Christmas Traditions (Part 1: Saint Nicholas)

Introduction:

Attention:

What’s your favorite Christmas Movie? *give students a chance to answer*

One of my favorite’s is a Christmas story, for the simple fact of how scary the Santa is in that movie

Like seriously, what’s with that guy?

Kicking kids down a slide isn’t cool, Santa

Isn’t Santa supposed to be nice?

Wait… where do we get the idea that Santa’s supposed to be nice? Where does that come from?

Heck; where does the idea of Santa come from in the first place?

It all comes from a real life man named Saint Nicholas, who we are going to take a deep-dive into this morning.

Need:

As Christians, when it comes to celebrating Christmas as a holiday, it should be important for us to know all of the ins and outs of it

If Christmas is really about the birth of Jesus, then where did this stuff about St. Nick even come from? It is important for us to know how to answer this

Should Christians ignore the whole Santa thing altogether? Or is there something valuable to be learned from the historical figure?

It is important for us to know how to interact with all of these traditions; we don’t want to just celebrate stuff blindly, we want to know why we’re celebrating and what it actually is that we are celebrating in the first place (we need context)

So then, let’s try and give some context to modern day Christmas!

Body

Before we start answering some questions about St. Nicholas, there are two passages of Scripture that I would like to draw your attention to regarding traditions:

2 Thessalonians 2:15

“With all these things in mind, dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching we passed on to you both in person and by letter.”

While this verse has nothing to do with Christmas specifically, it does have something to say about traditions that is important to take note of

The literal word for “the teaching” here is “the traditions”

What this shows us is that traditions are not inherently bad, especially when those traditions are Biblical (like the ones Paul is talking about here)

So if Christmas traditions are Biblical, then great; we should celebrate them!

But check out this verse, too:

Colossians 2:8

“Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.”

Again, the word for human thinking here is literally “human tradition”

So this shows us that there are some traditions that we need to stay away from!

Some traditions are Biblical and should be followed, others are not and should be avoided

How does this affect the way that Christians should celebrate Christmas?

And specifically, with today’s topic in mind, how should the Christian understand the connection of St. Nicholas with the holiday? Is this something we should focus on? Should we skip past it? Who even was this guy in the first place?

That’s what we are trying to figure out! Where do the traditions come from, and how do we interact with them?

What Do We Know About Saint Nicholas?

1. He was born around 280 AD in modern day Turkey and died around 323 AD.

There actually are not a lot of confirmed details about St. Nicholas; it is somewhat difficult to sort through fact or fiction when it comes to him

In fact, his existence is not attested to in any document before the 6th century

But even then, these are two of the facts that are almost certain.

He died around December 6th specifically

He was specifically born in Patara, which is a city in the area of Lycia

2. He inherited his parent’s wealth and gave most of it away

Supposedly, his parents died at a young age

One of the most famous stories about Saint Nicholas is that he gave away three bags of gold to three poor girls who were going to be forced into prostitution (so that they wouldn’t have to be).

We don’t know how true this specific story is (because there are a few different versions of it), but what does seem likely is that he was wealthy and gave his wealth away, which is important to know.

3. He Became the Bishop of Myra

This is also in Lycia, his home region

Case in point; Saint Nicholas was a Christian!

And not just any Christian; he really cared about his faith (just check this next point out)

4. He suffered for his faith

Specifically, the Roman Emperor Diocletian persecuted Christians between the years of 303-311 AD

If this is true, this would make him a “confessor” of the faith, as opposed to a martyr (aka, he was imprisoned and possibly tortured but not killed)

So in other words, Saint Nicholas was passionate about his faith in a very big way!

5. He attended the Council of Nicaea

This is a very famous council in church history, where the theology of this guy named Arius was examined and ultimately judged as heretical (AKA, as opposed to the Christian faith/false teaching)

In fact, there are actually reports that St. Nick punched Arius in the face at this council! I’m not even kidding

There have been several art depictions of this over the years, and.... I know what you’re thinking. You want to see some of them, don’t you? Alright; let’s take a look

Alright, granted; this looks a but more like a slap than a punch, but still, pretty epic I’d say

Now this is more like it!

Did he just beard slap him? Or is he grabbing him by the beard? This is pretty great

And lastly, how about a meme for good measure?

That’s some quality content, right there

All joking aside, this shows us that Saint Nicholas was a defender of sound Christian doctrine. What a cool guy!

6. His story ultimately led to the story of Santa Claus

In Germany and the Netherlands, Nicholas became what is called the “patron saint” of Children, and this led to the idea that he gave gifts to children on December 6

A patron saint is essentially a catholic church belief where church fathers who have passed away serve as heavenly guardians for a specific group of people (its a whacky idea and doesn’t have Scripture to back it up)

And because there was no Scripture to back this stuff up, the reformers rebelled against the idea of celebrating stuff like this

Specifically, Martin Luther replaced Saint Nicholas Day (Dec 6) with a different holiday called Christ Child (ironically enough, it is from this holiday that name Kris Kringle comes from)

At this point, Saint Nicholas disappeared from all protestant countries in Europe… except the Netherlands

Over there, they developed the character known as “Sinteerklaas”

Sinterklaas

This all eventually led to the development of Santa Claus as we know him in “Twas The Night Before Christmas,” a poem written in 1823.

So yeah, that’s some pretty interesting stuff! There are some other details I could give you too (like the fact that he was probably pretty short), but these are the most important things to know

This leads us to the second half of our discussion!

How Should Christians Relate to St. Nicholas at Christmas Time?

So then… how should we relate to all of this at Christmas time? As Christians, should we celebrate St. Nicholas?

Christians are somewhat divided when it comes to this issue

You’ve got people like CS Lewis (Narnia), who embraced the Santa tradition by including the character Father Christmas in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

But other Christians feel the need to stay away from Santa entirely, feeling that it distracts from the true meaning of Christmas.

But the Gospel Coalition article that I read brings up a great point “If Santa Claus is everywhere already, why not use him to your benefit and talk about the real St. Nicholas?”

There are a lot of things that we can learn from his example, and we can use these to guide and help us celebrate Christmas in a Biblical manner

So here are three points about how we should relate and respond to all of this.

1. Keep the main thing the main thing

Isaiah 9:6

“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

We should always remember that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus; its not about Saint Nicholas.

And by observing the life of this individual, this is something that the man himself would certainly affirm; this guy went to jail for his faith in Christ, after all!

I am sure that he would not be happy that some people have given this character based off of him more attention than they do Jesus at Christmas time

So the ironic thing that we learn by looking at St. Nicholas is that one of the best ways to incorporate his lifestyle into the Christmas tradition is to make sure that Santa doesn’t bear more attention than Christ at Christmas time.

2. Give generously

2 Corinthians 9:7

“You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”

The real St. Nicholas may not have climbed into chimneys and delivered presents, but he was a very generous person

Here’s an interesting thing to think about; what would you do if you inherited a lot of wealth like St. Nicholas? Would you use it to bless the life of another?

One of the most awesome things about Christmas time is that it provides us with the awesome opportunity to practice generosity and thoughtfulness

It can be used as a launch pad for generosity; if you’re only generous at Christmas time, then what’s the point?

But if you use this time as a launch pad to be generous all year around, THIS is a beautiful thing! And that’s exactly the type of thing that St. Nicholas would have done.

3. Stand for truth

2 Timothy 2:15

“Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.”

St. Nicholas was not ashamed of his faith!

St. Nicholas wasn’t afraid to pull some punches for Jesus *perhaps a little too literally, but I digress*

As Christians, we shouldn’t just casually care about truth; we should care about it very deeply

Truth should impact every decision that we make, including how we celebrate Christmas

Would you be willing to go to jail for the way that you celebrate Christmas?

What I mean is this; do you celebrate Christmas in a way that honors Christ and truth so vividly that persecuting countries would have a problem with it?

Do you read the Christmas account in Matthew or Luke every year? Do you talk about the deep truths that it entails? Do you ponder the mystery of the manger and the mystery of the Gospel?

Christmas really is a time for you to stand for truth in the way that St. Nick did. Lots of people celebrate Christmas who aren’t Christians, so why not use this as a time to point them to the truth of the Gospel by talking about the historical St. Nicholas?

Conclusion

I’m not a Santa hater! There’s a lot of good and rich stuff that you see when you study the real life Saint Nick.

I pray that this was as formative for you as it was to me this week. I am ready to get my Christmas on!

As we split into small groups, be thinking about how you can use Saint Nicholas as a good Christmas role model

Think specifically about your schools (or coops) as you get closer and closer to Winter break.

Pray

Small Group Questions:

What is your favorite fact that you learned about St. Nicholas today? Why is that?

What sticks out to you the most about his faith in Jesus?

Why do you think it is important for Christians to understand the context of Christmas, especially when it comes to St. Nicholas?

How can the topic of St. Nicholas be a launching pad for sharing the Gospel with someone that isn’t a Christian?

Christmas break is right around the corner! In the meantime, what can you intentionally bless your school/coop? What about your family?