This message is primarily for those who call on the name of Jesus Christ as their own Lord and Savior from sin, and serve as a Chaplain or a gospel minister in a jail, prison or a follow-up ministry such as a rescue mission – in the United States.
All Scripture quotes are usually taken from the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Bible, copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. When quoting a text, any deviation from the NKJV text is placed within parenthesis signs (). These usually occur as direct translations from the original languages, or as notes from the original setting to help apply the text to today’s culture.
ALL CAPITAL LETTERS are sometimes used to emphasize words in a text, or to make a comment about a biblical text, or emphasize a statement.!
It’s the time of year we celebrate Christmas. I have been thinking that there really are three, not two, kinds of Christmas celebrations. Three different ways people have of looking at December 25th, and the season surrounding it.
FIRST, there is the totally secular Christmas, or what seems to sound better to those that worry about being politically acceptable, "The Holidays." This view of Christmas ignores Jesus and focuses on winter traditions, present getting and parties.
Some inmates, like a great part of American society, want to be part of this type of Christmas. They don’t know or care that the word Christmas has to do with the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the Christ. If free, they might enjoy decorating their homes with lights, but would deliberately avoid any display that might suggest Jesus.
This view of Christmas might even include those that state they are moderate followers of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism. Because they classify themselves as moderates (or if Jewish, "reformed") they are not threatened by their family or their religious center for taking part in the secular Christmas.
They ignore the word Christ in Christmas - and see the holiday as having very little to do with the biblical Jesus. Their interest and involvement centers of Santa, winter scenes, seasonal food and of course, presents.
Biblically they come under verses like Psalm 10:3-4.
3 For the wicked boasts of his heart’s desire; he blesses the greedy and renounces the LORD (this LORD is the God revealed in the Bible – the great covenant keeping "I Am")
4 The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts.
NEXT, there is the view of Christmas that only includes Jesus. I call it the religious Christmas. It acknowledges some things about Jesus, but it is not completely Christian or accurately biblical. Those that are part of this observance love to sing the great Christmas Carols, but they don’t seek to understand, or believe and obey the message of the songs they love to sing.
Recently I heard a man outside a store singing, "No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow, Far as the curse is found…" And then, with even more enthusiasm a few minutes later he sang, "Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nose…" That’s an example of what I’m saying.
The Jesus of this type, or view of Christmas, can be called, a plastic Jesus. Celebrators enjoy decorating their homes with lights and even displays that include Jesus, but for them the real Lord, Jesus - the Christ, is lost under the other trappings and decorations.
Not too many inmates go for this, but their families might. One good thing about inmate culture is that it doesn’t like hypocrisy of any type. Inmates generally despise "Posers."
Ezekiel 33:30-32 describes this type of observance of the truth of God. Note it.
30 "As for you, son of man, (here a reference to the prophet Ezekiel) the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses; and they speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, ‘Please come and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.’
31 So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. (They pose, and pretend in their own minds to be God’s people)
32 Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them.” (In other words, your messages are just entertainment to them, not something to act in obedience upon.)
The words of Jesus about the religious climate of first century Israel also apply. See them in Matt. 15:8 and Mark 7:6, where He quoted and applied Isaiah 29:13, to them.
"This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me."
In addition, the Religious CHRISTMAS likes to focus ONLY on the baby Jesus. That’s interesting. You see - as a fragile human baby boy, He can be sung about and admired, but He is not owned as Lord and Judge and Savior from sin.
Some may point to the shepherds’ adoration and worship in Luke 2, and then the Magi (the wise men) that came much later in Matthew 2.
But, you need to counter any idea of admiring and worshiping infancy for the tenderness of the scene alone, with the fact that these worshipers were not worshiping His infanthood. They worshiped Him rather because of WHO HE REALLY WAS, AND WHAT HE CAME TO DO! Even as a baby, He was still Lord and Creator and Savior!
Depictions of Him as a baby in the manger do not look powerful and threatening. The risen from the dead and glorified Lord as seen in Revelation 1:10-18, DOES! Somehow, in most people’s minds, the infant Jesus doesn’t HAVE TO be responded to in the way He commands, but the true biblical Jesus demands obedience!
That brings us to the third and final view of Christmas. It is the celebration of what the written word of God says about the eternal Word of God coming into the world as a human flesh and blood baby boy, who then grew up and proved He is Lord over everything – even over death. He conquered sin. This is THE TRUE, or BIBLICAL CHRISTMAS. The gospel IS the main part of the biblical Christmas.
This view is presented in the Gospel of John. This written Gospel record tells of the entrance into the world of Jesus the Christ in a deeper way. It is not that the other Gospels are less spiritual. They focus more on the real and deep humanity of Jesus. That’s why Matthew and Luke begin with Jesus as a newborn human baby, and Luke stresses the newborn Christ in the manger in a barn in Bethlehem.
In contrast to Matthew and Luke, the Apostle John presents Him as God through and through from the very outset of his gospel, even in his first verse. The prologue of John’s gospel is then ALSO a Christmas message. The birth of the Christ, in John’s gospel happens in 1:14a.
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,"
We know the one called "the Word" is Jesus because the end of verse 14 says the Word that became flesh was FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH, and then because verse 17 says - "grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."
In his introduction in John 1:1-18, John mentions Jesus by His names, His office and by pronouns that apply to Him, no less than 30 times! The biblical Christmas is ALL AND ONLY ABOUT JESUS! The other Christmases aren’t.
Here - in 18 verses, the Apostle stresses FIVE FACTS that relate to Jesus’ arrival on planet earth or, five biblical facts about Christmas. Note them and teach them to your inmates or residents this Christmas season.
1. Who came – verses 1-3
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
Who came? The One who always was the eternal God and Creator. He was uncreated, and He made everything else. His eternality is stressed by the wording of verse 1, "In the beginning WAS." Whenever the beginning was, He already WAS - THE ANCIENT OF DAYS! He is eternal.
2. What He brought – verses 4-9
4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend (margin - or, overcome) it.
The darkness doesn’t understand Jesus and though it tries to put Him out, it cannot!
Now verses 6-9 tell the reader of the ministry of the one who prepared the way before Him - as He (the Word) came into human society.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
We know from other gospels and verses 19-27 in this chapter, that this was John, the Baptizer.
7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness to the Light, that all through him might believe.
8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
What did the One John (the Baptist) spoke about bring? He brought light and eternal life. He brought these things into a world of spiritual darkness and death. Our world is the same today - especially in prisons or on the streets.
3. What He offers – verses 10-13
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, (a repeat of the message of verses 1-3) and the world did not know Him.
11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right (authority) to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.
13 Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but (born) of God.
What does He offer? He offers a new birth into God’s family to true believers. I use the present tense, because He is STILL offering this light and life through a new spiritual birth, from above.
4. How He came – verses 14-15
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 John bore witness of Him, and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred (here the tense and sense of this verb is – HE HAS TAKEN RANK ABOVE ME) before me, for He (always) was before me.’ "
How did He come? He came as a flesh and blood fulfillment of ALL the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testyament. The words translated "dwelt among us" can be translated "He temporarily pitched His tent among us." But again, as in verse 1, verse 15 stresses WHO He was and forever is! He is the eternal Highest One – God, THE Christ – Prophet, Priest and King. That is His true rank.
5. Why He came - This is the reason for true joy about His coming. Verses 16-18.
16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.
17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, (earlier manuscripts read the only begotten God) who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. (Truth)
Why did He come? He came to bring believers God’s grace as the perfect sacrifice for their sins (That’s grace, right?). He also came to reveal the ultimate truth of God.
Really, these last three verses of John’s introduction and Christmas story say it all. He came to enact God’s grace at the deepest level – dying as the sinner’s substitute and thereby making the one final acceptable and ONLY EFFECTIVE SACRIFICE TO GOD.
Actually all three of His Messianic offices are reflected in these 18 verses. His rank and Godhood show in fact He is LORD and Sovereign over all. His human name given Him at the very first Christmas, "Jesus," means Savior. His title "the Christ," "the Messiah," the Anointed One - mean He is all three - Prophet, Priest and King.
The order in which John’s gospel gives these offices of Christ are:
PROPHET – as God’s Final Communication and Explanation of Himself to man. He is THE WORD OF GOD. This is stated in verse 1 three times and again in verse 14, AND IS AGAIN ALLUDED TO in verse 18 where we read: "He (God the Son) has DECLARED (or it can be translated, fully explained) Him (God the Father)."
Then KING, as co-equal with God in verse 1 and again as we see His rank alluded to in verse 15, where the baptizer John literally said, "He who comes after me has been made (by Himself) to take rank over me," .
But lastly, in verses 16 and 17 His HIGH PRIESTLY office as Sacrifice Maker and Savior is brought out. Messiah is not only Prophet and King. He is also, PRIEST. A priest’s office was to offer sacrifice. Jesus offered Himself as the Perfect Sacrifice for sin. His earthly human name "Jesus," means Savior or Salvation.
This is further brought out in later in John 1, in verse 29.
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (This is the grace He brought)
Verse 30 then sums up again who He really is –
30 This is He of whom I said, (back in verse 15) ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred (from the verb meaning TO BECOME SOMETHING – HE HAS TAKEN RANK ABOVE ME) before me, for He was before me.’ …"
With that I want to close and challenge you to warn your listeners with are the words of Hebrews 2:3, "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation;".
Said another way – "How shall you or I escape IF WE NEGLECT SO GREAT A JESUS?"
This MUST be part of your Christmas message, because it is part of the biblical message of Christ’s entry into the world. This is the One presented in John’s Christmas story. This One, this Jesus, should be the focus of everything celebrated at Christmas.
Call people to reject the secular view of Christmas which omits Jesus. Also, call them to reject the religious Christmas that only includes Jesus in some of its celebration, but refuses to worship Him alone. Call them to believe in and worship Christ alone!
In eternity – ONLY HE MATTERS.
Rich Hines,
Aurora Ministries – Minister to Chaplains
