Text: Titus 2:11-14
Christmas is a wonderful time. There are many fond memories. We can remember the holiday traditions that we enjoy with our families. We have thoughts about the presents we have given or received. We may even think about our favorite Christmas carols from worship. Christmas is a wonderful time to sit and think about what is truly important. We take time out of our busy lives. We take some time just to meditate on the important truths of the Christ Child born so long ago at the manger in Bethlehem. As we meditate on a portion of God’s Word, let’s Think About the Meaning of Christmas. We’ll see that we are the reason that Christ came and he is the reason that we have life.
Part 1: We are the reason Christ came
As we think about the meaning of Christmas we have to ask the question “Why?” Why did Jesus come into the world? Why was he born in a manger at Bethlehem approximately 2000 years ago? Why did he leave his heavenly home to humble himself by becoming one of us? If we don’t understand why Jesus did these things, then we really would miss out on the wonderful meaning of Christmas. We have to go all the way back to the beginning for a moment. We glance at the Garden of Eden and see that when God made people, he originally made us without sin. Adam and Eve were perfect and they lived according to the will of God.
God’s will was that Adam and Eve would remain perfect. The standard of God’s law says, “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). If people would be able to live perfectly and obey all God’s commandments then we would live up to that expectation of holiness that God demands. If we were perfectly sinless then we would have eternal life in heaven with our God. For a time, Adam and Even lived up to this standard. They were perfect. Unfortunately they lost that perfection. They disobeyed God. They fell into sin. They were no longer holy. It was bad enough that they lost their own perfection. But that wasn’t all, they also lost perfection for all their descendants.
Adam and Eve passed their sinfulness on to all people. Listen to the testimony of God’s Word. King David writes, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). The Apostle Paul tells us, “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature” (Romans 7:18). We are born with sin. We are accountable before God because of this sin that we inherit from our parents. Because of this sinful nature inside of us, our hearts are inclined to carry out sinful thoughts, words, and actions. When we examine our lives according to God’s law we can list many times that we have sinned against God. Because of these sins, we deserve eternal suffering in hell.
When we understand that we are sinful, we begin to understand why Jesus had to come into the World. It really was our fault that he had to come. He came to do what we were unable to do. Our sermon text points to Christmas when it says, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men” (Titus 2:11). Jesus is the embodiment of the grace of God. Because of God’s great love for us, he became our brother. Jesus descended from his throne in heaven. He humbled himself to be born of a virgin. He did this in order to bring salvation to the World.
Beginning already at his birth, we have a Savior who perfectly obeyed God’s law for all the times that we failed to do so. Jesus was “tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). It certainly wasn’t enough for Jesus to live perfectly for us. He also had to take our eternal punishment upon himself. God’s justice demands that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Jesus suffered and died in our place. This tiny little innocent baby that we talk about tonight, grew up to be the man who was tortured and crucified in our place. He endured the agony of hell so that we would never have to. He suffered to bring us the peace of forgiveness and eternal life.
The prophet Isaiah painted this picture. He said, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2). Think about that contrast that Isaiah puts in front of us. Sin was the shadow of death over us. Sin had left us in darkness. Left to ourselves we could never see the way to be saved. Christ coming on Christmas is a shining light bursting forth into this world of darkness. The Holy Spirit revealed this light to us when he created faith in our hearts.
We can say along with Isaiah, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). We have received the wonderful gift of the child born in the manger. We have his wonderful comfort. He is our mighty God who has become our substitute. His great blessings give us incredible peace and we are here tonight to celebrate that peace.
The big danger for us now is the temptation to fall back into that darkness of the world. It is easier than we might think. Think about some of the temptations that are put in front of us in the world today. We are tempted to be very selfish. The Christmas holiday is a reminder of that. Think about presents. Sure we give presents to others, but how much time do we spend thinking about what we want to receive. This selfishness extends much farther than just Christmas presents. It encompasses our entire lives. How much time do we spend focused on ourselves? We think about our busy schedules and all the things that we want and desire.
Satan does a good job of convincing us that time spent in the Word of God is not something that fits with our lifestyle. Sure we have a full church on Christmas but it is not full every Sunday. Our selfish sinful natures set other priorities for our time. Our selfish sinful natures want us to think that we can serve Jesus in other ways besides coming to meditate upon his Word with fellow Christians. “We can live our faith on our own. We can do good to our neighbor. We can be nice people.” Our selfish nature wants to turn our back on the manger. Rather than seeing the grace of God in Jesus, our sinful nature wants us to go out and live in ways that do not glorify God.
The truth is simple – we still sin. Our sinful nature is trying to pull us back into the darkness. We still are the reason that Christ came on Christmas. We need to continually focus on him and see Jesus as the reason for our life.
Part 2: He is the reason we have life
Let’s now jump to the last verse of our text. Titus says that Jesus “gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good” (Titus 2:14). We need to return to the gospel comfort over and over again. We are beat up by our sinfulness. Either we have fallen into sinful arrogance on the one hand or we have been dragged into despair over our sins. We need to fall on our knees in repentance and look to our Savior who gave his life for us. He redeemed us. That means that he bought us back from the control of the devil.
Jesus claimed us as his own. We belong to our Savior. We are no longer slaves to our sinful nature. Rather we are people who want to serve Jesus. I can’t stress that enough. Because of what Jesus did for us, we truly do want to serve Jesus. That doesn’t mean that we are always going to carry out that service. We will still be tempted by sin and we will still fall at times. But then we repent over those sins and we desire to live for our Savior. Believers want to serve their Lord and Savior. Believers are so thankful for what our God has done for us that we want to serve him in every aspect of our lives.
Think about the Shepherds. These shepherds were tending their flocks when all of a sudden the angels appeared to them and announced the birth of the Savior. At first they were terrified by this incredible sight. Once they realized the impact of this message they were overjoyed. Their first reaction was to go and worship. They said, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about” (Luke 2:15).
They hurried off to find Jesus. We don’t hear about the visit but that must have been incredible. These shepherds got to see the Savior of the World. They were so overjoyed that they couldn’t help but share the message with others. Verses 17 and 18 say, “When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.” Could you imagine being one of those shepherds? They were actually able to see the baby Jesus. Simply Incredible!
Even though we don’t always display the same joy that we see in the shepherds, we do have that joy of faith. Every year we behold the baby Jesus through our eyes of faith. Titus reminds us that this gospel message “teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age” (Titus 2:12). Because of this grace that God has shown to us, we truly do want to say no to the sinful temptations that we face every day. We want to say no to the selfishness that still stirs in our hearts.
Only through the message of Christ can we live lives that are self-controlled, upright and godly. The message of the manger leads us to faith and it leads us to produce fruits of faith. We are so thankful for everything that our God has done for us. He saved us from our lost condition by sending Jesus. Now that little child is the reason that we want to serve God with our lives.
Conclusion
In our world today, it really can be difficult to take time to simply meditate on the importance of Christmas. It is difficult because of all the distractions. In today’s world most people are constantly in front of some electronic device. It could be a television, a computer or even new mobile phones. We are constantly bombarded with information and we are rarely alone with our thoughts. We need to make time to meditate on the importance of Christmas. Jesus came because we needed him to rescue us from all of our sins. Jesus came to earn us forgiveness and eternal life. Jesus gives us a life which wants to serve him. Take time to think about this wonderful gift. Christmas is all about what God has done for us. God has given us a Savior.