Born to Die

The last TV show I saw that tried to proclaim the “real meaning of Christmas” was a typical failure. Someone stammered, “Getting the family together, that’s what Christmas is all about.” You would think that the first six letters in the word Christmas would be a big hint, but apparently not.

In my opinion the best verse on the real meaning of Christmas is 1 Timothy 1:15. This verse is tragically underused. But here the Apostle Paul absolutely nails what Christmas is all about. He writes:

“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.”

Christmas is about Christ. But even more, Christmas is when we celebrate the Son of God coming into this world and becoming a genuine human being—without ceasing to be fully God. Jesus did this in order to glorify Himself by saving sinners, and to do that He had to live the perfect human life that none of us lived and then die the death that we deserved, in our place.

The reason for Christmas is that Jesus came into this world to save sinners like you and me. The reason for Christmas is Good Friday and Easter. Jesus was born to die.

It is amazing that God would come into this world.

Think about this verse. We should be amazed even if it just said, “Jesus Christ came into the world…” and stopped right there. Think about who this was who came. The person who came into this world was the eternal God, the Creator of all things, and the One for whom all things were created. (See Colossians 1:15-16) He is the One who came into this world with all of its problems, and sickness, and suffering. And He didn’t even come to modern America. He came to the Near East two thousand years ago—when there was no modern indoor plumbing, or air-conditioning, or aspirin.

It is amazing that God would come into this world to die for sinners.  

What if this verse didn’t tell us why Jesus came into the world? A lot of people know that Christmas has something to do with Jesus, but that’s about it. I think a lot of people assume that Jesus wanted to come into this world to tell us how wonderful we are. It’s like He is stopping by with a pan of brownies because he just likes us so much. You see, we are very deluded about how wonderful we are. The reality is that we are all sinners. (Romans 3:23) We are born with hearts that are in open rebellion to God. That is what sin is at its core: rebellion against God. That is what makes it so terrible. It isn’t like we just accidently broke a few technical rules. Sin is not insignificant. You can tell how significant a crime is by the penalty attached to it. Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is eternal death. That is not insignificant.

It is amazing that God would come into this world to die for really bad sinners!

Even the “smallest” sin is a sin against an infinitely holy God. Therefore, in a sense, even the “smallest” sin is infinitely terrible. Paul realized this. He described himself as the worst of all sinners, or as the KJV puts it, the “chief” of all sinners. Paul realized that Jesus didn’t come into this world to save “nice” people. There are none. Sure, we may be nice to one another, but we’re not nice to God. But Jesus came to save even the worst of sinners. As the Reformer Martin Luther said, Christ saves even “hard-boiled” sinners. If you think that you are too big of a sinner for Jesus to save, you’re not. Paul used to hunt down Christians to have them killed. The blood of Christ is valuable enough to save Paul, and it is valuable enough to save you. In the very next verse Paul writes:

But for this very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of all sinners, Christ Jesus might display His immense patience as an example for those who would believe on Him and receive eternal life.

This is why Christ came. Believe on Him and have eternal life. 

The Longest Descent

This was a big drop. On October 14, 2012 Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner set a record by jumping from an altitude of approximately 128,100 feet. To give you an idea of how high that is, consider that a commercial airliner typically flies at about 30,000 feet. That's only 5.68 miles high. Baumgartner's Red Bull Stratos jump was from over 24 miles. He was so high that he had to wear a pressurized space suit. You can clearly see the curvature of the earth in the video of the jump.

I like to think that because of all the Red Bull I've consumed I was part of making this happen.

There are some edited versions of the jump, but I think you should watch the full version to get the feel for how long this guy fell. (He actually jumps 3:30 minutes into this video.) He was in free fall for close to four and a half minutes and even broke the speed of sound on his descent.

That jump may seem impressive to you, but it is not the greatest descent ever recorded. Long ago, someone else descended from a much, much higher position. Consider this from Philippians 2:

⁵ Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

⁶ Who, being in very nature God,

    did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
⁷ but made himself nothing,
    taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.

⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,

    he humbled himself

    and became obedient to death—

        even death on a cross!

No one has ever came down as far as the Son of God came down in humility. He existed eternally as God, but was willing to let go of those privileges and to put on genuine humanity. Jesus left the glory and comforts of heaven to live as human being. Not only that, but He, the Creator and Lord of the universe, became a servant. He came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many (Mt. 20:28.) He served even to the point of death, and the most painful and humiliating death of all--crucifixion. 

When you celebrate Christmas, remember that Christmas is about the biggest descent of all time. Christmas is about the voluntary descent of the Son of God so that He could become fully human (and yet fully God). But Christmas was only the start. On Good Friday, Jesus completed His descent by dying on the cross as a substitute for everyone who would put their trust in Him as their Sin-bearer. That is why the Son of God came to earth. Remember that this Christmas.

However, there is one more thing to remember. For man, what goes up must come down. But for the Son of God, the route was reversed. Philippians 2 continues:

⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

    and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

    to the glory of God the Father.

Don't Tell Your Kids Santa is Real

When I asked my parents if Santa was real, they flat out told me he was.  I’m sure that to them they were just dutifully protecting the fun secret of Christmas, but I wanted the honest truth.  Santa seemed fake and I wanted the real answer.  Instead I got a stone cold lie. 

Now, the next time around my parents ‘fessed up and told me the truth and the Santa myth didn’t devastate my future.  Nonetheless, the whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth.  Kids should be able to trust their parents.  My parents are honest people but this thing with Santa seemed jarringly inconsistent with that.      

I want to offer a suggestion to new and future parents.  For you parents who have already fooled your kids about Santa, my purpose isn’t to make you feel bad or to condemn you as bad parents.  I’m also not trying to make the case that Santa is Satan—even though their names have the same letters, they both wear red suits and distract people from baby Jesus on His birthday...  No, my only purpose is to give this challenge to new or future parents: Don’t tell your kids that Santa is real.

Let me give you three reasons:

Christmas is about Jesus, not Santa.

You have to admit that Santa distracts kids from the real meaning of Christmas. Christmas is about Jesus; that’s why we call it Christmas and not Santamas. Regardless of when Jesus was actually born, Christmas is when we celebrate the Messiah coming into the world. God became man so that Jesus, the God-man, could live a perfect life on our behalf and die the death we deserved to die. Salvation depends on what we celebrate on Christmas. 

Yet, even in Christian homes this can get swallowed up. Secular Christmas has completely lost the real meaning of the holiday, but even in Christian homes it’s an uphill battle. We have four young kids. We do a lot to teach them about Jesus, and they know that Santa is pretend, but it is still hard enough to keep their eyes on the right things. There are still presents under the tree. There are still commercials, and Christmas specials, and school Christmas parties, and decorations, and Christmas songs that have nothing to do with Jesus. It’s hard enough to keep the spotlight on Jesus even without making Santa the star of the show.

Kids should be able to trust their parents.

Kids trust their parents. Parents should do everything they can to honor that trust. Kidding around is one thing, but intentionally fooling your kids for years is another thing.  Your kids are going to need your guidance to get them through this world. Don’t do anything that could damage that trust. 

As parents, you will need to tell your kids many things that they will find hard to believe. You will need to tell them that many of their desires are dangers and mirages. They need to believe you. Most important, you need to teach your kids about the truth of God. But if they grow up being assured that both Santa and Jesus are real, what are they going to think one day when both of them seem far-fetched? If Santa was just a pleasant myth, why is Jesus any different?

Your kids will still love Christmas.

I have four kids who don’t think that Santa is real. Guess what? They still love Christmas. They love it a lot! I have pictures and video to prove it. Maybe they love it more, since it is more impressive to think about God coming down to earth to give salvation than for a fat guy to come down a chimney—if we had one—to give plastic.

The “magic” isn’t gone. We haven’t killed their imaginations. We still put up decorations. We still have a tree. They still get gifts. And speaking of the gifts, this is another advantage: They know that the gifts are from people who love them, not an anonymous fat stranger.

Why give Santa credit for the gifts you give your kids?  I have a very clear childhood memory of one Christmas gift I opened under the tree. It was some sort of puzzle that looked like a dog. The gift itself wasn’t my favorite thing, but what I remember is that while all the other gifts said they were from “Santa” this one—for whatever reason—said it was from “Dad.” My Dad gave me this gift! Sure, now I know that all of the gifts were from my parents, but I didn’t know that then. The gifts from Santa were nice, but the gift from my Dad was special.

Let Jesus be the number one hero of Christmas. Let Mom and Dad be next. Santa can stay out in the cold.