“When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.”
(Matthew 2:10)
“And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.”
(Luke 2:18 – 20)
As Christmas approaches it is good to speak on the matter and put it into proper perspective that it may be merry indeed. I wish to talk about why and how a Christian ought to celebrate this wonderful celebration.
Why Should You Celebrate Christmas?
“And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon… And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God…”
(Luke 2:25 – 32)
“And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser… And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.” (Luke 2:36 – 38)
The only constant thing in life is change. Seed time changes to harvest time and harvest time to seed time. Kingdoms rise and kingdoms wane. Structures are erected and then they crumble of themselves. Men are born and then they die. Nothing seems to last forever. The same way it is with the institutions of men. They’re made and soon they begin to decay. It therefore behoves men to consciously preserve in its right and undegenerate form anything that is of value. While we may be distracted by this and by that, there are occurrences that should remind us on the need for a reform and a rethink.
Some years back it would have been an unnecessary question to ask someone if he should celebrate Christmas or not. The reason is that everyone celebrated Christmas the best way they know how. However, of recent there has been some argument as to whether Christmas were to be celebrated by Christians or whether it were even a Christian celebration at all. This actually is a good thing as it makes us to study deeply on the matter and see if it were worth celebrating. This is one of those calls to reform. This helps us to redefine the celebration and put it into a proper perspective. This way we may all celebrate not just as we know how but as it ought to be celebrated.
I personally saw no problem with the celebration of Christmas even without it being in proper perspective and without a proper definition. If it is celebrated in a Christian way, then there’s nothing wrong with it. However it is good to get the idea of Christmas more properly.
I had written about Christmas celebration a year or two back, in which I spoke about why Christians should celebrate Christmas. So I won’t dwell on that why extensively here. Please read the article HERE.
The summary of the article is that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ, not his birthday. We don’t have enough information to determine the exact day of his birth, so we can’t say he was born on the 25th of December.
With the little knowledge I have in church history, I could see that for several centuries after the death of Christ bishops argued about how to determine the exact date of Easter. In the time of Venerable Bede (673-735) alone they had great divisions, disputations, and councils held about this one issue, and there had been many councils held before his time, from age to age, about this one issue and they used great, careful, and thorough computations as well as scriptural and mathematical reasonings in their effort to determine the exact day of Easter. If indeed any of these bishops considered Christmas to be the celebration of the birthday of Christ and not just his birth, I believe they’d have had a greater debate on the matter of his birthday than they had about Easter. But there was no debate or controversy whatsoever as to how to determine the exact date of Christ’ birth. I’ve not across even one. None also ever declared that Christ was born on that day. So it couldn’t have been that any of the bishops of old held Christmas celebration to be a celebration of Christ’ birthday.
The people who began to write and sing about Christmas being the birthday of Christ were writers in more recent years. Probably about up to 300 years ago. I searched in vain to see a hymn of the great bishops which referred to Christmas as the birth of Christ. There was none. Most of the hymns about Christmas we have today do not date earlier than about the eighteenth century. This being about a thousand and five hundred years after Christmas was institutionalised. It therefore becomes glaring that in establishing Christmas celebration, Constantine the great never meant it to be a celebration of Christ’ birthday and the idea that Christmas is a celebration of his birthday is but a misconception.
It is also easy to understand why people can easily confuse Christmas to be a celebration of his birthday in the recent times mentioned above. The idea of marking birthdays being so prevalent among people is very probably relatively recent. In the more remote past, from whence Christmas celebration came, the thought of Christmas celebration being Christ’ birthday would scarcely come to mind because they probably didn’t celebrate birthdays as such. I don’t have accurate information to determine how popular birthday celebrations were in the past, but in all my glances in history you very hardly come by it or anything of that nature.
So do we celebrate his birth on this special season marked out for it? Is it scriptural to do so? Do we have examples in scriptures to follow? Yes there are examples to guide us. Many celebrated his birth including the shepherds, Simeon, Anna, the very host of heaven, even the unborn John the baptist leaped in the womb at the greeting of Mary who was to give birth to Christ and many others. So his birth is worthy of celebration. But as we don’t know the day of his birth, we can’t celebrate his birthday. So yes, we should celebrate the birth of Christ, not his birthday.
Now let’s look at how and how not we should celebrate Christmas, being the celebration of the birth of Christ.
“Celebrate” His Birth Like Herod
“Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.”
(Matthew 2:16)
Let’s start with how not to celebrate Christmas. As we have said many celebrated and jubilated at the hearing of the birth of Christ. The very angels celebrated. But when Herod heard of the birth of Christ, his own form of “celebration” took another dimension. He “celebrated” the birth of Christ by killing all the children from two years old and beneath in the whole Israel.
James R. Murray (1841–1905) expressed his thoughts on the matter this way in a hymn:
“Thus, like the wicked king [Herod],
Our sins do seek to kill
The holy things within our minds,
And all good thoughts to still…”
Our sins do these evil things and deaden our consciences. To therefore indulge in sinful practices in the name of celebrating Christmas is to do these evil things to ourselves and deaden our consciences. When we can no longer do holy things nor think good thoughts, what else are we but very devils? To kill the good in ourselves is a wrong way to celebrate Christmas.
But not only do these things kill the holy things within our minds and thoughts of good. If it were that alone we may not consider it as grievous as it really is. As though a man were to drink poison and so die. It is indeed sad to die by poison but not so many people would feel so sad because he brought it upon himself. If people do evil on themselves like killing their own consciences and stilling the good thoughts in their hearts, it is sad, but not so sad. To do evil to another with success is the more evil part. When Herod went about to kill all the children in Israel, what did he seek to do? To kill Christ, for it is written, “… the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.” (Matthew 2:13).
Sadder than killing the conscience is the fact that many go about seeking to kill Christ in the way they celebrate Christmas. The Bible tells us that in wilful sin and in falling away after the knowledge of the truth we do crucify the Son of God afresh (Hebrews 6:4-6, 10:26-31). On this account many today celebrate the birth of Christ like Herod. They seek to crucify him the second time. They indulge in all manner of sinful activities after knowing the truth that Christ died for these very sins of the world. It’s so bad that I once heard someone say that more girls lose their vaginity on Christmas day than on valentine’s day. While the method of drawing this conclusion is clearly in doubt, we can easily see why this is plausible. People get to travel to their home states, parents let down their guards, children roam about with cousins and strangers, and with the influence of the corrupt media they have a lot of dirty things to experiment. Others drink and party in all manner of sinful ways. Some push out the name of Christ altogether and bring in Santa Clause. While many may not see it as sinful, introducing Santa into Christmas is also a way of dishonouring him if done by Christians who have the knowledge of the truth. For why should the name of Christ be reduced for Santa to increase? Why should they even be mentioned simultaneously? That were one and the same as to dishonour Christ in a celebration marked out to honour the memory of his birth. You’d see all manner of foolish parties and songs that has nothing to do with Christ with Santa in centre stage making children to cry. In all these sinful practices they seek to crucify Christ afresh. How should the celebration of his birth be celebrated in such a wicked way?
Could we really call such Merry Christmas? How merry is it to celebrate the birth of Christ like Herod did? No it was not merry for it is written of what happened after Herod’s “celebration” and as the prophet said, “In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.” (Matthew 2:18). It is not merry but full of anguish, an anguish beyond what one could be consoled of. And of those who sin wilfully after coming to the knowledge of the truth it is written, “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” (Hebrews 10:26 – 27). These sinful ways of celebrating the birth of Christ do not end in merriness but in a fearful looking of judgment and fiery indignation. It results in eternal damnation in hell where there “shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13:50). That my brothers and sisters is not merry.
One may say, “though the end be bitter, at least they’re merry now.” But this I ask in return, if you were to pass by people partying at the ground floor of a house and being “merry” while the upper floor is on fire and burning downwards to where the party is. You know in just a moment’s time these partying people would be roasted, would you call them merry, though indeed they’re being merry? No, rather I suppose you’d call them mad for partying in a burning house. The present ought therefore be described in the light of what the result of the present actions would result to. If men celebrate the birth of Christ in a way that leads to eternal damnation, is that not madness? I suppose people who celebrate the birth of Christ this way ought to greet themselves with these words, “mad Christmas” and the response would be “same to you,” or “I wish you the same.”
Mind you, Herod didn’t have that outward show that he wanted to kill Christ. He pretended as though he wanted to do him reverence. That when he knew where the child was he desired to worship him (Matthew 2:7-8). However, secretly in his heart he wanted to kill the child. That is how many also, with an outward show of reverence and worship still desire to slay Christ by means of their sinful intentions and practices. They attribute this sinful merriment and “Santa Clausing” to the occasion of his birth as though it were done in piety.
Celebrate His Birth Like The Angels Of God
“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
(Luke 2:13 – 14)
The first right way to celebrate the birth of Christ is to share the good news, not just to whom it may concern, but also to those to whom, according to our assumptions, it may not concern. The angels came to shepherds in the field to share the good news of Christ birth and one may ask, how did the good news concern the shepherds? Did they solicit for the news? Not at all. Had they appeared to Simeon or Anna who were praying and anticipating the Saviour, we could say that it did concern them. But the shepherds were merely tending their sheep and the angels came upon them with the glory of the Lord shining about. We too, going about with the glory of God, should share the good news of Christ birth with people around us.
The second thing we can learn from the host of heaven is to be joyful and praise and worship God. After breaking the news to the wise men, the angels and host of heaven burst into praise. I’m not sure they intended to sing before the shepherds as the message of the song was not directed to them, it seems to me they were so full of joy at the event and when they broke the news they couldn’t hold the joy in and had no choice but to burst into songs. Such should be the joy that characterises our Christmas celebrations. Joys that can’t be held in but must break forth in singing of hymns to the glory of God, thanksgiving, and worship.
We may never be able to understand fully the reason for these joys. But the host of heaven who understood it fully jubilated with high praise. When I was reading about the siege of Vienna, it helped me to understand a bit more of what the joys of the season entailed. Vienna had been surrounded by her enemies preparing to attack it and defeat was imminent. But from all across Europe great military generals started pouring into the camp. At the announcement of the arrival of this general there was jubilation in Vienna and at the announcement of the arrival of that there was high jubilation. Some very high and some just high. Why did they jubilate? These generals were generals of renown, men of competence, men of military prowess, and they were convinced that if these men be with them in the field victory was sure. One of these generals was prince Eugene who after a sturdy defence of Vienna led an army and effectively routed the enemy trapping them in a place that they could neither retreat nor advance. So their jubilation was not a vain jubilation. These generals greatly proved their worth that their coming was worthy of the jubilation they caused.
Now the people of Vienna jubilated because of the arrival of great generals from across Europe. But the person who just step into our world is not prince Eugene. He’s not a military general trained in one of the military academies of Europe. This is him of whom it is written, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6). This is him that has conquered all things in life and in death. This is him that has just joined us in the field.
It is not good to brag but it was in a bragging tone the prophet said “Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand…” (Isaiah 8:9 – 10). Why? Just why? It concludes, “… for God is with us.” (Isaiah 8:10). Nothing short of a hundred percent certainty of victory could inspire such confidence as the prophet expressed. The confidence that God himself is with us. It is him whom we call Emmanuel, meaning God with us, that has just stepped into the field with us. It is the mighty God that stepped into the field with us on the day our Redeemer was born. By him we’ve been made more than conquerors. In success, in prosperity, in sufferings, in persecutions, sorrows, or whatever, we are more than conquerors through Christ the begotten, crucified, risen, and enthroned. Why then won’t we be joyful and celebrate the coming of our Lord and Saviour with a high praise?
The season is already full of its own happiness which can be devoid of the realisation of the great thing God did for us at our Redeemer’s birth. Happiness of meeting friends which the holiday season affords us, happiness of fried chicken and fried rice, happiness of adverts and promos (if they are indeed promos), etc. While we partake in the joys of meeting friends and feasting, provided it is done in a godly way, we must be careful not to mingle our joys with the happiness of the season and be able to define what is the reason for our joy. Are we just happy for these mundane things or are we full of the joy at the great thing Christ did for us in putting on our flesh? Our joy should be so full that we too with the angels would burst into songs, hymns of gladness and worship to our great and mighty God.
Celebrate His Birth Like The Three Wise Men
“And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.”
(Luke 2:15)
The last way of the ways we can celebrate Christmas in my list is that we should celebrate it like the shepherds or, as they’re called elsewhere, wise men. Upon hearing the good news they came to a consensus to seek Christ. And so, Christmas season is a season to go in search of God. We seek him in his word and on our knees in the place of prayer.
It is written, “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.” (Hosea 10:12). To seek the Lord entails righteousness and by this means we reap mercy from the Lord. So Christmas should be celebrated in righteousness. The man who claims to seek the Lord and does not depart from iniquity is merely fooling himself and seeking God in vain.
Let us draw close to God in prayer, in study of his word, and meditating upon it. Let us seek the Lord in sincerity of heart knowing that he has promised that none should seek him in vain (Isaiah 45:19). These things should not be restricted to Christmas season alone, but so also must Christmas not be devoid of our earnest seeking after God.
Merry Christmas In Advance
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation…”
(Zechariah 9:9)
“And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his salvation.” (Psalm 35:9)
When we shall mark each Christmas season in the right way, like the host of heaven and the wise men, it shall indeed be merry Christmas with a merry ending. We shall reap in mercy and be granted eternal life.
Let us conclude with the concluding part of the hymn of James R. Murray.
“So, if we strive aright,
To do the Master’s will,
Our wrong desires and thoughts will die,
And good our bosoms fill.
Thus may we overcome
Our sins on every hand,
Till, guided by the angels bright,
We reach the promised land.”
Let us depart from the folly of carnality though they have a form of temporal merriment and celebrate Christ, the crucified, risen, and enthroned, in an acceptable way, that it may be merry indeed. And I say in advance to you and yours, “MERRY CHRISTMAS!” God bless you.
Prayer: Dear Father, in this season of which we celebrate the birth of your glorious Son, our Saviour, grant that we may be able to celebrate with the host of Heaven and your holy saints down the ages in righteousness and truth. May we do all to the glory of your holy name in Jesus’ name. Amen.
