The Meaning of Christmas
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1 Now when Jesus was born in Beth-lehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
Now, these wise men were from the land of Persia, which was called the Parthian Empire in the days of Christ
This was a significant journey for these men to take
it would have taken them a great deal of effort - leaving their life on hold
they had their own lives, their own business going on, as fairly high ranking people in Persia
they up and left their homeland, making a long and arduous journey on the backs of camels
11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
They fell down and worshipped Him, the baby Christ
this was an incredibly important moment in the world, they knew things would never be the same, a new era had come into the world
they gave Him these gifts, all of which were very prized and valuable
gold, frankincense, myrhh - you may wonder, why are some spices mixed in with something super valuable like gold?
in older times, some spices were incredibly valuable
for instance, at certain points in medieval history, some spices were worth more than gold for it’s weight - no refrigeration, so they needed to make their food taste a bit better
so people from different points in history had various uses for these spices - point being, they were of much more use to people back then than they are today - hence the value
so we see that they brought Christ these very valuable gifts, realizing the magnitude of what they were seeing
4 I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards:
5 I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits:
6 I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees:
9 So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.
Solomon had it all, he made great works, houses, vineyards, gardens
he had everything he needed to feel rich, to feel as if he’s complete, to feel happy
Solomon did not need anyone else, he could have made it all on his own with his own earthly possessions, right? that would have been enough
11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.
He has all these things, but he says it’s all vain and there was no profit from them
but why does he say this? he has everything, but there is something missing in this list.
16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
So like Solomon, we have another wealthy person here, who is doing so good he doesn’t even have room to store all of his crop
you would think that this guy has it all, he has everything, he should be doing well in his life
18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
Essentially, this guy is doing so well that he has to build bigger storage. that’s what he decided to do with all his wealth
we see the thought process of the man play out, he thinks he’s just good to go, he’s got everything he needs and so now he’s just going to bask in all of it and celebrate
we also see that he’s primarily concerned with the material things of life, this is what’s taking up space in his brain, taking up most of his thinking
20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
we see that this man had everything going for him, but he was missing the Lord
we have to watch out for this in our lives, we have so much going on in the world today
we cannot be so consumed with the material things in life, with the every day things in life, when we have a day such as Christmas
we celebrate Christmas, we have all the decorations and gifts, but do we really have the Lord involved in our Christmas celebrations?
is it beyond just a veneer?
we live in a very complicated world today, especially when you compare it to older times
we have things to think about that have never existed in the history of the world, tv’s, cell phones, etc.
we started this off by talking about Christmas, so let’s loop that back into the discussion
we live in America, in the west, all of us are blesed to be here, we have so much, even the poorest among us tend to be doing well.
We have pretty much everything need, Solomon was talking about having all of this stuff
while we might not be rich in today’s age like Solomon, we pretty much have plenty of everything we need, most of us are blessed enough not to have to worry about having water, a mattress, etc
when you compare us to people who live in other areas of the world it really puts things into perspective
we have so much, but many times this comes with so much distraction. there is so much to think about, so much to do, so much to keep in mind
we have to pay the bills, we have to buy gifts, we have to go to work, we have to keep up with our lives
and I’m not saying anything is wrong with that, not at all, i’m saying that it keeps our minds awfully busy
we watch tv or go to the store, and we see all this stuff about buying gifts and santa, it’s all over the place
we also know in recent years there has been an effort to make Christmas more univeral to people who aren’t believers, to make Christmas all about other things
we all remember the “happy holidays” controversy a few years ago, right?
we go to these celebration at families houses’, everyone looks forward to the dinner and everything
everyone has to get all the stuff together, cooking, wrapping gifts, etc. a lot of stuff goes in to these family get-togethers
the point being, there are so many things keeping us busy, so many other things about Christmas to be on our minds
The promise of redemption had been told by God from pretty much the very beginning
we have at the fall when God said that the woman’s seed will bruise the serpent’s head, and that he will bruise his heel
we have moses saying to be looking forward to a prophet like him
we have the book of Isaiah and all the other prophecies talking about Christ
The Jews had been waiting for their messiah to come for ages and ages, thousands of years, but they had been patiently waiting
so when Christ finally did come about, this was an absolutely world changing event
this was something that totally changed the world
we think about Christ and His mission on this planet
we were a fallen people, lost in sin, in desperate need of a savior
think of what this world would be like had Christ never come, where we would be, what kind of situation we would be in
Look at Simeon from the book of Luke, how passionate and excited he was, and how he’d been eagerly awaiting Christ
28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart In peace, according to thy word:
30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
v29 shows just how appreciative of God’s blessings he is
v30 thankfully, by the grace of God, we are all able to see this salvation as well
think about life beforehand, what life could be without Christ
what would the world be like without Him? look at all the good things Christianity has brought into the world by God’s grace
what would our life be like without Him?
certainly our lives would be vastly different, we all know our inner selves and know where we might have been
what would our life be like without the change God’s made in our lives
We think about Christ’s entrance into this world, and we see that it was the entrance of the salvation that simeon is talking about
it’s the light that has lightened the gentiles
it was the start of something new and glorious
it was the fulfilment of what God had been promising for so long, through His own Word, prophecies, types, etc
sometimes we talk about the fact that the theme of the entire Bible centers around Christ
in fact, all of human history seems to be centered around it
think about how we name our years, we are nearing the end of 2022 AD, anno domini, and we do the same thing for BC, before Christ
the mission of Christ is THE MOST IMPORTANT event in the history of the world
so when we think about these things, that Christ Jesus has given us salvation, the bread of life, water that truly satisfies our thirst
He’s given us an eternal home in heaven, He’s taught us so much from His infinite wisdom
Christ has enabled us to change, He helps us to defeat the bondage of sin in our lives and to become more like Him every day
He sent us the Holy Spirit who leads us throughout our lives, and guides us into all truth
When we think about the fact that Christ is the one and only benevolent God, the greatest man to have ever walked the earth
He’s the greatest person who was involved in the greatest events in the history of the world
that not only affected humanity as a whole
but each and every one of us believers individually
So we loop back around to Christmas again and think, “How are we spending our Christmas?:
first of all, how are we spending out time?
are we spending every single moment of Christmas too busy to even think about what the true meaning is?
we often say or think things like “We need to put the ‘Christ’ back into Christmas”
but are we really doing it in a way that is more than superficial?
we can put up a poster, or send our a card, or mention it every once in a while
or we can truly take some time and reflect on what actually happened, what the actual and true meaning is
secondly, how are we thinking on Christmas?
are we thinking abou the gifts?
are we thinking about the dinners?
are we thinking more about family?
are we focused on the decorations or anything else like that?
What a shame it would be to let a Christmas go by and not even carve out AT LEAST just a LITTLE bit of time to reflect on what Christmas is truly about
it’s the entrance of Christ Jesus, our savior, into the world
not only our savior, but the savior of every man
really, Christmas would be a great time to witness to others, a good time to tell the wonderful story
when Christ’s birth was announced, we see the following...
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
The angel of the Lord announced to the shpeherds what a great and glorious time they were in, these were the shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night
we see what the angel said, that He brings “good tidings of great joy”
we should be celebrating THIS every Christmas, the good tidings of great joy, because of Christ coming into the world
is this what we’re truly focused on this Christmas? or are we focused on eating, family, and gifts
don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with these things, but there is a time and a place for everything, and priorities must be in the right place
Just like the wise men, the shepherds went right to bethlehem to see what was happening and to worship the Lord
So let’s put it all together
we have the God promising the coming of Christ into the world throughout the Bible since the very beginning
we have the wise men, who traveled 1000 miles on camels to see Christ at His coming
we see the shepherds going to see Him after finding out about His birth
we see how happy Simeon was when he first saw Jesus in the temple
We also see a similar thing from a woman named Anna who was also in the temple
What we’re seeing is that everyone who knew about Christ’s coming and what was going on, they thanked God and went straight to Him
they realized it was the entrance of salvation into the world for every man
as Simeon put it, a light to the gentiles started shining in the world
the entrance of hope into this world for every man
So we, looking back, see all of this stuff and know all of this stuff
but how are we spending our Christmas’?
how are we spending our time?
how are we spending our thoughts?
is there any REAL room for Christ in our celebrations? or are we too busy with the material and earthly things?
we can say “Let’s put the Christ back into Christmas” all day long
but it really shows in our actions, Jesus said we will be known by our fruits
Are we taking any time out of Christmas for reverence, for thankfulness, for just awe of what the day truly stands for and means?
or are we just spending our time on everything but?