Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

December 9, 2022 Pastor Ben Spencer
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Christian Living, Kids

Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

One of my favorite passages in the New Testament is Philippians 3. Paul writes this in verses 7-11:
 
 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
 
 
I love the passage because it cites Christ as the supreme end and what He gives as the ultimate possession. The source of all joy, peace, hope and love is our Lord. Hope comes to us by God’s act of love, sending Christ to win the victory for us. We have peace with the Father because of that sacrifice and unshakable joy, come what may, because of that hope.
As the parable of the treasure in the field echos, the ultimate possession we could seek is a place in God’s kingdom. And it’s been offered to us! 
Paul does well to call anything else we could chase garbage compared to taking our place in the kingdom. 
So in this month that lends itself so well to the story of the gospel, what are you promoting? Does your life display the great news of God incarnate, Emmanuel come to save? Does it highlight even more than at other times the greatest treasure we could seek? Or does it display the antlers of a show-stealing cartoon? Is that too harsh? I can hear it now… “Bah, I can love both aspects of Christmas! You’re just being critical.” 
And I am. You can obviously pretend with your kids that jolly Saint Nick slides down your chimney, trespassing with treats, and also celebrate Christ at the same time. But let’s ask an important question: who’s riding shotgun, and who takes the backseat? If there’s no plan, there will naturally be one that rises above the other, one cause and pursuit that garnishes the most attention. Is it sleighbells and stockings, or is it good tidings of great joy? I’m here to gently remind you to make sure Christ reigns over your holiday season. No matter what other traditions you have, keep Jesus at the forefront of your thoughts and intentions this Christmas.
 
If you have kids, this is even more important! “But it’s good for them to imagine Santa and have fun with it,” you might say. So I offer this.. kids  grow up with wonder and imagination no matter what you do one month during the year. My guess is if the big fellow takes a back seat to the Lord of Lords, it won’t stunt their emotional growth. But it will disciple them in what’s true and what’s important. And in an age where truth appears more and more pliable, it’s not a bad thing to root them more deeply into the better reality of the Christmas season. 
As far as exciting themes go, I wouldn’t say we’re missing anything by focusing on the birth of Jesus. God giving up his throne to be born as a tiny vulnerable baby is possibly the craziest story ever told. If you’re going to make a holiday around something, that’s a pretty good one. Take the story to Revelation 12 and it gets even cooler. Mary is there as the personified Israel with the twelve stars of the twelve tribes on her head. There’s a dragon, Satan, who’s thrown out of heaven with a third of the angels after a huge battle. So he hates God; he hates God’s prize creation and vows to destroy it. Then he’s waiting for the boy to be born so he can “devour” Him. But God keeps Him from harm and gives Him the victory into eternity. That’s the kind of epic Christmas story I want read in my house. Not only is it exciting, but it’s true, and it injects hope into the heart! 

This is an unpopular opinion, but Santa doesn’t add much value to your kids’ lives. We worry about making them the killjoy of their friend group or taking away the “magic” of Christmas from them. But I would argue there’s more magic to be had as we focus the holiday on the coming of Jesus. As parents, we want to support our kids’ ability to internalize meaningful stories. We want their mind and personality to relate and develop through hearing and reading miraculous things. But the tool we use doesn’t have to be pretend for it to be effective.  It may seem innocent enough, but we know the Enemy’s go-to tactic is trading fact for fiction. So while we don red hats and spin classic stories, the Dragon’s plan to keep us from giving the Son the attention He deserves unfolds in and around us. 

Another thing to consider is what the Lord thinks of all the secular Christmas goings-on. As the center-point of the holiday for believers, how do we think our Savior King feels about being usurped by a fair tale? Now in all fairness, let’s recognize the origin of Christmas as we know it is extremely fluid. It’s widely recorded that early church clergy adopted December 25 as the celebration of Jesus’ birth in order to take over and counteract pagan holidays. Those pagan rituals though have stood the test of time and made their way into our yearly traditions (take for example the Christmas tree, Santa flying through the sky, and more). Centuries later, the stories of the bishop Saint Nicolas made their way into European lore, merging with Christmas simply because of the timing of his death (December 6). And in the 1800s, America’s secular Christmas finally settled on its shape. Still, since those clergy around 300AD confiscated December 25, Christians have been steadily celebrating the moment that God the Father enacted the glorious plan that His people had been waiting for. The second part of the Godhead, the Son, left his heavenly throne to be born like one of His creation. He bowed low into the dust where we were. He lived among us, showed us the Father, and suffered a brutal death to pay the penalty of our sins. He came to save the world into a restored, right relationship with the Father. That is what Christians have to celebrate on December 25th. And God is worshipped and honored with every thought, prayer, and mention.

However you choose to remember and reflect on Jesus, we must keep the main thing the main thing. We like to pretend it doesn’t matter, because it’s easier to do exactly what the world does. But it matters. It matters for our spiritual health. It matters for how we disciple those in our circle. And it matters for those who watch our lives, whether from close up or from afar. What do our actions and affairs during the month of December tell the lost around us? What are the Reindeer antlers on the cars that are our lives. When people watch us drive by, when they interact with us at work, when our friends hang out with us, when we have those short interactions with our neighbors, what does it look like we’re celebrating? 

I encourage you to take stock of why you do what you do. If it’s because that’s the way it’s always been done or because it’s the way most people do it, you have the chance to evaluate it. Is how you do Christmas the way you actually want to do it? We have an opportunity this Christmas season to elevate Christ in our lives, to rightly worship and adore God-with-us. May the trajectory of our lives be that we increasingly want to lift Him higher and higher above all else that fades. 

"O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant!
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold him
Born the King of Angels
O come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
Christ the Lord."

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Christian Living
Christian Living