Christmas Day 2015

Every Christmas I am reminded of why we must not stop remembering and retelling the story of the first Christmas; why we must not stop singing the carols and listening to the readings from the bible which tell us of this wonderful point in history when God came to earth in order to put us right with Him and to teach us how to live. It really is so important because in the past few years I am sure you must have noticed how, increasingly, those who want to live without God and according to their own rules and desires have been trying to take the ‘Christ’ out of ‘Christmas’ and to replace Him with their own ideas. They think that their innovations are their own ideas when actually, if you stop to analyse them, they are just updated forms of the very things that Christianity first put a stop to because those things were so destructive of human nature and of humanity itself.

Jesus described Himself as ‘the Light’; and the darkness, which Jesus came to dispel, has always tried and continues to try its best to overcome the Light - whether by force or, more successfully, by deceiving us that darkness is actually light. We need to insist on retelling the unique story of Christmas: at the same time we must be on our guard against those trying to replace it with something else. So I would like to give you something to take away with you this morning to think about in the days to come about what is truly unique about Christmas and why it is so important  that we don’t let people deceive us and take the ‘Christ’ out of ‘Christmas’.

At Christmas we sing of and listen to readings about God’s ‘gift’ of Jesus to the world; 

His gift of a Saviour to those desperately in need of one – whether they realise this or not, or choose not to do so. And so at Christmas time we give each other gifts as reminders of God’s gift to us. But there are some uniquely special things about this gift of God’s son that are not just comforting but also challenging; challenging to our lives, challenging to how we see ourselves, and challenging to how we see and treat other people.

How many of you have visited Santa’s Grotto this Christmas? Did he ask you a question? When I was young we were always asked whether or not we had been a good; and I was always glad that my mother had to wait outside the grotto!  But when God offers us the gift of His Son, he does not ask us ‘Have you been a good boy or a good girl?’ He asks simply ‘Will you trust in my Son to repair what you have broken and will you welcome Him as your Saviour and Lord of your life?’ God knows that we have not been good, or at least not as good as even we know we ought; but because He loves us and wants Heaven to be full, he offers us a solution to the problem facing each one of us, the problem of ‘how can we possibly be good enough for Heaven?’ He does not look at our track record of behaviour because none of us is good enough. He is not like the Santa of the song who ‘gives his toys only to good girls and boys’. No, He offers the gift of eternal life to any who genuinely believe in His Son, Jesus Christ. The reason for Jesus’ coming, in the line of the carol we have just sung, was ‘to fit us for Heaven to live with you there’. Did you know that Jesus spoke more about Heaven than he did about anything else? He did so because He wanted everyone to be there and to know how to get there; and He taught that whilst He could deal with our sins and take them away, He cannot deal with our pride and our unbelief if we insist on clinging on to them: we have to let go of these if we are to receive His wonderful gift.

Sadly, many people actually prefer the Santa of the song and the idea that God is only interested in the ‘good girls and boys’ - and of course they usually include themselves in that group! But you will find this idea nowhere in the teaching of Jesus because He knows that it would be utterly unfair if heaven were open only to ‘good’ people. The fact is that no one can be so good that they do not need to accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour: equally so, no one can be so bad that He will not forgive them and accept them if they truly want to know Him for ever. Entry to Heaven is not by our merit but by His invitation.

The coming of Jesus into the world that first Christmas was a rescue mission so that all, whatever our track records, successes or failures, might be saved through Him. 

This is why we must not stop proclaiming the Christmas message, the Gospel or ‘Good News’ that God loves the undeserving and offers them new life both now and in eternity but only through faith in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the liberating and life-enhancing message of Christmas that must never be lost and must continue to be shared with everyone: it is for everyone regardless; and it is Good News indeed. Why, the best Christmas present we could ever give anyone would be to introduce them to Jesus.