Matthew 2:1

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem... (Matthew 2:1)

Why do we give gifts on December 25th — and how can the most commercialized holiday of the year become a way to honor Christ?

A Rare Christmas Sunday

It doesn't happen often that Christmas falls on a Sunday, and when it does there's often a question about whether the church will have services. As we approached this year, I assumed everyone does services on Christmas because that's what we've always done. So here we are on Christmas morning. When you're getting ready, you wonder who will show up, so I'm very thankful you're here. Merry Christmas, and thanks for coming.

Over the last five weeks leading up to today, we've been in a series called We Give, focusing on the center point of this holiday — that it's really about giving and receiving. Just before Thanksgiving we talked about giving thanks. Then we talked about giving comfort, giving mercy, and giving sacrificially as the Lord has given to us. Last week we talked about the thing that may be the most difficult for us to give: forgiveness. I wondered if anyone was challenged this week on a practical application of giving forgiveness — and someone did offer that up. We're challenged in that area all the time.

The Joy of Giving and Receiving

All of these messages lead up to Christmas because this is the holiday more than any other associated with giving and receiving. Maybe you've already exchanged some gifts, or you're planning to as soon as we dismiss. Every year there's a joy and anticipation in exchanging gifts. In my home, gifts have been laid out, wrapped and ready, and our kids — like I was as a kid — want to see whose box is for whom.

You know how it is when you're a kid, waking up on Christmas morning, unable to wait to open presents. This morning we went to wake our daughters, and Addison — who, like me, doesn't like mornings — said, "That was a really short sleep." But there's real joy in receiving a gift, and real joy in giving one. When you watch someone receive the thing you've been looking forward to giving, it brings you joy. When our oldest came down this morning, he found a longboard skateboard he was really excited about — and I'm hoping he doesn't end up with another cast on his arm.

Scientists tell us that joy is actually related to a hormone release in your body — oxytocin, serotonin, dopamine, and other things. But is that the only reason we give gifts? Jesus talks about the blessedness of giving.

Why December 25th?

I was thinking this week about why we give gifts on December 25th. In reality, much of it is simply our cultural tradition. If you lived in Holland, you might give gifts on December 5th. In Belgium or Germany you may begin on December 6th. In other parts of the world they give as late as January 6th. More than two billion people around the world celebrate a holiday during this time of year, reminded of the birth of Jesus. But in our culture, it's December 25th.

If you look at history, Christians have been celebrating the birth of Christ at this time of year going back to the third and fourth century. Many theologians have told us Jesus was not likely born in December. So why did that day get chosen? As Christianity spread through Europe, Christians wanted to impact, transform, and reform their culture. They looked at the big celebrations people were doing and tried to redeem them. One of these was a celebration surrounding the winter solstice.

Redeeming the Culture

Some will say, "Christmas is just connected to a pagan holiday." There's some truth in that, but it's important to understand why it happened that way. It wasn't that Christians were trying to be worldly. They were trying to transform and redeem their culture. They knew they couldn't receive the traditions of those pagan holidays, but they also understood that simply rejecting them wouldn't make them go away. So they decided to redeem it — and not just redeem it, but replace it.

For a number of years, as we'd decorate the sanctuary for Christmas, I'd get an anonymous letter chastising me and the leadership for celebrating Christmas, because "don't you know that's Saturnalia, a pagan holiday?" But here's the thing: in my lifetime, I've never met a person who celebrates Saturnalia. I know a lot of people who celebrate Christmas. Why? Because Christians for the last 1,600-plus years have essentially crushed Saturnalia with Christmas.

And many of the trappings of Christmas actually have no connection to paganism whatsoever. The decorated Christmas tree comes from the mid-1800s, when a duke in Germany was pictured with his family and a decorated tree, and people began doing the same. So much of what we celebrate today isn't rooted hundreds of years ago — it's actually pretty recent and modern.

The Wise Men and Their Gifts

But why do we give gifts as we celebrate? We give them in honor of the gifts that were given to Jesus when He was born. We find that story in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 2, verse 1.

It's amazing that these wise men from the East showed up in Jerusalem at the palace of the king and were given entrance. They had traveled for many miles following something they had seen in the stars, which they believed was directing them to the King of the Jews, the Messiah. They were ushered in to see King Herod, who was no doubt perplexed when he heard a King of the Jews had been born. We often see this illustrated with three wise men because of the three gifts, but it may have been a much larger group of ambassadors from the far East — probably from the region of Babylon, modern-day Iraq.

How did they know about this? Where did this tradition come from that caused them to leave their homes on a long journey with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh? It's very likely their understanding came from the prophet Daniel, who lived about 500 years before Jesus, during the time Israel had been taken as exiles into Babylon.

Herod and the Scripture

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.'"

When the wise men said the King of the Jews had been born, Herod, the chief priests, and the scribes understood they were speaking of the Messiah. They quoted Micah chapter 5, verse 2: He would be born in Bethlehem, just about eight miles from Jerusalem.

Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared... And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

Why do we give gifts this time of year? In honor of the gifts brought to the King of Kings.

What Christmas Has Become

I understand that Christmas as we know it — parties, cards, trees, lights, commercialized presents — is what Christmas is in our nation in 2016. It started in the mid-1800s, grew to grandeur in the 1950s, and that's what we've exported to other parts of the world.

A couple of years ago I watched a news spot on Christmas in China. Christmas has become really big there. People love the lights, the trees, Santa Claus, the whole deal, because they love American culture. But there's nothing in that connected to the Bible or to Christ. They have all the trees and lights — in fact, they export all that stuff to us. That's what Christmas has come to be known for.

Christians often look at this and get frustrated. We hear about the "culture war" — people upset that a store says "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas," or that nativity scenes are being taken down. And so there's a push among some Christians to just reject Christmas, reject all the commercializing, because it's not connected to what it's really supposed to be about.

Redeem, Don't Reject

But remember: 1,600 years ago, it was Christians who looked at a pagan culture and said, "We want to reach our culture. We can't receive all the trappings of these holidays, but if we reject it, it won't go away. So maybe we can redeem it." And that's exactly what they did — they not only redeemed it, they replaced it.

So as we look at what our culture is doing with Christmas, there's an opportunity for us to share the good news about what Jesus has done, who He is, and why He came. We can't receive all the traditions surrounding Christmas today, and rejecting it won't make it go away — but there is a way to redeem it. I want to encourage you in one of those ways: as you give and receive gifts, give those gifts in Jesus' name. Share with people that the reason you're giving is as an expression of what Jesus has done in your life.

Four Things a Gift Given in Jesus' Name Does

First, a gift given in Jesus' name honors Jesus. That's exactly what the wise men did. They came to honor and worship the Christ, bringing gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Much has been written about these gifts — how they point to Him as King of Kings, as Priest, and to His future death. But they came bringing gifts to honor and worship Him.

Second, a gift given in Jesus' name expresses love. That's exactly what God did in sending His Son, which we celebrate at Christmas. He may not have been born on December 25th — He might have been born on July 2nd, I don't know — but we know He came, and we know why. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." He came to express the love of God, and a gift given in His name expresses that same love.

Third, a gift given in Jesus' name extends grace. The very nature of a gift is grace. It isn't something given in return for something else. Hopefully you're not giving merely because you hope to receive something of equal or better value, or so you can return it to Target for a gift card the day after Christmas. We give a gift as an extension of grace — that's what Jesus came to do, to extend grace to us.

The Reward of Giving

Fourth and finally, a gift given in Jesus' name will be rewarded. This is a tough point, because I just said we don't give to receive. But there's a promise in Scripture that a simple gift given in Jesus' name will one day be rewarded. We find it at the end of Matthew's Gospel, in chapter 25.

"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory... And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'... And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'"

A gift given in Jesus' name will be rewarded as we one day stand before the Lord. So today, as you give gifts to friends, family, and loved ones, remember to give them in Jesus' name — sharing that the reason you give is an expression of the love and grace of God given to you. You don't have to tell them you're giving to receive a reward from the Lord; that's just an added benefit. But I encourage you to give in Jesus' name.

Closing Prayer

Father, we can't begin to thank You sufficiently for that which You have given and done for us. We thank You today for Your love — that You loved us with so great a love that You sent Your Son for us. Jesus, we thank You for Your love demonstrated in that while we were yet sinners, You died for us. We pray that that same love would be the very thing that fuels our giving — as we give thanks, comfort, mercy, sacrificially as You gave, forgiveness, and as we give gifts today. I pray that we would give in Your name, for Your honor, to show Your love, to demonstrate Your grace. And Lord, we trust, because of what You have done for us, that one day we will hear You say, "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your Lord." Pour out Your grace, Your Spirit, Your blessing, and Your joy upon Your church today, that those things would be clearly seen in us as we go to share with family and friends. Bless Your church, we pray. We ask this in Jesus' name. And all those that agreed said, Amen.