Fighting for the symbols of Christmas

Fighting for the symbols of Christmas<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
 
 
Sometimes I struggle with a common dilemma of those who write regular columns--writer's block. Looking for some help, one morning, I asked for ideas from a fellow at the fitness center. As he offered ideas for my column, he mentioned a Christmas theme. He suggested that we need to move beyond the debate about the symbols of Christmas to the realities they represent. Although this gentleman is Jewish, he has a high degree of respect for the right of Christians to celebrate Christmas. He simply believes too much emphasis is focused on fighting over the symbols. I agree.
 
It is easy to lose sight of the deeper significance of the symbols of your faith when defending your right to publicly display them. Consider the manger scene. Displaying the manger on public property has been hotly debated. Originally, the manger scene was a humble and obscure event. It would surprise some to learn that the early Church did not celebrate the nativity scene as practiced in many protestant churches today. Some Church fathers were adamantly opposed to the notion of celebrating Christ's birthday. They felt it trivialized the significance of the person of Jesus. This is not to say that the early Church did not focus on the meaning of the birth of Christ. Church councils labored intensely over the nature of Jesus as God become man. The technical term used for this amazing event is incarnation. The word simply means "in flesh" and refers to the fact that God took upon himself our humanity. 
 
The babe of the manger was born only because he was sent by God the Father to fulfill a mission for human beings. Although the physical life of Jesus began in the womb of the Virgin Mary, we should not forget his pre-existence to his miraculous conception. Jesus spoke repeatedly about his pre-existence. The Old and New Testaments testify consistently to Jesus being from eternity before he entered time. One has written that, "The life of Jesus is bracketed by two impossibilities: a virgin's womb and an empty tomb. Jesus entered our world through a door marked 'no entrance' and left through a door marked 'no exit'" (Peter Larson).
 
Jesus was not merely a man in whom God uniquely revealed himself, he was God become man. In the hymn, we sing, "Veiled in flesh the God-head see!" "Hail the incarnate deity!" Scripture refers to Jesus as "all the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form" (Colossians 2:9). The apostle Paul, a devout Jew, wrote of Jesus, "He who had always been God by nature, did not cling to his prerogatives as God's equal, but stripped himself of all privileges by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born as a mortal man. And having become man, he humbled himself by living a life of utter obedience, even to the point of dying…" ( Philippians 2:6-7).
 
 "If Jesus had been no more than a very remarkable godly man," wrote John Stott, "the difficulties in believing what the New Testament tells us about his life and work would be truly mountainous. But if Jesus was the same person as the eternal word, the Father's agent in creation, "through whom he also made the worlds" (Hebrews 1:2), it is no wonder if fresh acts of creative power marked his coming into the world, and his life in it, and his exit from it. It is not strange that he, the author of life, should rise from the dead. If he was truly God the Son, it is much more startling that he should die than that he should rise again. And if the immortal Son of God did really submit to taste death, it is not strange that such a death should have saving significance for a doomed race."
 
My friend from the fitness center not only helped me break my writer's block, he was also right. We must not lose sight of the great meaning of the symbols of Christmas in our effort to defend the freedom to display those symbols. But we also cannot afford to contemplate those symbols from a distance. Their meaning is too urgent. How will you respond to the Christ of Christmas? Will you reject him as a lunatic? Denounce him as a liar? Or, worship him as God and Savior? There are no other options available.
 
 
 
 
Steven W. Cornell
Senior pastor
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Millersville Bible Church
Millersville, PA. 17551
717-872-4260
www.millersvillebiblechurch.org

Support Our Broadcast Network

We're a 100% Listener Supported Network

3 Simple Ways to Support WVW Foundation

Credit Card
100% Tax-Deductable
Paypal
100% Tax-Deductable

Make Monthly Donations

 

-or-

A One-Time Donation

 
Mail or Phone
100% Tax-Deductable
  • Mail In Your Donation

    Worldview Weekend Foundation
    PO BOX 1690
    Collierville, TN, 38027 USA

  • Donate by Phone

    901-825-0652

WorldviewFinancialTV.com Banner