NOTE: This is a guest article written by Rev David R. Kerr, Assistant Pastor of the Burnaugh Baptist Church in Cattlesburg, Kentucky.
Tiger Woods , the Purpose of History, and the Message of Christmas
Christmas can be dangerous for Christians. I don’t mean the danger of putting up lights or the temptation to punch one of your relatives. Christmas can be dangerous because in our love for Christmas and our desire to see family we can forget what Christmas really is about. For many people, even Christian people, Christmas can become more about sentimentality and nostalgia than about Jesus Christ. It has always struck me as odd that many non-believers have no trouble singing Christmas songs. I have often wondered why they seem to have no trouble belting out “Joy to the World” or “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” during the holiday season. I think they sing not because they believe the words of the songs but because in singing they manage to conjure up the ghost of Christmas past, singing these songs reminds them of good times long ago. In this way the true message of Christmas becomes obscured by sentimentality and nostalgia.
I was reminded of the true meaning of Christmas in an odd place last week in the news of Tiger Wood’s sex scandal. Tiger Woods has for a long time been my favorite athlete. If the truth is known I have enjoyed watching a young African American male dominate a sport which has traditionally been played by rich white males. Tiger, for years, has appeared unstoppable maybe even superhuman. However, over the past week the world has discovered that he is in fact human. We have found out over the past couple of weeks details of Tiger’s personal life that he had tried to keep private. The scandal is messy, shameful, ugly, and real.
With the revelation that one of my heroes was not who I thought I felt betrayed. I found myself wondering how in the world Tiger could do such terrible things. Then I realized that what distinguishes me from Tiger Wood’s is the fact that he has money, fame, talent, and opportunity. The fact is that I am a desperately wicked sinner who is in need of God’s grace every day. The Bible is clear that God in his great mercy has acted in history to deliver sinners like me and like Tiger Woods. He has done this in the sending of his Son Jesus Christ into the world in order to deliver us from this present evil age.
The Bible is clear that God is Sovereign over history. He created the world out of nothing and he perpetually sustains and cares for his creation. The flow of the Bible also tells us that history has a purpose. Though things may seem chaotic and disorderly God is in fact doing something in history. God’s purpose in history is glorifying himself through the redemption of a people. This redemption is taking place through Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that “in the fullness of time God sent forth his Son” Gal. 4:4. God had so ordered events that at the time of Christ’s life a common language existed, a system of roads was in place, and relative peace existed in the empire. All of these things happened by God’s plan in order to bring the Savior into the world and so that the Gospel would go forward.
The same chapter in Paul’s letter to the Galatians tells us the Christ was born of a woman, born under the law. Two things here are note worthy. First the fact that Christ was born under the law. God’s law reveals his perfect holiness and righteousness. It also reveals the misery of humankind. We are unable and unwilling to keep God’s perfect law. Therefore we need someone who is able to keep God’s law for us. This is what Christ has done he has stood in our place as our substitute living the life that we could not live. He has done this in order to save us from the wrath of God. The 2nd noteworthy thing in this passage is the fact that Christ was “born of a woman.” We have a God who has entered into humanity with us therefore he is able to sympathize with us in our weakness because he was like us in every way yet without sin.
The message of Christmas is that God in his great mercy has entered into history. He has done this for a specific purpose. The angel in the first chapter of Matthew told Joseph that he was to name the child Jesus because he would “save his people from their sins.” Because Christ has entered into history there is hope for sinful, stupid Southern Baptist Preachers and also for billionaire athletes. All those who recognize their sinfulness and utter helplessness find hope in the Christmas story. Hope not in anything that they have done but because the Sovereign God of history has sent his Son in order to redeem us from the wrath of a Holy God. Joy at the Christmas season cannot be found in presents, trees, families, or sentimentality. Joy must be found in Jesus Christ alone, in Him we hope!!
Soli Deo Gloria
