Christmas Eve: John 3:16

Today is Christmas Eve! We are celebrating this momentous, remarkable, amazing moment when Jesus was born. So incredible was this moment, that a star appeared in the sky marking where the baby lay. Angels appeared and sang to shepherds, telling them to go and see the Messiah. All the prophecies of old, foretelling about a promised Messiah, were being fulfilled. From this moment on, everything would be different.

Let us read the Christmas story as told in Luke 2:1-20 (CSB). It says:

“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole empire should be registered. This first registration took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So everyone went to be registered, each to his own town. Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David, to be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was pregnant. While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. Then she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. 8 In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.’

13 Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:

14 Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors!

15 When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.’

16 They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger. 17 After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told.”

As Linus said in the Charlie Brown Christmas special, “This is what Christmas is all about.”

I read a recent survey that said 90% of Americans celebrate Christmas. That percentage seemed really high to me, so I looked up what percentage of Americans identify as Christians, and according to multiple surveys, somewhere around 60% of American say they are Christian. But only 30% of Americans attend church, though. Yet, 90% of Americans celebrate Christmas. What are they celebrating if not Jesus’ birth? I suppose they see it as a cultural celebration, not as the birth of our Savior Jesus. In other words, they want the party, but they do not have faith.

To see this is true, all you need to do is look at people’s social media posts about Christmas. They talk about things like “Elf on the Shelf,” Santa Claus, cookie recipes or shopping. Very few people mention Jesus and His birth. Yet, Christ’s name is literally in the word Christmas, and that word means Mass of Christ. Jesus is clearly the “reason for the season” as the saying goes. To offset that, many people say, “Happy Holidays” instead of Merry Christmas. Yet even that is religious in nature, for it literally means happy holy days. Try as they might, there is no escaping from the real reason for Christmas.

On this past Sunday, I mentioned John 3:16, which tells us the real reason for Christmas. I want us to look closer at it today, so let’s read it again. John 3:16 (CSB) says, “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

This is the message of Christmas. Just as prophesied, the Messiah has come into the world. As Isaiah 60:1-2 says:

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord shines over you. For look, darkness will cover the earth, and total darkness the peoples; but the Lord will shine over you, and his glory will appear over you.”

We know that prophecy is about Jesus, for John 1:5 says that Jesus is this light foretold. It says, “That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.” And Jesus confirmed this when He said in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

Because of God’s great love, He has sent us Jesus, His only begotten Son, into the world to save the world! This is the greatest news that has ever been shared! Jesus became the light of the world, dispelling the darkness. Christmas declares: the light has come! Yet, most Americans who celebrate Christmas do not recognize this fact. They are still walking in darkness, happy to have the party, but they lack the faith to believe.

To compensate for this challenge, some pastors and theologians have decided we don’t need to worry about that. They say that God’s love for the world is so great that when Jesus came to earth and died and rose, that made is so all people will be saved. They read John 3:16 or 1 John 4:9-10 and think that means that God loves the whole world so much that all people have been granted salvation. Their reasoning goes something like this: If God loves the world, then surely all people will go to heaven.

It’s clear to me that John 3:16 means what it says: that everyone who believes in Jesus will not perish but have eternal life. But to make this point even clearer, let’s read the rest of John 3:16, including verses 17-18 to see what else Jesus said. He says, “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.”

Before I tell you my thoughts, look at what MacLaren has to say about this in his commentary. He says, “Some of us are disposed to say, ‘God so loved the world that every man might have eternal life.’ That is not what Christ said, ‘God so loved the world that’--and here follows the first condition--’He gave His Son that’--and here follows the second--’he that believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ God has done what it is needful for Him to do. His part of the conditions has been fulfilled. Fulfil yours--’He that believeth on Him.’ And if you can say, not He is the propitiation for our sin, but for my sin, then you will live and move and have your being in a heaven of love, and will love Him back again with an echo and reflection of His own, and nothing shall be able to separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

This is the key thing we must realize. God’s act of love of sending His only Son to earth was not a way of universally forgiving all people’s sins. We must individually respond to that act of love. We must have faith. It’s not enough to vaguely believe that Jesus died for all peoples’ sins and so forgave all. No, we must believe that Jesus died for our own individual sins. Scripture states even demons believe Jesus died on the cross, so mere belief isn’t enough. We must understand this: why did He die? If your answer is because the Jews or the Romans or the devil killed Him, then you’ve missed the point. The correct answer is: He died for my sins.

Do you believe that?

If Jesus’ death on the cross forgave all peoples’ sin, then nothing is required of any of us. Then universal salvation would make sense. But that’s not what Scripture says. It says, “everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” The potential is there for all to be saved, but we all must have faith. We, individually, have to respond to the love that God showed to the whole world by realizing that it is our individual sin that Jesus died on the cross for. If we believe that, then we will be saved.

If that is all it takes, why is it so difficult for everyone to believe? Why is it so difficult for people to realize that God loves them so much that He died for them? Do you think people are afraid to allow God to love them? In relationships with others, I know that is difficult for some people to do. They are afraid to let others love them. Letting others love you requires vulnerability on your part. It opens us up to becoming hurt.

It’s easier for some people to hold God’s love at a distance than to personalize His love and realize that He loves us individually. MacLaren writes, “Have you ever realised that when we say, ‘He loved the world,’ that really means, as far as each of us is concerned, He loves me? And just as the whole beams of the sun come pouring down into every eye of the crowd that is looking up to it, so the whole love of God pours down, not upon a multitude, an abstraction, a community, but upon every single soul that makes up that community. He loves us all because He loves us each. We shall never get all the good of that thought until we translate it, and lay it upon our hearts. It is all very well to say, ‘Ah yes! God is love,’ and it is all very well to say He loves ‘the world.’ But I will tell you what is a great deal better-to say-what Paul said-’Who loved me and gave Himself for me.’”

If I realize God loves me, then there needs to be a response on my part. What do I do with the information? Do I keep God at arm’s length still? Or do I accept His love for me and respond to what He has done for me on the cross by repenting and asking Him to forgive me? I think we do people a grave disservice if we tell them that God loves the world and leave it at that. Instead, we should say, “God loves you so much that He gave Himself for you. God loves you so much that He willingly died on the cross for you to forgive you of your sins.” That tells me we shouldn’t talk about Christmas without talking about the cross, for the cross is the reason Jesus came to earth. Jesus died on the cross so we can become children of God. He didn’t just come to earth, be born a human, and live a perfect life. He came to earth so He could die for our sins. He was born on this night- over 2,000 years ago- so He could be our Savior.

It is just as John the Baptist says when he saw Him, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” as John 1:29 records.

This is where the problem lies. The cross of Christ is a stumbling block to people, for at the cross we realize we are sinners who need forgiveness. We cannot talk about coming to faith in Jesus without addressing the problem of sin. Real faith in Jesus begins when we realize who Jesus is, and at the same time, realize how far we fall short of the holiness of God. We end up with a bunch of unconverted nominal Christians when all we say to them is, “Jesus loves you” without telling them why Jesus had to die on the cross. Paul says in Ephesians 2:8 that we are saved by grace through faith. But faith is not some nonspecific belief in a god who loves the world. Faith is a complex word.

I really like what MacLaren has to say about faith. He writes, “I sometimes wish we had never heard that word ‘faith.’ For as soon as we begin to talk about ‘faith,’ people begin to think that we are away up in some theological region far above everyday life. Suppose we try to bring it down a little nearer to our businesses and bosoms, and instead of using a word that is kept sacred for employment in religious matters, and saying ‘faith,’ [how about] we say ‘trust.’ That is what you give to your wives and husbands, is it not? And that is exactly what you have to give to Jesus Christ, simply to lay hold of Him as a man lays hold of the heart that loves him, and leans his whole weight upon it. Lean hard on Him, hang on Him, or, to take the other metaphor that is one of the Old Testament words for trust, ‘flee for refuge’ to Him.“

What MacLaren is so eloquently saying is that faith equals trust. This is in accurate definition, for trust is only proven by our actions. When we say we are saved by faith, I’m afraid that in the English language anyway, this word has lost its meaning. Faith has come to mean “beliefs.” We end up with people saying things like, “my beliefs, my personal truth, my opinion about God,”- nebulous, wishy-washy statements that lack conviction. Faith is the opposite of that. Faith is trust. It is being convinced. It’s belief in something or someone to the point that you trust it so much so that you act on that conviction. You “put your money where your mouth is” so to speak.

To be saved, we must have faith like that. We must actually believe that the reason Jesus came to earth, was born as a baby, suffered on the cross, died and rose again is because He is the only begotten Son of God, fully God and fully man; and He did this because my sins needed to be atoned for because I am a sinner who needs to be forgiven and washed clean of my sinfulness. Proof that we have faith is that our lives will be transformed. We will place our trust in Jesus and live like we believe it.  

It’s as MacLaren says about John 3:16, “Dear friend, what you have to do-and your soul’s salvation, and your peace and joy and nobleness in this life and in the next depend absolutely upon it-is simply to trust in Jesus Christ and His death for your sins.”

Again, it’s trusting in Jesus’ death for your sins. If we don’t do this, then we have missed not just the point of Christmas, but the whole point of life. We are celebrating at Christmas the fact that Jesus came to earth to be our Savior. Have you placed your trust in Him, or are you wanting the party without the faith?

God loved us so much that He sent His only begotten Son into this world, so that each of us who places our trust in Him could be saved. This is why Jesus became a baby and was born in a stable. This is why the star pointed the way to the manger where He lay. This is why the angel choir broke into song. This is why I love Christmastime so much. It is a month-long celebration of the proof of God’s love for us. People all around the world are celebrating the birthday of Jesus coming to earth and becoming one of us. Even the people who don’t even realize what they are celebrating are joining in the festivities. Rather than being upset that people don’t realize what Christmas is all about, maybe we should just rejoice that Jesus’ birth is being proclaimed, whether they like it or not, in every tree that is lit up, in every card that is sent, in every present that is exchanged. My prayer is that for those who don’t yet believe, each of those individuals will soon say, “Jesus came to earth for me.”

And for those of us who have placed our trust in Jesus, let us never stop telling the world the real meaning of Christmas: Christ the Savior is born!

Let us worship the Lord together by singing Silent Night, holding the candle that represents Jesus, the light of the world, coming to earth.

Pray:

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your love. Thank You that You loved the world enough to send us Your Son Jesus. Thank You for loving me. Thank You for forgiving me of my sins. I worship and praise You on this Christmas Eve, as I think about that night so long ago. What a truly wondrous gift You have given, to not just the whole world, but to me. Thank You. May You be glorified this night, and forevermore. In Jesus our Savior’s name we pray, amen.