25/12/2024
WHY CHRISTMAS?
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Text: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believed in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Glory to God for the season of another Christmas.
A wise man once said, "A lack of understanding breeds abuse."
Now, I said that to ask you this pertinent question: Why Christmas?
Literally, I'm asking if you have an understanding of what Christmas is all about?
Is it just about the festivities, celebrations, wine and dine? The new clothes, shoes, and get-together? Is that the essence of Christmas?
The answer to the above questions is no.
What then is Christmas about? You may want to ask.
Let's start from the literal understanding of the word "Christmas."
Christmas is a grammatical construction from the two words; CHRIST and MASS.
While Christ means "Messiah," Mass means "Celebration."
Christmas, therefore, means "Celebration of Christ."
Celebration of the Messaiah's birth to be precise.
That's what every 25th December connotes - commemoration of the birth of our Lord and saviour, Jesus Christ, the messiah.
With that being said. The focal point of this article is, why Christmas?
That is, why are we celebrating the birth of the Messaiah? Why was he born? Of what importance is his birth to your life?
Let's briefly talk about answers to these questions, but you can assess the complete teaching about WHY CHRISTMAS on the Joel Kayode Digital Store via https://selar.co/m/LIFE-SCHOOL.
Now, why was Christ born?
The answer to this question is what we read in our opening text : "For God so loved the world that he GAVE his only begotten son...."
Christ was born as God's gift to the world of humans(men, women, boys, and girls).
Christ is God's precious gift to humanity. To probe this further, the question then would be, why was he born as a gift? What's the rationale behind this gift called Christ?
The answer is right there in Romans 3:23-24 "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."
The Bible says, all have sinned - everyone born into this world was born a sinner, including the baby right there in the womb to be born tomorrow or next. That explains why Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:3, " Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily,I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
The Bible referred to Nicodemus as a ruler (a leader) of the Jews, John 3:1.
This means that Nicodemus was religiously sound, at that he was still classed as a sinner, why Christ told him, you must be born again.
Jesus’s answer to Nicodemus gave us a deep perspective into what sin is.
Sin isn't an act but a nature. Because to be a Jewish leader means you must have kept the ten commandments diligently, all the "Thou shall not.." must have been diligently kept yet Christ told Nicodemus, there's a need for another birth for you to be acceptable to God - what it means to be born again.
In essence, it's not your act of kindness and goodness that made you acceptance to God, because all human was born a sinner when Adam and Eve committed treason in the garden of Eden in Genesis 3:6.
That is the essence of God's gift of love, Christ. That's why he was born - he was born a panacea for humanity sins. The propitiation for our sins 1 John 2:2, 1 John 3:5.
He also came to give us life eternal that Adam lost when he disobeyed God, though God had forewarned him that the day he eats from that tree, he shall surely die, Genesis 3:3.
Therefore, after eating that forbidden fruits, he died (Spiritual separation from God) according to God's judgement. He lost out of eternal life.
That is another reason why Jesus came. The reason why we celebrate Christmas is because Jesus came to restore that eternal life that Adam lost, John 10:10.
Another essence why we celebrate Christmas is because it's a commemoration of our justification. Jesus’s birth, death, and his resurrection justified us from the guilt of sins, Romans 3:24.
Let's stop here besides other reasons why we celebrate Christmas. It's a commemoration of becoming a child of God, 1 John 3:2, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God..."
Dear friend, these should be your reasons for celebrating Christmas - your freedom from sins, eternal life in you, justification from sin's guilts, your righteousness, and sonship of God.
Now, here is the action step required of you to qualified, enjoy the benefits of Christmas and make your Christmas celebration acceptable to God - 1 John 5:12 says, "He that hath the son hath life, and he that hath not the son of God hath not life."
So, God expected you to accept his love for you and that love was wrapped into Christ, it is only the one who has the son(Jesus) that has life every other person irrespective of their religion lives in death - Colossians 3;16.
So, I urge you today, to use this Christmas celebration as a reconciliation with God, believe in the lord Jesus christ and you shall be saved.
Merry Christmas.
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