The True Spirit of Christmas

“Christmas isn’t a season, it’s a feeling.”- Edna Ferber

            Now I know that the expectation of this blog most likely will be one that perceives an outright attack on the America mantra of “Christmas means Big Business,” and many other consumerist ideas of exploiting this Christian holiday as a means of highest profit. Let me begin by stating clearly that I am in no way attacking what Christmas has become in America and worldwide. My intention in this post is to reiterate the true meaning of this season, and to bring Christ to the forefront of all who read the post’s minds (including my own).

            Sadly, to many people around the world, Christmas has become a sensation, a feeling, and sadly a solace that many rely on, instead of relying on the One whom Christmas is about. When you hear Christmas mentioned in the average encounter with someone, it typically revolves around travels, gifts, money, or family. Now, again I am in no way condemning presents, travelling, family time, or even money, as none of these things are sins. What I am saying is that Christmas far exceeds anything that a person can gain from a materialistic standpoint, therefore our joyfulness in this season is not confided in those things. Somewhere, throughout the years, we have begun to idolize a man who is the “savior of Christmas,” and totally thrown the Savior of the World to the wayside. It seems so simple to say, “Well, we didn’t forget Jesus. His name is in the Holiday, how could we?” Again, recognizing that “Christ is in Christmas” in no way confirms the fact that you truly recognize Christ as being what Christmas is about. Jesus is not an accessory to Christmas; He is Christmas.

“And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

            “Glory to God in the highest,

                and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

            When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.”- Luke 2: 8-16

            A detail, which continuously distinguishes itself from the others in the Christmas story, is the humble origins with which Jesus proceeds from. The King of Glory, the Savior of all mankind arrives on the earth, which He molded, wrapped in deteriorating cloth, lying in a barn, and the announcement of His arrival was told to Shepherds in a field. This arrival was not exactly one many of us would deem worthy of a King. Yet, this is how we receive our Savior, God Himself in the flesh, arrives as a poor baby in a manger. The simple fact that evades people is this: the humble origins of Christ, the Christmas story, are the beginning of Christ’s ministry, and the Gospel that we now have of His life. Without the miraculous birth, we have no Gospel, and we have no Salvation. Christmas itself, the humble beginning of Christ’s life, is the humble beginning of God shedding his blood and mercy over his creation.

            Another outstanding quality of the birth of Christ is that even during His first day on earth, Christ automatically draws believers and followers to Him. The shepherds in the field, immediately following the Angel of the Lord’s message, began their trek to pay homage to the Savior of man. This is a testament to Christ, who He truly is (the Son of God), and ultimately Him fulfilling his purpose on this earth. Christmas is not just about peace on earth, and good will towards men, it is about the One who provides all of those things to men. You cannot have peace on earth, and good will without Christ and his life. Paul, in Romans, declares that “no one is good, not even one.” Luckily for us, there is One who was perfect and good, and He alone can restore His creation to its natural order.

“Surely he has borne our griefs

                        and carried our sorrows;

            yet we esteemed him stricken,

                        smitten by God, and afflicted.

            But he was wounded for our transgressions;

                        he was crushed for our iniquities;

            upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

                        and with his stripes we are healed.

            All we like sheep have gone astray;

                        we have turned—every one—to his own way;

            and the LORD has laid on him

                        the iniquity of us all.

            He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

                        yet he opened not his mouth;

            like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

                        and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

                        so he opened not his mouth….

            Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,

                        and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,

            because he poured out his soul to death

                        and was numbered with the transgressors;

            yet he bore the sin of many,

                        and makes intercession for the transgressors.”- Isaiah 53: 4-7; 12

            The verses in Isaiah 53 sum up the Christmas story to perfection, without missing a beat. The purpose of Christmas, the meaning behind it is simple, yet often forgotten. Jesus Christ, was born of a virgin with the purpose of living a sinless life, teaching and setting an example for His creation to follow. Ultimately He would be forsaken by creation and God, ridiculed and tortured by man, and finally He would suffer at the hands of Rome and the Jews, be sentenced to death by crucifixion, carry the wrath of God, die on the cross, three days later rise again, and through His resurrection, cleanse all who believe in Him from their iniquities, thus restoring life eternal to all who believe. That is the story of Christmas, and nothing else. Christmas is not about the bells and whistles of modern day life, it’s not about a jolly old man who gives children a decent day, and it certainly is not about consumerism. Christmas is about God being born a man, so that He may ultimately die, following a perfect life, rise from the grave, and give his believers true joy and peace for eternity following a life of belief and faith in Him.

            I pray that in this season you do not buy into the lie of modern society that peace and good will is the meaning of Christmas. The meaning of Christmas is Christ and His life, peace and good will are byproducts of true belief in Jesus and his sacrifice. Be like the Wise Men, follow the shining North Star that is Christ, and place Him at the forefront of your thoughts not only this season, but at all times. Trust completely and fully in Him, and know that He surrendered his life in obedience for you. No one is outside the reach of His sacrifice, the only way to not receive it, is to not accept it. He desires a relationship with you, and that is why we celebrate Christmas. Remember that this season.

Merry Christmas and God bless,

Trip Starkey

WHERE DID JESUS GO?

“By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the Day of Judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us.” – 1 John 4: 13-19

            In my last blog, I spoke on the idea of living “radical” daily lives centered on the notion of daily self-sacrifice (Romans 12:2, Luke 9:23), and rendering all of our lives and beings to Jesus. After a couple weeks of processing and growing, I realized even in my own writing on radical living I failed to emphasize the most important aspect to all of our lives, and the only way we can truly live radically, JESUS.

            Without Jesus, attempting to live radically is futile, and when you remove Him in the slightest bit from your life, you will be derailed in a way that will shipwreck you completely. The thing that strikes me as so painfully obvious and also the most difficult to comprehend is the fact that we have no relationship without Christ’s actions first. It has been so clear from the beginning of time, God created all things (including man), and after God creating, man was able to have a relationship with Him. The concept is no different in our daily lives, because of Christ’s sacrifice, we are now able to be smothered, undeservingly, in His grace and dwell in Him.

            The scriptures say that if we confess Jesus is the Son of God and Savior of the world, then He will abide in us and us in Him, but without Christ laying down His life for us, we have no reason to confess him as our Lord. Everyday, when you wake up in the morning, it is by His grace that you arise from sleep, and by no other reason than that. He is our sole purpose of life, for every action that we make, and for every single tiny, miniscule aspect of our lives. Without Him we literally are nothing and have nothing. Without Him we are but a speck of sand in the middle of the desert, but with Him we are able to live and experience life unlike anything we could ever imagine.

            In John 14, Jesus begins to tell his disciples that after He departs (due to His death and resurrection) we will receive a Great Helper (the Holy Spirit) that will dwell within us, and through the Great Helper, we will do greater things on this earth than even Jesus did.  The key to this passage that is skimmed is this: it is through GOD, and God alone, that we are able to do these greater things. Yes, it is us who are physically doing the actions, but it is God working in us that causes them to happen. Without Christ dwelling within us, we can do NOTHING.

            Now, in relation to radical living, this is what should be so encouraging to us in our everyday lives that we have no burden on ourselves thanks to Christ and the sacrifice that He made for us on Golgotha. He says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest….For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11: 28,30). We have no reason to be worried, to fear, to be frustrated, because when we are in Christ and we surrender all to Him, He takes control and we experience His love. His love covers us completely, it surrounds us, and it exalts us beyond anything we can ever imagine. Realize this, however, we would have no ability to come to Him if it were not for His sacrifice for us. HE SACRIFICED HIS LIFE SO THAT WE MAY IN TURN SURRENDER EVERYTHING WE HAVE BACK TO HIM, AND DWELL IN HIS GRACE AND LOVE FOR ALL ETERNITY. IT ALL STARTS WITH CHRIST.

            The convicting part for me is this: I, along with many Christians, get wrapped up in Doctrine and Theology, we attach these man-made dogmas onto our beliefs (an idea Bonhoeffer refers to as “Cheap Grace”- Cost of Discipleship), and we completely forget Jesus and His sacrifice that gives us the ability to have doctrines in the first place. A lot of times we sit around and get wrapped up in certain “insignificant” (for lack of a better word) doctrines that we forget the sole purpose for us even having lives, JESUS. Then we get to a point where we sit and ask ourselves “WHERE DID JESUS GO?”

            When our lives come down to it, God created the Heavens and the earth and all things in between, and breathed life into man. Man rebelled, and sin entered the world. After years and years of sin, God sent His son, Jesus, fully God and fully man, to live a perfect life, have a ministry giving us his authoritative word, ultimately die at the hands of His own creation, three days later rise again, thus bridging the gap between sinful man and Holy God, and give us the Holy Spirit, our life force, and our only sustaining of a true purposeful life. WITHOUT GOD ACTING FIRST WE HAVE NOTHING. Doctrines and theologies apart from this perspective do not matter; Christ’s sacrifice for us should be enough for us to live the lives we are called to, nothing else.

            To live radically is to recognize ultimately that apart from the sacrifice of Christ, the Holy Spirit dwelling in us and causing us to act, we can do nothing to live radically. Christ loved us first, and because of that love we are able to go out and daily surrender ourselves to Him and His love, and go out and have the Holy Spirit intercede in our lives, and express the love of Christ to all people.

            Radical living is nothing that you can do, instead it what Christ can do through you. Surrender everything to Him, and allow Him to dwell in you, spreading His love to everyone you come into contact to. Do not get caught up in petty dogmas that will do nothing for you, live a life of love rooted solely in Christ.

God Bless,

Trip Starkey