Transcript
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We've been thinking about our need to have the expulsive power of a new affection for the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we think about Christmas and the way we celebrate it, I think it's important for us to say there are no special holy days now for believers. Yes, the life of an Old Covenant, Old Testament believer was punctuated by holy days, because God's people had national holidays. Actually they had a lot of them, but they were religious holy days. And actually that's where the word holiday comes from, isn't it? And you probably know that before the Protestant Reformation, the Church had created a whole calendar of holy days, Christmas being one of them. And the Reformers, especially in my own country of Scotland, reacted against that. It felt the Church had been insisting on observations that went beyond Scripture and sometimes against Scripture. And so all these special days came to an end, including Christmas. In fact, when the Scots commissioners went to the Westminster assembly In the mid 17th century, the assembly where the famous confession and catechisms were written, the Scots were appalled to discover that people were not working on Christmas Day. And even when I was growing up in Scotland, Christmas Day was only a half day holiday. Now, I've Christian friends who maintain that old tradition, because Scripture doesn't command us to celebrate Christmas and therefore they say the church shouldn't sometimes. Sadly, I think that can be expressed in a rather mean spirited and even spiritually superior way, suggesting that those who do celebrate the Incarnation at this time should feel guilty about doing it. But there are actually several considerations that have led me to believe that it's legitimate, appropriate and helpful for us to celebrate Christmas. One is that the Scripture doesn't tell us that we should have sermons in September on sanctification, or that the last Sunday in some particular month in the year will be Mission Sunday, or that another weekend will be the church anniversary weekend. Our elders, our ministers, make those decisions for the spiritual well being of the congregation. And if we have that liberty, then surely we have the liberty to think that there would be a time in the year when we might concentrate on the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ and think through and celebrate and apply the momentous event of the birth of the Savior of the world. That seems to me to be perfectly appropriate. We're not saying that these are especially holy days. We're not binding anyone's conscience any more than when we have a month of sermons on sanctification. In fact, my general observation is that Christians and congregations that don't mark the Incarnation in this way are actually likely to hear fewer sermons and have less concentration on the conception and birth in early days our blessed Lord Jesus than those who do. But here's something else you'll know. It's often said that Christmas is actually a pagan holiday based on the Roman holiday of Saturnalia. But that's a bit like saying that Reformation Sunday is a pagan celebration because it coincides with Halloween. Actually, some churches started holding a Reformation Day service as a direct contrast to the events associated with Halloween. And historically, that's one of the reasons Christmas came to be celebrated around the time of the Roman festival of Saturnalia. It was a way of pointing the pagan world to a better story, to an infinitely greater God than the Roman God Saturn. It was saying, you are worshiping the creature and we want to encourage you to worship the Creator. It was meant to be a powerful witness to the incarnate son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. And in fact, so powerful was that witness that at least on one occasion, a church gathering on Christmas Day was deliberately and maliciously firebombed by Christ's enemies. So it's simply muddle headed to say that Christmas is a pagan celebration. Yes, Christmas Day isn't any more holy than any other day of the year. And Christmas dinner isn't actually more sacred than yesterday's dinner. But like that food, it can be sanctified in special ways by the word of God and prayer and praise, because the Lord Jesus did indeed come into the world to be our Savior.