The Lordship of Christ at Christmas-time

"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." -- Luke 2:11


Christmas is a time when Jesus will be called “Lord” again and again in songs that are sung in Christmas programs and productions. But Jesus himself said that it is pointless to keep calling him “Lord” while not doing what is pleasing to him (Lk.6:46; cp. Matt. 7:21-23).

And how do we know what is pleasing to the Lord? How do we know what he wills, including what his will is for the church at Christmas time, when it comes to the church’s worship and witness? We know the will of God through the Word that he inspired.

The Lord Jesus is clear when it comes to what his will is for the church’s mission and task in the world. We are to faithfully and accurately urgently proclaim the true Gospel message, and teach people, from the Bible, who God is, and what he requires of us.

The Church has been entrusted with the Gospel message, and commissioned with the task of proclaiming it to everyone on every occasion (2 Tim.4:1ff.).

And the Church is to be very concerned about guarding the Gospel, and getting the message right when it comes to what we proclaim to the world – and that includes what we proclaim and communicate through song. It is no better to sing a heresy than to preach one. It’s just as bad to teach a false idea about God in a song as it is in a sermon. But today many Christian musicians seem to expect quite a bit of leeway when it comes to whether or not what they say about God in song is actually true, which is to say, Scriptural.

But such an expectation is illegitimate. One of the ways that “the word of Christ” (the message from Him and about Him) is to dwell in us richly (Col.3:16) is in the church’s songs and singing. Christian music should be all about communicating the word of God, the true message about Jesus Christ.

Naturally, the Devil is totally opposed to this. We make a huge mistake if we think the Devil is going to be obvious and simple-minded in his efforts to corrupt the church and to throw it off course from its God-given mission and purposes. For in fact the Bible makes it clear that the Devil and his demons are Scripture-quoting impersonators of true angels and true prophets and faithful ministers. (Matt. 4:6; Matt. 7:15; 2 Cor. 11:3-5, 14-15).

So expect the Devil to work through people who claim to be representing and working for Jesus – he will work through those who quote the Bible, and who sound very pious and religious.
God’s people, beginning with their pastors, are supposed to be discerning about all this. And they’ve been given the Bible, God’s infallible Word, to enable them for this discernment. But we live in a time when personal preference and emotionalism and a craving to be entertained even at church trumps a careful attention to the Word of God in Scripture (2 Tim.4:1-5).

Among other things, this has led to a growing worldliness in the Church. The faithful church used to be worried about becoming worldly, but now very many in the church feel like they’re just too sophisticated to worry about that.

So again and again, especially it seems in the church’s music, we seek to have it both ways – trying to blend what is worldly and secular and sentimental and trivial, with what is godly and Spiritual and Scriptural and profound.

And so, for example, at Christmas time, you find singers singing songs that having nothing to do with Christ with what appears to be the same (manufactured?) emotion that they display when they are singing songs about the Lord in a worship service. Christian crooners sound the same, look the same, emote the same, whether they’re singing about the rugged cross, or about being home for Christmas. (Even more ironically, such emotionally agile performers are given credit for being more into their worshiping than others who may not be as good at switching their feelings on an off on musical cue.)

It appears that the Church is going to have to learn to step up again, and make the choice: Spirit or flesh, loving the world or loving the Lord.

And trying to decide by what’s right by what’s popular is a tragic, naïve mistake. Again, the standard for what ought to be done in the Lord’s name is the Word that the Lord gave to the church, not what most people (including even professedly Christian people) like and enjoy (2 Tim. 4:1-5).

Is it a good sign that the church is in good health when professing Christians find it entertaining and amusing when the sacred gospel themes and Biblical realities are trivialized through sentimentality and by being blended together in a program with the things of the world? Those who won’t go along are in the laughter are usually judged to be too severe, but maybe those doing the laughing need to be reminded that, given the urgency of the issues of the kingdom and the lostness of men, it’s possible to get the timing all wrong when it comes to laughing it up (cp. Luke 6:21,25).

Of course, the truth is, Jesus really is Lord, in ways more awesome and profound than the church today realizes. When the psalmist calls on us to ‘ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name’ he is summoning us to worship Him in a way that matches the majesty of who He is.

And so God is still seeking worshipers who will worship Him in the ways that are truly pleasing in His sight, led by the Spirit, guided by the Word (in Spirit and in truth – Jn.4:23-24). And one day we will all give an account for how we have worshiped, and led others to worship Him.