If we're not careful, we can fail to understand the weight and seriousness of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We greet each other with a "merry Christmas" during this time of the year, give gifts to each other, and even hold celebrations and feasting because we're "grateful" to God for giving us the "reason for the season."

While there's nothing wrong with greeting each other that way, with giving gifts, and celebrating the Lord's coming to earth in the form of a human, many of us tend to focus on nothing but that. We fail to focus on the real message of Christmas:

That we are a people destined to die in hell for our sins, and are in grave need of the Saviour.

A merry Christmas and an offensive Gospel

I'm not trying to be a kill joy, but Christmas does have a very serious message for all of us: that we are all sinners who deserve God's wrath. Some of us may try to cover the truth with a bucket-load of snow and a huge pack of candy canes, but the truth remains the same. Romans 3:10 and 23 tell us,

"There is none righteous, no, not one ... all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

This is the real condition that we were in before Christ was sent. We were in sin, sinners who deserve the wrath of God. Thankfully, even though we all deserved death for our sins, God's loved us so much that He sent His one and only begotten Son for our sakes:

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

Christ's coming, then, is not an "addition" to our lives that will merely "enrich" it. We needed Him to come. If He didn't come, we'd be doomed for all eternity! Thankfully, He came to rescue us:

"For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:6-8)

So this is why

So why is the Gospel offensive when Christmas is merry? It's because of the stark reality that Christ came to save us from sin, while we as a people loved sinning. We love to make it appear like we don't have sin, but God knows that we have. And He gave us the Way to be freed from sin: His only begotten Son.

Friends, I pray that we'd all understand that Christmas isn't just a time for merrymaking and gift-giving. It's not just a time for Christmas carols and Christmas dinner feasts. It's not time for that big, red, white-bearded guy on a sleigh.

It's time for us to realize that Christmas is Christ coming to shed His blood so we can be saved from our sins.  This is the real reason Christmas can be so merry for all of us.

"Come now, and let us reason together," Says the Lord, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isaiah 1:18)