this is the written form of what i preached on December 12 2010 at Iron City Church
What's the big controversy right now? Every year its the same thing, Christmas, Xmas, Holidays.. People become divided over what to call this time of year, and the Christian world defends it with "Jesus is the reason for the season."
What purpose is there in this season to have a reason? Why do we celebrate? Jesus IS the reason.. whether He was born on December 25th or not. The truth is in Christ's birth. His existence
This was the only time I would openly say it, but I do believe we should say Merry Christmas. Christmas is what gets everyone shopping on the day after Thanksgiving and Dr. Seuss didn't write "how the grinch stole columbus day". We don't say "happy holidays" in the spring/summer time when Memorial Day and Independence Day are celebrated. The Birth of Jesus Christ changed the world FOREVER. Our timeline revolves around it. (ie. BC and AD).. Hannakah is a fine example of God's provision, but not the world's salvation.
There are people that will fight tooth and nail to keep the name Christ in Christmas, but with how commercialized and self seeking this world has become.... really? Lets look at the fistfights on Black Friday.. and when a friend of mine had her shopping cart overturned and emptied just so someone else could use it. Working in retail for 10 years and seeing all this, I wanna know why we would want to put Christ's name on this behavior.
I heard the argument, "not all christians act this way." True. Not all germans hated jews, but World War II was against GERMANY. Who's to blame? I'd like to say "all of us".. and to a point I'd be correct. But the culprit is The Devil. John 10:10 says "the thief comes to steal kill and destroy." The devil is the thief and has come to take God's glory. He has blinded us with the idea that we serve and celebrate by a mere name instead of our actions.
Be not deceived, God is not mocked.
He will have His way in declaring His glory . What He needs is for us, as Christians, to keep the real reason and not worry about Holiday Crap. Everyone celebrates in their own way, and some don't even celebrate. Romans 14:5 One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. We can't force people to celebrate in the same ways if they don't believe the same things.
Its all about function over fashion. Seriously, this is the most wonderful time of the year!! (no one gave me an amen). It's really hard to believe. Who can say they don't have problems or hurts? Everyone has something going on in their lives and this time is "so wonderful" that everything just magnifies. Suicide rates escalate around this time.. so how wonderful is it, really? How can anyone celebrate?
So seriously. What IS the reason for the season? If all it brings is troubles and controversy... why have this season???
Advent Calendars, Santa Claus, Poinsettias... all these are really nice.. but when it comes down to it.. Jesus REALLY is the Reason... and we need to remember the purpose..
Psalm 147:3 + 6 He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.
The LORD supports the afflicted; He brings down the wicked to the ground.
The Devil tries to blind us of the psalm's truth. He makes us forget that with all our problems and hurts, that this IS the most wonderful time of the year because Jesus came to heal us. He's gonna take all our crap and say "My Blood covers that."
As His children, we need to be His light in this world; His instruments of healing. Helping the homeless, visiting the sick and hurting, lending a hand to those in need, this is true celebration of the season. This is the reason. We can't let the devil steal our blessing by attempting to get us focused on our problems. We can't focus on the commercialized nature of this world...
Remember.. it was JESUS that cleansed the temple and overturned the money changing tables... NOT the Disciples...
The Disciples were sent to spread love and healing and touching people with Christ's LOVE...
This
Is
The Reason.
