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Maybe Christmas, Perhaps…Means a Little Bit More!

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By Dan Amos

I don’t remember much about Christmases as a kid. I know we had a tree and lots of things wrapped under it. We didn’t have a lot in those days, but my mom and my dad, who was expressionless in words, loved us in giving what they could. I think we would open presents in the morning but got to open one on Christmas Eve. But the first Christmas I really remember something specific was probably in the month of April. I may be combining years, but only my mom and sisters could say differently. My dad had been away on an exceptionally long cruise aboard the USS Oriskany operating near Vietnam. He returned in the spring, and we waited to celebrate until he returned home. That “Christmas” morning I found a train set with a five-dollar bill wound up tightly and sticking out of a window of the caboose. The five is gone, but I still have the train set.

When I think of Christmas, I want it to be more than presents and things. Santa has never been anything more than a cartoon for me, but even the nativity is only part of the story. The first two chapters of Matthew and Luke are pretty much all we have telling us the account of Jesus’s birth, but they are packed with world-changing events.

Zechariah, Elizabeth, and John were relatives of Jesus, and John’s birth about six months ahead of Jesus’s birth puts a whole different light on Luke chapter 3 and the ministry of Jesus’s cousin John. This is the John who preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. It is the John who would baptize Jesus and kick off his ministry, and John who would be martyred for his faithfulness.

Luke chapter 1 also tells of Mary, the young woman who was visited by an angel and told of her favor with God. She conceived Jesus because “the Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” A virgin, pledged to be married, but never having been intimate with a man, was pregnant. She lived in a small town in a time when it was unacceptable to be pregnant out of wedlock.

In Matthew chapter 1, we are told of Joseph learning of Mary’s pregnancy and his intent to break ties with her. The angel of the Lord visited Joseph, and he heard of the child Mary would bear. Matthew doesn’t name the angel, but Gabriel was the messenger to Zechariah and to Mary.

Luke chapter 2 tells of the journey to Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus, and the celebration in heaven where the worship spilled over to the Earth. Matthew 2 picks up the story a time later, when the Magi came looking for the king. They had seen a star rise and interpreted it as the sign of a king’s birth. Once in Jerusalem, the star led them to Bethlehem, where it no longer moved.

Herod knew the prophecy of the birth of a king, and when he heard the Magi were looking for him, Herod was scared for his own future. He schemed to get the Magi to lead him to the infant king and sent them to find Him. They did find Jesus and presented Him with the expensive gifts that we all know—gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Then they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod.

Joseph was then warned to take his family to safety in Egypt. When Herod realized the Magi wouldn’t be telling him where to find the infant king, he ordered his men to kill all the boys in Bethlehem who were two years old and under. But Jesus and His family were kept safe in Egypt until Joseph was again told to return home because Herod was dead.

So, Christmas is more than elves and reindeer, presents, family and parties. Christmas is a miraculous working of the Holy Spirit, foretold in Scripture, revealed in events, and it reveals the worst of mankind, politics, trickery, and murder. But in the end, the intricate weaving of events is the stage from which Jesus would be revealed decades later when the other baby of the Christmas story declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”

It’s a huge story of intimate local events to global politics and stellar movements. It would be impossible to put together unless you were writing about it from a perspective of knowing the end from the beginning. Matthew and Luke were inspired to write by the Holy Spirit. That’s our God. At the time of our first sin, he already knew the plan of redemption, of how he would fix the mess we made. Jesus, the Lord saves. Merry Christmas!

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Christmas Comes When You Want It

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By Dan Amos

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. I like the music, the lights, and—when you can find it—the goodwill. Fran and I normally wait until after Thanksgiving before we do any decorating, and we get a tree while others are shopping. But this year, we both wanted some cheer early, so we got decorations out the first week of November. I put up lights outside. I haven’t done that in a while, but I just wanted some color and Fran put up an artificial tree and decorated it (followed by a cut tree after Thanksgiving). You know, “Christmas starts with a tree.”

I have a radio in my office playing Christmas music, but it’s mostly weather—because, Baby, it’s cold outside—or traffic reports about Grandma’s unfortunate encounter with a reindeer. Those songs are fun, and I enjoy them, but I really like the traditional songs we sing when we gather. One of my favorites is “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”:

God rest ye merry gentlemen

Let nothing you dismay

Remember Christ our Savior

Was born on Christmas Day

To save us all from Satan’s pow’r

When we were gone astray

Oh tidings of comfort and joy

Comfort and joy

Oh tidings of comfort and joy

(verse 1)

That’s Christmas right there. Our Savior was born because we needed Him, we needed rescue. “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11)

In Bethlehem, in Israel

This blessed Babe was born

And laid within a manger

Upon this blessed morn

The which His Mother Mary

Did nothing take in scorn

Oh tidings of comfort and joy

Comfort and joy

Oh tidings of comfort and joy

(verse 2)

Why Bethlehem? Micah prophesized, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”

But Joseph and Mary, who was great with child, lived in Nazareth, 100 miles away. Why should they be in Bethlehem? They went to Bethlehem at great discomfort for her to obey the directive of the government with which they probably didn’t agree.

“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.” (Luke 2:1-5)

God used taxes and the Roman occupiers to fulfill prophecy. And that gives me great hope. In times when God’s people were under oppression, when things seemed lost, God sent his Son and He made the seemingly impossible, possible. This Christmas caps a distressing year, but God remains in control. Looking at our tree or the bushes in the yard or the trees on Elim’s stage, I am reminded of that hope, the promise of Christ.

Hark, the herald angels sing, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!”

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Is Jesus Your Reason for the Season?

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By Bill Naron

Christmas approaching is another reminder that another year is ending. The Christmas season is a great time of year for reorienting our lives around the person and work of Jesus Christ. Now, with only weeks left in the year, I find myself reflecting on the greatest point of growth in our family. One of the things that has tremendously blessed our family is the practice of family discipleship.

In the Scriptures in Deuteronomy 6:7, we are given the command to teach the words and statutes of God diligently to our children. In Ephesians 6:4, fathers are encouraged to not provoke their children to wrath, but to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It was through these Scriptures that I realized I needed to more diligently pursue the discipling of my family. As my wife and I have tried to incorporate consistent and purposeful discipleship in the house, we have learned a few valuable lessons.

The first lesson that I have learned when it comes to family discipleship is that it looks different from family to family. This point may not seem so profound, but it has been huge for me. I spent countless numbers of hours online trying to figure out what a strong and successful family discipleship program looks like. I found some resources of liturgical readings, some great hymnal resources for families, and even found some blog posts that were filled with suggestions of how to successfully disciple your family. All of these resources are helpful, but what I have come to realize is that how you disciple is not nearly as important as what you teach.

In a lot of ways, we can become so stuck on making sure that we do something the right way that we miss the point entirely. The Scriptures do not call us to disciple our children in a specific way; rather, the concern is that we teach them the words of God. The goal of family discipleship is that Jesus would be at the center of everything we do. Discipleship takes people and helps them shape their lives around the gospel.

The second lesson that has been extremely valuable to me and my wife is learning to have grace for ourselves when Bible time is inconsistent. None of us are Jesus, and we are not going to hit the mark every single time. It is important that as one attempts to disciple their family that they extend themselves grace. The important thing is to make sure that Jesus is at the center of everything. I know from personal experience that when we attempt to consistently get into the Word as a family, it gets messy. This is because so many things are pulling for our attention.

This brings me to the third lesson that I have learned. In our pursuit of family discipleship, we have learned that we have to intentionally place priority on discipleship. Within the average household, each family member is splitting his or her time several different ways. For this reason, it is important that we set time aside and make sure that it is distraction-free. We typically schedule ours for nighttime, because this is what works best with the rhythm of our house. But this is not the only time it takes place. For instance, our family works through a biblical-character calendar. This allows us to take the character qualities we are learning about and identify real-life applications during our days and weeks.

This is a topic that I have become truly passionate about. I desire to see family discipleship become an integral part of the Church in America. I believe that the call in Deuteronomy 6:7 and the call of Ephesians 6:4 are easy to overlook. However, this is a huge responsibility that is placed on the shoulders of parents. Since we have started doing family discipleship more intentionally, our family has been tremendously blessed. We get to see our children grow in the way that they process spiritual things, and as we learn and teach them, we grow as well.

In closing, I want to leave you, the reader, with some encouragement this holiday season. My encouragement is to take the time you are given this season and commit now to a more diligent approach to family discipleship. I encourage you to figure out how your family discipleship will look. Try different approaches; you will never know how it will work until you try. Remember that it will be messy and inconsistent. It is a growth process for every family, so do not get discouraged. Above all, my encouragement to you, the reader, is to examine what is at the center of your family in an honest way. Ask yourself if your top priority is Jesus and how He shapes your family’s decisions.

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Remember!

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By Dan Amos

This year, our family exchanged gifts and had our family meal on December 23. It’s our newest phase of life, in which Fran and I no longer set the agenda but coordinate getting together with our sons’ three families and their families. But when we did, as we’ve done for dozens of years before, we read of Christ’s birth from Luke’s account. It’s difficult not to think of Linus from A Charlie Brown Christmas, but I read from the NIV instead of King James. Even this set off an amusing discussion of translations among the now four families being created out of our one.

The following evening, we participated in the Christmas Eve service in which Brian and the team led us through the story of Christ from Old Testament prophecies to His birth, death, and resurrection. Brian repeated throughout Israel’s history how families recounted the prophecies pointing to the Savior that was to come. In reading the story of Jesus’s birth, we continued the tradition of retelling His birth from a virgin in the town of David and all to God’s glory.

Martin and Brian led us through December to the annual celebration by recounting essential doctrines: the Trinity, how we are created for God’s glory, and how we shattered that glory with sin. God provided the solution for our sin in the form of Jesus—our one and only way to redemption.

These are fundamental doctrines of our faith. Yet throughout the Christmas season, I was bombarded not with truth but with Santa, excessive consumption, and annoyingly odd commercial images intended to make me think of a smell. There was no mention outside of church of Jesus.

Israel was given festivals and commemorations precisely to help them remember. The Christian church was given Communion to remember Christ’s death and resurrection. Christmas will cease to be a remembrance if we let it.

So when we study doctrine, we keep it firm in our understanding and the core of our faith. As Martin pointed out, even within the churches of America, too many fail to understand the divinity of Christ and what he has done for us. The power of the Gospel is rooted in the truth of God’s revelation of himself.

Charles Schulz got pushback from his producer about including New Testament Scripture in the Peanuts special. But he countered with, “Bill, if we don’t, who will?” That remains our question today. If we don’t hold to the truth, if we don’t speak it and remember it, who will?

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Knowing Jesus!

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by Jeff Foerster

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.”

From the “love” chapter of 1 Corinthians 13, this verse teases a taste of heaven—to know and experience fully. What a joy it is to ponder these things! We experience Jesus, His love for us, through our being born again, and we are given much to help us know about Him, through Scripture.

Jesus was born of a virgin.

Essential to the Christian faith, this reveals Jesus as unique among men. This singular event in history is the communion of divine and human. God become man—three words that tell it well.

Jesus is God.

In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Jesus existed as a member of the trinity before any part of creation was brought to exist (by Him). Jesus is therefore self-existent God, not a creation of any kind. When He came in flesh as a child placed in Mary’s womb, it was in accordance with His own will—no one else can claim that. Jesus submitted to the Father’s plan that He should come, through the “overshadowing” presence of the Holy Spirit upon the virgin Mary, to be a ransom for many sinners.

Jesus came in the flesh.

The mystery of humiliation, Jesus who created all things joined His creation in the most intimate and fragile of ways, becoming a baby boy.

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,

Hail the incarnate Deity

Pleased as man with man to dwell

Jesus, our Emmanuel

And resurrected, Jesus remains with a physical body as He made known to many, including Thomas and the other disciples.

Jesus has no sin.

Spotless. Unblemished. Holy. Perfect Lamb of God. This is Jesus. In contrast to our sin nature, Jesus had no sin nature. Sinless was He though He faced temptation as we do. Jesus was simultaneously fully man and fully God (“hypostatic union”), therefore sin has no place in His being. Jesus committed no sin while here on Earth (or after His ascension, for that matter).

Jesus is eternal life.

Important is the fact that Jesus is man because by His living perfectly the commands of God, He brings a life acceptable to God. No one else has ever done this. His humanity provided Him the setting to live a perfect life; His divinity accomplished it. This is the basis for our forgiveness of sins (He had none to pay for Himself) and our adoption as sons and daughters of God Most High! As Peter proclaimed by the Spirit, “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

I urge you, brothers and sisters, speak often of the mystery and wonder that is Christ Jesus!

  • Ponder these things in your heart.
  • Take one aspect of Christ and share Him with your children on each car ride you have together.
  • Make Jesus the discussion over dinner.
  • Comfort the children entrusted to you with Jesus as you tuck them into bed at night.
  • Talk with a friend about how great a Savior we have!
  • Make Jesus the source of encouragement you give others.
  • Proclaim the true, historical Jesus to the lost and the hurting.
  • Praise Jesus to His face in prayer!

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Candlelight

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by Hannah Comerford

You take a candle at the door of the dim church. You stick the candle through the paper circle and hold it underneath, the wax malleable if you grip tightly enough. You clasp it gently, just enough to feel the thinnest residue on your skin.

How hard it is to wait until the last song of the Christmas Eve service to light the wick.

You find a seat in the fourth row of the right section. You leave space on the other side of you for friends who may or may not come.

You don’t need the lyrics to the carols, but you look up at the projected words anyway as you sing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” A cello adds an especially mournful note tonight. You sing quietly, your voice lost in the crowd of fifty or so voices.

 O come, O come Emmanuel
and ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear

Your mind doesn’t think of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Instead, you think of Elizabeth, her cousin. The one who spent decades of marriage childless, the pity of her village.

Suddenly the words aren’t about the Messiah anymore. In your heart, they’re about Elizabeth’s missing child who never was. The cries of the strings become her cries of mourning as she reaches middle age without conception.

They become the cries of Anna, the prophetess whose husband died in their first short years of happy marriage.

It becomes the cries of the shepherds, living outside with animals, never invited to celebrations, lonely and poor.

It becomes the cries of the Magi, the wise men who longed for a King who would not disappoint them like every person in whom they had trusted.

The song becomes the pain suffered by so many in this well-known story.

And the song becomes every heartbreak and loneliness you’ve known this last long year. 

Rejoice, rejoice
Emmanuel
shall come to thee O Israel
Emmanuel shall come to thee.

And in this you remember that their cries were not just for the missing child, the dead husband, the loneliness of being outcast, the disappointment of failed heroes. Whether or not they realized it, their cries were for a Savior, one who would make “everything sad come untrue.” A Savior who would come.

Rejoice, rejoice
Emmanuel
Shall come to thee O Israel

Shall come.

The music ends not on the completion, but on the hope of completion. The last note feels dark and unsettled, begging for the lighter sounds of the refrain, like a fairy tale missing the “happily ever after.”

The song does not recall the end of the story. It does not meet you in the happiness of Christmas morning, but it meets you in the long waiting of Christmas Eve. Like Isaiah, it looks forward to the hope that is yet to be.

You grip your candle tightly as you wait for the chance to light it. You know the time will come. 

O come, O come Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel

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