Peter Tan-chi Date: December 25, 2011Download Links:  4Ws Audio Video |
What is Christmas for you? Have you lost the delight in celebrating this season? Has it become nothing more than tradition? Have we taken out Jesus from Christmas?
Christmas goes beyond the gifts, the food and the gatherings. It is greater than what we have made it to be. Christmas is the greatest news about the Greatest Person who solved the greatest problem to give us the greatest future.
The Greatest News
The first people who heard the first Christmas message were shepherds. An angel, accompanied by multitudes of heavenly hosts, appeared to them and brought “news of great joy” (Luke 2:10). “For today in the city of David there has been for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord,” the angel proclaimed (Luke 2:11). Christ’s birth is so important that it took supernatural beings to proclaim it! For the first time in the New Testament, God’s glory appeared to mankind again in the form of a babe.The proclamation of Christ’s birth was announced to the shepherds (people of extremely low social status) to signify who the recipients of this greatest news are–all kinds of people.
The Greatest Person
Everything about Jesus is unique–His birth, life and death. His existence is from eternity but some 2,000 years ago, He took the form of a man. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). The prophecies about the coming Messiah made hundreds of years before Jesus was born pointed to Him: born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14), born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), and a descendant of David (Matthew 1:1). These are just a few of the prophecies that were fulfilled at Jesus’ birth. His life on earth was unique because He met human needs through teachings, miracles, signs and wonders. His death was on the cross, but after three days He rose again and ascended to heaven. This shows us that God is indeed very much involved in history. In His sovereignty, He orchestrates every detail of our lives. To Him there are no accidents, only incidents.
The Greatest Problem
If mankind’s greatest problem is poverty, lack of education, or war, the richest people in the world would be happy, the most educated would be fulfilled and the peaceful nations would be prosperous. Though these things are great problems, they are not the ‘real’ problem. Humanity’s greatest problem is sin and its consequence—death (Romans 3:23;6:23).
The bad news is that we all have sinned. And the penalty of sin, according to the Bible, is spiritual death—an eternal separation from God—an eternity to spend in hell (Revelation 21:8). No one among us can pay for the penalty of our sins. There is no solution except the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ. Having no sin, He is the only acceptable sacrifice (Hebrews 9:26-28).“For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God…” (1 Peter 3:18) If He never became a man, our greatest problem would have never been solved and our future would have been lost.
The Greatest Future
God desires to be with us. In His love for us, He sent His one and only Son in order to save us. Someday, we will also rule with Him in His kingdom (Revelation 21:1, 3-5). Reigning with Jesus is our heritage. In Him our future is secure, “for there is no now condemnation for those who are in Christ” (Romans 8:1).
The greatest news about the Greatest Person who solved the greatest problem to give us the greatest future should leave us overflowing with joy. As we
enter another year, let us take an inventory of our lives and see if our lives can be characterized by joy.
Indeed, joy is one of the marks of true Christianity (Galatians 5:22)—it is a by-product of having a genuine relationship with God. As someone once said, “A person filled with joy preaches without preaching.” We are to be joyful always even if we have problems (Philippians 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 1:6) for our joy is not based on circumstances but on the life that we have in Jesus.
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