What are the real roots of Christmas? I heard a great sermon by a Calvary Chapel pastor (Robert Furrow), and I thought I would share my takeaways. Most people celebrate a commercialized version of Christmas with excessive partying and movies that have nothing to do with the real Christmas story. Everyone knows the fake one and the infamous “you’ll shoot your eye out” line. The real Christmas story has nothing to do with Santa or people (other than the royal family) getting presents. I’m not going to address that type of Christmas because everyone knows it’s wrong. I’ll address what the Christian celebrates.
Christmas isn’t in the Bible but the nativity story is. We celebrate a lot of things that aren’t in the Bible like birthdays. We drive cars and watch TV and those aren’t in the Bible either. Does that mean we should not do those? Of course not!
There are festivals that are in the Bible- like the Feast of Tabernacles and Hanukkah (feast of dedication). We have freedom in Christ so we can celebrate things like anniversaries, birthdays, etc. So Christmas is a manmade holiday like Hanukkah is.
In Luke 2 it tells us the Christmas story. If you haven’t read it, it’s a wonderful account of Jesus’ birth. In John 10:22, it tells us that Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah.
Another argument that is made is Christmas trees are pagan. Some religious cults connect them to paganism. Seventh day adventists and Jehovah’s Witness are two cults that don’t have Christmas trees.
The Roman holiday Saturnalia is December 17-23, but the nativity celebration is not during that time.
Saturnalia was celebrated by going down the street singing songs naked. I’ve never seen naked Christmas carolers.
Jer 10:2-5 is the verse that people use to justify the doctrine of no Christmas trees. However, they made idols of the tree overlaying it with gold. Ever know someone who bows down to their Christmas tree? Ever been afraid of a Christmas tree?
Isaiah 44:9-10 and Isaiah 44:15-16 talk about pagan trees.
1600s-first brought Christmas trees into the house in Germany. The trees in Isaiah were tamuz trees. They were worshipping a false god.
Deut 12:31 tells us they were worshipping their god in a wrong way. It has nothing to do with decorating; they were throwing their children into a fire. Christmas doesn’t look like that.
Isaiah 9:6 tells us the Christmas story as a prophecy yet to be fulfilled. The Son will be called Mighty God!
Hebrews 1:5-talks about the supremacy of Christ. And in verse 6 it says to the angels to worship Him. In verses 7 and 8 God clearly calls the Son God. God calls the Son God. We should celebrate this!
God became flesh to show us the way and that should be celebrated!
Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift! 2 Cor 9:15
God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:17
If you don’t want to celebrate Christmas, don’t. But the other side shouldn’t be telling us that it is pagan. If we want want to celebrate the incarnation, we can. We have freedom in Christ. Don’t let anyone who is weaker tell you that you can’t celebrate Jesus’ birth.
Christmas is about God fulfilling the long awaited promise of a Savior. It’s about salvation and how God accomplished it
Following Jesus 