A Witness At Christmas (2)

 We can be a distinctive people with a distinctive and gracious testimony of the Incarnation during Christmas. We can show others the Face of God during Advent. We can display peace and joy and thankfulness, and something greater than materialism and greed and drunkenness. We can teach our children a better Way. We can teach our children to give to others as Jesus has given to us. We can teach our children that they are not the center of the universe, that place must always belong to Jesus. 

When the People of Israel left Egypt, the Egyptians gave them [under duress!] “Articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing” (Exodus 12:35; Psalm 105:37). Now, dear friends, when the time came to build the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, just where do you think the gold and silver and fine linen came from that the Israelites dedicated for the construction of the Tabernacle and its service? 

Did God say, “Don’t dedicate anything you brought from Egypt”? Did God say, “Throw away the gold and silver and nice fabric you received from the Egyptians”? God Himself had said to Moses, “Speak now in the hearing of the people that each man ask from his neighbor and each woman from her neighbor for articles of sliver and articles of gold” (Ex. 11:2). 

Just as God used the materials of Egypt for the construction of the Tabernacle which would be filled with His glory, we can use the materials of the world for avenues of witness and celebration of His glory. We can take possession of the seasons of the calendar for the glory of God. We can even take possession of some of the customs of the world and dedicate them to the glory of God.

And this brings us to the nefarious tree of Jeremiah 10:1 – 5. I have never heard of a Christmas tree farm advertising trees for sale that would make great idols. No one has ever said to me, “Bob, my family and I are going to the Christmas tree farm this weekend to get an idol and bring it into our house.” No one has ever invited me to a worship service centered on their Christmas tree. I can think of many things and people who professing Christians worship, but I have yet to meet any who worship Christmas trees. 

As the Lord points out in Jeremiah 10:5, “Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, nor can they do any good.” We do not need to stand guard over these trees, lest at night they come to life and swallow us up. News flash! A tree is a tree is a tree. 

O dear friends, if we were to eliminate all of our practices that have cultural and pagan roots, that have syncretistic roots, we may have nothing left – for here is another news flash, we are human and we have human cultures, human ways of doing things, human liturgies, human rhythms. Some argue that much of what we do on Sunday mornings have non-Christian roots. We can either spend our lives fretting about that or we can ask our dear heavenly Father to transform us into the image of Christ and to use our practices for His glory. We all only have so much time on this earth, shouldn’t we focus on loving God and others and sharing Jesus?

I personally wonder at many things and systems within Christianity, I wonder how we can do some of the things we do on Sunday mornings, but I don’t want what I think to get in the way of my koinonia with my brothers and sisters, I don’t want things to get in the way of worshipping Jesus Christ and sharing Him with others. 

I think that our self-righteousness gets in our way at times, and maybe even our greed. Greed goes both ways, it is not only manifested in those who want more and more and more, but also in those who want to hold so tight to a penny that it eventually becomes copper wire. That is, if we don’t celebrate Christmas then we don’t have to spend money on others. If we don’t have a Christmas tree then we don’t have the expense or hassle of putting one up and decorating it or putting gifts under it. An added plus is that if we don’t do the tree thing, or the Christmas thing, then we are more righteous than others. 

Sometimes we can just be old poops, and we won’t admit it. Why be an old poop when we can celebrate Jesus?

O friends, so much in life can be either used for God’s glory or misused. Money. Power and position and influence. Recognition. Our houses. Our cars. Our jobs. Our education. Wine. Entertainment and recreation. Food. Our bodies. Our hearts and minds. Christmas, Advent, the Easter season; these are no different. We are children of our Abba Father (Rom. 8:16; Gal. 4:6), children born to the Jerusalem which is above (Galatians 4:26), children who are free in their Father to celebrate Jesus in more ways than we can imagine. 

Rather than look for reasons not to celebrate Jesus, shouldn’t we be constantly seeking ways to glorify Him and share His love with the people around us?

To be continued...