WORLDVIEW Gaining Perspective n

WHYCHRISTMASMATTERSIF CHRISTMAS IS TRUE, THEN ITMAKES ALLTHE DIFFERENCE

BY TIMOTHY J.KELLER

e sing it every year in ourChristmas carols, especiallyin "Hark! The Herald Angels

Sing" when we cry out: "Veiled in flesh,the Godhead see; hail the incarnate Deity."

The Apostles' Creed doesn't use it, butit teaches the doctrine of it when we read,"conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of theVirgin Mary."

Incarnation. If you understand theword incarnation, you'll understand whatChristmas is about.

Christmas is frankly doctrinal. Theinvisible has become visible, the incor-poreal has become corporeal. In otherwords, God has become human.

This is not only a specific doctrine,but it's also unique. Doctrine always

distinguishes you. One of the reasonswe're afraid to talk about doctrine isbecause it distinguishes us from others.

Here's why the doctrine of Christmasis unique. On one hand, you've got reli-gions that say God is so immanent inall things that incarnation is normal.If you're a Buddhist or Hindu, God isimmanent in everything. On the otherhand, religions like Islam and Judaismsay God is so transcendent over allthings that incarnation is impossible.

But Christianity is unique. It doesn'tsay incarnation is normal, but it doesn'tsay it's impossible. It says God is soimmanent that it is possible, but He isso transcendent that the incarnationof God in the person of Jesus Christ isa history-altering, life-transforming,paradigm-shattering event.

Christmas is not just frankly doctri-nal; it's also boldly historical. The man-ger, the resurrection, the story of Jesusis not just a story. It's true.

This goes completely against whatthe average person believes. The aver-age person says they're parables.They're legends. They didn't happen.

The point of Christmas is that JesusChrist really lived, and He really died.It happened in history. He did thesethings. He said these things.

You may think: What's the big deal?You're being doctrinaire here. No.People say: "I like the teachings ofJesus. I like the meaning of these sto-ries—to love one another, serve oneanother. I like that. But it doesn't mat-ter if these things really happened.Doctrine doesn't matter. What mattersis you're a good person."

The great irony is, that is a doctrine:it's called the doctrine of justificationby works. What they're saying is that itdoesn't matter that Jesus actually livedthe life we should have lived and diedthe death we should have died; all thatmatters is we follow His teaching.

That is a doctrine thatsays: "I'm not so bad I needsomeone to come and begood for me. I can be good.I'm not so cut off from Godand God is not so holy thatthere has to be punishmentfor sin."

The Gospel is not thatJesus Christ comes to earth,tells us how to live, we live agood life and then God owes

us blessing. The Gospel is that JesusChrist came to earth, lived the life weshould have lived and died the death weshould have died, so when we believein Him we live a life of grateful joy forHim. If these things didn't happen, ifthey're just parables, what you are say-ing is that if you try hard enough, Godwill accept you.

If Jesus didn't come, the story ofChristmas is one more moral para-digm to crush you. If Jesus didn't come,I wouldn't want to be anywhere aroundthese Christmas stories that say weneed to be sacrificing, we need to behumble, we need to be loving. All thatwill do is crush you into the ground,because if it isn't true that John sawHim, heard Him, felt Him, that Jesusreally came to do these things, thenChristmas is depressing.

First John 1:3 says, "Our fellowshipis with the Father and with his Son.""Fellowship" means that if Jesus Christhas come, if Christmas is true, thenwe've got a basis for a personal rela-tionship with God. God is no longera remote idea or just a force we cowerbefore, but we can know Him person-ally. He's become graspable.

If Jesus Christ is actually God comein the flesh, you're going to know muchmore about God. You're seeing Himweep. You're seeing Him upset. You'reseeing Him cast down. You're seeingHim exalted. If Jesus is who He says Heis, we have a 500-page autobiographyfrom God, in a sense. And our under-standing will be vastly more personaland specific than any philosophy orreligion could give us.

Look at what God has done to getyou to know Him personally. If the Sonwould come all this way to become a realperson to you, don't you think the HolySpirit will do anything in His power tomake Jesus a real person to you in yourheart? Christmas is an invitation to

know Christ personally.Christmas is an invita-tion by God to say: Lookwhat I've done to comenear to you. Now drawnear to me. I don't wantto be a concept; I want tobe a friend. O

TIMOTHY J.KELLER isthe pastor

of RedeemerPresbyterian

Church in NewYork City.

Adapted from a 1999sermon. Used bypermission. All rightsreserved.

247 RELEVANT NOV/DEC 11