(ADVENT 2) Unwrapping Christmas: Mercy

We have been invited by the Most High God to come and experience all He has in store for us, and we enter into that life - eternal and abundant - by surrendering to Jesus. Ephesians 2 tells us:
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

A few years ago, Christian apologist Lee Strobel tweeted this out:

Justice is getting what you deserve (punishment). 

Mercy is not getting what you deserve (no punishment). 

Grace is getting what you don’t deserve (salvation).

We deserved judgment, but we received mercy. We deserved to spend eternity apart from God, under a death sentence because of sin. Somebody had to pay the penalty, and Jesus, full of mercy and grace, chose to give His life, to endure the punishment in my place, in your place: the absolutely sufficient substitute, so that we, the beneficiaries of His mercy, could have eternal life. 

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We continue our Advent series from the Faith Radio Advent Guide, "25: A Christmas Advent-ure," with this year's theme, Unwrapping Christmas, and concentrate today on the mercy of God, our second of 25 gifts that we can acknowledge or "unwrap."  We go back to the words of Mary in Luke 1, in the passage known as the "Magnificat." I want to pick back up where we left off yesterday, beginning in verse 48:
48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
49 For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name.
50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him From generation to generation.

Verse 50 reminds us that we are recipients of the mercy of God.  We didn't deserve it, but God loved us in our fallen state, our state of separation from Him, and sent His Son to die, the ultimate act of mercy, so that we could come to know Him.

We have to be careful not to miss this message of mercy.  Jesus came to earth, born as a child, who lived a perfect life in human flesh, and gave His life for us.  That's the message, and with all the alternative messages that surround Christmas - that is the essence of what we celebrate.

A line from a recently-released streaming series, contains this line: "Saying Merry Christmas to all has suddenly become problematic!”  And, those words have caused some controversy, believe it or not.  Faithwire notes that this is a line from the new series, The Santa Clauses, starring Tim Allen reprising the title role that he played in three previous movies.  The article says:

As NME noted, the moment in question happens when Allen’s character is asked what’s bothering him. Santa responds, “Saying Merry Christmas to all has suddenly become problematic!”

Perhaps the line hit too close to home when it comes to the real-life debate over Christmas, because the dialogue immediately caused a Twitter “uproar,” according to The Daily Mail.

While Tim Allen's line has generated some controversy, Allen has alerted audiences to some content about Christmas as a religious holiday that will be coming; a subsequent Faithwire article noted:

The 69-year-old comedian recently told “The Wrap” religion will be present in the new six-part series — an interesting diversion from the first three “The Santa Clause” films, as faith was never a part of those narratives.

Allen told the outlet the original plot for the Disney+ series had some elements he didn’t want to include, as he sought to focus on “Christ-mas” and the season’s true meaning.

“It originally had a lot of otherworldly characters, and ghosts, and goblins. I said, ‘No, this is Christ-mas. Its Christ-mas. It literally is a religious holiday,'” he said. “We don’t have to blow trumpets, but I do want you to acknowledge it; that’s what this is about. If you want to get into Santa Claus, you’re gonna have to go back to history, and it’s all about religion.”

And, there have been reports that Tim Allen himself has made a profession of faith in Christ.  You may be familiar with his story - his father was killed by a drunk driver, he became addicted to drugs and alcohol, even served two years in prison. God Reports notes:

As much as he wrestled with doubts, he couldn’t deny the incredible creation in which he lived. It begged for a logical conclusion.

“Whoever built me, this is too much, too weird that it happened by accident,” Allen said. “It didn’t happen by accident.”

Slowly, Allen began to open his heart to God as he saw His guiding hand throughout his struggles. He reached a point when he dedicated his life to Jesus Christ.

Sometimes Allen refers to God as “the Builder.”

“I always ask… ‘God what did you want me to do?’ But you got to be prepared for the answer,” he said.

We have to be careful that we don't miss or lose sight of what we're celebrating.  It's no secret that my wife and I absolutely love Christmas - but, for me, the challenge for all of us, is to make sure that we love Christ more.  

It's true, in some circles, saying, "Merry Christmas" has become taboo.  But, that doesn't mean we should not shy away from allowing the true Spirit of Christmas, the Holy Spirit, from being displayed through us.  But, the bottom line is that the origins of Christmas show that this is a distinctly religious holiday - a federal holiday that the majority of Americans observe, in some form or the other. And, because of that, it gives believers in Jesus Christ a unique opportunity to reflect and share the true story.