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It is hard to believe that December is already here and that Christmas is only a few short weeks away!
In our culture Christmas has become politically incorrect.
So much so, that as you go out into the retail stores and buy all of those Christmas presents you will most likely hear “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.”
And that bothers us.
And rightfully so.
We as believers in Christ do not want to remove our Lord’s name from Christmas.
And so we purposefully say “Merry Christmas.”
What do we mean when we say “Merry Christmas?”
We have said it all our lives and yet I wonder what we really mean when we say it.
Has it become yet another tradition that we know we should say and so we do, but we don’t really understand what we mean when we say it.
Has it become like singing a well known hymn?
We know the words and the tune so well that we sing the song, but we have so tuned our minds out, that we mean very little when we sing the words.
And so our question this morning is why do we say “Merry Christmas” or maybe a better question is “What should we mean when we say “Merry Christmas?”
And I think to answer that question we must ask another question- “Why do we have Christmas?”
And this morning we are not interested in man’s answer to that question, instead we are interested in God’s answer to that question.
What reasons does God give for Christmas?
To answer that question we turn to where I believe we find four reasons for Christmas.
Let’s read these verses
I. Jesus chose to be human because we are human
14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same;
Forasmuch then as the children
Children = Children of God
the children are partakers of flesh and blood
We share in flesh and blood that is something we all have in common.
It is part of what makes us human.
He also himself likewise took part of the same;
Lit.
Jesus shared in the same things.
That means Jesus took on Himself the very same flesh and blood that makes you and I human.
Phil 2.
V. 17-
“took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man”
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood
The reason that God chose to become human was that we His Children are human.
Because we are human, Jesus chose to be human.
God’s love amazes me!
Illustration: One of the things that my wife loves to do is decorate our home.
She loves curtains, and blankets and pillows and pictures and flowers.
I really don’t care all that much about those kind of things.
But she values my opinion and so I get to involved in the decision making process for curtains and blankets and pillows and pictures and flowers.
And I do so willingly.
Why?
Because I love my wife.
So I share in her interests.
Because she is interested in those things I am interested in those things because I love her.
God loves us, and because we are flesh and blood, He became flesh and blood.
His love for us is the reason He became like us.
In the infinite plan of God He desired a family of children of which Jesus would be preeminent.
And so according to the infinite plan of God, the Son shared in human flesh and blood.
Jesus because fully God and fully man because of his love.
II.
Jesus chose to be human so He could die
14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death
That through death
Jesus, the eternal Son of God, could not die as God.
He had to become human in order that he might die.
Without flesh and blood, without taking on our very nature Jesus could not die.
So one of the reasons for the incarnation, for Christmas, for Jesus taking on human flesh and blood was to make it possible for Him to die.
says that Jesus, “was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
So Jesus became human so he could die.
Stop and think about that for a minute.
One of the reasons for the incarnation was to make it possible for Jesus to die.
“That means that the purpose of God for His Son to die preceded His purpose for the incarnation.”
(John Piper)
Illustration: Playing chess with my son and loosing on purpose.
Some might watch my poor play and think, “Oh, he made a bad move now he has lost the game.”
I didn’t all of the sudden mess up and decide to loose the game.
My plan was to loose from the beginning so my son could win.
The reason for the incarnation is so Jesus could die.
This is why Jesus came among us.
His reason was to die.
He did not come for another reason, and then all of a sudden His plans got messed up so now he has to die.
No, his plan for the incarnation- his death- was the plan all along.
So why Christmas why the Incarnation why did Jesus become a man?
God’s reasons are
1).
Jesus became human because we are human
2).
Jesus became human to give himself the ability to die.
III.
Jesus died to destroy the power of the devil
He also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death
namely- the devil
How did Jesus destroy the power of death?
Through death?
That seems odd doesn’t it?
Here I want you to notice that Jesus destroyed the devil by means of his death.
The word destroy doesn’t mean that Jesus caused the devil to cease to exist.
Satan is still very much alive and active in the world.
The word for destroy has the idea of nullify, or to make powerless or invalidate something.
So Jesus’s death on the cross nullified or made powerless the one who has the power of death- namely the devil.
Keep that thought in your mind
How did Jesus do that?
Turn to
What did God do here?
He transformed you believer who used to be dead in your sins, He (God) has now made you alive with Christ, how?
having forgiven you all trespasses;
How was God able to do that?
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us
By canceling the record of our debt that stood against us.
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