Firstly, I need to clarify, Jesus wasn’t really born on the 25th December, this is only a day of celebration! But we do have to celebrate it!
Christmas has often been misunderstood! Jesus has been removed from Christmas and Santa Claus has taken Jesus’ place !
The Christmas people celebrate nowadays has very little to do with Jesus. I wonder how many people see Christmas but miss the main point of it!
Today’s Christmas is about an exchange of gifts, Christmas has a lot of food, Christmas has a party, there’s music , but we miss the point.
What is sad is that the Christmas that exists today has excluded the birthday boy! Jesus was excluded from the centre of Christmas.
Jesus is actually the beginning, middle and end of Christmas.
People see the Christmas lights, they see the Christmas trees, they see the gifts , but they don’t see Jesus anymore!
The Tree is to remind you of the Cross. The Lights are to remind you that Jesus is The Light in a dark world. The Gifts are to remind you that God gave his greatest gift on the cross for you !
If you are not careful, you will get carried away by everything around you and miss the whole point.
The point is : Jesus came to save you from your sins!
I tell you, everyone of us have sinned.
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
Romans 3:23
All have sinned and none of us are good enough to share God’s divine greatness; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
Every one of us has an old creature inside of us, there will always be an old creature waiting to be activated. The bible has a name for that kind of behaviour- it is called sin!
We have this potential to do wrong things , everybody has an old man and women on the inside and it will always be there…
It will always ready to act in carnality, anger , bitterness, immorality, envy, jealousy, frustration, unkind words…
You may even say, I have been saved for a long time – I’ve been in church for years! But this potential old creature is always there, always ready to start doing wrong things again.
This is why Jesus came!
“She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save his people from their sins.””
Matthew 1:21
Jesus’ name in Hebrew literally means “God saves”! Jesus means God saves.
He saves us from sin, he saves us from ourselves, he saves us from eternal loss without God .
He came in flesh , He became one of us , He faced bad people but he did not retaliate, He never hated , never felt bitterness, anger , envy , jealousy and never said an unkind word! That’s really remarkable!
He paid the price for our sins. He did it for you at the cross !
Christ did not just die for you at the cross, but He can come into your heart , win over sin and can give you a new life.
This is what he does: When Christ comes in your heart the old creature that is in you is diminished!!!
We are not sinless, but when Christ comes in- we sin less !
When Christ comes in , He diminishes the old nature and suddenly Christ begins to grow bigger and bigger, and the more Christ grows, the more you grow !
“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”
Galatians 2:20
One day we are all going to stand before the Throne of God , the Judgment seat of Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:10).
And if you let Christ to live in you at the judgment day we are going to look and point to Jesus, and He will be waving and we will say : He took our sins away when he went to the cross! He took all my sins!
This is the message of Christmas! Jesus came and died at the cross to give me a new life.
Jesus came because He loves you and He wants to rescue you from darkness, from your sins!
This is the message of Christmas. 2000 years ago Jesus came to save those which were lost – His name is Jesus : God saves !
He saves from sin , saves from us from ourselves, saves from failure and saves from shame.
What’s the sign that he lives in you ?
When He comes into your heart , you have peace with God. Emotional peace, you can have peace with others, relational peace , peace internally, peace externally, that’s the peace of God !
Jesus is The Prince of Peace.
I want to finish saying: Jesus came and he died , and he carried your sins , so you can stand in heaven with Him one day.
That’s the message of Christmas!
Do you know Him ? Are you living in peace with everybody? Have you experienced him ? Have you repented from all your sins?
He took your sins away! If you invite Jesus into your life one day you are going to be in Heaven with Him.
One day all the pain , the troubles will be over and we will be in a place where there is no sorrow, nor mourning, or tears , or crying and no death because all the old ways will be gone.
Let him bring light to your darkness.
Let him give you peace with him and peace with others .
May the Lord bless and keep you and make His face shine on you , be gracious unto you , may the Lord show you His favour and give you His peace !
Have a very happy Christmas