Message for December 20, 2015 from Pastor Jerry

“For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder.  And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Is. 9:6(NKJV)

        For billions of people around the world Christmas is an exciting time of fun, joy, and family sharing.  The truth is that millions of people celebrate Christmas that don’t worship Jesus or even believe in Him.  Our Christian slogans that appear each year like “Jesus is the reason for the season” and “Keep Christ in Christmas” are only meaningful to us Christians.

        With all of the protests and law suits filed to remove any Christian symbolism from the holiday, nobody is really pushing to do away with the holiday itself.  If Christmas was stopped today most merchants would have to come up with some other idea just to stay in business.  If everything about Christmas was “religious Christianity” few people would be interested in celebrating it.

        Christmas was banned in England for two decades when the Country was under a Puritan king.  It wasn’t because of the “Christian” elements but a lack thereof.  It was considered so worldly and pagan that God fearing Christians wanted nothing to do with it.  Christmas was even banned in New England when it was the seat of Puritanism. But, during the Middle Ages the celebration was made an “all Christian celebration” with the emphasis being attending church.  Problem was that very few people got involved so they broadened the celebration back to the old way of lewdness and drinking and Christmas survived.

        I am telling you this because it is important to know the difference between the Word of God and the tradition of man.  The birth of Jesus wasn’t even celebrated by the church until after 300 AD and then because it merged with a pagan holiday to appease the people from paganism and encouraging them to stop celebrating their god of nature on December 25.  They had been doing this for hundreds of years. I am not telling you this because I am against Christmas but only to help you see that most of Christmas was never about Jesus to begin with.  It is mainly tradition.  Just remember what it says in Romans 14:5-6a.  “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.”  “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths(celebrations) which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” Col. 2:16-17

Comments are closed.

Past Pastor Messages and Nuggets for Life