This year I have experienced many firsts. Last week was my first Karaoke. It was fun! Some of my English students took me and we had a great time. We sang Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Carpenters, Elvis Presley songs of many years ago. My students also sang a couple of Enca songs. I liked them.
I also experienced my first earthquake. I’ve also experienced several of them since I’ve been here, and I’m thankful for God’s protection. I’m still a little frightened of getting a really big earthquake, but remember my security is in trusting God to take care of me. Remember Psalm 46.
As we are in Advent I would like to share a few boyhood memories of Christmas for you. This will be my first Japanese Christmas and while there may be differences in how we celebrate Christmas, I think we need to remember what we are really celebrating.
Most of you know that I grew up Jewish. The Jews do not celebrate Christmas, because they do not believe in Jesus Christ. We have a holiday which is called Hanukkah which is celebrated around Christmas time. The dates we celebrate Hanukkah vary, because the Jewish calendar is not the same as our calendar. Hanukkah commemorates the Jews celebrating their deliverance from Antiochus Epiphanes. Led by Judas Maccabeus, the Jews revolted against Antiochus Epiphanes and reclaimed their temple. After cleaning it, they realized they only had enough oil to burn the lights for one day. However, the lights burned for eight days, and so every year the Jews celebrate Hanukkah in remembering their deliverance. It is celebrated for eight days and we are supposed to get a present every night. I remember the rabbi’s telling us to tell are parents we are to get a present every night. We didn’t.
We started exchanging gifts on Christmas day and as a child I believed Santa Claus did come down the chimney at midnight to bring us gifts. I always loved Christmas, because I enjoyed the Christmas lights and decorations, the Christmas carols, and most of all, the presents. I knew that as Jews we weren’t supposed to be celebrating Christmas (the rabbi told us that), but I had no idea of what Christmas was really about. I remember singing the carols about Christ’s birth. But it wasn’t until several years later I truly understood the meaning of Christmas.
I became a Christian in September 1976, and since then each year I like to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. I remember when I was in Israel, visiting Bethlehem. We saw Shepherd’s Field; where the angels appeared to the shepherds. One of my seminary professors shared how when the angels appeared, they didn’t go to the high priests and kings. They went to the lowly shepherds, and said, “Today, in Bethlehem, there is born FOR YOU a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.
Let me tell you briefly about Christmas in Dallas Texas. Many wealthy people live in Dallas, and it is very commercialized. Most people decorate their homes lavishly, with Christmas trees and lights. There was a part of Dallas where many very wealthy people lived, and my mother and I always enjoyed driving through there and looking at the pretty lights.
Many of the shopping malls are decorated and they are very busy with shoppers. And of course the children cannot wait to get their presents from Santa Claus.
But is that really why we celebrate Christmas? I am convinced that in most places if you take Jesus Christ completely out of the Christmas celebrations, nobody would even notice it.
I brought with me a Gideon’s Bible which I was given while a college student. In the beginning of the Bible a famous verse is quoted in 25 languages, in which the Gideons Bible is printed. I’m happy to say that Japanese is one of them. That verse is John 3:16. It’s a verse that we probably learned when we were children, and it may be that the person who shared the gospel with you used that verse. It’s a verse that many of us have memorized. This verse tells us about God’s Christmas gift to us. If I could only use one verse to explain the gospel to an unbeliever, this would be the verse.
Let me share a little about the context of this verse. Jesus was speaking with Nicodemus who was a Pharisee. Nicodemus was a teacher, but he was not just a teacher, he was THE teacher of Israel. And yet when Jesus explained to him that a man cannot enter heaven by religious deeds or works, but only through faith in Jesus Christ, Nicodemus didn’t get it. And after Jesus finishes his discussion with Nicodemus he shares this important verse.
There are several things I would like us to look at. First is God’s love for the world. What kind of love does God have for the world? Is it an emotional infatuation? Or is it the same way I love KC and Simone? No, it is a love that God had for us, so much that He decided to do something about it. And this verse speaks of His love for the whole world. That includes every person sitting here. When you walk through Shinjuku station during the rush hour it includes every single one of those 2 million people who use Shinjuku station. It includes your neighbors. When you travel to another country it includes everybody there. There is nobody it doesn’t include.
My next point is because that God loved the world, He decided to do about it. Remember the world was not perfect. Just ask Adam and Eve. Because of their act of disobedience, it affects every person. And the penalty for sin is separation from God. But because of His love, God did something about it. He gave, but He gave what was most costly to Him. He gave us His only begotten Son. Now when you see only begotten, and wonder what it means, it means “the only one of a kind.” As Christians, we talk about the fact that we need to believe in Jesus Christ. At Christmas we celebrate God’s gift to us; we celebrate the birth of His Son. Jesus Christ was born on Christmas day, He lived among men, and He died on the cross for our sins.
But there is also a result from God’s giving us His Son. That is my next point. And that result is that the one believing in Him has eternal life. What is eternal life? Eternal life means we will spend eternity with God but it is much more than that. When you become a Christian, when you believe in Jesus Christ, He gives you a quality of life that you cannot experience anywhere else. There is an added dimension to your life that you notice. God gives you His peace, His strength and His presence. He gives you purpose in life. Many people are looking for all this. Well look no more, because Christmas is coming and here is God’s gift for you. And by the way this verse is for EVERYONE who believes. Not just for a select few, but for everyone. Nobody is excluded. That is one of the neat things I look forward to in heaven; there will be people there from every nationality.
Now you can choose not to believe in Jesus Christ, but there is a result from that. And that result is that you will perish. That simply means that you will spend eternity separated from God. But you don’t have to. You can choose to believe in God’s Son and experience eternal life. Or you can perish. It’s eternal life or perish. There are no other choices. If you are wondering about what you need to do to know you have eternal life this verse says it. There is nothing you need to do other than believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son. There is no other way to enter heaven. Nicodemus didn’t get it. Do you get it?
I don’t know everything going in your life right now. It may be that life is going very well for you. Or it may be that this is a very difficult time for you. Whatever is going on in your life, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you can take comfort in the fact that whatever happens to you, you have received God’s gift which is priceless. So please take the time to thank God for His gift to you and pass it on to others.
And if you are here today and have never believed in Jesus Christ, then you are missing out on the real reason for this Advent season. You have to make a choice. You can believe in Jesus Christ and experience eternal life and that gift is really the most important gift you can receive. Or you can choose not to receive God’s gift and spend eternity separated from God. If you choose this, it doesn’t matter what you get for Christmas. You will miss out on the true meaning and miss the gift that determines where you spend eternity.
This Christmas, if you have never done so, please receive God’s gift of eternal life by believing in His Son Jesus Christ. And make this the best Christmas you ever had.
