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Family Ministry Moments - January 2025

Don’t Save It All for Christmas Day

I know Christmas is over but I’m still holding on to the Christmas spirit for as long as possible.  I figure that is the only way to stay sane during these cold months.  December is cold but at least we have Christmas to look forward to.  January and February can be miserable, so why not try to keep the spirit of Christmas alive! During the Christmas season, I love sitting by the fire surrounded by Christmas decorations and enjoying time with family and friends.  There is nothing better.  Christmas is also the time we celebrate the birth of Jesus.  For Christians, the season should be replete with special opportunities to celebrate our Savior.  I love that our family and church have special traditions that we observe designed to help us remember the real reason for the season.

When it's all over on December 26th it is normal to feel a letdown.  We have several weeks of cold and snowy weather ahead before we get to enjoy spring; but in those months, we don’t have to leave behind the true meaning of Christmas.  We can and should celebrate our Savior all year long!

In 2000, the Christian singing group, Avalon, came out with a Christmas album called Joy.  On it, they covered a track called “Don’t Save It All for Christmas Day”.  This song, originally recorded by Celine Deon in 1998, is a powerful reminder that the joy and love we experience at Christmas can live throughout the year. The song says, “Don’t save it all for Christmas day, find a way to give a little love every day,” to do this all you need to do is think about the things that make the Christmas season great and continue them throughout the year.  Here are three things we need to continue to do on December 26th and beyond:

1.     Personal and Corporate Worship

Christmas always draws me into a great time of worship, both personally and corporately with my church family.  Don’t let your worship time dwindle in the new year.  I know that life gets busy in this season, but you must prioritize worship.  Make sure to spend time in God’s Word and prayer at least 5 days a week.  Get a new devotional or start a new Bible reading plan.  Make sure to keep it a part of your daily routine.  When it comes to corporate worship, the biggest struggle is showing up.  Get out of that warm bed on Sunday and come to church to enjoy some warm fellowship.  Don’t let the busyness of kids' activities or other things keep you from worshipping with the family of God. There is no better way to keep the spirit of Christmas alive than to keep worshipping our Savior all year long!

2.     Fellowship

At Christmas time we experience great fellowship with family and friends.  We go to Christmas parties and spend time with loved ones. This is fellowship and it is an important part of a community.  We need to continue to get together and share
fellowship.  Make sure to spend time with your friends, family, life group, church family, etc.  It can be hard to schedule these times as life gets busy or the weather gets bad, but if you prioritize it you can make it work.  Don’t underestimate what spending time with others will do for your soul.  Sharing fellowship creates a spirit of love and joy among Christians.

3.     Serving

Finally, Christmas brings with it a spirit of generosity.  We tend to give money in this season, but we also love to give our time to serve others.  We look for ways to show love to others through serving.  Maybe it is baking cookies for a neighbor or helping someone put up their Christmas decorations or even just writing an encouraging note.  Why does this have to stop on December 26th?  We are called to spread the love of Jesus all year long by serving others.  Remain vigilant and look for opportunities to serve those around you.  People need help in January just as much as they did in December! If you do these things, you will keep the spirit of Christmas alive all year long.

“The Christmas spirit itself ought to be the mark of every Christian all year round.” 
J.I. Packer

Family Ministry Moments - December 2024

It is that time of the year when Christmas dominates our lives.  Each year it seems like the stores put out decorations earlier and earlier.  It also seems like people put out decorations in their homes earlier.  I know some that put up their trees as soon as Halloween is over.  I was always someone who liked to wait until after Thanksgiving.  This year my wife talked me into putting the tree up in the middle of November since Thanksgiving came so late in the month.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas, I am not a Grinch.  This year my heart has grown three sizes, and I have enjoyed having the decorations up earlier.  Christmas does bring a certain joy to life so who knows you might find me putting my tree up on November 1st next year. 

Christmas is special not just because of the decorations. The decorations physically mark the change in seasons, but Christmas is special because of Christ.  C.S. Lewis said in Mere Christianity, “The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God."  He was pointing out that the union of God and man established in Christ was unique.  I would argue that, more than anything, this is what makes Christmas special.

This union of man and God in Christ is referred to as the hypostatic union. Hypostasis is the Greek work for subsistence. This is important because it helps define the person of Christ.  This is best outlined in the definition that came out of the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451, which says in part, “...our Lord Jesus Christ. This same one is perfect in deity, and the same one is perfect in humanity; the same one is true God and true man, comprising a rational soul and a body. He is of the same essence as the Father according to his deity, and the same one is of the same essence with us according to his humanity, like us in all things except sin.”

You might be surprised to learn that the identity of Jesus was a hotly debated topic until it was settled in AD 451.  The view in the Chalcedonian Definition was one held by the apostles and early church fathers but as heretics infiltrated the church false doctrines were spread among the believers.  False teachers stated that Jesus was created by the Father and thus less than God the Father and not truly equal.  Others said Jesus had a human body but not a human mind, thus separating him into two parts. Still, others said that Jesus had two natures stuffed into one body.  These were just some of the heretical views about the identity of Jesus.

Now you might be reading this saying what is the big deal?  It seems like we are splitting hairs.  The problem with the heretical views is when they are played out in the person of Jesus it makes it impossible for Him to be our savior.  For Jesus to accomplish the work of salvation He had to be fully God and fully man.  Thus, the two natures of Jesus occur as one person or one subsistence.  This view supported by Scripture is the only way He could be the one to pay the penalty for sin. Jesus is unique in this way.  There is only one Lord and Savior of the universe.

This is what makes Christmas so special! Jesus didn’t just come as a cute little baby; He came as the fulfillment of all of God’s promises and the only hope of the world.  As Wayne Grudem says, “This is by far the most amazing miracle of the entire Bible- far more amazing than the resurrection and more amazing even than the creation of the universe.  The fact that the Infinite, omnipotent, eternal Son of God could become man and join himself to a human nature forever, so that infinite God becomes one person with finite man, will remain for eternity the most profound miracle and the most profound mystery in all the universe.”

So this Christmas don’t just celebrate the birth of Jesus, celebrate the amazing miracle that is the birth of Jesus! Our salvation, our hope, our everything depends on this amazing miracle.  Let’s remember to worship God this Christmas as the great miracle worker who saved us in this extraordinary way! Merry Christmas!

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21