Where Is Christ In Christmas?

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

The angels' joyful announcement was worthy of a Heavenly King. But how do we celebrate His majesty?

The world’s preparation for Christmas shuts Him out. Jesus, our Lord -- the long-awaited Messiah --simply doesn’t fit today's vision of pluralism. That's why signs and symbols of the celebration bearing His name have been censored from schools and public places from coast to coast.

Never mind that He created the universe and has each future day written in His book. Or that He alone can fulfill our longing for genuine peace and lasting joy. His guidelines offend the world. Unless its masses can re-imagine a god more like themselves [Ps 50:21], they resent His name. His holiness violates their comfort zone, so they hide from Him (like Adam and Eve), deny His existence, or fill their days with shallow distractions and alternatives.

Meanwhile, many of us are too busy planning His party to seek His will or grieve His absence.

The King whose birth we celebrate may be sad, but He’s never surprised. John 2:24 Long ago, He stood in Jerusalem watching a world too blinded by human wants and ambitions to see the Savior in their midst. "If you had known," He said with unspeakable sorrow, "the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes." Luke 19:42

The Compromising Church

Today, almost 2000 years later, religious leaders still lead the anti-Christ crusade. Many have accepted the new global consensus on spirituality: all religions are equally good -- except Biblical Christianity. It is too narrow to be tolerated in this new millennium. The envisioned "Culture of Peace" won’t make room for God's "divisive" Biblical values. Faith in His unchanging truths clashes with the global standard for mental health. And at the forefront of this cultural transformation stand countless compromising churches that teach a cross-less and Christ-less distortion of Christianity.

No wonder embarrassed theologians joined the public outcry two years ago when several presidential candidates dared to name Jesus in public.3 To offended "Christian" leaders, evasion and lies would have been more tolerable than Biblical truth and light. But then, such was the religious climate that glorious night when our King came to earth and angelic jubilation pierced the stillness of the skies.

For Jesus was born into a culture ruled by the same spiritual mastermind that prods the masses today. The apostle John, said it well: "The whole world lies under the sway of the evil one." 1 John 5:19

That’s why the religious leaders during His time on earth had little tolerance for His call to purity and separation. "Come unto Me…" meant leaving the acceptable ways of the world, a dangerous notion that threatened the establishment. Unless the long-awaited Messiah would conform to contemporary teachings, He was not welcome in their midst. John summarized the tragedy as well as the triumph:

"He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." John 1:10-13

Human nature doesn’t change with time, nor does the spiritual battle that still rages against Jesus Christ, His Word, and His followers. Churches still conform to the culture, and statistics tell us they do so quite consistently.

For the most part, the world will tolerate stars, angels, Christmas trees, or a sweet little baby sleeping in a manger. But there’s still "no room at the inn" for a King who invites us to walk His lowly path. And if we choose to let Him "be born in us" we must also share His suffering and bear with Him "the offense of the cross" – the world’s hostility toward the separated and crucified life Christ grants to those who love Him. Galatians 5:11

The Counterfeit Christmas

But the main problem with Christmas is not the way we trivialize angels and shepherds. Nor is it the season of the year. I doubt that Jesus cares whether we celebrate His birth in December or closer to the unknown date.

Nor is it the religious alternatives to Christmas. While Kwanza, Hanukkah, and Winter Solstice may have replaced Christmas programs in public schools and homes, they alone wouldn’t weaken the Church. Just look at China. Where true believers face the greatest challenges to their faith and families, they demonstrate a growth in faith and perseverance (as well as in numbers) that puts the American church to shame. Luke 6:22

Nor is it the pagan roots of most popular Christmas customs. Few are even aware of the history behind Christmas trees, mistletoes or the ancient midwinter celebration of a mother-goddess with the midwinter babe. While these unholy roots may contribute to the spiritual complacency, the real crisis is more personal.

Our root problem has to do with our view of God and our relationship to Jesus. We have been taught to think of the King of the universe more like a super-Santa than a jealous God who holds us accountable to His Word. We forget that His favors are designed to conform us to His image, not meet all our wants.

He grieves when we, His people, turn worship into self-indulgence -- or pretend to please Him while we serve ourselves. His lowly birth in Bethlehem points to the hardships our Savior was willing to bear for our sake. Without diminishing His glorious stature as eternal King, His humility prompts us to give Him our lives, surrender to His will, endure persecution and fix our hope on eternity.

Peter didn’t understand such single-minded love. So when Jesus described His coming death, Peter reassured Him, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!" He meant well, but he was wrong. Jesus had to correct him –- for our sake as much as for Peter. Turning to His friend and follower, he said something that would hardly fit today’s politically correct consensus process:

"Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men. . . .If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." (Matthew 16:22-24)

Celebrating the King

Peter had set His mind on "the things of men." How can we set our minds on "the things of God" this Christmas?

Two millennia ago, God touched the hearts of three men who would have treasured the truths we have available today. With joy, they received the little information He gave, then set out on a long, risky pilgrimage to worship the newborn King:

"…behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him." (Matthew 2:1-2)

These pilgrims were willing to risk their own lives to make the long, dangerous journey, and the gifts they brought were chosen with care. They gave Him their very best – offerings worthy of the King of heaven and earth. God must have been pleased. He didn’t need their gifts but He saw their loving hearts.

Other gifts have pleased Him less. When Ananias and Sapphira pretended to give their all but secretly withheld some of their wealth, they were struck dead -- a frightening consequence for what seemed to be good intentions. But God chose to show us something about Himself. He longs for whole-hearted devotion, not a pretentious show of piety.

Back in Old Testament days, God’s chosen nation pretended to follow His guidelines. They offered the prescribed sacrifices out of cultural obedience. They had to; people were watching each other. But they cheated their all-knowing God by giving as little as possible – blemished gifts, worth little to man and less than nothing to God. The best they kept for themselves. So God warned them:


"Cursed be the deceiver
Who has in his flock a male …
But sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished --
For I am a great King,"
Says the LORD of hosts,
"And My name is to be feared among the nations."
Malachi 1:14

Then as now, a lukewarm show of obedience to Biblical guidelines is hypocrisy – a pretense of loyalty to the Christ whose name we bear. But the opposite, the genuine devotion God seeks from His followers, was demonstrated by Mary. Listen to her response to the angel’s awesome message – one that called her to endure the shame of an out-of-wedlock pregnancy in a culture where sexual promiscuity called for death:

"The angel said to her, 'Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!' "But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS….'
"Then Mary said to the angel, 'How can this be, since I do not know a man?' And the angel answered and said to her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God….For with God nothing will be impossible.' "Then Mary said, 'Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.'" Luke 1:28-38

God chose Mary, for He knew her heart. He saw that she was willing to to do whatever He asked. Her gift to Him was her faith, love, life and future. Understanding that the Old Testament "bondservant" meant willing surrender of everything to His service, she offered herself as a "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God…." Romans 12:1 The next verse describes our part in God’s lifelong process conforming us to the life of Jesus – making us a living testimony of His goodness to the world:

"...do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

In other words, the gift God desires from us is our own lives fully dedicated to Him. Only then can He fully use us to fulfill His purpose here on earth. This means a deep lifelong commitment to feed on His Word, follow His way, and demonstrate His life. It is summarized in an old command, taught through Moses and emphasized by Jesus:

"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit… walk… lie down, and… rise up." (Deuteronomy 6:5-7)

That means all we think, feed our minds, share in our families, and show the world will be to and from our King. His life is our message – and our lives are His message. It’s a big calling, but when we consecrate ourselves to Him and rest in His arms, He will accomplish it.

"My King and my God….
Blessed is the man whose strength is in You,
Whose heart is set on pilgrimage." (Psalm 84:3, 5)

God’s path for His own beloved Son led through a lowly stable. His only worshippers were his parents and the poor shepherds who, in the secluded stillness of the night, could hear the angels sing. On our pilgrimage, how can we best worship Jesus today and this Christmas?

Please show and enable us, precious Shepherd and King.


'Twas a humble birthplace, but O how much
God gave to us that day,
From the manger bed what a path has led,
What a perfect, holy way.

Alleluia! O how the angels sang.
Alleluia! How it rang!
And the sky was bright with a holy light
'Twas the birthday of a King.


..........COME LET US WORSHIP AND BOW DOWN.................