Archive for the ‘Salvation’ Category
Your Faith Did Not Save You
You’ve heard it and you’ve seen it in print. If you just accept Jesus by faith you will be saved. The plain teaching today is that you can be saved from your sins if you will just have a little faith in Jesus. The problem with all of this is that in your sinful state you are dead in sins and are unable to respond to any calling to having any faith of any kind in Jesus for salvation.
In the following passages we read:
And you hath he quickened, that were dead in trespasses and sins… Ephesians 2: 1
even when we were dead in trespasses… Ephesians 2: 5
And you, being dead in your trespasses… Colossians 2: 13
As you can see, before you are “born again” you are dead, spiritually dead, and are unable to do respond to anything pertaining to Jesus. Just as Lazarus was physically dead in a physical grave, you are spiritually dead in a spiritual grave. When the call comes to “come forth” you must be given to ability to do so, just like Lazarus was given the ability to respond to Jesus’s command to come out of the grave. Before you can come out of the grave you, too, need to be given the ability to do so before you can answer the call to come forth.
Now we know this verse well:
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast… Ephesians 2: 8, 9
Here we are told that it is by “grace” that we are saved through faith that is given to us with which we can believe on Jesus. That is very clear in this verse. Any faith that we have is given to us as a gift from God so that we cannot boast about how “our” faith saved us. So, if it isn’t by “our” faith that we are saved, then by whose faith are we saved?
Now here is where the problem arises with today’s modern language translation bibles. Look first at the following verses; you will recognize them all.
1. Romans 3:22
This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
2. Romans 3:26
he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
3. Galatians 2:16
know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
4. Galatians 3:22
But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
These all came from the New International Version (NIV) translation of the bible, and many of today’s modern translations say the same thing, in one way or another. The question is this. If we are dead in trespasses, as we have read, how then can we generate any kind of faith in order to believe? The answer is… we can’t. However, the answer to this problem is easy. It is not by “our” faith with which we believe!
Now, read this verses. They are the same four as above, but they are from the 1599 Geneva Bible. All but forgotten in our day, the Geneva Bible was the most widely read and influential English Bible of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. A superb translation, it was the product of the best Protestant scholars of the day and became the Bible of choice for many of the greatest writers and thinkers of that time. (from Bible Gateway.com)
1. Romans 3:22
To wit, the righteousness of God by the faith of Jesus Christ, unto all, and upon all that believe.
2. Romans 3:26
Through the patience of God, to show at this time his righteousness, that he might be just, and a justifier of him which is of the faith of Jesus.
Know that a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we, I say, have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the Law, because that by the works of the Law, no flesh shall be justified.
But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by the faith of Jesus Christ should be given to them that believe.
Do you see the difference? Today’s translations state that we are saved by “faith in Jesus”. However, as we have seen we are spiritually dead in trespasses and are unable to respond with any faith at all, and what faith it is that we use is given to us by God that we may believe.
You see, the little word “in” is from the Greek word “apo'” which should be translated “of” and not “in”, basically meaning “taken from or off of”. As in “off of” or “from” Jesus, i.e. “faith of Jesus”.
This is where the 1599 Geneva translations comes into its own. The Geneva Bible states clearly that it is by the “FAITH OF JESUS” that we are saved. This is the faith that is given to us as a gift by God so that we can believe. This way we cannot boast about “our” faith, because we have none, and it is by the “FAITH OF JESUS” given to us that we believe.
This may help you to understand this:
For I say through the grace that is given unto me, to everyone that is among you, that no man presume to understand above that which is meet to understand, but that he understand according to sobriety, as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith… Romans 12:3
When we are called to come to Jesus we cannot do so unless God gives us the ability to do so (see John 6: 44 and John 6: 65), and He gives us a measure of faith with which to believe, and the faith that is given to us is the faith of Jesus that He had with the Father when He was here on earth. We have no faith of our own and, even if we did, it would be an imperfect faith that we would have to rely upon for our salvation, However, the faith of Jesus is a perfect faith. A faith which gives us the ability to come to Jesus and to believe on Him.
So you can see that, if you are saved, if you are born again by the Spirit of God that is was not by the result of any faith of your own, but by the “FAITH OF JESUS” that you are saved. This way you cannot boast of anything as it is a gift of God, given to you so that you could believe with a perfect faith. A faith that would be offered, accepted and held by God for eternity. For it is by the “FAITH OF JESUS” that you are justified and saved.
Think of this. By whose faith would you like to base your eternal salvation upon? Your faith or the “FAITH OF JESUS” given to you with which to believe? To me the answer is clear and I hope you will agree, for only by the “FAITH OF JESUS” are we justified and saved…..
Whom Do You Serve; the Creator or the creature?
In this life we have a choice about whom we serve. There are only two choices and no middle ground. The two choices are the Creator or the creature. By refusing to serve the Creator, even though you don’t conscientiously choose to serve the creature, you do so by default.
In Romans 1: 24, 25 we read:
Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Now we know who the Creator is, His name is Jesus. He is the Lord of life. He is God. We are told this in John 1: 3. In speaking of Jesus we read:
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
All that you see, all that there is, in the Heaven’s above in the Earth beneath and in the Ocean’s below all was made by Jesus and was done so for His glory and pleasure. There is nothing that has been made that was not made by Him. Jesus is Lord. In this life you either believe in and serve Jesus or you stand condemned because you do not believe. In John 3: 18 we are told:
He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
In short, either you believe in and follow the Creator – Jesus, or by default you follow the creature. So, who is the creature?
A creature is something that was made, like you, you are a creature because you have been created. But, are you the creature that you serve by not serving God? There is one mightier than you who is the creature that you serve by not serving Jesus.
In Ezekiel 28: 12 – 15 we are told the following:
“You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created.
“You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.”
Satan is the cherub about who these verses are describing. He is the creature that you serve if you do not serve Jesus. There is no alternative. You either serve the Creator – Jesus, or you server the creature – Satan.
You can argue this all you want. You can proclaim all kinds of hatred towards Satan and deny him all you want and you are doing exactly what Satan wants. You see, he doesn’t want you to realize whom you serve, for once you do, you will want to turn from him and cry out to God to save you from this creature. You will want to come to Jesus to ask Him to forgive you for your sins, and to cleanse you from all the filth and perverse actions that you don’t realize that you are doing. For you will realize that:
“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
John 3: 36
Think of this. If you are not following and serving Jesus you are following and serving Satan; the problem is that you don’t know it, and you don’t know that you already stand condemned before God. You may try to deny it. You may say that you believe in God. Well, even Satan and his demons believe in God also and they certainly stand condemned.
If you don’t serve the Creator do you know what He will do? He may even have already done so and you don’t realize it. Read this from Romans 1: 28 – 32:
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality,wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving,unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
Did you read those last eight words? They say that even though you may not do all that is described before, if you just approve of the sinful actions that others do, God will do to you the same as He will do to those who do them. Is that what you want?
It may not be too late for you. You can be set free from being a servant (slave) to the creature who is called Satan. If you will just confess that Jesus is Lord and that the Father has raised Him from the dead, if you cry out for forgiveness for you sins, for living a life in disobedience to God, you will be forgiven and saved from the wrath of God that is to come upon all who serve Satan.
Remember, in this life you either serve the Creator or the creature. There are no other choices. So, the question now is this. Whom do you serve – the Creator or the creature. Your choice will determine where you will spend eternity. Why would you choose the creature that can do nothing for you? Why would you not choose the Creator?
There are consequences to our choices. We can control our choices, but we cannot control the consequences. Your choice determines the consequences.
Whom do you serve – Jesus or Satan?
Make the right choice and call upon Jesus now, for He will save all who calls upon Him for salvation.
For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10: 13
Preaching For Itching Ears
In many denominations there is on going preaching that is designed to make the church fit the world. The reason for it is so that no one will be offended in hopes that the world will like the church and will let it alone. I call it “Preaching For Itching Ears”.
In 2 Timothy 4:2-4 we read the following:
“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”
It seems that the time has come when no one wants to hear sound doctrine. There is no rebuking, no exhorting to abstain from all that is evil, there is no patience with learning the deep things of the Gospel of Christ. In short, there is no Biblical teaching being served.
In the Bible we are told that marriage, ordained by God, is to be between a man and a woman, but the church is teaching that marriage can be between two men or two women. The Bible teaches that homosexuality is wrong and that those who practice it will not enter Heaven. The church teaches that homosexuality is OK if it is in the confines of a loving relationship.
The Bible teaches that women are not to be in a position of leadership or to teach. The church says that women have a right to be a Pastor and to teach God’s Word. The Bible is clear on the qualification on being a Bishop, Pastor or Deacon – Men who are married to one woman and head up their home in a loving relationship. The church teaches that it is Okay for women to be in those positions, even though they do not meet the Biblical qualifications. The church, thumbing its nose at God, says that it is Okay for lesbians and gay men to be ordained as Ministers of God’s Word.
Why would God be happy with, and accept with kindness, something that He has specifically called an abomination?
Why would the church preach something that is not biblical? Because it is something that they do not want to hear due to the fact that the “world” says that this kind of teaching is wrong, hateful and intolerant teaching, and the church does not like it when the “world” is against it. The church no longer stands up for the sound doctrine found in God’s Word and instead it preaches what the world tells it that it should preach. God be damned as sinful man cowtails to itching ears. To them, the truth is no longer relevant.
Preachers would rather hide behind their pulpits than engage the world and what it believes. Preachers would rather have the church fit into the world view of things, instead of the church engaging the world in a way that it will view things through the eyes of God’s Word. In short, Pastors have become afraid of the “world”.
The church is slowly loosing its moral compass – the Bible. It is fulfilling the prophecy of what Jesus said in Luke 19: 14:
“But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’
When one gives up on its leader they will no longer listen to, nor obey, his teachings and commands. The church is doing just that. Sound doctrine is tossed aside and pulpits are being used to entertain those sitting in the pews telling them what they want to hear and not what they should be hearing. As long as the ear is tickled the people will stay, if not they will leave. Either way the church is dead for they look to, and trust in, themselves and not to God in teaching sound doctrine that will save people from facing the punishment for their sins.
What is being taught now is just the same as the blind leading the blind, and the only place they are all going is straight to Hell for they turned away from the truth to appease those who are offended by true Christian doctrine. The problem is they don’t know it.
Are You Still In Darkness?
So many people believe that all religions lead to the same source of life, but do so by different paths. Is this something that you believe? If you do then you have answered the question of this article. Yes, you are still in Darkness.
The darkness of which I speak is not the darkness that is the opposite of being a lighted room. The darkness of which I speak is the darkness that one has who is spiritually dead as opposed to those who have been made alive by the Light of life. In the Gospel of John, chapter 1 and verses 1 through 5 we read:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
The Word of God created life and in this creation He became the life that brought light to sinful man, after the fall into the darkness of sin. Without this Light sinful man, of which you and I belong, would remain in the darkness of our sin, not knowing that life was available; life that makes us alive and show us the way back into the family of God having been forgiven for our sins and born again in newness of spirit.
So, who is this Word that brings this life and light into man’s life? In John 1: 14 we read:
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.
As man we call Him Jesus. About Him we read the following:
He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Think for a moment about what you just read. Jesus made the world in which we live. He came down to us, lowered Himself to be one of us, in order to bring light to our sinfulness and to make us alive and to bring us back into the family of God. But we do not want Him. We don’t recognize Him and we will not receive Him into our lives. Because of this we will remain in our sins, living in darkness believing that all is well only to find that when we die we have been deceived. And we will only learn of this as we spend eternity in Hell because we rejected the Light of Life. By then it will be too late. Your eternal destiny will have been set with no chance of parole or forgiveness, and no one will be able to change that. Is that what you want?
However, you may have noticed that all who will receive Him, He will give them the right to become children of God. You will also see that even though you many have been born into a Christian family does not give you this right, nor can you will this to be done by your own desires and you cannot will this to be done by your own thoughts. Only God can do this for you.
Your only hope is to cry out to the Father and to ask Him for the faith with which you will need to believe in Him. This is the faith by which you will be able to confess that Jesus is Lord and that you can believe that God has raised Him from the dead. Unless you can do this, unless you are born again by the Spirit of God, you will die in your sins and you will remain in darkness for all eternity.
No other religion can make this promise. All religions but one tell you that you can do this by your own will, by your own goodness. But they all deceive you into rejecting the One to Whom you must fly to receive the Light that gives life. In Him is life and only Jesus can do this as He is the creator of all things.
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
There is only “one” path to Heaven. That path is lit by the only light that reveals the truth. That light is Jesus. Won’t you submit to Him now? Will you not bow the knee and proclaim Him to be the only Lord and Savior who can save you from your sinfulness, and Who will shine the true light into your life and bring you out of darkness and into His glorious light so that you may have life in Him.
Why remain in darkness and spend eternity in Hell. Cry out to Jesus and come out of the darkness and enjoy the wonderful light of God. Behold the glory of God. Call upon Jesus and confess Him to be Lord and His light will bring you into the presence of God where there is no darkness. Jesus is the only way, the only path to Heaven. All other paths are false and will only lead to destruction and more darkness.
Ask God for the faith with which you will need to call upon Jesus. Come out of the darkness into the shining light of Jesus and be saved.
How To Have Peace With God
You can be at peace with your mate, you can have peace with your kids, you can have peace with the world, but if you don’t have peace with God – you have no peace at all.
Now why would I say that? Because when you have peace with God you know that you will go to Heaven when you die. If you don’t have peace with God, your destination after death is Hell. In this life you will sense that, even if it you do not know or understand why you feel the way that you do. Sometimes you may feel a sense of unease, maybe the nervousness of an impending doom, or even a moment of fright when danger is near. It is because you are afraid to die. And you are afraid to die because you are not sure if you will go to Heaven or Hell.
Hell is real. It is a place of eternal torment, sorrow and grief. It is a place that you do not want to go when you die. Did you know that Jesus spoke more about Hell than He did about Heaven? Because he knew what Hell is like and He wants to warn us of the dangers of what we are doing that will send us there when we die. Hell does not have to be your destination. You can know that you are going to Heaven and you can enjoy peace with God now, in this life and in the next.
So, how can you have peace with God and be assured that you will go to Heaven and not Hell when you die?
In Romans 5: 1 we read the following:
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Being justified is the act, whereby God, through the faith given to us with which to believe, forgives us of our sins, makes us alive in our spirit – the instance of being “born again” – and saves us from the wrath to come on those who disobey Him. This is what allows us to know that we have been brought into the family of God, and in this knowledge we are given the assurance that we now have “peace with God”.
You will learn through God’s Word what Jesus has done in order for us to have this peace. Death will be something of which you will no longer be afraid, for you will know and understand that, in this life, we are only passing through and that our Home lies beyond this life. You can live and enjoy this journey not worrying whether death will visit us today, tomorrow or years down the road. You will feel a closeness to God wanting to be with Him and you will come to know that in His time, according to His will, the time for you to go home will come at the appointed time for you; and you will look forward to that time knowing that you will then be with Jesus – the one to Whom you owe your life.
Now you are probably thinking, “how can I accomplish this? What does it take?” Actually it is very easy to enter into having peace with God. In Romans 10: 9 – 10 we read the following:
9 …. if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Will you do this now? If you will do exactly what these verses say you will receive forgiveness for your sins, be saved from facing God’s wrath that is to come and you will finally experience knowing true peace with God. If you won’t, if you say you can’t or do not want to, you will never know this peace and you will have no hope of eternal salvation and of spending eternity in Heaven.
Is it worth denying Christ? Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” There is no other way to Heaven. There is no other way to receive forgiveness of your sins. There is no other way of having “peace with God’ except through Jesus.
Do you want to have peace with God? Well. you now know the way to having it given to you. The question is – how bad do you want it?
Marriage – One Man and One Woman
This month, my wife and I celebrated our 44th Anniversary. It is hard to imagine a time that we haven’t been together. Not only is Mary my wife, but she is also my best friend. We like being together, we go almost everywhere together, we cook together – although I like her cooking better – and we can just be together and do nothing. We truly have become one.
In the Gospel of Matthew chapter 19 and verses 4 through 6 we read the following:
And He (Jesus) answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
We had a Church wedding and we are both Christians. As we have grown in our marriage, and as I’ve grown in my Christian submission to Jesus, I’ve come to realize what Jesus was saying when He made that statement. My wife and I have become one in our marriage.
In our natural state of male and female, we were made to come together physically, physiologically and psychologically; two men or two women can not do this.
No matter what this world says, two men or two women cannot achieve this same kind of relationship. It is unnatural for them to come together in a physical way and they are incompatible physiologically and psychologically. To say otherwise is just refusing to face the facts in order to indulge in a perverse relationship.
However, the biggest reason that Marriage is to only be between one man and one woman is because God has commanded it to be so. Jesus, the Creator, knew this and in the passage above He makes it very clear that God the Father made them male and female, and that for this reason – Marriage – a man will leave his family, as will the woman, and be joined together to become one.
So, marriage is to be between one man and one woman. God made us different and He made us to complement one another. And in that difference God will only bless the union that is between a man and a woman. The union that my wife and I share has been blessed, and we thank God daily for His blessings. No other relationship can expect to receive the same blessing. for God cannot, and will not, bless that which is contrary to what He has ordained.
If you think otherwise, if you believe that marriage, especially one that will be blessed by God, can be between two people of the same gender, you are only fooling yourself. You have been deceived, and more’s the pity…
God’s Valentine
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us,”
1 John 3: 1
Do you know this love? What a gift this is that God has given to His people. For the verse, quoted above, continues this way:
“that we should be called children of God!“
They who belong to God are His children. Would you not like to be a child of God?
When we were not seeking God, He was seeking us and He found us. When we could not come to Christ on our own, God drew us to Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. When we were not willing to come to Jesus, the Father worked in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.
When our heart was cold and not able to believe the Word that we heard, God removed that cold dead heart and provided us with a new heart; a warm living heart that was able to receive the things of the Spirit of God, so that we would understand our sinfulness and our need for a Savior.
When we were dead in our sins and unable to respond to the call to “come forth”, God made us alive and broke the chains that bound us. He then set us free from being a slave to Satan and from being a slave to our sins so that we could “come forth” and cry out to Jesus to “save me or I shall perish.”
The work of salvation is all of God. He seeks us, we do not seek Him. He draws us when we do not want Him. He makes us alive when we are dead. He sets us free as we are chained. He gives us a new heart as we have a heart of stone. He makes us willing when our will is not free. He places within us the Word of life when we are devoid of ability. He receives us as we call out to Jesus to save us.
Truly it is a wonderful thing to know what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us. He has done so because we are His children. He has known us since the beginning of time. He keeps us safe until it is our time to join His family. He then calls us to come to Him when the time is right and He gives us the ability to respond according to His will.
We all love Valentine’s day as it is a day of love. We give our loved ones gifts from our heart to show our love for them. How much more does our Father love us? When we are saved and forgiven for our sins, when we know how the work of salvation is all of God, when we realize that we are called children of God, how much more can we praise our Father for His love for us than by saying:
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God!”
No greater Valentine can be received than the love which the Father has given to us so that we can be called the children of God. How about you? Can you make that claim? Only if you have submitted to the Lordship of Jesus and have believed on Him to be your Savior can you be called a child of God. There is no other Name given among men by which we can be saved. There is no other way that we can receive the gift of God’s love; God’s Valentine.
Begin The New Year With Joy In The Lord!
A Psalm of Thanksgiving.
Psalm 100:
Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.
Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.
Only those who belong to Jesus can sing such praise. For it is He who died for sins and it is only by Him can any of us enter into Heaven. There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be, or can be, saved.
Bow before Jesus and proclaim His Lordship over you and believe in Him as Savior and you, too, can sing these praises unto the Lord our God. So, make a joyful noise, come before the Lord of the universe and sing His praises. It is God Who has made us for Him and we are to be His joy, but only if we belong to Jesus.
Come into His courts with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. The Lord is faithful. He will keep us for all eternity. Thank Him for His mercy and forgiveness. Come, now, kneel before the King of Kings and cry out for mercy and forgiveness of your sins and submit to the Lord of Lords to receive salvation that is offered to all who will come.
Begin the New Year with a new heart and a new song. Love the Lord and be thankful to Him. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth does, indeed, endure to all generations.
Begin the New Year with joy in the Lord!
…..
This Is Christmas
It is not about a Nativity scene. It is not about Shepherds. It is not about Angels on high. It is not even about three Wise Men. If it isn’t about any of these things, then what is Christmas all about?
The answer is quite easy…
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… 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… (John 1: 1, 14)
Christmas can be celebrated anytime of the year. The day doesn’t mean anything. What is important is what happened. For what happened is that God became a man. He lowered Himself from His glorious throne to become one of us. He did so to talk to us on our level and, as man, His name is Jesus.
The reason He came down to us is very simple.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners… (1 Timothy 1:15)
Are you a sinner? Then He came to save you. That is what Christmas is all about. All you have to do is to bow before Him, admit you sinfulness, ask for forgiveness and submit to Him as Lord of your life and He will be your Savior. It’s that easy.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14: 6)
There is no other way. God became man. We call this man Jesus, and Jesus came into this world to save sinners. That is what Christmas is all about.
To celebrate Christmas is to celebrate life, eternal life and forgiveness of sins, given because God became man to save sinners from their sins. The question for you is this. Will you join in on this celebration and have peace with God, or will you reject Him and face the penalty for your sins?
My prayer for you is that you will be among the many who will come to know what it is to have peace with God, and who will know the true meaning of, and be able to wish us all, a very “Merry Christmas”… 🙂
…….
Christmas Ambivalence
Ah, Christmas! Lights, Santa, a Nativity scene, not to mention greed, sorrow and stress. Why? What for? Sometimes I wish that Christmas never happens, and I say that as a Christian. So, what gives? No, I’m not a Scrooge nor am I heartless. Just seeing the holiday a little different.
Christmas, while being a Christian holiday, was never celebrated in the early Christian Church. In fact, it is not known exactly when Jesus was born, only where and that is in Bethlehem. Even though there is an account of the birth of Jesus in two of the gospels, the early Church never recognized nor celebrated the birth of Christ. In fact, Paul the Apostle, in 1 Corinthians 2: 1, 2 made the following statement about Jesus and the teachings about Him:
And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Paul made it very clear that what is important about Jesus is that He had been resurrected from the dead. Our “faith” depends on it. In 1 Corinthians 15: 14 Paul tells us:
And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.
What Paul made clear in all of his teachings is that Jesus was crucified, He died, was buried and was raised again to save people from sin, and to give life eternal to those who would believe in Him. Paul never celebrated the birth of Christ as well as none of the other Apostles or even those who were taught by them. Christmas is not a celebration of the early Church and was not commanded by God to be observed.
Since that is the case, should Christmas be celebrated today? It depends.
If you believe that we need to celebrate Christmas, in order to be an obedient Christian, and it is something that should be done in order to gain favor of God to be allowed into Heaven, the answer is no. Think of this.
In Galatians 4: 9 – 11 Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said the following:
But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.
In other words, if one celebrates Christmas because they feel they have to, they are doing so for the wrong reason and it could even call into question whether or not they truly are a Christian.
However, in Romans 14: 5 – 7 we are told this:
One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself.
Here we see that it is OK to keep one day special, if we do so to the glory and honor of God. Likewise, if we decide not to honor that day and we do so to the praise of God that, too, is OK. For we do all these things to honor God and not ourselves.
To celebrate Christmas then is OK if you do so to honor God and to give Him praise. If you feel that you do not want to celebrate Christmas and you do it to honor God and to praise Him that, too, is OK to do. For both reasons are done to give God the glory, honor and praise that He so deserves.
But, what has happened to Christmas? To many it has become a time of greed, stress and sorrow. We worry about making sure we have the right decorations, the best gifts and going into debt just to give something that is fleeting, never lasting and gone in a moment of time. Christ is being pushed out of the public view, placed on the back lots and pushed back into buildings that never show His glory to those who truly need the Gospel message which is about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
If it were not for the crucifixion of Jesus – His death, burial and being raised from the dead – Christmas would have no meaning at all to Christians, and it would be nothing more than a meaningless holiday worthless to the salvation of anyone.
Could you celebrate Christmas if you had none of the glitter and glitch of decorations, the trappings of the commercialization of expensive gifts and the need to please others? What if all that was needed was to fall to your knees and give thanks to God for sending His own Son into the world to save sinners?
It’s OK to celebrate Christmas as long as your priorities are in the right place. You can do the decorations, buy the gifts and celebrate the birth of Jesus as long as you do so to the glory and honor of God. If you do, I think you will see that all of the trappings that make up the Christmas holiday is really not needed at all.
Christmas is a day that can be celebrated – for the right reason. We only need to honor Jesus for giving up what He Had to become what we are. That alone is enough for celebrating the birth of Jesus. But, then again, we could do that anytime that we wanted, any day of the year. And we can do so without all of the greed, sorrow and stress that comes upon us this time every year.
Wouldn’t that be great? It can be if you celebrate Christmas to honor Jesus and not to sacrifice your wallet to ease your conscience or place an offering on the altar of greed in buying the biggest, the best and the most. I’m sure you will find it more satisfying and not stressful at all. At Christmas time it would be best to practice what we read in Hosea 6: 6 where God says…
For I desire mercy and not sacrifice,
And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
Make this Christmas the best ever. You can take away the greed, the sorrow and the stress. You can do so by giving the best gift you will ever know – yourself to God. Ask Him to forgive you for living a sinful life ( we all do ), submit to the Lordship of Jesus and receive the gift of life – eternal life. You will know a love that you have never experienced and you will have made peace with God.
May you have a most wonderful Merry Christmas and celebrate it for the true meaning behind it – the day that God became a man and we call his name Jesus…
…….
Riff's Christian Journal 