Tag: Christmas
The Family Christmas Card Photo
What is it about the family Christmas card photo that brings out the worst in people? This is an insightful interpretation about the lessons we can learn. The camera captures a typical family as they really are, but the card’s end result is a snapshot of who we can be through the hope of Jesus’ birth.
Early Christian Heresies
My Bible study group on Sundays has been going through Second Peter for the past several weeks. In chapter two we get a pretty good description of the false teachers that crept into the church (2 Peter 2:1). I believe that people are easily led astray by persuasive arguments when they fail to develop a first hand faith (Colossians 2:4, 5, Acts 18:4, 19:8, 26:28, 28:24, 1 Corinthians 2:4-5, Galatians 5:7-9). Faith that is built upon convictions will not be moved, whereas a second hand faith can be tossed around by the waves (James 1:6).
Second hand faith looks like this: I believe that Jesus is the Savior because my preacher says so. My parents taught me that the Bible is the Word of God. My Sunday School teacher told me to stay away from this sin or that belief.
First hand faith develops a conviction that will not be persuaded when we get a knock on the door and are told that there is another testament of Jesus Christ in North America. First hand faith will not fall when someone reads books from authors like Richard Dawkins, who teach that God is only a delusion.
So, let’s take a look at some of the heresies that threatened the early church:
Most of the eyewitnesses to Jesus’ ministry had died by the time John composed this letter. Some of the second- or third-generation Christians began to have doubts about what they had been taught about Jesus. Some Christians with a Greek background had a hard time believing that Jesus was human as well as divine, because in Platonic thought the spirit was all-important. The body was only a prison from which one desired to escape. Heresies developed from a uniting of this kind of Platonic thought and Christianity.
A particularly widespread false teaching, later called Docetism (from a Greek work meaning “to seem”) held that Jesus was actually a spirit who only appeared to have a body. In reality he cast no shadow and left no footprints; he was God, but not man.
Another heretical teaching, related to Gnosticism (from a Greek word meaning “knowledge”) held that all physical matter was evil, the spirit was good, and only the intellectually enlightened could enjoy the benefits of religion. Both groups found it hard to believe in a Savior who was fully human.
John answers these false teachers as an eyewitness to Jesus’ life on earth. He saw Jesus, talked with him, touched him, he knew that Jesus was more than a mere spirit (1 John 1:1, 2, 3). In the very first sentence of his gospel, John establishes that Jesus had been alive before the world began (John 1:1) and also that he lived as a man among men and women (John 1:14). In other words, he was both divine and human. That’s the incarnation; that’s what Christmas is all about.
Through the centuries, many heretics have denied that Jesus was both God and man. In John’s day people had trouble believing he was human; today more people have problems seeing him as God. But Jesus’ divine-human nature is the pivotal issue of Christianity; 100 percent God, 100 percent man, not half and half. Before you accept what religious teachers say about any topic listen carefully to what they believe about Jesus. To deny either his divinity or his humanity is to consider him less than Christ, the Savior (1 John 4:2, 2 John 1:7).
The Advent Conspiracy
I like the idea of spending less on ourselves and more on the poor, hurting and lonely in this world around us. I wonder what Jesus would think about what the church (and America) is doing in celebration of His birth.
At King’s Grant we have a Missions Catalogue that lists a half dozen opportunities to give in order to make an eternal difference. Remember that John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world that He gave…”
Worship Fully This Christmas
The season is upon us, and so is the need to spend more than we have to give gifts to people who already have so much. Can we get back to modest gifts of love and appreciation in the celebration of the Father giving the greatest gift of all, His Son?
But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. –Galatians 4:4
This is a time of giving, not a time of extravagance.
For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. –John 3:16
Nativity Mythbusters
This past Sunday we looked at the census, the announcement to the shepherds and the young couple’s experience at the nativity in Bethlehem. The focus was on the popular image that we have of the nativity, and how Christmas cards influence our understanding of the birth event more than our knowledge of the realities of childbirth.
We often sanitize the event, ignoring the dirt, smells, stench, pain and chaos that would have been present during a birth in a stable some 2000 years ago. We “holify” the couple as superhuman characters who deal with all of these challenges. We don’t hear the baby cry, smell the soiled diapers, or see Mary sneezing due to the hay.
I love that show Mythbusters. What would Adam and Jamie discover if they visited the nativity?
- Were there angels singing? Luke 2:10 says the angels were speaking, not singing. Luke 2:13 mention the angels praising God and “saying…” Busted.
- Was Jesus born on the same night they arrived in Bethlehem? Luke 2:6 only mentions that while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. It could have been several hours or several days or several weeks. Not clear.
- Was Jesus born in a stable? The Bible does not mention a stable. It is only from Luke 2:7 that we get this idea, since the baby was laid in a manger, a feeding trough for animals. Busted.
- Was there an innkeeper? Luke 2:7 simply mentions a fact that there was no room in the inn (inn is found in more traditional translations), but there was no record of an innkeeper closing the door on the desperate couple. Busted.
- Was there “no vacancy” at the Bethlehem Holiday Inn? There is an interesting word comparison in the gospel of Luke. Luke 2:7 and Luke 22:11 use the same Greek word (kataluma) translated inn and then guest house. Both would assume a place of lodging for guests, but read on. Perhaps Mary and Joseph were planning to stay at the home of relatives. A typical home arrangement would be a central courtyard with rooms arranged around it, guest sleeping in a barracks-style formation. A larger home might have a second floor called the upper room (like for Jesus and His last Passover). Since the house could have been full of relatives (all coming to Bethlehem for the census) this crowded home was no place to give birth (remembering the realities of childbirth – pain, screaming, blood, etc.). So, Mary may have descended to a more private place for the birth, away from children and other relatives. Interesting possibility.
- Was Joseph alone with Mary to deliver the baby? While Scripture is silent on this, the assumption is, yes. But if the scene above is a possibility, female family members may have been there to aid Mary in the birth. Interesting possibility.
- Where’s the little drummer boy? Nice story, but totally made up. The importance of the holiday in church life has given rise to many auxiliary stories and legendary characters! Strike all the stories about Frosty, Santa, Rudolph, Scrooge, and even Christmas Shoes. Busted.
- Were there three kings from the orient? The Scripture mentions that magi came, following a star, which led them to Jerusalem (Matthew 2:1-2) and then to Bethlehem (Matthew 2:9), but it does not mention how many. Magi were the wise men, perhaps the astronomers of the day, not kings. The only reason we sing about three wise men, is because there were three gifts given. Busted on kings, three is ambiguous.
- Did the magi visit Jesus in the manger? Matthew 2:11 mentions that they came into the house to present him their gifts, not a stable. Busted.
- Does your nativity have shepherds and wise men in the same scene? A closer look at the story indicates two separate events. Matthew 2:16 tells us that Herod sought to kill all males two years old and younger, according to the time determined from the magi. Perhaps it took a while for the magi to arrive in Bethlehem. Busted.
The emphasis is that Mary and Joseph, although willing to go along with this whole Messiah plan, might have felt that this was not what they signed up for. This is unfamiliar territory, being harder than they anticipated. The lesson for us should be that when we follow God’s leading, and life gets harder, keep the faith! We cannot be like the freed Israelites wanting to go back to Egypt just because it gets a little tough in the wilderness!
Merry Christmas to you all. Keep the Son in your eyes,
Scott
When was the First Christmas?
No one really knows when Christ was born. It probably was not December 25, because Scripture says there were shepherds in the fields watching over their flocks, and that would have been highly unlikely in the middle of winter.
Our focus on December 25 came from the Roman holiday called Saturnalia. This was a pagan observance of the birthday of the unconquered sun. Saturnalia began December 19 each year, which, in the, northern hemisphere, is when the days start getting longer, and continued with seven days of festivities.
Many of our Christmas customs have their origins in Saturnalia, which was marked by feasting, parades, special music, gift giving, lighted candles, and green trees. As Christianity spread through the Roman Empire, the pagan holiday was given Christian connotations. In 336 Emperor Constantine declared Christ’s birthday an official Roman holiday. Some church leaders, such as Chrysostom, rebuked Christians for adopting a pagan holiday, but December 25 has endured as the date we celebrate Christ’s birth.
** Adapted from John MacArthur, in God With Us, the Miracle of Christmas, 1989.
Christians and Christmas
Christmas as a holiday was not observed until well after the biblical era. The early church celebrated Jesus’ resurrection, not His birth. In fact, Christmas was not given any kind of official recognition by the church until the mid-fifth century.
Partly because so many Christmas customs seem to have their roots in paganism, Christians have often been resistant to some of the rituals of the holiday. The Puritans in early America rejected Christmas celebrations altogether. They deliberately worked on December 25 to show their disdain. A law passed in England in 1644 reflected a similar Puritan influence; the law made Christmas Day an official working day.
Christians today are generally not opposed to celebrating Christmas. The holiday itself is nothing, and observing it is not a question of right or wrong, similar to what Paul wrote in Romans 14:5-6. Every day—including Christmas—is a celebration for us who know and love Him.
How we observe Christmas is the central issue. Do we observe it for the Lord’s sake or for our own sinful self-gratification? Do we even think about why and how we celebrate it? That is the heart of the matter. Christmas is an opportunity for us to exalt Jesus Christ. We ought to take advantage of it.
** Adapted from John MacArthur, in God With Us, the Miracle of Christmas, 1989.