Well it won’t be long now. Just eight more days and it will be Christmas Eve and then we all know what happens then right? That’s right, Santa comes. Whether we like to admit it or not the primary figure in most homes this Christmas won’t be Jesus it will be Santa. And we can rant and rave about losing the true meaning of Christmas, and talk about how Santa’s sleigh has replaced Christ’s stable but it won’t make any difference. And the mere mention of Santa can cause some Christians to almost froth at the mouth. When I was in my last year in Bible College I worked in a store that sold wood stoves. My boss attended a small independent church and wasn’t the least bit backwards about coming forward with his point of view. One of the things he held a fairly strong view on was Santa. That might be a slight understatement, he didn’t hold a fairly strong view, he was rabid on the subject. That Christmas he informed me that he had told his three children ranging in age from a toddler to early elementary that Santa was and I quote, “A manifestation of Satan to take the glory away from Jesus.”
I really didn’t have any dealings with others who were quite that vocal about Christmas and Santa until we moved to Australia and while I was there I ended up with two gentlemen in my church who were both very outspoken about the pagan background of Christmas in general and Santa in particular. And I remember once when Scott was waxing eloquently on the subject that I asked him, “Do you know what you get if you rearrange the letters in Santa?” He nodded in agreement and before he had a chance to respond I finished by saying, “Yeah, Natsa” and walked away while he looked confused. Anyone who has the least bit of animosity toward the fat man in the red suit knows that if you rearrange the letters in his name you get Satan. So? If you rearrange the letters in my name you get Ned spelled wrong.
So before we can go any further we probably should introduce the topic of my message today. Santa Claus wasn’t always Santa Claus, his roots actually go back 1700 years when a man by the name of Nicholas was Bishop of the city or Myra. If we were to pull up our trusty map here, we would discover that Myra is situated here, on the coast of Turkey. Tradition tells us that Nicholas was born into a wealthy family and was orphaned as a child because of the plague. He became a priest in his late teens and was known for his generosity. During the Roman persecutions of the Christians he was imprisoned and wasn’t released until the Emperor Constantine became a believer.
Legend tells us that he took gifts to the children of poor families and would deliver them but dropping them down their chimneys. One story tells of how Nicholas heard of a family with three daughters who couldn’t marry because they had now dowry. Nicholas snuck into their home and left gold coins in the socks the girls had left hanging on the mantle to dry. Guess back then it wasn’t a matter of marrying for looks or loves it all boiled down the money.
After his death the Church pronounced him a Saint and when Christmas started being celebrated, St. Nicholas became a part of the celebration.
When the Reformation took place, the new Protestants no longer desired St. Nicholas as their gift-giver as he was too closely tied to the Catholic Church. Therefore, each country or region developed their own gift-giver. In France he was known as Pere Noel. In England he was Father Christmas. Germany knew him as Weihnachtsmann (Christmas man). When the communists took over in Russia and outlawed Christianity, the Russians began to call him Grandfather Frost, who wore blue instead of the traditional red. To the Dutch, he was Sinterklaas (which eventually was mispronounced in America and became Santa Claus). As different as they were in their names and garb they all had long white beards and carried gifts for the children.
The Santa we know today had his beginnings in 1823 with Clement C. Moore’s "A Visit from St. Nicholas" in which he described St. Nicholas as "chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf". Forty years later, Thomas Nast, political cartoonist, created a different illustration each year of Santa for the cover of Harper’s Weekly. His Santa was a plump, jolly old fellow with a white beard and smoking a long stemmed pipe. During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln asked Nast to do an illustration showing Santa with the Union troops. Many historians say this was one of the most demoralizing moments for the Confederate army....seeing Santa side with the North.
With all of the historic perspective aside the Santa that we know and love didn’t come to us from art or literature, he came to us via good old commercial greed, because the Santa figure that is so familiar to us was the result of an advertising campaign for coke. Oh well.
That was a little history of Santa Claus, but here is the question of the day: What would Jesus Say to Santa?
I think the first thing that Jesus would say would be: Thanks for Keeping the Spirit of Christmas Alive Christmas is probably the most celebrated holiday in the world, as a religious celebration and also as a secular celebration. And through the periods when the world has become increasing secular it has been Santa who has become more and more the focal point. Which is bad, because we know that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ. And perhaps without Santa Christmas would have become as widely celebrated as say, Pentecost. There are times that I wish the world would completely swallow up the December celebrations, call them Winterfest or Santaday and let the church quietly celebrate the birth of Christ in our own way.
On the other hand, because Santa has made Christmas a celebration not only for the church but for the world at large we find really bizarre things happening. Not bizarre bad, well yeah sometimes bizarre bad, but mostly bizarre good. Because there is a great opportunity to tell the world about Jesus during December then any other time of the year. We can go into malls and hear them sing “Joy to the world” and they are singing His praises. They sing “Silent Night” and they worship him. They sing “Angels from the Realms of Glory” and they are singing his adoration. On prime time television amongst all the drack there are Christmas specials that tell the true meaning of Christmas and people watch and listen. And I know there motives aren’t pure but listen to what the bible says in Philippians 1:17-18 They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. But whether or not their motives are pure, the fact remains that the message about Christ is being preached, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice.
Last week we went to a dinner theatre that Stephens drama class at CPA put on. As part of that drama the Christmas story was told. In a high school, a public high school.
On Tuesday night Bedford Community Church has been invited to come and lead the Christmas Carol Sing, for four or five years they have asked us to help them sing about our God. Doesn’t that sound a little bizarre to you? And people come out, and sure they come because we are singing, and sure they come because there will be free pizza and hot chocolate but a big reason they come is because they fat man in the red suit will be there.
The other night seven of our teens and young adults went out Christmas Carolling, singing songs about their God and their Saviour in front of peoples homes, had they done that in June people would have told them to get off their lawn. Friday night they gave them chocolate, thanked them for coming, asked them to come back next year and asked about their church.
Santa has made Christmas into the celebration that it is and because of that there is a great opportunity to tell people what it’s really about.
The Second thing that I think Jesus would say to Santa would be Thanks for teaching us to Give. From his earliest inception whether he was called St. Nicholas, Pere Noel, Father Christmas, Chris Cringle, or Santa Claus the thing that everyone loved was that he brought gifts. Christmas is about giving. 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. So the first Christmas itself was a gift. And we are told that there were gifts given on that first Christmas. The wise men who came from the east brought gifts, Karen read about that earlier. Now don’t start about how the wise men weren’t really there. I know that the Bible says they entered the house were the baby was, and I know the Bible says that Jesus was born in a stable, but it doesn’t say that he stayed in a stable And I know that it would have taken the wise men a considerable time to travel from what tradition tells us was probably Persia to Bethlehem, I know that but I also know that God could have put the star in the sky early enough for them to have gotten there on time. I also know that the only reason that Mary and Joseph and the Baby were in Bethlehem was for the census, so common sense would tell us that when the census was over and Mary was able to travel they wouldn’t have been sticking around. So yes I think the wise men were there at the first Christmas, or perhaps boxing day. And they brought gifts to Christ.
Because the tradition of Santa has been to give at Christmas we give at Christmas. Yes sometimes out of obligation, but most of the time out of love. And thanks for the neat toys you gave me when I was little.
The third thing I think that Jesus would say to Santa would be: Don’t forget who it’s all about Even though you take centre stage this time of year, Santa, it’s not about you it’s about Christ. That’s why they call it Christmas and not Santamas. As believers we need to understand that as well. And it’s easy to say “Well I know who the central figure of Christmas is.” But it is so easy to get caught up in the celebration of Christmas that we can sometimes forget the reason for Christmas. Oh we have a head knowledge but somewhere in all the hussle and bussle our hearts forget.
Christmas for all of its faults is the time that the world stops and reflects on the fact that God, the creator of the universe chose to come to earth as a child, live as a man and die on a cross for humanity. And sometimes we can see the magnitude of Jesus sacrifice without feeling it personally. The reason the creator of the universe chose to come to earth as a child, live as a man and die on a cross was for you.
And we can try to get the message across by wearing our cute little pins that say “Keep Christ in Christmas” and “He is the reason for the season” but people won’t actually believe it unless they see it in our lives. So if they don’t see any difference in how we respond to the Christmas season then how everybody else does they aren’t going to believe that Jesus really is the reason for the season. So slow down, take a deep breath and say to yourself, “This year Jesus is going to be the centre of my Christmas, not Santa, and not me, but Jesus.”
The fourth thing that Jesus would say to Santa would be Don’t forget Grace We all know that you can be a little uptight about our behaviour Santa. Listen to the words of Santa Claus is coming to town. You better watch out, you better not cry, Better not pout, I’m telling you why: Santa Claus is comin’ to town.
He’s making a list and checking it twice, Gonna find out who’s naughty or nice, Santa Claus is comin’ to town.
He sees you when you’re sleeping, He knows when you’re awake; He knows if you’ve been bad or good, So be good, for goodness’ sake!
Oh, you better watch out, you better not cry Better not pout, I’m telling you why: Santa Claus is comin’ to town.
If you are going to stick to the only giving presents to the good people then the bag’s gonna be a little light and the trip is going to be short one. Because there is nobody who is that good, or can be that good on their own. Paul writes in Romans 3:10 As the Scriptures say, “No one is good—not even one.
So if you can’t be good enough for God what’s the answer? Ephesians 2:8-9 reminds us God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. The reason that Jesus came to earth on that Christmas so many years ago was because we couldn’t do it by ourselves. By our very nature we are naughty not nice, we are bad not good and we can’t earn our way into heaven. And so God extends to us a little grace. And we all need that grace. I think we’ve done this before, Justice is getting what we deserve, mercy is not getting what we deserve and grace is getting what we don’t deserve. And so some people say “all I want from God is justice.” Nope that is the last thing you want from God, because according to his book if we got what we deserved we would end up in hell, separated from God forever. Nor do we want mercy, because then we wouldn’t get hell but we wouldn’t get anything else, we’d just die, they’d throw us in a hole and that would be it. What God offers us is grace, getting what we don’t deserve which is heaven. So remember that justice is getting what you deserve, mercy is not getting what you deserve and grace is getting what you don’t deserve. Kind of like the lady who went into the beauty salon and said “do me justice” when really what she needed was mercy.
Number five for Santa from Jesus would be Treat Your Elves Nice Greg said once that working here was like being one of Santa’s elves. He did all the work and the fat man with the beard got all the credit. Oh well. Santa without your elves you’d be in a tough spot so don’t forget them. It’s easy to forget that we all need others, that’s why the bible tells us to be kind to others, to love others, to bear one another’s burdens, etc etc. But it’s not just being nice to others Santa has an extra responsibility because the elves work for him. In the first century slavery was the norm and slaves were treated as property but the Bible revolutionized how slaves were to be treated in Ephesians 6:9 we read And in the same way, you masters must treat your slaves right. Don’t threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites. We could change that to read And in the same way, Santa you must treat your elves right. Don’t threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites.
And for those of you who are employers and are Christians you have an extra responsibility, let’s rewrite it again so that it says And in the same way, you employers must treat your employees right. Don’t threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites.
And the last thing that I think Jesus would say to Santa would be Take Care of Yourself
With all that Santa has on his mind during the Christmas season it’s easy for him to neglect himself. Start working too hard and not eating right, a cookie here and a glass of milk there. Probably Jesus would say, lighten up on the cookies, lay off the pipe and get a good night sleep. Too often we try to separate our physical and our spiritual, but it’s not that easy. The bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
We can’t separate the two, if you don’t take care of the physical it won’t be long before your spiritual suffers as well. And so this Christmas maybe all of us need to take care of ourselves.
That’s what Jesus would say to Santa this Christmas, and it would probably be a pretty good reminder for the rest of us as well.
PowerPoint may be available for this message, contact me at denn@bccnet.ca
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