Welcome to the For the Gospel Podcast, where we provide sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Kosti Hinn. And whether you're listening to this on your favorite podcast platform or you're watching on our YouTube channel, I'm so thankful that you've joined me for this episode. I want to just say it because it's time to say it. Merry Christmas. I know it's early, but it is my favorite time of year. We're entering into the December window, Thanksgiving in the rear view. And what can be more fitting than to encourage you every single week, every Monday, when a new episode comes out here for the gospel with Christmas-themed podcast episodes. I want to talk to you about truths that will help you focus on Jesus. I want you to be filled with hope. I want you to grow in sound doctrine. And so here we go: a little Christmas series starting now. Today, I want to talk about four misconceptions about Christmas. And I want to help you understand things that maybe culturally or just in tradition have woven their way into very dogmatic views that you might have or I used to have. And I want to just help you kind of get in the Christmas mindset with this episode. And then next week, I want to talk about why the incarnation changes everything. That Jesus came and he took on human flesh, game changer. And then we'll uh talk about how to keep your Christmas focused on Christ. Very important. And that'll be, I would call it kind of the halftime episode. We're midway through December and you're feeling the rush and the push and the work parties and all of the action and the recitals. And maybe, just maybe by then, it'll be perfect timing for an episode where I can wrangle us all back into a Christ-centered focus. And hopefully by the end of that, you're going, Costi, I needed that one right about now. And believe me, I'm preaching to myself. I'll be saying the exact same thing. And then we'll take a look at the forgotten characters of Christmas. I've got specific lessons about the character of God found in each example. I don't want to give too much away about that one. And then I want to do a special bonus episode because the last episode will come out and then it'll be Christmas week. I want to do a Christmas Eve episode. I'm calling from the manger to the cross. So on the morning of Christmas Eve, if you have to work, you can be encouraged on the way to work. If you got the day off, you can listen to it. Get your heart ready for Christmas Eve services and Christmas Day. It would not be Christmas without thinking about Calvary. And so we've got to consider the manger to the cross. But let's talk about four misconceptions here about Christmas. I think everyone loves Christmas for the most part. Most people, though, carry some kind of misconceptions about this particular holiday, even sincere Christians. And these are not actually biblical, they're not actually historical. And so in this episode, I want to clear away some of the myths and a little bit of the debris and recover the wonder of what really happened when Christ was born. And when we see the truth more clearly, our worship runs deeper. And that's really the goal. I'm not trying to ruin your holiday or be Scrooge. I just want to help you think deeper and really worship deeper. Misconception number one, Jesus was born on December 25th. I don't know about you, but I grew up being told Halloween is the devil's birthday and Christmas, well, it's Jesus' birthday. And when they run pretty close together, because you know, the devil's birthday is first, and people think it's like, what are we doing? Listen, reality is this: we don't know the exact date. Scripture never gives a day on the calendar, only that shepherds were in the fields at night, Luke chapter 2, verse 8, which could suggest even springtime, but it also doesn't rule out winter. Some historical background here. Early believers in the fourth century did choose December 25th, that we see historically, partly to offer a distinctly Christian celebration amid pagan solstice festivals. Yet some church fathers, like Chrysostom, actually argued that a late December birth fits historical clues, and Roman censuses often occurred after the harvest, not during the peak of summer, when people could travel more easily. And you've got Bethlehem in this time, and it's got a pretty mild winter climate, and so it makes outdoor shepherding a plausible reality. And so we can't be dogmatic. We could say there was a winter birth. It's not impossible. You could say it might have been, maybe more towards the February-March window. But whatever it is, December 25th may providentially be closer than some critics assume. Whatever the case, this is what we should be thinking about. Luke chapter 2, verses 10 and 11 says, But the angels said to them, Do not be afraid. It's the angels appearing to the shepherds. For behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all people. For today in the city of David, there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. The angelic announcement grounds Christmas not in a date, but a declaration. Today there has been born for you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. So what's our takeaway? The date isn't sacred, the event is. December 25th, you can call it Jesus' birthday, but we're not hung up on a day. We're hung up on a declaration. I mean, it's God all of us. I'm hooked. I'm captured and captivated. God entered humanity. God became flesh. God sent a savior to rescue lost sinners. And so every day you can worship him as Christmas Day, but this is just a moment that we reflect on what it means that he has come as a savior. Misconception number two, the magi arrived at the manger. Now, I made a joke recently, and I thought it was pretty funny. I think most of our church did too, where I said, if you're one of those very technically, historically correct type of Christians, your nativity scene this Christmas will have the wise men a little further away on the mantle. What was my point? My point was they're traveling in, they're not there that night in Bethlehem. We often think the wise men rolled up on that night, brought gifts, but by the time the wise men arrived, Jesus was quite likely a toddler living in a house. Matthew 2, verse 11 makes this pretty clear. Nativity scenes always combine the two moments for simplicity. You get the shepherds on the night of his birth, the angels, you have the magi, but the magi came months, but perhaps more likely a year, even two years later. Matthew chapter 2, verses 9 to 11 says this, and I'm reading it from the NASB. After hearing the king, they went their way, and the star stood over the place where the child was, talking about the wise men being kind of snagged in by King Herod. Tell me when you find him, I want to worship him too. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. After coming into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell to the ground and worshipped him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. What's the context? Matthew uses the word house, not stable, child, not baby. These men likely traveled hundreds of miles from Persia. Proof that, by the way, God draws nations to his son, little foreshadowing of the Great Commission. And what's the takeaway? Well, whether poor shepherd or wealthy, wise traveler, every person is called to bow before Christ the King. So on one hand, let's understand historically what was accurate. But on the other, is it really about the fact that they came when he was a toddler, or was it two years or one year, or this, that, and the other? No. I mean, let's make sure our kids understand the scene of the nativity that's happening and the accuracy historically and biblically. But what was the point? All will come. The poor shepherds, the wealthy wise men. To do what? To worship the king. That's the point. Misconception number three, there were three wise men. I didn't want to hit this one, but you might have caught it in the passage I just read. The Bible never gives a number. So maybe you're like me when you were a kid, you were in the Christmas program, and there were three wise men. Remember one of those, and one guy had frankincense and one had myrrh, and one had gold, and you came in on three camels and all of that. Look, it's sweet, it's cute, it can be helpful. There's nothing wrong with that or sinful. But I want you to understand, the Bible never gives a number. Only three types of gifts. Later, tradition fills in the blanks. In Matthew chapter 2, verses 1 and 2, it says, Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the king in the days of Herod the king, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who has been born, king of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him. They came to worship. I mentioned that already. But I also made mention of the words of Matthew when he says, They bowed before him and they opened for him treasures of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Notice the three gifts, but never three men. It's plural, could have been two, could have been five. But what were they? The magi, they were learned men, probably court advisors. That's why we might refer to them as the wise men, because they gave wisdom, and their mission was one thing worship. So once again, it doesn't matter if it was the poor shepherds, the wealthy magi, or how many came, or how many gifts. All came in awe. And the wise still seek, and the wealthy still bow, and the poor still come to be filled, because worship is the point of Christmas. Misconception number four. Mary and Joseph were alone in a cold barn. Maybe you've heard it preached before. Sometimes we as preachers can get a little hyped up, a little fired up, and we can start embellishing illustrations or making stories more hyperbolic than they need to be. I remember years ago, my wife telling me early on in preaching, Costi, can you please just do me one favor? My wife is a real stickler for accuracy, and God bless her for it. She's a tremendous blessing in it. Don't embellish your illustrations. If there was 500, say 500. If there was two, say two. If there was four, say four. If it was blue, say blue. You don't need to make the story cooler. If it doesn't fit, it doesn't fit. If a more extreme version is what it takes to make the point land, then don't use the illustration. You know, my wife is a wise, godly woman. And sometimes as preachers, we play this stuff up at Christmas. Jesus was born in a barn. They're just sitting there alone. You know, this little girl, 13 years old, and her husband, she's been pregnated and not married. Oh, and you make this huge thing, and Jesus, this refugee, is just sitting there in a cold barn, you know, and and and there's like little bits of truth in it, and then it's it's hyperbolic. And people who don't know the scriptures are like, oh my goodness, it's true. Wow, he was just in a barn. I can't believe that. I would never want to have a baby in a barn. And and and I get it. Preachers are trying to make this really deep point that he came humble and lowly. But here's the deal: let's be accurate, please. The Greek word that translates for in in Luke 2, 7, more accurately means guest room. First century homes often had a lower level where animals stayed at night. Bethlehem is crowded because of the census, so guest space is full, and Mary had to give birth in the humble lower room. But it's not like she's out in the fields just in the middle of nowhere, and she's out in a barn, and they're like, no, Luke 2, verses 6 to 7 says while they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him in cloths, okay? He had cloths, and laid him in a manger. Now that's going to be humble, it's a food trough, because there was no room for them in the inn. There was no room for them in the guest room, the formal guest room. This was likely a family home, not a cold and lonely barn. God's son was born in simplicity. He would have been welcomed by relatives, the people in the home, would have helped, would have been wrapped up by his mother, placed in a feed trough, a place to put him still. They would have probably cleaned it out of something. It's not like they threw him in, you know, you think of Charlotte's Webb and the rat Templeton and the food trough and slot for pigs. And it's like Jesus got chucked in there. No, like when preachers do that, it drives me crazy because I'm thinking, brother, you can still make the same point about humility and simplicity, but we don't need to hype it up. Like he was chucked in the Charlotte's Webb, you know, pig trough. Slow it down. Let's get some biblical accuracy in the picture here and realize this. Jesus wasn't born in a stable because people were cruel and he got thrown in a feed trough. He was born this way because God is humble. And what I mean by that is God the Son. Jesus came, Philippians 2 tells us, humble to lay his life down. This is a picture of the creator of heaven and earth condescending. It was not a promotion to take on human flesh, my friend. It was a demotion. He came down to our level, to the lowest place to raise us up to the highest place to heaven. And so don't get caught up in these hyperbolic, extended descriptions of Christmas. Just stick to the real story, and you will find wow, I'm in awe of him all the same, if not all the more. We're here to worship. We're celebrating Christmas to celebrate the King. And he came humble and lowly to lay his life down for us. Surely he deserves our attention, our affection, and our worship, our adoration all Christmas long. The more we peel away the legends, the clearer the glory of God shines. God stepped into real history through real people in real poverty spiritually for real sinners who needed real salvation. John 1 14 says the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory. Glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and full of truth. The true story of Christmas is not sentimental, it's supernatural. You don't need to try to hype it up to make it amazing. It already is amazing the way it stands in the scriptures. The eternal Son became man so that man might be reconciled to God. And so we pray, Lord, thank you for the miracle of the incarnation. Thank you for Christmas. Strip away the myths and the materialism of this season that the world seeks to infiltrate with and deepen my awe of you this Christmas. My prayer for you is that this Christmas would fill your heart with gratitude and that you would behold him in all his glory, the word who became flesh to save you and me. Merry Christmas. We're just getting started. I can't wait to dig in with you next week on the glory of the incarnation. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. Thanks for sharing. 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