Consider Him — E.A. Johnston

I have a Christmas message for us today, friends, and it's not a traditional Christmas message, but it's a Christmas message just the same because it's about the person of Christmas, the Lord Jesus Christ.

I live next door to an atheist, and she will flat tell you to your face that she is an atheist and she has up her Christmas tree with presents all around it and you can see it from her window. And although she is an atheist, she's alright with your baby Jesus that you celebrate on Christmas.

The Baby Jesus Society Accepts

She has no problem with a nativity scene sitting on your front lawn. A little baby in a cradle isn't going to cause anyone any trouble. She has no problem with the baby Jesus. And society today, friends, has no problem with the baby Jesus, even though some militant atheists want to remove every nativity scene from every public place in this country, most folks have no problem with a baby Jesus that you can just put him alongside Santa Claus and Frosty the Snowman and the Christmas tree and he is alright.

He is just another addition to the celebration of this time of year whose focus is on gifts and giving. My Bible says of Jesus that he shall save his people from their sins. Now you start talking about a Savior who came to save his people from their sins, then you have to mention a bloody cross, and if you mention a bloody cross, then you have to speak of Jesus Christ in other terms than just a harmless little baby.

And if you do that, then you have a fight on your hands because society today hates the Lord Jesus Christ of the cross, and when Jesus was here in his earthly ministry, society in that day had a problem with him as well.

They hated him so much they crucified him, the Lord of Glory. And in my Bible, in the book of Psalms, in Psalm 96 .10, it reads, Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth, the world also shall be established, that it shall not be moved.

He shall judge the people righteously. But Psalm 96 .10 is a corrupted text. Most of the Latin fathers all agreed on this point, including St. Jerome, St. Augustine, and Tertullian. Justin Martyr stated that the Jews, out of hatred for Christ, altered the text because it prophesied the establishment of the Redeemer's kingdom by means of his suffering and death on a cross.

Christ Reigns from the Tree

So our modern versions read, say among the heathen, the Lord reigneth. But the original text reads in the Italica Antigua, which was in use during the first centuries of the church, Psalm 96 .10 read, say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth from the tree.

He reigns from a tree. There was a cross in Christmas, friends, because you cannot talk about just a peaceful little baby Jesus without declaring that he is a living Lord who reigns from a tree and that tree had his blood all over it because of sin.

My sins, your sins, are filthy, rotten, wretched sins. And you go around and talk up that kind of Jesus today, especially this time of year, and you have a fight on your hands because most folks only want to think about the little baby Jesus who wouldn't hurt a flea, much less than anyone to hell because of sin.

And most church folks today, as they go about their holiday planning and Christmas celebration, focus mainly on presents with pretty little bows and a green Christmas tree and Santa Claus. And Jesus is merely an addition to all the rest of this festive holiday season.

But if you start telling church folks that the Lord reigns from a tree, they'll have a problem with you because then you are touching a sore spot in their life. And that sore spot is their sin. Folks today have hewed out for themselves a God they are comfortable with.

The Comfortable God and the Helpless Savior

They've carved out a little God that will allow them to be active in a church and still actively sin on a regular basis because their God would never send anyone to hell. And that's the primary view of Jesus Christ this time of year.

He's just a little baby in a manger, helpless, kind, loving. He won't bother you, much less have any claims or rights on your life if you call yourself a follower of his. He's just a little helpless baby.

And we've turned him into a helpless savior who stands helplessly outside the door of your heart, hoping you will let him in because, baby, it's cold outside. Won't you let him in? The Jesus of Christmas today is a helpless little baby, even as a savior.

And this is so because our view of God is so opposite of what my Bible declares to be almighty. We have shrunken God down to our size today. We're smaller. We've put him on our level. And that's why you can sit in the sanctuary during a church service and sip on your latte.

Recovering Reverence for God

I was in a church recently, and the people sitting in the sanctuary kept sipping on their lattes throughout the entire service. One man was sitting two rows in front of me. He had a big-sized coffee mug, and he just kept on sipping and sipping on his latte throughout the entire time of preaching.

You see, we can do that today because we maintain a low view of God. We have no reverence for him, let alone fear him. I'll never forget when I was just a boy about 11 years old. I was in church, and a boy next to me was chewing on his gum while the church service was going on, and I rebuked him for not respecting God's house more.

He didn't like that I told him to take out his chewing gum and show respect for God. He wanted to punch me in the face, but he couldn't because adults were around. But back in those days, in the early 1960s, there was still a fear of God in the land.

We hadn't yet kicked God out of our public schools, and there was a reverence for the house of God. When you sat in a sanctuary, you had respect for God in those days, but not anymore. Now we just sit and sip on our lattes in the house of God like it's a playhouse, and we are watching a play because we think of Jesus only as the harmless little baby Jesus, and not the Jesus who declared, Away from me, I never knew you, because the Jesus of my Bible is the Lord who reigns from a tree, and that tree had His blood all over it because of sin.

Christmas Points to the Cross

The accursed tree which Jesus hung on is the true celebration of His birth, for He came into this world to save His people from their sins. That's the point of Christmas, the very reason for the birth of Christ, and our reason to celebrate His birth.

This is seen in Matthew's Gospel in chapter 1, and beginning in verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when as His mother Mary was a spouse to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost, then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make a public example, was minded to put her away privately.

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost, and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.

And that's the subject of my Christmas message today, friends. Not just a little babe in a manger the world is perfectly fine with, because everybody loves a little baby, but rather, say among the heathen, the Lord reigneth from a tree.

You see, friends, the cradle in which the little baby lay was made out of wood of a tree, and that cross on Calvary was made out of a tree, on which the Prince of Glory died, for the Lord reigneth from a tree.

Reconciliation through Christ's Death

That's the message of Christmas, that Jesus came down here so we can go up there. He opened a way to be reconciled back to a holy God, and it was opened through His death on that tree, and thou shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.

You remove that statement of the angel from our Bible, and you remove the reason for the celebration of Christmas. Jesus Christ is no addition to Santa Claus and holiday parties and a green Christmas tree with lights on it.

The only tree in the true meaning of Christmas is the one He died upon. But that's not a pretty Christmas tree. It's not a pleasant subject to even speak upon this time of year. Who wants to be reminded of their sins at Christmas time?

No one. It's just a time to open presents and eat good food and go to church and hear pleasant music and see some friends and feel good about ourselves. That's the Christmas spirit that the world searches for this time of year, a feel-good time.

But it didn't feel good in that barn that cold blistery night of the Savior's birth. There was no heat in that animal stable. There was no sweet Christmas aroma in the stall that night from holiday candles, only the verdant smell of animal sweat.

The Rejected Savior and the Loneliness of the Cross

There was no room at the end. And as Jesus grew into a man and entered His public ministry, there was no room for Him in the world, for the world crucified Him on a cursed tree. The Jewish religious leaders of His day rejected Him.

The crowds eventually walked away from Him because of His message. One of His disciples sold Him out for 30 pieces of silver. Another disciple denied knowing Him. The rest of the disciples all deserted Him.

And it was very lonely on that tree of a cross. It was so lonely that even the presence of the Almighty withdrew for a time, for the Father could not look upon sin. And Jesus felt that abiding presence as it turned away from Him, and it broke His heart.

The heart of God was broken that day as well because of sin. There was nothing pretty about the cross on which Christ died for sin. He died to save His people from their sins. That's the meaning of Christmas.

Christmas as God's Greatest Gift

Now you say I have my sermons mixed up for, that's an Easter message. And I have no business speaking of such an unpleasant subject this time of year, for this should be just a warm, pleasant time of gift-giving and good eating.

Listen friends, the greatest gift of man was when God sent His only beloved Son into this world to die on that cross so sinful man could be reconciled back to a holy God. That's the gift of Christmas.

That's what I'm celebrating this year. How Jesus saved me, a wretch like me, from my sins. It breaks my own heart to think about what He did on that cross for me. And it should break your heart as well, friend.

So as we go off to our parties, and as we open our presents, and enjoy ourselves this time of year, let us not fall into the world's trap of what the world says Christmas is, like my atheist neighbor and her Christmas tree.

She's celebrating Christmas. The world is fine with a little baby Jesus in a cradle of wood as a lawn ornament. To bring peace to the world. But we must remember as believers, that the world is not alright with the Jesus who reigns from a tree.

Considering Jesus This Christmas

But we must remember this time of year, because that's the Jesus of my Bible. In Hebrews chapter 12, in verses 2 and 3, it declares, Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Consider Him, friends. Consider Him this Christmas. Not the world's version of Christmas, with its Santas and frosty snowmen and green colorful Christmas trees with presents beneath that most of us don't even need.

Consider Him. Consider Him and His tree. For it is there where true peace is brought to sinful man. It is there where we too can have joy. The same joy that was set before Him, that enabled Him to endure the suffering on that tree of wood called Calvary, as the angel declared to Joseph.

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus. For He shall save His people from their sins. Consider Him this Christmas, friends. For when He came into this world, He came with a purpose, and that purpose was for you.

He considered you on that cross. That's why Jesus came into this world. Consider Him. Let us pray.