What If There Was No Christmas?

What if there was no Christmas?

Matthew 1:18-25

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

Government officials all over the world have been discussing the possibility of severely limiting gatherings at Christmas time. This scares many people for we have many traditions we like to follow this time of year. For instance, how will it feel like Christmas this year without large family gatherings, hugs, and kisses from loved ones and all you can eat buffets of turkey, ham, potatoes, dressings, and deserts? While even the severest of restrictions cannot cancel out Christmas entirely it got me thinking … what if Jesus never fulfilled His role as Messiah some 2000 years ago and Christmas did not exist? What if Jesus refused to be made in human likeness, a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and a servant of all (Philippians 2:1-12)? What if Jesus gave into the temptation in the desert and chose to worship Satan rather than obey God? What if Jesus had refused to take the cup of God’s will in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-45) or chose to respond to the taunts and called upon twelve legions of angels to take Him off the cross and destroy His enemies (Matthew 26:53; Luke 23:39)? If any of these events happened how would our sins be atoned for and to whom would be the way, truth, and life? Without the Messiah Christmas simply would not exist! Lets briefly look at five major things that humanity would lose if Christmas never happened.

If Christmas Never Happened …

First without the Son coming to earth humanity would never have gotten to experience the miracles of the New Testament! Without Christmas the twelve apostles would have remained ordinary, Saul would have been known as nothing more than an exceptional Pharisee (Galatians 1:14), the paralytic would not have gotten up off his mat (Matthew 9:1-8), the demon possessed man in the region of Gerasenes would have been doomed to room amongst the tombs and cut himself or the rest of his life (Mark 5:1-20), the man born blind would never have seen the beauty of creation (John 9:1-12), the ten leapers would never have been cleansed and allowed to return to their families (Luke 17:11-19), the 38 year invalid would have spent the rest of his life merely looking at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-15), and Lazarus and Jairus’ Daughter would not have been raised from the dead (John 11:38-44; Mark 5:21-43)! Also, without the true stories of Jesus walking on water (Matthew 14:22-33), commanding the seas to be calm (Matthew 8:23-27), casting out demons (Luke 5:1-20), and the feeding of the four and five thousand (Mark 8:1-13, 6:30-44) would we not be poorer for not having first-hand experience of His supremacy not over just our bodies, but all things seen and unseen (Colossians 1:16)? And above would not our hope be substantially less if Jesus never became fully human along with being fully God (Matthew 1:18-25)? Without a human nature Jesus would not have been our Sympathetic high priest who was tempted in every way that we are, and yet not only did He not sin (Hebrews 4:15-16) but also sent God’s Spirit to live inside of us so that sin would lose its power over us (Romans 6:1-6)? Yes, without the miracles of Christmas we would not have near the hope we have today!

Second, if Christ had not come to earth, He would not have sent His Comforter to live inside of His own! Imagine for a moment what it would be like to live in a fallen world of persecution, injustice, and insufferable tribulations without our Comforter! Without receiving the Holy Spirit, we would still have our stone hearts and as such find it near impossible to know the truth much less become righteous in God’s sight (Ezekiel 36:26). Without receiving the Spirit who would teach and guide us towards staying on the narrow path (John 14:26; 16:13)? Without receiving the Spirit how much more difficult would it be to convince the world of God’s existence and love without One to convict them of their sin (John 16:7-8)? Without receiving the Spirit would it be possible to overcome the desires of the flesh of hatred, jealousy, sexual immorality, and selfish ambitions to embrace a life of love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:16-26)? Without receiving the Spirit how would we truly know that we are going to heaven (Romans 8:16-17) and how could we do God’s work without having received the gifting to do so (1 Corinthians 12)? And without receiving the Spirit who would intercede in our weakness to make the words of our prayers go beyond the superficial to become a sweet aroma unto our God (Romans 8:26-30)? Yes, if there was no Christmas, we would be quite depressed for without receiving the Spirit our struggle to know and please a holy God would be near impossible!