December 21, 2007
Thinking Christmas
Various Scriptures from Paul’s writings
Christmas is an emotional time of year. It is a time of the year when we expect and want to feel certain feelings. You’ll sometimes hear people saying things like: “That really puts me into the Christmas spirit.” Or, “I’m having trouble getting into the Christmas spirit this year.” What does that mean? It usually means we have captured or we are having difficulty creating or capturing those feelings which we associate with Christmas. I was thinking about that Christmas spirit this week as I was doing a little Christmas baking. If we were to write a recipe for “the Christmas spirit”, what ingredients would we include?
First of all, every family and even every individual would probably have a different recipe. But I think there would be some common ingredients. A sample recipe might read like this:
A dozen favorite Christmas carols
1 kitchen full of Christmas aromas
1 table full of way too much Christmas food
2 cups of family Christmas traditions
A bushel of presents
1 decorated Christmas tree
Some Christmas weather (cold or hot, depending on which hemisphere you come from)
A pile of Christmas cards
Lots of family and friends
Stir together and add a cup of nostalgia and memories of Christmases past.
Bake and serve fresh.
But here’s the problem with such a recipe. What happens when some of the ingredients are missing? That can often be the case here in Abu Dhabi. The climate may be different than you’re used to. There may be no family around. You may have to work on Christmas day. And you can’t find the right spices for some of your favorite Christmas treats.
We have been studying the writings of the Apostle Paul and especially his letter to the Philippians. I wonder what Paul would say to us if we told him we were having trouble getting into the Christmas spirit?
I think he might tell us that in our urgent desire to experience Christmas with our feelings, to find the “Christmas spirit” to “feel Christmas”, we all too often fail to take the time to experience Christmas with our minds, to “think Christmas”.
As I’ve been pointing out, Paul has lots to say about the mind and how we are to think as Christians. I think he would tell us that Christmas has to start in our minds; with being able to understand the significance of the events which we are celebrating at this time of the year. It is only as we understand the significance of the Christmas events that we will be able to celebrate appropriately and meaningfully. And thinking Christmas is something we can do in Abu Dhabi or anywhere else, regardless of our circumstances.
Alright, Paul, if thinking rightly about Christmas is the key to the matter, tell us how to “think Christmas”, how to understand the truth of these events.
What I did in preparing this message was to skim through all the writings of Paul, looking for any references to Christ’s birth and to his coming to earth, asking the question: Paul, how did you think about the birth of Christ? What was your Theology of Christmas?
I have collected what I found in the verses printed in the handout found in your bulletins for easy reference.
Let me make one initial observation. Paul doesn’t have a great deal to say about the actual events of the first Christmas. It appears that Paul took for granted that his readers knew the story, the facts of Christ’s birth. He doesn’t even have any one major passage on the meaning of Christmas. He makes numerous passing references, but there is no one “in depth” exposition. Yet we can learn a good deal by looking at these different references.
I would summarize Paul’s Theology of Christmas with 4 statements.
1. Christ existed prior to his birth in Bethlehem.
The birth event in Bethlehem was not the beginning of Christ’s existence. He had a pre-existence. We see this in the words Paul uses about Jesus’ birth sprinkled through these references.
God sent his Son, he gave his Son, Christ Jesus came into the world.
These are not the normal words we use in speaking of a birth. Yet this is how Paul thought about Jesus’ birth and how he presented it. Not as a beginning, but as a sending, a giving, an arrival of one who already existed.
2. Jesus Christ is Divine.
First, Paul called him the Son of God (see 1st, 4th, 5th and 6th reading.)
This is more than a reference to his virgin birth. Jesus was the Son of God before he was conceived in the virgin’s womb. Paul’s references speak of God sending his Son. In other words, he was already God’s Son before he was sent to earth. Jesus by his eternal identity has always been the Son of God.
Let’s look at two of Paul’s other statements on this subject.
From the second reading we read; Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant and being made in human likeness. (Philippians 2:6-7)
We should recognize this as coming from Paul’s letter to the Philippians which we have been studying. It is a key passage in understanding Paul’s theology of Christmas. Jesus existed as God. He was “in very nature God.” That was his eternal state. He was and is divine.
The third reading makes the same point: For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form… (Colossians 2:9) “All the fullness of the Deity” – he is fully God.
Paul’s theology of Christmas clearly declares the Deity, the Divine Nature of Christ, the Son of God. But it also declares something else.
3. Jesus Christ is human.
Let’s look at some of Paul’s other statements.
In the first reading: The gospel he promised beforehand …regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who…was declared with power to be the Son of God… (Romans 1:3-4) Did you see that? “As to his human nature…a descendant of David.”
Looking at the second reading again: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant and being made in human likeness. (Philippians 2:6-7) Even though he was God, he humbled himself and was made “in human likeness.”
Look at the third reading as well: all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form. He was God become a man.
The fourth reading says it carefully: But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law… (Galatians 4:4) This is another passage like Matthew 1:16 which Joe talked about last week, in which the wording is exquisitely crafted to describe the reality of his virgin birth and the truth of his humanity: born of a woman.
The eighth reading also says it clearly: For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men… (I Timothy 2:5-6)
In these references, Paul clearly declares the humanity of Jesus Christ. And it is precisely here, in these clear declarations, that the mystery and magic of Christmas lies. Jesus was born. Who was he? Was he God? Yes. Was he human? Yes. The perfect God-man. Fully human, yet fully God. He became flesh and dwelt among us. The prophet Isaiah announced his name would be called Immanuel which means God with us.
The miracle of the incarnation. This is the magic, the endless fascination of the Christmas event; God clothing himself with human flesh; becoming fully human without ceasing to be fully God. “In Christ, all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”
But we cannot stop here. Paul never looked at the miracle of the incarnation without looking beyond it to its purpose. Why was Christ born? Why did God become a man? Was this just special effects to show he could do it? What was the purpose of the Incarnation? What was the ultimate intent behind the Christmas event?
4. Jesus came to save us from our sins.
This also is clear in the words of Paul on this sheet.
Look at the fourth reading again: But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law… (Galatians 4:4)
He sent his Son for a purpose and that purpose was to redeem those under the law. In Paul’s theology the human race was not only under the law’s requirements, but under its condemnation because of our failure to meet the law’s righteous demands.
Notice the sixth reading: …God did (this) by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering… (Romans 8:3) He sent His Son to be a sin offering.
He says it again in the seventh reading: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners… (I Timothy 1:15) That’s pretty clear, isn’t.it? He came into the world to save sinners. That’s why he came. This is the emphasis of Paul’s Theology of Christmas.
The eighth reading says it in a slightly different way. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men… (I Timothy 2:5-6 )
He came as a mediator. This is why he had to become a man; so he could serve as the go-between, the mediator. But he did more than that. As the mediator, he also gave himself as a ransom. His death was the price that set us free.
We will never understand the significance of Christmas, or be able to celebrate it appropriately until we understand the purpose of his coming. Why was he born? Why did he come?
He came to die, to give his life as a ransom, to redeem us, to be a sin offering, to interpose himself between God and man as mediator.
The event of Jesus’ birth will ultimately lose its true significance, its true meaning unless it is understood in the light of Jesus’ death. When we “think Christmas” we must think not only of the manger but also of the cross.
You see, underlying Paul’s theology of Christmas, is his theology of the sinfulness of man. The doctrine of the incarnation is superimposed in Paul’s thinking over the doctrine of man’s depravity.
“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)
As Paul says, quoting the OT:
“There is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, Together they have become useless. There is none who does good. There is not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12)
We are all sinners. We are all under God’s righteous judgment. Do we understand this? Without this understanding, we will never understand Christmas. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That is the message of Christmas. Have you received him as Savior?
There is another verse that puts the meaning of Christmas in different words. It is found in the ninth reading: For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. (II Corinthians 8:9)
This is one of the most beautiful summaries of Christmas I know. The Lord Jesus was rich beyond all imagining. All of heaven was his. Yet for our sakes, he left that all behind to be born in Bethlehem. Why? So that through his poverty we might become rich. So that we might become heirs to all of heaven’s riches.
When we understand this we can say with Paul in the words of his tenth reading: “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (II Corinthians 9:13)
The world tries desperately to capture the feelings of Christmas while ignoring the theology of Christmas. No wonder it all ends up in such a muddle.
My challenge to us is: Let’s be different! Let’s think Christmas! Let’s focus on its meaning. Jesus Christ came into the world. Why? To save sinners. Then we will be able to celebrate with the true Christmas spirit wherever we are. Even here in Abu Dhabi!