Presents Or Presence?
“As for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses; and they speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, ‘Please come and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.’ “So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them. And when this comes to pass–surely it will come–then they will know that a prophet has been among them.” (Ezekiel 33:30-33)
Why didn’t Ezekiel’s people hear him? Verse 31 says, “…their hearts pursue their own gain.” Yet are we really any better? Look at the preaching across the country: never more powerful, more learned, more dynamic, more eloquent. Thus says the Lord: “But if they (the prophets) had stood in My counsel, and had caused My people to hear My words, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.” (Jeremiah 23:22) But each one is given to gain, as it is written, “Her heads judge for a bribe, her priests teach for pay, and her prophets divine for money.” (Micah 3:11)
Do we seek gifts (presents) or do we stand in God’s Presence? You cannot embrace the cross with your hands full.
So, what about Christmas? Will it be presents or His Presence? At the foot of two trees are gifts – one, the Christmas tree with gifts wrapped in colored paper; the other, the tree of Calvary, cruel, blood-stained yet at its foot the Presence of God is given. Merchants everywhere encourage us to “Get in the spirit” and get gifts. A spirit of greed, of covetousness, the spirit which now works in the sons of disobedience calls us (Ephesians 2:2). They are legion!
All this doesn’t minimize that the BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST WAS ORDAINED BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH (Acts 15:18), WAS PROPHESIED BY HOLY MEN OF GOD THROUGH THE CENTURIES (1 Peter 1:11) and was desperately longed for by a lost and dying world – making His birth the singular event most anticipated and recognized in all of human history. As Scripture declares, the birth of Christ is “Good Tidings of Great Joy!” (Luke 2:10) And on this we can all agree!
Nevertheless, I believe we would also agree that His birth has been decorated with an apparent mix of the pagan and sacred, the worship of God and mammon. We are assured by some that there is a secular Christmas and a pure Christmas celebration. Yet this belief is very hard to actually prove. (Concentrate Bereans – Acts 17:11) “I beg you to hear me patiently”, as it is written: “Let the prophets speak and let the others judge.” (1 Corinthians 14:29)
If there ever was a pure Christmas, it was the first Christmas. (I’m not going to deal with the meaning and origin of the word “Christmas”. The word isn’t in the Bible anyway.) At least three positive elements were found in the first Christmas besides the actual birth:
1) a miracle star
2) magi visit and bring gifts
3) angelic announcement to the shepherds
Interestingly, Christians everywhere attempt to reenact this event weeks in advance by creating a sense that it is about to happen again. Songs of anticipation build up expectancy as if the newborn king is about to arrive for the first time. In many churches advent candles are progressively lit culminating in candlelight services the night before. In cities nationwide, manger scenes are constructed, donkeys are rented, young girls and plastic dolls are all orchestrated with magi bearing gifts. (No matter that the magi didn’t actually attend the birth – Jesus was already in a house when they arrived (Matthew 2:11), and Herod’s death order indicates Jesus may have been approaching two years old – no matter, magi look good at a manger scene.) The role-playing, the emotional build up is repeated year after year as are the events surrounding Easter. Anyway, this is, we are assured, basically the pure Christian Christmas celebration. Gift giving is said to mimic the magi’s example and even the “Don’t Open Til Christmas” labels help children learn how the world had to wait until that special day for God’s greatest gift.
Christmas lights are said to mimic the star of Bethlehem. Lights on the house, on the bushes, on the mailbox, on the trees. The tree is often topped with a star (like Bethlehem) or an angel (like the shepherds) … but now we’re supposedly getting into the “bad” Christmas. The Christmas tree is bad we are told (Jeremiah 10:2-4). Yet some say its evergreen nature speaks to everlasting life. And Santa, while called bad too, is often said to be a modern version of a true saint called Saint Nicholas who upon discovering three poor girls with no dowry Christianly tossed money into their stockings hung by the chimney with care. This all seems so reasonable and even useful as a witnessing tool. Who could question it? What could be more Christian than Christmas? The media portrays the non-observant as Scrooges and Grinches with bitter, greedy hearts. Should we be surprised that the media defends Christmas?
Yet over 400 years ago the German reformer Martin Luther rocked a sleepy, corrupt church by saying, “Whatever is not founded upon Scripture is of the devil himself.” Or, as another reformer, Menno Simons, stated, “…we must be governed alone by the expressed and positive commands of Christ, and pure doctrines and practices of His Holy apostles…” (The Works of Menno Simons, pg. 31) These do not declare such things on their own authority. Isaiah, 2600 years ago, unquestionably a holy man of God said, “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Isaiah 8:20) Isaiah’s word is the Word of God.
I want to ask you three simple questions –
1) Does Scripture teach us, with expressed and positive commands, to celebrate Christmas?
2) Does Scripture teach that because the magi gave gifts to Jesus we also should give gifts to each other?
3) Does Scripture speak in such a way so as to allow us to incorporate pagan rituals into Christian worship?
Let’s deal with the last question first: Does Scripture speak in such a way so as to allow us to incorporate pagan rituals into Christian worship? Review
2 Kings 17:5-6, 18-19, 23-24, 27, 29, 32-34, 40-41. Samaritans were hated by the Jews for this reason. Even Jesus rightly said, “You (Samaritans) worship what you do not know.” (John 4:22) “So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying, ‘Go to this people and say: “Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you will see, and not perceive;
for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.” ‘ “Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!” (Acts 28:25-28) Israel rejected – the Gentiles brought in. “Through their fall, … salvation has come to the Gentiles.” (Romans 11:11 in part)
But before we go any further, I’d like to tell you a little story. Come with me as I pull back time’s curtain just a little to see what it was like in pagan Europe before Christianity was introduced. (My comments will be based upon Will Durant’s book Caesar and Christ, a history.)
The European family was one flooded with spirits, gods and goddesses. There was a god of orchards, one for cattle, one for corn in the oven, Vulcan for making fire, Terminus dwelt in trees, Janus guarded the family’s doors to their home. One commentator of the time reported 30,000 gods in the Roman religion. Never had a religion worshipped so many divinities. Under all this was a tangled mass of popular belief in the worship of nature, totem poles, magic, spells, superstitions and taboos. Sacred orgies, animal and human sacrifice and endless holy days (over one hundred per year) typified European paganism. However, the gods were neglected in the autumn months when barns were full of produce. Yet winter brought a curse. Days shortened, nights grew colder. Fearful pagans fearing the death of their sun god called him back with the lighting of torches and candles – “Come back, O god, O sun – see, we worship you. We too light a lamp!” Leaves fell from the trees; death was everywhere, but wait! There – a tree – still green. It must be more powerful than the death wind. “O tree, teach us your wisdom. Let your spirit adorn our homes, teach our children.” And then, unexpectedly, the sun stopped its decline, the process reversed. The day – the sun god is reborn! He is winning over the death wind. Rejoice! Give gifts to one another! The magic of the evergreen tree prevailed, “and many liberties were allowed.” Thus the celebration of the holy day Saturnalia was begun.
Pagan Europe murdered countless Christian missionaries that were led into its regions. In Rome, Paul was beheaded. Peter was crucified upside down in Rome. The blood flooded the floor of the coliseum. “Throw the Christians to the lions!” the crowds screamed. Christians were covered with tar and used as torches to light Caesar’s pavement. Little Christian children dressed in sheepskins were sent into arenas to be torn to pieces by killer pit bull dogs. Europe was not an easy area to evangelize. Our forefathers were very stubborn and wicked.
(Ephesians 2:11-13) “Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh – …that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” Our European forefathers, like the Samaritans, were called on to receive the blessing meant for Israel (see Romans 11:15-25). Yet the European Christians still follow many of their former rituals. “The influence of the Saturnalia upon the celebrations of Christmas and New Year’s has been direct.” (Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 20, p. 8) This is no secret.
The Scent of Europe is Still With Us
When Jacob’s Rachel left home, homemade idols left with her.
When Lot’s wife fled Sodom, Sodom’s lust lingered in her.
When Israel walked out of Egypt, they carried more than Egyptian dust on their feet.
Egypt’s idols they still carried in their hearts.
When Achan left Jericho victoriously, he carried the Babylonian curse in his bag.
A little homemade – idolatry;
A little Sodom – of lust;
A little Egypt – of pride;
A little Babylon – of wealth;
A little leaven leavens the whole and destroys the blood atonement!
Listen: The blood is on the door – good – the blood of the Lamb.
The death angel must pass over – the door is shut but wait:
Hear the word of the Lord:
“No leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened,
that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel…” (Exodus 12:19)
Pass it through the fire of God’s Word – Can it stand the test? Embrace it.
If not, and you still hold tight
You are as foolish as Samson embracing Delilah – she held the scissors.
You are as foolish as Saul sparing the Amalekites – an Amalekite killed him. (2 Samuel 1:13)
You are as foolish as Solomon building that which must tear him down.
You become as one embracing Jesus with Judas’ kiss.
Our fathers served other gods across the Atlantic – their rituals we maintain.
The blood on the door is made void when there is leaven inside.
Come out of her, My people, and get her out of you.
But today, the scent of Europe is still with us.
Our culture can influence us in ways we may not perceive. Take the history of birthday celebrations for example. Our forefathers put great stock in birthdays. Jews, according to Scripture, did not celebrate birthdays. They did keep simple records however. Early Christians echoed this attitude. Origen, in 245 A.D. is typical – “The worthless man…loves things connected with birth and keeps birthday festivals. And I…find nowhere in Scripture that a birthday was kept by a righteous man.” Now please, don’t misunderstand what I am saying here, and I don’t share this to condemn cake and ice cream and party hats although some do behave as if such celebrations are sacred memorials. However, we should realize that the exalting of birthdays is an emphasis from our European past, not a Biblical emphasis. And…while we may not be aware of it, we often (unfortunately) believe Scripture SHOULD emphasize what our culture says is important. Our past tells us that great men have their birthdays celebrated, and if Scripture doesn’t teach a yearly birthday celebration for baby Jesus, well – “By Jove, we’ll just have to invent one!” Do not conform Scripture to culture but let culture be transformed by the renewing of the mind into the true image of Christ (Romans 12:2).
No, God’s word does not condone incorporating pagan rituals and beliefs into Christian practices today. “Thus says the LORD: ‘Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the Gentiles are dismayed at them. For the customs of the peoples are futile; for one cuts a tree from the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple.” (Jeremiah 10:2-4)
The second question is: Does Scripture teach us that because the magi brought gifts to Jesus once, we ought to give Christmas presents to each other? If it does, the disciples didn’t seem to catch on since there isn’t even a hint in the New Testament that anyone anywhere exchanged Christmas gifts. They did rob Paul (he provided the gospel free of charge) to pay Peter (the poor saints in Jerusalem.) That is, a gift was sent. If the magi’s gifts teaches Christmas gift giving, the entire early church missed it too! And we may say the magi themselves failed to grasp the supposed fact that they were inspiring a yearly celebration, for they, according to Scripture, never return to repeat the birthday celebration again. If magi gifts allude to yearly gift giving, and we are justified in supposing our practices from such scant Scriptural justification then the Catholic and Reformed arguments for infant baptism are looking better than I thought. Thousands of Anabaptists apparently died for a technicality. No, the Bible doesn’t teach that since magi brought gifts once to Jesus, we should year by year mimic this by giving presents to one another.
Does Scripture teach us with expressed and positive commands to celebrate Christmas? If we say it does, we need to answer two difficulties:
A. Neither Jesus nor His apostles teach such; and
B. Church history clearly indicates there was no celebration of Christ’s birth
until 200 to 350 A.D. “The earliest evidence for the feast (of Christmas)
is from Egypt in the Stromata of Clement of Alexandria of about the
year 200.” (Colliers, Vol. 5, p. 237) “Christmas on December 25th is
first known to have been celebrated in Rome in the 2nd quarter of the 4th
century.” (Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 15, p. 705) The church in
Jerusalem didn’t begin to celebrate it until a century later.
If Scripture, if Jesus, if the apostles teach us to celebrate Christmas; why didn’t Jesus say so, the apostles do so, and the early church “Ho-ho”? If we will speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent, then we know of no Christmas celebration. If we feel compelled to speak in harmony with our culture, our traditions, and our ideas of what should be the Christian emphasis – Isaiah says it is because there is no light in us (Isaiah 8:20).
Jesus Christ once declared: “In vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matthew 15:9) Nothing can be called Christian unless Christ through God’s word teaches this!
So there, your blood pressure went up, the arguments went tumbling through your mind. Let me ask you: Have I become your enemy because I tell you the truth? These facts can no longer be hidden. You would suppose that something as non-Biblical as Christmas would be lightly held. And if I wanted to opt out, no one would really care. WRONG!!! The firestorm of controversy over becoming non-observant is both persistent and vicious. Our own families (one Christian, the other heathen) reacted much the same way. Shock, confusion, anger – it is even difficult to become a member of Christ’s Church if you don’t participate. “You may be a Jehovah’s Witness!” As Michael Satler, Anabaptist martyr could have said of the persecution, “If we are mistaken, we have suffered accordingly for our ignorance.” He was burned alive.
Scripture is our authority – Christ is our Head. I’ve read the Bible; you’ve read the Bible. You’re responsible to God. Be a Berean (Acts 17:11); faithfully, honestly, nobly check these things out. “Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind.” (Romans 14:5b) If you are doing presents – do it. Trees – do it. Santa – do it. (Oh, that may be going too far.) But when you get a few spare minutes, I ask you, please consider what I’ve said. And may the Lord bless you.
(Acts 17:10-13)
“Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.”
Obviously, the real meaning of Christ’s birth has little to do with trees, gifts, celebrations, holidays or Santa. And look what I’ve done … I’ve spent all this time attending to the correction of such things!
Matthew and Luke tell of Jesus’ birth, while Mark does not. John goes out of his way to stress the point that the Word was born but already existed in eternity. As for all the rest of the New Testament, there is but one further comment concerning the birth – Paul says in passing that Christ “was born of a woman.” (Galatians 4:4) Why does the New Testament de-emphasize the birth of Christ? Well, it could be what I’ve already said about the Jewish tendency of ignoring birthdays, OR, it could be that Old Testament Scripture had either ignored them or put them in a bad light (such as Pharaoh’s birthday), OR, it could be the intentional turning away from the human aspects of Jesus as indicated in 2 Corinthians 5:16 where we read, “Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, we now know Him thus no longer,” OR, it could be the point John makes at the beginning of his gospel and Paul makes in his – Hebrews 7:3 – Christ today is eternal “having neither beginning of days nor end of life…” The overwhelming emphasis in the New Testament is on the message that Christ is God, Christ is alive, and Christ desires to dwell in us daily through His Presence, the Holy Spirit. (Colossians 1:27) “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” The exceeding glory of Christ Jesus with us today makes the birth of Christ yesterday like a pale photograph, precious but yet less glorious. As when Christ bursts through the sky to take us all home, we’ll leave our quiet devotionals on the desk.
Beware, lest you worship the memory of Christ and, in the present, bar the door of your heart to His actual Presence. Don’t suppose this can’t be done. Let’s face it, the baby Jesus is easier to admire than the living Christ is to obey! Look around, the world adores the baby and rejects the Man. The world idolizes the Christ Child in fine plastic; and yet argues, grieves and scorns the Spirit and truth of the living Christ. The world unashamedly, hypocritically sings, “Hosanna” and “Oh, come let us adore Him”, and moments later can be heard in their actions shouting, “Crucify Him, Crucify Him!” – all over again, 2000 years later. Jesus is no more welcome today in America than He was in Israel – yet strangely, we today hear Herod’s sentiment being repeated in Christmas celebrations: “Go and search diligently for the Christ Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me that I may come and worship Him also.” Can Herod’s spirit be with us? As this nation sings, “Oh, come let us…” more babies are slaughtered in abortion daily (4000) than was the entire population of Bethlehem in Jesus’ day. Will God pardon such a nation as this? Does God accept such worship? The blood of innocents still flows. One nation, which draws near to God with their mouths yet their hearts are far from Him!
In conclusion then…what is the point of Scripture’s Christmas story? Simply put – Our hearts are more vile than any shepherd’s cave. Our minds more hostile than Roman legions. Yet the birth of Christ teaches us one eternal truth – a truth as unbelievable as God born in a cave or love in the face of vicious hatred – (one eternal truth) “God loves us so much He opens His very Self to our dirty, hostile hearts, inviting us to let Him in to stay.” Faith begins so small, like leaven in flour; yet if we welcome Him, He will increase and fill all of you for: “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”
This Christmas, as you witness the world play the hypocrite, pray for them – the wrath of God looms over such a people. Pray that you can direct them away from the plastic to the Presence of Christ – away from a focus on the presents into fellowship with His true Presence. Pray that our vile hearts will not be as that inn – overcrowded with urgent things but EMPTY, SWEPT and PUT IN ORDER, awaiting again the rushing, mighty wind filling the whole house with, not the spirit of Christmas, but the Spirit who is from above!
Ready? Let’s invite Him in again!
