Is God Like Santa Claus?
Chuck Sligh
December 6, 2020
A PowerPoint presentation with some pretty humorous slides to compliment the message is available by emailing me at chucksligh@hotmail.com. (I don’t think I originated the idea and skeleton of this sermon. If anyone know who the originator is, I would be happy to attribute. However, the flesh of the message is mine.)
TEXT: Romans 3:24 –”Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:” (Later we’ll look at verses 23-26, so keep your Bibles open here.)
INTRODUCTION
If it weren’t for kids, Christmas wouldn’t be half as fun as it is.
JOKE: One Sunday a Sunday School teacher asker her students to draw a Christmas picture of the Holy Family—that is, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. Most of her kids drew conventional pictures like Jesus in the manger, Joseph and Mary riding a donkey—that kind of thing. But Johnny’s was an airplane with four heads sticking out the plane’s windows. She said, “Johnny, I see Joseph, Mary and Jesus. But who’s the fourth person?” “Oh,” said Johnny, “That’s Pontius the Pilate!”
JOKE: One time a boy forgot his lines in a Christmas pageant. His mother was on the front row to help him and she tried gesturing and mouthing his lines, but nothing worked, creating an awkward silence. Finally she leaned forward and whispered the cue, “I am the light of the world.” He beamed and with great feeling shouted, “My mother is the light of the world.”
Speaking of kids, let me say before I begin that if you have children in the service who have not been told the truth about Santa Claus and you don’t want them to know yet…you need to take them to Children’s Church now. – You have been warned.
Let me begin today’s message by posing a question to You—Is God like Santa Claus? I submit to you that in many people’s eyes, God IS like Santa Claus, and because of that, they have a very inaccurate picture of who God is and what He is like.
Now, we know that in many ways Santa Claus is like God.
For instance…
• Santa knows everything. – “He sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows when you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!”
• Also, Santa is a moral judge. – “He’s making a list, checking it twice. Gonna find out who’s naughty or nice.”
• Third, Santa has supernatural helpers. God has his angels. Who does Santa have? [PAUSE]—FLYING REINDEER! “Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen! On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!” says St. Nick in the famous poem. And don’t forget about good old Rudolf, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
• Finally, Santa is everywhere, like God, right? Ask any kid; he’ll tell you.
Illus. – When our youngest son, Allen, was about three, I told him that there’s really no such thing as Santa Claus, but it’s fun to pretend. Well, he was no a dummy. He said, “Uh, huh. Yes there IS a Santa Claus ’cause I seen him.”
I said, “You saw him? Where did you see him?”
“At the mall and Wal-Mart AND downtown!”
Hey, how can you argue with that?!
So Santa’s a lot like God, but that’s not my point today. I want to flip the coin and see that in the eyes of many people God is like Santa Claus. That’s the main reason people are so confused today in their thinking about God. They’ve substituted the real God of the Bible with a mythical god much like Santa. Let me show you what I mean, and in the process we’ll learn what God is really like.
I. FIRST, LET’S COMPARE SANTA’S PRESENCE AND GOD’S PRESENCE.
Think first about Santa’s presence: He visits kids one day a year, but spends 364 days in a white place called the North Pole. And he secretly watches and keeps record, but he gives no help in daily life.
Many people have a similar idea about God’s presence: They see Him as some bent-over old man with a long, white beard who lives in a white place called heaven. And, yeah, maybe He’s more or less keeping record of things, but He’s not really present and active in our everyday lives.
The truth of the matter is, that’s NOT the God of the Bible. What is the God of the Bible like?
• Number 1, He is no less present in one place than another.
This is called the “omnipresence” of God. This is not the pantheistic, Eastern idea that God IS everything—that you are god, I am god, this building is god, the grass is god. The teaching of the Bible is that God is distinct from and transcendent over His creation, yet at the same time, WHEREVER you go throughout the universe, you are ALWAYS in the immediate presence of God!
The Psalmist asked, “Where shall I go from thy spirit? or where shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.” (Psalm 139:7-10)
God is present WHEREVER you are. He’s not stuck in heaven, or the North Pole, or any PLACE.
• Second, the Bible teaches that God is active in our lives 365 days of the year, not just on Christmas Day, like Santa.
In Hebrews 13:5 we’re told that Jesus said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” He’s not aloof, but He’s near, available, accessible every day of our lives. He’s a God who cares about our every need; who’s concerned about our problems; who’s there to lead, guide, protect, encourage, and help us in every situation in life. He is what Francis Schaeffer called, “The God who is there!”
Dear friend, God does not want to be just a Christmas or an Easter god. He’s the God who is there—twenty-four/seven, all through the year. And He wants to be the Ruler of your life twenty-four/seven, all year long.
II. SECOND, CONSIDER SANTA’S CREDIBILITY VERSUS GOD’S CREDIBILITY.
Belief in Santa is supposed to be for childhood only. Sooner or later children find out he’s not real.
Illus. – I remember when I found out the tragic news about old St. Nick. I was four years old when my five year-old neighbor broke the news to me. I guess he thought it was his job to enlighten this naive simpleton. I simply could not believe it and told him so. So I said, “You can ask my Mom. She’ll tell you there IS a Santa Claus.” Moms, you see, are experts on everything (until you become a teen!). Reluctantly, Mom was forced to tell me the truth. I was devastated—until Mom assured me that there would still be plenty of toys for me at Christmas, which is the main thing in a kid’s mind, Amen?
But you see, sooner or later, children discover that parents are playing a game with them (a fun game, but nevertheless, just a game). They realize their parents are telling them something they themselves don’t believe. So what’s the lesson they sometimes learn from this?—Maybe some learn that FAITH IS SOMETHING YOU OUTGROW.
Many people have a similar idea about God. They think that belief in God is just for children and the naive. When you grow up, you don’t believe in that stuff anymore! Like Santa, God is a game that the parents don’t really believe in themselves. “Oh, yeah, send the kids off to Sunday School. Let ’em learn about God. Maybe it’ll improve their behavior and they won’t be such brats. But, hey, I don’t believe that stuff. That’s just another childhood myth.”
But folks, the real God is not a myth. In reality, God DOES exist, whether you choose to believe in Him or not. There IS a heaven and there IS a hell, and God IS real, and He DID send His only begotten Son,…and His Son DID die on the cross for your sins,…and He DID pay the penalty for your sins,…and He DOES offer you the free gift of salvation,…and if your sins are forgiven by Jesus Christ, you WILL go to heaven, and if you don’t you WILL go to hell.
It’s as simple as that, because you see, God’s not like Santa Claus, folks: He’s real; He’s alive; He’s well. God help you to put your faith in God and in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ who died for your sins and rose from the dead—because we’re talking about REALITY here and we’re talking about your everlasting soul!
III. FINALLY LET’S COMPARE SANTA’S STANDARDS OF JUDGMENT AND GOD’S STANDARDS OF JUDGMENT.
Santa keeps a record and gives gifts to children accordingly. This, of course, is a kind of “works salvation.” Theoretically, if you’re good all year, you get lots and lots of toys, but if you’re NAUGHTY, all you get is a lump of coal. But it doesn’t take long for kids to figure that one out, does it? They eventually discover that it really doesn’t work that way. In reality, no matter HOW they act, they get the gifts anyway! In other words, Santa’s judgments ARE IDLE THREATS.
Many people have a similar idea about God’s judgment. They believe in a “works salvation”—that their relationship with God and their reservation in heaven is determined by whether they have enough good works. In fact, most people believe in a works salvation: if they’re pretty good, they go to heaven and get the goodies and if not, well, they go to the hot place. But they don’t really think God is very strict. Oh, yeah, He blusters a lot, but He doesn’t really enforce His standards of righteousness. He threatens with hell, but surely a God of LOVE wouldn’t really send anybody there!
My, what a different picture the God of the Bible is! Note with me two things about God and His judgment:
• First of all, God’s judgment is unwavering.
God makes no idle threats. When He says in 2 Thessalonians 1:9 that those without Christ will be “punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power”—He means just that. Titus 1:2 tells us that God cannot lie.
So we have a big problem: We’re sinners because we’ve disobeyed God’s commandments. And God says that the penalty for sin is death and hell.
Folks, those are not idle threats. Those come from the lips of the holy, righteous God who cannot lie. He’ll make no exceptions and He won’t give in or change his mind.
But note second that God saves by forgiving, not by overlooking our sin. Santa just good-naturedly overlooks all our naughty things. But God conquers sin—not by forgetting—but by sending Jesus to deal with it. Look with me at Romans 3:23-26:
1) Verse 23 says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” “All” means EVERYONE including you and me. We’re ALL sinners before an infinitely holy God.
2) Paul doesn’t stop there, but goes on to say in verse 24: “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
Paul teaches that we cannot earn salvation by good works, or religious acts such as baptism, or through any goodness on our part. There are four very important words or phrases in this verse:
a) First, note the word “justified.”
This means to be declared righteous before God. “Justification” is a big theological word that simply means being declared “just as if I had never sinned.” Yes, we’re sinners deserving God’s judgment, but we can be just-as-if-we-had-never-sinned before God.
b) Second is the word, “grace.”
Grace means “unmerited, unearned favor.” God GIVES us forgiveness of our sins freely, NOT on the basis of any works or goodness on our part to earn or deserve it, but solely on the basis of God’s GRACE—His unmerited favor.
c) Third, note the word “freely.”
Besides this reference to grace being freely given, salvation is referred to as a “free gift” three times in Romans 5, and twice more the word “gift” is used about our salvation in that chapter. Romans 6:23 says that “…the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” And Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”
d) Finally, note the phrase, “the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
If we do not earn salvation, how is this free gift obtained? Through “the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” The word “redemption” is rich in meaning in the Bible with way too many paths to follow this morning. Redemption in those days involved a purchase price paid for a slave to set him free.
And that’s how our forgiveness is obtained—through the price paid by Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins in our place to deliver us from the bondage of sin. Yes, salvation is free to us, but a horrible price was paid by the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross so that we could be saved.
e) Verse 25 tells us how can we can receive this free gift of forgiveness of sin: “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission [which means “to pass over” or “forgive”] of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.”
Propitiation is a really big word that just means “satisfaction.” In other words, when Jesus died on the cross, He paid our sin penalty…and God is satisfied with that. His sacrifice satisfied God’s justice, because He’s not just overlooking our sin; He FULLY judged JESUS for our sin. Your sin debt was paid for COMPLETELY and God is satisfied with what Jesus did on the cross in your behalf.
And here’s the crucial difference between God and Santa Claus. Santa is a big blow-hard. He huffs and puffs about us being good, but in the end, everybody gets their presents. He just overlooks all our misdeeds.
Not so with God. EVERY sin MUST be paid for because God is INFINITELY holy and just. But here’s the key point: Paul is teaching that every sin IS paid for; it’s just that JESUS pays for our sin instead of us paying the penalty ourselves—and God is satisfied with that.
f) That’s why he says what he does in verse 26 – “To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: [now watch this:] that he might be just, AND the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”
God remains JUST – That is, his righteous demands for judgment against sin are satisfied by Jesus’ death on the cross. But He is also able to be THE JUSTIFIER. – He justifies everyone who believes in Him; that is, He makes them so that they stand “just-as-if-they-had-never sinned” in His sight. Now, WHO is justified?—He who goes to church or who takes communion or who obeys the Golden Rule or does good deeds? No!—He who BELIEVES in Jesus Christ! [REPEAT 2X] He who is NOT trusting in his OWN SELF to save himself—but who is trusting ONLY in what Jesus Christ did on the cross.
CONCLUSION
So you see, God is NOT like Santa Claus. So, what’s the point of this message?—That is, how do we apply it to our hearts?:
• First, if you’ve not already done so, transfer your faith from ANY works you have EVER done to earn your salvation and trust in Jesus Christ alone to save hyou.
His gift of full pardon for sin is not dependent on who is “naughty or nice.” It’s ALREADY PAID FOR—and it’s available to you absolutely free—IF you will accept it by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust in HIM ALONE to save you. Pray to Jesus and admit that you are a sinner who cannot save yourself and tell Him you are trusting in what He did on the cross to save you from your sins.
• If you’ve already done that, have you forgotten that Hebrews 13:5 promises that Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you?
Isn’t that an awesome promise? Are you going through a trial today and wondering if God is like Santa Claus? He was there for you at your salvation, and at your baptism, and when you surrendered to God in some key areas in your life. But right now, you don’t feel Him there. Let me assure you that he has NOT forsaken you, nor will He ever. He’s there all right. Just trust Him to see you through this dark valley you’re in right now.
