Christmas is a celebration of the fact that God took on flesh in Jesus Christ to do for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. Jesus was born as a man and lived as a man, living a sinless, pure life. He ended that life by dying on the cross for our sins in our place. Three days later, He was raised back to life, proving sin’s penalty, death, had been completely overcome. He ascended back to heaven, where through His Holy Spirit, He invites everyone, by faith in Him, to enter into a personal relationship with the God of the universe, by having His Spirit enter into our lives, who begins to transform us from the inside out. One day, He’ll return, and when He does, He’ll complete the transformation of all who received Him as their Savior, as He will make everything in this world new.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” - John 3:16-17
Jesus came to save the world. Jesus came to change the world.
1. Jesus begins this transformation in all who trust in Him.
When I trust Jesus as my personal Savior and Lord, His Spirit comes to dwell within me and God takes hold of me, never to let go of me.
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.” - John 10:27-29 (NLT)
God has determined that one day, when Christ returns, all who believe on Him will be like Him. Until then, He calls those He has taken hold of to now take hold of His plan to transform us from the inside out. Many think salvation is about God taking hold of us so we might be with Him in heaven one day; but salvation is really about God
taking hold of us to bring heaven to us today. And as we who trust in Christ, seek to live for Christ, He changes the world one heart at a time.
2. Jesus transforms the world through those He is transforming.
When we, who God has taken hold of, take hold of His purpose for us, God changes us. And we . . .
“become blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.’ Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.” - Philippians 2:15-16 (NIV)
What differences has Jesus made in this world through His followers?
1) Women - Jesus elevated the status of women. Before, women labored in harsh, subservient roles, and were often nothing but slaves to men and their families. The philosopher Cicero said women were “slaves, dogs, horses, and donkeys” - things to be used and cast away. But women’s rights today, especially in the past 200 years, were
produced by the Christian faith. Where there is no Christian influence, like Muslim societies, women are still second-class citizens.
2) Children - In the ancient world children were routinely left to die of exposure - particularly if they were the wrong gender (you can guess which was the wrong one); they were often sold into slavery. Jesus’ treatment of and teachings about children led to the forbidding of such practices, and the establishment of such practices as orphanages and adoptions. A Norwegian scholar named Bakke wrote a study of this impact, simply titled: When Children Became People: the Birth of Childhood in Early Christianity.
3) Government - Before applying the Christian faith to government, people lived in perpetual fear of massacres and tyrants. Power and fear ruled human societies for much of human history. But after the coming of Christ, the biblical role of civil government began to emerge through the Magna Carta, British common law, republican governments, democratic principles, and human rights.
These things weren’t the natural march of history - they came about through application of Christ’s teachings. Do you appreciate armies and police that protect us? Do you value the right to vote and elect your representatives? Do you appreciate the relative tranquility of a just social order? All these things, which aren’t enjoyed in nations devoid of Christian influence, are the fruit of faith in Jesus Christ.
4) Education - We’d have lost much of the great literature of the ancients if it wasn’t for Christians who found, copied, and preserved the ancient writings. Did you know the first universities in Paris and London were started by believers? The first 120 American universities, starting with Harvard, were also started by Christians. Most milestones in education flow from one fountain: faith in Jesus Christ.
It is important to realize that Sunday schools were originally literally schools: they were places were poor children could learn reading, writing, and arithmetic. The Sunday school movement began in Britain in the 1780s. The Industrial Revolution had resulted in many children spending all week long working in factories. Christians wanted to free these children from a life of illiteracy. An English Anglican, Robert Raikes (1725-1811), was the key promoter of the movement. It soon spread to America as well. Eventually, due to the influence of Christians, child labor laws were passed and in both Britain and America, universal, compulsory state education was established by the 1870s. After that, Sunday school was limited to religious education.
5) Business - For most of history, and still in some parts of the world, there were only a few wealthy tyrants and then masses of poor people. There was no middle class and no freedom for individual initiative. But this changed as Christians applied biblical ideas of labor and industry, which eventually became free enterprise capitalism, and led the world out of mass poverty. Adam Smith points out in Wealth of Nations, that a growing middle class, endless business opportunities, the Protestant work ethic, extensive philanthropy, and the standard of living we have today is the fruit of Christ’s teachings applied to economics.
6) Science - Modern science was born of the Christian faith and not in opposition to it. It was Christian civilization that proposed that “design points to a Designer” and that man was placed on the earth to discover God’s secrets in nature and use those discoveries to benefit people. Interestingly enough, with the modern intelligent design movement, we are returning to that which sparked scientific exploration and discovery.
7) The Arts - Totem pole faces and primitive art forms always look wild, menacing, and evil. But after Jesus brought healing, peace, and completeness, artists began reflecting that wholeness in ever expanding art forms. It’s a long way from angry totem poles to the Sistine Chapel, but Christ produced the difference. When people are brought into right relationship with God, they sing, paint, and give Him glory through the arts. That’s why more hymns and songs have been written about Jesus than anyone else in history.
8) Compassion - Human compassion was rare in ancient culture. Plato held that a poor man should be left to die if he couldn’t work. They considered the hungry, sick, and dying unworthy of humane assistance. But early Christians sought to give compassion to the sick and dying. This was done for orphans and the aged as well.
In A.D. 369, the first hospital was built by Christians. Since then, the majority of hospitals and other ministries of compassion around the globe have been launched in his name. Where there’s been devastation through natural disasters, wars, or famine, Christians have alleviated human suffering via thousands of agencies established in Jesus’ name.
“Regardless of what anyone may personally think or believe about him, Jesus of Nazareth has been the dominant figure in the history of Western Culture for almost 20 centuries. If it were possible, with some sort of super magnet, to pull up out of history every scrap of metal bearing at least a trace of his name, how much would be left?” - Yale historian Jeroslav Pelikan
3. Jesus will completely transform this world when He returns.
Right now, we are simply pushing back the darkness of this world, but one day, Jesus will completely eliminate it. This same Jesus who came the first time to pay the price for the world’s sin, will come a second time to remove the world’s sin. He will remove from this world, Satan, Satan’s people, and Satan’s influence, and all wrongs will be made right, as He will make everything new.
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” - Revelation 21:4 (NIV)
Conclusion: Today, I am not inviting you to join a church. Instead, I want to invite you to join a movement. A movement that began with the advent of Jesus, the Messiah. Let Him move into your heart. Then let Him move you into the world to make a difference in it. Looking forward to that day, when He will move from heaven to earth, and make everything new.
