The Misunderstanding of Christmas

Transcript

JRS 57
12/15/2024
The Majesty of Christmas, Part 1: The Misunderstanding of Christmas
Selected Verses
Jesse Randolph

My guess is that if I asked you after church today what your favorite holiday was or is, for many of you, I think you would say “Christmas.” I’d also guess that, if I probed a bit deeper, and asked what some of your fondest Christmas memories and Christmas traditions were many of you would mention things like: spending time with family and going to Christmas Eve services at church and the smell of Christmas cookies in the oven and the sights and the smells of Christmas candles and the feel of Christmas pajamas on your skin and sipping hot chocolate, watching Christmas movies, listening to Christmas music, trimming the tree, hanging Christmas stockings, singing Christmas carols, opening Christmas gifts, those sorts of things.

In fact, doing some reading this week on Christmas and Christmas traditions, I found some interesting articles out there about how people reflect upon and think about Christmas. I’m going to read a couple of excerpts from two of those articles. And I’ll spare you the rest.
Here’s the first one. And these are people, by the way, I should have mentioned this, who claim to be Christians. This first one says: “The purpose of Christmas is to care for, share and give to people who do not have things. It’s a time to spend with family . . . It’s about opening presents and having fun, being with family and being out of school or at work. It’s a time to reflect on what is truly important in life. It is about showing gratitude and compassion. It is a time to make others happy.” That’s one. Here's the other one, also saying they are a Christian, “Christmas to me is a celebration, which includes spending time with my family, decorating the entire house, inside and out, and shopping for the people I love. Doing this with the people I love is what means the most to me. Spending Christmas with my family is very important to me . . . We spend the day baking cookies, making fudge and preparing a big Christmas dinner, with all the trimmings. The children love to see each other. They spend the day playing games and sharing their new gifts and toys that Santa Claus has brought for each of them.”

So, for each of those writers (you might have heard) Christmas is this experience that’s centered on family, on food, and gifts and games and decorations, on fudge and toys and Santa Claus. But you’ll note, that completely missing from either description is what? Remembrance of the celebration of the fact that Jesus, God’s own Son, left His glorious eternal abode with God the Father, entered into His own creation in the form of a servant, a slave, laid there as a baby in a manger, in the most humble of circumstances, on this mission ultimately to redeem and to rescue that which was lost.

We’re in the middle of this series, as you know, on the “Majesty of Christmas.” And the title of this morning’s sermon is “The Misunderstanding of Christmas.” Last Sunday, we looked at “The Mythology of Christmas,” as we explored these various wrong views of the events surrounding the birth of our Lord as they developed over the centuries through these several different extra-biblical writings, like the Gospel of James and the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew. This week, we’re going to get into “The Misunderstanding of Christmas.” And specifically, we’re going to look at a couple of very well-known traditions that have developed surrounding the Christmas holiday. And how to think about those traditions, but really all Christmas traditions in light of what the bible has actually revealed.

Now, I can assure you that what this sermon is, is not some sort of angry screed against Christmas and the Christmas holiday. I promise I’m not about to go on some anti-Christmas tirade. Not at all. I enjoy Christmas. I’ve always enjoyed Christmas. If I were asked that question, what’s my favorite holiday, I’d say Christmas. But as your pastor, what I want to do is bring the bible to bear on a topic that we need, which is how to navigate the traditions surrounding this specially set-apart season where we are called to celebrate and commemorate the birth of our Lord Jesus some 2,000 years ago.

Now, the roadmap we’re going to follow is pretty simple. It’s going to be very similar to last week’s sermon, in that the first half of the sermon is going to be largely loaded with history and the development of how these traditions started and how they morphed over the years. And then the second part of the sermon we’ll get into what the scriptures say and how to view those historical traditions biblically. So, point one, if you’re a note taker is “The Beginnings of Tradition.”
In this first heading, we’re going to trace through the history of how two specific, well-known Christmas traditions came to be and how they grew and how they developed over the years. And then our second point, if you’re note takers, is “The Bible on Tradition.” Specifically, what does the bible teach about tradition generally. And how are we to think about tradition, biblically speaking.

So, let’s start with that first one, “The Beginnings Of Tradition.” Now, both in our regular programming, our normal Sunday morning exposition through the Gospel of Luke, and in the Christmas series that we started last Sunday, we’ve already covered in several recent weeks a significant amount of the mythology, which has developed around the Christmas account over the centuries. And by that, I mean the mythology that’s developed based on an over-reading of . . . or a reading into . . . what the scriptures actually reveal. For instance, we’ve looked at the mythology already of this supposed idea that for Joseph and Mary there was no room for them in this so-called inn in Bethlehem. We’ve already looked at the mythology surrounding the idea that Mary, as the Roman Catholic Church would teach, perpetually remained a virgin even after Jesus’ birth. We’ve looked at the mythology of the supposed presence of cattle and oxen near the manger in which our Lord was lain. We’ve looked at the mythology surrounding the timing of the arrival of the Magi – the wise men. And whether those Magi were kings. Whether they were riding horses, or camels, or neither. Whether there were three of them or some other number. And then where we left off last time, was the mythology surrounding the supposed relevance of the date December 25th in connection with the Christmas holiday.

Now, today, we’re going to shift our focus slightly. See, last week, there was some sort of biblical connection. Some sort of biblical grounding for those myths that we explored. Most tied in, at least in some way, with the biblical birth account of Jesus, whether you find it in Luke 2 or Matthew 2.
Not today though. For the two traditions we’re going to be getting into today, there’s no mention of them anywhere in scripture. These traditions do have historical roots in Christian history, as history is developed over the centuries. But those roots don’t go all the way down into biblical soil. Those roots don’t go all the way down into the text of scripture. Rather, the traditions we’ll get into are purely man-made traditions. Which have made their way into countless homes, and countless Christmas celebrations.

Enough of the drama, right? What are the two traditions? I’m glad you asked.
One, (I can’t believe I’m going to say his name in church) Santa Claus.
Two, the Christmas tree. These are the two traditions we’re going to sort of drill down on and trace their historical development. And then come back to the scriptures and biblically evaluate what they are and how to think about them.

Let’s start with the traditionalism surrounding Santa Claus. “Oh boy,” some of you are thinking, “here goes the Grinch behind the pulpit seeking to suck all the joy out of Christmas. Tell us why Santa Claus is so bad. Sure, let’s do it.” No, I’m not, that’s actually not the approach I’m going to take this morning. Rather, we’re going to do some historical study. And then it’s going to be up to you, as a matter of your biblically informed consciences, and principles of Christian liberty and wisdom to decide what to do with the information I’m about to share.

So, Santa Claus. Now, indulge me, if you will, for just a moment. Sketch out in your mind that image of Santa Claus that we’ve all grown up with. That Coca-Cola version of Old Saint Nick. The one where he has the full white beard, and the rosy cheeks. And he’s got the red stocking cap and the rotund physique. You know the one I’m talking about, right? That’s the one that we’ve all grown up with. Department store Santa Claus.

How did we get him? Where did he come from? How did that image enter our cultural consciousness? Why are young children all over this city thinking that nine nights from now, suddenly Amazon Prime next-day delivery is not going to be the modern marvel that it actually is. And instead going to be overridden by this stout old man in a red suit hailing from the North Pole. Why are young children all over this city thinking that this old man is going to stop off here in Lincoln, Nebraska and land on their rooftop with his sleigh pulled by reindeer and somehow stuff himself down their chimney and distribute gifts underneath their Christmas tree? Where does that story come from? How does this story originate?

Well, it all traces back to an actual figure in church history, named Nicholas. Nicholas from the city of Myra. Myra was this commercial port town on the southern coast of Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. And Nicholas was born into this wealthy family, a wealthy Christian family, somewhere around the year 270 A.D. And after both of his parents died while he was still quite young, he dedicated the wealth they had left him, the estate they had left him, and all of his time and his services to the local church. And his time and his devotion did not go unnoticed. In fact, he was eventually appointed the bishop of this city of Myra. And, side note there, that word “bishop” is a word we see used throughout the scripture, to describe an overseer or a pastor. Meaning, Nicholas was the shepherd, the overseer, the pastor of this city of Myra. That’s how things were set up back then. So, some have called him (and I don’t think it’s an exaggeration) Pastor Nicholas, Pastor Nicholas of Myra.

Well, Nicholas’ allegiance to Christ and his service to the church came at a cost. Especially in the first half of his life. Christians were still being routinely persecuted by the Roman Empire. And Nicholas’ life, the first part of his life, overlapped with this Roman Emperor named Diocletian. Diocletian was a fierce opponent of Christianity. And Diocletian persecuted Christians aggressively. In fact, it the early 300’s Nicholas was imprisoned for several years, based on Diocletian’s edict, which prohibited sharing one’s faith in Jesus Christ.

Well, a major change then came when the Roman Empire changed leaders. And a man named Constantine rose to power. Constantine became the emperor of Rome in 306 A.D. He then made a profession of faith in Christ, Constantine did, in 312 A.D. And Constantine held himself out as the first Roman Emperor to be a Christian. Now, before his conversion to be a Christian in Rome, was a problem. Because the official state religion in Rome was paganism. But after his conversion in 312, not only was the practice of Christianity now allowed. But later, would become the official state religion of the Roman Empire.
Now, getting back to Nicholas. It was because of Constantine becoming the new emperor in Rome, it was because of Constantine’s conversion to Christianity, that Nicholas of Myra was eventually set free. He had been imprisoned by Diocletian. But he was set free under Constantine’s rule.

Now, here’s a really interesting, at least I think it’s interesting, connection point with Nicholas of Myra and the history of the development of church doctrine. Nicolas of Myra was in attendance at this major church event called the Council of Nicaea. “What’s the Council of Nicaea?” you ask. The Council of Nicaea was this early church council that was called in 325 A.D. to work through these matters of key Christian doctrines. Like the deity of Christ. And the Trinity. And to refute these heretical teachings that were being promoted by this man named Arius who denied the deity of Christ, and by extension, denied the doctrine of the Trinity.

And as the story goes… and this might go in the category of legend, it’s not all that well vouched for. At this Council of Nicaea, Arius the heretic is addressing the council, trying to promote his heretical views. And Nicholas of Myra, he gets angry. He stands up, he walks across the room to confront Arius, as he’s giving his heretical teaching, and he punches him in the face. Well, that was improper. That was not in keeping with decorum at the Council of Nicaea. So, he was actually imprisoned again, was Nicholas. And because he eventually expressed repentance and sought forgiveness, his sentence was short lived. The emperor, Constantine, granted him clemency. And then Nicholas returned to his duties of leading the church there in Myra.

So, how do we go from that guy. Nicholas of Myra, the heretic-punching pastor of this town in Asia Minor, to Kris Kringle on a Coke bottle?
Here’s how. Here’s how the legend grew and how the tradition developed. Over the course of his entire life, Nicholas of Myra was known as being a very generous person. He gave gifts to local children there in Asia Minor. There are records of this. He also loaded ships that were in port at Myra to send gifts from him all over the Mediterranean world. And what would happen as these sailors would disembark from Myra to go to other parts of the Mediterranean, they would take with them, not just Nicholas’ gifts, but these stories of Nicholas’ generosity. And these stories of his generosity followed him not only during his life, but eventually succeeded him past the point of his death. And the legend of his generosity grew and grew to the point of legend. So much so, that in churches which recognized sainthood, like the Roman Catholic Church later and the Eastern Orthodox Church later, they referred to him not merely as Bishop Nicholas, or Pastor Nicholas, or Nicholas of Myra, but as Saint Nicholas.

So, Nicholas of Myra, this generous, gift-giving local overseer from Asia Minor eventually became Saint Nicholas. And as the legend surrounding his life grew, and as those legends moved northward into Europe, in the centuries that followed after his death -- his name, through language, morphed and evolved. In the Netherlands, he became Sinterklaas which is a contraction of the two Dutch words for saint and Nicholas. And it’s from that Dutch name, that he fell into his modern English name, Santa Claus.
So, what does this have to do with Christmas? What does this have to do with the nativity scene? What does this have to do with December 25th? So far, nothing. See, Saint Nicholas was simply known as this generous gift-giver. And this local church pastor. And maybe this heresy fighter. It was actually only later, much later, in Germany that this tradition of exchanging gifts with each other in honor of Saint Nicholas arose. Now, pre-Protestant Reformation, we remember the Roman Catholic Church was the church that was in power. And the Roman Catholic Church was very much prominent in Germany, early Germany. And the Roman Catholic Church established this feast day, the Feast of Saint Nicholas, which was celebrated on December 6th, the anniversary of Nicholas’ death. And initially it was on December 6th that German Christians would exchange with each other gifts in honor of Saint Nicholas. If fact, they wouldn’t call them Christmas gifts back then, they were called ‘Nicholas gifts.’

That changed with the man, you know this name, the name Martin Luther, the great German reformer. Who did two things in connection with his broader efforts to pull away from the Roman Catholic Church and tradition and practice. First, Luther pushed for the exchange of gifts which were already taking place in December, to take place not on December 6th, but rather on Christmas Eve, December 24th. And second, and this gives us the “why” for his idea, he wanted gifts to be exchanged, Luther did, not only on a different date, but for a completely different purpose. To honor, to celebrate, to commemorate the coming of the Savior, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. He wanted gifts to be exchanged instead, to celebrate the incarnation, where the Son of God entered into His creation, born through the womb of a virgin in Bethlehem, rather than exchanging gifts to commemorate Saint Nicholas.

Well, Luther’s idea eventually caught on. Eventually gift giving was moved from December 6th to Christmas Eve, and then Christmas Day. But those ideas about Saint Nicholas, the teachings about Saint Nicholas, they didn’t just die with Luther. Rather in the Netherlands, even to this day, December 6th is known as the feast of Saint Nicholas. And here’s how it links to where we live today. When the Dutch immigrants came to the Americas, to the New World, they settled in New Amsterdam, what we now know as New York in the early 1600’s. They brought their version of Saint Nicholas, Sinterklaas, with them.

That’s how St. Nicholas made his way to American shores. Now, back then, he still had very much that eastern orthodox, Roman Catholic appearance to him. If you’ve ever seen those old images of the Roman Catholic saints or the Eastern Orthodox saints, they’re thin, and they’re gaunt, and they’re bearded. And they have a bible tucked under their arm. And they have their fingers pointed out like this [fingers pointed upwards]. That was the early image of Saint Nicholas, albeit in a red robe.

It wasn’t until the early 1800’s, some 200 years after the Dutch brought Sinterklaas from the Netherlands to the U.S., to the states (I guess it would be to the colonies back then) it wasn’t until the 1800’s that various American authors and artists completely repackaged Sinterklaas, Santa Claus, to be this jolly, overweight, elf-like, sleigh-riding figure. The one that we think of today. In fact, it was Thomas Nast, who was an American cartoonist in the late 1800’s, his cartoons were published in the magazine “Harper’s Weekly.” Through his art, Nast’s art, Saint Nicholas’ residence was relocated to this place called the North Pole. Where he apparently had a workshop for building toys. And he kept a large book filled with the names of children who were either naughty or nice.
Then you fast forward another 30-40 years, to the early 1920’s. And the Coca-Cola Company was looking for a new face for its image, for its material, for its drink. And they landed on Santa Claus. They wanted Santa Claus to be the face of Coca-Cola. And another artist named Haddon Sundblom was commissioned. And he gave us the full-color Coca-Cola ad version of Santa Claus that we’re used to today.

So that’s a bit about Santa Claus. That 1600-year path, from a bishop named Nicholas of Myra who lived in the early 300’s A.D. to a man who will allegedly be stuffing himself down chimneys across the world in about a week and a half. A man whose laugh apparently resembles a bowl full of jelly. And a man who keeps a list of all the good girls and boys. And a list of all the naughty girls and boys. And he scales the type of gift they receive on how good or how bad they were this year. And in doing so, feeds into their innate legalistic tendencies toward works-based righteousness (that’s just my take).

Enough about Santa. He has been given way too much airtime in a church of God on a Sunday morning. Let’s move into another Christmas tradition. That being the Christmas tree. Where did the Christmas tree come from?
Well, most would trace the origins of the Christmas tree back to Germany. Sometime in the 1400 to 1500. Where in Christian circles, evergreen trees had for some a specific symbolic meaning and significance. Namely, they represented the eternal life that was offered to those who put their faith in Jesus Christ. And so, what certain devout Christians in Germany would do, and this goes back 500+ years now, is they would bring evergreen trees from the nearby forest land and place them in their homes to celebrate and commemorate Christ’s birth.

Now, early on, when they brought in these trees they would put edible items on the branches to decorate. Apples, berries, nuts, those sorts of things. But later, and this again traces back to Luther, people began placing candles on the branches. And the story is, the legend is, one night Luther was walking home, it’s a cold winter December night, and he’s struck by the beauty of the stars penetrating and popping through the boughs of the evergreen trees in the forest on his walk. And, inspired by this whole scene, he decides to recreate it for his family. So, he brings in one of these trees into his family’s living room, decorates it with lit candles (total fire hazard) and it’s supposed to symbolize the stars that he had seen on his walk. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Well, that was Luther in Germany in the 1500’s. So, like Santa Claus, how did that Christmas tree tradition eventually make its way to American shores? Well, that history is complicated by the unique religious pedigree of those who came on the Mayflower in the first place, to America. We think of them as pilgrims, you know, funny hats and buckled shoes and the like, because of the pilgrimage they made across the Atlantic Ocean. On the European continent though, they were called the Puritans. A derisive title they were given because of their desire to purify the church.

And this group of Christians, the Puritans, they were not at all pleased with what Christmas celebrations looked like, even in their day. William Bradford was the deputy governor of Plymouth Colony and he wrote in his diary in the 1640’s that he wanted to do all in his power to root out all “pagan mockery” of the celebration of Christ’s birth. Puritan preachers preached against Christmas carols back then. They preached against Christmas decorations of any sort. They preached against the celebration of the holiday itself. In 1659, the Massachusetts Bay Colony issued a law which criminalized the observation of Christmas. A law that stood until 1681.
And then all the way until the mid-1800’s, in New England in particular, unless it fell on a Sunday . . . hear this now, kids in the room . . . schools were open on Christmas. Banks were open on Christmas. Government buildings were open on Christmas. Markets and shops were open on Christmas. And the idea behind all this anti-Christmas Day sentiment was that if God had wanted to dedicate a special day to celebrating Christ’s birth and if Christ’s birth really did occur on December 25th, well then, God would have told us to in the bible. And since He didn’t tell us that, well then, we shouldn’t celebrate Christmas. It's the sentiment of many of those early American states before the 1800’s that we see captured in the words of a pastor named Ezra Stiles. He would go on to become the president of Yale College. He wrote this on December 25, 1776, he said: “This day the nativity of our blessed Savior is celebrated throughout three quarters of Christendom . . . but the true day is unknown. On any day I can readily join with my fellow Christians in giving thanks to God for his unspeakable gift, and rejoice with them in the birth of a Savior . . . [if] it had been the will of Christ that the anniversary of his birth should have been celebrated, he would at least let us have known the day.”

So, all that to say, though Christmas trees go all the way back to the 1400 and 1500’s in Germany, they didn’t catch on quite as quickly here in the States, in light of the influence of the Puritan pilgrims who first made their way to American shores. In fact, the first record (I looked high and low for this, this week) the first record we have of a Christmas tree being displayed in an early American home actually, comes from the 1830’s, in light of German migration to Pennsylvania. It’s a record of a Christmas tree in Pennsylvania, through German immigrants.

Now, while we’re here, on the topic of Christmas trees, we have to spend at least some time addressing this argument that gets made every single December, this time of year, that there’s a specific passage in the Old Testament which supposedly forbids the display of Christmas trees. Turn with me in your bibles, if you would, to Jeremiah 10. This is about to mark the spot in the message where we’re going to do all bible now, ok? I know some of you were nervous. Like, when is this guy going to have us open our bibles? The rest of the sermon is a biblical evaluation now, ok?
But turn with me, if you would, to Jeremiah 10. And this is one of those passages, again, that people will say, this prohibits the Christmas tree. We can’t have Christmas trees in light of this passage. You can sense that I’m not really persuaded.
Jeremiah 10:1 says: “Hear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says Yahweh, ‘Do not learn the way of the nations, and do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens although the nations are terrified by them; for the statutes of the peoples are vanity because it is wood cut from the forest, the work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. They make it beautiful with silver and with gold; they strengthen it with nails and with hammers so that it will not totter. Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, and they cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot take a step! Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, nor can they do any good.’”

Now, I do understand why some would make that connection. They see some reference here to something being chopped down in a forest, which would be what? A tree. They see references to silver and gold. And they think “Aha! Ornaments.” But that would be a very classic case of what I rail on all the time from here. Which is that plague we see in modern American evangelicalism, where we read the bible backwards. Where we read it outside of its proper context. Where we anachronistically inject ourselves in our times, and our day, and our tradition, and our cultures, into Jeremiah’s time as the Holy Spirit moved him to write these words. This passage has nothing to do with Christmas trees, silver bells, or tinsel, or anything of the sort. No. In context, Jeremiah is writing about the wickedness of idolatry in his day. In which the wicked people, the people who had fallen away from the Lord, the people of Judah had fallen prey to the idolatry of the nations which surrounded them. And that included this practice of cutting down trees and then carving from those trees these worthless idols that they would worship. Rather than worshiping the one true God. The God who had delivered them from Egypt. And the God who had preserved them on the peninsula at Sinai. And the God who had delivered them into the Promised Land. This Jeremiah passage stems from a totally different context. It has nothing to do with our modern-day practice of putting a Douglas fir in our living room and stringing it with lights. It has nothing to do with going to Walmart, unboxing a fake tree and plugging it into the wall. We can put that to bed, that Jeremiah condemns the Christmas tree.

Well, there could be so much more mentioned about other traditions that have developed around the Christmas holiday over the years. Christmas carols. Christmas lights. Eggnog. Gingerbread. Mistletoe. Nutcrackers. Poinsettias. Stockings. The Yule logs. I just don’t have time to get into them all. We’ve teed up two of our better-known Christmas traditions. One of which developed around this person of a man named Nicholas of Myra, who later became Santa Claus. And those which developed around the Christmas tree.

Now, what I’d like us to do, for the rest of our time, is now put on our scripture spectacles. We’ve been doing a whole lot of historical work. As we’ve come to understand how these Christmas traditions came to be.
Now what we want to do, is filter all that I’ve just dumped on you, through the word of God. To help us think carefully, and critically, and clearly about why we do what we do. And whether we should do what we do. And if so, how we should do what we do. Are we carrying forward our Christmas traditions simply out of routine? Does our focus on tradition, our obsession with tradition, reveal that we’ve lost sight of the true meaning of Christmas? That we’re misunderstanding Christmas? Or do we desire to carry forward our Christmas traditions with an earnest desire to worship God and to glorify Christ? And to celebrate the reality of His coming into the world? That’s what we’re going to look at for this next part of the sermon.

That takes us to our second point. We just looked at “The Beginnings of Tradition,” now we want to explore “The Bible on Tradition.” That’s our second point, “The Bible on Tradition.” Let’s take some time to consider what the bible speaks to about tradition, and how we’re to think about tradition, biblically speaking.

We’re going to do this in total survey format, by the way. I’m not going to give you one passage and we’re going to exposit the whole thing. We’re going to do some jumping around now and get a full-orbed picture of what the bible teaches about tradition. Now, I do want to start by saying, that it’s important to note that the bible does not condemn all forms of tradition. We sometimes draw this artificial line in our minds. Where we assume that if it’s in God’s word, that’s from God. And that’s a true statement. It is. But tradition, on the other hand, we’ll think, well, that’s always man-made. So, we just naturally default to the idea, that if it’s tradition – bad.

But that’s a false dichotomy. Since there are certain traditions which come from God Himself. In fact, there are places in God’s word, where we see God, Himself giving His people traditions to follow. For instance, back in the Old Testament, going back, all the way to the book of Exodus. Passover is described this way in Exodus 12:42: “It is a night to be kept for Yahweh for having brought them out from the land of Egypt; this night is for Yahweh, to be kept by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.” So that’s a command from God’s word. And it’s creating a what? A tradition, namely this day of remembrance and reflection for the people of Israel, about God’s deliverance. Or then Exodus 16:32, the Israelites there are commanded to keep a small measure of the manna with which God had fed them and preserved them. Exodus 16:32, God there says: “it [is to] be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” Exodus 27:21 says, a lamp was to be kept burning outside the tabernacle. Why? To remember God’s presence. Exodus 30:16, we see that the priest’s offer of atonement for the sins of Israel was described as “a remembrance.” Leviticus 23:42, says the Feast of Booths was established according to these commands from God: “You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.” All of those are examples of traditions established by God, designed by God to help future generations of Israelites remember who He is and what He had done for them.

And when we get to the New Testament, we see something similar. We see Jesus, this mediator of the New Covenant, engaged in certain practices with were in keeping with Old Testament tradition. Luke 4:16 refers to Jesus entering the synagogue on the Sabbath. John 10:22 speaks of Jesus being in the temple on the Feast of the Dedication, also known as Hanukkah. Jesus observed the Feast of Booths, John 7. He ate the Passover, Luke 22:15. So, if Jesus who was sinless observed these traditions, namely, these traditional practices and feasts, then it follows that adhering to tradition, in and of itself, is not inherently sinful. It’s not inherently wrong.

Then there are the Lord’s chosen mouthpieces, men like the apostle Paul, who not only engaged in traditional practices -- here’s Paul, described in
Acts 20:16: “hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.” So, Paul was keeping a tradition. But also, we know that Paul, through his words, inspired as they were as an apostle, they delivered a form of tradition, namely his apostolic teaching, which was not only to be commended, but to be followed. For instance, Paul says this, 1 Corinthians 11:1, he says: “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you.”
And there’s this, 2 Thessalonians 2:14, Paul says: “It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.” Then this, 2 Thessalonians 3:6, Paul says: “Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who walks in an unruly manner and not according to the tradition which they received from us.” So, in each of those cases, whether Paul was commanding or exhorting to stand firm or even praising, he’s doing so on the basis of this tradition that was being held to by these Christian believers to whom he was writing. And the tradition, by the way, that Paul is referring to in each of those three passages, wasn’t anchored in man-made ideas or man-made practices. But instead, was anchored in the divinely-revealed teachings which Paul, an apostle, had himself given them. His teaching to them, was the tradition that they were to hold to.

So, tradition, in and of itself, can’t always be wrong. Since God, who does no wrong, who is morally perfect and pure, has decreed that certain traditions take place. Since Jesus, who is God in flesh, kept certain traditions and practices which God laid down for the people of Israel. And since Paul, who wrote on behalf of God, spoke of the importance of keeping certain traditions that line up with divine revelation.

So, tradition isn’t the problem. So, if tradition, in and of itself, isn’t the problem, what is the problem with tradition? Probably better stated, who is the problem surrounding the tradition? The problem is us. See, the human heart is really good at taking good things, good practices, good symbols, good traditions, and crafting them and twisting them into meaningless idols. The heart is “desperately wicked”, says Jeremiah in Jeremiah 17:9.
John Calvin, another reformer, says that the heart is an “idol factory.”
And what we’re really good at is taking something which God by His grace has given us for our good and then somehow mishandling it, and misshaping it, and manipulating it. So that, that new thing, whatever we’ve shaped, whatever we’ve formed, maybe not physically, but in our heart, that thing is now overriding our affections for God, Himself.

The bible term for this, of course, is idolatry. And God, who is a jealous God, Exodus 34:14, He hates it. He hates idolatry. Consider these words from Isaiah 29:13, where God gives His assessment of the people of Israel at this time. Who were still honoring God outwardly with their words and still practicing their religious practices outwardly. But look what He says about them. Isaiah 29:13: “this people draw near with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but they remove their hearts far from Me.” Your translation might have it: “but their hearts are far from Me.” Or in the book of Amos, specifically in Amos 5:21, God says this to a people who were complying on the outside. He says: “I hate, I reject your feasts, nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; and I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. Remove from Me the tumult of your songs; I will not even listen to the melody of your harps.” God hates cold, empty, idolatrous formalism.

Here’s a fascinating one, 2 Kings. Turn with me, over to the book of 2 Kings. And we’re going to look at 2 Kings 18, just real briefly. 2 Kings 18 tells the story of King Hezekiah, one of the few good kings in this period of divided kingdom. He was the king of Judah. 2 Kings 18, we’ll just pick it up in verse 1. The real meat of this is in verse 4. I’ll get us a running start with verse 1. It says: “Now it happened in the third year of Hoshea,” 2 Kings 18:1, “the son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah became king. He was twenty-five years old when he became king; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah. And he did what was right in the sight of Yahweh, according to all that David his father had done. He took away the high places and shattered the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah.” Good guy, now look at this, “And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel were burning incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan.” So, the context here is, remember back in Numbers 21, God commands Moses to craft this bronze serpent, to place it on a pole for Moses. And the people of Israel when they were bitten by one of those fiery serpents that God sent in their midst, if they looked upon that pole, that serpent placed atop the pole, they would be spared, they would live. Well, as we all tend to do over time, the Israelites, instead of taking what God had provided, the pole, the bronze serpent, and worshiping Him for it, they worshiped the object itself. They were burning incense to this pole. The tradition, the symbol which God had set up for them, became this object by Hezekiah’s time of flat-out wicked idolatry.

So, here in the Old Testament, we have these examples of these God-given traditions, whether feasts like in Amos, or bronze serpents like in 2 Kings, becoming these problematic sources of empty worship, and worse yet, idolatry. Well, when we get to the New Testament, and specifically in the Gospel accounts, the same issues continue. Specifically in our Lord Jesus’ ministry. Turn with me, if you would, over to Matthew 15. Now, there are a number of places we could go for Jesus’ confrontation of legalists over matters of tradition. But we’re going to go to Matthew 15, which is pretty well known, and quite thorough.

Now, a little of the background. Jesus here in Matthew 15, is going to confront these two groups, the Pharisees and the scribes. Who were these people? The Pharisees, their name means separated ones and that goes back to the fact that they originated as a sect of Judaism, at a time when Greek culture and influence, which was dominate all over the world at this time, was making its way into Judaistic religious practices. And the Pharisees, originally they were seeking to preserve Jewish purity, and Jewish religion from the Greek influence of the dominate forces of the day. So, actually you could say, in it’s beginning, Pharisaism started with a noble purpose, which was to preserve pure Jewish worship. But by the time you get to Jesus’ day, of course, this group had devolved into a group of self-righteous, legalistic, hypocritical formalists. Who were right at the center, we know, of the events surrounding the death of our Lord. That alone is a warning about where legalism and traditionalism can take you.

How about the scribes? Who are the scribes? Well, the scribes were the legal experts of the day. They had the Mosaic Law as their guide, the first five books of the Old Testament. And the Mosaic Law was full of moral principles, “thou shall not steal”, those sorts of things. But it also had these very detailed regulations and instructions for Israel, the people of Israel, to carry out. Well, the scribes, for them that wasn’t enough. They wanted more. They wanted to build on the Law. They wanted to explain the Law. They wanted to amplify what God had given them in the Law. And so, what they did, they issued thousands upon thousands of miniscule rules and regulations. Where they attempted to oversee and micromanage every single detail of the average Jewish person’s life.

And perhaps the most famous instance of this is here, at least in scripture, in Matthew 15. We’ll pick it up here in verse 1, it says: “Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, ‘Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.’” See, there was no blanket statement in the Mosaic Law which required handwashing for every Jewish person before eating bread. There were certain rules and regulations for the priestly class in the Law. But not for every common citizen in Israel. But apparently some tradition had developed that said just that. That handwashing was a requirement. Well, Jesus calls them out in verse 3, and He draws this distinction between what God has actually revealed, and man’s tradition. Verse 3: “And He answered and said to them, ‘Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?’”

Then in verses 4-6, He brings in another example of how the scribes and the Pharisees had elevated another man-made tradition over what God had actually revealed. And that tradition had to do with caring for one’s parents. There was this Law requirement, that in God’s actual revelation, that children care for their parents. That they honor their parents. And they provide for their parents. But there had been a tradition that had developed over time, which said, “No, you can say, ‘Corban.’” Which effectively means, no, it’s been given to God. Whatever I would have given you, Mom, or whatever I would have given you, Dad, has now been given to God. So, now I don’t have to provide for you. Because I devoted it to the Lord. Whether or not that’s provable that I actually did so. That’s the background here for verses 4-6. It says: “For God said,” this is Jesus speaking, “‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever you might benefit from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father. And by this,” says Jesus, “you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.” That’s the dagger statement. Jesus goes on to call them hypocrites. And He goes on to call them blind guides.

But right at the heart of this, for our purposes this morning is that statement in verse 6, “And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.” That was the issue. That was the problem. The Pharisees and the scribes had elevated their man-made traditions over the word of God.
The same statement is made in Mark 7:13 where Jesus says the Pharisees and scribes, that they were invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”
And it wasn’t just handwashing. And it wasn’t just these “Corban” statements, “it’s been given to God, mom and dad, I don’t need to take care of you now.” The Pharisees, the scribes acted this way. They elevated the tradition over God’s actual commands, when it came to things like how they spent their resources.
Here’s Matthew 23:23: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the Law.” This elevation of tradition also infected the ostentatious displays of piety the Pharisees displayed. Matthew 23:5: “they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.” This elevation of tradition over God’s actual written Law showed forth in their desire to be seen, to be respected. Matthew 23:6 says: “they love the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the marketplaces.” So, Jesus confronting the Pharisees and the scribes over their man-made traditions. And how they elevated those over the word of God.

And it goes on into Paul’s day many decades later. He writes to the Colossian church this, as the Colossian church is being pulled back in the direction of man-made traditions. Paul says this in Colossians 2:6: “Therefore as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and being built up in Him, and having been established in your faith – just as you were instructed – and abounding with thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, and not according to Christ.”
He's singling out this tendency in this Colossian context to follow the traditions of men over what’s already been revealed about Christ.

Galatians -- the Judaizers were a big problem in Galatia in Paul’s time. He wrote something similar to the Galatians. About that tendency to drift back in the direction of man-made traditions, to the detriment of the pure worship of the incarnate Christ. Here’s Galatians 4:7. You can turn with me, to Galatians 4:7. He says: “Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods.”
And then look at this language starting in verse 9. Galatians 4, where Paul was concerned the Galatians veering off into traditionalism.
Galatians 4:9: “But now, having known God, or rather having been known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you want to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you for nothing.” He’s speaking of drifting back into old Judaistic practices, but it highlights again, that tendency to want to go back to man-made traditions.

So what we’ve seen so far, I hope you’re tracking with me, piecing all of this together, is that tradition, in and of itself, is neither wrong nor bad. Tradition is delivered in certain instances by God Himself. Jesus Himself followed certain traditions. Paul, in various places we’ve seen, commended the following of the right type of tradition. The problem is not with tradition, per se. The problem, rather, as we’ve seen from these biblical examples, whether it be the Old Testament Israelites or the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, or Paul here writing to the Colossians or the Galatians -- the problem is what man does with tradition.

And that brings us full circle to our topic for this morning. Christmas. And the misunderstanding of the meaning and the purpose of Christmas. Which has developed through the rise of many man-made traditions over the years. We’ve only contemplated and barely scratched the surface of two of those traditions this morning. Santa Claus and the Christmas tree.
So, in light of the biblical principles that we’ve just looked at and the penchant that we know we all have to turn traditions into idols, what is our way forward? What decisions should we make about what Christmas traditions we ought to follow in our homes?

Well, I am not about to make those decisions for you. I’m not about to schedule an appointment to visit your home, and measure and expect and see what’s in your home, to celebrate the Christmas holiday. That is not my place. No. You need to make those decisions for you. And you need to make those decisions for you in a biblically-informed manner. I’m going to give you just a few principles to sort of grab on to, as we think about how to navigate traditionalism around Christmastime.

First, as we’ve just looked at, beware the danger for error within traditionalism. Unlike the Pharisees and the scribes who elevated their tradition above the word of God, we want our traditions to be ruled by God’s word. The scriptures are from God. And that means the scriptures are true. They match, they mirror the character of God. And if our traditions in any way conflict with what God’s word has revealed, well then, we have a problem. If we’ve a manger scene where Santa is suddenly kneeling at the foot of the Christ Child, well, we have a problem. Why? Because the bible tells us who was actually there at Jesus’ birth. And spoiler alert, it wasn’t Santa Claus. So, that’s one, beware the danger of error with traditionalism.

Here's another one. Beware the danger of pride associated with traditionalism. As we’ve seen in our study of scripture here. The advent of traditionalism can often breed a prideful, idolatrous heart. One that calls out others on the basis of their lack of compliance with your traditions.
“You put what in your eggnog?” “You allow your kids to stay how late on Christmas night?” “You have a real Christmas tree?” ‘You have a fake Christmas tree?” “You don’t have a Christmas tree?” “How dare you?”
I’ll just say, “Be careful.”

Third, beware the danger of hypocrisy associated with traditionalism. Isaiah called it out. Jesus called it out. These people honor me with their lips, through their Christmas carols. Through their opening of their Advent calendars. Through their setting up of their Jesse Trees. Through their attendance at the Christmas Eve service. But their hearts are far from me.
In other words, don’t let the warmth, the rhythm of the Christmas season and the traditions that you’ve developed in connection with the season, deceive you into thinking that that necessarily means that you are abiding in Christ, or keeping in step with the Spirit, or truly honoring and worshiping God.

Fourth, beware the temptation to think that celebrating the incarnation of Jesus is something we do only in December. What a tragedy that would be. To relegate the truth of the Word becoming flesh to maybe three weeks of the year where we see Christmas lights on houses in our neighborhood. No. The reality of Jesus coming into this earth as a babe, born in Bethlehem to bring about God’s plan of salvation and redemption, first for the Jews but also to Gentiles like us -- isn’t a truth that’s to be put on the shelf eleven months out of the year. No, it’s a glorious reality that’s to be celebrated all year long.

Fifth, tie your Christmas traditions to biblical truth about the birth of Jesus. So, if Santa Claus is still a part of your Christmas traditions, okay. But bring the story back to historical origins. Bring it back to Nicholas of Myra. And how that pastor’s generous gift giving traced back to the reality that God had gifted him salvation through the sending of His Son into the world. If you’re putting a Christmas tree up or if you’ve already put the Christmas tree up, think about that evergreen hope that we all have of eternal life, which was bought for and paid for, for every one of us. By the One who, before He was nailed to the cross first laid in the manger. There are countless ways that you could intentionally connect your Christmas traditions to the true meaning of Christmas.

Last, just remember this over-arching statement from 1 Corinthians 10:31: “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do,” I’ll add a little annotation there, including the Christmas traditions you celebrate, and the Christmas traditions you forego. And the verse ends how? “Do all to the glory of God.”

Can you say with a straight face and a clean conscience, that your Christmas traditions bring God glory? Great! If so, if your answer is yes, praise the Lord. Enjoy them. Celebrate them. Delight in them. Delight in the freedom we have in Christ. And glory in this delightful time of year that we’re celebrating right now. Delight in the wonderful holiday, the wonderful event this is, to celebrate the birth of Christ our Lord. Merry Christmas.

Let’s pray. Father, thank You so much for a chance to remember these truths. Especially in the second half of the message about what Your Word has revealed about tradition, some of the warnings about tradition, the cautions about tradition. I pray that we would be a people who are wise and discerning. That we would take every single tradition that we hold to, every practice we engage in, every thought we engage in, that we would take it captive to the word of Christ. God, I know that some of these truths are basic. I know that we have been popping all over, and looking at history, and looking at scattered scripture. But I do pray that we would again remember the true meaning of the season. Honor You in this season. As we remember Your great gift that You sent through Your Son in that manger in Bethlehem. And that the incarnation, again, would not be something that we think about only for a few weeks out of the year. But we would reflect on and praise You for, all year long. We give You thanks and praise for sending Your Son into the world on our behalf. May He be glorified and honored in our presence all year long. In Christ’s name. Amen