How To Make Christmas Great Again
Let’s Make Christmas Great Again!
Hebrews 10:5-7; 1 Peter 2:21
Introduction
Let’s make Christmas great again! Some do not believe in celebrating Christmas for various reasons, but today I am speaking primarily to those who do celebrate Christmas in one way or another.
Will yours be a superficial Christmas? Do you see Christmas as an opportunity to enjoy mere superficial trifles? Trifles are not necessarily bad in themselves, but they are not the best.
Introduction
Will yours be a sentimental Christmas? Do you see Christmas as an opportunity to experience moving sentimental traditions? Traditions are not necessarily bad in themselves, but they are not the best.
Will yours be a scriptural Christmas? Do you see Christmas as an opportunity to embrace marvelous scriptural truths? It is good to look at the Christmas story with the assistance of fresh eyes, faithful exposition, and focused emotions!
Hebrews 10:5-7 reads, “Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—In the volume of the book it is written of Me—To do Your will, O God.’’”
1 Peter 2:21 reads, “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.”
Let’s make Christmas great again, but how? There are at least three ways to do it.
I. Let’s make Christmas great again by displaying the ways of God.
Remember Jesus came to display the ways of God. Hebrews 10:5a, c reads, “Therefore, when He came into the world. . . . But a body You have prepared for Me.”
John 1:14, and 18 reads, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. . . . No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” Dr. Thomas L. Constable shares, “Jesus ‘explained’ (NASB) God in the sense of revealing Him. The Greek word is exegesato from which we get ‘exegete.’ The Son has exegeted (i.e, explained, interpreted, or narrated) the Father to humankind.”[1] Jesus displayed the ways of God in human flesh. From John 14:6 we read, “Jesus said to him [Thomas], ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”
Isaiah 55:8-9 reads, “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” We find these words recorded in Proverbs 14:12, repeated in Proverbs 16:25, “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Remember, the way of salvation is a narrow way not a broad way. The Apostle Peter declares in Acts 4:12, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Saul of Tarsus renamed Paul the Apostle shares the following in his testimony recorded in Acts 22:4 “I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.”
II. Let’s make Christmas great again by dispensing the Word of God.
Remember Jesus came to dispense the Word of God. Hebrews 10:5:b, 6 reads, “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire. . . . In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure.” What pleases God? Hebrews 11:6 reads, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Therefore, we conclude, we only please God by faith. Where does faith come from? Romans 10:17 reads, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Jesus is called “the Word” in John 1:1. He is the Word in person, while we read about the Word in print in Hebrews 4:12, where we read, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Jesus said in John 17:17b, “Your word is truth.” Remember “Jesus said to him [Thomas], ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’” (John 14:6). Jesus is the ultimate dispenser of the Word of God and He has commissioned us to be dispensers of the Word of God in what is called “The Great Commission” (Matthew 28:16-20; Mark 16:14-18; Luke 24:44-49; John 20:19-23; Acts 1:8). We must hide God’s Word in our heart if we are to dispense it. To dispense means to deal out or to distribute. When it comes to the Word of God, we must live it out as we give it out! By life and by lip we are to dispense the Word of God. When Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, notice He responded to each temptation with the following phrase, “It is written” (Matthew 4:6, 7, and 10 and Luke 4:4, 8, and 10). Jesus dispensed the Word of God for Himself, as we see in the relationship between Hebrews 10:5-7 and Psalm 40:6-8, where we read, “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. Then I said, ‘Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart.’” In addition, we read in Psalm 51:16-17, “For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise.” God through Asaph calls to His people in Psalm 50:7-11 “Hear, O My people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you; I am God, your God! I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices Or your burnt offerings, Which are continually before Me. I will not take a bull from your house, Nor goats out of your folds. For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains, And the wild beasts of the field are Mine.” God reminds His people that their sacrifices and offerings do not enrich Him since He owns it all. In Isaiah 1:11, 16 we read, “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me? Says the LORD. ‘I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, Or of lambs or goats. . . . Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.” From Jeremiah 6:20 we read, “For what purpose to Me Comes frankincense from Sheba, And sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, Nor your sacrifices sweet to Me.” In addition, we read in Jeremiah 7:21-23, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’” God commanded Abraham to offer Isaac, his only begotten son, on an altar as we read in Genesis 22:1-18. In Hebrews 11:17-19 we read the following divine commentary, “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called,’ concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.” We read in 1 Samuel 15:22-23, “So Samuel said: ‘Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.’” (Emphasis mine)
III. Let’s make Christmas great again by discharging the will of God.
Remember Jesus came to discharge the will of God. Hebrews 10:7 reads, “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—In the volume of the book it is written of Me—To do Your will, O God.’’”
In the Gospel of John we discover many things about Jesus Christ’s accomplishments. For example, we read in John 4:34 “Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.’” Later in John 5:30 we read, “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.” In addition we read in John 6:38, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” From John 17:1-5 we read, “Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: ‘Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.’” We read about our Lord’s crucifixion in John 19:28-30, “After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, ‘I thirst!’ Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.”
Before His crucifixion we read in Matthew 26:36-46, “Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, ‘Sit here while I go and pray over there.’ And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.’ He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.’ Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, ‘What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.’ And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then He came to His disciples and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.’”
We read in Philippians 2:5-11, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
In More Good News for Great Days, Dr. O. S. Hawkins former pastor the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, asks, “Since our Lord declared that he had come ‘to do’ the Father’s will should we do less?”[2] Psalm 40:8 reads, “I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart.”
Conclusion
What about you?
Will yours be a superficial Christmas, with a primary focus on mere trifles?
Will yours be a sentimental Christmas, with a primary focus on moving traditions?
Will yours be a scriptural Christmas, with a primary focus on marvelous truth?
Let’s make Christmas great again by displaying the ways of God.
Let’s make Christmas great again by dispensing the Word of God.
Let’s make Christmas great again by discharging the will of God.
Let’s make Christmas great again!
[1]Thomas L. Constable, Notes on John 2016 Edition, John 1:18, Accessed: 12/08/16 http://www.soniclight.com/constable/notes/pdf/john.pdf 2016.
[2]O.S. Hawkins, More Good News for Great Days, (Dallas, TX: GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, 2008), 139.
Dr. Franklin L. Kirksey, pastor First Baptist Church of Spanish Fort 30775 Jay Drive Spanish Fort, Alabama 36527
Author of Don’t Miss the Revival! Messages for Revival and Spiritual Awakening from Isaiah and
Sound Biblical Preaching: Giving the Bible a Voice [Both available on Amazon.com in hardcover, paperback and eBook]
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Miss-Revival-Spiritual-Awakening/dp/1462735428 & http://www.amazon.com/Sound-Biblical-Preaching-Giving-Bible/dp/1594577684 / fkirksey@bellsouth.net / (251) 626-6210
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