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Some simple gift suggestions for Christmas
Copyright 2012 by Bob Rogers
A lady didn’t have time to purchase gifts for her circle of friends, so she rushed to the store and bought a box of pretty Christmas cards, and mailed them without even reading the message inside. When she finally had time to relax on New Year’s, she picked up one of the unused cards and to her horror she read the message she had sent: “This Christmas card is just to say, a little gift is on the way!”
In all of our rushing around this Christmas season, let’s not forget the little gift, the baby Jesus, whom God sent to become the big gift for our eternal life. And let’s ask ourselves what gifts we are giving this Christmas. May I suggest a few?
The gift of time. Spend time doing things that matter– with your family, in worship, and in personal reflection.
The gift of love. Look people in the eye, give them a hug, truly listen to what they are saying. Show them they are important to you.
The gift of the gospel. Share the real meaning of Christmas with your Christmas decorations, using a nativity scene, a lighted cross, and so on. Ask a friend or co-worker, “What does Christmas mean to you?” and after they answer, tell them what it means to you.
The gift of money. Yes, money, but not like you may think. After all, it’s not your birthday or my birthday, it’s Jesus’ birthday. So why not spend at least as much money in honor of Jesus as we do on our own family members? Share generously with the missions offering to spread the gospel to those who have never heard. Share generously with people in need. And don’t forget your tithes to your own church, to continue the ministries that focus on the real reason for the season.
The gift of song. Christmas is a time for singing and rejoicing! Surround yourself with Christmas carols, and share it with everybody you meet. Go Christmas caroling in your neighborhood and share fresh-baked cookies with an invitation to our Christmas Eve service. This is one time of the year when the whole world likes to hear songs about Jesus, so spread the joy! Like the wise men who gave gold, frankincense and myrrh, what gifts can you and I bring Jesus?
The Colors of Christmas
(Copyright 2011 by Bob Rogers)
My family loves to ride around town and look at Christmas lights a few days before Christmas. Everybody enjoys seeing the colorful decorations this season of the year. At church, I see men wearing colorful ties, and ladies with colorful tops.
Although red and green are the primary colors of Christmas, with a little imagination we can see the Christmas story in every color.
GREEN. Green is the color of the fields where the shepherds watched their flocks by night (Luke 2:8). Green is also the color of evergreen trees that remind us of the “everlasting life” offered through the gift of God’s Son (John 3:16). Green reminds us of money, that we either spend wastefully, or use wisely to help those in need and support missions so that those who have never heard of Christ may know the real meaning of Christmas.
RED. Poinsettia plants are popular at Christmas, with their bright red leaves. Sadly, red can also symbolize spending more money than we have on gifts, and getting into debt! Red should remind us of the events of the Bible: the blood of the innocent children of Bethlehem slaughtered by King Herod in an evil attempt to stop the birth of Christ (Matthew 2:16-18), and the blood of Christ Himself shed for our salvation on the cross (1 Peter 1:18-19).
BROWN. The manger and the hay remind us of Jesus’ humility (Luke 2:7), whereas the myrrh, the most expensive of the gifts of the Magi (Matthew 2:11), remind us that he is for both rich and poor. So brown can remind us that Jesus came for all people.
YELLOW. Frankincense, one of the gifts of the Magi (Matthew 2:11), was a yellow incense used in prayer, a reminder to spend time in worship and meditation on the real meaning of Christmas, just as Mary “treasure these things in her heart” (Luke 2:19).
Yellow is also a symbol of cowardice, a warning to Christians not to miss this opportunity to share our faith at this time when the whole world is thinking about Christmas. We should be like the shepherds, who told everybody what they saw (Luke 2:17).
PURPLE. Purple is the color of royalty, reminding us of the Magi and of King Herod. While the Magi, or wise men, were probably not actually kings, it is likely that they served in the court of a king. What a contrast between the Magi and Herod! The former followed Jesus; the latter tried to kill Him. Purple can remind us of the choice every person must make to follow Jesus or not.
Purple also reminds us of Jesus Himself, who came the first time to save, but will come back to reign as “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16). Every person will one day bow the knee before Him as king (Philippians 2:10).
BLACK. Black points to the night sky where the angels appeared to the shepherds to announce the Messiah’s birth (Luke 2:8-9).
Black may also remind us of the depression many people suffer at Christmas, especially those who are alone and those who have suffered a loss of a loved one since last Christmas.
Black can also remind us of the darkness of our sin, if we are without a Savior (John 3:19).
WHITE. The star in the east, the angels in the sky, and the strips of cloth wrapped around the Christ child are all represented by the color white. White is also a symbol of our cleansing from sin through faith in Jesus (Isaiah 1:18).
GOLD. The gift of gold from the Magi reminds us that Christmas is a season of gift giving (Matthew 2:11), and that God has given us the greatest gift in Jesus.
Finally, gold points us to our future in heaven. If we walk by faith now, we will walk the streets of gold then (Revelation 21:21).
After I shared these “colors of Christmas” at my church in Georgia, a Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket fan got into a discussion with a Georgia Bulldog fan. The University of Georgia fan said I had his team colors of black and red. The Georgia Tech fan replied that I also mentioned his team colors of white and gold. The Bulldog fan replied, but what about your color blue?
Actually, Elvis Presley made “blue Christmas” famous with his song by that name, didn’t he? He sang about how “I’ll have a blue Christmas without you.” Yet blue is one color we want to avoid at Christmas. If someone decorates their home in every color of Christmas, but does not have Christ in their heart, they have a blue Christmas. Yes, Jesus, I’ll have a blue Christmas if it is without You!
The antidote for a blue Christmas is a green Christmas. If I have Jesus in my heart, it is evergreen with the promise of His eternal life.
So may your Christmas be colorful and bright, and especially full of green this Christmas night!
Is it Kings or Magi?
A couple of years ago, my late friend and dear deacon, Mark Callaway, called up to ask, “Brother Bob, is it Kings or Magi?” A lot of people ask that, so I’m repeating the answer I gave Mark that day:
Mark, it was magi. Although the popular Christmas carol says, “We Three Kings Orient Are,” Matthew 2:1 says “magi,” or “wise men,” came from the east, following the star to the newborn Christ child. The term “magi” comes from a Persian word for wise men who studied the stars. The association with kings comes from Messianic passages like Isaiah 60:3, 6: “Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your radiance…They will carry gold and frankincense and proclaim the praises of the Lord.”
By the way, although Matthew 2:11 lists three gifts, scripture does not explicitly say there were three magi. I still love the traditional carol. Somehow, “We half dozen wise men from Persia are,” just doesn’t flow as well.
Coffee, memory loss and Christmas
I was glad to read recently that drinking coffee can help your short-term memory loss. You see, I’m a forgetful, coffee-drinking preacher.
Having a bad memory is not good when you are a minister. When I was pastor of Union Baptist Church in Roxie, Mississippi, our treasurer had a car wreck. I went to see her, and before leaving, I offered to pray for her. As I began the prayer, I suddenly remembered that I had forgotten her name! The church only had about 35 people attend each Sunday, so it wasn’t like I had a lot of names to recall. Anyway, being the sophisticated young professional that I was, I blurted out, “What’s your name?” She told me with a sad voice it was “Jean,” and then I prayed aloud for God to heal Jean, and silently I prayed for God to get me out of there alive.
My pastor friend in New Orleans, Joe McKeever, tells how he was asked to visit a member’s sister in the hospital and pray for her. Forgetting her name, his prayer sounded strange: “Please bless this dear brother’s sister, Father.”
That reminds me of a forgetful moment I had when I lived in New Orleans. I was driving home from church. To my surprise, a New Orleans cop turned on his blue lights and pulled me over. As soon as I stopped, he got on his loudspeaker and announced loudly enough for the whole city to hear, “There’s a book on your car.” I got out, and saw that my black leather
Bible was sitting on the roof of the car, just above the driver’s seat. Apparently I left it there after church when I was talking to somebody. The Bible was open and its pages were in disarray, and the Sunday bulletin was gone, but at least my Bible didn’t fall off the car. It would be hard to explain to my Bible professor why I trampled the Word of God with my tires.
Red-faced, I retrieved the Bible, and the policeman smiled and drove away.
All of this reminds me (you see, the coffee-drinking is helping my memory already!) of how many people get forgetful at Christmas. Folks put up their holiday decorations and do their holiday shopping and send holiday cards with “Season’s Greetings,” and attend holiday parties and holiday parades. But they forget what the holiday is about.
This Christmas, don’t forget to Whom we pray. His name is Jesus. This Christmas, don’t forget the Book. It’s called the Bible, and it has good news for you, that a Savior, Christ the Lord, was born in Bethlehem. May I make a suggestion? This Christmas, before you open any presents, curl up with a hot cup of coffee, open the Good Book to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2, and read the story to your family. You may find yourself saying, “Ah, I remember.”
Why do Christians celebrate Christmas on December 25?
People often ask me why Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25. Actually, some Christians celebrate it on January 6, which I personally like because it’s my birthday. But I digress.
Nobody knows for certain how December 25 (and January 6) came to be the dates to celebrate Christmas. The most commonly accepted theory is that the dates were chosen, perhaps by Emperor Constantine, to divert attention from pagan holidays on the same days. Emperor Aurelian had established a winter solstice festival on December 25, A.D. 274, apparently dedicating a temple to the sun god on that date. The birthday of the Persian god Mithras, associated with light and truth, was on December 25. Egyptians celebrated the birthday of the god Aion on January 6.
Some writers believe the day was chosen because it was nine months after the month and day of Jesus’ death, and Christians wanted to celebrate his conception on the same date as his death. Why the difference in December 25 and January 6? In the East, the Jewish date of 14 Nisan, the date of Christ’s crucifixion, was thought to be on April 6, but in the West, it was thought to be on March 25. If this theory is correct, then the date may have been chosen without any connection to pagan celebrations.
One thing that is certain is that the earliest Christians did not celebrate Christmas as we know it today. The Gospels say nothing about the date of Christ’s birth. It seems unlikely the shepherds would be outdoors watching the flocks at night in the winter (Luke 2:8). In the year A.D. 243, the church father Cyprian theorized that Christ’s birth should be celebrated on March 28, the spring equinox, for “on that day on which the sun was made on the same day was Christ born.” The oldest reference to Christmas occurs in a Roman church calendar in A.D. 354. By A.D. 376, the Roman bishop was requiring churches to celebrate Jesus’ birth on December 25, but eventually Eastern Christians celebrated Christ’s birth on January 6, as many still do to this day.
Resting from the frantic pace of the Christmas race
Denis Waitley tells of a mother who took her 5-year-old son Christmas shopping at the mall. After many hours, the boy was worn out, so she took him to see Santa Claus, thinking that would help. He was pushed forward to sit in Santa’s lap.
Santa asked, “What would you like for Christmas?”
The boy said, “I would like to get down.”
Sometimes December gets so hectic we feel like that little boy. We want to get down. We want to rest from the frantic pace.
We need to learn from the shepherds, who left their flocks in the field and “came with haste” to see the Christ child (Luke 2:16). We need to learn from the wise men, who saw His star in the east and kept their focus on Christ and their goal to “come to worship Him” (Matthew 2:2).
So how can we set aside the distractions and keep our focus on Christ this Christmas? Let me encourage you have courage to say “No” to some things so that you will have time to say “Yes” to the best things: worship of Christ, sharing God’s love with others, and spending time with your family. If you don’t have enough time to go to church or relax with your family this month, then maybe it’s time to eliminate some unnecessary activities from your schedule.
If you don’t have enough money left to give to share the gospel of Jesus with those who have never heard or to share assistance with those less fortunate, then maybe it’s time to eliminate some presents you don’t need so you can give to those who do need to know Christ and His love.
This Christmas, let’s not let a Christ-less culture tell us how to celebrate the birth of Christ. Let’s say, “I would like to get down.”
Finding Christ in the Christmas tree
Copyright 2011 by Bob Rogers
On November 25
, 2011, the day after Thanksgiving, a horse-drawn carriage brought a 19-foot balsam fir Christmas tree, grown in Wisconsin, and delivered it to the White House, met by First Lady Michelle Obama and her girls. The tradition of bringing a Christmas tree to the White House goes back to 1866.
All over America and the world, people are putting up Christmas trees for the holiday. But what does this have to do with the birth of Jesus? Is it just a pagan practice, or can we find Christ in the Christmas tree?
The tree symbolized Israel (Isaiah 5; Ezekiel 17; Daniel 4:10-12)
In ancient Israel, a tree symbolized God’s people Israel. Isaiah 5 gives a parable of a vineyard that was planted but failed to produce good fruit, and so it is torn down. Isaiah says, “For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah, the plant He delighted in.” (Isaiah 5:7, HCSB).
Ezekiel 17 gives another parable comparing Israel to a tree, saying God will plant a sprig on a mountain. “I will plant it on Israel’s high mountain so that it may bear branches, produce fruit, and become a majestic cedar… Then all the trees of the field will know that I am Yahweh.”
Thus Psalm 1:3 speaks of the righteous man as like a tree planted by water, and in Matthew 3:10, John the Baptist says every tree that doesn’t produce is cut down.
Daniel 4 tells how God used a vision of a tree to warn King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to beware of his pride. He told about a tree that reached to the sky, but it was cut down, and Daniel said, “That tree is you, the king.” (Daniel 4:22).
So a tree often symbolized Israel, although it could also symbolize the life of others.
The Christmas tree symbolized life (Luke 23:31)
But what about the tradition of the Christmas tree? Where did it come from?
There are many different stories, since ancient peoples have made use of trees and even worshipped them. One of my favorite stories is of St. Boniface, the missionary to the Germans in the 8th century. Boniface told them about Jesus Christ, but they worshipped a great oak tree. So Boniface boldly went to the oak with an axe and began to chop it down. The Germans were ready to kill him, when a great wind came and blew the tree down. After that, the Germans converted to Christianity in large numbers.
Some legends tell that St. Boniface later decorated a fir tree to represent Jesus instead of their pagan gods. It is uncertain whether this is true.
The best historical records indicate that Christmas trees as we know them began in the 15th or 16th century in Latvia, Estonia and northern Germany, with a tradition of bringing an evergreen tree to the town square on Christmas Day, dancing around it, and letting it burn. Eventually, people in Germany began to light a tree on Christmas Eve with candles. The Christmas tree was unknown in colonial America, but Germans brought the Christmas tree tradition to America in the 19th century. The German word, Tannenbaum in the Christmas carol “O Tannenbaum,” is translated loosely in English as “Christmas tree,” but literally it means “fir tree,” referring to an evergreen tree used at Christmas.
And here we begin to see a connection to Christ. Notice what Jesus said in Luke 23:31 when He was being taken to the cross: “For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” The reference to the “wood is green” means when it is alive. An evergreen tree is still alive in the winter, which is why it is called “evergreen.” So the evergreen Christmas tree represents life, and eternal life.
Christ is symbolized by a tree of life (Isaiah 11:1-10) and a tree of death (1 Peter 2:24)
So if we stay with the symbolism of life in a tree, notice what we read in the prophecy of Isaiah 11: “Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from hjis roots will bear fruit… On that day the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples. The nations will seek Him, and His resting place will be glorious.” (Isaiah 11:1, 10, HCSB).
Jesse was the name of the father of King David, so this passage is referring to the Messiah who would be a descendant of David. Notice the description of the Messiah in verses 2 and following:
“The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him—
A Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
A Spirit of counsel and strength,
A Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord…”
From the beginning to the end of the Bible, we read of a tree of life. In the Garden of Eden, Genesis 2:9 speaks of a tree of life, and in Revelation 22:2 we read that in heaven, “The tree of life was on both sides of the river, bearing 12 kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations…”
Jesus is symbolized by this tree of life, for Christ gives us life. And how? Because he is also represented by a tree of death by his death on the cross!
Crucifixion was so horrible it was illegal to crucify a Roman citizen, and Jews saw it as a curse. Deuteronomy 21:23 says that anybody executed on a tree is cursed, and Galatians 3:13 repeats this. So when Jesus was nailed to the cross, which of course was made from a tree, the Jews thought He was cursed.
Yet look what we read in 1 Peter 2:24: “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness, for you have been healed by His wounds.”
Thus the tree of life became the tree of death so that by faith in Christ, we could enjoy life.
The best Christmas gift was not under a tree, but hung upon a tree, the tree of Calvary.
So you see, we can see Christ in the Christmas tree!
First United Methodist Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania created a “Carols in the Park” display with 21 trees, each representing a different Christmas carol, from “Hark the Herald Angels” to the “King of Kings.”
Why don’t we have our own traditions to see Christ in the Christmas tree? Perhaps you can take a nail, and place a ribbon around it, and hang it on your Christmas tree, as a reminder that the greatest gift hang upon a tree for you and me? Perhaps you can make a Christmon tree, filled with Christian symbols. There are many ways to find Christ in the Christmas tree, if we will only look.
Bob Rogers 