Sing: Joy to the World
Sing: What Child is This?
Sing: O Come, O Come Emmanuel
It is Christmas Eve! The date we’ve been waiting for is here! We celebrate the birth tonight of the long-awaited Savior. All the songs we’ve sung, the decorations we’ve hung, cookies we’ve baked and eaten- it’s all been in preparation and celebration of this wonderful night.
This year I found myself thinking a lot about Christmas. I’ve been thinking about the traditions we keep and the way we celebrate. There are so many ways that Christians celebrate Christmas. Most Christians in America seem to celebrate in the typical holiday fashion with presents and stockings from “Santa,” decorating their homes with Santa and elves. They might even tell their children that Santa is real. Other Christians wait to celebrate Christmas from the 25th to January 6th and they give 12 days of Christmas presents and celebrate what is called Epiphany. Still other Christians eschew gift giving to each other, and instead give gifts to Jesus through acts of service, donations, or offerings. I think whatever Christians do, I think the important thing is to evaluate what you do and why.
In my family, we go all out celebrating birthdays. We hang banners, signs and other decorations. We make fancy food, give gifts and bake a cake. To celebrate Jesus’ birthday, we do all those same things and more. Instead of one day of celebration, we celebrate for the entire month of December. We also countdown the days to Christmas by opening doors on an advent calendar, and observe the four special Sundays of Advent. I am not a fan of Santa and I do my best to keep him out of Christmas. In that effort, we open gifts on Christmas Eve. Then, on Christmas Day, we have an actual birthday party for Jesus. We bake a cake and wear paper crowns. We even sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. I remember one day I asked my kids when they were little why we give gifts to each other on Christmas Eve. My son said that we give gifts because God gave us the gift of Jesus and so we should also give gifts to each other. I think that is a great reason!
I think Jesus loves the celebrating we do in honor of Him. He wants us to praise Him and worship Him. I think singing Christmas Carols that are about Him is a beautiful thing. It’s the only time of year when we might hear songs about Jesus in grocery stores and malls. I love driving around and seeing manger scenes and lights set up in people's yards. My prayer every year is that God will use all these songs and images of His birth to draw people to Him. Consciously or unconsciously, people are thinking about Jesus’ birth. I see it as free advertising for the Gospel. I also think that God used very similar tactics to announce Jesus’ birth.
Luke 2:8-15
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
God tasked an angel to visit shepherds in order to tell them about Jesus’ birth. Then more angels appeared and they all praised God. It doesn’t say that the angels sang the praise, but my guess is it sounded like singing.
God also used another unique way to announce Jesus’ birth: He used a star. Matthew 2:1-3 tells us, “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’” God decorated the sky with a once in all of history celestial occurrence, all to advertise Jesus’ birth.
The star that God used to announce Jesus’ birth must have been truly wondrous to see. If we could see God’s Christmas star, it would make our decorations look pretty insignificant. Just like artificial lighting is no substitute for the sun, so our Christmas lights do not even compare to what God’s star must have looked like in the night sky.
God used nature, for of course there was no electricity. There were no news stations broadcasting footage of happenings. If you’ve ever been out in the country somewhere where there is no light pollution, the light from the stars and the moon is so much more amplified than if light from the city is seen. The darker the sky, the brighter the stars shine.
I think God also used a star to broadcast Jesus’ birth because many times throughout Scripture, Jesus is referred to as the Light. In John 8:12, Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world; the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
If we are following Jesus, we are walking in the light. 1 John 1:6-8 tells us, “If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
Light is a consistent metaphor that Scripture uses to describe the kingdom of God, just as darkness is consistently used to describe the devil and those who do not follow God.
Back when Jesus was born, this metaphor would have been even more powerful because people did not have the amount of light that we do. Not too long ago in the history of the world was electric light even invented. Before that, all people used for light was fire, and lamp oil was precious, so once the sun went down, most people went to bed and would be in total darkness. Any light that would be lit would shine very brightly. Only if there was a full moon and a cloudless sky, it would be light enough outside to see.
Today, we have lights everywhere. Every night before I fall asleep, I spend quite a bit of time trying to cover up all the little lights from outside and from electronics. All these streetlights, porch lights, and all the many electric lights, they are all manmade. They are artificial lights. It’s strange to me that the artificial lights don’t add to the light of the stars and moon, they obscure the light in the sky. They actually end up diminishing the brightness of the stars.
I wonder, does manmade Christianity do the same thing to Biblical Christianity? Does all the many copies and fake doctrines that so many people put out claiming to be a form of Christianity diminish the brightness of the true Gospel? Do false gospels obscure the message of Scripture?
Sometimes we can read or hear a message that sounds pretty good and seems to make sense. It could even make us feel encouraged and good about ourselves, but it’s just a manmade version of the truth. If there is just enough truth in it that it tricks us into agreeing with it, it can make it hard to spot the lie.
2 Timothy 4:3 warns us, “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” How then do we know if something is sound doctrine? How do we tell the truth from a lie?
Like Jesus said, the way we can know if we are following the Light, is if we are walking in darkness or not. If we are walking in the way of darkness, in the ways of the world, then we are not in the light. If we follow Him, we won’t walk in darkness.
If we fill our Christmastime with all the secular trappings of Santa and commercialism, it can obscure and diminish the true meaning of Christmas, just like all the artificial lights can make the stars, that God created, harder to see. But the Bible give us an assurance.
John 1:5 says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” This verse is talking about the birth of Jesus. He is the light that shines in the darkness of this world. All the darkness, all the manmade doctrines, all the sin cannot overcome Him. He has overcome the world. All the artificial lights might make it harder to see the stars, but if we look for them we will find they are still there, cutting through the darkness. Just as if we look for the Truth, we will find it is still there, unchanged and steady.
This Light burst forth over 2,000 years ago. His birth was so significant and history altering that we are still singing praise and celebrating His birth today. As much as the world tries to obscure, diminish, and change the meaning of this day, it will not overcome the Light of Jesus.
Let’s celebrate His birth by lighting these candles as a symbol of Jesus our Savior, Light of this world.
Sing: Silent Night
Pray: We praise You dear Jesus for coming to earth as a baby. We are in awe of Your love for us. Thank You for humbling Yourself and suffering for us. We celebrate You and praise Your name. Like the angels said, “ “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
We give all glory and praise to You. Holy Spirit, help us to share and shine the Light of Your love to everyone we meet. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
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