Every year, my congregation and I celebrate our Lord’s birth with a special Christmas message. Over the years, it has varied quite a bit. Thinking back, I can remember messages that were focused on the supreme nature of the One who became a man to die for our sins. I also remember deeply heartfelt messages that focused on His love. Each message given has always been perfectly placed with whatever the mainstream studies have been focused on at the time. This year was no different.
At the time of this writing, North Christian Church has completed seven parts of an ongoing series titled, The Deceitfulness of Sin. The emphasis from the Spirit has been on the key word “deceitfulness” – this in an effort to shine divine light and wisdom on the insidiousness of sin. Our insights have ranged from baseline definitions for sin and depravity to the very practical manifestations of sin in our lives. What we’ve learned is that sin is, by nature, elusive. Given that every man ever born (save Jesus) has possessed a sin nature, “Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” (Ephesians 2:3), we must be trained by the Word (2 Timothy 3:16) to “see” sin where it lurks and hides (Ephesians 5:13). This requires the “the Word of God…the Light of men” (John 1:1,4).
What happened from the pulpit this Christmas was very interesting because it reminded us of the solemnness of Jesus Christ’s birth. If we pause for a moment, peering past all the hoopla and the Christmas lights, to remember exactly why God had to become a man – Jesus was born to die – we may just find ourselves weeping. We endeavor, then, to find the balance between solemnity and joy. After all, the One we are celebrating is “the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).
The glaring dichotomy of Christmas is that Jesus came to die, and yet He lived with a joy set before Him. At face value, these two realities may seem paradoxical. However, the Word reveals that they are intrinsically bound, and ought, therefore, be so bound in our hearts, particularly during the Christmas season. This very paradox was placed front and center during this year’s Christmas message at North Christian Church.
The message was solemn. It forced each congregant to stop in his or her tracks and face the reality that Jesus Christ, the God-man who experienced perfect peace as an eternal member of the triune God of the Universe, humbled Himself, knowing that He’d suffer and die for others. Death is a solemn subject (I’m not referring to dying and going to Heaven, just death, itself).
[Jesus Christ] emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
— Philippians 2:7-8
Imagine being Jesus Christ for a moment, knowing that you’d have to suffer as an innocent man – that the very reason for your birth was the culmination of the Cross. Ask yourself, is this a solemn thing? Here’s your answer:
Then [Jesus] said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.”
— Matthew 26:38
Any Christmas celebration is remiss if it exists in the absence of the solemnity that Jesus carried to the Cross. The kind of joy that Jesus carried to His Cross could only exist in the presence of knowledge about death. Likewise, it can only be present in the soul of a person celebrating Christmas if the aforementioned solemness exists as well. These things are mutually dependent. This is why Paul wrote what he did just prior to reminding us all of the Lord’s humiliation in Philippians 2:7-8.
Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
— Philippians 2:1-8
So, after a wonderfully placed, particularly solemn, Christmas message was preached this year, the Spirit gently reminded us to not be overcome by the weight of it. It’s true that we ought never celebrate the birth of our Lord in the absence of understanding the reason for His birth; however, since our Lord, Himself, possessed a “joy set before Him,” we ought to share in that joy. It may not invoke a burst of smiles, but it will most definitely fill our hearts with a balanced “measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ”(Ephesians 4:13). What more could we ever ask for, really? If the emotions that Jesus felt during His lifetime here on earth are sharable by us even today, then my vote is that we pursue that end, regardless of any anguish we might experience along the way.
The truth is that we all carry a cross. It’s a solemn reality. In order to maintain a joy set before us, we must understand the glory of the suffering that goes along with this. It is with Christ’s attitude that we are able to “run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1), in the face of death, itself, as Paul wrote, “I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31). Christmas truly is a time to rejoice, but it must be in light of the whole truth, including the reason why Jesus Christ was even born in the first place.
Joy to the world, the Lord is come
Let earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room
And Heaven and nature sing
And Heaven and nature sing
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing
Love in Christ,
Ed Collins