Machen: Thank God for the Christmas Season

In a sermon preached soon before his death in 1936, J. G. Machen explained how the Bible puts an “enormous emphasis” on the death of Christ.  He also noted how the Christian church places a great emphasis on Christ’s death – we “chiefly commemorate” the death of Christ because it is God’s wisdom and our salvation.  He continues,

“I do not mean that it is wrong for us to commemorate the birth of Jesus.  We have just celebrated Christmas, and it is right for us to do so.  Happy at this Christmas season through which we have just passed have been those to whom it has not been just a time of worldly festivity but a time of commemoration of the coming of our blessed Savior into the world.  Happy have been those men and women and little children who have heard, underlying all their Christmas joys, and have heard in simple and childlike faith, the sweet story that is told us in Matthew and Luke.  Happy have been those celebrants of Christmas to whom the angels have brought again, in the reading of the Word of God, their good tidings of great joy.”

“Yes, I say, thank God for the Christmas season; thank God for the softening it brings to stony hearts; thank God for the recognition that it brings for the little children whom Jesus took into His arms; thank God even for the strange, sweet sadness that it brings to us together with its joys, as we think of the loved ones who are gone.  Yes, it is well that we should celebrate the Christmas season, and may God ever give us a childlike heart that we may celebrate it aright” (p. 203).

Machen goes on to note once again that the Bible emphasizes Christ’s death, and that we commemorate and celebrate that event not just once a year, but every time we share the Lord’s Table.  “The birth of Jesus was important not in itself but because it made possible His death.  Jesus came into this world to die, and it is to His death that the sinner turns when He seeks salvation for his soul” (p. 204).  As the saying goes, the cross follows the cradle.  May we rejoice in both this Christmas season.

J. G. Machen, God Transcendent (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2002).

shane lems

Bishop Methodius (d. 312)

In my year-long trek through the Ante Nicene Fathers I have found some great treatises, homilies, and other writings.  One father that I recently finished reading is Methodius, bishop of Olympus and Patara and then Tyre until he was martyred in 312.  Though he learned much from Origen, Methodius was largely critical of him, as is evident in at least two of his extant treatises, On the Resurrection and On Things Created.  Here are a few excerpts from his Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna, found in vol. 6 of the ANF.

“…the aged Simeon [in Luke 2], putting off the weakness of the flesh, and putting on the strength of hope, in the face of the law hastened to receive the Minister of the law, the Teacher with authority, the God of Abraham, the Protector of Isaac, the Holy One of Israel, the Instructor of Moses….  Him who, in the midst of poverty was rich; Him who in infancy was before the ages; Him  who in comprehension was incomprehensible; Him who, though in littleness, yet surpassed all magnitude.”

Later, Methodius continues meditating on Simeon holding the child Jesus.

“With longing I expect Thee who, with Thy word, embraces all things.  I wait for Thee, the Lord of life and death.  For Thee I look, the Giver of the law, and the Successor of the law.  I hunger for Thee, who quickenest the dead; I thirst for Thee, who refreshest the weary; I desire Thee, the Creator and Redeemer of the world.  Thou art our God, and Thee we adore; Thou art our holy temple, and in Thee we pray; Thou art our Lawgiver, and Thee we obey.  Thou art God of all things the First.  Before Thee was no other god begotten of God the Father; neither after Thee shall there be any other son consubstantial and of one glory with the Father.  And to know Thee is perfect righteousness, and to know Thy power is the root of immortality. …For Thine is the glory, and the power, and the greatness, and the majesty, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever Amen.”

I’m always edified when these fathers exalt the majesty of Jesus like this.  It is evident that many of these early church leaders prized Christ above all things. 

shane lems

Luther’s Loud Advent Word

One can scarcely find better Advent homilies than those of Martin Luther.  Even in reading Christmas sermons by Luther you can feel his deep love for the gospel and his desire to make it known.  You can almost hear his voice ring off the walls of the Wittenburg stadtkirche.  Here are a few excerpts from several of his Advent sermons on Christmas Day, 1532.

“The angel said that Christ, born at Bethlehem, is not a terror-filled cause for sorrow, but great, comforting joy, for which a terrified heart wishes and yearns. …A troubled, sorrowful heart craves nothing more than peace and comfort, to know that it has a gracious God.  And this joy, whereby the sorrowful heart has rest and peace, is so great that all the world’s joy reeks in comparison.  For that reason poor consciences need to be preached to as the angel here preaches: ‘Hear me, one and all, who are miserable and sorrowful in heart, for I bring you a joyful tiding.  You must not imagine that Christ is angry with you.  For he did not come to earth and become man for that reason, that he might shove you into hell.  Much less was he crucified and died for that purpose; instead, he came that you might have great joy in him.”

“It behooves us…to welcome him [Christ] with gladness, as the angel here [Luke 2] says, ‘For unto you a Savior is born.’  Is it not a great wonder than an angel from heaven comes to bring this message to mankind, that many thousand angels thereupon also rejoice, urging and preaching to us people to rejoice and embrace this graciousness with thanksgiving?  We must write the words unto you with letters of fire into our hearts and welcome the Savior’s birth most gladly.”

“It is impossible for a human heart not to rejoice if indeed it believes that it has a Savior from sin, death, and all evil.”

“Before all else these angels [again - in Luke 2] want the world to know the precious Savior, Christ the Lord.  All wisdom in heaven and earth reaches its ultimate and eternal purpose in this child.  Here God draws near to us, and he is to be found no other way.”

“My trust, boast, and joy…will not be in money or skills, but in the dear child lying at the Virgin’s bosom, my Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son.”

In reading these sermons we get the impression that Luther was captivated by the Christmas story.  On the one hand he couldn’t find the words to preach about the greatness of the incarnation and on the other hand he couldn’t find enough words to do so!

[Above quotes taken from volume 5 of The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther (Grand Rapids, Baker, 2000).

shane lems

sunnyside wa

The Nativity: Syrupy Sentimentality

Here’s a great one liner to ponder today.

“One of the great enemies of the gospel is sentimentality, and the stories surrounding Jesus’ birth have proven to be ready material for maudlin sentiment.”

Stanley Hauerwas, Matthew, (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2006), 35.

shane lems

sunnyside wa