Christmas is a major event in the western world.  Some of it is big business. Shopping, eating, trees, lights, inflatable Santas, parties, family gatherings, concert tours, T.V.  specials, football, and so on.  If you asked a hundred people what their favorite part of Christmas is, they might name one of those things we just listed. 

If you asked them the meaning of Christmas they might say “peace on earth, goodwill toward men.”  But they would probably mean good will toward one another.  It’s the season to be kind to others and maybe drop some cash in the Salvation Army kettle.  They would probably know that Christmas was originally a celebration of the birth of Jesus by religious people and they might know about him being born in a stable and three wise men coming from the east.  They might speak of the Christmas story as just that…a story, a myth, or some fiction. It would carry with it nice sentiments and a feeling of family and a season of kindness, but the true message would be lost to them.  And, in the cacophony of Christmas activities, even those of us who follow Jesus might forget the true message as well.

Before Jesus the world was lost.  Judgment was postponed by adherence to the Law of Moses.  Sin was not forgiven, but simply “rolled forward,” as some theologians might put it.  The writer of Hebrews argued that if the blood of bulls and goats had been sufficient to deal with our sin before a righteous God, they would not have had to offer more sacrifices daily without end. Paul simply said, before Jesus, “you were dead in your trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1).

Of course, we see that truth more clearly at the cross than at the manger, but the sacrifice of his Son began before the cross.  Isaiah talked about seeing “the Lord high and exalted, seated on a throne, and the train of his robe filled the temple” (Isa. 6:1). In his gospel, John quoted that passage from Isaiah and said that Isaiah was actually beholding the glory of Jesus (Jn. 12:41). 

So, on the night we celebrate as Christmas, the Son of God stepped down from a throne of glory, surrounded by adoring angels. He submitted to the human process of being born as a biological child to a virgin under suspicion of being unfaithful to her betrothed.  The suspicion in their little village was probably what prompted Joseph to take her with him on an arduous journey to Bethlehem, very late in her pregnancy.  It was probably why they did not return but stayed in Bethlehem until Jesus was nearly two.  As Herod tried to kill this “king of the Jews,” this Son of God became a political refugee fleeing to Egypt for his life.

The King of Glory gave up a throne in heaven to be dependent on two impoverished young Jews whose names we would never have known if they had not parented Jesus.  He was born in a stable, probably a cave where animals were kept out of the weather, in an environment that was anything but sanitary.  Some fresh hay and some clean cloth was probably the best they could do. As far as we know, there were no friends or relatives on the scene.  Perhaps, a midwife was found in the village, but there is no mention of that in the gospels.  To see his beloved Son in poverty, isolation, and danger was part of the sacrifice. The only real witnesses to the event were shepherds who were tending sheep nearby. Some scholars believe they were watching the temple flocks from which daily sacrifices were chosen. Shepherds were at the bottom of the social strata in Israel because they could not keep the mandates of the Law while living in the fields. 

So… Jesus is born to poor, unknown parents on the run, unjustly disgraced in their hometown, and was welcomed into the world by a handful of  ragtag, “unclean” shepherds from the fields around Bethlehem.    Yes, some kings showed up from the East, but only after many months had passed.  The shepherds were initially terrified by angels announcing the birth of Messiah and only later gathered their wits about them to go see what the hosts of heaven had announced.  As far as we know, Mary and Joseph never saw the angels or heard their singing,  but only heard about them from the keepers of sheep.

All this is to say that the Son of God did not come into the world in a warm palace with soft sheets and servants to care for him.  He faced life as many have faced it in the Middle East.  As he grew, he knew the sting of both poverty, insults, and harsh discrimination from the Romans who ruled his land. And here is the thing…both God and Jesus knew what was waiting, including a cross, and yet counted us worth pursuing.  God is love and nothing else could have motivated him to send his son into this world to be abused, accused and misunderstood.  Peace on earth, goodwill towards men was God’s good will expressed in a manger.

He came in search of us.  He made the first moved He provided what we could never provide for our salvation. Christmas reveals the heart and the sacrificial love of God.  In Romans 12, Paul calls on us to be living sacrifices.  Jesus fulfilled that call first. 

In the Old Testament, Job stood before God in his suffering and asked, “Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees” (Job 10:4)?  In other words, how can you really understand what I am going through because you have never had to face the trials and pain of a mortal man. After Jesus was born in a stable, that accusation was silenced. God put on flesh and lived among us.  Not only did he live but he died on our behalf.

Many of us struggle with our sense of worth or value.  We wonder if we matter.  We wonder if even God could love us.   The Christmas story declares an emphatic “Yes” to our doubts.  That is the true message of Christmas.  For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (Jn. 3:16). This Christmas, don’t marvel at the lights or the concerts or the amazing food.  Go ahead and celebrate because God loves a good party, but marvel at his infinite love for you, wrapped in swaddling cloths, and lying in a manger.

I was speaking to a father of a teenage girl today.  He was expressing an ample amount of frustration…which isn’t unusual for the parent of a teen. His issue with the daughter was that she didn’t take care of or seem to care about the things she had been given.  Those things included a car, tuition for private schooling, sports gear for all her sporting interests, etc.

The money wasn’t the issue.  The issue was that she did not appreciate the hard work, the sacrifice, it took for him to provide those things. Those were his expressions of love and when she didn’t take care of the car or put maximum effort into her schooling, he felt totally unappreciated and felt as if his best gifts had no value.  He felt unloved by his daughter.

Later, I was thinking about how our Heavenly Father must feel when we ignore, reject, or take for granted his greatest gift to us…his Son. Thanksgiving is this week.  How many of us may go through the day focused on food and football without taking a moment to express thanks for all that we have in Jesus? Christmas is waiting in the wings and we are already desperately or frustratingly looking for gifts that are just what our loved ones would want or need.  How many of us will invest hours and maybe significant cost into the “perfect gift, ” as an expression of  our love and appreciation for that person?  How many of us would be hurt or even angry if the friend or family member we had spent hours and energy shopping for, simply tossed the gift aside as something of little value or interest?

Jesus is the greatest gift and it is important to remember he was a gift.  God was not obligated to give us Jesus.  He was given as a gift. Isaiah put it this way,  “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end (Isa. 9:6-7, emphasis added).

John spoke of that same gift when he said, “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” (Jn.3:16-17, emphasis).

This gift was an astounding expression of God’s love for each of us.  It was purchased at the ultimate cost, but it met our ultimate need…reconnection with our Father and eternal life with Him.  Amazingly, he picked out the gift before the creation of the world and gave it to us while we were still estranged from him. The apostle Paul wrote, “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:7-8).

Here is my point.  God has given us the ultimate expression of his love and the ultimate cost of his own Son.  If we treat that gift casually or toss it aside, how will we face the Father, the giver of our gift?  We feel hurt or angry if someone doesn’t value the car we gave them or the education we have sacrificed to pay for.  How much more should the Father feel that way when we treat his son with contempt or indifference or simply casually?

So…as you shop feverishly for the perfect gift over the next few weeks or as you stand in long lines on Black Friday, think of the perfect gift given to you at extreme cost and take a moment to cherish the gift and then take great care with what has been given to you.

This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.” Jeremiah 29:10-14

The text above is familiar to most of us…at least part of it. The “plans to proser you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” part is often quoted. Strictly speaking, in context, this is a promise to Israel and not to the rest of us. However, the important part is that it reveals the heart of God and the nature of his love towards his people…and that does come to all of us.

The “God of the Old Testament” is often characterized as angry and vengeful because he visited judgments on the nations that would not repent and turn to him or that were dedicated to the destruction of Israel. And yet, if you read carefully, God took no pleasure in dispatching those judgments. In Ezekiel, God declares, “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. ‘Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live'” (Ezekiel 18:23)?

God did send judgments because he is a righteous God, but they came after decades and even centuries of wickedness and after prophets had warned them, time and again, of the coming judgments. In the Jeremiah passage above, we see that God had sent Israel into exile because of her constant, unrepented rebellion and idolatry. And yet, his heart kept calling them back with a plan to restore their relationship with him so that he might bless them again. God takes pleasure in blessing his children. That is the nature of love. Even his judgments or discipline is an expression of redemptive love, as he tries to call his people back so that he might bless them again. The apostle John simply declares that “God is love” (1 Jn.4:16).

What many of us miss is the incredible extent to which God loves each of us. We often think that he may love others that way, but not us. For those of us who grew up in homes where love was not expressed well or where love was not expressed at all, it is hard to comprehend God’s love. For those who grew up In homes where love was highly conditional – based on perfect compliance with a parent’s demand, or where love was highly erratic – never knowing when it would be given or withdrawn, accepting and trusting God’s love is difficult. We too often expect God to love us or not love us as our parents did. And yet, discovering the depths of God’s love for us is the most transformative thing that can happen.

The cross, of course, is the ultimate expression of his love. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom.5:8). The heart of God has always been to draw us into a close and loving relationship with him…even at great cost to himself. His heart is not to harm us, but to bless us. He does have a hope and a future of each of us. The people I know that have been able to receive that reality have been transformed by it. But, my experience tells me that most of us have not yet fully been able to embrace that revelation.

Oh, we know that is what the Bible says. I know that we believe the Bible and the Bible says that God loves us. But I also know that to believe in our head is not the same as believing in our hearts. This truth of God’s love must penetrate our hearts if we are to be transformed by it. That “heart knowledge” is the challenge. How do we stop seeing God through the template of our experience with imperfect, broken parents and see him as he is?

This must be a work of the Holy Spirit. In his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul wrote, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe” (Eph.1:17-19.).

We need a revelation of God’s love in our hearts…in the deepest part of who we are. If you had amazing parents who loved you unconditionally and consistently, this may be an easier revelation to receive. But, for many of us, only a true revelation of this love by the Spirit can overwrite our debilitating experiences with love in a broken world. Paul said that we need the Spirit of wisdom and revelation to truly know God and his heart for us. We also need the eyes of our heart to receive the revelation so that we may know the hope to which he has called us. In other words, we need revelation so that we can know God’s love for us and so that we can perceive, by faith, the hope and blessings he has prepared for us. I wonder how often we have missed a blessing because we had no faith for it and we had no faith because we still don’t understand how much God loves us?

If you struggle to comprehend God’s love for you, then I encourage you to pray for yourself, the prayer that Paul prayed for the Ephesians. Pray it every day. Ask him to give you eyes to perceive his love and grace that flows into your life on a daily basis. Start looking for what he is doing rather than focusing on what he hasn’t done yet. Ask the Spirit to open your spiritual eyes so that you may recognize his goodness and his hand in your life each day. Develop a lifestyle of noticing and thanking God for the “little things” as well as the “big things.” Comprehending his heart for us and his love is the real key to joy, security, and optimism in a world that tries to rob us of each of those blessings every day. Pray fervently for this revelation and trust that God will give it to you because it is his will for you to know his love. Blessings in Him.