The True and Better Christmas

I asked Pastor Jerry Lucero of Albuquerque to share with us his Christmas message. I am very thankful for my dear brother, we love him and Julie so very much. Jesus is the reason for the season.

The True and Better Christmas

“Tis the season to be jolly!”  “ Peace on earth good will to men.”  “Santa Clause is coming to town.”  At this time each year our homes, work places, churches, clubs, or any other place we assemble get filled with the Christmas message.  The message plays on repeat year after year after year.  Earlier each year our media begins the hype.  Corporate America and small businesses begin to stock up the shelves, and buy up media time (TV, Radio, Social Media) to compete for the precious US dollar.  No more are Americans finished celebrating the darkness of Halloween than the switch is flipped to Christmas shopping and preparation for this holiday.  We can barely sit down to give thanks on the Thanksgiving holiday, before the Christmas onslaught begins.

No doubt for many of us this season brings to mind good memories from Christmas past. And anticipation of forging new memories each and every time the holiday is celebrated.  But for many no such good memories exist, and the season does not bring excitement but rather anxiety.

The message of Christmas has become distorted by a non-Christian society.  First of all, the very name of Christmas is actively being assaulted by those who are of a secular mind.  The name of “Christ” is offensive and non-inclusive in the secular mind. And the secularists are the very people that are making the most noise and driving the narrative.  So now instead of Christmas, we must say Holiday(s).  Not all mention of Christmas is offensive, but no doubt there is an active desire to eliminate the word altogether.

The message of Christmas has been distorted by false narratives.  Americans put up a story of a Santa Clause who determines if a child is worthy of gifts by the behavior of the child.  This man who lives up north only comes once a year, and he comes bearing gifts for the good boys and girls. Parents, portray this imaginary figure as though he really exists. This Santa Clause is given the attribute of being able to know who is naughty and who is nice.  We take the mind of children and tell them to believe this imaginary tale, and then one day it all comes tumbling down when the lie becomes exposed and the narrative proven false. And those who portrayed the fable as true are shown to be liars.

The message of Christmas has been distorted by the lie of materialism.  The illusion that more stuff will satisfy your soul.  For the one receiving the gift many times what is expected in the mind does not meet with the reality of the gift, and instead of joy, there is dissatisfaction.  For the giver, the anxiety of not providing the “perfect” gift can overshadow the joy of giving.  This is definitely not the case for all who receive gifts, and all who give gifts, but the message of Christmas nonetheless has been distorted.

Why has the Christmas message become so blatantly false? It is because the gospel of Jesus Christ has been completely pushed down and the true narrative silenced by unbelieving and sinful people.  The truth of the matter is that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the true Christmas message, and only those who hear and believe the true narrative, can truly appreciate the indescribable gift of the living God to men.

Luke 1:1 Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which are most surely believed among us,

Luke 2:2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us,

Here in the first chapter and first verse of the gospel of Luke, Luke begins his full account of the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven of the Lord Jesus Christ.  This is the true narrative that brings from God to man the forgiveness of sins, and eternal life with God. The narrative of Christ has been being told to us by God from the very beginning of time. On that dreadful day in the Garden of Eden our first parents, destroyed the human race by sinning against God, and bringing the curse of death upon all men. There at the beginning God promised to bring enmity between the seed of the serpent and the woman’s SEED (the first promise of Jesus).  And when God was about to drive Adam and his wife Eve out of the garden, we see that God made them tunics of skin showing that the covering of our sin and shame would have to come by sacrificial death.  If we look closely at the narrative of Christ, it has always been and will always be God coming to man and not man to God.

God came looking for Adam after Adam sinned.

[Gen 3:9 NKJV] Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where [are] you?”

God gave Noah favor though the entire earth was corrupted by man.

[Gen 6:8 NKJV] But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

[Gen 6:13 NKJV] And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

God called Abram out of Ur, Abram did not leave Ur on his own impetus to seek God.

[Gen 12:1 NKJV] Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.

Time will not allow us to go through the entire scope of Scripture to find that it has always been God coming for man, though man is sinful, and not man going to God.

As a vivid example of this, Paul the apostle wrote in Romans 4:10-18, quoting from several Old Testament references. And specifically in (Rom 3:11) the scripture says: “ There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. “

Now the advent of the Savior has come to pass, and the living impact of His coming is not just for a season, but for all eternity.

[Gal 4:4 NKJV] But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

[Eph 1:10 NKJV] that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth–in Him.

[Heb 1:1 NKJV] God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,

[Heb 1:2 NKJV] has in these last days spoken to us by [His] Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;

[Heb 1:3 NKJV] who being the brightness of [His] glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

We all sat in darkness, we all were prisoners kept in darkness, we all have sinned and come short of God’s glory, but the Lord had already written the narrative of Christ. God would do for us what we could not do for ourselves, and what we didn’t even desire to do. He promised and delivered the gift of His own Son, who alone would bring us salvation and healing from our sins and eternal fellowship with Himself.

The gift of God is His own Son:

[Jhn 3:16 NKJV] “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Now the verses before this  John 3:14-15 will show us how God so loved the world.  In John 3:14 and 15.

[Jhn 3:14 NKJV] “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

[Jhn 3:15 NKJV] “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus Himself speaking to Nicodemus tells him that in the Scripture specifically Numbers 21:4-9

[Num 21:4 NKJV] Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way.

[Num 21:5 NKJV] And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For [there is] no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.”

[Num 21:6 NKJV] So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.

[Num 21:7 NKJV] Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

[Num 21:8 NKJV] Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery [serpent], and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.”

[Num 21:9 NKJV] So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

That He the “Son of Man” would be put on a cross to die the death we all deserved, but if we looked to Him in repentance who died and rose from the dead our sins would be forgiven and we would live eternally. God has given to us the gift of Himself. He was ordained before the foundation of the world and is declared in heaven and earth as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

[Rev 13:8 NKJV] All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

[Rev 5:12 NKJV] saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”

[Jhn 1:29 NKJV] The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

[Rev 1:18 NKJV] “I [am] He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.

Many times we ask , or we are asked “What do you need, or want for Christmas”  Some answer “I don’t know” some say “I don’t need/want anything” some say “A Red Rider BB-Gun”. No matter what the answer, we all have a real need for the life that only Jesus can give. But as the Scripture say’s:

[Isa 59:1 NKJV] Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear.

[Isa 59:2 NKJV] But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden [His] face from you, So that He will not hear.

And for this very reason, Jesus came to us “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” that He would steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem to be hung on the cross for the sins of His people.

[Isa 59:16 NKJV] He saw that [there was] no man, And wondered that [there was] no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; And His own righteousness, it sustained Him.

[Isa 59:17 NKJV] For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, And was clad with zeal as a cloak….

…[Isa 50:5 NKJV] The Lord GOD has opened My ear; And I was not rebellious, Nor did I turn away.

[Isa 50:6 NKJV] I gave My back to those who struck [Me], And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.

[Isa 50:7 NKJV] “For the Lord GOD will help Me; Therefore I will not be disgraced; Therefore I have set My face like a flint, And I know that I will not be ashamed.

[Luk 9:51 NKJV] Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem,

[Luk 9:52 NKJV] and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him.

[Luk 9:53 NKJV] But they did not receive Him, because His face was [set] for the journey to Jerusalem.

The real and everlasting gift, the real and everlasting celebration, is not seen or understood in a distorted narrative that a secular culture has advanced. But the real and everlasting gift of eternal life given to us by God Himself is found in the gospel of God.  Jesus was given for our sins, He rose from the dead, and because He has been glorified by God, he promised to give the Holy Spirit to us to be with us forever.  So today if you find yourself wondering why your life is not as it should be, turn from the fables and lies of this world to the truth of Christ and receive the gift of His salvation. You can be born again and given new and eternal life.

[Rom 6:23 NKJV] For the wages of sin [is] death, but the gift of God [is] eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

For believers, let us remember each day the love God demonstrated for us by giving His Son for us.

[Rom 5:8 NKJV] But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

[Rom 5:9 NKJV] Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

[Rom 5:10 NKJV] For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

[Rom 5:11 NKJV] And not only [that], but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Joy to the world!