We begin a news Sermon Series for the Christmas season. We will be examining “The Why’s of Christmas.”
According to very compentent authority (my wife), the Chgristmas season does not start untill the day after Chritmas. As such there are a few questions I have about the Christmas season:
Why do stores start pushing Christmas before the end of September?
Why are there radio stations that start playing non-stop Christmas music on the November 1st.
Why do store open for Black Friday on Thanksgiving Day?
Why are people offended when I wish them a “Merry Christmas?”
Christmas can be a difficult time for shoppers. I knew man who bought his wife a big beautiful diamond for Christmas. A friend asked the man, “I thought your wife wanted a one of those new sporty 4 wheel drive vehicle?” The man answered back, “Yes she does, but where I can a find a fake Jeep?” [1]
Between now and Christmas we will consider some of the practical why’s of Christmas.
We will ask why did Jesus come 2,000 years ago. Why not sooner? Why not later?
Why the virgin birth? Why was Mary chosen?
Why the wise men? Why are they so important to the story.
Why were lowly shepherds the first to hear the grand announcement from the angels? Why not the kings and nobles and the influential people of the world?
But perhaps the most important question of all, the one that we will examine this morning, Why Christmas? Why did God send Jesus? Why did He have to come and die for our sins.
One commentator I follow, RC Sproul, commented on how the world is offended that there is only one way to God. He said in response, in consideration of how evil the world is, [the question is not, “Why is there only one way?” but “Why is there even one way?” [2] Why would God provide us with a way to Him?
John 3:14–21 (NKJV)
One of the greatest theologians that ever lived, Karl Barth, was asked to be a guest lecturer at the University of Chicago Divinity School. At the end of a captivating closing lecture, the president of the seminary announced that Dr. Barth was not well and was quite tired, and though he thought that Dr. Barth would like to be open for questions, he shouldn’t be expected to handle the strain. Then he said, “Therefore, I will ask just one question on behalf of all of us." He turned to the renowned theologian and asked, "Of all the theological insights you have ever had, which do you consider to be the greatest of them all? It was the perfect question for a man who had written literally tens of thousands of pages of some of the most sophisticated theology ever put into print. [Karl barth was required reading for me when I was in Semenary.] The students held pencils right up against their writing pads, ready to take down verbatim the premier insight of the greatest theologian of their time. Karl Barth closed his tired eyes, and he thought for a minute, and then he half smiled, opened his eyes, and said to those young seminarians, "The greatest theological insight that I have ever had is this: "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." [3]
I really do not believe we comprehend the debt and scope of the love of Jesus. When we consider our question today, “Why Christmas?” we wonder what God was thinking? Paul commented on this:
Ephesians 3:18–19 (NKJV) may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Why Christmas? Here is the short answer:
John 3:16a (NKJV) For God so loved the world . . .
Let’s go back to creation for a moment. Of everything God created, man and woman were the only creation that was made in His image:
Genesis 1:27a (NKJV) So God created man in His own image;
And He blessed them and gave them dominion over all the earth.
Genesis 1:28a (NKJV) Then God blessed them,
And God called this his last and final creation, on his final day of creation, very good.
Genesis 1:31a (NKJV) Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.
But what happen. Did God create a flaw in us. No. God gave us the ability to choose. We know the story, we know what happened. God gave Adam and Even only one rule and they broke it. They ate the forbideden fruit resulting in the of man. And that sin nature has been part of us ever since. There was a point that God was sorry He made man:
Genesis 6:5–6 (NKJV) Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
Then God sent the flood, but that didn’t change man. There are those who say people are basically good. The Bible disagrees.
Jeremiah 17:9 (NKJV) “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?
God was grieved, but He still loved us. He desires that people turn to Him.
Ezekiel 33:11 (NKJV) Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
But God has promised judgment. If God delays his judgement, it is only because He wants to give more time so more people can to turn to Him.
2 Peter 3:9 (NKJV) The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
God desires all men to be saved:
1 Timothy 2:4 (NKJV) who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Right from the beginning, the penalty for sin was death. God gave Adam only one rule, if Adam broke it, he would die. And even since, everyone who has ever lived, sinned and died.
Romans 3:23 (NKJV) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23a (NKJV) For the wages of sin is death,
What a dilemma. God desires all to be saved, but God is also a God of Justice. How to save man and satisfy justice all at the same time? So God made a way. Jesus, God’s one and only son was sent to pay the penalty. All people needed to do was to believe in Jesus.
Our passage today in context was Jesus talking to Nicodemus who came to him by night. And Jesus was explaining what it meant to be born again. So Jesus relates to Nicodemus a story from the Tora with which Nicodemus is well acquainted.
John 3:14–15 (NKJV) And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
Moses lifting the serpent in the wilderness is not a well know story. You can read about it in Numbers 21:4-9. What happened was the people complained against Moses and against God. So God sent fiery serpents and the serpents bit many of the people and many died. The people realized they had sinned, so they pleaded with Moses to intercede for them with God. God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it up on a pole for all to see. All the people need to do was look at the serpent on top of pole and they lived. I wonder if any of them that was bitten said, “This is silly. How can looking at a bronze snake on a pole save you?” and refused to look?
All that people need to do is believe on Jesus. Not about Jesus, but trust in Him as Lord and Savior, confessing our sins. Jesus said even the “Son of Man” (Jesus favorite expression for Himself) said He must be lifted up. However, the very words “lifted up” in that day and time meant something different. Jesus used that term “lifted up” several times.
John 12:32 (NKJV) And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”
To be lifted up did not mean to put on a pedestal for all to admire and worship. Quite the opposite. To be lifted up meant to be lifted up in execution, lifted up on a cross to die for all the world to see and witness the same of it all.
You see the whole purpose of Jesus coming was to die on a Roman cross. To be the Suffering Servant as prophesied by Isaiah.
Now we come to John 3:16, perhaps the most well-known and memorized verse in the Bible. Not to burst anyone’s bubble, but for verses 16 through 21, these words were probably not spoken by Jesus but a commentary by John. In ancient Greek, they did not have quote marks like we do today. But that doesn’t lessen the impact of these verses for it all was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It is truth whether Jesus spoke it or John wrote it.
John 3:16 (NKJV) For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
God so loved the people of this world that he gave Jesus to be sin for us, if they would only believe. Make careful note here, God is the initiator in salvation. We had no ability to come to Him because of our sin nature, so He came to us.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV) For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
This is what Christmas is all about. God sent Jesus to be our sin offering.
John 3:17 (NKJV) For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Jesus came as Savior. His coming by humble means, was to save humanity, humanity from itself. Humanity had not the means to save itself, but only through Jesus is there salvation. Jesus is not a way to God and eternal life. Jesus is the only way. And knowing Jesus is the very definition of eternal life.
John 17:3 (NKJV) And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
But make no mistake. This first coming was as our Savior. Jesus is coming again, but this next time he comes, he is coming as Judge.
John 3:18 (NKJV) “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
There are only two kinds of people in the world:
Believers and unbelievers.
The saved and the condemned.
Everyone has been given a choice. Jesus or no.
Eternal life which is Jesus, or eternal death, which is eternal torment and eternal separation from Jesus.
Many refuse to believe. Why?
John 3:19–20 (NKJV) And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
John frequently uses the light and dark contrast. And we get it: Light is good, darkness is bad. Men loved darkness, not for the darkness itself, but because of what it hides. Contrary to what the world says, belief is not an intellectual problem that keeps them from trusting, it is a darkness problem, one of being blind. People are bumping around in the dark and cannot see. It is a moral and spiritual blindness that keeps them in the dark, loving their sin. And people will run from the light. Why? Because the Light, which is Jesus, will expose them for who they really are. But those who do come to light will have their sin exposed.
1 John 1:7 (NKJV) But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
In fact, that needs to be our prayer, that all the sin in our lives be exposed and cleansed. Even our deep, closely guarded sins, that no one but us knows about. But God knows.
Psalm 139:23–24 (NKJV) Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; 24 And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.
Only when the Light exposes and Jesus cleans us can we begin to good for God.
John 3:21 (NKJV) But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
Being in the light, we can clearly see the truth. I often wonder when I look at News, if I’m one of a few who sees the fallacies and errors of the world’s reasoning. Then I remember, the world is walking in darkness.
Why Christmas? Because Jesus came to save. Save us from sin, save us from eternal damnation, save us from ourselves. That is a lot to rejoice over. But the end of the age is upon us. When Jesus comes again, the scriptures are quite clear. Jesus will take to His home all that belong to Him and He will judge the rest.
The question this morning is: “Do you know Jesus personally, as Lord and Savior?” To know him now is to pass from death to life. We can possess that life eternal now. We can know the truth. And here it is:“Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
That’s the “Why” of Christmas.
[1] https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-best-christmas-gift-scotty-killingsworth-sermon-on-faith-41732?ref=SermonSerps
[2] R. C. Sproul, John, St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary (Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2009), 45.
[3] https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/84078/christmas-love-by-bishop-lalachan-abraham?ref=TextIllustrationSerps
