How To Make This Day the Best Christ Mass Ever

The word Christmas comes from Old English and is formed from two parts: Christ, referring to Jesus of Nazareth, and Mass, meaning a church service or Eucharistic celebration, so the word literally means “the Mass of Christ.”

The earliest recorded form, Cristes mæsse, dates to around the 11th century and originally referred specifically to a worship gathering commemorating the birth of Jesus, not a general holiday season as it is often observed today.

Much can be said about Jesus' descent to earth and how this moment forever shifted the course of history. Even the Gregorian calendar is based on his birth, and the ripple effects of the baby in a manger continue to this day.

One of the most thought-provoking books on this topic is Alvin Schmidt’s How Christianity Changed the World. In this work, the University of Nebraska professor covered over a dozen ways in which the teachings of Jesus contribute to the “normal society” we often take for granted today.

Schmidt writes, "The lives that [Jesus] transformed in turn changed and transformed much of the world: its morals, ethics, health care, education, economics, science, law, the fine arts, and government."^[1] Based on this extraordinary impact Christ has had on society, Schmidt concluded,

I am fully persuaded that had Jesus Christ never walked the dusty paths of ancient Palestine, suffered, died, and risen from the dead, and never assembled around him a small group of disciples who spread out into the pagan world, the West would not have attained its high level of civilization, giving it the many human benefits it enjoys today.^[2]

And to many, this is all Jesus will ever be. A revolutionary figure who ushered in a new standard of ethics that propelled civilization forward until humanity could finally reach the Enlightenment era and really make progress.

Perhaps you've been swept up in this way of thinking yourself. If that's the case, I'd like to challenge you this Christmas morning and deviate from the numerous "Merry Christmas, I hope this is a wonderful day for you and your loved ones" posts that will be flooding your inbox and social media timelines.

Stiffer Stuff

Two days ago, as I prepared to write this devotional, I saw on my X feed a post from former Nebraska senator Ben Sasse making this statement: "Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die."

The rawness of those words hit deep. At only 53 years old, Sasse seemed to have many more years to live. But I found his thoughts so encouraging that I wanted to share them with you this Christmas morning because they tie in so beautifully with our Advent theme. Sasse wrote:

There’s not a good time to tell your peeps you’re now marching to the beat of a faster drummer — but the season of advent isn’t the worst. As a Christian, the weeks running up to Christmas are a time to orient our hearts toward the hope of what’s to come.

Not an abstract hope in fanciful human goodness; not hope in vague hallmark-sappy spirituality; not a bootstrapped hope in our own strength (what foolishness is the evaporating-muscle I once prided myself in). Nope — often we lazily say “hope” when what we mean is “optimism.” To be clear, optimism is great, and it’s absolutely necessary, but it’s insufficient. It’s not the kinda thing that holds up when you tell your daughters you’re not going to walk them down the aisle. Nor telling your mom and pops they’re gonna bury their son.

A well-lived life demands more reality — stiffer stuff. That’s why, during advent, even while still walking in darkness, we shout our hope — often properly with a gravelly voice soldiering through tears.

Such is the calling of the pilgrim. Those who know ourselves to need a Physician should dang well look forward to enduring beauty and eventual fulfillment. That is, we hope in a real Deliverer — a rescuing God, born at a real time, in a real place. But the eternal city — with foundations and without cancer — is not yet.

Remembering Isaiah’s prophecies of what’s to come doesn’t dull the pain of current sufferings. But it does put it in eternity’s perspective:
“When we've been there 10,000 years…We've no less days to sing God's praise.”

These were powerful clarifying words written from a place of obvious pain.

What If You Don't Know Jesus?

Because this is The Monday Christian, I assume that many of my subscribers are just that—Christians.

However, it isn't lost on me that this might not be your reality. Maybe you've embraced the cultural trappings of Christianity, consider yourself a spiritual person, and generally like much of what Jesus stood for. But something is missing. God is not real to you, and much as you might enjoy this wonderful season, there's a part of you that doesn't get it.

You don't understand the hope Christians talk about and assume they must be making something up, exaggerating their personal experiences, or obviously naive in their thinking—leaning on the crutch of religion to give them hope in hard times.

You're not alone. As Timothy Keller once wrote, “The average person on the street believes that a Christian is someone who follows Christ’s teaching and example.” Nothing more.

But simply following Jesus' teaching and trying to live a good moral life is not what being a Christian is all about.

The Real Good News

So, what is the real gospel, the good news?

It’s this: Because of the sin of one man, Adam, death came into the world. The result of this death is that the curse of sin rests upon every human today. You and I are bent with an inclination to live selfishly and independently from God.

The greater the sin, the greater the penalty, and the highest sin one can ever commit is treason against an almighty God. It's to live a life that pushes him to the side and asserts that we are the Lords of our lives. The penalty for such a sin is death and eternal separation from the one we've rejected.

No amount of personal works or goodness will ever be enough to get us into Heaven, and the only one who can ever pay the penalty for this sin of treason is God in the flesh, the God-man, the perfect mediator and bridge between humanity and God—Jesus Christ.

Through Christ’s descent to earth and death on the cross, he paid the penalty for your sins so that you can be forgiven and have an eternal relationship with him. One that does not stop when you die. As Timothy Keller wrote,

The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.

This self-sacrificial act by Christ is a free gift that can only be received by grace through faith. The gospel doesn’t revolve around you, your experiences, and your personal relationship with Jesus. It revolves around Jesus.

What makes the story of Jesus’ humble birth and the coming of the shepherds and wise men so powerful is that it is a clear invitation that all are welcome to receive Christ as Savior. Jonathan Pennington writes,

To receive the good news of the gospel is to come to understand that, despite our background and failures, God reaches out to us with the loving message of peace. Receiving the gospel is not just understanding an abstract idea but it is believing by faith that the glorious God of the universe is now pleased with us and speaks peace into our personal lives.

So, let me ask you a personal question this Christmas morning: do you know Jesus?

Not just as a theory, but do you actually know him? Do you know what it means to have a personal relationship with him that is greater than any earthly relationship? Does your life revolve around him, or is he an addition to a self-gospel you've created on your own?

If it's the latter, why don't you resolve to let today be a defining moment in your life's journey?

A Personal Invitation

In my first book, What Kind of God Do I Serve? I included a simple prayer that I almost left out. Little did I know that this would be the prayer my cousin would pray to accept Christ. And as a result of Christ's work, her life has been transformed. It's a simple one that only has power if it comes from an authentic heart.

Jesus, I admit that I am a sinner who is in desperate need of a Savior. For too long, I have tried to run my life my way. Today I want things to be different. I acknowledge my need for you and repent of the sins I have committed against you. I believe you are the only one who can save me from my sins. I no longer want to be a servant of sin, but I want to be a servant of you. From this day forward, I commit to obeying your voice. This very moment, I call out to you in faith, asking you to come into my life and change me. I worship you, Jesus. Amen.

If you prayed this prayer, here is what's beautiful. Just as this day is a celebration of the birth of Christ, so it could become the celebration of a spiritual birth in you. One Jesus talked about in John 3. One that gives you eternal hope that lasts in wonderful times like today, and times of hardship that are to come.

Then and only then will this day be a truly merry Christ Mass.

[1] Alvin J. Schmidt, How Christianity Changed the World (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), Kindle edition, 16.

[2] Alvin J. Schmidt, How Christianity Changed the World (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), Kindle edition, 14.