A Christian Defense of the Christmas Celebration:
Some Christians believe that celebrating Christmas is evil. Are they correct in their belief? To find out, we must analyze their arguments to see if they hold up under scrutiny.
A Christian Defense of the Christmas Celebration:
A Special Time to Celebrate the Fullness of the Time
Galatians 4:4, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Romans 14:5-8, 2 Corinthians 3:17
There are four main Scriptures for this sermon this morning; Galatians 4:4, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Romans 14:5-8, 2 Corinthians 3:17. This morning I am doing a Christmas sermon. It is not a typical Christmas sermon. Years ago, I did one similar, and got so many requests for that sermon that we put it on the front page of our website. It is a sermon that expresses the legitimacy, the beauty, freedom, and privilege, Christians have to honor the coming of Christ on any day we wish to do so, especially in a season, or day, that Christians set aside for doing this as a festive occasion--like, for example, December 25. It also has to do with worshipping God in His True Regulative Principle of worship according to the Good and Necessary Consequences of recognizing Tota Scriptura, which is all the Scriptures. It has to do with worshipping God who is Spirit (cf. John 4:24), in spirit and in truth, which is something that Christ told the Samaritan woman must be done in contrast to the Samaritans and the apostate Jews of Israel in John 4. To worship in spirit and truth is to worship God who is Spirit in respect to Messiah who was sent to establish the New Covenant and His Kingdom as the living New Covenant Himself (cf. Isaiah 42:6, 49:8). This is New Covenant Theology, and it is the recognition of the true Regulative Principle of Worship for all of God's people. Only the elect who are miraculously enabled to follow the true Messiah, worship Him in spirit and truth. This sermon has, as its doctrinal foundation, the spirit and truth of the Regulative Gospel Principle, plus the subsequent revelatory principles of 1 Corinthians 10:31, Romans 14:5-8, and 2 Corinthians 3:17.
Christmas is an ancient word with a particular meaning. The prefix of the word "Christmas" comes from the Latin word, Christus which means Messiah. Christus is connected with the suffix, mas. Mas is a word that is derived from the Latin word messa, from missa. Missa is a past participle form of the Latin verb, mitto, which means to send. The verb is conjugated as: mitto; mittere; misi; and missum. In simpler terms, mas means sent in English. When you combine Christus and mas together, you get the compound word Christmas. Christmas is a descriptive word that literally means Christ is sent. When Christians celebrate Christmas for the actual meaning of the word, they are celebrating a wonderful proclamation of Scripture. Paul spoke of the Christus Missa in one of our texts, Galatians 4:4
"4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, [as in, Christus Missa. Here "sent" is the Latin, misit, in the Latin Vulgate Bible, which is the third person singular perfect active tense of mitto, ie. to send] born of a woman" Galatians 4:4
With these basics in mind, I ask you to prepare your heart to learn some edifying principles from this sermon, titled,
"A Special Time to Celebrate the Fullness of the Time."
[prayer]
We know that Christ came at "the fullness of time." God sent His only begotten Son to earth at a particular time. Many Christians celebrate that sending on a special day. It is when glory and honor is given to God in the highest in festive enjoyment and remembrance of the advent of the promised Messiah. December 25 is a day that has been set aside for this, even though it is not considered by serious scholars to be the actual day of Christ's birth. Christian scholars generally agree that Christians began celebrating the coming of Christ on this day in place of the pagan festival of the sun to show (as a theological statement to the world) that Jesus Christ's coming supersedes the celebrations of false gods by pagans.
In our time, Christmas as a holiday has experienced an onslaught of attack. Pagans, agnostics, and secularists have been on a crusade to eliminate references to Christ from the Holiday. Activists are working hard to eliminate Christian symbols from Christmas celebrations. How many of us here are recognizing this trend? More and more, department stores are starting to refer to Christmas as the Holiday, or the Season. Stores are advertising their Christmas trees as Family Trees, or Holiday Trees. There is an orchestrated move in our culture to take Christ out of Christmas. Ironically, though, celebrating Christmas gets attacked with just as much fervor and conviction by certain Christians. You may be familiar with the view that Christmas should not be celebrated by Christians. It happened to me once. I came across some writings that had me wondering if I was in sin by having a celebration of the coming of Christ during the day of December 25th. I had heard, and read, arguments attempting to prove how evil Christmas was. I actually was in a church-fellowship where my pastor wrote a book called,
"The Dark Side of the Christmas Tree."
Who wants to be on the dark side? I don't. But, overall I was not satisfied with the arguments against Christmas. I had recognized some problems with the assertions, so I decided to do some further research on the Christus Missa celebration. Now I honor the sending of Messiah on December 25th with my family in worship of Jesus Christ in spirit and truth through the New Covenant in Him. Further, in godly freedom, throughout the day, we have fun around various festivities. We experience joy, food, and whatever else we care to do that isn't explicitly, or implicitly, described in God's New Covenant Scriptures as sin. In other words, we set aside a day of honor for the Lord and have a good time on that same day. Nevertheless, you may have read the anti-Christmas propaganda of the Christmas critics, and so maybe you've become concerned about the celebration. One of my intentions with this sermon is to help us, who celebrate Christmas, to have joy in what we are doing, in freedom, despite attempted condemnation from others. I hope to help put you at ease if you are being told that you are doing something wrong by celebrating the coming of Christ during the day of December 25, and you use decorations, food, singing carols, and so forth, when you do so.
There are reasons why certain Christians are afraid of Christmas, like to attack it, or avoid it altogether. Let's examine some of the most common reasons and see if they should give us cause for concern, or not:
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One reason given for not honoring our Lord by setting aside December 25 to do so in festive activities in celebration of His coming, and in worship of Him, is that December 25 is not considered to be the actual Birthday of the Messiah, or the actual anniversary of Mary's impregnation.
The simple response to this is that the actual calendar day in which Jesus was conceived, or born, does not matter in respect to celebration of His birth. People can celebrate the Christus Missa without thinking that they are celebrating the actual calendar day of Christ's coming. So then, in this respect, when it comes to setting aside a special day to honor the Christus Missa (sending of Christ) in celebrative activity, this argument is meaningless.
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Another reason that we often find repeated for why Christmas should not be celebrated is because it is celebrated on December 25, and December 25th was once a day that certain ancient pagans honored a false god.
Clearly, we Christians do not want to worship a false god, now do we? Further, we don't want to celebrate a false god. We don't want to use a false god in our celebrative activities that express joy, cheer, and goodwill toward men. We don't want to honor a false god by naming a day after its coming. So, when we hear this, we may possibly become alarmed. But there are some problems with this stance against celebrating on the day of December 25:
(a)
The first problem with this stance that we need to consider is that Satan, and pagans, do not own, nor do they have any rights to, particular calendar days. In simpler terms, pagans have never owned December 25. God owns every day. But think about this for a moment: Every Christian I know of who attacks Christmas, will use pagan language to describe the days of the weeks, and they do it without blinking an eye. How many of you realize that Sunday is a day named in honor of the Roman's pagan sun God? Well it is. Monday, is named after the anglo saxon pagan moon-goddess. Tuesday, is a day named to honor the norse God Tyr. Wednesday was named to honor the Germanic god Wodan, also known as Odan. Thursday, was named after the Norse god Thor. Friday is a day named in honor of the Norse goddess Frig. Saturday was named by the ancient Romans in honor of the false god, Saturn. All the days of the week are named to honor false gods, and yet critics of Christmas use these names without applying their own rule of censure to this area of life. The main reason for this inconsistency is that it just doesn't matter, and everyone knows it. God owns every day, no matter what names have been given them in respect to honoring false gods. Further, God does not say in His word, that the particular day of December 25 is inherently evil. Biblically, Christians may freely use any day that the devil has never had a right to in the first place. A beautiful way to do this is to set aside certain days for God's glory in joyous festivity, praise, worship, honor, and thankfulness, in which celebrative activities that express joy, cheer, and goodwill toward men are practiced in freedom. We did that last month. We recognized the miracle of 1623, where the Separatist Pilgrim church settled America, and then after a drought that lasted through summer, their crops began dying. They set aside a whole day for nothing but prayer and fasting. After about 9 hours of prayer, God brought rain that lasted for weeks. Their crops were revived, and they had a big harvest. The miracle was so astonishing that the native Americans gave glory to the One true God of the pilgrims for answering the prayer. The miracle occurred in summer. Bradford set aside a day of thanksgiving in remembrance of it. We celebrate the legacy of their Thanksgiving in the fall of November, which parallels the season of the first feast celebration the pilgrims had in one year of arriving in America. My point is that the practice is a simple, yet beautiful, way to glorify God in focused festivity, in praise, worship, honor, and thankfulness to Him; and during the same day, we are free to have celebrative activities that express joy, cheer, and goodwill toward men. We can eat food, sing songs, and give gifts if we want to, or not give gifts if we so desire. This is the same thing we do in celebrating the coming of Christ Jesus on a certain day that God alone owns. Our other three Scripture passages speak to this, starting with, 2 Corinthians 3:17,
"17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." 2 Corinthians 3:17
When we live, and breath and have our being in the Lord, as His New Covenant people, we worship our God who is Spirit, in spirit and truth, (cf. John 4:24). This is the New Covenant fact that the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is actual (not theoretical) liberty; and this leads us to our next two passages, which build upon this principle;
"31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31
This is a good teaching on what to do in celebrating the coming of Christ on December 25 in our recognition of the regulatory principles of worship of the New Covenant. In Romans we read,
"5 One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord ..." Romans 14:5-8
Christians have liberty to celebrate the Christus Missa on December the 25th, observing that day for the Lord in respect to His coming, and in respect to Who He is--eating and drinking, and doing everything unto Him (while being in Him), Who Himself is the incarnate regulatory principle of worship as the living New Covenant (cf. Isaiah 42:6, 49:8). Until someone scares the Christian into thinking they are doing something evil, Christmas is usually celebrated by Christians (who are the temples of the Holy Spirit, where the Spirit of the Lord is) being fully convinced in their own minds that they are doing something good.
Finally, on this aspect, as mentioned in the introduction, it is a historic fact that the early church utilized December 25 for the purpose of showing that the pagan honor of false gods is meaningless compared to the honor of the One true God in Christ. December 25 was chosen to make a theological statement concerning the supremacy of the worship of Christ over the futility, sin, and vacuousness, of worshipping the created.
(b)
This leads me to touch upon the second problem that anti-Christmas people have in attacking the day of December 25. Most of them don't know it, but the problem is that Christmas is held on days other than December the 25th.
For example in Poland, Christmas is celebrated on December 24th. December 26th is the national Christmas Holiday in Germany. So if they are consistent, then we recognize that they have December 24, 25, and 26 to attack. But there is more to this. The problem of attacking the day itself is magnified when we consider the practice of the Orthodox church. The Orthodox church celebrates Christmas on the Julian calendar day of January the 7th. This is the reason why Russians celebrate Christmas on January 7th. They celebrate Christmas on that day because of the Russian Orthodox church. December 25 in the Julian Calendar is January 7 of the Gregorian Calendar. Now here is where another problem comes in. The two different calendar days when Christmas is celebrated drift apart an extra three days every 400 years. December 25th in the Julian Calendar will become January 8 in the Gregorian Calendar, starting in the year 2100, which will cause a new set of problems in the future for those who want to demonize a certain day in respect to Christmas. Then there are the Armenian Christians who find their roots in the church founded in Armenia in the first century (not Arminian, like in synergism). The Armenian Christians celebrate Christmas on January 6--not the seventh. But interestingly enough, not all the Armenian Christians celebrate Christmas on January 6. In Jerusalem, the Armenian Christians celebrate Christmas weeks later, on January 18th. If only the drama were to end there, but it doesn't. Celebrating Christmas on January 18 can cause a stir among the Greek Orthodox churches in the same city of Jerusalem. Why? Because the Greek orthodox churches in Jerusalem celebrate Christmas on January 6th--not the 18th. When we recognize all the various days used to celebrate Christmas, we already have a hard time attacking any one day, but to add to this differing day dilemma, we must remember that there are many people who do not think of the Christmas Holiday as just one day. They think of Christmas as twelve days. So, they celebrate The 12 Days of Christmas, rather than one day of Christmas. The 12 days of Christmas are traditionally the 12 days that separate December 25th from the January 6th Epiphany celebration in what is called the Christmastide. Finally, there are those who celebrate what is called The Weeks of Advent. Advent is the beginning of something called the Church Year for most churches in the Western tradition. Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before December 25th, which is the Sunday nearest November 30. Advent ends on December 24th in what is typically called Christmas Eve. If Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday, it is counted as the fourth Sunday of Advent, with Christmas Eve proper beginning at sundown. The whole month long celebration of honor is a holiday tradition of symbolically welcoming the Advent of Christ the King to the world in the Christus Missa--remembering that Jesus has come as the promised Messiah. Yes, Advent is a month long Christmas celebration of focused honor to God! Folks, my hope is that we are getting the bigger picture here. The bottom line is that it does not matter what days, hours, or minutes you choose to celebrate the coming of your Lord.
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This leads us to consider another popular reason given for shunning the Christmas celebration. What is typically argued is that the Bible does not have a clear command, or recorded practice, for seasonally celebrating the coming of Christ. This is supposed to mean that we should not do it.
But, there are some serious problems inherent in the reasoning process around this suggestion. The primary one is that, in logic, this is called the fallacy of arguing from silence. In other words, it is assumed, as a personal presupposition, that because certain things are not mentioned in the Bible, then they must be wrong to do. Such an arbitrary stance is not a consistent and honest stance to take in regard to what is right or wrong. There are perhaps an infinite number of things we could think of that are not mentioned in the Bible, but we do not say that they are wrong merely because the Bible does not mention them. One way we can better identify this fallacy in logic, and doctrine, is by stating the same premise using a different conclusion. For example, let's word it like this:
The Bible records things that God says are wrong to do, and the Bible records things that God says are right to do. Because certain things are not mentioned in the Bible then they must be right to do.
We immediately see how silly this type of reasoning is. The wrongness or rightness of a thing is not established because of the fact that it is not mentioned in the Bible. In light of this, we must look to real scriptures for a universal regulative principle for how to act in respect to days. The two New Covenant scriptures I mentioned before work well here;
31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31
and,
"5 One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord ..." Romans 14:5-8
When we add 2 Corinthians 3:17 to these two, we have a working regulative principle,
"17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." 2 Corinthians 3:17
The main point is that not mentioning a certain day is not a legitimate stance to take in regard to whether celebrating Christmas is right or wrong.
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This leads us to consider another objection that is similar to the one I just shared. It is said that Christians should only celebrate holidays that were clearly prescribed by God.
The Jehovah witness cult asserts this belief. It brings people under condemnation by saying that doing something like celebrating someone's birthday is a sin, or celebrating Father's Day is a sin. Why? Because they say that those are not celebrations prescribed by God. The same is said for celebrating the coming of Christ. Yet, Christians specifically celebrate Christ on various days of any week. God's people can be found honoring Him according to 1 Corinthians 10:31, and Romans 14:5-8, and 2 Corinthians 3:17 on any day. Christians focus attentive worship of Christ at certain times, on various days of the week, with praise and worship songs. There are times that Christians do it through the preaching of God's word. Christians do all of it in fellowship in the Spirit with the body on Saturdays, Sundays, Wednesdays and so on. It is all freedom to do what is not inherently evil--even if there are pockets of time during church gatherings that Christians are not praying, hearing a sermon, or singing. But, the folks that argue against celebrating on days that are not prescribed by God in the Bible, point out that God actually ordained certain feast days, also called festivals, and certain holy days, for Old Covenant Israelites to observe. They then point out that God did not approve of Israel celebrating days in honor of false gods. All Christians agree that we should not worship, or honor, false gods. But, the argument is brought over from Old Covenant apostate Israelites worshipping false gods on special days, and it is tweaked to suggest that for New Covenant Christians to celebrate anything more than what the Bible mentions, must necessarily be sin. The argument already fails at the argument from silence arena, where it presupposes that all celebrations are wrong unless prescribed by God; but nevertheless, the Bible does not say celebrating all things that God did not command to celebrate is wrong. What God did say is that He does not want Israel to worship false gods on any day. But, even though the theory is already specious, it also fails to point out that the Israelites actually did invent their own holidays. What I mean is that they started their own traditional holiday celebrations aside from God ordaining those celebration days, and we find those days in the Bible.
One was the holiday called Purim. We find it in Ester 9:29-32. In its mention, and throughout the Scriptures, there is no explicit, or implicit, approval nor disapproval of the humanly invented Purim holiday. Purim simply existed as if it was a neutral non-issue.
The Israelites also invented Hanukah. We find that this holiday festival celebration was started by humans in the time between the Old and New Testament Scriptures. Hanukah was established as a holiday in memory of the purification and rededication of the temple by Judas Maccabeus on Kislev 25, 165 B.C., after the temple was profaned three years earlier by Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Hanukah is mentioned in the Gospel of John. It is called the Feast of the Dedication in John 10:22-23. We find, recorded in the Bible, that Jesus walked into the temple of the portico of Solomon during Hanukah. Interestingly, Christ's activity on Hanukah is mentioned, but no disapproval of the man-made holiday is shown in any way. In its mention, it is simply treated as a neutral non-issue. The bottom line is that if you are going to invent your own celebration, then why not have one in honor of the coming of the promised Messiah? If you want to do various celebrative things, like read the gospel account of the celebration of the coming of Christ, sing, eat food; and if you want to give gifts, then it would be nice to do so on that day.
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This brings us to consider an objection used by some Protestants against celebrating Christmas. Essentially what is said is that the December 25th holiday was started in the Roman Catholic church period of the history of the church, and so therefor, it must necessarily be evil.
The problem with this stance is that it assumes more than the Bible proclaims. Just because a day to celebrate the Christus Missa was set aside under the Roman Catholic church, does not make the day, or the contemporary Protestant practice of celebration, into something evil. Meeting on a certain day, like for example, Saturday, or Sunday, for Christian fellowship, is not evil either. It is just a day. Further, the days of Saturday and Sunday were used as meeting days in Roman Catholic history. Protestants all over the world meet on those two days too, and yet the practice of meeting on those days is not inherently evil.
It is often pointed out that Roman Catholic Priests have a typical ritualistic mass service on the evening before Christmas day, where they partake in sacramental wine and wafers according to the belief of transubstantiation, and because they do this the night before, then this must be proof that all Christus Missa celebrations are evil. Actually, Catholic Priests have ritualistic mass services according to their belief in transubstantiation, every week throughout the whole year, but Protestants do not. It is the same way with the modern Protestant practice of honor, celebration, festivity, worship, and gathering on December 25 in recognition of the Christus Missa. We non-Catholic Christians do not have a transubstantiation mass service at a Catholic cathedral at any time, so the argument is another fallacy in logic that is comparing apples and oranges; they are both fruits--yes--but they are both different fruits altogether. The point is that there is a Protestant way to celebrate Christmas in liberty in Christ, and that is the way I am preaching about.
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This leads us to consider another popular objection to celebrating Christmas. It is pointed out that Christmas has become commercialized, trivialized, and even co-celebrated, by secular society.
This really isn't much of an argument against Christmas, but nevertheless it is an argument. The plain answer to this, is that society also does this with other things Christians partake in, such as church-like services, or proselytizing, or singing, or reading from the Bible, or meeting on a certain day of the week, and so on. In fact there are commercialized churches, trivialized churches, and false churches all around us. Just because those kinds of churches exist, does not mean that all churches are false, trivialized, or commercialized. In other words, church does not belong to the devil, just as days do not belong to the devil. The easy remedy to this, (if it's a problem for Christians that keeps them from celebrating a Christ is sent holiday), is to not commercialize Christmas, and don't trivialize Christmas when it is celebrated. Furthermore, go ahead and celebrate Christmas in sincerity of glory to God while in the company of non-Christian acquaintances, friends, and family. Why would I possibly consider recommending doing such a thing? Because you can be God's minister for the moment. It is a great venue for you to explain the gospel of Jesus Christ in giving honor to Him. Such activity is called evangelizing. It is ministry. It is testimony. It is honor to God. It is true spiritual worship to glorify God by proclaiming to the lost, the coming of Christ.
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This leads to a similar objection, which has to do with exchanging gifts. It is said that exchanging gifts is selfish and materialistic--to do so is not to honor the Lord.
One simple answer to this is, do not exchange presents if you think you are being selfish in doing so. Nevertheless, other than the liberty to cease from giving gifts, since when is exchanging gifts ever called a sin? It isn't. Further, exchanging gifts is not necessarily based upon some nebulous indictment called materialism, or selfishness, any more than purchasing items for yourself, or giving things away to charity. In fact, when it comes to selfishness, it is harder to give than to receive, isn't it? Yet, according to Christ, it is more blessed to give than to receive.
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But, there are even more objections to Christmas. One is that things like trees are used as decorations. Christmas critics will say
Christmas trees are forbidden in the Bible.
or
Christmas trees are pagan.
This suggestion is argued from Bible verses. Unfortunately, the problem is the same one I preach against all the time. It is the problem of taking a text out of context to prove a pretext. This formula generally leads to error. The main Bible text used for this is Jeremiah 10:2-5:
"3 For the customs of the peoples are delusion; Because it is wood cut from the forest, [some translations put tree here] The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. 4 They decorate it with silver and with gold; They fasten it with nails and with hammers so that it will not totter. 5 Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, and they cannot speak; They must be carried, because they cannot walk! Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, nor can they do any good." Jeremiah 10:2-5
This has nothing to do with Christmas trees. The passage is talking about false gods that are crafted into idols by hand, which, like scarecrows, are impotent, and powerless. God says, do not fear them. The point is that this verse is not remotely referring to Christmas. The contextual clincher is found in verse 11, where the idols are called false gods:
"11 Thus you shall say to them, 'The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.'" Jeremiah 10:11
The main confusion for the wrong interpretations of these passages come from the use of a communication device called synecdoche. It is when the name of the material is used to denote the product that it is made from. Some translations, Like the King James Version, use the word tree, rather than wood to explain what the idol is made from. Golfers are familiar with synecdoche, where certain golf-clubs are called woods, or irons. Whenever we press our clothes, we use an iron. Whenever cattle are branded, an iron is used. In each instance, the objects have been called iron after the original metal they were made from. These are examples of synecdoche. Another passage that is wrongly thought to be a teaching against Christmas tree decorations is in Isaiah 40;
"19 As for the idol, a craftsman casts it, a goldsmith plates it with gold, and a silversmith fashions chains of silver. 20 He who is too impoverished for such an offering selects a tree that does not rot; He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman to prepare an idol that will not totter." Isaiah 40:19-20
Clearly this is also a passage dealing with false gods. The Bible never mentions decorative Christmas trees; yet, it does mention decorative idols fashioned to be gods of worship.
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Another objection to using trees as decorations, is that the Christmas tree decoration is believed to have its origin in neo-pagan solstice yule celebrations. Nevertheless, in spite of the fact that this belief is presented as if it is an undisputed fact, those who tout it, leave out some important details.
Foremost, of which, is that it is rarely mentioned that the Yule Christmas tree connection is just a theory, and that it is challenged by historians because it is based upon conjecture and is completely absent of any historic evidence of a connection.
Secondly, the earliest record that actually exists of a Christmas tree being used, and decorated, is in 1521 in the Alsatian region of Germany. In other words, the actual historic evidence traces the Christmas tree to the 16th century Christians.
Thirdly, the Christmas tree's origin can be traced to Christian symbols--not a neo-pagan one that may be associated with solstice celebrations.
According to the historic facts, and not theory, the Christmas tree is a direct descendant of the historically identifiable Paradise Tree and the historically identifiable Christmas Light that incorporated the triangular Christmas shelf of the late Middle Ages. In the eleventh century, Christian plays called Mystery Plays became popular throughout Europe. These plays were performed outdoors and in churches. The Paradise Play depicted the story of the creation of Adam and Eve, their sin, and their banishment from Paradise (anachronistically meaning, The Garden of Eden). The well known play would end with the promise of the coming Savior as foretold in Genesis 3:15. The only prop on stage was a fir tree adorned with apples. This is what was called the Paradise Tree. In the play, the woman playing Eve would take an apple, eat it, and give some to an actor playing Adam. Later, in the fifteenth century, the Roman Catholic church banned these plays. But, people had grown so accustomed to the Paradise Tree, that they started putting their own Paradise trees up in their homes on December 24th. They picked December 24 because in the Eastern Orthodox Church this was called the feast day of Adam and Eve. People would decorate these trees with apples and wafers. The apples represented the fruit of sin of the first Adam. The unleavened wafers represented the bread of life of the last Adam, Christ Jesus. Eventually, candy and other sweets were added. The other decoration that was found in the homes of Christians in the late middle ages was the Christmas Light. The Christmas light was a large candle that symbolized Christ. It was lit on Christmas Eve. In western Germany, many smaller candles were added to the decoration, and placed on a triangular wooden shelf. Over time, in addition to the candles, other objects such as glass balls, and tinsel, were placed on the shelf. A star representing the one followed by the magi, which led to them discovering Jesus, was placed on the top of the terraced shape. It is from these actual, and verifiable, recorded historic facts, that scholars are certain that the first Christmas trees that made their original appearance in Germany in the early sixteenth century, were descendants of both of these customs--the Paradise tree, and the triangular shelves, with the lights, and the star. These are the historic facts that the anti Christmas Yule-tree, crowd never mention. (see footnote one below).
A final thought that we must recognize on this point, is that a decorated tree is not intrinsically immoral. It is not unrighteous, and further, it is no more pagan, nor a deity, than are any other celebrative banner, cake, color, food, or song used for festivities.
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This leads us to consider another objection to celebrating the Christus Missa. Critics of the celebration point out that there are things in the common Christian tradition that are things that non Christians use in their celebrations and rituals.
The problem with this is that just like using the names Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and so on, there is really not much that anyone can use in any celebration that isn't also used by the unsaved in theirs. If it is true that centuries ago, pagans used to burn a log every winter to revere a false god during the phenomena of the winter solstice shift of the sun, like for example a yule log, their practice does not dictate to us today that we can not burn logs on a winter day that we might want to celebrate the coming of Christ.
Further, just as the names of our weekdays have lost their original meanings, the word, yule has a broad semantic range, and has lost its original meanings from its ancient root connections. The word is used by Christians in respect to Christmas. The root of yule is believed to come from the ancient Indo-European root, Gwelo, which means "to go round," of which the old Germanic root Jul, which means "to turn" refers to the winter solstice phenomenon of the sun appearing as if it is turning three days after the solstice. This leads to a connection with the Anglo-saxon word, geol, meaning feast. Yule, in its various derivatives was typically the word used for the winter feast celebrations of the various old world cultures. Now the word, yule, has become a term synonymous with the Christmastide period, ie. yuletide. The point is that when Christians speak of the yuletide season, or they sing a yuletide carol, they are not thinking of the turning of the sun, or a mere winter feast; they are, of course, thinking of the celebration of the sending of the Messiah.
More, if a pagan uses candles in rituals, his practice does not dictate that we quit using candles, or lamps, or electric lights. If non-Christians eat food, and sing songs during their celebrations, does their act dictate to Christians that Christians should not eat food, or sing songs during their own observance of the day for the Lord, Romans 14:5-8? If non-Christians read stories during their celebrations, does their act make it wrong for Christians to read stories? Pagans may give gifts on certain occasions, but their actions don't dictate to us that we can not give gifts. Finally, unsaved people do a lot of things that we do, but this fact doesn't dictate the rightness or wrongness of an action.
/11/
Another objection you'll hear to Christmas is that some people trick their kids into believing in the fairy tale like jolly man called Santa Clause. Santa Clause, as a guy who is magic, lives in the North Pole, and gives gifts to the world is, of course, a fairy tale. But the fantasy figure is derived from a real person, rather than the other way around. Nicholas of Myra, who Santa Claus is named after, was a Christian Pastor of the 4th century, who was actually at the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325. It was there that Nicholas was a staunch defender of the doctrine of the Trinity where he opposed the heresy of Arianism. Arianism was a belief taught by Arius of Alexandria during the same period. Arius said that Christ the Son was solely a created being and not part of One triune Godhead. According to legend, Nicholas punched Arius in the face at the counsel of Nicea because of the things that Arius was saying about Christ. Though he is not the round white haired fantasy figure we see today, Nicholas (Often called Saint Nicholas) was a real man who was a respected overseer of the church who was known for his charitable giving. People tricking their children into believing in a magic sleigh riding Santa Claus is not a reason to stop the rest of us from celebrating Christ's birth on a special day set aside for that occasion. In other words, if you do not like the fantasy Santa Claus, then teach your kids about the historic Nicholas of Myra like my wife and I have done with our own children. Just make sure you point out that it isn't the best apologetics practice to punch out the people you disagree with doctrinally!
Worthy of mention, is an argument that points out that Santa is an anagram for Satan. In other words, you can mix the letters up from santa and write the word satan. Amazingly, a man sat in my living room and actually used this argument to try and prove to me that Christmas was evil. Such a suggestion sounds eerie, but when we know that the word, santa, comes from the latin word sanctus and is literally translated as saint, and holy, which means set apart, then all the eeriness dissipates into the deep sea of foolish speculation. Because of what santa means, the Spanish Bible is called Santa Biblia which means Holy Bible. If we were to follow the superstitious anagram technique of attacking Christmas, then we would have to assert that the Spanish Bible is really the Satan Bible; and that, of course, is absurdity.
/12/
But this leads us to consider that even though a particular day is not given for celebrating Christmas in the Bible, and even though this is something that doesn't matter, and that most of the traditions Christians use in celebrating the coming of Christ are not prescribed in the Bible, and this fact also doesn't matter, something that does matter is:
The coming of Christ was celebrated in the Bible!
Yes, it was celebrated when a group of men, called Magi, were looking forward to the sending of Jesus and were following a star as the sign that was to lead them to Christ. They celebrated, as we read,
"10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh." Matthew 2:10-11
Clearly the Magi celebrated the sending of Christ. They rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. They fell to the ground and worshipped Jesus. Then they gave Him gifts. In many Christmas celebrations, there are Christians who rejoice exceedingly with great joy; there are Christians who worship Christ, (like my family does when we first wake up in the morning of December 25 where I read from the Bible and we pray and sing hymns), and though gifts are not given to baby Jesus today, there are Christians who give gifts in good will toward men. Some Christians choose not to give gifts, but they still honor the Lord on December 25.
There are those who argue that the Magi did not arrive to find the baby Jesus until a couple of years later after He was born. But, it doesn't matter when they arrived. It doesn't matter whether they arrived at the very moment of birth, or a few minutes later, or a few hours, days, or years later. It doesn't matter because they still celebrated the fact that Christ is sent! Yet, if they did arrive a few years later, then this fact simply supports honoring Christ in His coming on a day other than His actual birthday. There were other initial celebrations of Christ's coming. We read in Luke 2,
"4 Joseph ... 5 in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. 6 While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. 48 In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. 10 But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.'
[Now here comes the Christmas celebration, verse 13]
"13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased!"
This is another Biblical celebration of the sending of Christ, where good news (gospel) of great joy for all the people (originally Israelites) was delivered, and then a multitude of angels began praising God in truth. Continuing in verse 15,
"15 When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, 'Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.' 16 So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. 17 When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart."
Here comes more celebrative action concerning the Christus Missa in the following verse;
"20 The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them." Luke 2:20
What had been told to the shepherds was that Christmas was among them, (because the Christ had been sent), and they would see the baby Christ for themselves. When they did see their Messiah, they glorified and praised God in spirit and in truth, in celebration of His coming. Christians today celebrate the sending of Christ by glorifying and praising God in spirit and truth, by singing Christmas carols like "O' Holy Night" "Silent Night" and "Hark The Harold Angels Sing"--all songs that describe the passages of Scripture we just read.
This morning, I want us to understand that I am not saying that you must celebrate December 25th as a day for recognizing the Christus Missa. What I am saying, is that if you do honor Christ in His coming in some way, or you celebrate in some way, then do those things with full freedom and confidence that your festivities can be wholesome activities that incorporate true Christian worship from you the Christian who is the only kind of person who worships in spirit and truth of the gospel. Actually there is so much for Christians to celebrate concerning Christmas. First and foremost, our Savior has come. Peter said,
"[Christ] was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times ..." 1 Peter 1:20
Christ's appearing means salvation For God's elect. There is nothing more glorious to be thankful for. As I finish, let us consider the words of Paul, where he describes the mission of Christ Jesus in coming into the world,
"15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. 16 Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life." 1 Timothy 1:15
I urge all of us here this morning to be remembering that Christ came into the world to save sinners. I urge all of us who are saved to consider that you have been saved through His life, His sacrifice, and His resurrection, whereby your salvation is by grace through faith. The Scriptures proclaim that all people are sinners. Christ came to save sinners. Those, as Paul says, "who believe in Him for eternal life" will be saved. Do you believe in Christ for eternal life?--in His sacrifice for your sins? Then you have a lot to celebrate. Are you turning to Christ now? Then God's word is clear. Christ came to save sinners. Turn to Him now. Believe in Him for eternal life and you will be saved. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that those believing in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.
Footnotes
For more information on the origin of the Christmas tree, you can do two things:
--Contact the Christian Research Institute,
http://www.equip.org/site/c.muI1LaMNJrE/b.2106253/k.BDBB/Home.htm
--Look at Richard Bucher's scholarly research at: http://www.orlutheran.com/html/christma.html
