WHAT IS CHRISTMAS?

Isaiah 9:6; Matthew 1:21; Luke 2:1-11

What does Christmas mean to you?  Is it the gifts around the Christmas tree in the living room? Is it the cards? Is it the decorative lights in the streets, houses and windows? Is it the wine, beer, chocolate? Is it the turkey on the table? For most people in the Western world, Christmas has no more meaning than these. It has become just a traditional celebration, where the rich show off their wealth in elaborate shopping and decoration, and the poor go into debt in order to measure up! This is commercialization! It is now all about buying and selling. The true meaning has been lost. For most people Christmas has become X-mas. For people who have commercialized Christmas, for those who make it a time of revelling and drunkenness, it has become X-mas. The real Christmas is unknown to them.

It is estimated that UK shoppers will spend 12 billion pounds this Christmas. Many people will borrow money this Christmas in order to measure up. Now compare this. In 2013, 39847 households in Scotland made homeless applications. 44% single men, 21% single women, 17% single parents who are female, 6% single parents who are male, 5% couples with children, and 4% couples without children. More than 4000 people will be sleeping rough this Christmas – under the bridge, in disused buildings or in the open. There is enough wealth in the world to take care of every person in the world’s 7billion population. But because of greed, wickedness and lack of love, many are homeless, many are hungry, many will sleep rough. For such people Christmas is a time of sorrow!

What is the real Christmas? It is the remembrance of the time when Christ was born. It is a time of great joy to the world!

Why is Christmas a time of great joy to the world? Because Christ the Saviour is born! What did He come to save us from? He came to save us from sin (Mat.1:21). Sin is breaking God’s commandments of love!

When Moses received the Ten Commandments and came down from Mount Sinai, Israel was worshipping the golden calf and revelling. He broke the tablets of the Law in anger. Let me show you the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17).

1. You shall have no other Gods but me.
2. You shall not make for yourself any idol, nor bow down to it or worship it.
3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
4. You shall remember and keep the Sabbath day holy.
5. Honour your father and mother.
6. You must not kill.
7. You must not commit adultery.
8. You must not steal.
9. You must not give false evidence against your neighbour.
10. You must not be envious of your neighbour's goods. You shall not be envious of his house nor his wife, nor anything that belongs to your neighbour.

Our own generation has broken the Ten Commandments into a thousand pieces. Jesus has come to save us from sin and the result of sin. This why the angel told the shepherds He had brought them good tidings of great joy.

What does Christmas mean to you? Christmas will become meaningful when Christ has saved you. Are you saved (Rom.3:23)? If you are not saved, if your sins are not forgiven, you can eat all you want this Christmas, you can drink all you want this Christmas, you can revel all you want this Christmas, but it will be meaningless (Ezekiel 18:4; Rom.6:23).

Christ was born to die for our sins (Rom.5:8)!

If you confess your sins and believe tonight, you will be saved (Rom.10:9-10). You will be born of the Holy Spirit. Christ will be born in you. Christmas will become a celebration of joy, whether you have money or not, whether you are poor or rich.