Most everyone who has attended West Oaks Fellowship for a while comes to understand that when we approach the holiday season called Christmas (from Christ – mass), our spiritual emphasis shifts (similar to Resurrection Sunday vs Easter or Reformation Day vs Halloween) to a sincere focus on the many blessings of Christ’s first advent (coming), and the concepts of Hope, Joy, Peace, and Love that Jesus offers all humanity. Our concentration, as believers on Advent (Greek – parousia, Latin – adventus) … meaning arrival, a coming, or presence … allows us an opportunity to celebrate and rejoice in the incarnation of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. John 1:14 declares:
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(also see II Peter 1:16, Philippians 2:5-8)
Hopefully, we will all fully embrace the celebration of Christ’s coming into our world in the same manner as we consider His resurrection, the advent (coming) of God’s Holy Spirit (Pentecost), and His anticipated 2nd Advent (return to earth). Nevertheless, as a serious student of history, Christianity, and God’s Word, I’m somewhat baffled by some of the silliness, traditions, and ungodly, heathen practices that have creeped into the church (the body of Christ at large) and many believing families’ Christmases.
While I’m not advocating a cessation from celebrating Jesus Christ’s First Advent (coming), like not decorating your home, etc., etc. as some legalists/religionists would demand, I am asking all true believers to give careful consideration to their celebrations and traditions. Just because everyone is doing it (as you may tell your teenage son or daughter) or because it feels good, that doesn’t make it right! Romans 14:5-6a shines some light for us:
One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord.
Then continuing in verse 7-9,
For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
In essence, it’s absolutely essential, that faithful, committed followers of Jesus Christ know exactly why they are celebrating our Lord’s Advent in the manner they do, and should a question arise about one’s holiday practices, have a proper, biblically-qualified, spiritually-based answer that can be clearly articulated.
Now, I know some of you are already saying, “give me a break PF” … because you’re one that “loves” Christmas! Indeed, I pray you love Christ, and wholeheartedly rejoice in His 1st Advent (coming)! Nonetheless, as unpopular as it might be, please ask yourself what exactly is it that you love so much?
Today, one of our fine, young-adult men messaged me a detailed question about believers using Christmas Trees – after his study of scriptures in Jeremiah 10:1-11. The modern-day Christmas tree was not introduced into America by Germans until the 19th century. The annual tradition of erecting a National Christmas Tree was not established until 1923 in Washington, D.C. – some 147 years after the birth of our nation, and 316 years after the first permanent English settlement in America. Ever wonder why? Certainly, that’s a valid question for every believer to consider.
Does one bring an idol into their home for any reason? Well, if I was an archaeologist, and had excavated an ancient relic from a pagan temple in Israel, I would probably have it on display in my office. Unquestionably, I would use it as a tool to explain portions of the scripture and give testimony concerning the authenticity of the Bible. However, at that point, someone could accuse me of having an idol in my home or office. The accusation would be true, but not be a genuine reflection of my faith or worship.
While there is little argument about the following points concerning a typical American Christmas celebration on December 25, the key for each and every believer, as well as for each and every family, is simple obedience to Christ and His Word, coupled with the true spirit of any and every action/activity, etc.
- No biblical data exists, nor any early known written documentation referencing or establishing Christ’s birth in December or on its 25th day; however, there is insurmountable evidence concerning the dates of His death and the coming of God’s Holy Spirit at Pentecost (an annual Hebrew feast/celebration).
- The date of December 25th was a long-standing pagan holiday, “Saturnalia,” …the worldwide celebration of the re-birth of the sun-god (an anti-christ type – thousands of years before Jesus was born under various names – all commemorating variations of a false trinity consisting of a father, mother and child), and was intentionally highjacked by the early Roman church in 350 AD by Pope Julius.
- As late as 1855, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists refused to recognize December 25th as a legitimate holiday in reference to Christ’s birth.
- Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 Ed., p. 253, tells us that as late as 1913, many States did not even recognize December 25th as a permissible holiday.
Certainly, each and every believer is free to celebrate Advent 2017 in their lives and families with meaningful and worshipful expressions of reflection, gratitude, ceremony, exaltation, and even jubilation! Nonetheless, Colossians 2:16-17 speaks plainly:
Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath (plural in the Greek text) day things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
Yes, the significant substance of any truly spiritually-centered celebration must be Jesus Christ (not a shadow – but the real thing). Therefore, we are compelled to ask, is our Christmas a spiritual, or cultural event?
The Hebrew people managed to get the practices of their culture and genuine spirituality and those things that were, “a mere shadow of what is to come” awfully confused and extremely complicated. Perhaps that why the Lord declares in Jeremiah 6:20:
For what purpose does frankincense come to Me from Sheba and the sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable and your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.
Have you ever wondered what the Lord thinks of an American Christmas? Perhaps we should humbly, and perhaps solemnly, consider the words Isaiah 43:24:
You have bought Me not sweet cane with money, nor have you filled Me with the fat of your sacrifices; rather you have burdened Me with your sins, you have wearied Me with your iniquities.
Our Lord rejects, not their ceremonial service, but the substitution of it for personal holiness and morality. In addition, may we never forget Jeremiah 7:23:
But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’ Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.
(also please read Isaiah 1:10-17; Micah 6:6-8)
I Samuel 15:22 asks:
Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.
What are our Advent celebrations, customs, traditions, … pagan rituals/practices coated in some form of Jesus-juice to make them seem/feel OK? (ceremonial, ritualistic, theistic, existentialism) Are they done in/by faith and are they pleasing to our Lord? I know, I know, too much! Nonetheless, let’s agree on Colossians 3:17 for this ADVENT:
Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
Think about it, pray about it, act upon it.
— His & Yours, PF