Christmas Spirit

But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison.

At this point, John certainly knew what Jesus was doing, but we need to understand that a lot had happened.

It had been a year and a half since John presented Jesus to Israel as the promised Messiah. Yet nothing had really changed.

He was locked up, and Christ was encountering a lot of disbelief and hostility. John likely wanted reassurance from Jesus Himself.

It wasn’t that John no longer believed that Jesus was the Messiah. That certainly was not the case. Most likely, John simply didn’t understand why things were happening as they were.

I think we can all relate to that feeling. Sometimes we all get to the point that we need some reassuring.

Jesus’ answer reveals that He is a fulfillment of prophecy.

Isaiah 35:5-6

Isaiah 35:5–6 NKJV

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert.

This was a brilliant answer. His works were visible for all to see, and by calling attention to Scripture, it proved that His works were the works of the Messiah.

That answer would draw John’s focus away from the circumstances at hand, and back to Christ Himself.

When we take our attention off of our circumstances, and place it on Christ, then we don’t need to know how everything will work out.

We will be focused on Christ, and we will understand that He will work things out.

When we wee the picture that Christ presented, what do we see?

We see a servants heart. we see selflessness, love and charity.

We see Jesus taking the time to address the everyday problems that people were facing.

He healed their illness, and restored them spiritually. He gave sight to the blind, If and opened the ears to the deaf.

What does this mean for us? In this, Jesus’ Spirit is revealed.

To have the Christmas Spirit is to be selfless and charitable.

If we are to have a true Christmas Spirit, It must first reflect the Spirit of Christ, because without Him, there is no Christmas.

You may be saying to yourself, how can I cure the sick, how can I cure blindness or deafness, etc?

Maybe you can’t cure diseases, but you can comfort one who is suffering. You can provide food to one who is hungry and water to one who is thirsty.

You can provide a coat or a blanket to one who is cold.

You can help someone spiritually by sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Maybe you can’t cure blindness or deafness, but by sharing the Gospel, you may just open the eyes and the ears of one who is spiritually blind and deaf.

The point is, we should have the heart of a servant, a selfless and loving attitude.

We should seek to esteem others better than ourselves, and by doing so, we will model Christ.

By doing this, we will continue the work that Christ began, thereby honoring Him, and He is Christmas.

The Christmas Spirit means adoration and worship of Christ .

Matthew 2:11

Matthew 2:11 NKJV

And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

A group of Magi had come bearing gifts fit for a king, but even more so, one who was born to die.

These wise men, however many, were gentiles. This is an important distinction, because we might expect the jewish leaders to be the ones who were most interested, and made a point to come worship the Messiah.

From the very beginning, Jesus came to be the savior of the world, not just the Jews.

John 3:16

John 3:16 NKJV

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

John 4:42

John 4:42 NKJV

Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

Christmas is all about Christ, so our worship of Him should be central to it.

If we truly have the Christmas Spirit, we will be in awe of Christ.

We will desire to worship Him, like the wise men, we will intentionally make it happen.

We will make time to read His Word, and to pray to Him.

We will make time just to be with Him.

And while we may not be able to give Him physical presents, but there are ways in which we can give to Him.

First and foremost, we can give Him exactly what He asked for.

Matthew 22:37

Matthew 22:37 NKJV

Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

By giving this, we will be selflessly serving Him, just like we talked about earlier.

Not only that, but it will lead to our next point.

The Christmas Spirit is Festive.

Luke 2:8-14

Luke 2:8–14 NKJV

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” 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, goodwill toward men!”

Ordinary shepherds in an ordinary field, with ordinary sheep, doing their ordinary duties on an ordinary night had an extraordinary experience.

A once in the history of the universe event had just occurred, and they were the first to hear about it.

They were given the news in a most remarkable way… a heavenly chorus of angels burst forth in praise of the new born King, the Messiah, the Good Shepherd.

In doing so, the angels set the stage for a joyous and memorable event.

We shouldn’t be afraid to celebrate our Lord and Savior. In fact, we should desire to.

We should praise Him with joy. We can celebrate and sing to Him.

In short, we can be festive, and that is exactly the model the the Heavenly chorus of angels gave us.

It goes right along with a joyous worship of Him, and is definitely part of the Christmas Spirit.

If all of this sounds familiar, it should. The Christmas Spirit that I’ve been talking about, corresponds perfectly with the fruit of the Spirit.

The Christmas Spirit corresponds perfectly with the fruit of the spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23

Galatians 5:22–23 NKJV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Having the Christmas Spirit begins with salvation, for without Christ there is no reason to celebrate, no reason to be joyous.

Without Christ, all is hopeless and lost. the best that you can hope for is a good life on this earth, because your eternity will be destined for eternal torment in hell.

But there is reason to celebrate and be joyous, because Christ has already paid that debt, and salvation is yours if you will accept it.

There is no better time than right now to accept Christ.

2 Corinthians 6:2

2 Corinthians 6:2 NKJV

For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

Romans 10:9

Romans 10:9 NKJV

that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

This Christmas, give Jesus what He wants, YOU! This begins with accepting Christ as your Lord and Savior.

It Continues into our undying worship of Him, our selfless service to others, and our joyous and festive celebration and praise of Him.

Then you’ll know what it means to have the Christmas Spirit.

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