Why Christmas Should Never Have Happened

In the name of Jesus: Amen.

The story of Christmas is such a profound story.

We have just heard the story in our Christmas Eve Service.

We heard how the promise of Jesus was first given to Adam and Eve, back in the Garden of Eden. 

We heard how the promise of Jesus was prophesied through the Old Testament Prophets like Isaiah and Micah. 

And then we heard how Jesus was born of a Virgin and how the shepherds and angels rejoiced. 

Now, as amazing as all of this is, what is even more amazing is the fact that Christmas should never have happened.  Yes, you heard that right, Christmas should never have happened. 

But why? 

It is like this: the world does not deserve Christmas.  Yes, we do not deserve Christmas.  What we do deserve is the wrath of God for our sin.  A big chunk of dusty coal that is filled with wrath is what we should receive this day!

But this does not sound right to our modern ears, does it? 

We do not deserve Christmas! 

Really? 

Christmas should never have happened! 

What?  How can this be?

This sounds like something the Grinch or Ebenezer Scrooge would say. And besides, doesn’t this way of thinking go against the idea of tolerance?  After all, God is tolerant!  Is He not?  

O.k.!  Let’s assume for a moment that God is tolerant, especially since the word tolerance is such a popular cliché in our culture these days. 

So, if God is all tolerant, we should be deserving of Christmas, right?  Christmas happened because God was tolerant, right?

The answer to these questions is still ‘no.’  

You see, Christmas is not a result of God’s tolerance.

Dear friends, think about this for a moment, if God had gone the way of tolerance, He would not have sent Jesus to be born in Bethlehem.  But rather, if God were all tolerant, He would have left us in our sins. And if we are left in our sins, we are left in damnation. You see, this is how tolerance works.  Tolerance does nothing to fix a problem or mend a broken relationship.  It rather just puts up with the mess!

Think about what this pagan idea of tolerance does to the famous John 3:16 verse:

For God so tolerated the world that He did nothing for the world so that nobody could have everlasting life! 

So much for the way of tolerance!

Now, let us go back to the idea that Christmas should not have happened – that we are not deserving of Christmas. 

Dear friends, it is true that we are not deserving of Christmas; it should not have happened.  But it did. 

And why did Christmas happen when it should not have happened?  Why did Christmas happen when we are not deserving of Christmas?  It certainly was not God’s tolerance, but rather, it was His love. 

You, who have ears, hear this!  God so loved the world – this godless, evil, sinning world – that He gave His only begotten Son.  This world should have been rejected and punished, and perhaps ignored, but God in boundless love, sent Jesus.  God went farther than tolerance; He loved the world! 

And regarding the Son of God? 

Because of Jesus’ great love for you and me and His rich mercy, He could not tolerate sin. Indeed, Jesus could not tolerate your sin, so He was compelled to come for you.  He was compelled to be born into time and space and do something about your sin, which was His journey to the cross of Mt. Calvary where He would suffer wrath in our place, atoning for our sins.  

Christ Jesus had every reason not to come for you but still did.  There are a hundred reasons why you and I do not deserve Christmas, and yet Christ’s love for you trumps all of these reasons. 

And so, tonight we acknowledge that the coming and birth of Jesus should not have happened; however, we also rejoice this day that the Lord’s love is so great for us, that He still came.  Indeed, tonight we rejoice that His love was so great that He came to Bethlehem to eventually deliver Himself upon a cross for all, to make salvation possible. 

Baptized Saints, this day one thing is certain, and that is this, you and I are loved.  We know this love by the fact that Christ came for you and me.  We know this love in what we have heard from the Christmas story.  We know that we are loved for Christ came to redeem us as lost and condemned persons.  He came to purchase us from sin, death, and the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that you and I may be His own. 

Merry Christmas!  Indeed, Merry Christmas; you are loved. 

In the name of Jesus: Amen.  

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