The Jesus We Preach at Christmas:
The Truth About The Babe In The Manger
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Each year, as the Christmas season unfolds, it becomes increasingly clear that a large number of people in our society have got it all wrong. I am not here referring to the crass commercialism and materialistic self-indulgence, which are the most prominent aspects of the American Christmas scene. My concern is not about the hijacking of God’s great gift of His Son as an excuse for lavishing perishable goods upon ourselves with reckless abandon. These are but the symptoms of a deeper problem, one with roots in the preaching of the Word of God.
What bothers me more and more each year is the way Jesus is presented to the masses. It troubles me that our contemporaries are being cheated out of the true meaning of Christmas and the whole truth about Jesus, as they enjoy Christmas carols happily intoned by people who otherwise give no indication of faith; as they and their children watch sappy TV programs designed to divert us from Christ while seeking to preserve the message of peace on earth and good will toward men; and as they participate in Christmas programs and pageants that act as though Christ’s coming on that first Christmas were the end of the story, rather than its beginning.
But most of all I’m troubled by the complicity of today’s preachers in this vast deception, as they serve up Christmas sermons that reinforce false ideas about Jesus and Christmas and what His coming means for the world. Surely there is more to the message of Christmas than a seasonal dose of peace and good will, expressed in a veritable shark feed of gifts and giving?
We are rightly disgusted with the way Christmas has been taken hostage by the powers of getting and spending and the advocates of an Abelardian Christ. Each year their message is the same: “Behold the Christ-Child, sent by God to show us the way to peace and good will! Now let us show our good will by giving gifts to loved ones, as we rest in the peace of their thusly reciprocated love.” Then, on December 26, after we have returned such of those tokens of love and good will as did not bring us precisely the peace we sought, it’s back to the grind-‘em-up, eat-‘em-up world of staying alive in uncertain times. The thought that preachers today may be aiding and abetting this false notion about Christ and His coming should trouble us all.
But, lest you mistake my intentions, I’m not here auguring for more clarity in the message of peace and good will. What I’m seeking is more balance in our preaching, more accuracy in depicting the Christ-Child of Bethlehem, more of the truth about the Jesus we preach at Christmas.
What I’d like to hear is a little more bad news in the sermons we deliver at Christmas.
THE GOOD NEWS IS BAD NEWS
The Good News of Jesus Christ is only good to those who find favor with God, as the angels announced on that first Christmas morn (Luke 2:14). All those who see in the incarnate Son of God the hope of forgiveness, redemption, and a new life of obedience to God will find the peace and good will of Christmas all year ‘round. For many, many others Jesus comes like a sword, bringing conviction of sin, public exposure of unrighteousness, and condemnation (Luke 2:34-35). In particular, the Good News of the Christ-Child’s birth is really bad news for the devil and his troop, for those who cling to earthly relationships above all else, and for all who find in wealth and things the fulfillment of their highest hopes. For all these, Christmas should come around each year with dread, fraught with warnings of judgment and calls to repentance.
Bad news for the devil. The coming of Christ is horrible news, truly disastrous news, for the devil and those who follow in his destructive ways. As Paul explains, the coming of Christ in the manger foreshadowed the victory of Christ on the cross, where the devil and all who adhere to his deceiving ways were disarmed, openly shamed, and utterly destroyed (Col. 2:15). Anybody who prefers a lifestyle of lies and deception, taking advantage of others for personal gain, or holding grudges against others, should be troubled by the news that a Baby was born at Christmas who came to put an end to all such wickedness. That smiling, cherubic Child had a glimmer of wrath in His eyes, as John Milton reminds us in his Ode on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity. After cataloging the rout of pagan gods and false philosophies occasioned by the Savior’s birth, Miltonshows us how to preach the message of the Babe in swaddling clothes. The devil, he writes,
...feels from Juda’s land
The dreaded infant’s hand,
The rays of Bethlehem blind his dusky eyen [eyes];
Nor all the gods beside,
Longer dare abide,
Not Typhon huge ending in snaky twine;
Our Babe to show his Godhead true,
Can in his swaddling clothes control the damnéd crew.
How about a little more of this Jesus at Christmas time? The One who wrecks the plans of every deceiver, oppressor, liar, and vengeful person? The One before whose coming all who incline to such practices should be called to repentance and faith?
Bad news for those who cling to human relationships. Jesus Himself said it: “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-law” (Luke 12:49-53). It’s curious the way we look to Christmas to heal old wounds in the family. Just this once, for this brief space, we try to set aside our differences and cling to the ties of blood that we like to think make us one. Many Christians go along with this desperate ploy by downplaying their faith at Christmas time. They don’t want to offend unsaved family members or tear open old wounds inflicted through past attempts to win a lost relative to the faith. And preachers don’t want to offend any of those twice-a-year visitors who have come along with friends and family to hear the Good News of peace on earth and good will toward men. So they don’t dare present the Christ-Child as the one who came to divide humanity along the lines of faith, those who are uncompromisingly committed to following the Bethlehem Babe against those who are determined to be the masters of their own fates. We want people to believe that, somehow, we can all just learn to get along in this world. We can be tolerant of one another, even if our toleration means confirming people in their lostness. And we use Christmas, of all times of the year, to promote this deception.
Should we not rather say to people what Jesus did: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26)? How about more Christmas preaching that emphasizes the exclusive claims and whole-life demands of the One who came for our salvation?
Bad news for those who hope in wealth. Finally, Christmas is bad news for all those who look to wealth for their greatest joy and purpose in life. The rich young ruler, you will recall, went away sad from Jesus at the thought that he would have to give up his wealth in order to be His disciple (Luke 18:23). But Jesus didn’t back down. He told His disciples it would be very difficult, well nigh impossible, in fact, for those who cling to wealth to enter the Kingdom of God. If we are determined to find our happiness, satisfaction, and purpose in life in the accumulation of things, then we must resolve to leave off following Christ, for we cannot serve two masters. We may try to deceive ourselves into thinking we can, into thinking that we can invest the greatest amount of our time, energy, creativity, and interest in making a good living, with just a pittance left over for the work of the Kingdom; but this is the devil’s lie, and we are his followers, not Christ’s, if we cling to it.
And we are the devil’s spokesmen, not the Lord’s, if we allow the people of our churches in any way to think this is true. How about a little more preaching at Christmas time that calls us to abandon the ways of the world, to take up a sacrificial and simple lifestyle, and to follow the Babe of Bethlehem wherever He leads, at whatever cost?
TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT JESUS
We will only recover the true meaning of Christmas when preachers begin proclaiming the whole message of Christ from their pulpits. We can expect the world to continue in its vain deceptions about peace on earth and good will to all. But let the line stop at the pulpits of the land. The Good News of Christmas is for those who trust in Christ and follow Him as fishers of men. For all the rest – all the liars, deceivers, oppressors, clingers, smoothers-over-of-differences, greedy, covetous, and selfish – the message of Christmas is one of shame, wrath, and judgment. Try that out for your Christmas Eve sermon.
But don’t forget the message of hope goes out to all such people, for the coming of Christ is the coming of life and forgiveness, even for wretches such as we. Remember, I’m only calling for more balance in Christmas preaching. The whole truth about Jesus must include His condemnation of sin; but it must not fail to announce the hope of everlasting life. We will be faithful to His purpose in coming if we make both the hope of Christmas and the warning of Christmas central to our preaching of Jesus.
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T. M. Moore is a Fellow of the Wilberforce Forum. He serves as Pastor of Teaching Ministries and Director of the Center for Christian Studies at Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. He is the editor of the series, Jonathan Edwards for Today’s Reader (P & R), the latest volume of which is Praying Together for True Revival. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in Concord, Tennessee. He can be reached at nacurragh@aol.com. All Scripture quotations from the English Standard Version (Crossway).
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