Merry Christmas
Written by Steven A. Guglich
Luke 2:8 – 2:14
(PowerPoint presentation is available by request)
I love Christmas! It has always been my favorite time of the year! I love the decorations, the food, and of course the presents! What are some of your favorite things about Christmas? (wait for responses) Ya know another thing I like about Christmas... those corny, cheesey Christmas shows and movies.
And all of those things we mentioned are great of course, but what I love most about Christmas, is the reason we really celebrate it. And you all know what that is right? (Wait for response)
Have you ever wondered where we get some of the traditions we have at Christmas? Let’s test your knowledge of Christmas traditions. It’s time for True Christmas Trivia!
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Question 1: What does Thor have to do with Christmas?
The tradition of the Christmas tree comes from northern Germany. For thousands of years, tribes decorated with tree branches, and, before they knew about Jesus, they linked certain trees to false gods! One such God was Thor, the Norse God of Thunder. One particular species of giant oak tree was called “The Oak of Thor.” If anyone cut it down, they believed, the god Thor would strike them dead!
In the 7th century a Christian missionary named Boniface came to northern Germany to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When the people began to reject Christ and support their belief in Thor, Boniface decided to put their false god to the test. He picked up an Axe and he cut down the Oak of Thor! To the surprise of the people, Boniface lived. Boniface then pointed to a small fir tree that was growing right next to Thor’s oak tree and told the people that the fir tree was to be a symbol of Jesus Christ. He explained to them that when they used the fir tree to build their homes they were to remember that Christ should be at the center of their households. The leaves of the fir that remained green all even in the darkest days would be a symbol that Christ be their constant light. The branches that reach out to embrace and its top that points to heaven would be a symbol of Christ, their Comfort and Guide. So people started cutting down small fir trees and hanging them in their houses to remind them of Jesus Christ. And that is what Thor has to do with Christmas!
Ok... how about one more True Christmas Trivia Question...
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Question 2: Why do we call this time of clebration, Christmas?
The short answer is, the early church began celebrating the Eucharist regularly. The Eucharist, more commonly known as Communion or the Lord’s Supper is a time in which we break bread and drink wine together to remember Christ’s sacrifice for us. The early church began to make this a regular practice at a service called Mass in which the Lord’s Supper was practiced. Throughout the years they established special masses for the purpose of celebrating a particular aspect of Christianity. One such special mass was established to celebrate the Birth of Christ... this was Christ’s Mass. It began to be celebrated around December 25th because of an effort by missionaries to share the Gospel with the pagans. At this time of year they worshiped the sun, so the missionaries pointed them to the son of God, Jesus Christ. The birth of Christ and the taking of the Eucharist began to be celebrated at this time. Thus, we have Christ’s Mass... Christmas.
If you here today, I’m pretty sure you get the meaning of Christmas... we don’t have to answer the age-old question asked by Charlie Brown... “Doesn’t anybody know what Christmas is all about?” What I feel God has lead me to talk about today is bringing Christmas wherever we go. Here’s what I mean by that. As Christians, God has asked us to tell everyone we know about Him. To spread the Gospel. And here we have a worldwide holiday that everyone seems to know is a celebration of the birth of the Savior of the World, Jesus Christ. Ask anyone what Christmas is, and after some prodding most anyone can tell you it’s about the birth of Jesus. And here we are as Christians, given the prime opportunity to share Jesus Christ with people without hardly even having to bring it up, and we miss out. I am so guilty of this myself. You know what I mean, right? We have all these things to distract us from the truth about Christmas, and it gets worse every year. Back 40, 50 years ago it was OK to say Merry Christmas. Now, it’s not politically correct.
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Ya know, he’s right... we really don’t say Merry Christmas much anymore! Why? Let’s look at some possible reasons why.
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Reasons People Don’t Say Merry Christmas
1) You might offend someone
2) You don’t want to exclude them
3) You were taught to say “Happy Holidays” or “Seasons Greetings”
So let’s look at these...
1) You might offend someone. How is “Merry Christmas” offensive? Maybe it’s not their holiday? Maybe they are of a different religion.
2) You don’t want to exclude them. You’re unsure of what holiday they have or do not have, and you want to make sure you cover them all, so it’s easier to say Happy Holidays or Seasons Greetings.
3) You were taught by your parents to say “Happy Holidays” or “Seasons Greetings” because they think it’s polite, or maybe because they think its offensive, or maybe they don’t want you to exclude anyone.
Now let me tell you why I have a problem with NOT saying Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas isn’t just a greeting... it’s a declaration!
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The word merry means full of joy and cheerful... and Christmas, well you know what that is, it’s a celebration of the birth of Christ. So when you say Merry Christmas, you are declaring the same thing the angels declared to the shepherds on that very first Christmas!
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That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them.
They were terrified, but the angel reassured them.
“Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize Him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” - Luke 2:8-14
When we say Merry Christmas, we declare the same message. There is good news for everyone... everyone, not just us who sit in this church... everyone! Listen to what the angel said... “I bring good news that brings great joy to ALL the people!” Jesus Christ, your Savior was born! Jesus Christ, the God of the universe came down from His throne in Heaven, to come to Earth to save us... ALL of us! When you say Merry Christmas, you’re letting everyone know that they have a reason to be joyful and His name is Christ and He was born to save us all! God said to tell everyone the good news. It isn’t for us to decide whether or not those who hear the news will be offended. God will take care of that. That’s why we say Merry Christmas! It’s very different from “Happy Holidays” or “Seasons Greetings!” This is what happens when you just say, “Happy Holidays”... you’re just wishing someone to have a good time during whatever holiday they choose to celebrate. That’s a nice gesture, but that’s not why God has asked us to do! He’s asked us to tell others about Him. And with all that is going on in the world these days, people need to know that there is a Savior... a God who loves them. How many people do you know that get depressed around this time of the year? I know several people who do. Why? Mainly because they’re looking at so many other places to find happiness. They have all of these ideas in their head about the way they think things should be, instead of focusing on the way God says they should be. They are looking to be content in their own vision of what they think Christmas should be, and not what it is. The angels declared the good news... the only news in which we should find contentment... “Listen carefully, for I proclaim to you good news that brings great joy to all the people: Today your Savior is born in the city of David. He is Christ the Lord.”
This is the same message we are charged with spreading. The savior has come... this is the greatest gift we could ever imagine receiving.
Now look at the last line of the message the angel brings:
“Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
Peace on Earth to those with whom God is pleased!
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Peace... the Jews called it Shalom... it was sometimes used as a greeting. But, shalom means so much more than just peace... it means completion... or a feeling of being secure in the completion of something. And the something here, that peace... shalom refers to is reconciliation with God.
See, that’s who Jesus was. He was the fulfiller of Shalom... the reconciler... the One who was sent to reconcile us with our Creator. So, peace comes to those with whom God is pleased. How do we please God? The book of Hebrews, chapter 11:6 says this:
“... it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him.”
The message of the angel that day was that the fulfiller of Shalom has come... the bringer of peace has come and if you want to experience the peace that come with that, you must do it through faith. In the book of Ephesians 2:8-9 its says:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
God, the creator of the universe loves you. He has always had a plan to show you just how much He truly loves. We are here on Earth for a short while. But when your body ceases to work here on Earth... when you’re dead, you’re not really dead... just your body is dead. Who you really are, your soul and your spirit, continue to live on. But they can’t live here on Earth. They will go to one of two places:
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Heaven or Hell. God wants you to one day live with Him, in His presence... in Heaven.
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But, the problem is, God is perfect in every way, and we are not. We do things that God, the creator says are bad. We lie, we cheat, we steal we look at each other with sexual thoughts, and we treat each other with disrespect. He calls these bad things we do, sins. God hates those things... He despises sin. But He loves you. So, there’s a dilemma here. God wants us to be with Him, but we can’t because we, in our sinful state, cannot get to God. So what does God do?
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The Bible says in Romans 6:23, God says:
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
And in Romans 5:8 it says:
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
So God, instead of just letting us all go to Hell... He comes to us.
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God comes to earth as a baby... the baby Jesus. Jesus lived on Earth for thirty-three years... and then He died.
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Well, He didn’t just die... He was murdered... murdered by the very people who He created and loved. Why did He die? Well, as God... God gets to make the rules. And one rule He put in place since He first created man, was that blood must be shed to pay the penalty for sin. And if someone did not pay the penalty, He or she would not be able to be with God. He or she would have to go to Hell when they died. And God didn’t want that. So, rather then breaking His own rule... He embraced it, and died a torturous death on the Cross. The blood He shed paid for everyone’s sin... past, present and future.
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This was His gift to us. But, ya know the thing about gifts is that you actually have to open them and use them for their intended purpose. If someone gives you clothes as a present, you have to accept them and then wear them, otherwise they don’t serve their purpose. It’s the same way with God’s gift to us... we have to accept the gift and then use it for the purpose it was intended. God’s gift to you was eternal life with Him through the death of Jesus Christ. When you accept that gift, you accept everything that goes with it. You understand that Jesus Christ is God, in the flesh. You understand that Jesus wants to be Number One in your life. You understand that Jesus knows what is best for you, and you follow Him. That’s how you accept His gift. Then you have to use it for its intended purpose... and that purpose is for you to bring glory and honor to God with your life. You follow Him and you tell others about what He did for you. And you can start here today... accept the free gift of God, which is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ... make Jesus the Lord of your life. Live for Him, and not for yourself.
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If you’ve accepted that gift, then you are ready to bring Christmas with you everywhere you go. You understand that “Merry Christmas” isn’t just a few words to say hello at this time of the year. It’s a declaration of what we have to be joyful and cheerful about. Its just one way to use the gift you’ve been given.
