(upbeat music) - Well this is the season for questions and controversies. And yesterday we talked with a historian about the historical debate over whether or not Herod the Great really did slaughter all of the baby boys in Bethlehem or whether the story is a nativity fiction. Today we talk about a cultural debate over Santa Claus.

Of course, this is the season for Santa Claus questions here at Ask Pastor John. And we have over 50 questions on the topic in our inbox. Now of course, Pastor John, as you know, there's a fourth century Greek historical figure named Saint Nicholas, but most of the questions, I think all of the questions that we have received are about the mythical, white bearded, red suited, reindeer flying Santa Claus, that one.

Corbin from Gainesville, Georgia writes in to ask this, "Pastor John, should parents allow their children "to believe Santa Claus is bringing them gifts "on Christmas?" So cut it straight, Pastor John, what would you say about Santa Claus? - After Easter, Christmas should be the happiest day of the year in Christian worship.

The reason I say after Easter is that Good Friday and Easter is the goal of Christmas. The death and resurrection, the salvation of sinners through the death and resurrection of Jesus is the goal of Christmas. Christmas is not the goal of Easter. Christmas is a means. The salvation of sinners on Good Friday and Easter is the goal.

Jesus came at Christmas to seek and to save the lost, Luke 19. Jesus came at Christmas to save sinners, 1 Timothy 1:15. Jesus came at Christmas to give his life a ransom for many, Mark 10. Jesus came at Christmas not to call the righteous but sinners, Matthew 9. Jesus came at Christmas to destroy the works of the devil, 1 John 3.

Jesus came at Christmas that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, Hebrews 2:14. So the birth of the Son of God, the very God, very man, is simply stunning and glorious and infinitely serious and overflowing with happy news. The angel called it good news of great joy, great joy.

Not small joy, not a little bit of joy, but great joy. So my question is this. How could we possibly even think of giving our children a bowl of bland, sugarless porridge when they are offered the greatest meal in the world? Why would we give them Santa Claus when they can have the incarnation of the Son of God?

I mean, it's just mind-boggling to me that any Christian would even contemplate such a trade, that we would divert attention away from the incarnation of the God of the universe into this world to save us and our children in order to, I mean, I can scarcely have words for it that people would contemplate this.

Not only is Santa Claus not true, and Jesus is very truth himself, but compared to Jesus, Santa is simply pitiful, and our kids should be helped to see this. Santa Claus offers only earthly things, nothing lasting, nothing eternal. Jesus offers eternal joy with the world thrown in. Yeah, the fire engine is thrown in.

Santa Claus offers his ephemeral goodies only on the condition of good works. He knows when you are, he knows when you've been bad or good to be good, for goodness sakes. That's a pure works religion, and Jesus offers himself all the gifts freely by grace for faith. Santa Claus is make-believe.

Jesus is more real than the roof on your house. Santa Claus, he only shows up once a year. Jesus promises, "I'll be with you always." You say to your kid, "Every night, every night, "he's standing by your bed. "He's with you when you get up in the morning. "He's with you when you go to school today.

"If Mommy and Daddy die, he will be right there with you." Santa doesn't hold a candle to this flaming Jesus. Santa Claus cannot solve our worst problem, and Jesus did solve our worst problem, our sin and our alienation from God. Santa Claus, he can put some icing on the cake of the good life, but he cannot take a shattered life and rebuild it with hope forever, and our kids need to know that about Christmas.

Santa Claus is not relevant in many cultures of the world, and Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords in all the peoples of the world. Santa Claus will be forgotten someday, and Jesus will be the same yesterday, today, and forever. So, Tony, there is no contest here.

So I cannot see why a parent, if they know and love Jesus, if they have found Jesus to be the greatest treasure in the world, why they would bring Jesus out of the celebration and Santa into the celebration at all. I mean, he's just irrelevant. He has nothing to do with it.

He's zero. So my counsel is to give all your efforts to making your children as happy as they can possibly be with every kind of surprise that is rooted in the true meaning of Christmas. Let your decorations point to Jesus. Let your food point to Jesus. Let your games point to Jesus.

Let your singing point to Jesus. Out rejoice the world. Out give the world. Out decorate the world, and let it all point to Jesus. If being Jesus-focused is a killjoy for your Christmas, you don't know him well. Wow, that is cutting it straight. Thank you, Pastor John. And with a bang, that marks our 760th episode that we have released as we near the end of our third full year.

And wow, we look back, and that's a lot of grace shown to Pastor John into this podcast. What an honor to be a part of this team and to be working on this podcast. Thank you, listeners, for making this podcast a part of your life. We can do what we do because you are engaged, and you listen, and you share the content with your friends, and because you send us great questions, and not to mention all the other dimensions of the ministry of Desiring God, which include initiatives like this daily podcast and all the daily content we publish online at desiringgod.org.

It is all made possible by the prayers and the financial generosity of our friends who love what we do. So as we near the end of 2015, we wanna take a moment to thank everyone who supports our work, because behind the incredible 60% growth in web traffic we have seen at Desiring God in 2015 is a lot of labor.

And behind that labor are the prayerful financial donors around the world, listeners like you who give monthly or who give near the end of the year. We thank you. And we invite you to join them and to partner with us in this work as we launch into 2016. You can go to desiringgod.org and click on the Donate tab at the top of the page.

Your financial support is greatly appreciated by us and all who listen to this program free of charge. I'm your host, Tony Reinke. Thanks for listening, and thanks for supporting the Ask Pastor John podcast. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)