re blessing with some very caring shepherd here at The Grove. I think that each one of use ought to express our heartfelt gratitude to them for the work that they do. Let’s support our shepherds and stand behind them. Let not make their jobs any harder than they need to be. And I want to challenge them and any other aspiring shepherds to follow in the footsteps of Saint Nicholas—don’t shepherd the flock out of duty; rather, do it out of compassion and care.
Conclusion:
This Tuesday (December 6th) is Saint Nicholas Day. What a great opportunity to share the true story of Saint Nick with your children or grandchildren. And I want to encourage you to do that. Tell them that Santa was a saint who shined with the light of Christ, a scholar who diligently studied the Bible, and a shepherd who took care of those around him, especially those most needy. Today, Santa may not live in the North Pole, but he lives somewhere even better. Today, Saint Nick lives with Jesus in the presence of God. And someday we’ll all get the chance to meet him.
Invitation:
As the worship team comes forward, I want to invite you to start preparing your heart and spirit for Christmas. This December 25th as you celebrate around the Christmas tree surrounded by family and presents, let the selflessness of Saint Nick be a reminder of the Savior who gave the greatest gift of all.
