Stocking Stuffers

Photo by Kirstyn Paynter on Unsplash

I hope these quotes, song lyrics, verses and anecdote about the birth of Jesus & the celebration of Christmas will edify you this Christmas season! 

"Joseph and Mary capsulized the mystery of grace -- the King does not come to the proud and powerful, but to the poor and powerless." - Kent Hughes

"The Son of God was born into the world not as a prince but as a pauper. We must never forget that this is where Christianity began and where it always begins -- with a sense of need, a graced sense of one's insufficiency. Christ, himself setting the example, comes to the needy. He is born only in those who are "poor in spirit." - Kent Hughes

"Christmas Eve is like the calm before the storm. The storm is God breaking into His creation to redeem it, unexpectedly as a baby." - Tim Keller

"Christmas is telling you that you could never get to heaven on your own. God had to come to you." - Tim Keller

"Christmas is a much needed reminder that the in-breaking of God’s kingdom, the upending of the present order, the renewal of dead and broken things typically comes in small, weak, unimpressive, unexpected packages." - Duke Kwon

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14 ESV) - The Word (see v. 1) became flesh does not mean the Word ceased being God. Rather, the Word, who was God, also took on humanity (see Phil. 2:6–7). He lived as God and man at the same time. dwelt among us. Literally, “pitched his tent,” a reminder of how God resided among the Israelites in the tabernacle (see Ex. 25:8–9) and later in the temple. Now God takes up residence among his people in the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ. - ESV Study Bible

Truly He taught us to love one another, 
His law is love and His gospel is peace. 
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother. 
And in his name all oppression shall cease. 
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we, 
With all our hearts we praise His holy name. 
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we, 
His power and glory ever more proclaim! 
His power and glory ever more proclaim! - O Night Divine

"The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." (1 Timothy 1:15 ESV)

Mild he lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die:
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King!" - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." (John 3:17 ESV)

Jesus, the Sovereign King of the universe who lays claim to every single centimeter of his creation, is not concerned about a “War on Christmas.” But he is concerned about your heart and mine, and our sins. He says, “Repent and believe." - Paul Stiver

Incarnation [N]
that act of grace whereby Christ took our human nature into union with his Divine Person, became man. Christ is both God and man. Human attributes and actions are predicated of him, and he of whom they are predicated is God. A Divine Person was united to a human nature ( Acts 20:28 ; Romans 8:32 ; 1 Corinthians 2:8 ; Hebrews 2:11-14 ; 1 Timothy 3:16 ; Galatians 4:4 , etc.). The union is hypostatical, i.e., is personal; the two natures are not mixed or confounded, and it is perpetual. - Easton's Study Bible (biblestudytools.com)

"...God will teach us something through Jesus. He will teach us that we see this world completely backwards. He will teach us that the way to be great in God’s eyes is to be nothing in the world’s eyes. He will teach us that the way to exaltation is through humiliation, that the way to go high is to go low. And he will teach it first and best through his very own Son, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” He came as the least, and he came for the least." - Tim Challies (link)

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." (2 Corinthians 8:9 ESV)

The “No Vacancy” signs over all the motels in Bethlehem were “for your sake.” “For your sake he became poor.” (2 Corinthians 8:9) - John Piper

Jesus is truly the riches (fully God) to rags (fully God, fully man) and back to riches (glorified God-man) story! - Paul Stiver

"And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:8–11 ESV)

God's Love For Sinners

Imagine it this way: You are walking down the street and see a homeless man. You feel compassion for the man as he sits in the freezing cold up against a building. His clothing is rags and his hair is mangled and matted on his face as you approach him. You kneel down to him, your heart breaking with pity and love and care. You go into your wallet and pull out $100 and reach out to him and say, "Here, take it." Your heart is overflowing with the joy of your generosity, as you willingly cut ties with this hundred dollar bill that you could use in so many other ways. "I'm really making this guy's day." And then he spits in your face. He rejects the $100 and curses you!

You are stunned. However, instead of cursing him back you give him the coat off your back. And you give him your car keys. And your house. And you make yourself homeless so that he may have a home and a nice life. This quaint little story actually hardly scratches the surface of the radical love and grace God shows us in Jesus Christ. 

This is us. We all have sinned, we all have rejected God and chosen to worship other things. We see that in Jesus' birth, God in His grace, has made a way for His wrath to fall upon the Savior, so that  our sins may be forgiven. God himself pays the ultimate price to ransom His people. Christmas leads us to the cross, where Jesus pays the penalty for sins. 

And what are we to do? Repent and believe the good news. 

We repent of our sins everyday, and we believe in God's grace everyday. We remember our rags when we were stuck in our sin, and how Jesus came into our lives and brought his light. We spend each day trying to be more like Christ and we seek His glory and others' good above our own. And we spend the rest of our lives praising God for His glorious grace that makes beggars like us His sons and heirs!



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