It's Christmas Eve. The kids are in bed-- at least for now.

I thought I would write a few things related to today: one about Christmas, one responding to today's column by Michael Medved (where I get a gentle admonishment), and one about our Christmas Eve services tonight.

First, about Christmas. Tomorrow, we will get up early with our kids, my parents and brother will come over, and we will celebrate Christmas. It is a good time to have my family together (pictured right) and I am glad we can start the morning reading from Luke and talking about the birth of the Messiah.

I love Christmas.

Second, Michael Medved pushed back a bit at some comments I made last week.

I have great respect for Medved and always enjoy his writing. He was responding to an article in USAToday last week (print edition on Thursday) where Michael Horton and I are quoted (and he reprints those quotes with his commentary).

Medved says of Horton:

The article cites the work of Michael Horton, professor of theology at Westminster Seminary in California, who suggests that "Christmas without the specter of the cross, without awareness that this is a baby born to die for mankind's sins, is a fancied up fraud." Professor Horton warns that "Santa becomes a substitute for Christ. He'll give you presents whether you were good or bad. It's hard to imagine Santa returning to judge the human race and consign anyone to hell. But that is what Jesus came to save us from."

He says of me:

For some serious Christians, however, all the tinsel-trimmed traditions have begun to obscure the true meaning of the holiday. "The focus on peace and giving gifts allows you to safely focus on nice things instead of the idea that God sent his son Jesus to be Christ, who dies on a cross," says Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research in Nashville. "It's human nature to want to take the 'nice' without the 'truth.'"

Medved closes the article as follows:

Secularist militants dislike the holiday because its religious trappings remain inescapable and it reminds them of the nation's deep Christian roots. Some faith-based enthusiasts may simultaneously resent the ecumenical, commercialized, gauzy, feel-good atmosphere associated with the festival in its American incarnation. But most citizens--including those of us who constitute the nation's small non-Christian minority - continue to value the properly revered "Christmas spirit" with its emphasis on eternal verities like kindness, community, continuity and new life that continue to characterize what the song rightly heralds as "the most wonderful time of the year."

Since Michael Medved is an observant Jew, I am assuming that his words tell us of his desire to participate in the joy of the season without, perhaps, the meaning as I see it, being a Christian.

Fair enough.

Let me say that I understand his concern, but I think he may have misunderstood what I was saying. My concern is that Christians share the message they have and not get so distracted by the celebration of the incarnation that they fail to explain the reason for the incarnation (i.e. this babe came to die). And, I should add, I would not want to force or pressure non-believers to participate in that which they do not affirm.

Just yesterday, I was sharing with my Jehovah's Witness hair stylist and I wish people would not snarl at her when she does not respond with "Merry Christmas."

Forcing non-believers to say "Merry Christmas" so they don't get boycotted is just silly.

The answer to any "war" on Christmas is not to force non-Christians to acknowledge a Messiah they do not accept. (I mentioned this on Sunday and you can find the message here.)

Thus, I do not believe that we Christians should impose Christmas on anyone. However, I am concerned when Christians do not see this season as an opportunity to tell the whole message of the gospel. For them to celebrate Christmas without telling of Christ is to miss the point of Christmas in the first place.

So, I want Mr. Medved to have a "Happy Holidays," enjoy the time off with family, and participate in the festivities that surround this time of year. However, when I can, I also want to tell the whole story as to why people should have a "Merry Christmas."

In my understanding of the gospel, "peace on earth and good will to men" comes through the work of Christ on the Cross.

No, I do not think that every Christmas party needs to end with a gospel message or a plan of salvation. Christians need to be sensitive to their contexts and respect the religious liberty and views of others. But, in my home, among my friends, and in my church, I want to share the whole redemptive plan, not just the tinsel and trappings, as good as they may be.

Medved has defended evangelicals many times and is a friend to our movement, so I am not sure he would disagree. But, a few sentences in USAToday do not often tell the full story, so I thought I would mention it here.

Happy Holidays, Mr. Medved, and thank you for your work! Enjoy the season.

Third and finally, we had two wonderful Christmas Eve Candelight services tonight. Our music people always do a great job and tonight was no exception.

My message tonight relates to my comments above. The title was "The Babe Who Came to Die" from Matthew 1:18-25. We also took the Lord's Supper so we could celebrate both the birth and death of the Messiah.

Here are my notes from Sunday:

The Babe Who Came to Die (Matthew 1:18-25)

We can lose the meaning of the story when we become overly familiar with its telling.

Let me tell you a story again that is as wondrous as it is true. The story of the manger and the cross.

The Manger and the Cross

1. The Miraculous Birth (verses 18-20)

"The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way: After His mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered before they came together that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. So her husband Joseph, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly. But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is by the Holy Spirit."

Virgin Birth but more accurately it is the Virgin Conception.

Jesus was fully God and fully man. He existed as God the Son for all eternity.

Betrothal is more than engagement. It is a one-year unconsummated marriage.

The Virgin Conception has to get your attention. Something big is going on here. And, when you understand it is God the Son being born fully God and fully man, it has to get your attention. It has to cut through the presents, dinners, and parties of this time of year.

Something big happened and you have to deal with it.

If you have heard the story a thousand times, this one is worth your attention again. It is SO fantastic that is demands us to hear and respond.

2. The Saving Death (verse 21)

"She will give birth to a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins."

This is pretty much an exact quote of Isaiah 7:14 "The virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel." Here it is "name him Jesus." The names matter.

Why the "name"? Jesus is an English word from Yeshua. Yeshua means "Yahweh rescues" and Immanuel means "God with us."

Yahweh rescues by coming with us. And, that is evidenced in the birth of Christ.

How will he "save"? Hebrews 9:22 "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness."

What are "their sins"? 1 John 1:8-9 "If we say, 'We have no sin,' we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

John 1:12 "But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name."

Have a Merry Christmas!

George Barna just released some interesting research on the effect the Christmas season has on individual behavior and experience. More specifically, "five seasonal behaviors were evaluated... regarding the impact of the end-of-year holidays, producing some surprising results."

Listening to Carols

Even though most people complain that retails stores start playing the music too soon, listening to Christmas carols in the home is the most popular change in behavior among those surveyed.

Of the five behaviors explored in the survey, the only one which a majority of people acknowledged as a change they make during the holidays was listening to Christmas carols in their home. Six out of ten adults (59%) said they will definitely do so this holiday season.

Christmas and Church Life

I'm betting most of my readers are familiar with the CEOs in church life. No, I'm not talking about Executive Pastors, I'm talking about the "Christmas and Easter Only" attenders. The Barna study actually showed that while attendance will spike this holiday season, the majority of that growth will come from the more regular attenders coming together more often, or for special services.

The Barna study discovered that there will be an upturn in attendance again this season - but more from the more consistent attendance of regulars than absentees. In total, one out of every five adults (20%) said they will attend more religious services at a church, synagogue or other place of worship during the holiday season than they normally would. However, the promised increase in attendance will be more common among regular attenders (27% of whom said they will definitely attend more often than usual during than holidays) than among people who normally do not attend (4%). Among those who normally avoid church, an additional one-eighth (13%) said they might attend a church service or event during the season. Past Barna studies have shown that less than one-half of those individuals who are open to attending more often but uncertain about the likelihood will actually follow through on such a possibility.

This is important, and Barna spends time on this point at the end of the article saying that while many churches hope to leverage the holidays as an opportunity to connect outsiders with the church/gospel, outsider are not flocking to join the church on these special occasions.

Drinking and Depression

The holiday season has become a time known both for partying and depression. Barna's research revealed that "seven percent of the public [planned on drinking] more alcoholic beverages during the holidays, led by the under-25 crowd (12%), atheists and agnostics (11%) and liberals (11%).

And four percent of those surveyed said that they would wrestle with loneliness and/or depression during the holidays. "The group that stood out as the most likely to suffer through the holidays was downscale adults, 11% of whom said they would definitely confront depression or loneliness." Of course Christians are not immune to real and significant bouts of depression, but I was encouraged to see that "The people least likely to confront these emotions and experiences were evangelicals..." Nice. "...and atheists." Wait, what? This was interesting. Evangelicals and atheists will give up less than one-half of one percent of their respective groups to depression this season. "Otherwise, the expectation of being lonely or depressed was consistent across demographic segments."

It's worth your time, and there's more. Check it out here.

Speaking of Christmas carols and the hope of Christmas against the frailty of a broken world, check out this video from the Casting Crowns.

Well, it seems to be the season for videos.

If you have not already done so, you will DEFINITELY want to go to Friday's post and take a look at the conflict and resolution throughout. (Part two is my favorite.) It is good to see Al not make it all about himself for a change. Mission is good.

Well, we also had some wild parties this weekend. And, thankfully, there is video!

I have already posted my first message from the Theology of Christmas series here. The audio is up (see below) and I have included my outlines for all three messages (at the bottom).

First, here is the audio:

The Theology of Christmas:

Incarnation
Kenosis
Glory

The outlines are below. (This will probably be my last post until I am back from family vacation time.)

I still remember the day in 1998 Rick Warren called me and encouraged me to go to Southern Seminary to teach church planting.

In the early days, Saddleback helped start the Nehemiah Project, a program to help seminary students become church planters. His encouragement helped me to leave the church I had planted and and start a journey that would focus on training planters, and eventually pastors. I am not sure I would have done it without his encouragement.

Rick has been a friend at some key moments. He gave away all his resources to my students and provided resources and training at important times. When I was struggling with a decision a couple of years ago, he prayed with me and encouraged me. His name has been on several of my books and projects and I am honored he would lend his name. And, as he has become one of the leading evangelicals in the world, I have still found him humble and gracious-- and more concerned with others than with himself.

It is amazing to see how God is using Rick and Saddleback today.

I prayed for him last week as they had an important planning meeting at Saddleback and Purpose Driven.

I will pray again this week as God has given Saddleback some incredible opportunities, including these listed in a recent email:

-14 Christmas services at Saddleback

-Fox News will broadcast "Christmas with Rick Warren�? multiple times on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

-The US Armed Forces Network will broadcast "The Purpose of Christmas�? (last year's Saddleback service) for all troops around the world to watch.

-All Wal-Marts and Sam's Club are broadcasting "The Meaning of Christmas�? a message by me, along with Christmas carols by the Salvation Army, on all their in-store TV screens.

-Good Morning America is broadcasting our roundtable about "The Good News of Christmas�? on Christmas Day.

Viewers on Fox and elsewhere will be directed here. The pamphlet that is on the web page explains:

It All Starts with God.

It's not about you.

I have been doing a series of messages at my church that focus on the Theology of Christmas. I have not talked much about donkeys, wise men, and shepherds... though they are important. Instead, my focus has been on what God did in Christ.

You can download here:

The Theology of Christmas: Incarnation
The Theology of Christmas: Kenosis

This week I will preach "The Theology of Christmas: Glory."

Here is the outline of the Incarnation message: