Getting Christmas Right
Rev. Howard Sloan

To Get Christmas Right, You Have to First Get Christ Right
If you get Christ wrong, you get Christmas wrong. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ….14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:1-3, 14

We must see Christmas as the entrance of God into the sphere of human life for the purpose of redemption. To see Him as anything other than fully God and fully man is to get Christmas wrong

To Get Christmas Right, You Need to Get the Purpose Right
The angels say to the shepherds in Luke 2:11. "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Jesus did not come just to be an example, He came to be a Savior. In Matthew 1:20 we read these words:

“But as he (Joseph) considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins’.”

That is the purpose of Christmas. I hope you don’t tire of hearing that. We needed a perfect man to be a perfect sacrifice. Only God Himself could fit that role.

That is the purpose of Christ in Christmas.

To Get Christmas Right, You Need to Get Yourself Right
“He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:11-13).

Christmas is more than about gifts, meals, and parties. It's about more than God coming to earth. It's about God coming to earth so that we might become children of God. If you want to celebrate Christmas right, it begins by making sure that you are right with God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Have a Merry Christmas and enjoy your time with your families . . .

Soli Deo Gloria