Celebrating Christ

Stefan Van der Merwe

When it comes to birthday’s I know that not everybody likes to celebrate their birthdays. I know a couple of friends, and one of them is a pastor that had his birthday a week or so ago. He, like many others I know, does not really like to make a big fuss about celebrating birthdays. I get that, but then there are others who take birthday celebrations to a whole new level.

Here are other fun facts about birthdays for you:

• The most expensive birthday party ever reported to be the 50th birthday party of the Sultan of Brunei on his 50th birthday — it is said to have cost him 27.2 Million Dollars. I think my 50th birthday next year in February will probably cost me less :)
• The longest birthday is 48 hours. This record-breaking attempt took place in Apia, Samoa; Auckland, New Zealand; Los Angeles, California, USA and Lihue, Hawaii, USA.
• Most candles on a regular cup-cake in history to celebrate a birthday was 235!
• Most times whistling happy birthday in one minute is 19 times!

There are actually in the Guiness book of world records about 19 different standing records relating to birthdays. Crazy isn’t it?

Should we celebrate Christmas?

So, here we are 6 days away from celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ just over 2000 years ago on this planet and today more than 2 billion people in more than 160 countries consider Christmas to be the most important holiday of the year. In the United States, 9 in 10 people celebrate the holiday — even if they are not Christian.

The celebration of Christmas as we have it today was actually not celebrated until about 336 AD. There is also a weighty amount of material that suggests that modern Christmas traditions like the date Christmas falls on, the gift giving, Christmas father and the tree with all its decorations, are merely a synthesis of a bunch of pagan traditions. Although this might all be partly true, there is hardly a person on this planet today that thinks of all these traditions as pagan today and in our day in time all the Christmas traditions have taken on new meanings. I specifically mention this today because I do not want you to think that you are sinning in any way if you keep these modern traditions.

Having said that, if we look at the world today and how they celebrate Christmas you have to ask yourself if Christmas has not lost its real meaning. The holiday seems to become bigger and bigger every year and in the guinness book of world record there is already 10 world records related to Christmas like

• The tallest hollow chocolate father Christmas,
• The most amount of lights on a Christmas tree
• The most amount of people gathering with santa hats on,

So the list goes on but not ONE of them has a Christian meaning.

Our family last week also watched a new Christmas movie called “The boy called Christmas”. It was a lovely story of a boy that sets out on an extraordinary adventure to find his father who is on a quest to discover the fabled village of Elfhelm but the true meaning of Christmas was totally absent from the story line.

It is therefore crucial that the celebration of Christmas does not entail merely these traditions alone. As Christians we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ into this world. He was, is and should always be the CENTER focus of our Christmas celebrations. If you do take the birth of Jesus Christ out of Christmas, then the celebration itself is no more Christian but indeed personal, earthy, pagan or whatever but not Christian.

So what are we celebrating?

Of course you all know the short answer to this question is the birth of Christ, but let me give you four reasons why the birth of Christ is so amazing:

The birth of Jesus means that the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

The Gospel of John begins with:

In the beginning was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning…The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. (John 1:1–1, 14)

The question is why? It is not that He condescended to a human form to show that He had the power to perform such a feat. God has never done anything in man’s life simply to display His power. God’s actions always have redemptive purposes within.

The arrival of Jesus in human form was a vital phase of God’s over-all redemptive program. Too often we become so entranced with the novelty of the story of the birth of Christ that we often fail to see His birth in its proper perspective.

The proper perspective is that it serves as the pinnacle of God working out His redemptive purpose.

A side benefit of this time of the year is that in a world stricken with so much strife, there is a peaceful interlude among most men.

How does this apply to your everyday life?

The bible is clear that all men are sinners and also teaches us that the wages of sin is death. In our daily struggle with sin, we can be sure that when God’s son Jesus Christ was born on this earth, God’s plan to set men free from their sin and the consequences of their sin became a reality for us.

Born in the flesh he also knew what is was to be tempted:

“For we do not have a high priests who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet he did not sin” (Heb 4:15)

We do not have to be overcome by our weakness and our sin — the birth of Jesus is a visible testimony to mankind that God is able to overcome sin and help us overcome sin in our lives too.

The birth of Jesus Reveals the True Nature of God.

We read in John the following:

“No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.” (John 1:18)

In the birth of Jesus we have God revealed in a more perfect and glorious manner than any previous revelation. “Mad known” means that Jesus revealed completely the Father. Jesus is the Divine Interpreter of God the Father.

When Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father before He ascended to Heaven, Jesus said:

“Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you for such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (John 14:9)

Apostle Paul also states that Jesus is

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being,.” (Hebrews 1:3).

God the Father is invisible, but Jesus was visible. The birth of Jesus and His ensuing life make it possible for all to know what God is like.

How does this apply to your everyday life?

Study the life of Jesus to know God. In our endeavor to know the God we serve we have to look no further than His son Jesus Christ. The more you know about the Son, the more you know about the Father.

On the one hand, God himself will always be a mystery to us, because we could never understand him fully. On the other hand, everything we know about him by studying his Son Jesus Christ will lead us to true knowledge of His character. Isn’t that exciting?

My challenge to you today is to study the birth, life, deeds, words and death of Jesus with a greater desire to know more about the God we serve!

The Birth of Jesus Reveals to Us the Grace of God.

John writes:

“Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given…grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:16–17)

We define grace, as “unmerited favor” and it is a proper way to define grace; however, the definition has to be explained or it is ambiguous to some.

Jesus in revealing God’s grace reveals God the Father as full of tenderness, gentleness, compassion, and is attractive to want people to draw close to Him. He who obeys the Gospel and lives a life committed to God by surrendering all to Jesus has direct access to God.

“ For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit” (Ephesians 2:18).

Jesus gives us access to the very throne of God.

“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16).

How does this apply to your everyday life?

It means that the God we serve is not a foreigner to us. We have access to Him! This access was provided to us through Jesus Christ. Not because we are so good or because we are so special but because His grace made it possible for us.

We must use this access to communicate with Him. He may not be in human form like His Son Jesus was any more, but the fact that Jesus did become Human and communicated with the people around Him tells us that God himself is also accessible to communicate with.

We read in Matthew 7:7 what Jesus said about communicating with God:

7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7).

My challenge to you is to remember that the birth of Christ should also serve as a reminder to you that access to the Father is possible — let us use this privilege to speak to Him!

The Birth of Jesus Reveals to Us the Truth of God.

The truth of God is manifested in his Son Jesus Christ.

Jesus himself said that “I am the way, the truth and the life — no one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well.” (John 14:6,7a).

In saying this Jesus explains the truth of God is seen in His son Jesus Christ. In a time where truth is often so difficult to define and subjective to say the least, God reveals his son Jesus into the world to reveal the truth to us. To show us that truth does exist!

Scripture teaches us the holy nature of truth. In John 8:44 we read that Satan is called a “liar” and the “father of lies” (8:44), showing us that the opposite of what is true is not holy.

Therefore, truth is that which conforms to reality as it is perceived by God. He knows all things exhaustively, and so we can trust anything He reveals in Scripture. Truth is not defined by our own subjective standards; it is determined by the Source of truth Himself.

How does this apply to your everyday life?

Do not search the truth out there! God and His Son Jesus Christ and the Word of God that is given to us is the embodiment of all truth in life!

In everything, look at the bible for your daily source of objective truth. Let the biblical truths guide your words, guide your actions, guide your relationships, guide your plans, guide your passions and guide you into the future