Christmas: A ‘H/U’ Celebration
Study Guide, December 15, 2024
Pastor Clay Olsen
So how about this? Christmas is a H/U celebration! How so? Well, before we get to that, think about this: Recently we were reminded of a particular identity that our God has given to His children, even though we don’t quite feel deserving of it. But that’s just the way our God is. And it is actually just the way our God has worked in our lives. He has worked it so that ‘who’ He has remade us into, in our relationship with Christ, is so much more than ‘what’ we have made of ourselves. And ‘what’ God has remade of us is that He has remade us into being His ‘Saints’… ‘Saints in Christ’… God’s ‘Set Apart Ones’. In our relationship with Christ, God remade us ‘Sinners’ into His ‘Saints’.
Again, that’s kind of a surprise to us, for we know that were are Sinners by nature and by practice, yet, now that we have been reborn in our spirit and united to Christ’s spirit and life, we are in fact, Saints…Saints, who unfortunately still tend to sin and need God’s forgiveness for our daily fellowship with God and our usefulness to God, but we truly are now children of God and ‘Saints’ by calling and conversion.
Well, here’s another surprising and additional title for your identity. Have you ever thought of yourself as a ‘Theologian’? You may be thinking, ‘Oh, that only applies to those who specialize in the study of Theology and have become proficient and accomplished in the understanding and the communication of Systematic Theology.” Well, yes, it certainly does, at that. However, Theology is simply the study of religious faith, practice, and experience…especially (and note this) the study of God and of God’s Word and of the relation God and His Word to this world.
Therefore, since you do study the Word of God, you do spend time in prayer with God, and in devotional reading of God’s Word…or, the study of Theology, in that sense, you really are a ‘Theologian!’ And as you do study the Word of God more and more, the more equipped you become at doing what God has instructed His children, His Theologians, to do: 2 Tim 2:15- “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” KJV
So add that to your ‘Resume’. Actually, the more that you think of your identity or identities in Biblical terms, the more those identities will then influence both your perception of yourself and the practices of your life. Remember, ‘who’ you are is even more important than ‘what’ you do, because ‘who’ you are will often determine ‘what’ you do.
Well, that was fun, right? But what does being a ‘Theologian’ have to do with Christmas? It has a whole lot to do with Christmas, because Christmas is all about ‘Theology!’ And Christmas is all about Theology because Christmas is all about the study of God! In fact, Christmas is a ‘H/U’ celebration. Oh yeah! It is the celebration of the Hypostatic Union of God! Hypostatic is from a Greek term that means ‘person’ or ‘subsistence’. So in connection with ‘union’ it means the ‘union of persons’. Christmas is all about the ‘union of Persons!’ That was the message of our Responsive Reading. John 1:1-4- “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men….14- “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” NASU
Christmas in unique in the heavens and the earth because this Hypostatic Union…this Union of Persons, is unique in the heavens and the earth because the divine Person of God/Christ united Himself with the human Person of Jesus, and forever became the one Person of Jesus Christ, who is both fully God and fully human. Christmas is the ‘Incarnation’ of God. It is just as the Apostle John said, ‘God became flesh.’ The Creator of the human body created a human body in which He would unite His Spirit and forever after be both, God and Man. Oh yes, wonder of wonders indeed! There is no greater wonder than the Hypostatic Union of Jesus Christ…the Incarnation of the Perfect God and Perfect Man. And since y’all are Theologians…southern Theologians…this area of study is also called Christology, the study of the Person and the works of Jesus Christ. And this is what you and I are all about – the worship and study and celebration of the Word who became flesh, full of grace and truth.
And that, of course, leads us to the ‘why’… ‘why’ did the Creator become one of His creations?! That’s what the writer of Hebrews explains in Heb 2:14-15- “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.” NASU And now, fellow Theologians, we are talking about ‘Soteriology’, or the study of the doctrine of Salvation. The only way for God to save any of us from this slavery of sin and death was to, in fact, become ‘one of us’ and become a ‘substitute’ for us…become someone who could take upon Himself the sentence of our sin, which was both physical and spiritual death, and thus fully satisfy the justice required to pay the penalty for our sins. That is why it is called ‘the Substitutionary Atonement’ of Jesus Christ.
The sinless life of Jesus qualified Him to be able to stand in for us…to take our place in our stead, or instead of us! No other human could ever do that, since every human has already been sentenced to physical death and spiritual separation from God because of their own sins. Only a ‘sinless human’ can redeem or purchase the freedom of another human who is guilty of sins. Think about it: What if a person is standing before a Judge, and he is guilty of a long list of crimes, which will call for the death penalty. And then, another person, who is also guilty of a long list of crimes, which also calls for the death penalty, says, “I’ll take his sentence for him.” “What?” The Judge would say, “You cannot take the place of another guilty person, since you have your own crimes to pay for, which will include your death.” All right…so that is clear. You can’t pay for someone else’s crimes until your own crimes are paid for. And since sins against God require an eternal sentence of spiritual death, eternal spiritual separation from God, that means the sentence has no end date.
But now, if a Person was not guilty of those crimes, then offered to take the guilt of another person upon themselves, and then if the Judge so approved, the guilty one would be set free from the sentencing of that guilt. They would be declared ‘not guilty’ and set free…or ‘Justified’…also ‘Redeemed’. Their freedom was purchased by the person who took their guilt and sentencing in their place as their ‘Substitute’…ie. ‘Savior’. And that is just what the Apostle Peter is explaining to us in 1 Peter 1:17-21- “If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” NASU
Plus, because of the divinity of Christ, or since Christ is also the source of all life and is Himself eternal, Jesus could then pay this eternal penalty of sins! He could ‘redeem’ everyone who would come to Christ in repentance and faith, because, as the God of all human spirits, Jesus Christ could share His spirit with every repentant sinner. Again, no human being can give his or her spirit to another. Only God, as the Eternal One, can do that!
So for you and me to better understand our salvation we need to picture ourselves, see ourselves, standing before God, the Judge of all the world, knowing that we are guilty of a long list of sins, which will include the death penalty of our spirit…eternal separation from God. But up steps Jesus Christ, and He says, I’ll take his or her sins and their eternal death penalty upon Myself and pay it all in full, so that they can be set free and be declared ‘Righteous’…right with God and be freed from the sentence of their sin…and also then live eternally.” That’s what Jesus did for you and for me. That’s why Jesus was born in a manger in a rock formation, in a Tower of the Flock near Bethlehem. That’s why there is a ‘Christmas’ for us to celebrate in the first place.
And when we do turn our life over to God in repentance and place our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior, God gives His life to our spirit, which was dead because of sin, and God unites our resurrected spirit to His Spirit, His eternal life, and we become eternal children of God’s. And now we are talking about the theological work called ‘Pneumatology’. Oh yes, Christmas is all about Pneumatology as well. It’s part of the Christmas story, remember? Luke 1:34-35- “Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.” NASU The virgin birth of Jesus is a centerpiece of the Christmas story. Again, the Incarnation required the union of Divinity and Humanity, and that was accomplished through the work of the Holy Spirit and the miracle of the virgin birth.
Pneumatology is a combination of two Greek words, ‘spirit’ and ‘word’. It is the study of the Person and works of God the Holy Spirit. It is God the Holy Spirit that convicts us of our need for Jesus, Savior of the world. The Apostle John reveals this in John 16:8-11- “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.” NASU And how liberating is that to know, as we are reminded that in our sharing God’s truths and God’s gospel with others, that we don’t have to worry about doing the convicting or pressuring for conviction because God the Holy Spirit is the One and only One who can convict a soul of their sins and of their need for God. We are only ‘carriers’ not ‘convictors’! (…kind of made that word up…but you get what we mean…)
And it is the work of the Holy Spirit that then spiritually births the one who turns to Christ and asks Jesus to be their personal Lord and Savior. John 3:5-6- “Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.” NLT
It is the work of the Holy Spirit to guide us, to counsel us, to comfort us, and to grow fruit in us. Gal 5:22-23- “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” NLT You talk about “All I want for Christmas”, right? These are nine of the best presents in life! And God the Holy Spirit is willing and able to grow these in and through your life, day by day, as you yield to the Lordship of Christ and let the Spirit of Christ be in charge of your mind, and body, and soul.
But then, there is something else that we celebrate at Christmas. For as we celebrate Jesus’ first advent, of His First Coming of Christmas, it calls for us to look forward to the celebration of Jesus’ second advent, His Second Coming. And now, us theologians here, are talking about Eschatology. And especially here at the Chapel, we love the study of what the Bible says is going to happen in the end times, and especially about the return of the Christ of Christmas…the Christ of our conversion…the Christ of all creation! We are all about what the Apostle Paul says we are to be all about in Titus 2:11-14- “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
NASU
Christmas is not only looking back at the manger, but also looking ahead to the Throne! The One who was born a king is also coming again to rule as the King of kings and Lord of lords. We are people of Eschatology. We are ‘eschatological’ people! (And that really is a word…so go for it.)
And next Sunday we are going to unwrap some other special presents and look into them, but we wanted to also give you these special presents as well, these ‘Theological presents’ for God’s Theologians…Christology, Soteriology, Pneumatology, and Eschatology. Plus, that’s just a whole lot of Christian and Christmas fun right there!