Before telenovelas flooded our TV screens, there was a variation of primetime viewing: movies for Mondays, drama for Tuesdays, cartoons on Fridays (which I really loved). Sitcoms were included in the menu. Instead of tears rolling down your cheek, your laugh lines are being carved.
One of these sitcoms was “1 for 3”, a story of a house won by three singles (portrayed by Vic Sotto, Charlene Gonzales, and Rosanna Roces). Rosanna’s character was an attractive yet no-brainer woman. One time, she brought home two large sacks of fertilizers. They asked her if she would do gardening or farming where she negatively answered. They asked her further, “O, bakit ka bumili niyan (Then why did you buy those)?” Her joyful response, “Buy one – take one eh!”
What makes this hilarious was she celebrates for something she does not need. She needs not to rejoice over fertilizers when she has no plants to nurture. Considering this, aren’t a lot of people funny then? The world is full of individuals celebrating Christmas but denying the need of a Savior. These do not need Christmas.
Jesus is His Name
Matthew 1:21 says that He was born and named Jesus “for he will save his people from their sins.” There is a great need to address. Christmas is needed because there is a great need to counter the enormous gripping and condemning power of sin. The power of sin and our need of a Savior from this sin is the plant for the fertilizer Christmas.
You Do Not Need Christmas if You Deny that...
I) You are disgustingly and massively sinful. People who think that they are doing just fine and sees not enough filth in themselves, therefore, do not need Christmas. They do not need the Savior for they can manage their own sins. They may view themselves as not good enough but not that bad also. I don’t care how good they may feel about themselves. The Bible says that to the unbelieving “nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled (Titus 1:15).” And again in Isaiah 64:6, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”
II) GOD demands perfect righteousness from you. When I say “perfect” I mean just as it means with “perfect scores” in exams. 99 over 100 is not perfect. Perfection leaves no room for the slightest forms of mistakes. GOD demands His own perfection from us (Matthew 5:48). He leaves no room for our least transgression: there is no room for a single breath of pride, none for a millisecond glance of covetousness, none for a single lying letter in a truthful novel. People who deny this demand do not need the Christmas Babe because they are not in a hopeless situation.
III) Your failure to meet GOD’s perfection arouses His intense wrath against you. A lot of the world sees GOD as an unreliable grandfather who raises up spoiled grandchildren. Experience and reason will confirm that this type of granddads do not deserve our utmost respect. Blessed be the GOD of Romans 1:18, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” When individuals deny this wrath, then Christmas has no good to offer for them because GOD can consider them acceptable even in their uncleanness.
IV) There is an appointed time of serious judgment against you. In ethics, there are certain circumstances that aggravate our guilt when committing acts. I deserve greater punishment when I kick the president than when I kick a beggar. The president’s excellency will dictate that. I will gain lesser condemnation when I box a criminal than when I box a new born baby. The baby’s innocence will demand that. Then how great is the judgment of us who sin against an infinitely majestic and infinitely holy GOD! Every person will give an accounting infront of the Judge who will pronounce judgment according to every deed we have done (Revelation 20:11-15). If people think that they can run away from all their transgressions then they don’t need Christmas.
V) Your only hope is the Baby from the manger to the cross. The virgin’s boy is not just celebrated as being a boy. He grew, taught, healed, preached, was despised, died, and resurrected. He carried all my disgusting sins, bore every drop of GOD’s wrath for you and me. The infinite pain to be inflicted upon me for an infinite time, something that I deserve, was all directed exhaustively upon Him for just a few hours so that I may gain His perfect righteousness. Now, I become acceptable to GOD because of the great Substitute (2 Corinthians 5:21). His Name is Jesus indeed!
I am a disgusting sinner who is unable to meet GOD’s perfect standards, therefore, I am only good to swallow GOD’s fiery wrath in His righteous judgment. Yet, blessed be GOD who provided the salvation that I need in Christ. I need a Savior. I need Christmas. Do you?
