Christians and Christmas
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
House of Faith Church | www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org
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INTRODUCTION
Today, December 25th, 2022, I want to talk about Christmas, Jesus, and all the traditions and symbols surrounding this holiday. It will be friendly and kind, even for the ears of young ones who may still be too young to understand the real meaning.
There is much confusion about the day, what it represents and why we, as Christians, want to celebrate it, knowing Jesus was not born on December 25th.
I also want to talk about the history of some of the symbols, how they are not pagan, and neither is the holiday nor the real Santa Clause. Instead, far from it.
Christians have been celebrating the birth of Jesus since the third century, and I would not want it any other way. It honors the Lord and Christianity, and helps bring attention to Jesus Christ and the gospel for many who do not attend church regularly.
So here is the historical truth of Christmas and the symbols thereof. All of which I speak of today can easily be found in history books or on the internet. Wikipedia and The History Channel, have most of this information available for free.
Today we examine the History of Christmas
INTRODUCTION
The first thing I want to mention about celebrating the birth of Christ is that we are not explicitly told to do so in scripture. This is because it was not the birth of Jesus that saved, but rather His sacrifice on the cross.
Paul wrote of the last Passover meal Jesus had with the disciples
I Corinthians 11:23-26
“…the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was being betrayed took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.”
The Lord wants us to celebrate His sacrifice, which brought about Salvation, symbolized by Communion. We are to proclaim His death on the cross, until when? He returns.
So the Lord wants us to celebrate His death, not birth.
Does this mean we shouldn’t? Or we can’t? Not necessarily. There are many “traditions” we do as Christians that are not given as instructions, but if they are done for the Lord’s sake, it is OK, even if it is not required.
Romans 5 tells us some thought eating certain diets was best, and that some days were more important than others, but Paul says, if they are doing it because they think it honors God, leave them be and don’t judge them.
Romans 5:17-21 “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking (things we ‘do’ outwardly), but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he, who in this way serves Christ, is pleasing to God and approved by men.
So then, let us pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food.”
If Christians want to celebrate Christmas and the Birth of Christ to honor God, though we are not called to, it is for God. Peace and building each other up is more important than tearing down others over the things we do outwardly to serve the Lord.
Can we celebrate Christmas? Yes. Should we? If we want to honor God and use it as an opportunity to spread the message of Love and Christ Jesus, we should.
What “good” comes from celebrating the birth of Christ at Christmas? All the attention the Lord gets around the world.
A yearly reminder before the new year begins to get right with the Lord and live for Him.
An opportunity to reach out and show the love of Christ and speak of God’s goodness, forgiveness, and Salvation available to all who will call on His name.
The scripture says peace, joy and building each other up.
So I say, celebrate Christmas!
TODAY'S MESSAGE
I. CHRISTMAS: IN THE BEGINNING
a. About the Language
i. Why the word “Christmas”?
1. Christmas is the shortened version of “Christ’s Mass” and was first recorded as being used in 1038 AD.
ii. Christ’s Mass (Christmas was never a pagan holiday)
1. Christ is English for the Greek Χριστός (Kristos)
2. Χριστός is Greek for the Hebrew Messiah (meaning anointed)
3. Mass is Latin for missa, which is the celebration of the Eucharist.
4. Christ’s Mass = Christmas
5. Middle English used to call it Christian Mass. However, that was eventually deemed archaic, and the shortened version, “Christmas” stuck.
iii. X-Mas
1. Some take offense to the shortened version of Christmas, X-Mas
2. Believing that Christ’s name was “x-ed” out of Christmas
3. The truth is that X is the first letter in the Greek Χριστός
4. So it is just an abbreviation of Christ in the Greek
5. So there is nothing diabolical about X-Mas
b. About the Holiday
i. Anglo-Saxons call it midwinter or nativity (Latin for birth)
ii. Old English called it Geola (yule), which stands for the period between December and January
iii. In the 14th Century, called it Nowell (noel)
c. About the First Celebrations
i. The oldest record of Christians celebrating “Christmas” is in 336 AD.
ii. Why December 25th?
iii. Because the early church believed Jesus was conceived during the Spring Solstice, which is precisely 9 months from December 25th, the Winter Solstice.
iv. In the East, they celebrate January 6th, not the birth of Jesus, but His baptism.
So for 1,686 years, Christians have celebrated the birth of Christ on December 25th.
Are there other celebrations during this time? Of course. Every day is a few things. December 25th is National Pumpkin Pie day.
Are there pagan celebrations during this time? Probably, they had celebrations for all sorts of things. They have a Wheel of the Year and celebrate YULE in December. However, it’s the 21st – 23rd of December. So, no, Christmas is not a pagan holiday.
II. THE SYMBOLS AND THEIR ROOTS
a. Christmas Trees and Lights
i. Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we know it in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes.
ii. It is believed that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree.
1. Walking toward his home one winter evening, composing a sermon, he was awed by the brilliance of stars twinkling amidst evergreens. So, to recapture the scene for his family, he erected a tree in the main room and wired its branches with lighted candles.
iii. The early 20th century saw Americans decorating their trees mainly with homemade ornaments.
1. At the same time, the German-American sect used apples, nuts, and marzipan cookies. Popcorn joined in after being dyed bright colors and interlaced with berries and nuts.
2. Finally, electricity brought about Christmas lights, making it possible for Christmas trees to glow for days. With this, Christmas trees began to appear in town squares across the country, and having a Christmas tree in the home became an American tradition.
iv. A New York woodsman named Mark Carr opened the first US Christmas tree lot in 1851.
v. So the decorating of trees for Christmas got its start in Geermany in the 16th century.
b. Advent Calendars
i. Early versions of this tradition, started in Germany in 1903 by publisher Gerhard Land, offered a way for children to count down to Christmas by opening one “door” or “window” a day to reveal a Bible passage, poem, or small gift.
ii. Since gaining mass popularity by 1920, the calendars have evolved into secular calendars that include daily gifts from mini bottles of wine to nail polish to chocolates to action figures.
c. Other Christmas Traditions
i. The Christmas Pickle
1. If there’s a pickle among your snowman, angel and reindeer ornaments, you’re likely taking part in the American tradition of hiding the green ornament on the tree, so that the first child to find it wins a gift, or gets to open the first present Christmas morning.
2. The practice’s origins are a bit murky, but, it’s likely it grew from a Woolworths marketing gimmick from the late 1800s, when the retailer received imported German ornaments shaped like a pickle and needed a sales pitch.
3. Nothing devious or satanic about this.
ii. Kissing under the mistletoe
1. This started in the 16th century and has nothing to do with paganism
2. It is just a tradition people started
3. People also do this at New years Eve at midnight
4. It’s just a tradition
iii. Gifts on Christmas
1. Many cultures give gifts at special occasions
2. This isn’t a pagan ritual or Babylonian tradition only…
3.
Many
cultures give gifts…to say this is pagan or Babylonian is like saying eating is
pagan and Babylonian. Many cultures do this and it isn’t intended as anything
more than giving someone a gift.
iv. Yule log
1. The Yule log is not pagan and not a “sacrifice” to the sun god
2. Yule was simple Old English for the time period between December and January and was later attributed to the Christmas season.
v. Angel or star on top of tree
1. It was Martin Luther, the Protestant reformer who put candles on the tree to symbolize the stars of the night shining
2. It only makes sense a star or angel who would be above the stars in the heavens be placed on the tree.
3. It has nothing to do with Assyrian or Greek gods.
vi. Cookies and Milk for Santa
1. While leaving treats for Santa and his reindeer dates back to ancient Norse mythology, Americans began this tradition during the Great Depression in the 1930s, as a sign of showing gratitude during a time of struggle.
vii. The Birth of Jesus
1. is what we are celebrating, and nothing else. He is the reason we celebrate this season.
Therefore, it does not matter what other nonsense is done on this day, or by whom. It is the day of the year Christians have chosen to celebrate Christ Jesus for the last 1700 years, and I believe we should continue to do so.
III. ST. NICHOLAS: THE REAL SANTA CLAUSE
a. The Real Santa Clause, St. Nicholas
i. The legend of Santa Claus can be traced back hundreds of years to a monk named St. Nicholas.
1. It is believed that Nicholas was born sometime around 280 A.D. in Patara, near Myra in modern-day Turkey.
2. Much admired for his devotion and kindness, St. Nicholas became the subject of many legends.
a. It is said that he gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick.
3. One of the best-known St. Nicholas stories is the time he saved three poor sisters from being sold into slavery by their father by providing them with a dowry so that they could be married.
ii. Over the course of many years, Nicholas’s popularity spread and he became known as the protector of children.
1. His feast day is celebrated on the anniversary of his death, December 6.
2. By the Renaissance, St. Nicholas was the most popular saint in Europe.
a. Even after the Protestant Reformation, when the veneration of saints began to be discouraged, St. Nicholas maintained a positive reputation, especially in Holland.
iii. St. Nicholas made his first introduction into American popular culture towards the end of the 18th century.
1. In December 1773, and again in 1774, a New York newspaper reported that groups of Dutch families had gathered to honor the anniversary of his death.
b. The Truth we do Know
i. The name Santa Claus evolved from Nick’s Dutch nickname, Sinter Klaas, a shortened form of Sint Nikolaas (Dutch for Saint Nicholas).
ii. Stories of Sinterklaas were likely brought to the New World by Dutch settlers in the Hudson River valley.
iii. In his satirical 1809 “History of New-York,” Washington Irving portrayed St. Nicholas as a portly Dutchman who flew the skies in a wagon, dropping gifts down chimneys.
1. In 1823 another New Yorker, Clement Clarke Moore, penned the poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas,” which traded the wagon for a sleigh drawn by “eight tiny reindeer.”
2. Beginning during the Civil War, cartoonist Thomas Nast published the first of a series of popular depictions of a rotund and jolly St. Nicholas.
3. In 1879 Nast was the first to suggest that St. Nicholas lived not in Turkey, Spain or Holland but at the North Pole.
c. From the Middle Ages to Today
i. In the Netherlands, St. Nicholas took on the Dutch-friendly spelling Sinterklaas. He was depicted as a tall, white-bearded man in red clerical robes who arrived every December 6 on a boat to leave gifts or coal-lumps at children’s homes.
ii. Coal is not a gift for the bad, but a good gift to stay warm in the winter during a time when most used coal to heat their homes.
So St. Nicholas was a Christian Monk from Turkey around 280 A.D.
CONCLUSION
Christians have celebrated the birth of Christ on December 25th for nearly 1700 years. We know Jesus was not born on December 25th, nevertheless, it is the day we have chosen to celebrate Him.
We have trees with decorations and lights and even angels atop them in honor of God’s beautiful creation, and all the stars in His sky, as well as His heavenly angels who worship Him.
We give gifts to each other in the same way Saint Nicholas did, to show love, kindness and to help others.
It is a time we can share love, Christ, His name and the Gospel of Salvation with others, teaching them of the perfect gift of God.
Let us keep this tradition, remember we celebrate Christ, and nothing else matters.
Next week we will have a Special Sermon for the First of the Year
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