Christmas is only two weeks away. 13 sleeps. 12 more shopping days, or 13 if you don't mind doing your Christmas shopping at a 7-Eleven. Apparently, a lot of organising goes into Christmas celebrations. Online, I found a ten week Christmas planner by someone called the Planning Queen. Yes, apparently, you were supposed to start your planning for Christmas back in October. You start off in week 10 with choosing a theme for your Christmas (the suggested theme for this year was a natural theme, using recycled and earth-friendly components in all of your Christmas stuff), then in week 9 you review and update your Christmas budget (the suggested budget includes $100 per child, and making homemade presents for work colleagues, your children's teachers, and your neighbours). Week 8 is when you should finish off your homemade gifts for all those people you need to give them to. Week 7 is the time to make all your own Christmas cards, as well as buy or make wrapping paper in the natural recycled theme of course. Six weeks out is when you draw up your Christmas present list and do your Christmas shopping. Week 5 is when you make all your homemade Christmas decorations – everybody is nodding because they all do this already, right? Week 4 is the week to do your toy cull, and donate unneeded toys to a worthwhile charity, as well as finding somewhere to volunteer for Christmas time. Last week, you were supposed to organise Christmas Day logistics and plan the menu for Christmas Day. This week, you can look forward to doing all the pre-cooking for your Christmas celebrations. And next week, after all the planning, you are supposed to “enjoy the spirit of Christmas”.
I'm going to go ahead and assume that you are all a week ahead on your schedules and that you've actually done all your Christmas pre-cooking, so that this week and next week, we can look more closely at how we go about enjoying the spirit of Christmas. If, like me, you are still hovering somewhere around week six and have lots of presents to buy, then you will appreciate how valuable the gift of administration and planning is that God gives to some people, because being organised means that people like Planning Queen have been able to set aside a whole week for enjoying the spirit of Christmas. After all, when you remember that the decorations, the shopping, the food, the stress, and the homemade cards are all window-dressing, you remember that Christmas is actually a commemoration of an important historical event. Christmas is the time that we remember Jesus, Son of God, being born into the world as a human being, and the consequences of that for our lives and for human history. So instead of a ten week Christmas plan to help us prepare logistically, let's look at a simple, two week Christmas plan to help us prepare spiritually for Christmas. How can we shape our spiritual life – that is, how can we pray, how can we talk, how can we act, what can we do – to ensure that we are reflecting on the spiritual truths of Christmas, and that those spiritual truths are reflected in our lives?
This week, we will look at one spiritual truth, just one, and next week we'll do the same thing. If we can grasp these two essential spiritual truths about Christmas, reflect on them, and reflect them in our lives, then we really will be prepared for Christmas. And we only need to learn two spiritual truths at Christmas time, because Christmas is actually a relatively simple celebration. We complicate it, fill it up with a lot of different things, and we celebrate it in a lot of different ways. But what's at the core of Christmas? Why is it we celebrate?
At its core, Christmas is about Jesus being born, about the son of God being born as a human, God becoming a human, God with us. You know this. Most of you have probably been to more Christmas services than I have. What I say is nothing new. But as the old saying goes, familiarity breeds contempt. Not that I would say anyone here has contempt for Jesus. Rather, it is perhaps more a case of familiarity breeding apathy. The sharpness of what we know to be true, and believe through faith, can all too easily become dulled by hackneyed repetition. What do I mean? Let us do a thought experiment together which will illustrate what I mean. We believe that the birth of Jesus Christ is a gift to the world, allowing anyone to believe and receive eternal life, right? And so because Christmas is about remembering this incredible gift from God to humanity, we celebrate it by giving gifts to each other, correct? So if you agree with those statements, here's the thought experiment for you. I want you to think about a gift you have already bought for someone, or a gift you are about to buy. Do you have it in your mind? Now think about how you came to purchase or choose that gift. You probably thought about things like how much you can afford, how much the person will like it, what they might already have or what other people will get them, how much they need it, yeah? Now answer yourself this question: when, during your consideration of buying that gift, did you consider how it will help that person remember that Jesus entered the world as a gift from God?
When I first performed this thought experiment myself, I was hit with a twinge of discomfort. I asked our housemate Dave, and he felt the same thing. Think about all the work and effort you put into Christmas every year. The birth of Jesus might be the reason a number of Christmas traditions started, but is it why you do them? Giving gifts, decorating a tree, meeting together with family, having Christmas lunch or Christmas dinner – do you think about Jesus at all when you're doing these things, or do you just do them because you've done them every year, because everyone else does them, because it's expected?
This is why we need to spiritually prepare ourselves for Christmas. Of course, everything we do all through the year should be done for God and for Christ, but if we aren't celebrating Christmas for God, when it is all about remembering Jesus, then something is out of place. I want to talk about the core aspect of Jesus' birth – of his incarnation. Incarnation means when something that doesn't have a physical form takes a physical form. Obviously this doesn't happen often, so in most cases it would be metaphorical. If, for example, you described formula one racer Michael Schumacher as “racing incarnate”, you would not really mean that the entire concept of car racing was personified in the man – you would just mean he's a really good race driver.
But when we talk about Jesus being “God incarnate”, we are not talking metaphorically. We are talking about God taking physical form, becoming a human, becoming Jesus. God as a human. You hear this so often, it's easy to just nod and say, “Yes, I agree with that statement, that is what I believe.” But the truth of it has profound, absolutely world-shaking consequences. And it's two consequences of that truth that I want to look at this week and next week, to help us to prepare spiritually for Christmas. Today, I want to look at the grace of the incarnation, and next week I want to look at the motion of the incarnation.
As you will have heard many times, grace can be described as undeserved favour - being given something that you did not earn and are not owed. It is a gift, something freely offered. Sounds very much like a Christmas theme, doesn't it? Giving presents is a popular Christmas tradition followed by billions of Christians and non-Christians alike. Well the idea of grace, of giving a gift that is undeserved and has not been earned, is central to Christmas, because it is central to the incarnation of God as Jesus Christ. What do we get out of this gift? Is it like the flibbertygibbet you received from someone last Christmas that just sits there, making you wonder what to do with it? Not at all. The gift of the incarnation to humanity is quite incredible.
Because God came to earth as a man, and lived as a man, humanity was able to see God face to face. You are no doubt familiar with the passage in John where Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” His words in the verses following go like this, “If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” Why would you desire to know God and see God? What does it mean to 'see' God face to face? Generations of God's people had not seen God face to face before Jesus, and generations of God's people have not seen God face to face after Jesus. Why is it important? It was important to Jesus' followers, because one of them, Philip, in the very next verse asks this:
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.”
Why is it important? Humans are a simple bunch – we are more likely to believe something if we see it with our own eyes. It's easier to have faith if you can see. So God came, so we could see. It's easier to have a conversation face to face, to have understanding and comprehension of someone's words. Have you ever had a conversation via letters, or email, or SMS, or even over the phone, where you can't see the person's face? Being able to look someone in the eye is more meaningful when you talk to them. The courts in Western Australia decided that it is so important to see a person's face while they talk, that you cannot give evidence in an Islamic burka. Humanity had the chance to look God in the eye as Jesus, to talk to him, and to hear him talk back, as easily as I am talking to you now.
You might say that it's not fair, because Jesus was only around two thousand years ago, and you never got to see him face to face and look him in the eye and ask questions. You might think that's not much of a gift. If you feel that way, I would encourage you to read the gospels, and read about the people who did come face to face with Jesus. What would you have asked different to them? What do you need to know that they weren't told? Have you ever received a gift that was to your whole family, or to you and your spouse, or that was to you and your siblings? One year, Penny and I received as a family gift some ENJO cleaning products. Now, although it reflects badly on me as a husband, I must admit that although the products were given to us as a family, I never used them. It was Penny who did all the work with them. However, even though I never used them, I still got to live in the house that was clean because of them. Jesus' incarnation is a gift to us in this way – although we as individuals may not get to talk to Jesus face to face at this moment, as members of humanity, we still reap the benefits of Jesus having been approachable, and having talked to people from all walks of life.
Perhaps, every year near Christmas, you should set aside some time to read through a gospel, and remind yourself of the human personage of God, Jesus Christ. I know Christmas is hectic, but you can read a gospel out loud in about the time it takes to watch a movie. The book of Luke in 131 minutes (Hurt Locker), or Matthew in 122 minutes (Batman Forever), or John in 103 minutes (Grown Ups). If you're really pressed for time, read Mark in only 76 minutes (Disney's Lady and the Tramp). Spend one night with the TV off and read the whole thing. Read it aloud with your family. Take turns. But take time out at Christmas to come face to face with God through Jesus. There's a Christmas tradition that will focus you on Christ.
God came to earth in Jesus for another gracious purpose, too. He came as a human that he might share humanity with us. In the book of Hebrews chapter 2 verse 11, this is what we read: “Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,” and then in verse 17, “For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”
We are not alone in humanity, and in all the things that make us human. Suffering, temptation, death – these experiences are not ours alone to bear. God, in Jesus, became a human being, and as a human being suffered, as a human was tempted, and as a human died. He was fully human in every way. He knows what it's like for us. He didn't have to do it. But he did it, “because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted”. He is able to help us. That's a gift of the incarnation to us. We can look up to God and say, “I'm suffering! I'm being tempted!” Even “I'm dying!” and God can comfort us and help us, because in Jesus he can say, “I know exactly what it's like.”
God gives us the gracious gift of help in our troubles. And Christmas time can be a troubling time for many. Maybe this year, in preparing spiritually for Christmas, you can set aside one of your regular prayer times to call out to God to help those suffering, in temptation, or those who are sick and dying. And as you pray for those people around you – and perhaps for yourself too – pray in the knowledge that Jesus understands what you are saying. He can be right there with these people in need. He can be right there with you. He knows what it's like, and he is able to help.
Finally, and most importantly, the incarnation is a gift to the whole world which enables humanity to come to God in repentance and receive eternal life. This is the big gift, the one we all know so well. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God came to earth in human form to provide a gracious gift to humanity, in order that we can believe and have eternal life with him in heaven. Although we celebrate this more fully at Easter, it is a fact that were Jesus not God Incarnate, born of God and born of man, he would not be able to fulfil this mission – he would not have been the gift to the world that God desired, and that is so gracious to us. So at Christmas, we give gifts to each other – ostensibly in memory of Christ, whom God gave because he loved the world so much.
I say ostensibly, because as our thought experiment showed, I don't think the gift of Christ for our salvation is always foremost in our minds when we are buying presents. It's not because giving gifts is a bad idea. I think it is merely because gift giving has become so much a part of the tradition and culture of our times that it has become separated from symbolising the gracious gift of God to us in Christ Jesus. Christmas gift giving is so important to our economy, that a lot of shops are only profitable because of the Christmas season – there are many shops that run at a loss the whole year just to make a profit over Christmas. Our society has subsumed gift giving to its own ends, without needing to remember the gift of God.
What can we do to remind ourselves that gift giving is a symbol of the gracious gift of God? Well, we can give gifts. But how about giving a gracious gift to someone that really doesn't deserve it. In our society today, it's expected that you give a gift to your family, your spouse, your close friends – it's almost as if you owe them, especially if they bought you a gift. But this year, why not think of someone who will be totally not expecting a gift from you, and buy them a gift. When you give it to them, you can make it clear that you're giving them a gift to celebrate that God gave us all a great gift that we do not deserve – he sent his son Jesus into the world so that we might have eternal life. If you can't think of someone, then why not pick up a Barnabas Fund Gifts of Love catalogue, and give a gift to the suffering church. They will definitely celebrate God's gift to us all.
Three things you can do to prepare spiritually for Christmas this year: remember that God came to communicate with humanity face to face as Jesus by reading one of the gospels with your family; remember that God came as a man to share in humanity's sufferings, temptations and death by praying for those who suffer, who are tempted, and who are dying; and remember that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life by giving someone you know a gift they do not deserve, and making it clear that it is in memory of God's gift that we do not deserve. My prayer would be that if we do these things this Christmas, we might reflect more on the real meaning of Christmas, and we might reflect it more to others. Let's pray for that together.
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