Stop Giving Gifts to your Family and Friends this Christmas...

“But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. (Luke 6:32-36)

Stop giving gifts to your family and friends this Christmas.  That sounds like taboo, huh?  Yet, I will say it again, Stop giving gifts to your family and friends this Christmas.  It is my certainty that if Jesus showed up to our homes Christmas morning, He would be astonished at how we incubate and nurture the self-centered entitlement mentality that is so pervasive among us.   

Your response to what I just said might be, "No Ryan, you are wrong!  Jesus isn't against our generosity toward one another, neither is He an anti-familial Nazi whose message is try harder!" This is, unfortunately,  a half-truth.  We all know that Christ is not a Nazi who commands us to try harder, dangling holiness over our heads.  The truth is that He is our advocate and His Holy Spirit is our Comforter who leads us unto understanding and merciful acts that glorify the Father.  Therefore, I cannot validate from scripture his pleasure in the hundreds of dollars spent filling an already comfortable middle-class home with possession after possession while others are without!  

One cannot read what Christ says and not feel convicted at how we operate during the holidays.  When at a dinner with the religious leaders, Christ voiced his desire for people to esteem others before themselves,  

"Then he turned to his host. 'When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,' he said, 'don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward.  Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.  Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.'” (Luke 14:12-14)  

Do Christ's words reveal the hypocrisy in our religion yet?  When was the last time we invited the sick and lowly to our feasts with loved ones and friends?  (I am preaching to myself!)  Would Jesus be pleased to see how we funnel the least of these into the lines of soup kitchens rather than inviting them to the warmth of our homes?  This is a serious matter.  Christ saw it as a matter worthy of judgment.  Take His word for it,

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.  All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,  I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (Matthew 21:31-46)

This is not a simply a parable.  This is Christ talking about the judgment that is to come; the separation of the sheep and the goats.  These are the "Christians" He was talking previously of at the Sermon on the Mount,

"Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’" (Matthew 7:21-23)

Do not take my charge as another hypocritical Christian rant that we see during the holidays.  I am not a zealot who thinks a Christmas tree is an idol and that we should boycott the holiday because it has pagan roots.  No, I am not one of them.  I watch Rudolph and hang up Christmas lights, I actually quite enjoy the pop culture surrounding Christmas, but the Holy Spirit in me is keenly aware of Jesus' words.  I cannot help but see how we draw near unto God with our lips, but in the end our hearts are very far from Him and His will. (Matthew 15:8, Isaiah 29:13)

We continually cry "KEEP CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS!" when we really mean, "KEEP CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS...  Aesthetically..."  Because when push comes to shove, we are as the pagans when we see the will of God and care less of it.  We might as well throw the nativity in the trash, hang up the mistletoe, and dance into the new year.

Christ does not need to actually show up to our house this Christmas morning to see our hypocrisy.  In fact, he is looking upon it right now.  He sees lay-men burdened and stressed because they cannot afford to buy the shiniest jewelry for their wives, the newest gaming console for their children, and the trendiest Christian book for his friends at church (all products of a consumer based entitlement mentality.)  Christ sees the lay-men who has missed the point of his Christian existence, to esteem others before himself, to serve the least of these with humility, and to rejoice in the Lord always; giving glory, praise and adoration to his Father in heaven.  Jesus looks around and sees his Church complacent and unwilling, that is, if it is truly His church. 

Therefore, let us remember that this is Christmas.  This is the time we remember the birth of our Savior by making Him real to a world who is fully aware of His aesthetic presence.  Stop buying gifts for your family and friends and invite that man wrapped in a newspaper over for dinner.  While you're at it get his dog something to eat and get over yourself.  Then take the money you were going to spend spoiling your kids with and give it to the child in the orphanage who doesn't even have a family.  This is not a "do more and be holier" charge, it's the opposite.  If we want to say that Christ lives in us, we must actually let Him live through us, and that is letting Him do the work and receive the glory.  If we pridefully oppose then what type of message are we sending a watching world?