Well, here we are – at the end of another year. But what is time in light of eternity?
December is a month that normally brings lots of activity. There is the shopping for presents, vacation, church Christmas parties, and work "holiday" parties.
Did you notice that it seems that as the years go by there is a stronger opposition to "Christmas"? A couple of years ago, a friend and I were discussing whether or not to go to the "Holiday" parties the companies we work for were giving. We had a difference of opinion. He thought that he shouldn't go because it wasn't a "Christmas" party. I thought that I should go because it wasn't a Christmas party.
Actually, God did not see it important to identify the day He became man. We know December 25th is not the day Jesus was born, and Christians have a God-ordained memorial – communion, which looks back to what Jesus did and forward to His return. And, we ought to do it often.
However, Jesus did come, and we ought to be thankful He did. Let me then share some thoughts about His coming from Titus 2:11-13, which reads, "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus."
1. The Issue: Grace - Favor toward the undeserving. God doesn't have to do anything for anybody. He was not motivated out of obligation, or because we deserve something from Him, but rather, He was motivated by His love for men (Jn. 3.16).
2. The Source: God – Grace originates with God. God's favor has God as its source. God's favor is unmerited and undeserved. It is not on the basis of our merits, rather on the basis of His love.
3. The Identity: Jesus. Has appeared – speaks of the Incarnation – He existed as God but was at a certain point in history manifested in human form (John 1 and Phil 2). God took the form of man, so that He could die in the place of men to make satisfactory payment for man's sin.
4. The Purpose: Salvation – Jesus brought salvation. Now the purpose of salvation is more than the forgiveness of sin – it is reconciliation with God (2 Cor. 5); it is restoration to a right relationship with the Creator. Yes, it starts with the forgiveness of sin because God cannot tolerate sin, but it is more than that – it is about a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
"Has appeared bringing salvation" also speaks of uniqueness and exclusivity. If the forgiveness of sin, reconciliation and restoration with God could be attained by rituals, sacraments, other "prophets", or any other means, why did Jesus have to appear and die? If that were the case, it seems to me Jesus' death on the cross was a waste of a life.
Yet God is firm about the uniqueness and exclusivity of Jesus (Acts 4.12; 1 Tim. 2.5, John 14.6, 1 Jn 2.2).
5. The Scope: All men – Jesus died for all men because all men are sinners, because there is none righteous, not even one (Rom. 3.23, 10). I bet every one of us told a lie, took something that did not belong to us, had an immoral or covetous thought. Yet, God is not wishing that any should perish, but that all repent – turn from unbelief to faith in Jesus alone, turn from sin to Jesus.
6. The Evidence: Changed lives – "Teaching us" introduces that which is expected of one who has repented. Repentance will be manifested in one's conduct and life style.
7. The Hope: Jesus' Second Coming – The hope of those who have been reconciled with God is God Himself - that is the anticipation of a literal reunion with Jesus. "Looking for" speaks of that anticipation. It is not a looking for to see if He is coming, rather it is a "looking for" because of the certainty of His coming.
So Christmas is all about God who took the form of man to do us an undeserved favor because of the love with which He loved us, and so with His own life He paid the penalty of sin so that all who repent and place their confidence in Jesus alone are restored to and reconciled with God.
May this Holiday season include Christ in you – the hope of glory!