It’s Christmas Eve and we are grateful you are with us tonight to celebrate. I am grateful for our string quartet leading us tonight. Where would we be without the music of Christmas?
Christmas is the biggest holiday in American culture. The average American is expected to spend more than $1,000 on gifts and decorations in 2018 alone. Many cities will decorate their streets with images of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the Grinch, and Jack Frost, while town squares will display marquees of “Noel,” “Happy Holidays,” and “Merry Christmas,” in anticipation of the season’s festivities. Most everyone will take at least one day off from work in hopes of celebrating together with family. Literally, millions of passengers will fill airports and cram themselves into tiny seats on planes in order to be with loved ones. Beyond our country’s borders, the holiday’s popularity is so widespread that even largely Muslim countries that spend most of the year ignoring the Son of God will pause to celebrate his birth. Imagine Islamic women wearing the hijab decorating Christmas trees and you get an idea of just how popular this holiday is around the globe.
Tonight’s Scripture
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31-39).
In the next few moments, I want to encourage really celebrate Christmas. On the night before Christ, here are three ways God has worked to increase your happiness through his work at Christmas.
1) God Is For Us and Not Against Us
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us” (Romans 8:31)?
Christmas marks the entry of the Son of God into human affairs. He descended into the mess and the hurt of all that makes us human. Christmas tells us that God is not a neutral observer to our pain and problems. Instead, he made himself vulnerable for our sake. The God who controls all things will wield all of his power on our behalf. He will work out every detail in life for good to those who love his Son (Romans 8:28). The baby born in the manager is tremendous news that brings us great joy.
Keep in mind that Romans 8 is not traditionally a Scripture text associated with Christmas. Yet, it speaks to the reasons Jesus came into the world. Notice how all these Scriptures are questions.
Recent Billboard charts for the most popular holiday songs in 2018 listed only two songs in the top fifty that were centered on the birth of Jesus. Many this season will know nothing about Jesus. Instead, they will simply have a nostalgic hope of peace on earth along with some eggnog. All over the world, people recognize the power of Christmas. The reason why Christmas is “The Most Wonderful Time of The Year” is because God Himself arrives.
Pause and think about how hopeless life would be if God were against you. Envision your life and the lives of those closest to you not benefiting from all that Jesus did on the cross. Imagine the unmitigated fury of an all-sovereign God reigning down his rightful wrath on you for all of eternity if Jesus were not born. Now open your eyes to the realization that the deepest trouble you face cannot snuff out the hope you possess in Jesus Christ. The God who controls all things will wield all His power on your behalf. He will work out every detail in life for good to those who love His Son (Romans 8:28). God brings all the infinite resources at His disposal combined with all His omniscient wisdom to work for you and not against you. Yes, the baby born in the manager is tremendous news that brings us great joy. Burst forth in singing for Jesus is born!
1) God Is For Us and Not Against Us
2) If God Gave Us His Son, What Will He Withhold from Us
“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things” (Romans 8:32)?
The Father has already sacrificed His Son for his children. God’s Son means so much to God, the Father. The Son of God isn’t the “black sheep” of the family. Instead, the Son of God is perfect in every way. He is God’s choice Son, the One God truly loves in ways you and I cannot truly comprehend.
And yet, God sacrificed His Son, the perfect Son that pleased Him in every way – for us. If He is willing to give us His Son, He will not withhold anything from us. This is cause for a celebration. This is music to our ears. That God will not withhold anything His children is cause for an explosion of joy throughout the planet.
Consider all the most popular Christmas gifts we have given family through the years. In the early 1950s, you were excited to open Mr. Potato Head on Christmas morning. A decade later, no little girl could go without an Easy-Bake Oven. When I was a child of the 1980s, we obsessed over solving the Rubik’s Cube while my children were delighted to receive a PlayStation for Christmas years later. Today, I am not able to locate most of these gifts because they were discarded years ago. But Jesus is the gift worth waiting for because He is never upgraded, nor is He ever replaced. Jesus Christ is an immensely valuable gift because when you have this one gift, you have all other gifts. But if you reject this gift, you lose all the other gifts. Without this gift, nothing you possess really matters. But, when you possess the gift of Jesus, every other gift can be enjoyed. Let every gift you give and receive this Christmas remind you of the gift, Jesus Christ. Knowing the Father gave us his Son reveals His radical generosity. Again, let every redeemed soul lift up their voices, God has not withheld anything from His children.
1) God Is For Us and Not Against Us
2) If God Gave Us His Son, What Will He Withhold from Us
3) No One Will Separate You from the Love of God (Romans 8:35).
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword” (Romans 8:35)?
Once you are truly a child of God, there is absolutely, categorically nothing that can separate you from God’s love. Pause and think about it for a few moments. No one thing in your future will be able to separate you from the love of Jesus Christ. Your future is secure in Christ no matter what hurt, pain, or temptation comes your way.
Every person who embraces Jesus Christ by faith is secure and safe in the love of God. Written boldly for all to see is the message of Christmas, “Nothing will separate you from the love of God.” Every true child of God is an eternal child of God (John 10:29). This is why we sing, “God rest you merry gentlemen. Let nothing you dismay,” this time of year. For once you are truly a child of God, there is absolutely, categorically nothing that can separate you from God’s love.
Don’t you know that the manager is a step of radical love? At last, you can relax your every muscle (Romans 8:1). There is no need to strive and struggle for God’s acceptance. Retreat from the battlefield of life and experience his rest. You can breathe his secure love into your lungs. Your father and mother may have abandoned you, your spouse may have deserted you, but your God will never desert you. Your future is secure in Christ no matter what hurt, pain, or temptation comes your way. Celebrate for God says, “I will never leave you or forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).
So, Christmas Eve is time to celebrate. Have a feast. When Jesus returns, it is pictured as a lavish feast where His children enjoy the presence of God Himself around the banqueting table. Break out the fudge and the eggnog and laugh and smile in the days to come. Share Christ’s love with those around the table this holiday. Speak to one another of how miserable life would be if it were not for the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Tell one another that God did not simply use a thimble to measure His grace toward His children, but instead, He uses a shovel. Christmas is a time to celebrate because God dumped truckloads of His grace, mercy, and love upon His people.
