2024 Christmas Eve Service
12/24/24 | Will DuVal
“You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why [*point*]
He's making a list
He's checking it twice
He's gonna find out who's naughty or nice
Santa Claus is coming to town
He sees you when you're sleeping
And he knows when you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake”
That’s the question that Santa always asks you, isn’t it, Kids? You sit on his lap and before there’s ANY discussion of presents, what does Santa ask you?
“Have you been a GOOD boy, a GOOD girl this year?”
And 100% of children, all around the world, will answer…?
YES!!
And according to polling, 81% of ADULTS believe they are basically “good” people.
This is the GOSPEL (the good news) according to SANTA: “Be GOOD, and you’ll get REWARDED.”
And ever since Santa eclipsedJesus in the wider culture as Christmas’s main character - I don’t know if you saw Nate Bargatze’sChristmas special last week on CBS, but they did a funny (but rather telling) sketch where the Angel Gabriel shows up at Jesus’ birth and tries to explain our modern Christmas traditions to Mary & Joseph… and they’re confused about SANTA, and what he has to do with the birth of son ofGOD, and at one point Mary asks, “Angel, how much of Christmas will be about SANTA, and how much is about JESUS?” and Gabriel replies “90-10 Santa” - and because of it, now MANY of us have come to CONFUSE the Gospel according to SANTA, with the Gospel according to JESUS. You ask them, “What is the good news of JESUS?” and many, maybe even MOST folks would answer: “Be a good person, and God will REWARD you.” They think JESUS is making a list, and HE knows if you’ve been bad or good, so just be GOOD for goodness sake. Isn’t that the gospel?
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And I want to take the next 8 minutes to try and convince you of 3 very simple, but very PROFOUND truths this Christmas:
First: that the Gospel according to Jesus is NOT the Gospel according to Santa.
Second: that the Gospel according to Jesus is BETTER (like, infinitely, ETERNALLY better!) than the Gospel according to Santa. And…
Third: that the Gospel according to Jesus is for YOU; this is news that MATTERS for YOU, personally, this evening.
So, first of all: JESUS’s Gospel is NOT Santa’s “gospel”.
Santa says: “Be GOOD.” Jesus says: “You’re NOT good.”
One time in the Bible this wealthy politician came to Jesus and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Lk 18:18).
And JESUS replied: “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” In other words, Jesus says, “I have a very different - a much HIGHER STANDARD of “GOOD” than the REST of y’all do. Only GOD is “good”.
But the man didn’t understand; he said, “Well, JESUS, I’ve kept the 10 COMMANDMENTS all my LIFE; I haven’t MURDERED anyone, committed ADULTERY, or theft…”
Now, Jesus had already explained that “If you’ve ever BLOWN UP at someone, in anger, then you’ve essentially committed murder in your HEART; if you’ve ever looked at a woman with LUST, you’ve committed ADULTERY in your heart. So this man should’ve known he wasn’t nearly as “GOOD” as he THOUGHT he was.
But Jesus said, “Okay, if you’re GOOD, then go SELL all that you have, and give the proceeds away to the POOR.”
See according to JESUS, being “GOOD” isn’t just about avoiding the BIG sins - murder, adultery, stealing… which you’ve violated in your HEART already ANYWAY - but sin isn’t just the BAD stuff we do that we SHOULDN’T; sin is ALSO the GOOD stuff that we SHOULD do but DON’T.
And the Bible says if you keep ALL of God’s commandments but break just ONE, you are GUILTY of SIN.
Jesus said, “Unless you are PERFECT, you cannot enter heaven” (Matt 5:20,48). Because heaven is a perfect place where a perfect GOD resides, and it’s reserved for not just good, but PERFECT people.
So we could poll the ROOM and ask, “How many of you are “GOOD” people?”, and 81% of you might raise your hands. But the better question is: “How many of you are good ENOUGH?” Good ENOUGH… deserving of HEAVEN? Perfection? GOD?!
Now you see why Jesus said, “Only GOD is good”, why the Bible says, “NO ONE is righteous; NONE of us are truly “GOOD”.” (Rom 3:10)
So whatever Jesus’ gospel IS, it CANNOT be the same as SANTA’S gospel - “Just be GOOD…”.
Secondly, though, let me tell you what JESUS’s gospel is, and why it’s so much better. Here it is:
“That even THOUGH you’re not good… you are a SINNER… who rightfully deserves a guilty verdict and sentence from a perfectly HOLY God… nevertheless, that God LOVED you SO much, that he sent his son JESUS into this world on that glorious Christmas morning 2,000 years ago, to live the truly GOOD life that you and I SHOULD live but so often FAIL to - only GOD is good, but Jesus WAS God, he IS God, and he lived a PERFECT life - but then he suffered and DIED a criminal’s death, sacrificially in our place on the cross - the Bible says Jesus took all of OUR sins upon HIMSELF, and paid the full penalty for sin on our behalf, and then he traded all of HIS righteousness, his GOOD-ness, his PERFECTION… to US! So that NOW, we might ACTUALLY be qualified for entrance to heaven, and for relationship with a holy GOD, not on our OWN merit, but on JESUS’s. And all we have to do to GET it - all we CAN do, to have ALL of our sins PAID for, and receive ALL of Jesus’s righteousness instead, as our own… is BELIEVE! Believe it’s TRUE - the gospel according to JESUS: Believe that you’re a sinner in need of a Savior, believe that Jesus IS that Savior, and then turn to follow HIM, and you will be SAVED!”
Don’t you see why JESUS’s gospel is so much BETTER than SANTA’s?! “Just be GOOD” – “HOW good?!” How good is good ENOUGH? If you take Santa’s gospel SERIOUSLY, friends, you will NEVER be able to REST; “He sees you when you’re sleeping”? - how could you SLEEP? How can you REST? There’s ALWAYS more “good” you could be doing… How can you ever KNOW that you’ve been good ENOUGH?
Jesus says, “You AREN’T; but take heart: I AM. I am GOOD - I’m the GOOD SHEPHERD, who laid down my LIFE for the sheep, for YOU. Come to ME,” Jesus welcomes us, “and I will give you rest for your soul.”
Friends, you can REST in JESUS’s goodness.
THAT is good news.
And thirdly, in closing, here’s why it’s good news for YOU, personally: the Bible says that there is at least ONE way in which God IS like Santa - GOD is making a list TOO. But UNLIKE Santa’s, God’s is not the “Naughty or Nice” list, because EVERYONE is on the “Naughty” list; “we have ALL sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God”. No, God’s list is called the “Lamb’s Book of LIFE”, and it is FILLED with the names of SINNERS - just like you and me, very IMPERFECT people - who nevertheless confessed their sin, and their need for a Savior, and trusted in JESUS CHRIST, the sinless Lamb of God who takes AWAY the sins of the WORLD, and who therefore RECEIVED Christ’s pardon for sin, and his perfect righteousness as their own.
“To all who received him, who believed in [him, in JESUS], he gave the right to become the children of God”.
And friend: you can have YOUR name written on God’s list - you can become a son, a daughter of GOD right here, right NOW - if you simply receive JESUS and his gift of salvation, as your own.
“Eternal LIFE is theirs who would receive Him;
With grace and peace, your life He will adorn.
So Fall on your knees! Receive the Gift of heaven!”
Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, can be YOUR Savior this Christmas, and for all eternity. Won’t you receive Him?