The Paradoxes of Christmas
Chuck Sligh
December 19, 2021
Adapted from a sermon by D. Greg Ebie titled Christmas Paradox on SermonCentral.com.
TEXT: Colossians 2:9 – “For in him [Christ] dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”
INTRODUCTION
Webster’s defines a paradox as a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that, when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true.
For instance, someone said, “Some of the biggest failures I ever had were successes.” Now a failure is, by definition, the opposite of success. But we understand that though technically that statement is self-contradictory, there’s a deeper truth that what may be a failure today might turn out to be something different in retrospect.
Here are a couple of other examples of paradoxes:
• Save money by spending it. – To save money is the opposite of spending it, but we understand that sometimes we should spend some money for means or ways that will in the end save us more money.
• If I know one thing, it’s that I know nothing. – Well, if you know nothing, you cannot know one thing, but we intuitively get the underlying point of the paradox.
Jesus gave a paradox when he said in Mark 8:35, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.” On the surface, this seems contradictory. But Jesus was speaking of saving or losing our lives in the temporal realm on earth and having the opposite effect on eternity.
Paradoxes help us see deeper truths than what is on the surface.
As we study the gospel stories of the birth of Christ, we realize that they are I realized saturated with paradoxes. The Christmas story is filled with the unexpected—the unimaginable. And Christ was born amidst these paradoxes.
For a few moments I would like us to think about some of the paradoxes of Christmas.
I. FIRST, CONSIDER WITH ME THE PARADOX OF THE PRESENTS.
At Christmas we give and receive presents.
Illus. – One time a boy said to his mother a few days before Christmas, “You can cross out the train set from my Christmas wish list.”
“Why’s that?” asked his mother.
The boy said, “Yesterday I found a brand new one in the closet.”
Illus. – Another time a boy was talking with his brother with Grandma in the next room.
He said real loudly, “I want a Nintendo for Christmas.”
A minute later he said it again, “I want a Nintendo for Christmas.”
Then a few minutes later he said again, this time really loudly, “I want a Nintendo for Christmas.”
Annoyed, his brother said, “Stop shouting. Santa’s not deaf you know.”
He brother whispered, “I know, but Grandma is.”
Isn’t it weird that when we celebrate Jesus’ birthday, you and I are the ones who get all the presents? If we aren’t careful, Christmas day can quickly come and go and all we think about are our gifts instead of pausing to remember JESUS—the REAL gift of Christmas.
Christmas is not about PRESENTS; Christmas is about CHRIST’S presence. His presence with us on this earth is one of the most remarkable and unlikely truths in history.
John 3:16 says, “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.”
Jesus didn’t come into the world to receive presents from us but to GIVE! And Jesus Himself is the greatest gift of all. Jesus is “Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.” Christ’s presence is worth far more than the value of all our presents combined.
This theme is one of the most powerful ones that resonates at Christmas like no other time of the year. The song, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” is so relatable to us because at Christmas a gift would be great from someone we love, but to have the PRESENCE OF THE GIVER is all the more wonderful.
There’s a country song that talks about all the gifts the kids want from Mom for Christmas, though she is away from them this Christmas. The first chorus goes like this:
Just put a ribbon in your hair, darlin’
You’ll be the best gift anywhere Christmas Mornin’
There’s no worldly treasure
I’d like any better, than you standin’ there
Just put a ribbon in your hair
The presence of the giver is always more important than the gift. Christmas is about God’s PRESENCE with us on earth in the form of a man—Jesus.
II. NEXT, THINK ABOUT THE PARADOX OF THE PLACE. – Isaiah 9:6-7 – “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”
Where should this great ruler be born? What place would YOU choose for the coming of this Wonderful Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace?
You or I might have chosen a beautiful, fairytale castle in a huge, prosperous metropolis for the King of Kings to be born in. But God chose the town of His birth to be some unimportant, obscure village called Bethlehem.
Not only did God choose an obscure village for the Christ Child to be born in, but He chose an unknown, nondescript stable or cave—we don’t really even know for sure which it was because the gospel accounts don’t actually say. The only thing the Bible does tell us is that Mary laid Jesus in a “manger,” which was a common feeding trough for animals. From that one single word in the gospels has grown all the imaginative iconógraphy we associate with the nativity, such as a barn, cattle, sheep and chickens and roosters. All of that is creatively extrapolated from the single statement in the gospels that Jesus was laid in a manger.
Yet if all Mary had to put her baby in was a common livestock feeding trough, Joseph and Mary were certainly in dire straits. Jesus was born in an obscure village, in the midst of poverty and hardship.
Jesus—the King of kings and Lord of lords, the one who had all those titles we read earlier from Isaiah 9…
Shouldn’t He have been born in a better place?
Shouldn’t Jesus have had fragrant perfumes instead the smell of animals?
Shouldn’t He have been laid in an ivory and gold crib instead of a manger.
Shouldn’t he have been tucked under sheets of silk and satin instead of common, rough swaddling clothes?
Yet into such humble, meager surroundings Jesus welcomed the shepherds and He welcomes us all. None are too great; no one is too small or insignificant. Jesus came to a place where ANYONE willing to come could find Him.
III. THIRD, CONSIDER THE PARADOX OF THE PINE.
For many, their Christmas celebration centers around the Christmas tree. An evergreen tree, whether real or an artificial tree, is decorated with lights and all that glitters. But within Christ’s nativity there was no decorated pine; no twinkling lights; no beautiful ornaments or garlands.
The first Christmas tree would not be placed into its stand for another 33 years after His birth—two beams of wood lashed together to become the cruelest punishment imaginable for that One who had been born in Bethlehem, and the most likely tree for Christ’s cross in Jerusalem in 33 AD would have actually been a pine. That first “Christmas tree” had no ornaments, but from its branches our Savior was nailed. The first Christmas tree did not sparkle; rather it was stained with His blood. People did not stand around admiring the beauty of the tree, rather it was a hideous reminder of humanity’s brutality and sinfulness.
1 Peter 2:24 says that Jesus “…himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed.”
Bethlehem’s Child was BORN TO DIE! Through the cross, Jesus took the penalty for our sins and He died in our place. And because of His death on the cross, we can have eternal life, forgiveness of sins, and a personal relationship with the living God.
The celebration of Christ’s birth at Christmas is forever linked to His death and resurrection which we remember each Easter season. No one today would even know of such a common child born in an insignificant town to a common laborer were it not for the PURPOSE of His life. We celebrate more than a Child’s birth; we rejoice in the coming of God’s one and only Son—born to die in our place. What an amazing paradox!
IV. FINALLY, THINK WITH ME ABOUT THE PARADOX OF THE PERSON
There in Bethlehem’s nativity, Jesus was born as the Son of MAN—and yet He is also the Son of GOD. This infant child receiving nourishment at Mary’s breast (the most human activity you could conceive), this baby—totally dependant upon His parents for care and protection like any other child—was also the CREATOR of the world and through Whom the world and all of creation was and is SUSTAINED.
As all babies do, Mary’s little child would be heard crying—trying to communicate His needs to His parents, causing Mary to wonder, “Is he hungry? Is he tired? Does he need to be changed?” just as any other mother would wonder. Yet Jesus is the WORD of God made flesh. The One who spoke the entire universe into existence would, as all children, have to learn to speak. Amazing!
Jesus was like every other child in His humanness because he WAS human—yet He was also in every respect like God—because He was DIVINE. The Child who grew in stature like any other human child—is also the Omnipotent God Almighty. Jesus grew in knowledge on earth—but was and is at the same time the Omniscient All-knowing God. We cannot grasp these unfathomable paradoxes, but this is what the Bible teaches us about who Jesus was and is.
Jesus is “Emmanuel,” which I pointed out earlier, means “God with us.” He is God incarnate—God in the FLESH. Jesus is the GOD-MAN—fully God and fully man.
John chapter 1 refers to Jesus as “the Word.” He begins in verses 1-4 saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”
The Word was GOD, the same One who created all things and is the source of all life. Yet somehow, He is also WITH God (verse 2). We won’t have time to fathom the depths of the doctrine of the Trinity this morning, but it’s the only explanation for how the “Word” could both Be God and be WITH God at the same time.
But here’s what I want you to see: Further down in John 1, in verse 14, we read this remarkable statement about the Word: “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
These are all PARDOXES WITHIN PARADOXES which we can never fully comprehend in this life. Yet the Bible is clear: today’s sermon text says, “For in him [that is, Jesus] dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” You and I can no more understand it than an ant can understand a Shakespearean play. But it is TRUTH—revealed to us in God’s Word.
CONCLUSION
So those are some of the paradoxes of Christmas. Christmas is a wonderful time of year, yet full of paradoxes.
• The paradox of the PRESENTS—Christmas isn’t about presents we give and receive in this season, but the gift of CHRIST’S PRESENCE on earth.
• The paradox of the PLACE—Jesus can be found by all who seek Him.
• The paradox of the PINE—A Christmas tree should ever remind us that Jesus was born to die on a cross so that we can be saved from sin and have a relationship with God.
• The paradox of the PERSON—Jesus is fully God and fully man.
And oh, what a God-man He was! This little Babe changed the course of history! Take away Christ, and what do you have at Christmas time?
Illus. – The story’s told about a man who toured Europe and complained about everything he saw.
In his opinion, the cathedrals were musty and dim and the castles were drafty, damp and badly in need of repair.
Finally, his tour group reached Switzerland, and as they stood on a ledge that gave them a spectacular view of the Alps, the man’s companion said, “Now, you can’t complain about Switzerland, can you?”
The man looked around and replied, “Hmph! Take away the scenery and what you do have?”
Folks, at Christmas we have some pretty scenery, don’t we? We see splendid displays of lights; trees beautifully decorated with all kinds of ornaments and lights; tables spread with every manner of mouth-watering delights; and expensive gifts wrapped in colorful paper and ribbons. But take away all this “scenery” and what do you have?—There is nothing unless JESUS CHRIST is behind it all!
Illus. – One well-known Christian author, James Montgomery Boice, eloquently documents amazing things Jesus’ virgin birth, sinless life and sacrificial death accomplished for mankind as an amazing sign of His love.
• Jesus endured a human birth to give us a new spiritual birth.
• He occupied a stable that we might occupy a mansion.
• He had an earthly mother so that we might have a heavenly Father.
• He became subject so that we might be free.
• He left his glory to give us glory.
• He was poor that we might be rich.
• He was welcomed by shepherds at His birth so we through our new birth can one day be welcomed by angels.
• He was hunted by Herod that we might be delivered from the grasp of Satan.
Boyce goes on to say, “That is the great paradox of the Christmas story. It is that which makes it irresistibly attractive. It is the reversal of roles at God’s cost for our benefit.”
Now let me close with the biggest paradox of all: that Christ would come to earth to live among us…
that He would live a sinless life and die on a cross for our sins and that He would make the gift of salvation available to anyone who would receive Him and yet there are those who would not receive Him—who would turn Him away, as we imagine the innkeeper did in the Christmas story.
This is the greatest paradox there is. Hebrews 2:3 says, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard him.”
How we love Jesus’ words I quoted earlier in John 3:16 – “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.¬”
How comforting to know that God loves us so much that He sent His son to die for our sins and by trusting in Him as our Savior, we can have everlasting life.
If you will trust in Christ, you can claim that wonderful promise. But one of the fundamental rules of proper interpretation of Scripture is to never isolate a verse from its context. Yes, Jesus talks of love and everlasting life and all that good stuff, but it’s in the context of a condition—that you believe in Him as your Savior, and a warning if you turn Him away.
Look what He says in John 3:17-18: “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He who believes on 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.”
And at the end of the chapter, Jesus says this: John 3:36 – “He who believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him.
Jesus lays out a very stark and clear choice: Believe on Him and be saved and have everlasting life; or turn from Him and refuse to trust in Him, and you will die in condemnation and will not have everlasting life, but face God’s wrath in the judgment. Will you choose life, and by doing so, choose Jesus who loves you so much that He died for you? Paul told the Philippian jailor, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.” My heart’s prayer is that you do that today.
