The True Meaning of Christmas
Chuck Sligh
November 27, 2016
TEXT: 1 Timothy 1:15 – “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”
INTRODUCTION
Christmas means different things to different people. To some people, Christmas means gift giving and receiving. Who among us doesn’t delight in receiving a gift, even if we don’t need it? Who doesn’t revel in watching a friend’s or loved one’s expression of glee when they open a gift we’ve given?
To other people, Christmas means children’s plays and pageants. Kids do the funniest things in Christmas plays, don’t they?
Illus. – I remember the story of some children in their early school years who got out of line while putting on a Christmas pageant in church. Thirteen of them were to walk across the stage, each carrying a placard bearing a letter of the alphabet. All together, if they had been in correct order and in line, they would have spelled “B-E-T-H-L-E-H-E-M S-T-A-R.” But the “star” bearers got turned around and went in backwards, so to speak, spelling out: “B-E-T-H-L-E-H-E-M R-A-T-S”!
To some people Christmas means family activities—decorating the Christmas tree together; family get-togethers; wonderful meals with relatives.
Sadly, for many people, Christmas is not all joy and peace on earth!—If you’re a mother with little children, perhaps “A Busy Mother’s Version of the Twelve Days of Christmas” describes your experience at Christmas, which goes like this:
On the twelfth day of Christmas
My littlest love gave to me…
Twelve dogs a-leaping
Eleven cats a-creeping,
Ten fingers gripping,
Nine toes a-tripping,
Eight drinks a-spilling
Seven glasses filling,
Six friends and things,
Five telephone rings,
Four crayoned walls,
Three loud calls,
Two kisses free,
And one mother up a pear tree!
Unfortunately, for too many, Christmas means overindulgence and drunkenness and sin and immorality.
Well, what is the REAL meaning of Christmas? That is to say, what is Christmas all about from the standpoint of the BIBLE? After all, it’s there that the Christmas story is revealed to us.
Really, it can be wrapped up in the Apostle Paul’s statement in our text “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” (1 Timothy 1:15) I’d like you to notice three things in this verse that tells us the true meaning of Christmas:
I. FIRST, THIS VERSE TELLS US THAT CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT A PERSON
Paul said, “Christ Jesus came…” Christmas is not really about Santa Claus, elves or reindeer. It’s about JESUS. That’s why we call it CHRIST-mas.
Who is this person that Christmas is all about? He is undoubtedly the most unique person in history. Everything about Him was unique—what He was, what He taught, what He did. Someone wrote the following about Him:
His birth was contrary to the laws of life. His death was contrary to the laws of death. His resurrection was contrary to the laws of science. He had no cornfields or fisheries but He could spread a table for five thousand and have bread and fish to spare. He walked on no beautiful carpets or velvet rugs, but He walked on the waters of the Sea of Galilee and they supported Him. Three years He preached His Gospel. He wrote no book, built no church house, had no monetary backing. But after nineteen hundred years, He is the one central character of human history, the Pivot around which the events of the ages revolve, and the only Regenerator of the human race. Was it merely the Son of Joseph and Mary, who crossed the world’s horizon nineteen hundred years ago? Was it merely human blood that was spilled at Calvary’s hill for the redemption of sinners? What thinking man can keep from exclaiming: “My Lord and My God!”
II. NOTE SECOND, THAT CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT A PASSAGE.
Paul goes on to say, “Christ Jesus came into the world…” This is one of the most remarkable truths in the Bible. It’s what theologians call the doctrine of the INCARNATION—the truth that God became man—that He became one of us—that He became the “God-man” on earth.
Matthew tells about the virgin birth of Jesus and then says, “Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name EMMANUEL, which being interpreted is, God with us.” (Matthew 1:22-23)
Emmanuel—God WITH us:
• Not only God OVER US as Sovereign Lord, although He is certainly that.…
• Not only God FOR US as Gracious Friend, although He has shown that He is that time and time again.…
• But God “WITH us.”
This is the truth that God came to the world to live WITH us, to experience what WE experience, to suffer the sufferings and trials of life just like WE do, and ultimately—to die as we die. But why would God condescend to do all that?—WHY did He come?
That leads us to our final point. Yes, Christmas is about a PERSON and about that person’s PASSAGE to earth, but…
III. CHRISTMAS IS ALSO ABOUT A PURPOSE
What was the purpose of Christ’s coming? If you discover the answer to that question, you get to the root of the true meaning of Christmas.
Paul said, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”
Jesus said about Himself, Luke 19:10, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
And in Matthew 20:28, he said this about Himself, “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
So there you have it—the theme of the Bible; the purpose of Christ’s coming—Christ Jesus came into the world TO SAVE SINNERS. Never think of THE CRADLE without also thinking of THE CROSS; the two are inextricably intertwined.
This theme that Christ came into the world to save sinners is the key concept of Christianity; the eminent goal of the eternal God; the central subject of the sacred Scriptures; the theme of all theology; the heartbeat of heaven.
The great Bible scholar Merrill F. Unger says: “The Bible is one book, one history, one story—His story. .…You can go down into the minutest detail everywhere [in the Bible] and see that there is one great purpose moving through the ages, the eternal design of the Almighty God to redeem a wrecked and ruined world.”
You observe this theme time and time again in the Old Testament: “Halley’s Bible Handbook says it was seen in the “unceasing sacrifice of animals and the never ending glow of altar fires…designed by God to burn into the consciousness of mankind the sense of his deep sinfulness and to be an age-long picture of the coming sacrifice of Christ toward whom they pointed and in whom they were fulfilled.” (Halley’s Bible Handbook)
This theme was seen in many Old Testament prophecies—too many to recount here.
It was proclaimed repeatedly in the New Testament as well:
• The very name of “Jesus” portended his mission, for Jesus is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name “Joshua,” which means “Savior.”
• This purpose was announced to Joseph by the angel, who said, “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: [WHY?] for he shall save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)
• This theme of the ages was announced to the shepherds in Luke 2:11 – “For unto you is born this day in the city of David [WHAT?…] a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
There are many, many more references I could quote for you, but I think you get the point, which is simply this—Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
• Jesus did not come primarily to be an example for us, though He was the example for us above all others in history.…
• He didn’t come primarily to show us how to live, though no one ever lived like He lived!…
• Nor did He come primarily to teach us lofty moral principles about God and spiritual things, though no one ever preached and taught like Jesus!
No, the Bible unequivocally states why He came—CHRIST JESUS CAME INTO THE WORLD TO SAVE SINNERS! THAT’S the true meaning of Christmas—the coming to earth of the God-man to save sinners.
And who are these sinners He came to save? That’s everyone in this room and everyone in the world we live in.
Ecclesiastes 7:20 says “For there is not a just man upon earth, who does only good, and does not sin.” (EXPAND AS LED)
Romans 3:23 tells us “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (EXPAND AS LED)
The truth of the matter is that every person in this room needs a Savior. Some people think they can get to God by their good works. They think they don’t need a Savior, thank you very much; they’ll get there on their own. What could be more insulting to God who sent His Son to die on the cross for us?
Dear friends, if you could get to God and heaven by your good deeds, why did Jesus have to come? Jesus came to die on a cross—to bear the sins of sinners, and you and I are sinners whom God loved so much that He sent His Son to die for our sins, and for whom Jesus willingly gave His life. God in His love provided a way by which we can have eternal life, forgiveness, acceptance from God and a relationship with God.
Jesus put it this way to a Pharisee named Nicodemus: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
Did you notice the words of that verse?—“For God so loved the world [that’s you and me], that he GAVE his only begotten Son…” What an extravagant LOVE to give such an generous GIFT! And what a heartache to God that so many people reject His Son and refuse His free gift of salvation.
Ralph Wilson writes about an experience in his childhood. – He says,
Though money didn’t flow as freely as the rain that winter, my parents worked with joyful anticipation to give my brother and me a Christmas present we would never forget. They scrimped for months and then spent more than they could probably afford for a Marx electric train.
Then the day before Christmas, a cousin stationed at a nearby military base pulled into the driveway. Opening the trunk of his car he lifted out a large heavy box. My brother and I could hardly wait to see what it was. On Christmas morning we opened it first. Eagerly we unwrapped an expensive new electric train set. Wow! You had to pull us down off the ceiling. A Lionel train, too! Then we opened the presents from our parents—another electric train. Ho hum. And not nearly as extravagant as the one from our cousin. Guess whose we played with most?
Mom and Dad were hurt. The outlay for an unmarried Air Force lieutenant was nothing compared to the sacrifice my parents had made. But all we saw was the glamour of an expensive train. We counted our parents’ gift as merely a nice accessory.
Our heavenly Father spends many a disappointing Christmas. Amidst the glittering ornaments and flashing Christmas lights, the hurry and hustle of shopping and wrapping and family get-togethers, parties and presents, trees and turkeys—who really cares about His gift? What gets more attention from us: our Father’s gift of life in Jesus Christ or the quickly-wrapped department store gifts from our cousins?
CONCLUSION
What is Christmas REALLY all about?
• It’s about a PERSON—the Lord Jesus Christ. – It’s become something of a cliché, but this statement is nevertheless true: “Jesus is the reason for the season.”
• It’s about a PASSAGE. – The passage of the great God into history as a lowly man—to become God WITH us.
• And it’s about a PURPOSE.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Today Jesus calls to each of us and says, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29)
I urge you not to turn away the One who loved you so much that He came to earth that first Christmas long ago to die for your sins. Come to Him and accept Him as your Savior and Lord.
Shall we pray.
