The world has never been the same again since the first Christmas Day, the day when Jesus was born into our world in Bethlehem about 2011 years ago. (We know Jesus was born about 6BC because King Herod who had tried to kill the baby Jesus died in 4BC.)

Jesus’ coming changed people; he bought God’s light to people; Jesus caused God’s light to shine into people’s hearts – into the hearts of all who welcome and accept him.

Paul sums it up; ‘God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.’

Paul was speaking for all who have the experience of receiving Christ into their hearts. That’s the Christian message and the reality of the Christian’s experience. We have seen the light, the Christian can truthfully say ‘I was blind but now I see.’

In sending Jesus into our world God has done something every bit as profound as when at creation he said ‘Let there be light.’ Jesus is the light of the world. If we follow him we do not walk in darkness or ignorance; we have found the truth that can set us free.

Paul also talks about other differences that have resulted from Jesus’ coming. He says ‘we do not preach ourselves.’ A problem arose in our world at the fall. Mankind became cut off from God, and as a result people lived in ignorance about God. Yes, God did speak to individuals from time to time, we read of what God revealed of himself to the people of Israel in the Old Testament. But yet to a great extent God remained mysterious and unapproachable.

As a result, when anyone claimed to know what God was like, people were never quite sure whether to believe them or not. That’s why God’s prophets often had a hard time; people were sceptical about their message. It was often only with years of hindsight that the message of the prophets was accepted as being from God.

Then there were the false prophets; often individuals with an inflated idea of their own importance who proclaimed their own thoughts and ideas as being from God. But because of the coming of Jesus, Paul could say ‘we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord.’

Since the coming of Jesus, although there have been those who have tried to preach their own warped or oppressive version of Christianity, the world has had the true version of God as revealed in Jesus, born as a baby in Bethlehem; the light which can never be overcome by darkness. We can preach the good news of Jesus, we can tell our friends and neighbours about him, not because it’s our own idea, or any one else’s for that matter. We speak of Jesus because he is the Son of God who came into the world to bring us the good news of God’s love and grace.

The last thing we will think about, something from which we can find great encouragement from on this Christmas Day, is that Jesus came to make us part of God’s family. On your birthday you celebrate with your family and friends (providing they remember).

At Christmas we can all celebrate. Jesus came to make us all part of God’s family. Paul talks about it in terms of a new covenant. That may not be a familiar term to everyone, but family relationships are really a type of covenant relationship. Family relationships at their best are about being faithful and loyal, and never giving up on each other.

Jesus came to bring us into a relationship with God, a relationship in which we depend on God’s love for us, not just in this life but also for eternity. It is a relationship in which God makes all things ultimately work out for the good. It is a relationship in which Christ promises that he will never leave us or forsake us.

So we can say with Paul, ‘therefore we do not lose heart…’ Christmas can be a time of sadness and disappointment. It is well known as a time when families often fall out. But if we know the true meaning of Christmas, we need not lose heart. God has shown his love to us in giving us the greatest present of all. May you know Christ’s presence with you today, may his Spirit enable you not to lose heart, but know the reality of the hope and joy of Christmas.
 

Amen.

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