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. 

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. 

Jesus' Least Impressive Miracle

Jesus’ least impressive miracle is probably the feeding of the four thousand.  Now don’t get me wrong, feeding at least four thousand people with seven loaves of bread and a few fish is amazing.  I can’t do it.  Still, this miracle doesn’t impress many people and it doesn’t get picked for many sermons.  The reason it is unimpressive is in the math: four thousand is less than five thousand. 

If you read through the book of Mark you will read about the feeding of the five thousand in Mark 6:30-44.  This miracle is more impressive for several reasons.  It comes first, there are an extra one thousand people fed, and to top it off Jesus does it with a mere five loaves and two fish instead of a gratuitous seven loaves and a "few" fish the second time around.  Then, two chapters later in Mark 8:1-10 Jesus does that anti-climactic feeding of—well, less people. 

When reading through Mark, you expect the second feeding to be even bigger and more sensational than the first one—but it isn’t.  This makes a person wonder why Mark would bother recording this at all?  After all, none of the Gospels list every miracle that Jesus performed.  Wouldn’t it have made sense for Mark’s fast-paced Gospel to leave this one out or replace it with something less disappointing? 

Four thousand is less than five thousand.

Mark knew what he was doing.  He recorded both of these miracles because they actually happened and because he was trying to make a point.  The point isn’t just about Jesus’ great power.  It is also about the human ability to forget what just happened. 

Jesus had just fed five thousand people and now a similar situation arises—with less people—and the disciples still fret.  “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?” they ask. 

It is amazing how quickly we can lose confidence in God. 

Remind yourself of the things God has already done.  Remind yourself of the mighty things recorded in the Bible.  Remind yourself of the great things He has done in your life.  If God can put the stars in the sky and part the sea, He can do the less taxing job of taking care of your needs.  If the Father was willing to send His beloved Son to be hung on the cross in the place of you as a sinner, will He not also be willing to care for you now that you are His adopted child?  “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also along with him, graciously give us all things? (Rm. 8:32)  If God can feed the five thousand, don’t doubt that he can feed the four thousand.  If He can do the big thing, He can do the smaller thing.   

Four thousand is not five thousand.

Critics love to claim that the Bible is full of contradictions.  Any discrepancy in the details is a sign to them that the Bible is in error.  For example, John records the cleansing of the temple at the start of Jesus’ career but the other writers put in Jesus' last week.  Matthew states that Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount on a mountain but Luke mentions a flat place.  The list goes on. 

With that in mind, ask yourself what critics would say if Matthew had only recorded the feeding of the five thousand and Mark had only recorded the feeding of the four thousand.  Critics would go on and on about contradictions and errors.  Now, imagine how thee critics would respond if you tried to explain the inconsistency by suggesting that maybe there were two miraculous feedings—with different details.  You would be laughed at.   

The fact that Matthew and Mark record both of these miraculous feedings demonstrates that Jesus sometimes did impressive things more than once.  In the same way, Jesus probably taught some of his key teachings many times in many places.  Why not?  Each of us has heard speakers reuse material.  With that in mind, is it really absurd to think that Jesus may have cleansed the temple more than once?  Is it really a stretch to think that Jesus may have thought the “Sermon on the Mount” was worth teaching to more than one crowd?  Certainly, there may be other ways of resolving these apparent contradictions, but one legitimate possibility is that Jesus did some things more than once.  For all we know, there was also the still-less-impressive feeding of the three thousand.

Yes, after feeding five thousand people feeding a measly four thousand might not impress everyone, but the fact that Matthew and Mark include it teaches us not to lose confidence in God’s power and not to lose confidence in God’s Word.

Touchdown Jesus Burns to the Ground

If your church has an extra $250,000 sitting around doing no good, you can use it to build yourself a sweet six-story statue of Jesus that makes Him look like a football referee. Solid Rock Church in Monroe, Ohio, had one of these, built to inspire drivers along Interstate 75 just north of Cincinnati. This colossus was made of plastic foam and fiberglass over a steel frame and on Monday it was hit by lightning and burned to the ground. The steel frame is all that is left.

So, how should we interpret it when God in His wisdom ordains lightening to burn down your expensive giant Jesus statue? I'm sure that people have different theories.

Perhaps God did not want to be represented as something that I would be inescapably tempted to kick a field goal through.  Or perhaps God is trying to send a subtle message that there are better uses for a quarter of a million dollars. It's hard to say.

If I were an atheist I would find it very deliciously ironic and satisfying that "God" choose to burn down His own statue. Seriously, if there is a God, how could he choose to dishonor himself like that?

This isn't an explanation, but here is a thought: God the Father didn't treat this statue of His Son any worse than He treated His real Son.

God the Father "did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all" (Romans 8:32). Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would be "stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted" (Isaiah 53:4). Although He was innocent, "Yet it was the Lord's will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer" (Isaiah 53:10). We, as sinners, are the ones who have rebelled and like sheep have gone astray, but "the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6).

This is not "divine child abuse." Although God the Father delivered up the Son, Jesus also did this willingly (John 10:17-18). Yet the Bible states "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith" (Romans 3:23-25 ESV). A propitiation is a sacrifice that satisfies and absorbs the righteous wrath of God against sin. God treated His Son as a sinner so that He could treat sinners as His sons.

The state of the Son was struck by lightning. The real Son was struck by the wrath of God, for our salvation.