What Difference Does Christmas Make?

The series during Advent which I’ll be preaching has as its basis, messages that were given by the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church in Davis, California. As I was reading some of these messages last summer, I thought I could use them as a springboard for our church family. The overall theme for the next four Sundays is Christmas Questions.

Here we are, at the very beginning of the Christmas season. Christmas items have been out for shoppers since Halloween. I’ve seen multiple posts on facebook commenting on how people have been listening to Christmas music for over a month. Some families have their Christmas trees up and the house decorated since early November. The Hallmark Channel has been focusing on Christmas movies for a long time; possibly beginning a week after last Christmas.

So what are you looking forward to this Christmas season? We all look forward to some unique, special moments with family and friends that seem to only happen at Christmastime. Many hope for our Christmastime to be some Norman Rockwell painting come to life, with simple pleasures of reunion, joy, affirmation, and connection with people we love.

But what usually happens? There are often those moments when the children have a melt down and life turns into absolute chaos: from the sugar consumed or from the gifts opened revealing underwear and socks, not what they wanted. There's sometimes that sense of loneliness and loss—even though we're around lots of people.

We all have wishes and hopes of a Norman Rockwell painting come to life during the Christmas season, but instead we end up experiencing it turning into some version of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. As a result, we start asking questions about what difference Christmas really makes in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

The first real question is this: What difference does Christmas make? Besides giving us a holiday where we deck the halls, exchange gifts, go to parties, and have some time off. What difference does Christmas actually make in our heart and life, in our world today, and in history even more generally?

Surprisingly, the best answer to this question comes from an unwed, pregnant, teenage girl who was most likely around 13 to 16 years old. This unwed, pregnant, teenage girl was Mary, the soon-to-be mother of Jesus. She has a very unique perspective into the dramatic coming of Jesus and its meaning for her as his mother, which causes her to sing out in praise for the wonder of it all, when she is visiting a relative named Elizabeth.

This song is referred to as "the Magnificat" because that is the Latin translation of "magnifies," which is the very thing Mary leads with in this song and wants to do with God at the thought of Christmas.

Luke 1:46–55 (NASB95)

And Mary said: “My soul exalts the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. “For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave; For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed. “For the Mighty One has done great things for me; And holy is His name. “And His mercy is upon generation after generation Toward those who fear Him. “He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. “He has brought down rulers from their thrones, And has exalted those who were humble. “He has filled the hungry with good things; And sent away the rich empty-handed. “He has given help to Israel His servant, In remembrance of His mercy, As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and his descendants forever.”

Did you catch what difference Christmas makes? For the Christian, Christmas makes all the difference in the world. Let's have a look at Mary's answer to this question of the difference Christmas makes.

Praise for God Being Personal - 1.46-49

From deep down in her soul, Mary expresses her happiness, excitement, and gratitude to God. Her song reminds us of the Old Testament and the poetry there, which she had been taught ever since she was a little girl.

So why such strong emotion and outpouring? Because of how Mary perceived that God had reached down to her to do great things for her. Mary knows who she is in that world. She's a nobody. She's an unwed, engaged, teenage girl living in a world where age and marital status mattered, and where being a man mattered.

What's more, she's pregnant without a legitimate husband anywhere in sight. Everyone knew how the birds and bees worked. They knew the science knowing Mary couldn't just say, "Hey! Good news! I'm pregnant, but don't worry, no man was involved!" It was about as believable then as it would be today for any teenage girl to say that to her parents.

Then if that were not enough to put her down on the social scale, she also lived the furthest away from the centers of power and influence because she lived in the unimportant village of Nazareth. So Mary was fully aware of her place in her world. She's an unwed, engaged, pregnant teenage girl, living in the sticks. To most people, she was a zero, a nobody.

But despite that humble standing and relatively unimportant state, God reached out to her through his messenger, Gabriel—that angel of his who delivers messages for him. Gabriel had informed her that God would reach even further and more personally into her life because she would supernaturally conceive and bear Jesus Christ.

She would actually be the mother to the Son of God who would become human, the one whom all Jews had been looking for and anxiously waiting for, to come from God to rescue them, the great king of the ages. That's why she sings so that generations of people would look upon her as fortunate to have been in her position, as the mother of the One around Whom history is formed.

You see, Mary recognizes that in Christ coming, God was doing great things for her: even though she was totally undeserving of it, even though she couldn't muster anything to warrant it. That's why she praises God from the depths of her soul.

We can appreciate how Mary recognized that God made Christ's coming very personal for her: beyond just being a womb for Jesus. You see, Mary is reflecting something very important about Christ coming and that it is deeply and profoundly personal. Christ's coming is also deeply personal for us.

Christmas isn't just some holiday on the calendar, or some sentimental moment in history. Christmas is also deeply and profoundly personal for us because God did something great for us: he sent Christ for each one of us. God didn't just send Christ at Christmas for the nameless, faceless, masses of humanity. He sent Christ at Christmas for me, and for you.

To see Christ coming is to see God—the great and ultimate ruler of the universe, the ultimate creator and sustainer behind all that is, our very own Maker who fashioned us in our mother's womb. It is to see him personally extend himself to us to do great things for us: not to do great things like he did for Mary in being the mother of Christ, but to do great things for you and me, by entering into this world to be like us so we might become God's son or daughter through faith in the One He sent for us. That's the difference Christmas makes for us personally.

So we can also join Mary praising God during this Advent season, because He has personally extended Himself to you in sending Jesus. Thank Him because He's initiated something none of us deserved or earned. Magnify God in that you show Him bigger and more significant in your life and in this world by prioritizing what He thinks, what He's like, and how He would have us live, because the greatest one has come to you through no effort of your own.

Christmas makes a difference because God has personally extended Himself to us in sending Jesus. But Mary doesn't stop there for all that long. She continues singing and moves to a chorus of the world-wide implications of Christ's coming.

Praise for God Making Things Right - 1.50-53

From Mary's perspective, she sees that Christ's coming as a display of God's strength.

First, God shows the strength of his arm in extending mercy to those who fear him, in the sense of those who look to God in faith and dependence. How? Well, for one, that mercy comes in the form of exalting them who have humbled themselves before God in this way. But for another, it comes in the form of filling those who are literally and spiritually hungry with good things. So on one side of the coin, Mary concludes that with Christ's coming, God shows his strength in bringing the low and hungry to be high and filled.

From the opposite side, Mary also sees how God uses the strength of his arm in sending Christ to confront the powers and wealth that be. How so? Well, for one, he comes against those who aren't humble but proud of what they achieve and how they prove their worth. To them, God raises his arm and brings them low. God comes against the rich who claim total self-sufficiency and have a white-knuckle grip on their money. To them, God's strength comes against them to send them away empty-handed. Mary concludes that with Christ's coming, God shows his strength in confronting the powerful and self-sufficient rich to overthrow and empty them.

This is dangerous stuff to whisper, much less sing at the top of our lungs. We may not see the danger because we're used to freedom of speech. So inflammatory is this that back in the 1980s, this was banned from being read publicly in Guatemala because it was deemed so politically subversive.

But this was even more dangerous for a teenage peasant girl to sing back then. What do you think King Herod would think about this? Remember, he's the king of Israel at this time. When he got wind of Jesus being born a king in Bethlehem, do you remember what he did? He made plans to have him killed. When that failed, he slaughtered all boys younger than two years old in that whole area to eliminate the threat. Herod would have come unglued with Mary saying his rule was as good as done. And if that's how Herod would react, then how do you think his king and superior, Caesar Augustus, would react? For certain, he'd kill her for treason, because this sort of talk was grounds for execution—which Rome wasn't afraid to do and actually did many times for promoting such ideas.

But despite that danger, Mary belts out that God's justice is initiated with Christ's coming. God's strength is on display with Jesus' coming because through it, he uplifts the humble and hungry, and he confronts the proud and rich.

But this even gets more bold. Mary originally didn’t sing these verses with future tense verbs. She sings this song in the past tense to declare that this is as good as done. She sees this vision of God's reversal and justice coming through Jesus so clearly that Mary belts out this portion of her song in the past tense—as if it has already happened. With Christ's coming, she sings that God's justice is initiated. The humble will be lifted up. The hungry will be fed. The proud will be brought down, even those on thrones. And the rich will be emptied. So why is this so sure with Christ's coming?

Well, Jesus didn't just come as some religious figure. God sent his own Son to install him as the rightful king of the ages. It's just that he wasn't a king in the classic sense, where they use their authority to push people around. He came as a king who would use his authority to lay down his life on a cross. That way, he'd pay the penalty of our sin so that God's justice would be satisfied for all who'd trust Christ for that.

By laying down his life and dying on a cross, Jesus would be raised in power as the true King that even sin, evil, and death couldn't resist, and whom everyone would have to reckon with one day. By that, Jesus will fully and completely make all things right one day.

You see, Christ's coming at Christmas means the humble are being lifted up and will be lifted up, the hungry are being fed and will be fed, the proud are being brought low and will be brought low, even those who are on thrones. The rich are being emptied and will be emptied.

Let none of us be mistaken here: Justice delayed doesn't mean justice is denied because he knows the whole truth, in detail, about every story and every situation. Eventually, one day, all accounts will have to be reckoned and reconciled with him because Christ is the true king who has come at Christmas.

So all of those things that so depress us about our world, Christ's coming at Christmas means God will sort it out, and his justice is already initiated. Christ's coming began to reverse all of that, and he will fully complete that reversal one day when all accounts are reckoned and reconciled with him.

Magnify him by embracing God's justice, done on your behalf, in receiving Christ and what he did at the Cross, to pay the penalty of your sin. Then continue to magnify him by looking to that justice God exacted for you in faith so that you'd use what talents, influence, and resources you have to help those in need.

Christmas makes a difference because God has personally extended himself to us in sending Jesus, and he has initiated his justice for our world. But Mary won't even let us end there. She simply continues singing this song beyond the personal and global implications of Christ's coming. She keeps singing to another verse in her song that touches on the devotional aspect of Christmas.

Praise for God Keeping His Promises - 1.54-55

This is how Mary rounds out her song. It is a high note in this song because she reminds us that these personal and global implications of Christ's coming came about because God remembered his mercy. God has now remembered by acting on his word and promises that he made so many years before to Abraham.

You see, going back thousands of years, God had always promised his people that he'd send the Messiah—or in the Greek version of that title, the Christ. When times were hard and sinful, God would lift their eyes to the time when the Messiah would come as a healer to make all of that right. When times were good, God would point them forward to the Messiah coming where even better times would be. In either good or bad times, God wanted them to put their hope beyond their situation and in the coming of the Messiah, where God would rescue them from oppression and transform them into a people living under the rule and reign of God. God had always said he would do it, and he'd even give more details to fill out that picture as time went on. So they waited and looked for the Messiah's coming. And they waited. And they waited. And they waited. But this Messiah never seemed to come.

That is, until this unwed, pregnant, teenage girl sings about God now making good on that promise because she's carrying the Messiah in her womb. So Jesus' birth was quite intentional. His birth wasn't the unlikely fulfillment of a bunch of coincidences that some random people wishfully spoke hundreds of years prior. Jesus Christ's coming was a matter of God fulfilling his long-standing promise to his people.

God is serious about his vows and promises. To see Christ's coming at Christmas means to see God fulfilling his promises and demonstrating how he treats all of his promises—including the ones still to be fulfilled.

Think about it. All those promises God has made to us through Christ. We know he's good for them because we see Christ's coming at Christmas. That promise of forgiveness by receiving Christ. That promise he'll never leave us or forsake us. That promise of life with God now that extends beyond our graves into an eternity with him. And any other promise God has made to us that comes to your mind.

Know they are certain. God is a God of his word. Just look at Christ's coming at Christmas. That's why Mary sings here as she does, and that's why she invites us to praise God, as well.

So follow her lead and praise God. Praise God during this Advent season, because in sending Christ, God has not only personally extended himself to you and initiated his justice for our world, but he has also shown his promises to be sure.

Thank him for the promises he's made and how they're certain in a world that can be so uncertain. Then magnify God by sinking your heart and life into those promises by meditating on Christ coming at Christmas, for the purpose of dying on a cross, and what that accomplishes for us by faith in him: the justifying of our lives, the acceptance with God, the adoption by God, the presence of God in our lives.

Conclusion

Christmas makes a difference. That's why Mary sang here in the Magnificat as she did.

But she doesn't just sing for us to sit on the sidelines and listen to it. She sings it for us to join in with her, praising and magnifying God with Christ's coming at Christmas, because Christ's coming is so significant that it cries out for our song in this season too.

So sing, praise, magnify God this Christmas season, because For the Christian, Christmas makes all the difference in the world.