SIN WILL ALWAYS BE AN OFFENSIVE WORD IN OUR SOCIETY. WE TRIVIALIZE GREED, SELFISHNESS, CORRUPTION, CRIME AND ALL OTHER SINS BY GETTING SCIENTISTS TO PROVE TO US "BIOLOGICALLY" THAT WE CAN’T HELP IT BECAUSE WE WERE JUST BORN THAT WAY!
IT’S NOT SCIENTISTS OR SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATIONS THAT WE MUST WORRY ABOUT. AFTER ALL, WE ARE NOT HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR FINDINGS, BUT TO GOD’S JUDGMENT.
THE BIBLE TEACHES THAT GOD IS CONCERNED ABOUT OUR SINFULNESS. HE IS CONCERNED BECAUSE HE KNOWS FULL WELL THAT SIN IS A DISEASE OF THE SOUL THAT WILL DESTROY OUR LIVES AND WILL RESULT IN SPIRITUAL DEATH.
WE MAY THINK THAT THE WORLD HAS GONE "SIN-CRAZY" BUT THAT IS HARDLY THE CASE IF YOU COMPARE IT TO OUR SCRIPTURE PASSAGE HERE IN LUKE.
IT WOULD TAKE SOME DOING TO ASSEMBLE A MORE DEPLORABLE, SHAMEFUL BUNCH OF GUYS THAN THE ONES LISTED TODAY IN LUKE’S GOSPEL.
TIBERIUS, PILATE AND HEROD WERE NOTORIOUS FOR THEIR CRUELTIES, THEIR TREACHERIES AND THEIR CALLOUS DISREGARD FOR OTHERS.
TIBERIUS WAS DESPISED AND MISTRUSTED BY HIS OWN POLITICAL CRONIES AND FINALLY RESORTED TO TRUMPED-UP TREASON TRIALS TO KEEP HIS OPPONENTS IN ORDER.
PILATE WAS RENOWNED FOR PLAYING BOTH ENDS AGAINST THE MIDDLE - CHEATING HIS ROMAN BOSSES AND ABUSING HIS JUDEAN SUBJECTS.
HEROD WAS SO PARANOID THAT HE ENDED UP HAVING THREE OF HIS OWN SONS AND ONE OF HIS WIVES EXECUTED BECAUSE HE SUSPECTED THEM OF PLOTTING AGAINST HIM.
THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS WEREN’T MUCH BETTER. ANNAS, THE HIGH PRIEST, WAS HARDLY MORE THAN A SERVANT OF THE ROMAN AUTHORITIES, HAVING SOLD OUT ANY MORAL PERSUASIVENESS HIS POSITION MIGHT HAVE STILL HELD.
HE DID BETTER AT GETTING HIS FAMILY APPOINTED TO THE TEMPLE PRIESTHOOD BY THE ROMAN BOSSES THAN HE DID AT PRESERVING THE INTEGRITY OF A RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION.
IN POLITICS, RELIGION AND ECONOMICS, ALMOST ANY FIRST-CENTURY PALESTINIAN WOULD HAVE READILY AGREED IT WAS "THE WORST OF TIMES."
FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE, THERE WOULD SEEM TO HAVE BEEN NO HOPE. NO PROPHET OF GOD HAD BEEN ON THE SCENE FOR NEARLY 400 YEARS AND IT APPEARED AS IF THE UNSHAKABLE STRENGTH OF ROMAN RULE WOULD REMAIN UNCHALLENGED FOR AGES TO COME.
ANY FAITHFUL JEW MIGHT HAVE AGREED WITH THE SKEPTIC WHO SAID, "DUE TO THE CURRENT FINANCIAL CRISIS, THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL WILL BE TURNED OFF."
BUT IT WAS INTO THE MIDST OF THESE TOUGH TYRANTS AND SPARKLESS SPIRITS THAT GOD SENT HIS MOST MIRACULOUS AND UNEXPECTED GIFT: JESUS.
CHRISTMAS IS NOT ONLY A TIME OF REMEMBERING WHAT GIFTS WE SHOULD GIVE IN CHRIST’S NAME TO THOSE WE LOVE. IT IS ALSO A TIME OF REMEMBERING THE GIFT GOD GAVE IN OUR NAMES AND FOR OUR SAKES: THE GIFT OF CHRIST.
WHAT ARE SOME OF GOD’S GIFTS THAT COME TO US THROUGH THE CHRISTMAS STORY?
1. THE FIRST CHRISTMAS GIFT IS THE GIFT OF JESUS, THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. GOD BEGAN THE CUSTOM OF GIVING. JAMES 1:17, "EVERY GENEROUS ACT OF GIVING, WITH EVERY PERFECT GIFT, IS FROM ABOVE, COMING DOWN FROM THE FATHER OF LIGHTS."
SO THE FIRST CHRISTMAS GIFT GIVEN IS THE GIFT FROM GOD. HIS PRESENT IS JESUS, THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. JESUS IS THE LIGHT THAT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS OF OUR LIVES. FOR THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, THE GIFT OF THE FATHER OF LIGHTS, IS JESUS.
JOHN 1:4-5 PROCLAIMS, "IN HIM WAS LIFE, AND THE LIFE WAS THE LIGHT OF ALL PEOPLE. THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS, AND THE DARKNESS DID NOT OVERCOME IT."
OUR CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS OF LIGHTS, WHETHER THEY BE ELECTRIC BULBS ON OUR TREE OR CANDLES ON OUR TABLE, REMIND US OF THE GIFT OF THE CREATOR, THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
THE INCARNATION OF GOD IN A BABY IS THE GOSPEL’S AFFIRMATION OF THE INVASION INTO HUMAN DARKNESS OF THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
2. THE SECOND CHRISTMAS GIFT IS THE GIFT OF MARY AND JOSEPH. THEIR PRESENT WAS OBEDIENT PREPARATION. GOD HAD PREPARED MARY, AND MARY HAD PREPARED JOSEPH FOR THE BIRTH OF THE CHRIST CHILD.
BECAUSE THEIR HEARTS WERE OPEN AND OBEDIENT TO GOD’S WILL AND CALL, IT WAS THEIR ARMS THAT GOD CHOSE TO EMBRACE AND CUDDLE THE CHRIST CHILD.IT WAS THEIR HANDS THAT GOD CHOSE TO WRAP THE INFANT JESUS IN SWADDLING CLOTHES TO KEEP HIM SAFE.
3. THE THIRD CHRISTMAS GIFT IS THE GIFT OF THE SHEPHERDS. THEY BROUGHT TO THE CHRIST CHILD A VERY PRECIOUS PRESENT: THE GIFT OF WONDER.
THE FIRST PEOPLE TO SEE JESUS WERE SIMPLE, HARD WORKING, UNEDUCATED MEN WHO WERE OCCUPIED WITH NIGHTLY TASKS OF 3RD SHIFT! YET, AT THE SAME TIME THEY WEREN’T PREOCCUPIED WITH TEMPORAL THINGS.
WONDER TOUCHED THEIR HEARTS AND MINDS WHEN THEY HEARD THE ANGEL, AND THEY AROSE AND WENT TO BETHLEHEM BEARING THEIR GIFT OF WONDER.
UNLIKE THE MAGI, WHO CAME WITH REGAL GIFTS, THE SHEPHERDS PROBABLY CAME EMPTY-HANDED. THESE SIMPLE MEN OF THE FIELDS HURRIED TO BETHLEHEM WITH NOTHING BUT THEIR WONDER TO GIVE. THEIR HANDS WERE EMPTY, BUT THEIR HEARTS WERE FULL OF AWE.
IT IS OUR SENSE OF WONDER AND AWE IN THE FACE OF GOD’S GLORIOUS GIFT OF CHRIST THAT ENCOURAGES US TO FOLLOW IN THE SHEPHERDS’ FOOTSTEPS AND PROCLAIM THE GOOD NEWS THAT CHRIST HAS COME INTO OUR WORLD.
THANKFULLY THE GIFT OF WONDER IS CONTAGIOUS. IN THE WORDS OF LUKE, THOSE WHO HEARD THE SHEPHERDS "WONDERED AT THOSE THINGS WHICH WERE TOLD THEM BY THE SHEPHERDS" (2:18).
4. THE FOURTH CHRISTMAS GIFT IS THE GIFT OF THE WISE MEN. THESE MEN TRAVELED NEARLY TWO YEARS TO BRING THE GIFT OF EXCELLENCE.
CONTRARY TO WHAT YOU SEE IN PAINTINGS, THE WISE MEN DID NOT COME TO JESUS’ BIRTHPLACE. THEY ARRIVED WELL AFTER MARY AND JOSEPH HAD BROUGHT JESUS HOME TO NAZARETH.
THESE MAGI, OR WISE MEN, BROUGHT THE CHILD JESUS THE MOST TREASURED GIFTS OF THEIR DAY: GOLD, FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH.
THEY OFFERED THE GIFT OF EXCELLENCE; NOT WHAT WAS LEFT OVER AFTER OTHER OBLIGATIONS HAD BEEN PERFORMED. THEIR GIFTS DEMONSTRATED THAT IT IS THE BEST OF OUR TALENTS AND OUR TREASURES THAT EVERY WISE MAN AND WOMAN WILL OFFER TO CHRIST.
5. THE FIFTH CHRISTMAS GIFT IS THE GIFT OF THE BABY JESUS HIMSELF. OUR LORD AND SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST IS THE GIFT OF JOY.
OVER AND OVER AGAIN IN THE GOSPEL ACCOUNTS OF CHRISTMAS, YOU COME ACROSS THE WORD "JOY." IT IS IN THE ANGELIC ANNOUNCEMENT: "FEAR NOT: FOR BEHOLD, I BRING YOU GOOD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY, WHICH SHALL BE TO ALL PEOPLE" (LUKE 2:10).
TO A WORLD CRYING OUT IN ALL ITS CONFUSION, PAIN AND PERVERSION FOR SALVATION, THE BABY JESUS BROUGHT THE GIFT OF GOOD NEWS, AND WITH IT, JOY.
IN THE "WORST OF TIMES," THIS TINY BABY OFFERED THE BEST OF TRUTH. IN THE WORST OF TIMES, GOD DOES THE BEST OF THINGS BY WORKING ALL THINGS OUT FOR THE GOOD.
IN CHRIST, WE HAVE BEEN GIFTED WITH THE PATHWAY TO GOD, THE ROUTE TO FULFILLMENT IN LIFE. THIS PATHWAY IS GRACED WITH THE LIGHT THAT SHINES TO ILLUMINE OUR STEPS TOWARD GOD.
AS YOU GO SHOPPING REMEMBER THAT THE GREATEST GIFTS OF CHRISTMAS ARE NOT PHYSICAL, BUT SPIRITUAL.DON’T MISS THE REAL MEANING OF CHRISTMAS. DON’T BECOME SO PREOCCUPIED WITH THE MATERIAL THAT YOU TOTALLY FORGET THE SPIRITUAL.
I READ A POEM THAT REMINDS ME OF JUST THAT: MEN LUST, BUT THEY KNOW NOT WHAT FOR; THEY WANDER, AND LOSE TRACK OF THE GOAL; THEY FIGHT AND COMPETE, BUT THEY FORGET THE PRIZE; THEY SPREAD SEED, BUT SPURN THE SEASONS OF GROWTH; THEY CHASE POWER AND GLORY, AND MISS THE MEANING OF LIFE.
THE MEANING OF LIFE IS CHRIST BECAUSE WITHOUT CHRIST LIFE HAS NO MEANING. IN ALL YOUR CELEBRATIONS TAKE THE JOURNEY LIKE THE WISE MEN TO BETHLEHEM AND SHARE THESE SPIRITUAL GIFTS OF LIGHT, OBEDIENT PREPARATION, WONDER, EXCELLENCE AND THE JOY OF TRUTH.
