To anyone who begins reading this post, my only request is that you read both parts in their entirety. Please do not contact me regarding its contents until you have read both parts in full.
“Do you celebrate Christmas?” That is the question that people often ask me at this time of year. Before I can give a clear answer, we must have a clear question; and the fact is, we do not. Making the question clear centers around defining clearly what is meant by the phrase, “celebrating Christmas.”
By “celebrating Christmas,” if you mean, “participating in the ancient, annual pagan festivals that occurred around the 25th of December,” then, no, I do not celebrate Christmas. If “celebrating Christmas” means “celebrating Santa Claus,” then, no, I do not celebrate Christmas. If “celebrating Christmas” means “exalting the virgin Mary to a place of deity,” as our Catholic friends do, then, no, I do not celebrate Christmas.
But, if by the term, “celebrating Christmas,” you mean “rejoicing in the fact that God Almighty humbled Himself, taking upon Himself human form; taking time to worship Jesus Christ, remembering that He willingly left the splendor of heaven to live in this cold, dark world, ultimately sacrificing His own life that we might live,” then, YES, I most certainly do celebrate Christmas!
Some Hate the Message of the Birth of Christ
Just down the road from my church, there is a cultish organization, known as the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses. These so-called witnesses of Jehovah, among other ludicrous beliefs, absolutely hate the idea of anyone taking time to acknowledge the birth of Jesus Christ. I will mention this group again later, but for now, just know that they hate the idea of “celebrating Christmas.”
While driving down the road about two weeks ago, I was listening to a minister preach a sermon on the radio. I do not know the name of the minister, nor the station to which I was listening. But the man’s entire sermon was centered on the evils of acknowledging the birth of Christ. I do not know how many lost sinners were converted through this message, but I can give a good guess.
The Apostles Never Preached the Birth of Christ…REALLY?
As for the radio minister I just mentioned, one of his reasons for hating the mention of Christ’s birth was that the apostles never preached the birth of Christ. And, Christ never commissioned us to preach the birth of Christ. The apostles were always preaching the resurrection of Christ.
Okay, let us examine this for a moment. First of all, it doesn’t take much to see the hypocrisy of this statement. This radio minister just told us that the apostles never preached the birth of Christ, and that is his reason for not preaching the birth of Christ. My question to him – Did the apostles ever preach the forbiddance of preaching Christ’s birth? The answer is no. So, if this minister is going to neglect to exalt Christ’s birth because the apostles never did, then he should neglect to condemn the exaltation of Christ’s birth, because the apostles never condemned it!
Second of all, this minister’s assumption that the apostles never emphasized the birth of Christ is simply dead wrong. All four of the gospel accounts recorded the fact of Christ’s coming into this world. Matthew and Luke give detailed accounts the story of Christ’s birth. John opens His gospel account with Jesus Christ being the Word.
John 1:1 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John furthermore explains that the Word was made flesh.
John 1:14 – “And the Word was made 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.”
When was the Word made flesh? The answer is simple – at His conception and birth. John noted that God had been born in the flesh.
Mark makes mention of the fact that Jesus CAME in Mark 10:45. When did Jesus COME? He came when we was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the virgin Mary.
Paul, the apostle who wrote the greater part of the New Testament, spoke of Christ’s coming in the flesh.
Romans 1:3 – “Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh.”
Galatians 4:4 – “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.”
Philippians 2:5-8 – “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
I Timothy 3:16 – “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”
Peter, in I Peter 4:1, speaks specifically of Christ’s suffering IN THE FLESH.
The Hebrew writer makes several references to the birth of Christ.
Hebrews 1:6 – “And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.”
Hebrews 2:9 – “But we see Jesus, WHO WAS MADE A LITTLE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.”
Hebrews 2:16 – “For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.”
Hebrews 10:5 – “Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me.”
John the apostle, not only in his gospel account, but also in his first epistle, makes reference to Christ being manifested. When was Christ MANIFESTED? You got it – at this conception and birth.
I John 1:1-2 – “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)”
I John 3:5 – “And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.”
I John 3:8 – “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”
In addition to his gospel account and epistles, John the apostle gives a detailed perspective on the birth of the man child, Jesus Christ, in Revelation 12.
The fact of the matter is that nearly every New Testament writer, at one point or another, emphasized the great truth that God had become man. So, the claim that the apostles never recognized the birth of Christ is absurd, to put it in a nice way.
