Ambrose.J. Chakre
God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth. John 4:24
Every New Year Christmas is awaited in high expectation by Christians and pagans alike. The sanctity of this holy festival must be revered and honored. It is my firm belief that even before the world came into being, Christmas was pre-destined to exist and it is we who are now experiencing what many didn’t. the Prophets wrote about Christmas, prophesied about Christmas but none of them ever celebrated it excepting the High priest Zechariah. This holy festival has created a lot of stir and the greatness of this God ordained festival is a mystery in itself. It is also to our knowledge that sin has a history but holiness a mystery. The church has to understand that since Adam and Eve stained themselves in sin holy blood had to be shed to redeem mankind from the curses of sin and death.So it is understood that the Word had to come into this world to secure the salvation of all those who loves God. To this the account of the Scripture states “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, nut the darkness has not understood it. Then came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was not his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. ( John 1:1-14 ) This speaks of Christ’ association with his creations and it is a very clear depiction of God revealing Himself to us. The Scriptural account of John emphasizes so much on the mystery of Christ and of His supremacy over everything. To speak of the Bible, every chapter, book and verses are important in its own way but the four gospels are held in high esteem because it is the very foundation of every Book in the Bible. The divine statement of the word is not to bring peace but division and it implies that Christ came on earth to separate the righteous from the wicked and the true from the false. This also gives us an understanding that even the wicked and the false churches celebrates Christmas and it will be in the near future that the truth shall bring to light of the realities of heaven and hell and of life and death. There is also a certain false church in Nagaland who endorses sexual immorality and to add to their sins, it is said of them that their pastor’s wife also baptizes their members only in her bikini. This is bad and an evil grin may be given by them if they are to read this but trust this, there will be no smiles in hell only screams. These false churches preaches less of hell because of their fear of it. The truth is, as in falsehood they sowed, in falsehood they shall perish if they repent not of their evils. The Word makes it clear to us that immorality must not be entertained in any church, families or even among individuals.
The Book of Ephesians thus states “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity or greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person-such man is an idolater- has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them. ( Ephesians 5:3-7 ) Further in the preceding verses it states “For you were once darkness but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of light consist in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret”. ( Ephesians 5:8-12 ) Every church must understand that sin is what God hates and it will certainly not be wise to sin with the Knowledge of it. The present situation also depicts the present evil but the present passion of God’s people also depicts the righteousness of God working powerfully in multiple churches. Let us now come to the point of this sermon: When Christmas comes the hearts of many are so occupied with so many worldly events that they often fail to acknowledge the truth. Sad as it sounds the truth has to be told in the way it is.
Remember, Christmas is not a festival of adultery, parties and debauchery but it is a God ordained season for the world to think more seriously of eternity. Strange as it sounds, some are born on the 25th of December while some dies on that day, while there are also those who commits adultery even on the sacred day. Trust this, this is not a sermon of condemnation but it is a rebuke to the sinners who are still in sin. For even as we write this to build you up not to tear you down, we trust you will understand what it means to hurt Christ on Christmas. Listen to this: I don’t say this because I am so holy, so pure and completely righteous. But truth is even in my vileness as I had been shown much mercy, forgiven much I have to love much. I would have been dead long ago but I come this far by God’s grace. It is also often observed that temptations are often most high on Good Fridays and Christmas. During festive seasons, we see so many cars parked in isolated places and the sight of so many men and women in their party clothes is a sad depiction of what the world is like. The Scripture does not endorse anyone to sin on any day rather it commands everyone to be holy. The failure to understand this will mean greater harm to the tones who are unwilling to renounce sin.
The truth of the matter is that even prostitutes, adulterers and murderers has the desire to be holy and the scripture gives us so many evidences of the realities of it. Everyone on the side of the truth will listen to what the Word says and it is what we expect our readers to do. Stating this in the truth, we see wickedness on the rise and it will certainly not be wise to indulge in extreme perversion like the sinners of Noah and Lot’s time. They might have joked with each other’s private parts or they might even have crossed the limit and their death is a warning in itself. Mark this: You are not to embrace any woman sexually unless shed is your wife and the failure to acknowledge this will mean greater woes for the guilty ones. Thus the Scripture states “ Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred and you are that temple. ( 1st Corinthians 3:16,17 ) Further in the preceding chapter the Scripture states “ Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were brought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. ( 1st Corinthians 16:18-20 ) This means that God’s people must shun sin totally and love God completely. Remember it takes love to love and commitment to be faithful. For even as we live on this earth, the new heaven awaits those for whom it had been prepared for. Everything will be revealed at God’s appointed time and it will be eternally regrettable for anyone to lode what they can gain. So in the truth we urge everyone to die to sin and to live for God in true righteousness and holiness. Remember, for us who teaches we will be judged more strictly and it is never our desire for anyone to perish for our failure to teach what we should. God is the witness and so is the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
P:S; There were multiple computer shutdown prior to tying this and even as this was being written there were some strange events which clearly showed the defeat of the evil ones and it is in the truth we declare that God’s purposes will always reign supreme. Every thing belongs to God and it is His will which will always triumph. We are the slaves of Christ.
