12/22/2017 - David Limbaugh Townhall.com
People often lament
that in our celebration of Christmas, we tend to lose sight of its true
meaning. Not to be a contrarian, but I don't think the two are mutually
exclusive.
At Christmastime, we
celebrate family, giving, tradition, friendship, community, love, goodwill and
so much else that is great and good about human existence. These sublime
experiences and institutions are wonderful precisely because our savior, in
whom goodness inheres, created them.
With proper godly
perspective, delighting in these glorious gifts actually enhances our focus on
God; it doesn't diminish it. Of course, we must discipline ourselves, if it
doesn't occur naturally, to give thanks to God and to consciously savor him and
his gift of life to us.
This time of year, we
celebrate Christ's incarnation -- his birth, his earthly example and his
miracles and teachings. We humbly bow at the Crucifixion, marvel at the
magisterial Resurrection and gratefully acknowledge our regeneration salvation
in him. We cherish that he is truth, the judge and the very giver of life.
Unlike the mythical god
of deism, our God did not create us and then callously abandon us to a
desperate state of sinfulness, misery and suffering. He is not only the Creator
but also the sustainer of the universe. The writer of Hebrews assures us,
"He upholds the universe by the word of His power." The Apostle Paul
proclaims, "He is before all things, and in Him all things hold
together."
Though God gave us the
freedom to sin and mankind subsequently fell, Christ became sin for us, thereby
conquering sin and death. He offers us redemption and eternal life in his
presence.
It is fitting that we
celebrate Christ's birth, because his redeeming work on our behalf -- his death
on the Cross and thus our salvation -- could not have been accomplished without
his incarnation. It is all part of a piece. If he had merely been in form a
human but in substance only God, his suffering, the Crucifixion and the
Resurrection would have been illusory.
Paul wrote to the
Philippians: "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ
Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a
thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,
being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled
himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
Jesus wasn't just the
greatest of all human prophets. He was fully God and fully man, a truth that
Christians believed from the beginning and that the Council of Chalcedon
formally affirmed in A.D. 451. "Therefore, following the holy fathers, we
all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God
and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance
with the Father as regards His Godhead, and at the same time of one substance
with us as regards His manhood."
Christianity's critics
sometimes question God's permitting human suffering, but the Cross, to
paraphrase the late Pastor John Stott, smashes those concerns to smithereens.
Christ understands our suffering and even our mundane problems because he
became one of us and experienced what we experience. "For we do not have a
high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in
every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15).
Christ suffered -- so
that we can live -- more pain than anyone who has ever existed. It was not only
his physical beatings and passion but also his excruciating separation from the
Father and his endurance of God's wrath for all of the past, present and future
sins of mankind. Moreover, God created us knowing at the time that Christ's
human birth and sacrificial death would be necessary. John tells us that Jesus
is "the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world." A
greater act of love is inconceivable.
Having become human and
suffering as a human being, Christ is an empathetic, personal God, who is
approachable to us and with whom we can have a personal relationship. "Let
us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive
mercy and find grace to help in the time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).
This Christmas, let's
celebrate the wonders of our existence as human beings created in God's image
and with the capacity for his love, which we must abundantly share with one
another. Let's draw near to his throne of grace, profusely thanking him for the
undeserved mercy he gave us and meditating on "whatever is true, whatever
is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever
is commendable" (Philippians 4:8).
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