Berean Break
December 13, 2015 broadcast
A New Testament Christmas part 1
by George Sinkie
[printable PDF of part 1][audio MP3 of part 1]
[advance to: part 2]
Good
morning and welcome to the Berean Break. My name is
George A. Sinkie and I am so glad that you have joined us
here this morning. If you enjoy studying simply the word
of God and are tired of all the confusion and error taught by
denominationalism, then you will truly enjoy this program. These
lessons are non-denominational, because they are based directly
out of the word of God. I encourage you to pick up your
Bible and check out what is said here, I believe you will find
the truth is taught. If you believe that an error is taught
then please contact me and show me from the word of God my error.
As we begin this morning lets have a prayer:
Great God in heaven, We praise
You and thank You for this day in our lives. Help each
of us to open our hearts and our minds to Your will. Help
us also to trust You, to trust that You revealed all of Your
will for us to us in Your word. We thank You for Jesus
and for the sacrifice He made that we can be saved. We
also offer this prayer in Jesus Name, AMEN!!
Today
I would like to look at Christmas in the New Testament. Christmas
is claimed by many to be the birthday of Christ. In the
denominational realm this is one of the two most widely recognized
religious holidays. Along with Easter, Christmas is considered
the beginning and Easter the end of Christs life here on
this Earth and then the resurrection of Christ from the grave.
Most people are surprised to find out that neither of these
holidays have their origin in the Scriptures.
First off, I want you to know that
I do appreciate that so many people are thinking about Christ
at this time. It would be great if Christ would be in their
thoughts all year long. What would be even better is if
the truth about Christ was what they were seeking. Lets
consider some ideas about Christmas at this time.
Since we can read the history of
the church of Christ in the New Testament, what is the historical
celebration of Christmas within the Lords church. As
always when we are looking for the Lords will and instruction
on a topic we must turn over to the Scriptures to see what God
tells us. Since Christmas is to be the celebration of the
birth of Christ, what instruction is there in the word of God
for birthdays?
The Bible mentions the celebration
of two birthdays; neither of them were Christs, and perhaps
alludes to others. First lets look at the possible
allusion. Turn with me over to Job 1:4, where it says,
And
his sons (that is referring
to Jobs sons),
And his sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each
one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters
to eat and drink with them.
The phrase each one on his day, may have reference to their birthday.
This is not an absolute, but we do see some type of partying
going on here.
There are two references to a birthday
in the Scriptures though. One in the Old Testament and
one in the New. First, lets look at the Old Testament
mention of someone keeping their birthday. Turn over to
the book of Genesis with me to chapter 40. In Genesis 40:20-23,
Thus
it came about on the third day, which was Pharaohs birthday,
that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the
head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among
his servants. And he restored the chief cupbearer to his
office, and he put the cup into Pharaohs hand; but he hanged
the chief baker, just as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet
the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
This passage in no way indicates
that we need to celebrate anyones birthday especially
not Christs birthday.
Lets consider the birthday
in the New Testament. As we turn over to Matthew 14, we
read about Herods birthday in verses 6 and following. Lets
read Matthew 14:6-10, But
when Herods birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced
before them and pleased Herod. Thereupon he promised with
an oath to give her whatever she asked. And having been
prompted by her mother, she said, Give me here on a platter
the head of John the Baptist.And although he was grieved,
the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths, and because
of his dinner guests. And he sent and had John beheaded
in the prison.
Again this passage doesnt
give the indication that we ought to celebrate the birth of Christ.
There is nothing at all in the Bible about celebrating
the birthday of the King of kings, the Prince of Peace.
From the Scriptural standpoint
the early Christians did not celebrate the birthday of Jesus
at all. No such thing was ever practiced until long after
the last apostle died. In about 354 A.D., Liberius, called
by some, a Roman Catholic, decreed December 25 as the official
day of Christs birth. What was the basis of this
decree? Not the Bible, because Gods word doesnt
even hint at this date. He was influenced by the pagan
religions of Rome who celebrated the Sun-god at this time of
year. His selection of December 25 was purely arbitrary.
It has no biblical basis.
In a Family Circus one time, the
kids had set up a typical nativity. The dad notices that
there is a Spiderman figure in it and says he doesnt remember
reading about Spiderman being there. That is true, but
there were a number of other problems shown as well. Now
lets consider some of the myths that surround this holiday.
The first one, we already considered
a little bit, but lets look at it more, was Jesus born
on December 25th? We are not told what day of the year
Jesus was born. There has been dispute among the teachers
of these myths that it was December 25th through the early part
of January. One thing that kind of dates what time of year
Jesus was born is in Luke 2:8, And in the same region there were some
shepherds staying out in the fields, and keeping watch over their
flock by night.
Shepherds stayed out in the fields
with their flocks during the spring and summer, not during the
middle of the winter. The winter or colder time of their
year run from about October to February, so during these months
they would not have been out in the fields with their flocks.
So we see that December 25th is not revealed to us nor
does it fit with what we are told, therefore it is a myth.
The next myth concerns the wise
men or Magi that came to give gifts to and worship the king of
the Jews. There are actually a couple of myths here. First,
how many wise men were there? Well if you drove around
town and looked at what are called nativities almost without
exception you would think that there were three. If you
asked people on the street how many there were, again almost
without exception you would hear three. This is a myth,
because the Bible does not reveal how many there were. Consider
Matthew 2:1-2, as a typical example of how the Bible speaks of
them, Now
after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod
the king, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,
Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For
we saw His star in the east, and have come to worship Him.
Magi is a plural word and some
translations use Wise Men, which is what they were. All
that we can accurately say from this is that there were more
than one. There may have been two or three or a hundred,
we simply are not told. I suppose most people think that
there were three because they brought three gifts but that is
not sound reasoning. Three is possibly the correct answer
but it does not have to be the right number.
Another myth concerning the Magi,
is also depicted in many nativities. If I were to ask you,
where was Jesus when the Magi visited him? what would
you say? Many would answer in the manger after all
look at the nativities but that is a direct contradiction
of the word of God. By the time the Magi come Joseph and
Mary and Jesus have been to Jerusalem for the purification process
of the Old Law. As we read about in Luke 2:22, And when the days for
their purification according to the law of Moses were completed,
they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord
From Leviticus 12 we learn that
for a male child this purification took place when the child
was 40 days old. Lets read Leviticus 12:1-8, THEN the LORD spoke to
Moses, saying, Speak
to the sons of Israel, saying, When a woman gives birth
and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean for seven days,
as in the days of her menstruation she shall be unclean. And
on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.
Then she shall remain in the blood of her purification
for thirty-three days; she shall not touch any consecrated thing,
nor enter the sanctuary, until the days of her purification are
completed. But if she bears a female child, then she shall
be unclean for two weeks, as in her menstruation; and she shall
remain in the blood of her purification for sixty-six days.
And when the days of her
purification are completed, for a son or for a daughter, she
shall bring to the priest at the doorway of the tent of meeting,
a one year old lamb for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon
or a turtledove for a sin offering. Then he shall offer
it before the LORD and make atonement for her; and she shall
be cleansed from the flow of her blood. This is the law
for her who bears a child, whether a male or a female. But
if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtle doves
or two young pigeons, the one for a burnt offering and the other
for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her,
and she shall be clean.
This offering has already taken
place when the Magi arrive in Bethlehem, because after the Magi
leave Joseph is instructed by God to flee to Egypt.
Unfortunately our time is up for
this week. I hope you have enjoyed our study on Christmas,
and I how you take some time to check it out in the Scriptures.
Lord willing we will continue this study next week.
This Berean Break is brought to
you, in love, by the pre-denominational and non-denominational
church of Christ that meets at 1600 East First Avenue in Mitchell
SD. You are welcome to meet with us at 10:00 Sunday
mornings for our assembly followed by a time of Bible Study,
also on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 for an additional time to
study Gods Word. If you have a comment or a
sincere Bible question, please phone us at 605-770-5555. We
want to remind you of the non-denominational TV program, KNOW
YOUR BIBLE on KDLT-TV at 9:00 on Sunday mornings. This
is George A. Sinkie for the Lords church, here in
Mitchell, good-bye for now. Remember that we care
about you and may God bless you as you do His will.
[printable PDF
of part 1][audio MP3 of part 1]
[advance to: part 2] |