Three Christmas Greetings

The message of Christmas is rich with the good news of Jesus Christ. Today, Stephen Nichols brings us Christmas greetings from three individuals in church history: Augustine, Martin Luther, and D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

Well, welcome back to another episode of 5 Minutes in Church History. Next week is Christmas, and we love Christmas here on 5 Minutes in Church History because so many of the figures we talk about also loved Christmas. So, for this episode, I want to bring you three Christmas greetings from our friends in church history. First up is Augustine. He tells us, “Awake mankind, for your sake, God has become man. Awake you who sleep, rise up from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you. I tell you again, for your sake, God became man. You would’ve suffered eternal death had he not been born in time. Never would you have been freed from sinful flesh had he not taken on Himself the likeness of sinful flesh. You would’ve suffered everlasting unhappiness had it not been for this mercy. You would never have returned to life had He not shared your death. You would’ve been lost if He had not hastened to your aid. You would have perished had He not come. Let us then joyfully celebrate the coming of our salvation and redemption. Let us celebrate the festive day on which He who is the great and eternal day came from the great and endless day of eternity into our own short day of time.”

Well, let’s move into the sixteenth century. If anyone loved Christmas, it was Martin Luther, and he tells us, “For the very eternal Son of the eternal Father, through whom heaven and earth were created out of nothing, He became man. He was born into the world like us. Except that in Him there never was any sin. Therefore, we may now boast that God has become our brother, nay, our flesh and blood this great honor was conferred not upon the angel but upon us men. And, although the angels are more glorious creatures than we are, yet God has honored us more highly and come near to us than to the angels since He became not an angel, but man.”

“My dear friend,” Luther continues, “if you will say, the incarnation is not for me. To whom then does it belong?” And here we get a little bit of Luther’s humor coming into the equation. “Did Christ come for the sake of geese,” Luther asks, “or ducks or cows? For you must notice what he is, had He wished to help another creature, He would’ve become that creature. Had He not become man for the sake of us poor, sinful, lost men? He is called our Savior. Now you see what you are, what I am. Are we not all men? Yes, and that who is to receive this child, men.”

Well, let’s move into the twentieth century and to a sermon from the doctor, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. He was preaching through Acts, and on Christmas Eve, he came up to Acts 8:25. “Now, when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they return to Jerusalem preaching the Gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.” Lloyd-Jones goes on to say that this verse serves sort as an epilogue. It rounds out the story that was told in the previous verses of Acts chapter eight. But then he says, “Especially on this Christmas Eve, we must have more than a simple cursory reading of Acts 8:25.” And when we look a little closer, Lloyd-Jones tells us that we will see an astonishing thing. “You see, the world expects great things to happen in great cities and done by great men.” But Lloyd-Jones points out that here we have the exact opposite. “This is villages, ordinary men live in villages, and Peter and John, the evangelists, the missionaries that are going throughout these villages, well, they were just ordinary men too.” So here it is, the gospel for ordinary people in ordinary places.

Lloyd-Jones concludes by telling us that the “Gospel is preached to sinners. It is a great message.” In fact, he says, “Actually, it is the greatest message. And it’s not only to ordinary people, it is to sinners.” This is the message of Christmas. This is the most amazing message of the good news of the gospel. Well, those are three Christmas greetings from church history. And I’m Steve Nichols, and thanks for listening to 5 Minutes in Church History. And may you have a very Merry Christmas.