For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. At this point our Bible text comes in, for it is a report of how those who witnessed the first Christmas observed it. It is clearly God's transformation and control of the emotions. So, you see, if Christmas means anything, it at least means this that God has not forgotten His people. Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Jehoshua, meaning "Jehovah is salvation." Here is a rest that is given and a rest that is found. How Should We Celebrate the Birth of Christ? - Topical Studies Helpful Not Helpful Praise the Lord! The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. May God give you grace to do that. In the Christian religion, Jesus Christ is believed to be the son of God. 13. Living a Life of Celebration | Bible.org And yet this is what we often do with Jesus. One person who has been responsible for watering down the biblical meaning of the word "salvation" is Paul Tillich, the German-born American theologian. Crashaw wrote of this wonder: This is why the wonder of children seems so appropriate at Christmastime. Where does God say not to celebrate Jesus' birth? May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans! J He was born to die. What does the Bible say about Christmas? - Becoming Christians Does God Really Work All Things Together for Good? Of course they did! Christmas time is a few days away. It involves an effort to enter into the heart and counsels of God. O come, all ye faithful, So he was told, "you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). On December 25th people the world over will celebrate the birth of Lord Jesus Christ. Since his day no one had been raised up to declare the sure word of the Lord. Moreover, the Bible teaches that if you will believe that that is, if you will believe that you are not at peace with God naturally but that He has made peace through the death of His Son for your sin - then God will enter into the kind of eternal relationship with you in which you can be called His son or daughter. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. It is in this sense a doxology, which means to express a right opinion of God verbally. Celebrating it certainly does seem and feel like the right thing to do. This is the peace spoken of by the Apostle Paul in the first verse of the fifth chapter of Romans: "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. Jesus Christ is that Savior. The Wise Men Were Not There. Christ the Lord. They are an important part of our lives, and our relationship with them should continue to grow every day. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. You shall not do any ordinary work. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. God is "able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us" (Ephesians 3:20). But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. The Scriptures say, "And let him who hears say, Come!" Born the King of angels; The appearance of an unnamed angel to Joseph to explain the virgin birth and to name the Child. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. He was, however, making a very important point: We should never celebrate Jesus birth at Christmastimeand then forget Him the rest of the year. Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. Let the wonder of that first Christmas fill your life todayand every day. 10. The Bible says that when Jesus was born, a multitude of angels appeared suddenly and erupted in joyful praise to God, saying: "Glory in the heights above to God, and upon earth peace among men of goodwill." ( Luke 2:13, 14) However, it is noteworthy that nowhere in the Bible is there even a suggestion that Jesus' birthday should be celebrated. All Joseph could have thought was that Mary had been unfaithful. He is the Savior. Copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. It is not just brooding or getting into a pious frame of mind. However, God does promise to give us what we need (Philippians 4:19), and He promises to keep our minds in His peace, if we will pray to Him. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. If God did that, He would soon make a muddle of our Christian lives because "We do not know what we ought to pray for" (Romans 8:26), and we pray with wrong motives. This is the message of the angels. God is faithful. Clap your hands, all peoples! That is what Jesus Himself said: "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." 7 This basic approach to salvation has been picked up in an avalanche of books on pastoral counseling, Christian psychiatry, and the cure of souls. Behold, a day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. Wesley was praying for the second of these rests, the peace of God that Paul was writing about to the Philippians. Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. Why not join every year with the shepherds on that first Christmas, "glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen" (Luke 2:20)? Should Christians celebrate birthdays? | GotQuestions.org Why? Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! How Should We Celebrate the Birth of Christ. 4. The word "pact" also comes from it. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. The time of fulfillment has come! He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. Then out of the darkness we hear God speaking to call forth life and order. And the shepherds would not have come to the manger in the little town of Bethlehem if the angels had not conveyed their message. God has not forgotten. What Does the Bible Say About Celebration? Because man is at odds with God, there cannot be peace on earth. God gave Israel many celebrations in the Old Covenant such as the Feast of Booths, year of Jubilee, etc. If these four means of celebrating Christmas are new to you and if you are now desiring to put them into practice, I suggest that you begin not with the first verse, verse 17 of Luke 2, but with verses 18, 19, and 20. Come to Him now! cit. Can you do that? The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; His kingdom will never end" (Luke 1:30-33). 2023 BGEA In other words, the only ultimate essential for proclaiming the gospel is a knowledge of it. For there are many references to salvation as deliverance from disease (Matthew 9:21; Luke 6:19; 18:42; James 5:15), captivity (Philippians 1:13,19), or physical death (Mark 13:20; John 12:27; Hebrews 5:7). "Has God forgotten me?" You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. In other words, what they had been told coincided with their own experience, and they could not resist speaking of such things. But it does not mean that God has forgotten. And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. Q The verse quoted was translated from Latin to English by Frederick Oakeley, 1841. That is, men are not men of peace. There will always be wars and rumors of wars. V And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. - Sort By Book Order. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. But in changing the line, the editors of the hymnbooks have probably missed the main point of Wesley's thinking. But the writer of this epistle had a deeper insight into humanity. "O Come, All Ye Faithful" Words: John F. Wade, circa 1743. To me it is a farce! Had God forgotten His people? Have you recognized yourself as a sinner? And where are you from? He said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite, and my master left me behind because I fell sick three days ago. And, of course, this is the sense in which we glorify God. This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. Happiness is a wonderful thing at Christmas shopping, decorating, entertaining, mailing cards but it is the world's virtue, and like all the world's virtues, it quite easily passes away. It is an attempt to take what you know and then by an exercise of the mind to build upon it. Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. Now, just as the Bible speaks of peace with God so it also speaks about a peace of God, and this is quite different. Come to the wedding feast. But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning. We find peace by praying. It is a time where they remember the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. However, there is no evidence that Christmas was originally . I doubt if this was what he meant. For you see, Joseph was in a difficult position. But their amazement is fitting to Christmas - it's a sample of what Christmas amazement should be for those who understand the Christmas story. We see His grace. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. It teaches us that we will find this second rest when we take time to "figure out" the Lord Jesus Christ and attempt to walk in His way. 1. In other words, James is saying that war begins with men's emotions. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. Finally, when you have done these things and are truly qualified to speak, go back and tell others what you know. "The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told" (v. 20). Did they have joy? The hymn is Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, and the stanza to which I am referring is the second. Quite obviously, the fact that the world often celebrates the day in non-Christian ways is no excuse for Christians to either neglect or misuse it. And the herald proclaimed aloud, You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. W F And it is this in which we are to imitate them. Jesus fulfilled that promise when He died for your sin and rose again for your justification. The second concerns the salvation of men. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. But there is a second way also. Together these verses teach that men are not naturally at peace with God but that God has acted to make peace through the Lord Jesus Christ. But I imagine that the joy of this couple on this occasion was the greatest this world has ever seen. It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. You quarrel and fight. If we turn back to the earliest chapters of Genesis, we discover a description of the globe before God fashioned it into the kind of world we know now; and we are told that "the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." Our children's gift to us is their example of amazement which will lead us to recapture our own sense of amazement at the incarnation. Jesus Christ does not thus become some magical wand which causes all our troubles to disappear. Is there such a verse? They must learn to love Him and to serve Him more and more. For from him and through him and to him are all things. Not only did these men have something to tell, as we do, they also knew of a world that needed desperately to hear their message. Scripturally speaking, a Christian's celebrating a birthday is a non-issue. There are four main points to this short message: Each of these points is important, of course. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. of The development of Christmas was a kind of affirmation of God's interest in the world and in human lifebirth as well as death." He added this. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Each year when I read the Christmas story, I am impressed with the role that the angels play in it. James means that the lack of peace between men has its true source in men's emotions. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It comes from a verb which means "to reconcile" or "to bring back into harmony." Z. Do you do that? Well, later in His life He would speak of Himself in terms that spoke to precisely the world's condition. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. The appearance of Gabriel to Mary to announce the birth of Jesus. It is the way mentioned in the book of Philippians. If you have never done that, then this is a great season in which to believe on Him. He came to earth and became a man but kept fully the divine nature in Himself. To do this is to glorify Him, an act which is, as the Catechism states, one aspect of man's chief end. In the book of Philippians, Paul speaks of this peace when he says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. In 1872 an edition in 2 volumes was printed for private subscription by A.B. "He was born like us as well as died like us. Let Us Celebrate Jesus Christ's Death Not His Birth Colossians 2:16 Verse Concepts Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day Psalm 95:2 Verse Concepts Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. It is just that His plans do not run on our timetables. Proud member Unless our way of talking about salvation makes distinctions here, our interpretations inevitably fall short of the biblical conceptions. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. He leads me beside still waters. We cannot understand it but it is true, and we should marvel at it. Psalms 118:24 - This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. Love never ends. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. What, for instance, is the difference between that wholeness experienced by a member of the church in the course of a counseling session with his minister and the wholeness gained by an atheist as the result of his session with a reputable but non-Christian psychiatrist? Have you seen those things? Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? (Philadelphia: Evangelical Foundation), 1961, pages 12-13. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7). So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Why Do We Celebrate Jesus Birthday On Christmas | Hearinnh Also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toilthis is God's gift to man.