WHEN CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT CHRIST
1) When Christmas is not about Christ it’s…
• Materialistic.
When Christmas is not about Christ the focus is on my long wish list. The focus is obsessing about what I will get for Christmas. It better be what I want or there’s going to be trouble. And if the other person gets us a lame gift we develop and harbor bitterness towards them. If you don’t spend “X” amount on a gift then you don’t care about me. When Christmas is not about Christ we become more greedy and expectant.
When Christmas is materialistic I’m focused on having the better looking decorations and outdoing the neighbors. My lawn will be littered with plastic Santas and everything will be covered in lights. I become Clark Griswold.
Speaking of Mr. Griswold do you remember in Christmas vacation how Clark reacted when he realized he wasn’t getting the Christmas bonus he was depending on? The magical spirit of Christmas went right out the door and it was replaced with rage and expletives. That’s the kind of thing that happens when Christmas is not about Christ.
I’m not saying it’s wrong to decorate or buy gifts but when Christmas is not about Christ I will be too heavily focused on these things. And what will be the result? I’ll be deeper in debt, my electric bill goes up and I’ll miss the real reason for the season.
• Chaotic.
The hustle and bustle. Running around trying to get everything taken care of. Getting a black eye on black Friday fighting all the other shoppers to get to the items before they’re all gone. You’ve seen the footage where people are pressed against the door and then the store opens and all hell breaks loose. Pushing and shoving; even people getting trampled. It’s madness.
Then you have all the other stuff-decorations, parties, family photos, Christmas cards, food preparations, traveling. So it’s not just Christmas shopping that’s chaotic it’s everything else too.
All of these things can be enjoyable-when Christ is at the center of Christmas. But when he’s not all of these things cease to be enjoyable and instead become hectic and problematic. All of this chaos will cause us to become drained, miserable and frustrated. I won’t feel like singing, “joy to the world” when there’s no joy in my world.
This is what happens when I get consumed with all the hustle and bustle; when I get wrapped up in the Christmas chaos. This is what happens when Christmas is not about Christ.
• Temporary.
You know how it is-you spend all that time shopping, searching for the perfect gifts and then you take the time to carefully wrap each one with pretty paper and extravagant bows. Then you strategically arrange all the presents under the ornately decorated tree. Then Christmas day comes and it’s all over in a matter of minutes. Everyone rips and tears through the paper, looks at the gift for a couple of minutes and then moves onto the next one. Then, when the dust settles you look around and see all the mounds of paper and bows and boxes and you breathe a heavy sigh as you think about the mess to clean up.
Then you move into the kitchen where you spend all that time slaving away cooking and preparing. You set everything on the table just so. It looks great-a picturesque holiday meal. Then everyone tears into the food like piranhas and it’s over in a matter of minutes. And you breathe a heavy sigh as you look around at all the dirty dishes and your pristine table cloth smeared with splotches of squash and splatters of gravy.
When Christmas is over the thrill is gone. You take down the decorations with much less enthusiasm than when they went up. Your mouth doesn’t water at the site of leftovers the way it did when you dug in the first time. After a little while even the presents lose their alluring qualities.
The excitement is temporary. The thrill is short-lived. When Jesus is not part of Christmas all you have is a temporary pleasure that is soon replaced with life as it was. The Christmas spirit is gone, replaced with the same old same old; blah and humdrum life.
2) When Christmas is about Christ it’s…
• Spiritual.
When Christmas is about Christ the holiday takes on a whole different meaning. It’s not about Santa or parties or presents; it’s about Jesus. You can still have all the decorations, the presents and the traditions but the main focus won’t be on these. These will be enjoyable but they won’t be the source of your joy. You don’t just have the Christmas spirit you have the Holy Spirit.
When Christmas is about Christ you don’t just sing the carols you believe the carols; you’ve experienced the carols. You are truly celebrating the night of our dear Savior’s birth. It’s not about ‘here comes Santa Claus’, it’s about ‘here comes Jesus Christ’.
When Christmas is about Christ it’s more meaningful; it’s deeper. It’s awe inspiring; it’s breathtaking. As beautiful as the Christmas lights are they pale in comparison to the beauty of the Bethlehem star. As lovely as the decorations are; they pale in comparison to the beauty of the virgin birth. The extravagance of the sparkle and glitter pales in comparison to the soft, moonlit glow upon the face of the baby Jesus.
Every material marker of Christmas that surrounds us cannot begin to compete with the spiritual markers of Christ within us. When Christmas is about Christ the main focus is not on the material aspects but on the spiritual aspects. The primary cause for our celebration is not on what gifts we will get, it’s not even about getting together with family, it’s about the coming of Immanuel-God with us; it’s about rejoicing in the birth of our Lord and Savior.
Luke 2:8-18. Here we can make some connections to how it is when Christmas is about Christ.
In vs. 10 we see the source of good news and great joy was the birth of Christ. When Christmas is not about Christ the source of good news and great joy is scoring the best deals.
In vs. 14 we see the focus is on glorifying God and bringing peace. When Christmas is not about Christ my focus is not on God and there isn’t any peace.
In vs. 16 the shepherds hurried off because they couldn’t wait to see Jesus. When Christmas is not about Christ I will hurry off because I can’t wait to get to the stores.
In vs. 17 the shepherds were excited to spread the news about the birth of Jesus. When Christmas is not about Christ my excitement will come from talking about the gifts I received or how good my decorations look or how great my party went. When Christmas is about Christ it will be spiritual; not materialistic.
• Peaceful.
When Christmas is about Christ there’s not chaos-there’s contentment. When Christmas is about Christ I can watch everyone around me run around like chickens with their heads cut off while I stroll along peacefully. It’s not because I don’t care about all things Christmas-it’s because I don’t allow these things to consume me. I’m not worried about making sure everything is perfect. I’m not preoccupied with the million and one things on my Christmas checklist.
Luke 10:38-42, “As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Martha was distracted. Distracted from what? Jesus. That’s what can happen to us when we lose sight of Jesus and just focus on all of what needs to be done. When the focus shifts from Christ to something else we become distracted from the most important thing. And the result for Martha was being worried and upset while Mary was at peace.
I don’t think Mary was lazy; I don’t think she didn’t care-she just knew where the focus needed to be. When we become distracted from Christ and Christmas becomes about other things we will become worried and upset. When we do, that is an indicator that we need to get our focus back on Christ.
Christmas can be the most stressful time of the year but it doesn’t have to be. We can do all the things that need to be done without being worried and upset about them when our focus is on Christ. When Christmas is about Christ I will be at peace as I go around doing what needs to be done.
• Permanent.
Remember when you were a kid and once December rolled around you were on your best behavior because you wanted to make sure you were on Santa’s nice list. But once Christmas was over it didn’t matter anymore; you could go back to being naughty. The Christmas season can have the same effect on adults. We’re in a mindset to treat each other better during this time of year. We’re friendlier; more generous. That is…until December 26th. Then we go back to being the same old joyless people we were before the holidays.
Not so for those who understand Christmas is about Christ. That’s because we understand that it isn’t just Christmas that is about Christ; everyday is about Christ. It’s not just a certain time of year we need to be nice; it’s everyday. Because it’s about the Holy Spirit not the Christmas spirit it’s something permanent.
We all like certain things about the holiday season. There are certain aspects that brighten our mood or make us feel all warm and tingly inside. But when Christmas is about Christ the happiness isn’t just there because it’s that time of year again; it’s there all the time. Why? Because it’s about Christ.
When it’s not about Christ, the feelings go away once the decorations are taken down and the tree is put away. When the Christmas music is replaced with elevator music the mood switches back to where it was before.
But when Christmas is about Christ it’s different-it’s not just something we think about during the month of December; it’s an every day, constant reality. The coming of Christ isn’t something that we just ponder during the Christmas holiday; it’s something we think about throughout the whole year-because our focus is always on Christ. Jesus isn’t just the reason for the season-he’s the reason for all seasons. He isn’t just the focus of a song; he is the song in our hearts. He’s not just the baby in the manger-he’s the man on the cross. It’s not just about the virgin birth; it’s about the sinner’s rebirth. When Christmas is about Christ the focus on Christ is not temporary; it’s permanent.
2nd Cor. 4:18, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” Our focus shouldn’t be on worldly things because these are temporary; instead our focus needs to be on spiritual things because they are permanent. When we focus only on all the visible things of Christmas-the presents, the decorations, the parties-the good feeling will go away once these things are over. But when Christmas is about Christ-when I’m fixed on him-then that joy will carry on long after the holidays are over.
In fact, Paul said in 1st Thess. 5:16, “Be joyful always.” We can be when Christmas day, as well as every other day, is about Christ.
