The Truth of Christmas
In our day, popular culture has blended Christmas myth and Christmas truth. Within just a few minutes of turning on the Christmas radio station or asking your smart device to play a Christmas playlist, you will hear the song “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” followed by “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” as if they were telling the same story.
The truth of Christmas gets swallowed more and more by the myth of Christmas each year it seems. The feel-good myth of Christmas is inescapable: lights and decorations and cookies and parties and movies and Christmas displays in stores that are now up on October 1.
But the fact is this: Christmas only matters if it’s true.
If it’s not true, it is reduced to a feel-good holiday that gives us a chance for family gatherings and time off of work and school. There is no spiritual significance. We are simply entertained, but not changed.
If it’s not true, we can throw away songs we sing that actually touch us somewhere deep in our hearts like “Joy to the World” and “O Holy Night.” Our playlists just need to be filled with feel good, sentimental songs like "Jingle Bells” and “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
But if it is true, everything changes.
If it is true, there is a heart of Christmas - something beating deep in the soul of the season - that brings meaning, that lasts beyond the Black Friday sales and holiday parties. Something that is spiritually significant that moves short-lived feelings of hope, joy, peace and love into eternal realities that never leave us.
The truth is Jesus Himself.
Jesus is God incarnating as man. Biblical prophecies from a thousand years earlier becoming reality. The hope for all mankind to finally be freed from the chains of ritualistic religion and the jaws of death that sin brings. The opportunity for all of creation to be reconciled and restored to its Creator.
All of this wrapped up in a baby born in Bethlehem.
Over the next four Sundays, we invite you to gather with your family, your friends, or just with you and your Father in Heaven in the quiet of your home to reflect on the truth of Christmas. Discover how the birth of Christ can and does make hope, peace, joy and love life-changing realities for you during and beyond this Christmas season.
Week 1 - November 30
The Truth of Hope
Have you considered how we commonly use the word “hope”? We typically say things like:
“I really hope it snows for Christmas. It’s so beautiful!”
“I hope I get that new LEGO set for Christmas!”
“Our only hope to arrive on time is to leave now and make all the lights!”
“I hope we can get through this family gathering without any big arguments.”
When you think about these common uses for hope, it really comes down to a desire we have for something to be nice, easy, enjoyable, and pain-free. The tension comes when we understand that we have no control over most of the things we hope for. We can leave as early as we want to get to where we need to be on time, but we have no control over the other drivers or how many stoplights we’ll hit along the way that will slow us down. And the more our hope doesn’t happen, the more cynical we get. Hope turns into wishful thinking, which could eventually turn into apathy and despair.
We need to have a biblical understanding of hope. These verses help us build an understanding of hope the bible describes:
“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” Hebrews 6:19
“For you are my hope, Lord God, my confidence from my youth.” Psalm 71:5
“...Christ Jesus our hope.” 1 Timothy 1:1
When we weave together the beautiful truths, we see that hope is not wishful desire, but a confident and secure expectation of receiving not just God’s promises in the future, but God Himself! Biblical hope is unshakable, because God is always faithful. Biblical hope moves us beyond desiring the temporary things of this world to desiring the eternal things of God.
Jesus is the embodiment of this type of hope. Jeremiah 14:8 prophecies about Jesus: “Hope of Israel, its Savior in time of distress.” Sin has stained our very being and broken this world more than we can truly comprehend. The Israelites longed for their Savior - the Messiah to make all of the bad things become untrue. Jesus was born as the hope of not just Israel, but for all mankind. Real, confident, secure, unshakable hope was born that night in Bethlehem. As you enter into this Christmas season, use this opportunity to place your hope for happiness and fulfillment not in a gift, circumstance or situation, but in Christ alone.
Reflect: Are you hoping too much in an earthly, temporary thing for your happiness and fulfillment? How can you shift your deepest hope to Christ alone?
Read: Luke 2:25-38
Week 2 - December 7
The Truth of Peace
Everywhere we go, we are confronted with a lack of peace.
We turn on the news, and we’re faced with wars happening across the globe.
We open our social media, and we’re faced with people on both sides of the political spectrum arguing with each other.
We go to work or school, and we’re faced with relational conflict, frustration with management, and overall tension.
This gets even more difficult, frustrating, and disheartening when we face conflict in our homes - between spouses or parents and children. And, what about the conflict and lack of peace within ourselves? That’s the worst of all.
Peace feels elusive. We seem to have it for a short time, but then it slips through our fingers, because conflict awaits us everywhere we go. Can we ever have lasting peace?
We need to understand and embrace what the Bible says about peace. Peace in the Bible is much more than lack of conflict. In fact, the Bible says that we can have peace in the midst of conflict and any situation we find ourselves in.
“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in You.” Isaiah 26:3
“Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times in every way.” 2 Thessalonians 3:16
“I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
These verses, and many more just like them, show us that peace isn’t found in a circumstance, but it is found in one who we have a relationship with: Jesus. The prophet Isaiah prophesied that one of the names of Jesus is “Prince of Peace.” When we believe and put our whole trust in Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we can have “shalom” - peace that is fixed on a loving, gracious, and Sovereign God that gives us wholeness of life.
The Prince of Peace was born that night in Bethlehem. Peace is no longer an elusive desire that slips through our fingers. Peace is a person who was born, lived, died and rose again for mankind. Embrace the peace of Jesus this Christmas.
Reflect: How can you experience the peace of Jesus in the midst of your conflict?
Read: Luke 2:8-14
