Christmas: Bringing People Together

As the Christmas season approaches, several of my friends and colleagues have asked me if I am going south to visit my parents during the holidays. When you think about it, their question is a logical one. The reason? Because the Christmas holidays are one of the times of the year that families gather in order to simply be together. As Christians, we gather with family, friends, and fellow church members to celebrate the incarnation, God becoming a man in Jesus in order to save people from their sins.

When we think about, the birth of Jesus is the most incredible event in human history. God, who is completely separated from, and the complete opposite of sin, who cast man and woman out of His presence because of sin (Genesis 3:23-24), and who has the power and the just cause to bring eternal judgment on every single person who has ever lived on earth, left His glory in heaven, came to us, to live among us as a regular Jewish man so that He may annihilate, not us, but the sin that had separated us from Him (Philippians 2:5-8). He came to gather a people together, His people, who, before had not been shown mercy and cast out of His presence, but now have received it through His redemptive work on the cross (1 Peter 2:10). The birth of the Savior was the event that all creation had been waiting for since sin had entered the world (Romans 8:19-22). Sin separates, breaks, divides, kills, and destroys. It is what has kept people far from God for thousands of years. So, God sent His Son (Galatians 4:4) to reconcile what sin separated, to restore what sin broke, to tear down the dividing wall of hostility (Ephesians 2:14), to give life to what was dead (Ephesians 2:4-5), and to resurrect what had been destroyed. His birth was truly amazing, for now, we who were separated from God, may gather as brothers and sisters in Christ, no longer as His enemy, but as His friends, and enter together into His holy presence with confidence, joy, and celebration. All because God sent His only begotten Son.

What does the birth of Jesus teach us? First, God is not some distant ruler with no interest in us. Actually, He is quite the opposite. He drew near to us, in Jesus, that we may draw near to Him as His people. Sin placed a barrier between us and Him. We see this in the way God commanded that the tabernacle and temple be constructed with curtains to separate His people from the most holy place. Yet, when He came to us in Jesus, as He gave His life on the cross by enduring the wrath of God for sin, the curtain was torn, and access to God was granted to all people who trust in Him. In the birth of Jesus, we see that God, while remaining distant from sin, desires to be close to us, so He sent His Son.

The second truth that the birth of Jesus teaches us is that it was not us, but He that took the initiative to come to us. He loved us before we loved Him (1 John 4:19). In the greatest expression of love, God sent Jesus to bear the wrath for us (1 John 4:9-10). He took the initiative to save us. This is the reason for Jesus’ birth. And this is why we come together as believers, not only at Christmas, but each Lord’s Day, to praise Him for coming to us, in spite of who we are. For, He loves us.

So, may we take time this Christmas to gather together in order to praise our Heavenly Father for the amazing grace He has bestowed upon us. Yet may we take it even a step further. As God the Father sent Jesus into the world, Jesus, likewise, has sent us. (John 20:21). Therefore, may we be the initiators of God’s love toward others, in spite of who they are, so they too may know the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Like Jesus, as we seek to remain distant from sin, may we not remain distant from the people of this world as we demonstrate God’s love to them in word and in deed. May God’s gift to us be what we give to others. Merry Christmas!