Something is missing - but Jesus brings that Christmas gift. Christmas Eve message.

Christmas has arrived.  But what is Christmas and why do we celebrate?

 

The clue is in the word – Christ/ mas.  It means to celebrate Christ  - and Christ is the Greek word for Messiah – both mean “the anointed one”.   We know who we are talking about…. Jesus, born about 2024 years ago.  We know how long ago, because people long ago decided that His birth was SO significant that we should mark time from that point.  So, they worked out when he was born and started counting… and now we are up to 2024 – nearly 2025. 

 

I’m sorry, but Christmas isn’t really about food, family and presents!  In fact, there was a time in history, when Christmas celebrations were banned.  People could go to church to mark the day, but no party was allowed, because people were getting out of control and forgetting the point of why they were celebrating.  We wouldn’t do that today, would we?

 

For some there will be sadness at this time.  Grief and sadness has been a part of our human experience almost since forever, but the message of Christmas is one of hope.  Because of Christmas, God has a plan for our future, and it is one that brings us eternal life and one where every tear will be wiped dry.  We are comforted by knowing that God loves us and is in control.

 

But why did Jesus have to come and save us?  Perhaps we can reflect on the baubles on the Christmas tree.  The baubles represent the ancient Christmas tree tradition of hanging fruit, and the fruit had two meanings; firstly, they were a sign of fruitfulness, and hope for the future, but they were also a reminder of the first fruit… You know...that one in the Garden of Eden!!!  Back at the beginning of time we were given a choice; trust God, or reject God and try to be our own God.  Guess what we chose?

 

Many artists have painted that first fruit as an apple, but all we really know is that it was forbidden.  The first people on earth disobeyed God and ate it.  When they ate the fruit, they died.  They didn’t look like they died.  They still talked and laughed, but something died inside… and every person that has been born since, has been born without that “thing.”

 

We don’t notice that something is missing in our lives, because you and I have never known any different, but once upon a time, humans (OR at least the first two of them) could easily hear God speaking.  They could speak with God and be in God’s presence.  When they disobeyed God and ate that forbidden fruit, that part inside that enabled them to be eternal and commune easily with God, died.  And every human born since then has not been eternal and struggled to hear God’s voice, or just didn’t try at all, unless God did something to particularly help – Which he often does, because God really and truly loves us.  However, God had a plan to solve the problem.

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At the beginning of time, when humans turned away from God our spirit died.  All who were born after that time, never knew what it was to have an alive Spirit – until Jesus came.  If we have a Goldfish that dies, we just buy another one.  Unfortunately, no mere human ever born was able to pay the price, to buy us a new spirit, but Jesus Christ was no mere human.  Jesus was born of God… in fact Jesus was God… and Jesus Is God!

 

Our creed says “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father.  God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through him all things were made.  For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary and became truly human”

 

That is a lot of words.  Have you ever pondered their meaning?  Jesus existed when the world was being made… in fact it was through him that the world WAS made.  Even one of our Christmas Carols, O Come all Ye faithful, has the lyrics, “True God of True God, light of light eternal….”

 

Christmas is the moment when God became visible.  Christ is Jesus…. God became human and fragile as a little baby, but he was born differently to all of us.  He still was born in the normal human way, with a human mother, but his only father is God.   Jesus is the son of God.  The New Testament in the Bible, describes Jesus as God’s first born son.

 

The Christmas Carol says the First Noel, the Angel did say, was to certain poor shepherd in fields as they lay.  Have you ever wondered what NOEL means?  If you look it up, it usually says that it is an old French word, meaning birth.  This is correct, but it isn’t until you ask someone who understands Hebrew – the language of the Old Testament, that we find out the full meaning – “the name Noel is a shortened form of Norad Elohim or Nolad Elohim meaning…  “Born of God!”  (https://noelinuae.medium.com/thou-shalt-call-his-name-jesus-they-shall-call-his-name-immanuel-704d89b27d0c )

Jesus was born the son of God.  This means that he was born spiritually alive.  That thing inside that we all were meant to have alive inside us – that thing that died when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit…, Jesus DID have that alive inside him. 

 

John the Baptist told the people that the Messiah (Jesus) would baptize us with the Holy Spirit.  Jesus would pay the price for our disobedience and then give us His HOLY SPIRIT.  Jesus could only pay the price for us, because he was born of God…. The first Noel… - The first born of God, and he brings us eternal spiritual life by giving us His Holy Spirit.   For us to be properly restored and once again be in proper communion with God we need to receive the gift that Jesus offers us.  He gives us His life and HIS Holy Spirit.  When he does this, that missing part in us, our spirit comes to life.  Jesus is God, and when we accept him, we are born of God too…. A second NOEL.   

 

At Christmas we give and receive gifts as a celebration of the birth of Christ – God made flesh, but really the only gift that matters is the gift that Jesus brings us.  Scripture tells us  (John 1:12-13)^“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—  children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”  

 

I don’t know about you, but the gift that Jesus gives us, to be born of God, sounds like the very best gift ever.  His Holy Spirit brings us to life spiritually, and each of us who accepts this gift is then BORN OF GOD.  NOEL.  ..And we are born into eternity!  It is Jesus’ birthday, but the best gift we could give him is to accept the gift that he offers us.

 

Let us pray- Jesus, son of God, we thank you for loving us so much that you were willing to become so very vulnerable.  We honour you as King and as Lord – even at your birth.  Lord Jesus, we thank you for your gift to us.  Send us your Holy Spirit.  Let your spirit overshadow each of us and bring us to life today.  Lord God, we turn to you and ask that we might also be born of God.  Noel.  Noel.  AMEN.