The True Meaning of Christmas, won't be found at a Shopping Mall

The 2012 Christmas shopping season is off to a very fast start this year.   Retail stores opened late on Thanksgiving eve for the first time with enticing deals too good to pass up.  Then there’s the traditional onslaught of shoppers hitting the stores before dawn on Black Friday, and now the day after has been dubbed small Business Saturday, lest we forget the bargains offered at the independent stores outside the big malls and then there’s the pinnacle of frenetic shopping... Cyber Monday when everyone goes online and buys and buys and buys until carpel tunnel syndrome cripples the mouse hand.

Shopping, buying stuff for family and friends, has become the defining characteristic of the Holiday season. It’s not Christmas anymore... it’s a secular shopping frenzy.  The true meaning of December 25th is waning in the hearts and minds and many.  Jesus, the Christ?  Who’s that?  What’s he got to do with a 52” flat screen TV at the unbelievable price of $299?

The evidence is all around us... the growing use of “Season’s Greetings!” or “Happy Holidays!” rather than “Merry Christmas!” Businesses and individuals who prefer not to mention Christmas claim they don’t want to offend anyone who is not a Christian.  I say that if the traditional words containing Christ’s name offend, then so be it. People who understand the authentic meaning of Christmas will not worry about displeasing others; they will simply be thankful that they have a Savior to honor, proclaim and share with the world.  

Christmas is a celebration of the historic moment when God came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ for the purpose of redeeming sinful man. This story begins not in a manger, but rather in Adam and Eve’s garden. There, the Lord initiated a plan that included a genealogical line that would remain unbroken throughout centuries of human suffering, slavery, famine, and turbulence, ultimately leading to the arrival of the long promised Messiah.

From the beginning of time, God prepared the world for Christ’s arrival and the impact his presence would have on humanity then, now and forevermore. Roman conquests placed men like Caesar Augustus in charge—his call for a census served God’s purposes by leading Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, where the prophesied Messiah was to be born. (Micah 5:2) And Rome’s influence also led to a network of roads, which years later would enable the Apostle Paul and many others to spread the Good News of the risen Jesus Christ to the known world.

God arranged all of this so that at just the right time, Jesus Christ could arrive on earth as a human baby who would grow up to be our Savior, dying for mankind’s sins. We should be truly thankful for Christmas!   God’s gift to humanity lasts forever, has eternal benefits and keeps on giving.

The Message of Christmas (Luke 2:1-20)

The message of Christmas isn’t just embodied in familiar nativity images... that of a baby born, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger and surrounded by strange characters and animals. We must remember the reason this baby was born.  There has never been, nor will there ever be again, a child born like the Christ-child.

The true message of Christmas is that the Eternal God came to earth, born of a human woman, in the form of man, in order to save His own creation. It was a necessity, because fallen man was trapped by the ravages of sin. There is no remission of sin without the shedding of blood, so God’s perfect plan meant He had to provide a substitutionary sacrifice to atone for man’s sin. That tiny baby in swaddling clothes came for a purpose. He came to die so that humanity might live!

Those infant hands that reached for mommy as a child, were the very same hands that would later be nailed to a rugged, wooden cross. They were the same hands that, though scarred, carefully folded his burial wrappings (John 20:7).  When He rose from the dead, He defeated sin and death and opened the way for humanity to embrace the promise of eternal life.  

This Christmas season, when everything seems so frantic, don’t let yourself get caught up in the materialism and busyness and miss the best deal that’s even been.  When you come across a manger scene, notice the baby, but think beyond Christ’s infancy to the real reason for His coming. Make an effort to remember the real message of Christmas. 

Remember His hands. Remember His heart. Remember His undying love for you. 

How should a Christian view politics?

One week after the election and the divisive rhetoric goes on.  The politically divided people of America are already preparing for the next battle.  At times like these, after a bitter and hard-fought election, it's customary to at least attempt to talk about burying the hatchet, reaching across the aisle, working together for the good of the country... pick your metaphor.  Don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen.

If there is anything that will spark a spontaneous debate, if not an outright argument, it is a discussion involving politics—even among believers.  As followers of Christ, what should our attitude and our involvement with politics be?  It has been said that “religion and politics don’t mix.”  But is that really true? Can we have political views outside the foundations of our Christian faith? The answer is no, we cannot. The Bible gives us two unassailable truths regarding our stance towards politics and government.

The first truth is that the will of God permeates and supersedes every aspect of life. It is God’s will that takes precedence over everything and everyone (Matthew 6:33). God’s plans and purposes are fixed and His will is inviolable. What He has purposed, He will bring to pass, and no government can thwart His will (Daniel 4:34-35). In fact, it is God who “sets up kings and deposes them” (Daniel 2:21) because “the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes” (Daniel 4:17). A clear understanding of this truth will help us to see that politics is merely a method God uses to accomplish His will. Even though evil men abuse their political power, meaning it for evil, God means it for good, working “all things together for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

Second, we must grasp the fact that our government cannot save us! Only God can. We never read in the New Testament of Jesus or any of the apostles expending any time or energy schooling believers on how to reform the pagan world of its idolatrous, immoral, and corrupt practices via the government. The apostles never called for believers to demonstrate civil disobedience to protest the Roman Empire's unjust laws or brutal schemes. Instead, the apostles commanded the first-century Christians, as well as us today, to proclaim the gospel and live lives that would give clear evidence to its transforming power.

There is no doubt that our responsibility to government is to obey the laws and be good citizens (Romans 13:1-2). God has established all authority and He does so for our benefit, “to commend those who do right” (1 Peter 2:13-15). Paul tells us in Romans 13:1-8 that it is the government’s responsibility to rule in authority over us—hopefully for our good—to collect taxes, and to keep the peace. Where we have a voice and can elect our leaders, Christians should exercise that right by supporting those whose views most closely parallel our own... which must always be aligned with Godly principles and values.

Having said that, it should be noted that one of the grandest deceptions of Satan placed within the mind of man is to believe that we can rest our hope for cultural morality and godly living in politicians and governmental officials. This nation’s hope for change, for a better life, is not to be found in the halls of Congress or in the White House or in any country’s ruling class. The church has made a huge mistake in thinking that it is the job of our politicians to defend, to advance, and to guard biblical truths and Christian values.

The church’s unique, God-given purpose does not lie in political activism. Nowhere in Scripture do we have the directive to spend our energy, our time, or our money in governmental affairs. Our mission lies not in changing the nation through political reform, but in changing hearts through the Word of God. When believers think the growth and influence of Christ can somehow be allied with government policy, they corrupt the mission of the church. Our Christian mandate is to spread the gospel of Christ and to preach against the sins of our time. Only as the hearts of individuals in a culture are changed by Christ will the culture begin to reflect that change.

Believers throughout the ages have lived, and even flourished, under antagonistic, repressive, pagan governments. This was especially true of the first-century believers who, under merciless political regimes, sustained their faith under immense cultural stress. They understood that it was they, not their governments, who were the light of the world, the salt of the earth. They adhered to Paul’s teaching to obey their governing authorities, even to honor, respect, and pray for them (Romans 13:1-8). More importantly, they understood that as believers, their hope resided in the protection that only God supplies. The same holds true for us today. When we follow the teachings of the Scriptures, we become the light of the world as God has intended for us to be in the first place (Matthew 5:16).

The bottom line is this: political entities are not the savior of the world. The salvation for all mankind has been manifested through Jesus Christ. God knew that our world needed saving long before any national government was ever founded. 

God demonstrated to the world that redemption could not be accomplished through the power of man, his economic strength, his military might, or his politics. Peace of mind, contentment, hope and joy—and the salvation of mankind—is accomplished only through His work of faith, love, and grace.

Money, Money... Show me da Money!

"As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor--this is the gift of God." Ecclesiastes 5:19

Sounds pretty good doesn’t it?  Money... a gift from God?  Now, that’s my kind of gift!

According to God's Word, money can't satisfy us, and it can hurt us. Money can be the root of many bad and corrupting things in our lives. 1 Timothy 6:10 says... For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.   But there's another side to wealth. Solomon, the wealthiest man of his day, tells us that riches also can be seen as a gift from God. In fact, it's only how we sometimes misuse the wealth God gives us that brings a negative connotation to money. God is not against money; He is, however, against greed and other uses of money that distort and corrupt our life balance.

Seventeen of the Lord's parables have to do with property and stewardship. Clearly, this was an important subject to Jesus. The problem is we have a skewed understanding of what wealth is. A typical dictionary defines wealth as "A large aggregate of real and personal property, an abundance of those material or worldly things that men desire to possess." That definition catches the spirit and greed of our times perfectly.  

Real wealth is a lot more than just money. Wealth is the sum total of all that God has given us. Genesis 13 makes it apparent in Abraham's day that wealth was defined by the number of cattle or the number of camels a person owned. Later on, wealth was determined by the amount of land that an individual owned (Joshua 17). In our society, possessions of all types determine wealth. Your computers, automobiles, sport utility vehicles, stock market holdings, money market funds and all the other stuff you own constitute your wealth.  But that's the definition of wealth in the mind of a flawed society. It doesn't take into account everything God has done. If we want to understand the truth about wealth, we need to consider other factors to get a true understanding.

One of the greatest displays of personal wealth in recorded history is that of King David of Israel in preparation for building the first temple in Jerusalem. Out of his own personal wealth, David gave 3,000 talents of gold and seven thousand talents of silver—an amount worth about $5.9 billion in today's dollars. The leaders of Israel contributed several times more.  

What do you think the first words from David's mouth were after these billions of dollars of commodities were collected? "Blessed are You, Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever" (1 Chronicles 29:10). The first thing David did was "praise God from whom all blessings flow" (to use the words of the modern Doxology). 

David knew everything they had given to build the temple had come from God and they were giving back to God only what God had previously given to them.  A lack of praise in times of prosperity may mean we are confused about the source of our blessings.

Like ancient Israel’s King David, when we understand wealth as a gift of God, that it comes from God, that he allows it to exist and circulate among humanity, then we properly understand that all wealth belongs to God.  We humans are nothing more than stewards of what rightfully belongs to God.  

This is a very difficult attitude for the world and many Christians, to accept. But the Bible makes it clear that God created everything, God sustains everything and God owns everything. Psalm 104:24 declares, "The earth is full of Your possessions." In 1 Chronicles 29:11 we read, "Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours." Haggai 2:8 reminds us, "'The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,' says the LORD of Hosts." Everything in the ground, everything above the ground, everything in the air, everything that passes through the air ultimately belongs to God. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth of every generation, the wealth of every nation that has ever existed.

When we believe that wealth belongs to us, we get ourselves in trouble. We say, "It's mine, I earned it, I worked hard for it. It belongs to me, and I'll do with it whatever I want."   If that's your attitude, you have been duped by Satan in a big way. Satan wants us to believe that everything we have belongs to us and we are not responsible to anyone for how we use it. But the truth is it's not ours; it's God's. Wealth is a stewardship from God. We are just holding God's wealth for Him, using what we need of it to live on, and investing the rest so that it will bring a greater yield to Him (Matthew 25:14-30). God wants to see what we'll do with it. So whether it's money, land or possessions, we will never be rightly related to what we have until we recognize that it is not ours. All that we have belongs to God.

Consider these questions:  Are you spending all your time trying to save your wealth? Are you constantly seeking to find new and better ways to have bigger and better things? If you think like that, then take this wisdom to heart, and it will keep you from personal ruin. Don't treat what money you have, whether it's a little or a lot, as your own. Treat it as God's and it won't buy things you don't need. Treat the wealth you have as God's, and it won't rule your life. If you treat it as God's, you'll discover that it will go a lot further than it does now.

Everything you have is God's gift to you. What you do with everything God gives you is your gift to Him. Is your life all about getting or all about giving?

If you have more than you need today, give thanks to God for your prosperity... then share it with those in need.  (James 1:27)