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THE HEART OF CHRISTMAS

II Corinthians 5:18-21

SERIES:  Christmas 

2001 #1

          Over the past several decades the Christmas season has made for some very interesting legal battles.  Communities were sued because they placed nativity scenes on public land, schools had to remove carols from Christmas pageants, and Salvation Army kettles were prohibited at some retail stores.  Many recent court cases have shown that this trend seems to be moving back to a more common sense position.  That is until this past week.  A community in Maryland sought input from its residents on what to place in the yearly Christmas scene.  After all the polling was concluded, because two residents felt uncomfortable with the display, the city decided that this year's Christmas scene could no longer include Santa.  The two residents were not interviewed to explain why they were uncomfortable with Santa.  Some may have concluded that Santa was a religious symbol, which he isn't. 

            It is hard to discern how some people decide what is really important.  When a house burns down and people can only grab one or two items, it is often a fascinating study in human nature on what various items they grab. 

I worked my way through college working at a nationally known retail store.  When we came to work on the day after Thanksgiving, the decorations were already up and a six hour tape of Christmas songs played over and over and over again.  By the time Christmas Eve came, I had probably heard Frosty, Rudolph and Santa 500 times.  While I loved Christmas, I was ready for Christmas to be over.  However, there was also the spiritual side of the season.  I loved caroling, Christmas musicals, family get togethers and opening the presents.  Christmas is one of those times in the year where everyone seems to be on the same wave length.  Even those who don't acknowledge Christ as Lord, do acknowledge the reason for the season, which is the birth of Jesus.  With all of the activities that take place during this time of year, it is often difficult to maintain that which is really important.  We have church services, family gatherings, trips to the Mall, decorating, business parties, neighborhood parties, and community events.  It is no wonder that the heart of Christmas is often missed.  When I counsel couples who are planning on getting married, I always try to emphasize the priority is not the ceremony, but the marriage.  It is so easy for couples to get lost in all the details of the wedding and forget to make preparations to live together for the rest of their lives.  As we begin to make preparations for Christmas, I want to remind us of the heart of the Christmas story.  It may be that you are here this morning and have listened to and read the Christmas story a hundred times.  I want to remind us of the heart of that story.  We read,             MATTHEW 1:21; LUKE 2:10,11; 19:10                   Did you notice the heart of Christmas?  It isn't Santa, trees, shopping, Christmas musicals, manger scenes, or even church services.  The heart of Christmas is the reality that a Savior was born.  Jesus did not come into the world to be a great teacher, a wonderful role model, a martyr, the first hippie, or to start a new religion.  Jesus came into the world to save people from the penalty of sin.  This morning I want to look at Christmas from the viewpoint of God.  Why did God allow Jesus to come to Earth?  It was because He understood the problem of sin and the need for a Savior.  I want us to look at a passage that opens for us the heart of God.  We often look at God as being angry with us for our sin.  This morning I want us to see the heart of God.  We read,             II COR. 5:18-21             Did you notice the priority of God.  Five times a form of the word "RECONCILE" is used.  Do you know why?  It is because we are alienated from God because of our sin.  Because God is perfect and holy, only that which is  perfect and holy can dwell in His presence.  Regardless of how good you are, you do not get close to being perfect and holy.  That leaves us alienated from God. 

What can be done?  We want to see how reconciliation was at the heart of the Christmas story.  Before we begin, we need to go back to see why reconciliation is even important.  Someone asked the poet Thoreau if he had made peace with God.  Thoreau answered, "I didn't know that God was mad."  The reason we need to make peace with God is not because He is mad, but because we have sinned.  It began in the Garden of Eden and continues to this day.  Because of sin, we are alienated from God.  For that reason, we are told that,              II COR. 5:10               We will one day be judged and only those who have a perfect score will be allowed to enter into Heaven.  Because we fall short, we are alienated from God and we need to be reconciled to Him.  In our passage, Paul shares five principles to explain how we can be reconciled to God. 

FIRST, THE PLAN OF RECONCILIATION WAS GOD'S.  We don't have time to go back into the first half of II Corinthians 5, but it is a rich portion of scripture.  It deals with our desire to reach out to others because God reached out to us.  It culminates with Paul stating,         II COR. 5:17           Having described our right relationship with God, Paul then explains how it all took place, which is by God reconciling us to Himself.  It is absolutely essential that you understand this point.  Paul writes, " NOW ALL THESE THINGS ARE FROM GOD…."  Reconciliation began not with man's recognition of his sin, but with God's recognition of man's alienation.  You will remember that the first sin occurred rather quickly.  Adam and Eve had only been in the Garden for a chapter and they disobeyed God's command.  After sin, came the cover-up.  While Adam and Eve were hiding their sin, God was dealing with it.  An animal was sacrificed and clothes were made.  From that point on, animal sacrifices were offered to seek God's forgiveness.  This is why John the Baptist could say, "BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD, WHICH TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD."  The picture was Jesus coming as the sacrifice which would be the final sacrifice and deal with sin once and for all.  But remember, this was God's plan.  It was He who looked down and solved our problem.  We were oblivious to our situation.  This is why John wrote,              JOHN 3:16                 Jesus dying on the cross was not plan B,C, or D.  The plan was part of the creation of God.  God knew we would fall and devised a plan to reconcile sinners back to Himself.  This is one of the marks of His love for us.

SECOND, THE PATTERN OF RECONCILIATION WAS CHRIST.  Paul continued the thought by writing, "WHO RECONCILED US TO HIMSELF THROUGH CHRIST…."  This is why I stated earlier that Jesus did not come primarily as a teacher or self help guru, but as a sacrifice.  He was born for the specific purpose of reconciling God and man through His death.  We read,                        VERSE 19a            This is why the Virgin Birth is so critical.  The scriptures teach that our sin nature is passed on through Adam and the line of  fathers.  If Jesus was the biological son of Joseph the carpenter, what does He then have?  He has a sin nature and is a sinner like everyone else.  Jesus is totally Human because He is from the lineage of Mary.  But, He is God because of the Virgin Birth.  He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and by-passed the sin nature passed on by our biological fathers.  Without the Virgin Birth, there is no reconciliation, because there is no agent to bring about the reconciliation. 

THIRD, THE PURPOSE OF RECONCILIATION WAS FORGIVENESS.  Have you ever tried to bring two people back together after a major blow up and realized that the only way they would come was if they could deny their part in the problem?  That is not reconciliation, it is a temporary truce.  It will last until the next problem arises and then someone else will try to bring them back together.  Notice what God did through Christ.  Paul wrote that this reconciliation was accomplished by Christ and that God was, "NOT COUNTING THEIR TRESSPASSES AGAINST THEM."  You will recall that we mentioned several weeks ago there are five words used in the New Testament to describe sin.  One of those words had to do with a debt owed.  We start off in life with a clean slate.  Every time we sin, we owe God a debt.  Depending on the sin, we may owe God a lot or a little.  Regardless of the amount, our debt continues to mount as we grow older because our sin grows more numerous.  One sin a day brings 25,000 sins over a lifetime.  Even small sins begin to add up over the course of the years.  Finally, judgement day arrives and we are up a creek without a paddle.  It may not be that we committed some gross sin.  Based on the standards of society, we may have lead a very exemplary life.  However, the standard God sets is not a good life, but a perfect life.  One mistake and you are out.  Obviously none of us make the grade.  That is why God had to do something.  It is the one who is offended who sets the conditions of reconciliation.  God as the offended party set the conditions.  We will see that in a moment.  It is essential at this point, that you understand that reconciliation results in forgiveness.  Here is where everything begins to get a little interesting.  This will help you understand the heart of God a little better.  Because God loves us, He offers forgiveness for sin.  However, God is also holy and His holiness demands justice.  He can't just say, "don't worry, sin is no big deal".  To a holy God, sin is a really big deal.  A holy God can't just ignore sin.  He must deal with it.

FOURTH, THE PROBLEM OF RECONCILIATION WAS JUSTICE.  This is an important fact for us to remember.  Periodically we read of someone who broke the law and because of the circumstances, we hope they escape punishment.  Sometimes the legal system allows that to take place.  When that happens, we are glad that mercy won out.  It is critical, though, that we understand that while mercy triumphed, justice was not victorious.  While we rationalize a situation because we think the outcome is fair, it may not have been righteous.  We can rationalize those situations, because we often think with our emotions.  However, we do not judge those circumstances with a perfect standard.

God does.  That means that the only standard He has is that which is perfect.  Because of that, those things we would allow to slide by don't get mercy, but justice.  How can a God with a perfect standard let people off the hook who have transgressed the law?  That is the most important question ever asked.  How can God let us into a perfect Heaven when we aren't perfect, and still maintain His holiness?  He thought of a way.  Paul wrote, "HE MADE HIM WHO KNEW NO SIN TO BE SIN TO BE SIN ON OUR BEHALF…"  There is no greater explanation of the gospel than this verse.  To understand, we need to remember Yom Kippur.   We read,                         LEVITICUS 16:1-28                You may have wondered from where the concept of a scapegoat came.  It came from Leviticus.  The first goat was sacrificed and its blood sprinkled around the

You will remember that on the cross Jesus cried out, "IT IS FINISHED."  That phrase was used in business transactions when the final payment had been made and the debt had been paid in full.  When Jesus died on the cross, He died as the eternal scapegoat to pay the penalty for my sin.  When Jesus died on the cross, He willingly allowed God to take my sins and your sins and all the sins of the world and place them on Himself.  This is critical to understand.  Jesus did not become a sinner, HE BECAME SIN!!  That is why He cried out, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME."  For the first time in eternity, the Father and the Son had broken fellowship, because God could not share fellowship with sin.  He didn't do this because He needed to do it, but, "ON OUR BEHALF."  God was now free to justify sinners because a perfect scapegoat had been found for which all of my sins and your sins could be placed and driven out of town.  Just a side point, this is why the crucifixion had to occur outside the city walls.  The perfect sacrifice of Christ allows God to be just, in that He punished sin and the justifier, in that we are now allowed to enter His presence.

This is also why Christianity can claim a unique place in the religions of the world.  In Judaism, the Day of Atonement can no longer take place because the Temple no longer exists.  In Islam, there is no Atonement.  You do your best, make pilgrimages to holy places, pray five times a day read the Koran and hope for the best.  There is no guarantee for Heaven in Islam except one, to die as a martyr defending Islam.  Now you understand Moslem suicide bombers. It is the only guarantee for Heaven.  Christianity has an atonement, Jesus.  Notice how Paul closed that verse, "THAT WE MIGHT BECOME THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM."  Don't miss this point.  We are not righteous.  We are righteous in Him.  This is why Paul could write,             PHILIPPIANS 3:8-11                Our desire is to cease sin, but we still fall short.  Our righteousness is not in our behavior, but in Christ's sacrifice. 

LAST, THE PARTICIPATION IN RECONCILIATION REQUIRES MINISTRY.  God did not reconcile us to Himself so we could continue to live in sin.  Pretend you were alienated from your parents because you each said terrible things about each other.  A friend came and worked really hard to bring you together and you made peace and were reconciled to each other.   Would it then make sense for you to walk around and say, "I've been reconciled to my parents so now I can say terrible things about them?"  That would negate the reconciliation.  When God saved us and reconciled us to Himself, He did it so that we would become the righteousness of God in Him.  That means, so we would no longer desire to sin, but to be righteous.  That is why in this passage, several times Paul mentions that God has "GIVEN US THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION."  God saved us to serve Him.  He saved us so that we could then turn around and share the reconciliation we have experienced with others so that they might also be reconciled. 

            That is the Christmas message.  That baby in the manger was born to be the sacrifice that would bring reconciliation to the human race.  However, that reconciliation only takes place when we come to Him, confess our sins and yield our life to Him.