Sermons for Christmas CCCH 12-14-97
INTRODUCTION
A. The legend of jolly old St. Nick, or Santa Claus, began with a real person: St. Nicholas, a Christian who lived many centuries ago.
B. Very little is known about St. Nicholas with great certainty, except that during the early part of the 4th Century he was the bishop of the church of Myra, a city on the southern coast of Asia Minor.
Myra is the seaport in Acts 27:5 where a centurion placed Paul on board an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy, and eventually wrecked near the Island of Malta. Myra was part of what is now modern day Turkey.
Tradition says that St. Nicholas was put in prison because of his faith during the persecution of Christians by the Roman emperor, Diocletian. He was later released when Constantine the Great became emperor and proclaimed Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire and accepting this faith for himself.
C. Because of his reputation for generosity and compassion St. Nicholas has come to exemplify the spirit of giving at Christmas time.
His transformation into Santa Claus began in Germany among Protestant churches where he was called Kriss Kringle, derived from Christkindle, which means Christ child. Dutch settlers in New Amsterdam introduced the legend to America. They knew of him as Sint Nikolaas or Sinter Klaas, which soon became known here as Santa Claus. Our modern day conception of Santa and they myth surrounding him with red suit, reindeer, sleigh and portly size originated in the 1800’s here in America through the stories of Washington Irving, the cartoons of Thomas Nast and the 1822 poem by Clement Moore, which begins, “Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.”
PREMISE: If Santa Claus were here with us today, what might he tell us about how to celebrate Christmas?
He might tell us to examine a few things:
I. TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR FOCUS
A. There are really two holidays that are celebrated on December 25: Christmas and X-mas.
That’s also the title of a story by C.S. Lewis, “Exmas and Christmas.” His story takes place on the island of Niatrib, which is Britain spelled backwards. Every winter the Niatribians celebrated a festival they called Exmas.
They packed the marketplaces in all sorts of weather to get ready for the celebration. They looked for cards and gifts for their relatives and friends. But as the days counted on, the preparation began to take its toll. Many of the people grew pale and weary. They looked as though they were under tremendous strain. Some even missed the day altogether because they were so exhausted, or they had gotten sick from overeating and drinking.
But there was another holiday held on the same days as Exmas. The Niatribians called it Christmas. It was a holy day, but very difficult to keep because Exmas was so distracting.
1. Nearly everyone in the United States celebrates X-mas.
2. Christmas is difficult to keep holy because X-mas is so distracting.
And because both holidays fall on the same date, people often confuse them.
Remember the holiday classic by Dr. Suess, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas?” In his story, a nasty creature called the Grinch steals all the presents, decorations and food in the little town of Whoville on Christmas Eve. By doing this he thought he could prevent Christmas from coming.
But sitting alone with all the things he stole up on top of a hill overlooking the town, a strange thing happened. Christmas still came. Christmas still came without the presents, the decorations and the food. Just like many other people, the Grinch was confused. He didn’t steal Christmas, he stole X-mas.
B. It takes a conscientious and disciplined effort by Christians at this time of year to keep the focus on the primary event of history – the coming of our Savior into the world.
You won’t find him prominently displayed amidst all the holiday décor in many of the stores you visit during the next few days. The focus of that holiday isn’t on Jesus.
The focus of the holiday that we see most obviously is something that would probably grieve the Santa of old – the historical Saint Nicholas. I think if he were here today. . .
C. Santa might point us to Isaiah 7:14:
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel.”
TRANSITION: It’s just a guess, but if he were here today I think Santa might also say to us:
II. TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR FAITH
A. Some people work pretty hard at making Santa seem real to their children so that they will believe in him.
In some homes the presents are not put under the tree until late on Christmas Eve, after the children have gone to bed. And that is, after the little ones have set out milk and cookies for the mysterious Mr. Claus. Then on Christmas morning they find an assortment of gifts and surprises, an empty plate of cookies and an empty milk glass, along with a stocking full of candy and fun, that is if you’ve been nice instead of naughty. And this all works pretty well until the children begin to pick up on how Santa’s handwriting on the gift tags looks an awful lot like the Mom signs her name on their birthday cards – and a moment of truth arises. Either Santa is signing birthday cards for mom, or mom is Santa Claus!
Here’s some reasons why believing in Santa Claus takes a lot of faith!
SANTA CLAUS: An Engineer’s Perspective
1. There are approximately two billion children (persons under 18) in the world. However, since Santa does not visit children of Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Jehovah’s Witnesses, or Buddhist religions, this reduces the workload for Christmas night to 15% of the total, or 378 million (according to the Population Reference Bureau). At an average (census) rate of
3.5 children per house hold, that comes to 108 million homes, presuming that there is at least one good child in each.
2. Santa has about 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical).
This works out to 967.7 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with a good child, Santa has around 1/1000th of a second to park the sleigh, hop out, jump
down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining
presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left for him, get back up the chimney, jump into the sleigh and get on to the next house. (That’s really why it’s pointless to stay up and watch for him...) Assuming that each of these 108 million stops is evenly distributed around the earth (which, of
course, we know to be false, but will accept for the purposes of our calculations), we are now talking about 0.78 miles per household; a total trip of 75.5 million miles, not counting bathroom stops or breaks. This means Santa’s sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second --- 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made vehicle,
the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second, and a conventional reindeer can run (at best) 15 miles per hour.
3. The payload of the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child has nothing more than a medium sized Lego set (two pounds), the sleigh is carrying over 500 thousand tons, not counting Santa himself. On land, a conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that the "flying" reindeer could pull ten times the normal amount, the job can’t be done with eight or even nine of them --- Santa would need 360,000 of them. This increases the payload, not counting the weight of the sleigh, another 54,000 tons, or roughly seven times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth (the ship, not the monarch).
4. 600,000 tons travelling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance --- this would heat up the reindeer in the same fashion as a spacecraft re-entering the earth’s atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer would absorb 14.3 quintillion joules of energy per second each. In short,
they would burst into flames almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them and creating deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team would be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second, or right about the time Santa reached the fifth house on his trip. Not that
it matters, however, since Santa, as a result of accelerating from a dead stop to 650 mps in .001 seconds, would be subjected to centrifugal forces of 17,500 G’s. A 250 pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of the sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force, instantly
crushing his bones and organs and reducing him to a quivering blob of pink goo.
Therefore, if Santa did exist, he’s dead now.
B. Do we make it easier for them to believe in Jesus Christ through the faith they see in us?
Our children can learn so much about trusting Christ in the way they see us do it. Dave Crooks was telling me last week about being out holiday shopping with his son. He decided that he would pray for parking space that was close, and he told his son about the prayer. When they got to the store, the parking lot was filled with cars, but there was a space right by the entrance.
And he said his son thought, Wow! It’s a way for him to try to show his son that the Lord is real in his own life.
Rich Mullins referred to his parents in a song, and said of them, “They worked to give faith hands and feet, but some how gave it wings.”
If Santa were here today. . .
C. Santa might point us to 1 Peter 1:8:
(Speaking of Jesus)“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.”
TRANSITION: Again, it’s just wondering, but maybe if Santa were here today, he’d also say. . .
III. TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR GIVING
A. A substantial portion our of holiday gift-giving occurs as an exchange. We give presents to others that also give presents to us.
B. A truly sacrificial gift is something given to someone who cannot give back anything in return.
There is a legend about St. Nicholas that says he learned of a poor man who had 3 daughters, and didn’t have enough money for food.
So Nicholas prayed for God to guide him on how he could help this family. Then he remembered the treasures of 3 bags of gold he had inherited from his parents. Late at night, Nicholas went to the home of the poor family, found the window slightly open, and slipped a bag of gold inside. The family had so much wealth from the one bag of gold that they were able to save enough for the oldest daughter to have a dowry, ensuring an honorable marriage. When Nicholas learned this, he also put his other 2 bags of gold through the family’s window at night so that they too could be happily married.
Some of the best gifts are the ones that no one knows you gave except you yourself. Some of the best gifts are ones given to people who have nothing at all.
Maybe there’s someone you could give to anonymously this year that’s in need. Maybe you could give to some children that have nothing to give you. If you are interested, Winston, Hank and I could give you some ideas.
I think if he were here. . .
C. Santa might point us to Acts 20:35:
(Paul says) “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
TRANSITION: Santa might tell us, take a look at your focus, he might say take a look at your faith, maybe he’d say take a look at your giving, but I can also imagine if he were here today, he’d tell us, if you want to best celebrate Christmas,
IV. TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR LOVE
A. Santa might tell us, “When you love me, your love costs you nothing. You’ve turned me into someone who can give you anything, yet asks you for nothing in return.”
That’s one of the reason’s Santa’s so popular. And also angels, and maybe even grandparents. People view them as great helpers who really demand nothing from us.
B. Love is costly. The Bible reveals a link between love and obedience.
We learned earlier that St. Nicholas is said to have been imprisoned for his faith during the persecution of Diocletian. Through that he came to have something in common with a much more recent Christian named Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was a German minister who was put in prison by the Nazi regime during World War II. In one of his most famous books, “The Cost of Discipleship,” Bonhoeffer contrasts his famous concepts, “cheap grace” and “costly grace.”
“Cheap grace” is the type of religion that believes salvation comes easily – just by believing a set of doctrines.
In his own words Bonhoeffer said, “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without contrition.”
“Costly grace,” in contrast, declares that salvation is costly. It cost God his only Son, and it demands obedience, that is a life of discipleship – becoming a follower of Christ who takes up his cross and follows.
It’s hard to imagine Santa Claus in prison, but that’s what Diocletian did to the great saint. What was St. Nicholas to say? “Hey, I’m the worldwide symbol of peace, joy and philanthropic activity. Don’t throw me in prison, you big Scrooge! I’m just a harmless figure that makes Christmas a great holiday for everyone to enjoy. I’m here to soften the exclusively Christian nature of the birth of Jesus Christ by making the celebration more acceptable to people of all persuasions. Why are you so angry with me?”
Diocletian found St. Nicholas a threat precisely because he was exclusively Christian. Because Santa Claus saw, like it says in Acts 4:12 - no name under heaven by which people are saved than by the name of Jesus Christ.” Santa’s faith saw devotion to Jesus Christ as being very costly – even worth the cost of persecution.
If he were here today. . .
C. Santa might point us to 1 John 5:3-4:
“This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world.”
TRANSITION: What would Santa say to us? About the way we celebrate Christmas?
CONCLUSION
“And there were in the same country children keeping watch over their stockings by the fireplace. And, lo! Santa Claus came upon them; and they were sore afraid. And Santa said unto them: “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which be to all people who can afford them. For unto you will be given great feasts of turkey, dressing and cake; and many presents; and this shall be a sign unto you, ye shall find the presents, wrapped in bright paper, lying beneath a tree adorned with tinsel, colored balls and lights. And suddenly, there will be with you a great multitude of relatives and friends, praising you and saying, ‘Thank you so much, it was just what I wanted.’”
A. It’s sad in some ways that today such a loyal follower of Jesus Christ has come to have more in common with the commercialization of American Christmas than he does with the struggles to keep the early church alive in the face of persecution.
B. The Santa of history would have pointed us to Jesus Christ, and said something like this:
Look to the manger, not the mantle
See the Savior, not the sleigh
Find the redeemer, not the reindeer
The one lying in the hay.
Try prayer instead of wish lists
Give thanks to God above!
Try holiness this Christmas
And sacrificial love.
Worry more about your lifestyle
Than a stocking full of coal
Confess your sins to Jesus
And he will make you whole!
