There is a clear, unmistakable, and critical link between Christmas and Good Friday (Christ’s death).

Celebrate Christmas without meditating on the cross, and you will have a Christmas devoid of meaning — all pretty paper, bows, lights, and tinsel, without any real treasure and joy.  Christmas without the cross is a meal without the food, a package without a present, a celebration without guests.  It is to strip the event of its real significance.

I delight in Christmas.  But only as a reminder of the advent of the God-Man who arrived to take away my sin.

And I am grateful for hymns that do not sentimentalize the advent, but place the advent in relation to the cross.  As we sing Christmas hymns, we also are very often singing Easter truth — and that’s good for our hearts.  A few examples:

• O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel
• Come, Thou long-expected Jesus, born to set Thy people free; from our sins and fears release us
• Born Thy people to deliver…by Thine all-sufficient merit, raise us to Thy glorious throne
• Thou camest, O Lord, with the living word that should set Thy people free, but with mocking scorn and with crown of thorn, they bore Thee to Calvary
• Hail the heaven-born Prince of peace…mild He lays His glory by, born that man no more may die; born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth
• Then let us all with one accord sings praises to our heavenly Lord, that hath made heaven and earth of naught, and with His blood mankind hath bought
• I wonder as I wander out under the sky, how Jesus the Savior did come for to die for poor ornery people like you and like I…
• Long lay the world in sin and error pining, till He appeared and the soul felt its worth…
• Good Christian men, rejoice with heart and soul and voice; now ye need not fear the grave:  Peace!  Peace!  Jesus Christ was born to save!
• Who is He in yonder stall, at whose feet the shepherds fall?…Lo!  at midnight, who is He prays in dark Gethsemane?  Who is He on yonder tree — dies in grief and agony?  Who is He that comes from the grave, comes to heal and to save?…’Tis the Lord!  O wondrous story!

So as you go to worship tonight or this weekend, be joyful again for the advent of Christ — and specifically because His advent provided your redemption.

“Preach the gospel to yourself every day,” Jerry Bridges has written and said in numerous contexts.

And he means that literally — each new day demands a fresh rehearsal (through the quotation of Scripture) of the essential components of the gospel so that we are reminded each day of our standing before God.

In a sermon I was listening to yesterday, Pastor Tim Kerr summarized the essentials of the cross that needs this regular rehearsal with two questions:

• What do I deserve?
• What have I received?

Here is the recitation of the gospel — I justly deserve the condemnation of God because there is nothing inherently commendable in me (cf. Rom. 3) but despite that horrid reality, the truth is also here that in love and because of grace, God has set his love on me — a believer in Christ — not because of my worthiness, but instead bestowing on me all the worthiness of Christ.  I am accepted in the beloved.

In these questions is also help for two competing temptations when we are convicted of sin.  One temptation is to think, “I’m in Christ, and I have no fear…” (perhaps with a tendency to dismiss the conviction and continue in the sin).  To that temptation the believer needs a recitation of what is deserved and how horrid and tragic our sin and its consequences are.  Yet the other temptation is to become overwhelmed with sorrow and become overly morose.  In that circumstance the believer needs to comprehend and dwell in and meditate on the glorious truth of all that he is in Christ and all that God has done in accepting him in and through Christ (cf. Rom. 5-8; Eph. 1-2).

What do I deserve?  What have I received?

Those are good questions for meditation this Christmas Eve — and every day.

This week we finish our annual reading through Scripture.  We finish in Isaiah and Revelation — perhaps two of the more difficult books to interpret.  As someone told me about Revelation yesterday, “I’m having a little trouble understanding what I’m reading.”

This is a difficult book, but it is not unintelligible.  And several accessible resources are available to help the reader, including:

• Tom Constable’s Notes on Revelation
• John MacArthur, “A Jet Tour Through Revelation” (audio | manuscript)
• Shepherds’ Fellowship Resources (select “Revelation” on the pull-down menu; some of these are better than others, but this is a good place to start)

When we are discouraged, despairing, and disappointed with life and God, we need to be reminded of the truth of God’s character and His trustworthiness. He really is a good and gracious God, we need to be reminded.

One such encouragement is an older hymn (which, to my knowledge, I’ve never heard sung), entitled, “Whate’er my God ordains is right:”

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
His holy will abideth;
I will be still whate’er He doth;
And follow where He guideth;
He is my God; though dark my road,
He holds me that I shall not fall:
Wherefore to Him I leave it all.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
He is my Friend and Father;
He suffers naught to do me harm,
Though many storms may gather,
Now I may know both joy and woe,
Some day I shall see clearly
That He hath loved me dearly.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
Though now this cup, in drinking,
May bitter seem to my faint heart,
I take it, all unshrinking.
My God is true; each morn anew
Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart,
And pain and sorrow shall depart.

You may read the words to the entire hymn here.

The story of the birth of Christ is populated by a broad variety of people who — superficially at least — seemed to have no particularly significant qualifications for their involvement in the story.

The credentials for Joseph and Mary are humble at best:  poor, young, alone, largely ostracized by family and friends.  The shepherds were considered outcasts — not much better than lepers.

Simeon and Anna?  Righteous, devout, and faithful.  But given their elderly years, some might be tempted to dismiss their significance.

And the magi — while wealthy and significant, their significance was in a foreign land, so that their influence in Israel would not have been nearly so great.

And the lineage of Mary and Joseph?  Yes, it includes luminaries like David and Abraham, but it also is overwhelmed by names that are completely unknown to contemporary readers, and even more significantly, contains a prostitute, an adulterer and murderer, and an incestuous relationship.  Not exactly the kind of heritage you would expect for a Messiah.

So there you are — in the story of Christ’s birth are a large array of ordinary people and sinners whom God used to accomplish His amazing purpose of accomplishing Christ’s advent.  And that list of names is a reminder that God uses seemingly ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary purposes.  But the truth is not that God uses “ordinary” people, but that He uses ordinary people who are transformed by Him into useful servants by means of their faithful and submissive obedience.

Francis Schaeffer summarized it well:

In God’s sight, there are no little people and no little places.…Those who think of themselves as little people in little places, if committed to Christ and living under His lordship in the whole of life, may, by God’s grace, change the flow of our generation.

[Continued from yesterday.]

Consider two more groups of people who saw that first Christmas, and their kindred spirits who still see Christ today.

Two oft-forgotten God-believers are Simeon and Anna (their story is told in Luke 2:22-38 if you wish to refresh your memory about them).  There were a number of similarities between these two.  Both were elderly:  he was close to death and she was at least 84-years-old.  He is called “righteous and devout” while she continually fasted and prayed (a quality of righteousness).  He was Holy Spirit-empowered and she was a prophetess.  He expected the coming of the Messiah while she continually announced His arrival.

What set apart Simeon and Anna was not their age, their righteousness, or even their excitement at Jesus’ birth, but their patient expectation.  Though God had been silent, their faith had not diminished (you might relate that statement to the truth of Heb. 11:6).  One reason they could celebrate Christ’s birth was that they expected it, in contrast to the religious leaders of the day (Mt. 2:4-6).  Christ see-ers are people who continue to believe God’s promises, even when they are not immediately fulfilled.

And then there were the wise men.  You remember the story from Mt. 2, don’t you?  Sure.  This group of astronomers may have traveled over 1000 miles to see what the star was all about.  And they came with gifts.  They gave their time (American Airlines did not serve that route in those days), probably traveling for several months to see Jesus.  They gave their worship (vv. 2, 11).  They gave up their pride.  Can you imagine the ignominy of world leaders falling on their faces before the baby of two poor teenagers?  They gave their obedience by following the instruction of God in the dream.  And they gave some trinkets of treasure too!  And they gave these things with no consideration to being repaid.

That’s why they saw the Christ and Christmas.  They were unconcerned about what they might receive and were motivated by what they might give.

The extent to which we see Christmas this year and every year will be proportional to the magnitude of our worship of Christ and our delight in Him above all things.

• Al Mohler has had several thought-provoking posts recently:
  • “Starting Something You Cannot Finish”
  • “An Amazing Article on Abortion…”
  • “The Kindle Experience…” (Would you read an electronic book?)
• Reflections on Tiger Woods —
  • “The Travail of Tiger Woods” (Mohler)
  • “Hunting Tiger Woods” (Mahaney)
  • “The Seduction of Power — the Tiger Woods Story” (Witherington)
  • “Tiger and the Good Life” (Ortberg)
• “When the Pastor Suffers”

If there were people who, though proximate to Jesus’ birth, missed Christmas, examples also abound of those who celebrated Christmas the Christ way.

Consider Mary.  Though young in years (she was probably a teenager), she was mature in spirit.  Luke tells us that she and Zacharias experienced similar angelic revelations (1:5-38).  Yet when Zacharias was afraid, doubting and silenced, Mary was confused (presumably wondering in humility why God would chose to favor her), committed to godly righteousness and joyful.

She was all of these things despite the fact that she had no idea what Joseph’s response to her news would be (cf. Mt. 1:19ff) and faced the real possibility of being stoned for being pregnant out of wedlock (Dt. 22:23ff).  Yet she was not only obedient, but also content with God’s sovereign choice of her.  Mary saw Christmas while Zacharias almost missed it, because she recognized God, the provision of His gift, and the privilege of serving Him.

And think about Joseph.  From a human perspective, Christ’s birth was unusual (at best) or preposterous (at worst).  Mary and Joseph had married, but the consummation was still future.  Mary was pregnant by God’s divine intervention (we commonly accept it now, 2000 years after the fact, but think about how absurd a statement that appears to be).  An angel appeared to Joseph in dream (God hadn’t spoken to anyone in 400 years, and He broke the silence by communicating with a carpenter??) with an “improbable” message — he and Mary would be parents of the long-awaited Messiah.  It was completely unbelievable — unless you believed in God.  And Joseph did.

Joseph believed when it made no sense to believe because he was predisposed to graciousness.  He could have had Mary stoned, but his commitment was to being righteous and gracious (Mt. 1:19).  But more than that, he unquestioningly believed God and acted on that belief (vv. 24-25; for more examples of God-believers, see Heb. 11).

[To be continued tomorrow.]

(Continued from yesterday)

There were others that missed that first Christmas. They were two groups of people that should have known Christ — but still chose to ignore Christ.

There were the religious leaders.  They knew where Christ was to be born (Micah 5:2), but showed no interest in Him when the wise men showed up. Doesn’t it strike you as more than a little ironic that these men couldn’t (or better, wouldn’t) walk the six or seven miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to check out the incredulous story of the wise men, while these astronomers traveled hundreds of miles over several months?!!  They had no time for Christ because they had no need for Christ.  Their pride prevented them from being bothered by a baby.  Don’t miss the irony of the story:  the created wore (and wears) the cloak of pride, while the Creator put on the mantle of humility!

The battle for God’s people is (and always has been to keep a heart and admit a need for God).  The lesson of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day is that it is easy to be busy for God and yet become apathetic about Him (unfortunately, not much about that changed in the early church, or today either; remember the letter to the Ephesian church in Rev. 2:1-7).  They were no different from the innkeeper that Joseph and Mary encountered in Bethlehem. He was preoccupied with the affairs of the world and business; the religious leaders were too preoccupied with the affairs of religion.  And both missed Christ.

And finally, there were the citizens of Nazareth.  No, they weren’t present at Christ’s birth, but they were present for His growing up. They saw Him more than anyone else, yet when Christ presented Himself to them as Messiah (Lk. 4:16-21), they not only rejected Him, but also desired to kill Him (vv. 28-29).  That’s missing Christmas!  They saw Christ so regularly they couldn’t believe He was anything but ordinary.

The corollary today for those who “grow up in the church” and become complacent about Christ is the same — thinking what is extraordinary is ordinary.  The problem with Christmas today isn’t that people believe the story of Santa Claus; everyone recognizes it is a fable.  The problem is that we don’t believe in the wonder of Christ’s advent anymore than the people of Nazareth did.

The fundamental difference between those who saw and those who missed Christmas is that those who saw it (Him) had a simple, deep faith that believed what they saw.

If we miss Christmas, it is not so much because of activities, but the faulty heart attitude that accompanies those activities.

They missed Christmas.  Oh, they were there.  They saw the baby.  They heard the cries of joy from the shepherds.  They might have heard the testimonies of Anna and Simeon.  They heard the story of angelic visits from Joseph and Mary.  But they missed Christmas.

Take, for instance, the innkeeper.  When a teenage couple in obvious need arrived at his doorstep he uncharacteristically refused hospitality and turned them out to a stable.  He did not appear to be hostile to Joseph and Mary — he was just too busy to go out of his way to help them or to give them a second thought (have you ever noticed that even after Jesus was born, there is no indication that anyone was sent to help the young family?).  He missed the first Christmas because he was uncommonly busy.  Sound familiar?  It is too easy to let the urgency of the moment crowd out THE importance of eternity.  The momentary usurps the eternal.  And that’s absurd!

A. W. Tozer said it well.  “The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us.  In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart.  The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and that servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all.  If we would find God amid all the religious externals, we must first determine to find Him, and then proceed in the way of simplicity.  Now, as always, God discovers Himself to ‘babes’ and hides Himself in thick darkness from the wise and prudent.  We must simplify our approach to Him.” [Pursuit of God, pp. 17-18.]

Then there is Herod.  His attitude was “I must keep as much as I can for as long as I can.”  He missed Christ because his quest was to attain and maintain his power.   He was motivated by the controlling fear of losing his power.  Herod missed Christmas and Christ because he misunderstood leadership.  Herod was “too powerful” not to be served; Christ was powerful enough to be the servant of all.

In contrast to Herod was Mary.  As one writer notes, “The virgin Mary, whose parenthood was unplanned, had a different response.  She heard the angel out, pondered the repercussions, and replied, ‘I am the Lord’s servant.  May it be to me as you have said.’  Often a work of God comes with two edges, great joy and great pain, and in that matter-of-fact response Mary embraced both.  She was the first person to accept Jesus on his own terms, regardless of the personal cost.”

Celebrating Christmas is not just about the stable; it’s about the throne, the throne of my heart and who will rule it (2 Cor. 12:9; Eph. 3:17; Col. 3:15-16).

When we fail to let Christ rule our hearts, we will miss Christmas.

[To be continued tomorrow.]