I would like to talk to you about Christmas. More specifically, I would like to talk about what we usually tend to focus on at Christmas vs what we should focus on.
I know what you’re thinking.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what he’s going to say. It isn’t about the gifts, it’s about Jesus, and we should focus on Him.”
Well, yes, I am going to say that. But I would like to present this in a way that you may have never thought about before and which may help to put things in proper prospective.
What do we focus on at Christmas? Many of us focus on the decorations and the food and the gifts. I, myself, love the decorations and the food and the gifts. That’s OK, as long as these are a means to the ultimate goal of celebrating Christ. But the problem is that we often focus on these things to the exclusion of Christ.
The day after Thanksgiving is so called “Black Friday”. Many people stand in ridiculously long lines for ridiculously long periods of time and spend ridiculously large amounts of money. Many others go online and leave skid marks on their credit and debit cards from the comfort of their living room couch. This marks the beginning of a season in which billions of dollars are spent to say merry Christmas.
A few years ago, I started thinking about this from the prospective of a parent. I have five children. Money has usually been pretty tight for us and so most years we couldn’t afford to spend much on their Christmas. Things are better now than they once were but, even now, we probably spend less on our kids Christmas than most people do. A few years ago, my wife and I were talking about the fact that we would like to be able to spend more on their Christmas. Then, we started really thinking about that. We decided that, though we would like for the Christmas budget not to be quite so tight, we’re not sure we really should spend a lot more on their Christmas, even if we had it to spend. It occurred to us that it’s important for us to think about this, not just from the prospective of parents but from the prospective of Christian parents trying to raise Christian kids.
What do we tell our kids about Christmas?
“Now remember, it’s not all about the gifts. It’s about Jesus.”
That’s what we say but then what do we do? We may go to a Christmas service and maybe a few of us will read the Christmas story some time. Other than that, for many of us, little is said about Jesus during this season. The kids get up on Christmas morning and find hundreds and, in some cases, thousands of dollars’ worth of stuff. We tell them that Jesus is the reason for the season while seldom mentioning Him during the season. We tell them it’s not about the stuff while steadily buying the stuff. We are telling them one thing and demonstrating another. Which are they going to pay attention to, what we are saying or what we are doing?
I am not advocating not giving Christmas gifts, although I’m not entirely sure that would be a bad thing. What I am saying is that we should place much less emphasis on the gifts and more emphasis on Christ. The way that we do that is not just by saying that it isn’t about the gifts. The way that we do that is by purchasing fewer and less expensive gifts and truly focusing more on other things. Otherwise, we are saying one thing but doing another and it is usually what we do that sends the much more powerful message, the message that is actually received.
At Christmas, we should focus on celebrating and on gifts but we should make sure that we celebrate what truly deserves to be celebrated and focus on the right gifts. To that end, I want to look at the answers to five questions that pertain to gifts.
What do we think about when someone gives us a gift?
What is it?
Do we need or want it?
How much did it cost?
Was it given voluntarily?
What are we going to do with it?
Question 1: What is it?
You know how it is. Someone hands you that gift. It’s all wrapped up and, even before you start taking the paper off it, you start shaking it, trying to figure out what it might be. For me, even after I get it unwrapped, as I can’t see it, I sometimes still don’t know what it is.
“That’s great. That was so nice of you. You really shouldn’t have. What is it?”
Question 2: Do we need or want it?
So, you’ve got it open and hopefully determined what it is. How much you need or want it is largely dependent on what it is and who you are, right? Let’s say it’s the biggest and best 500 horse power 10,000 RPM drill and let’s say you’re the Tim Allen, Bob Vila, do it yourself type. Well, you’re going to be about ready to jump over the Christmas tree, right? Now, let’s say you’re a 15 year old girl. What are you going to think about that gift? Do you need it? Do you want it? Probably not.
Question 3: How much did it cost?
OK, let’s say you’re that 15 year old girl and you just love clothes and accessories. That’s your thing. That’s what you really get into. This gift is from your wealthy aunt. You open up this gift and it’s a purse. Does it matter to you what brand that purse is? Why does brand matter to us? It can matter for a lot of reasons but, in this context, one reason that it matters is that it tells us something about how much the item cost. What if it’s Money Brand ABC? You’re going to be ready to jump over the Christmas tree too. Just be careful not to land on the guy with the drill. What if it’s Cheap Brand XYZ? Now, there’s nothing wrong with Cheap Brand XYZ. If you get a purse from us, it’s going to be Cheap Brand XYZ because we can’t afford Money Brand ABC. Remember, though, this is from your wealthy aunt. If you get a purse from her that’s Cheap Brand XYZ, what does that say to you? She had a lot to spend but she spent very little. What might that say or, at least, what might you perceive that it says?
Question 4: Was it given voluntarily?
Do you know about those obligation gifts? You know, you don’t really want to get this person a gift. You don’t know them all that well and you see them about every three years but you have a situation where propriety dictates that you should get them something. You go to WalMart, at the last minute, and you just get the first thing you see that isn’t too expensive and you think they may not hate too bad. It isn’t personal at all. Now, we’ve all done it but what does that say to the person who receives it? They probably already know it’s an obligation gift. You didn’t really have to get it but you sort of felt like you did and that’s why you did and they know it. Now, they probably don’t hold that against you. After all, they probably got you an obligation gift too. But the obligation kind of decreases the value of the gift, both for the giver and the receiver, doesn’t it?
Question 5: What are you going to do with it?
If you got a gift that you didn’t really need or want, that was cheap, and given out of obligation, what are you going to do with it? It’s probably going to end up at the back of a drawer or closet shelf, isn’t it? If you got a gift that is something that you really needed, something that was the best of it’s kind that you could get, that was very expensive and voluntarily given, what would you do with that? You would show it off and brag on it a little, wouldn’t you?
What in the world does all this have to do with Jesus? Well, in a way, that’s my point. In the context that I have just outlined, of worldly gifts and worldly circumstances, these things have nothing to do with Jesus. However, if we look at these same questions, from a different prospective, then these things have everything to do with Him. So, let’s look at these same basic questions as they relate to our relationship with God.
What is God’s gift to us?
How much do we need this gift?
How much did this gift cost Him?
Did He pay the price voluntarily?
For those who have received this gift, what are we going to do with it?
Question 1: What is God’s gift to us?
James 1:17 says “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning”.
Let’s think about this for a minute. Really, everything we have, in fact everything in this world, is a gift from God. I suppose that, on an intellectual level, we all already know that but do you ever stop to really think about it?
Think about rain. The great flood in Genesis is the first time it ever rained. We are told in Genesis 2:5-6 that it had not yet rained but that a mist came up from the ground to water the ground. The first time rain is mentioned is in Genesis 7:12, at the start of the great flood. There has been rain ever since but it never rained before that. Hmmm, interesting.
Think about the water cycle. The water cycle is simply the laws of physics at work. Water evaporates and condenses into microscopic droplets of water in the atmosphere to form clouds. Often, air currents move the clouds to a place other than where the water evaporated. Eventually, when atmospheric conditions are right, millions of these microscopic droplets stick together to form individual rain drops that are large enough and heavy enough to overcome the updrafts which support the clouds. When this happens on a large scale, it rains. Then, the cycle starts over again. I’m sure that a meteorologist could explain it much better but that’s the basic idea of how it works.
Now, think about something else. Before the flood, there was water, there was an atmosphere, there was gravity, there were air currents, etcetera. There were all the things needed to make the water cycle work and yet, apparently, it did not work. It must be that, in order to send the great flood and in order to make possible all the rain that has fallen since, God changed the laws of physics, in some way, if only slightly. To me, that’s pretty awesome to think about. The basic laws of physics are, so far as we know, constant throughout the universe. They are, in fact, what makes the universe work the way it does, down to the smallest detail. We serve a God who can alter those laws, just by thinking about it. How cool is that! Of course, intellectually, I already knew that but, still, it’s pretty neat to think about such an awesome illustration of His power.
His glory and His power is evident all around us, in the smallest things in our every day environment, if we will only take the time to look for it and think about it.
John 3:16 says “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”.
God has given us a lot of very wonderful gifts but the most wonderful gift He has given us was His Son, who willingly sacrificed Himself on the cross for our sins. Again, intellectually, I think most of us already know that but do we ever stop to think about it? If we’re totally honest with ourselves, I think most of us think we’re pretty good people and so we tend to underestimate just how much we need this gift.
This leads me to my next question.
Question 2: How much do we need this gift?
I have another question related to this. What kind of person are you?
Now, you may be thinking:
“I’m a good person. I attend church 3 times a week. I have my quiet time every day. I support my family well. I make good money and I tithe on every dollar that I make. I teach a Sunday school class. I chaperone every youth trip.”
If you do all of these things, then you are probably a pretty good person but the question still remains, what kind of person are you? Are you a righteous person? If we’re really honest, it’s tempting to think so, isn’t it? But, when answering this question of what kind of person we are, as it pertains to the question of how much we need God’s greatest gift, what we have to look at is how God sees us when He looks at us without the covering of the blood of Christ.
All that good stuff we do that I just talked about, what does that look like to God? Isaiah 64:6 says “all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags”. Romans 3:10 says “There is none righteous, no, not one”. Romans 3:23 says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. Of course we should do our best to live right and do good but it doesn’t sound like God is impressed with all our good deeds.
I think we tend to forget that God’s nature is not like ours. We were created in His image but, since the fall, we are all born with a sinful nature, inherited from Adam. One effect of that sinful nature is that we tend to be somewhat tolerant of sin, especially in our own life. God does not have a sinful nature and so He has absolutely zero tolerance for sin.
The first part of Romans 6:23 says “the wages of sin is death”. What are wages? That’s what we get paid for doing a job, right? When we do something for an employer, we deserve compensation for doing that job.
Have you ever broken one of the ten commandments, even once? Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever been unsatisfied with what God has provided you and wanted what someone else had? Have you ever put anything in your life before God? If we have done any of these things, even once, then we have sinned and we have earned spiritual death.
When it comes to your relationship with God, if you are a Christian, you don’t get what you deserve. The wages that we deserve are spiritual death, separation from God. But the second part of Romans 6:23 says “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”. The gift of God is eternal life. It truly is a gift. He’s giving you what you don’t deserve, what you didn’t earn. He’s giving you what He earned. He did what was necessary to earn these wages and then He turned around and handed you the check He was given.
Question 3: How much did this gift cost Him?
This article is about Christmas but let’s talk for a minute about Easter. There can be no better example of the love that Jesus has for us than what He endured for us on the first Good Friday. This occurred two millennia ago and yet it remains and will forever remain the greatest example of love. Think about all that He endured on that Friday. I mean really think about it.
We say that “Christ died for our sins”. Especially for those of us who have spent a lot of time in Church, we say that and hear that so much that many of us become numb to the full meaning of it. Yes, He died but He didn’t just die. He suffered, horribly. Crucifixion is the most horrific form of execution ever devised. This is to say nothing of the scourging, which He endured before the crucifixion and which, in itself, killed many men. It is unfathomably terrible what they did to Him, for our sake. I won’t go into the details here but I would encourage you to read one of the detailed accounts which have been published concerning exactly what He went through. Read it and then sit and think about it for a while.
Why did He go through that? 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that Christ never sinned but he took our sins on himself and Romans 5:8 says that He died as punishment for those sins. He literally never did anything wrong, ever. Yet, the sins of the rest of humanity were placed upon him and He bore the punishment for those sins. Not only did he bear the horrors that any man would have borne who was executed by scourging and crucifixion, but He also somehow supernaturally took all of our eternities in Hell, compressed into those few hours. And none of it was because of anything He had done. It was because of what we did. Talk about the ultimate injustice. Why did He do that?
This brings me to the next question.
Question 4: Did He pay the price voluntarily?
He certainly didn’t have to do this. Jesus was fully man and so He suffered as much as any man would, actually He suffered more, as I have said. However, He was also fully God and, thus, He could have easily stopped what was happening to Him. Speaking of His own life, in John 10:18, Jesus said “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” In Matthew 26:53, just before His trial, Jesus said to Peter “do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?” In John 19:11, Jesus told Pilate “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above”. Clearly, by His own admission, He could have stopped it. So, why didn’t He?
It was because of His love! In Luke 23:34, as Jesus hung on the cross, He said “Father, forgive them”. He wasn’t only referring to those who had just physically nailed Him to the cross. He was talking about all of us whose sins sent Him to and held Him on that cross. He was talking about us. That’s how much He loves me and how much He loves you! That is how He loves and that is how He commands us to love.
Question 5: For those who have received this gift, what are we going to do with it?
Christ’s love is where the standard for our definition of love is suppose to come from. 1 John 3:16 says “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us”.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, in part, “you are not your own for you were bought at a price”
We were bought at a price, a very, very high price. If you really want Him to be your Lord, then your life is not your own, it is His. Matthew 22:36-39 tells us that the first and foremost thing He asks of us is to love Him with all our hearts and the second thing He asks flows from that, to love each-other as He first loved us.
What will you do with His gift This Christmas?
If you have already received His gift, what will you do with it? Will you do as He commanded and let His love shine through you to the rest of the world? Gifts are fine but do more than that. If you have children and they aren’t Christians, make sure that they understand what Jesus did for them and what He offers them. If you know someone who is really struggling financially, see if you can help them out a little. If you know someone who is lonely, give them a call. Find some way to show the same love that Jesus showed you to a few people who really need it this Christmas.
Have you ever received the most precious of all gifts? I’m not asking if you are a good person. I’m not asking if you go to church. I’m not asking if you are a member of a church. I’m not asking if you have been baptized. I’m asking if you have ever recognized the fact that you have a desperate need for what Jesus the Christ has to offer. I’m asking if you have ever confessed that need to Him. I’m asking if you have asked Him for the gift that He bought and payed for long ago. I’m asking if you have truly repented of your sins and given your life to Him and sincerely asked Him to be your Lord and Master. Have you? If not, you can do that today. There can be no better gift for you this Christmas and, take it from me, there can be no better friend than Him.
