As we find ourselves approaching the Christmas season, we find that many in our society want to celebrate Christmas without embracing Christ. Therefore, they seek to define the meaning of Christmas in terms other that biblical terms. For example, Christmas is commonly defined today as "a time of brotherly love," or "a time of giving," or "a time spent with family and friends." Indeed, the Christmas holiday involves many of these things. But we mustn’t make the mistake of confusing form for substance. The things we do and the sentiments we express in our celebration of Christmas do not define what Christmas is.
The meaning of Christmas is to be found in the significance of the event that is at the heart of Christmas - the coming of Christ to this earth in order to be the Savior of the world. Therefore, if we are to discover the true meaning of Christmas, we must look to the Word of God. What does the Bible tells us about the meaning of Christmas? The Bible tells us that Christmas means that God has rescued us.
1. Our Gloomy Situation - v. 6
Paul tells us that Christ came "at just the right time." What does this mean? Well, there are two meanings here:
A. It means that the world was prepared spiritually, economically, linguistically, politically, philosophically and geographically for the coming of Jesus and the fulfillment of His mission. God waited for the perfect time in history for His purposes in Christ to be fulfilled.
B. It means Jesus died at the right time for us; He died when we were sinners needing a Savior! He rescued us "just in the nick of time."
Why were we in need of being rescued? Paul identifies two reasons:
1) We were hopeless - "ungodly"
One of my favorite movies is "The Babe" staring John Goodman as Babe Ruth. The film opens with a scene where Babe Ruth’s father takes him to Saint Mary’s Industrial School for Boys in Baltimore. He is accepted and labeled as "incorrigible," which the brothers at the school define as "bad beyond reform."
That’s how we were, and that’s why we need someone beyond ourselves to come and rescue us. Elsewhere, Paul expressed this fact this way:
"As it is written, None is righteous, just and truthful and upright and conscientious, no, not one. No one understands [no one intelligently discerns or comprehends]; no one seeks out God. All have turned aside; together they have gone wrong and have become unprofitable and worthless; no one does right, not even one!" - Romans 3:10-12 (Amplified)
2) We were helpless - "powerless"
A) We were powerless to see our situation improve.
We were alienated from God by virtue of our sinfulness and could do nothing to change our situation. Even when we did try to do things that would hopefully put us right with God, we constantly came up short. The very best things about our lives were still tainted by our sinfulness.
"We are all infected and impure with sin. When we proudly display our righteous deeds, we find they are but filthy rags." - Isaiah 64:6 (NLT)
B) We were powerless to delay the inevitable.
"For the wages of sin is death." - Romans 6:23 (NIV)
Paul describes the inevitable end of all who are not right with God:
"Such people will pay the penalty and suffer the punishment of everlasting ruin (destruction and perdition) and eternal exclusion and banishment from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power." - 2 Thessalonians 1:9 (Amplified)
Dr. Ian Paisley, the fiery Irish cleric and politician was reputed to have been preaching one Sunday on the End Times - and in particular on the Day of Judgment. As he reached the climax of his address he said that on the Day of Judgment "there would be wailing and gnashing of teeth." At which point an old woman put up her hand and said "Dr. Paisley, I have no teeth." Paisley replied "Madam, teeth will be provided"
This was our gloomy situation. No matter how we might try to avoid it, no matter how we might try to correct it, the fact remained that it was inevitable, we were guilty and condemned to be punished for our sin, and there was nothing we could do to change our situation!
So God came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ to change our situation for us. He did this through the sacrifice He made on our behalf.
2. Christ’s Generous Sacrifice - vs. 7-8
"For the Son of Man came to look for and to save from the punishment of sin those who are lost."
- Luke 19:10 (NLV)
How did He accomplish this and provide for our salvation? Through sacrificially offering Himself as a substitute for us. He was punished in our place.
"But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him--our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And GOD has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him." - Isaiah 53:5-6 (The Message)
"He personally carried away our sins in his own body on the cross so we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. You have been healed by his wounds!" - 1 Peter 2:24 (NLT)
There are two things Paul tells us here about Christ’s sacrifice for us on the cross. The sacrifice of Christ is . . .
A. A touching sacrifice - v. 7
The fact that Christ’s sacrifice was not for the sake of a "righteous" person, or even a "good" person, but for a sinful, ungodly person, that is, for you and me, should touch our hearts.
He died in my place. This is why we refer to Jesus as a PERSONAL Savior.
An old Christian drama depicts a little boy working in his parent’s carpentry shop in first century Jerusalem. He protests his chore, which is to assist in building a cross. The parents insist that he help because Rome has given them a contract for construction of crosses.
In another scene the boy is weeping. "What is wrong?" his parents ask. He responds, "I went to the market place & I saw Jesus of Nazareth, the Man we love to hear preach, & He was carrying my cross! They took Him to Golgotha and nailed Him to MY cross."
The parents insist, "Oh no, son, that wasn’t your cross. Other people in Jerusalem build crosses. That wasn’t your cross." "Oh yes, it was! When you weren’t looking, I carved my name on the cross I was making. When Jesus was carrying His cross, He stumbled right beside me, I looked, and my name was on His cross!"
B. A transforming sacrifice - v. 8 - "were"
Notice how Paul refers to us as being sinners in the past tense. He says "While we WERE still sinners," which implies that by virtue of the cross, something has change in the way God now views us.
Before, we were "sinners," but now we are "saints." We were "lost," but now we are "found." We were "in sin," but now we are "in Christ." We were "children of the devil," but now we are "children of God."
"Do you not know that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? And such some of you were [once]. But you were washed clean (purified by a complete atonement for sin and made free from the guilt of sin), and you were consecrated (set apart, hallowed), and you were justified [pronounced righteous, by trusting] in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the [Holy] Spirit of our God." - 1 Corinthians 6: 9; 11 (Amplified)
Can you imagine what would happen if you were going financially bankrupt, and you went to one of your creditors and said, "Here’s what I want you to do: I want you to clear my debt, give me a brand new start, and then I want you to adopt me as one of your own children." After he recovered from the heart attack, he would make a phone call to the nearest mental hospital to have you taken away.
But God doesn’t do that. God says, "I know you are spiritually bankrupt. And so I will clear your debt, give you a new start, and I will adopt you as one of My own children." How’s that for amazing?
"We are made right in God’s sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done. For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins." - Romans 3:22-24 (NLT)
Conclusion: The movie "Finding Nemo" was about a little fish named Nemo who was captured by a scuba diver and put in a fish tank in a dentist’s office. The whole movie was about Nemo’s father Marlin, crossing the ocean seeking and trying to save his Son.
God did the same for us. Satan and sin had captured and enslaved us. But God chose to cross more than the ocean. In the person of Jesus Christ, He crossed from heaven to earth in order to rescue us. And that’s the meaning of Christmas.
