XMAS
A. W. Pink
Hear
ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: {2} Thus
saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at
the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. {3} For the
customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest,
the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. (Jeremiah 10:1-3)
Christmas
is coming! Quite so; but what is "Christmas"? Does not the very term itself
denote its source - "Christ-mass." Thus it is of Romish origin, brought
over from Paganism. But, says some one, Christmas is the time when we commemorate
the Savior's birth. It is? And who authorized such commemoration? Certainly
God did not. The Redeemer bade His disciples "remember" Him in His death,
but there is not a word in Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation,
which tells us to celebrate His birth. Moreover, who knows when, in what
month, He was born? The Bible is silent thereon. Is it without reason that
the only "birthday" commemorations mentioned in God's Word are Pharaoh's
(Genesis 40:20) and Herod's (Matthew 14:6)? Is this recorded
"for our learning"? If so, have we prayerfully taken it to heart?
And who is it that celebrates "Christmas"? The whole "civilized world."
Millions who make no profession of faith in the blood of the Lamb, who
"despise and reject Him," and millions more who while claiming to be His
followers yet in works deny Him, join in merrymaking under the pretense
of honoring the birth of the Lord Jesus. Putting it on its lowest ground,
we would ask, "Is it fitting that His friends should unite with His enemies
in a worldly round of fleshly gratification?" Does any truly born-again
soul really think that He whom the world cast out is either pleased or
glorified by such participation in the world's joys? Verily, "the customs
of the people are vain"; and it is written, "Thou shalt not follow
a multitude to do evil" (Exodus 23:2)
Some will argue for the "keeping of Christmas" on the ground of "giving
the kiddies a good time." But why do this under the cloak of honoring the
Savior's birth? Why is it necessary to drag in His holy name in connection
with what takes place at that season of carnal jollification? Is this taking
the little ones with you out of Egypt (Exodus 10:9, 10) a
type of the world, or is it not plainly a mingling with the present day
Egyptians in their "pleasures of sin for a season"? (Hebrews
11:25) Scripture says, "Train up a child in the way he should go:
and when he is old, he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6)
Scripture does command God's people to bring up their children "in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4), but where
does it stipulate that it is our duty to give the little ones a "good time"?
Do we ever give the children "a good time" when we engage in anything upon
which we cannot fittingly ask the Lord's blessing?
There are those who do abstain from some of the grosser carnalities of
the "festive season," yet are they nevertheless in cruel bondage to the
prevailing custom of "Christmas" namely that of exchanging "gifts." We
say "exchanging" for that is what it really amounts to in many cases. A
list is kept, either on paper or in memory, of those from whom gifts were
received last year, and that for the purpose of returning the compliment
this year. Nor is this all: great care has to be taken that the "gift"
made to the friend is worth as much in dollars and cents as the one they
expect to receive from him or her. Thus, with many who can ill afford it,
a considerable sum has to be set aside each year with which to purchase
things simply to send them out in return for others which are likely to
be received. Thus a burden has been bound on them which not a few find
hard to bear.
But what are we to do? If we fail to send out "gifts' our friends will
think hard of us, probably deem us stingy and miserly. The honest course
is to go to the trouble of notifying them - by letter if at a distance
- that from now on you do not propose to send out any more "Christmas gifts"
as such. Give your reasons. State plainly that you have been brought to
see that "Christmas merry-making" is entirely a thing of the world, devoid
of any Scriptural warrant; that. it is a Romish institution, and now that
you see this, you dare no longer have any fellowship with it (Ephesians
5:11); that you are the Lord's "free man" (1 Corinthians
7:22), and therefore you refuse to be in bondage to a costly custom
imposed by the world.
What about sending out "Christmas cards" with a text cf Scripture on them?
That also is an abomination in the sight of God. Why? Because His Word
expressly forbids all unholy mixtures; Deuteronomy. 22:10, 11
typified this. What do we mean by an "unholy mixture"? This: the linking
together of the pure Word of God with the Romish "Christ-mass." By all
means send cards (preferably at some other time of the year) to your ungodly
friends, and Christians too, with a verse of Scripture, but not with "Christmas"
on it. What would you think of a printed program of a vaudeville having
Isaiah 53:5 at the foot of it? Why, that it was altogether out of
place, highly incongruous. But in the sight of God the circus and the theater
are far less obnoxious than the "Christmas celebration" of Romish and Protestant
"churches." Why? Because the latter are done under the cover of the holy
name of Christ; the former are not.
"But the path of the just is as the shining Light, that shineth more
and more unto the perfect day." (Proverbs 4:18) Where there
is a heart that really desires to please the Lord, He graciously grants
increasing knowledge of His will. If He is pleased to use these lines in
opening the eyes of some of His dear people to recognize what is a growing
evil, and to show them that they have been dishonoring Christ by linking
the name of the Man of Sorrows (and such He was, when on earth) with a
"Merry Christmas," then join with the writer in a repentant confessing
of this sin to God, seeking His grace for complete deliverance from it,
and praise Him for the light which He has granted you concerning it.
Beloved fellow Christian, "The coming of the Lord draweth nigh."
(James 5:8) Do we really believe this? Believe it not because the
Papacy is regaining its lost temporal power, but because God says so -
"for we walk by faith, not by sight." (2 Corinthians 5:7)
If so, what effects does such believing have on our walk? This may be your
last Christmas one earth. During it the Lord may descend from heaven with
a shout to gather His own to Himself. Would you like to be summoned from
a "Christmas party" to meet Him in the air? The call for the moment
is, "Go ye out to meet Him" (Matthew 25:6) out from a Godless
Christendom, out from the Christ deserted "churches," out from the horrible
burlesque of "religion" which now masquerades under His name.
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every
one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath
done, whether it be good or bad." (2 Corinthians 5:10) How solemn
and searching! The Lord Jesus declared that "every idle word that men
shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment."
(Matthew 12:36) If every "idle word" is going to be taken
note of, then most assuredly will be every wasted energy, every wasted
dollar, every wasted hour! Should we still be on earth when the closing
days of this year arrive, let writer and reader earnestly seek grace to
live and act with the judgment seat of Christ before us. His "well done"
will be ample compensation far the sneers and taunts which we may now receive
from Christless souls.
Does any Christian reader imagine for a moment that when he or she shall
stand before their holy Lord, that they will regret having lived "too strictly"
on earth? Is there the slightest danger of His reproving any of His own
because they were "too extreme" in "abstaining from fleshly lusts, which
war against the soul" (1 Peter 2:11)? We may gain the good will
and good word of worldly religionists today by our compromisings on "little
(?) points," but shall we receive His smile of approval on that Day? Oh
to be more concerned about what He thinks, and less concerned about what
perishing mortals think.
"Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil" (Exodus 23:2)
Ah, it is an easy thing to float with the tide of popular opinion; but
it takes much grace, diligently sought from God, to swim against it. Yet
that is what the heir of heaven is called on to do: to "Be not conformed
to this world" (Romans 12:2), to deny self, take up the cross,
and follow a rejected Christ. How sorely does both writer and reader need
to heed that word of the Savior, "Be hold, I come quickly: hold that
fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." (Revelation 3:11)
Oh that each of us may be able to truthfully say, "I have refrained
my feet from every evil way, that I might keep Thy Word." (Psalms
119:101)
Our final word is to the pastors. To you the Word of the Lord is, "Be
thou an example of believers in word, in deportment, in love, in spirit,
in faith, in purity." (1 Timothy 4:12) Is it not true that the
most corrupt "churches" you know of, where almost every fundamental of
the faith is denied, will have their "Christmas celebrations?" Will you
imitate them? Are you consistent to protest against unscriptural methods
of "raising money," and then to sanction unscriptural "Christmas services"?
Seek grace to firmly but lovingly set God's Truth on this subject before
your people, and announce that you can have no part in following
Pagan, Romish, and Worldly
customs.
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