Santa Claus: Harmless Fun or Christmastime Diversion?

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | - Well this is the season for questions and controversies.

00:00:07.920 | And yesterday we talked with a historian

00:00:09.920 | about the historical debate over whether or not

00:00:11.840 | Herod the Great really did slaughter

00:00:14.280 | all of the baby boys in Bethlehem

00:00:16.160 | or whether the story is a nativity fiction.

00:00:19.840 | Today we talk about a cultural debate over Santa Claus.

00:00:22.960 | Of course, this is the season for Santa Claus questions

00:00:25.520 | here at Ask Pastor John.

00:00:27.320 | And we have over 50 questions on the topic

00:00:29.660 | in our inbox.

00:00:30.560 | Now of course, Pastor John, as you know,

00:00:32.880 | there's a fourth century Greek historical figure

00:00:34.920 | named Saint Nicholas, but most of the questions,

00:00:37.960 | I think all of the questions that we have received

00:00:40.700 | are about the mythical, white bearded, red suited,

00:00:43.680 | reindeer flying Santa Claus, that one.

00:00:46.400 | Corbin from Gainesville, Georgia writes in to ask this,

00:00:48.920 | "Pastor John, should parents allow their children

00:00:51.880 | "to believe Santa Claus is bringing them gifts

00:00:54.220 | "on Christmas?"

00:00:55.880 | So cut it straight, Pastor John,

00:00:57.200 | what would you say about Santa Claus?

00:01:00.140 | - After Easter, Christmas should be the happiest day

00:01:02.860 | of the year in Christian worship.

00:01:04.980 | The reason I say after Easter is that Good Friday

00:01:09.060 | and Easter is the goal of Christmas.

00:01:12.740 | The death and resurrection, the salvation of sinners

00:01:15.100 | through the death and resurrection of Jesus

00:01:16.540 | is the goal of Christmas.

00:01:18.580 | Christmas is not the goal of Easter.

00:01:20.700 | Christmas is a means.

00:01:22.460 | The salvation of sinners on Good Friday

00:01:24.460 | and Easter is the goal.

00:01:26.180 | Jesus came at Christmas to seek and to save the lost,

00:01:29.640 | Luke 19.

00:01:30.720 | Jesus came at Christmas to save sinners, 1 Timothy 1:15.

00:01:35.720 | Jesus came at Christmas to give his life a ransom

00:01:38.540 | for many, Mark 10.

00:01:39.860 | Jesus came at Christmas not to call the righteous

00:01:42.600 | but sinners, Matthew 9.

00:01:44.340 | Jesus came at Christmas to destroy the works of the devil,

00:01:47.200 | 1 John 3.

00:01:48.400 | Jesus came at Christmas that through death

00:01:51.520 | he might destroy the one who has the power of death,

00:01:53.680 | Hebrews 2:14.

00:01:54.720 | So the birth of the Son of God, the very God, very man,

00:01:58.980 | is simply stunning and glorious and infinitely serious

00:02:03.320 | and overflowing with happy news.

00:02:05.480 | The angel called it good news of great joy, great joy.

00:02:10.480 | Not small joy, not a little bit of joy, but great joy.

00:02:13.960 | So my question is this.

00:02:16.320 | How could we possibly even think of giving our children

00:02:21.420 | a bowl of bland, sugarless porridge

00:02:26.160 | when they are offered the greatest meal in the world?

00:02:30.020 | Why would we give them Santa Claus

00:02:33.060 | when they can have the incarnation of the Son of God?

00:02:37.700 | I mean, it's just mind-boggling to me

00:02:39.700 | that any Christian would even contemplate such a trade,

00:02:43.780 | that we would divert attention away

00:02:46.680 | from the incarnation of the God of the universe

00:02:50.980 | into this world to save us and our children in order to,

00:02:54.400 | I mean, I can scarcely have words for it

00:02:58.020 | that people would contemplate this.

00:03:01.420 | Not only is Santa Claus not true,

00:03:05.220 | and Jesus is very truth himself,

00:03:08.580 | but compared to Jesus, Santa is simply pitiful,

00:03:12.540 | and our kids should be helped to see this.

00:03:14.940 | Santa Claus offers only earthly things,

00:03:18.860 | nothing lasting, nothing eternal.

00:03:21.660 | Jesus offers eternal joy with the world thrown in.

00:03:25.740 | Yeah, the fire engine is thrown in.

00:03:28.380 | Santa Claus offers his ephemeral goodies

00:03:31.860 | only on the condition of good works.

00:03:33.660 | He knows when you are, he knows when you've been bad

00:03:36.860 | or good to be good, for goodness sakes.

00:03:38.140 | That's a pure works religion,

00:03:40.020 | and Jesus offers himself all the gifts freely

00:03:43.440 | by grace for faith.

00:03:45.860 | Santa Claus is make-believe.

00:03:48.920 | Jesus is more real than the roof on your house.

00:03:52.700 | Santa Claus, he only shows up once a year.

00:03:56.620 | Jesus promises, "I'll be with you always."

00:03:59.180 | You say to your kid, "Every night, every night,

00:04:02.100 | "he's standing by your bed.

00:04:03.200 | "He's with you when you get up in the morning.

00:04:04.400 | "He's with you when you go to school today.

00:04:06.520 | "If Mommy and Daddy die, he will be right there with you."

00:04:09.700 | Santa doesn't hold a candle to this flaming Jesus.

00:04:15.140 | Santa Claus cannot solve our worst problem,

00:04:18.100 | and Jesus did solve our worst problem,

00:04:20.100 | our sin and our alienation from God.

00:04:22.680 | Santa Claus, he can put some icing on the cake

00:04:25.560 | of the good life, but he cannot take a shattered life

00:04:29.340 | and rebuild it with hope forever,

00:04:31.180 | and our kids need to know that about Christmas.

00:04:34.300 | Santa Claus is not relevant in many cultures of the world,

00:04:38.780 | and Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords

00:04:41.460 | in all the peoples of the world.

00:04:43.860 | Santa Claus will be forgotten someday,

00:04:45.900 | and Jesus will be the same yesterday, today, and forever.

00:04:50.060 | So, Tony, there is no contest here.

00:04:53.980 | So I cannot see why a parent, if they know and love Jesus,

00:04:58.980 | if they have found Jesus to be the greatest treasure

00:05:01.780 | in the world, why they would bring Jesus

00:05:06.420 | out of the celebration and Santa

00:05:08.520 | into the celebration at all.

00:05:10.660 | I mean, he's just irrelevant.

00:05:11.700 | He has nothing to do with it.

00:05:13.060 | He's zero.

00:05:14.780 | So my counsel is to give all your efforts

00:05:17.860 | to making your children as happy as they can possibly be

00:05:21.580 | with every kind of surprise that is rooted

00:05:24.000 | in the true meaning of Christmas.

00:05:25.880 | Let your decorations point to Jesus.

00:05:29.300 | Let your food point to Jesus.

00:05:30.960 | Let your games point to Jesus.

00:05:32.640 | Let your singing point to Jesus.

00:05:34.380 | Out rejoice the world.

00:05:35.820 | Out give the world.

00:05:37.500 | Out decorate the world, and let it all point to Jesus.

00:05:41.460 | If being Jesus-focused is a killjoy for your Christmas,

00:05:46.460 | you don't know him well.

00:05:51.380 | Wow, that is cutting it straight.

00:05:53.580 | Thank you, Pastor John.

00:05:55.180 | And with a bang, that marks our 760th episode

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00:06:04.260 | And wow, we look back, and that's a lot of grace

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00:06:44.180 | So as we near the end of 2015,

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00:07:25.660 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.

00:07:26.660 | Thanks for listening, and thanks for supporting

00:07:29.140 | the Ask Pastor John podcast.

00:07:30.860 | (upbeat music)

00:07:33.440 | (upbeat music)

00:07:36.020 | (upbeat music)

00:07:38.600 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

Santa Claus: Harmless Fun or Christmastime Diversion?

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