My name is Virginia and I am in the 4th grade, and for awhile i’ve known Dasher, and Dancer, Comit, Cupid, Donder and Blitzen. I can even recall the most famous reindeer of all. I’m familiar with that snowman with the corn cob pipe, and a button nose, and two eyes made out of coal, and that I better be good for goodness sake. Should I also happen to receive this year a trusty Red Rider carbon action 200 Shot range model air rifle, I will make sure to not shoot my eye out. However, during my Winter break this year, I heard something very unusual. On the radio, I heard a song sing, “Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia. Christ the Savior is Born! Christ the Savior is born!” I thought I knew all there was about having a happy holiday but I guess now I don’t. Who is this Christ the Savior? Why was he born? And how does he fit into everything I thought I knew about having a holly jolly Christmas this year?

Thanks,
Virginia

————————Answer:

Well, Virginia, that Savior is Jesus Christ, the creator of heaven and earth. Jesus is the reason for the season, and Christmas celebrates his birth. However, because Jesus is biblically correct instead of politically correct, this world has long since failed to invite him to his own birthday celebration. He said without apology, “I am the way the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the father, but by me” (John 14:6), and that seems intolerant to most. People want the blessings of God without the GOD of the Blessings, so in the name of “tolerance” most don’t tolerate the Lord Jesus. This fact has not changed in two thousand and eleven years, and soon it will be 2012. However, imagine if I threw a Christmas party and gave you an invitation but failed to put an address on it. You head to my neighborhood and call me to get the address. I say, “i don’t want to be intolerant. Go to whatever door you feel like and whatever door works for you!”

That is silly! If God exists, he has the right to tell us how to come to him. Especially when because we wouldn’t come to him, He had to come to us. To understand what Christmas is all about, and why we need the Christ in Christmas even more, let’s look at 4 Christmas songs below. God is in the decision making business. The World wants a big, loud, and jolly god they can see who gives them everything they want and nothing that they need. Santa has become more our god during Christmas than the true and living God. If you have any doubt, ask 100 2nd-graders who they would rather meet. Jesus said No man can serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). He later asks, And why call ye me, Lord, Lord and do not the things which I say? (Luke 6:46) He is really calling you to choose sides if you truly want to please God. Who will have your heart and your families hearts this Christmas? Santa who punishes the naughty and rewards the nice, or Jesus who knows we really are all naughty so he took the punishment for us?

By the end of this Christmas message, it is my prayer you will see more clearly why Jesus came, why you need him, and why you must make a choice. Who will have your heart this Christmas? Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas? Hark! the Herald or Frosty the snowman? No man can serve two masters. Santa or Jesus?

1. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6 — written 700 BC)

Christ the Savior is born! says the song Silent Night. For hundreds of years before Jesus came, prophets of God gave the unique fingerprints for identifying the Messiah. Jesus is the only one who ever existed who fulfilled detailed prophecies exactly and unmistakably. Only God could have arranged that. 1Timothy 3:16 says And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, and Ephesians 3:9 says And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: Jesus is the creator of the sun, moon, and stars, and He has always existed. Man messed up in the garden, and God promised he would send himself as a substitute for paying the penalty for our sin, and God didn’t want man to miss it. Hence God gave clear clues of what to look for and yet man still missed it. The good news is you don’t have to. The Bible says the Messiah, the Savior of the world, would be of the seed of Abraham (Gen 12:3), from the tribe of Judah (Gen 49:10), heir to the throne of David (isaiah 9:6-7), born in Bethlehem (Mic 5:2), rejected by his own (Isaiah 53:3), sold for 30 pieces of silver (Zech 11:12), pierced through hands, feet and side (Psalm 22:!6, Zech 12:10), having a pre-existence (Gen 1:26), buried with the rich (Isaiah 53:9), and gives many more. Isaiah 7:14 says Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Jesus came unexpected, the way of humility. People missed it because in their minds, the God of the universe does not choose a stinky stable for a delivery room or being a carpenter for a profession. People still stumble over it, but God promised a savior and God delivered. We cannot save ourselves and help had to come from above. Is it enough to just believe? True belief results in actions. You prove you believe in a parachute when you put it on before a jump and keep it on. You may

Let every heart prepare him room! Says the song Joy to the World! The apostle Paul’s prayer was That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;(Eph 3:17). Revelation 3:20 says Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. God gave us free will, and it is up to us to open the door of our hearts to God. Maybe you were baptized as an infant, but that meant someone else tried opening your door. Only you can open that door of your heart and choose Christ. There was no room in the inn for Jesus 2000 years ago. Most today are so caught up with the affairs in this life and the pleasures of this world, that there is no room in their hearts for Jesus. Is there room in your heart for him? There’s room at the cross for you! Will you open the door and let Him move in? Permanently?

3. John 3:36 says He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

We needed a savior to “SAVE us all from Satan’s power while we had gone astray” as the song God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen says. We are born on the devil’s team and that is why Jesus said YE must be born again. The devil is the natural god of this world so until we are saved, we naturally follow Satan and don’t even know it. One of his greatest tricks of the devil is to get us to do GOOD works but they are for him! Salvation is like when an all star player joins your team. Before all his points he scored against you hurt you— now they help your team. The Bible says, In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2nd Cor 4:4) For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.(1Co 1:18) And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. (2Co 11:14) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High boasted the devil. (Isa 14:14) He knows if he can produce a counterfeit god and get man to worship it, thinking they are pleasing God, he HAS US! That is why “believing in” Santa is so dangerous and why most religion is dangerous! Only the Jesus found in the Bible is God. Is he your GOD? When he is, your eyes will be opened and the truth will make you free!

4. 2Corinthians 5:17 says Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Jesus was “born to give them second birth” Hark! the Herald Angels sing! John 3:16 says For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God gives us clear directions to him, but man kind doesn’t want to admit they are lost. A thief won’t seek a policeman, and hence we tend to run from God. Fight that tendency, and run to him. Know the 10 commandments are there to show us our need and our guilt , not a goal to impress God with. Ever told a lie, stole, hated someone (the Bible says that is murder), used God’s name in vain, or looked with lust (which is adultery according to Jesus)? And you have to face God on Judgment day! The righteous Judge of the Universe must punish ALL sin, not weigh our “good vs. our bad”. Simply be willing to turn from sin, and from being the authority of our lives. Picture a burned yet wonderfully decorated gingerbread cookie. How would it look? How would it taste? Good works are the icing and our sinful heart is the burned cookie. Let God re-bake you. Religion is decorating an artificial Christmas tree. It may look impressive but it is dead. True salvation is a real live Christmas tree. When you get saved, you may start off like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree, but you will grow and it is something real. Believe Jesus died for you, was buried, and rose from the dead and that Christ alone can save you. Then in your own words tell Jesus you are sorry for your sins, ask him for forgiveness, and accept his free gift of eternal life.

You don’t need a New Years Resolution. You need a Christmas Revelation! If you come to Christ you will have a personal revolution! Yes, Virginia, there’s been a savior born, and what an amazing, loving, and merciful Savior you will find him to be! It is my Christmas prayer that this year, you have already now discovered the true meaning of CHRISTmas!

O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. (psalm 34:8)

Merry Christmas!