The Everlasting Meaning of Christmas and Jesus Presence*

Christmas is about far more than traditions, gifts, or a moment in history. In this message, Pastor Chris Teien explains the eternal meaning of Christmas by tracing God’s long-planned rescue mission through Jesus Christ and showing how His coming offers forgiveness, transformation, lasting joy, and the promise of eternal life. 

Link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2285086/episodes/18408186

Key Points:

1. Christmas reveals God’s planned rescue mission
    God’s plan of salvation was announced centuries in advance through prophecy and fulfilled perfectly in the birth of Jesus, reminding us that God keeps His promises and works in His perfect timing.
2. Christmas points to forgiveness through the cross
    Jesus did not come only to be born, but to suffer, die, and shed His blood so that sin could be forgiven and broken lives could be made right with God.
3. Christmas invites us into eternal life with Jesus
    Through His completed sacrifice and ongoing intercession, Jesus offers believers eternal life and the assurance of being with Him forever.
4. Christmas calls for a personal response of faith
    Each person must respond by believing in Jesus, receiving Him as Savior, and choosing to follow Him daily with trust and obedience.

Personal Stories from Pastor Chris:
Pastor Chris uses everyday Christmas experiences, including food, traditions, and family moments, to contrast temporary pleasures with the eternal joy found in a personal relationship with Jesus.

Notable Quotes:
 “Christmas is about Jesus and the eternal value of living for Him.”
 “Jesus did not just come to forgive sin, but to be with us forever.”
 “Joy is the confident assurance that God is in control, even when life feels uncertain.”

Actionable Takeaways:
 Reflect on what Christmas truly means beyond traditions
 Consider whether you have personally received Christ
 Share your testimony of life before and after Jesus
 Choose daily to put Jesus first in time, priorities, and decisions

Scripture References:
Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:6, Micah 5:2, Matthew 1:18–23, Matthew 1:21, Luke 19:10, Isaiah 53:3–6, Hebrews 9:22, John 1:29, John 14:1–6, Hebrews 7:25, Hebrews 10:12, Acts 1:11, John 11:25–26, Revelation 3:20, John 1:12, Luke 9:23, John 15:11, Revelation 22:12 

Keywords:
 Christmas meaning, Jesus Christ, salvation, forgiveness, eternal life, joy in Christ, faith, gospel, hope 

Challenge:
This week, take a personal step toward Jesus by trusting Him, following Him more closely, or sharing the hope of Christmas with someone who needs to hear it.

20.1220de

The WELL Faith Podcast offers encouraging, Bible-based messages from Pastor Chris Teien and guests. New sermons are released every Sunday. Replay episodes are marked with an asterisk. Find us online at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.Church in Virginia, MN. Email comments to wellfaith24@gmail.com

Transcript

Chris T 0:16

I want to talk about the everlasting meaning of Christmas. Christmas means so much more than a baby in a major. Christmas means so much more than just giving gifts and decorating and lights and family gatherings and food and candy and caramels and all sorts of things. So I was really trying to eat healthy, and then someone brought me some delicious caramel and chocolates and everything else. And I'm just gonna have to wait a few more days before I start eating healthy again, at least until that good food is gone. But that's not what Christmas is about. Christmas is about Jesus, the eternal value of worshiping Jesus and living for Jesus transforms our life. You know, Jesus came to this earth on a mission, Jesus knew what he was doing. Jesus knew that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God. He came in to the world to trans, to give us an opportunity to be transformed and to make it possible for us to be made right with God. It was awesome. And it is awesome that we know this story that we aren't waiting for it to happen, but it has already happened. And that's what we celebrate at Christmas time. Jesus' rescue mission was planned. It was planned over 700 years before it happened in Isaiah 9:6. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And that's who Jesus is to us. That's who Jesus is to us. Isaiah 7.14. Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign, the virgin will be with a child, and will give birth to a son, and we'll call him Emmanuel, which means God with us in Isaiah 7.14, and that's exactly what happened. That's what happened. Micah 5.2, prophesied, you Bethlehem, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me, one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. You know the Christmas story. You know how this happened. God fulfills his plans in amazing ways and at the perfect time. Matthew 1.18. This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. His mother Mary, who was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. So God had a plan, and at the perfect time, in his perfect timing, it happened. It came to pass. It was just as he said it would be. We can trust when God says things are going to happen, we can trust that they will happen. And when they don't happen in our time frame, we can trust that they will happen in God's time frame. Because Jesus came to save us. Save us from what? Save us from the penalty of our sins. Save us from the people we would be without Jesus. Can you imagine what your life would be like if you didn't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? Can you imagine what our society would be like if there were no scriptures, no compass, no guidebook manual on how to live this life? I mean, a lot of people are choosing not to follow it, but a lot of people do. And as we follow Jesus and tell other people about Jesus and people become disciples, it changes their lives and they actually become better people to live with, to be to live around in society. Jesus came to save us, Matthew 1.21. She will give birth. Mary will give birth to a son. You're to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. You and I need to be saved from the penalty of our sins. We are born sinners and we live as sinners. We all sinned against God. And we need to be forgiven of that sin. There's nothing we can do to buy our way out of it. We can't work our way out of it. There's nothing we can do to be made right with God on our own except to receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Jesus was passionate. He knew that he came to save lost people. Luke 19, 10, Jesus says, For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost for those who are lost. Jesus came to save sinners. That was his mission, and he suffered for it. He would you come to this world, come to this earth, and know that you would be crucified on a cross, know that you would be despised, know that you would be rejected, know all the hard things that you would go through. I mean, really, look at it. Jesus came to this world as a baby, endured that, and then as he was starting his ministry, people should listen, people should be excited, people should follow Jesus, and instead, many turned against him, many, many persecuted him. Isaiah 53, 3 said that was gonna happen. And I'm sure Jesus knew what he was getting into before he showed up, and he did it because he loves you and me. He loves the world, and he wants them to come to into a right relationship with God through faith in Jesus. So I'm gonna talk about that in a minute. But if I Isaiah 53:3 about Jesus, it was foretold that he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrow and familiar with suffering, like one from whom men hide their faces. He was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted. Christmas is about Jesus, who grew up to love us, and he was willing to endure all sorts of pain and difficulty for us. He didn't have to endure it, he didn't have to put up with it, but he did, because he loves you and I, and all the people in the room with you, and all the people around you. Jesus took our punishment, Isaiah 53, 5. He was pierced for our transgressions. That's what on the cross, uh, when he was crucified, he was crushed for our iniquities, our sins. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him. So he took our sins and exchanged that for, exchanged our sins for his righteousness. By his wounds, we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Jesus took upon himself our sins, so that we could be forgiven, so that we could be positionally sinless. That's so awesome. And this is why we celebrate Christmas. So Christmas is so much more than toys or Santa Claus or reindeer or even snow, even though I'm happy to see the snow. So Jesus' blood removes our sin. He shed his blood on the cross. Blood is what was required. In the Old Testament, they would sacrifice animals. The animals' blood was what was required to cover the sins of people, a temporary covering until Jesus came. Hebrews 9 22, in fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness, no remission of sins. And John 1.29 says the next day John, John the Baptist, saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And that's maybe that's one reason why the angels appeared to shepherds, is because they knew that Jesus would be the good shepherd, and he would also is also the Lamb of God, who is the ultimate sacrifice to make it possible by the shedding of his blood for our sins to be forgiven. That's what Christmas is all about. And you know what's even better than that? Even better than a get out of hell free card, even better than just having our sins forgiven, even better than having a manual for living, is knowing that Jesus plans to always be with us. His eternal plan for us is for us to be with him. To be saved and, you know, put on our own planet to do our own thing. That's not as exciting as knowing that we get to dwell with Jesus and be with Jesus. John 14, 1. I know you love this verse as much as I do, this passage. Jesus says, Don't let your hearts be troubled. There's sure a lot of reasons to be troubled, sickness, job loss, uh, all sorts of insecurities and difficulties, and oh man. But Jesus says, Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my father's house or many rooms, if or not so, I would have told you. I'm going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me so that you also may be where I am. Jesus went to prepare a place for. So some people say, well, he's been gone a really long time, so it must be a really big place. Now I'm pretty sure he could prepare that place as fast as he wanted to, but he's just waiting until the perfect time to return. You know, the longer we wait for Jesus to return, the longer he takes to show up, the more people that have an opportunity to be saved, the more people have an opportunity to be born and be able to experience eternity with us. I mean, think about this. Maybe your children haven't been born yet. And Jesus is going to wait, and your children will be born and they'll get saved and they will spend eternity with you. You don't even know who they are yet. They haven't been born, they don't even have names. But uh as Jesus waits, more and more people are born into the world, and those are people that may we may spend eternity with. So future grandchildren, so exciting. Friends, neighbors, lost people that get saved, spending eternity with them, spending eternity with Jesus. And Jesus is the only way to God. Thomas says, Lord, we don't know where you're going, so how can we know the way? And Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. So Jesus is the way. There's all sorts of religions, all sorts of counterfeits, all sorts of other ways, all sorts of moral choices, all sorts of lists that you can keep to try to be made right with God. But Jesus is the only way. You must repent of your sin and believe on Jesus Christ to be saved, so that you will spend eternity with him, so that you will be totally forgiven of your sin. That's what Christmas is all about. And Jesus completed his mission. He is the high priest that's able to sympathize us with us in all of our troubles and weaknesses because he was tempted in every way, yet never gave in, never sinned. Jesus knows what it's like to be a baby. Jesus knows what it's like to be a junior hire. Jesus knows what it's like to go through all the difficulties of life because he experienced that kind of life. He didn't just show up, he could have just shown up and said, I'm here, do this. I'm gonna die for your sin. I'm gonna rise again. I'm out of here. I'll come back sometime when it's more convenient. No way. He's working out a plan. One of his plans is that we live out our lives and glorify him by the things that we do, by the way that we worship and the things we choose to do. Jesus has completed this mission. Uh, Hebrews 10 12, when this priest had offered for all time, when but when this priest, Jesus, had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, Hebrews 10.12, and Hebrews 7.25 says, Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. He didn't just die on the cross and rise again and go into heaven and say, See you later. He intercedes for us, he cares about us. That's what this personal relationship with Jesus Christ stuff is all about, is that you and I have this opportunity to have fellowship with Jesus even now. Someday when he returns, I hope for you and for me that it won't be an introduction, but it will be like a family reunion, and we'll see Jesus face to face, and we know him, and he will know us. So awesome. That's what Christmas is all about. But Jesus is coming back. He promised he's coming back, he's coming back in the clouds. Acts 1.11. Jesus had ascended into heaven. The angel said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. Jesus is going to return someday at just the perfect time. And that's even better than Christmas. Even better than Christmas. If we're going to participate in this with Jesus, if we're going to have life in Jesus, if we're going to have eternal life in Jesus, if we are going to experience all the good things that God brings us through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we need to believe upon Jesus. We need to place our faith in Jesus. John 11, 25, Jesus says, I'm the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies. And whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? So we will live in Jesus. If I die, if I die, I'm going to pass through death's door straight into the presence of Jesus. And if I live in Christ, I will never die when it comes to uh that eternal death where I'm separated from God, that death that doesn't lead to eternity with Jesus, that type of death. So I probably should preach or share a message of that on in the future. But for the sake of time, I'm gonna move on. But Jesus says, Do you believe this? Do you believe this? Jesus waits for you to respond. Jesus knocks on the door of your heart, says, You've heard the message. Do you believe? You've heard about me. Will you follow me? Will you submit your will and ask me to come into your life and save you because I will. Revelation 3.20. Jesus says, Here I am. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and be with him and eat with him and he with me. So this opportunity to be with Jesus, he doesn't force his way into your life. And it's not for every single person in the world, just because they were born into the world. It's not for every single person that's an American. It's for every single person that received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. He gave the right to become children of God. So what do I have to do to do this? What must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I think that one of the best ways for us to enter into our relationship with Jesus Christ is by asking him. Prayer is talking to God. Jesus is God. There's God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. By believing and confessing our sin to the Lord. Repenting is realizing we're heading in the wrong direction and wanting to turn the other direction. It's turning from sin. By praying. So praying is not going to be gone. And if you would like to receive Jesus Christ right now, you can do it by praying something like this. Now, this prayer, the words of this prayer aren't magical, they don't save you by saying the words. But if it's your what your heart wants to do, that's what you've decided to do, then tell Jesus through prayer. Pray something like this Lord Jesus, I am a sinner and I've sinned against you. I realize that you came into this world, lived among us to teach us how to live, and that you died on the cross for our sin and rose again. Jesus, please forgive me of my sin and come into my life and save me and make me the person you created me to be. I want to follow you in Jesus' name. Amen. If you have come into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, let us know, because we want to celebrate with you. Uh eternal life is the best gift ever. When you get saved, you receive the Holy Spirit. You receive at least one spiritual gift, you receive the assurance of heaven and answered prayer and the ability to understand scripture. So much more comes with a personal relationship with Jesus. And you and I have a great opportunity to point people to Jesus. You and I have a great opportunity to point people to Jesus. We should share that message with everybody. We should lift up Jesus with our personal testimonies in our lives. We should share with others what our life was like before we came to Jesus, how we came to Jesus, and what our life has been like since. So maybe if you're if you've got some people over, you're video chatting with some people uh with your family or whatever, maybe you want to do that today, maybe you want to do that this evening. Maybe you just want to take some time and go around the room and everybody can share briefly what their life was like before they came to Jesus, how they came to Jesus, and what their life has been like since. And maybe somebody there is gonna say, Well, I've never come to Jesus. Ask them this question. Ask them, have you ever come into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? Are you still somewhere along the way? And if they say, Well, I'm still somewhere along the way, ask them, how far along the way are you? And then start to talk to them about the historic validation of Jesus and how we know that we can believe the Bible is true, and how the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin to draw us to Jesus and what it means to be saved, and all of these different things. And this brings joy. Following Jesus brings joy, more than just happiness. Happiness is a feeling. Sometimes we feel happy, sometimes we don't. Sometimes when we're joyful, we're happy too, but other times joy is this confident assurance that everything is going to be okay. Even when things are falling apart, joy uh lets us know that God's in control and he can work things out, and we just need to trust him and keep walking with him. And joy is just this confident hope that we have in Christ, in Jesus, in God. Uh, Luke 9 23, Jesus says to them, If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. So you truly find joy when you put Jesus first, you truly find joy when you make decisions and choices with your time, your talents, your treasures, with all that stuff to put Jesus first. You know, when we give to the Lord first with our income, he can bless our income and he can provide for us. And as we see God providing for us, and we know we've been faithful to give back to him as an act of worship with our income, that brings joy. And when we use our talents and our time, we put Jesus first, it brings joy. So in the coming year, focus on what you can do to live more for Jesus and experience more of that joy. John 15, verse 11, Jesus says, I've told you this, so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. When we live in Jesus, it leads to joy and contentment. Even when things are difficult, even when things are falling apart. And then finally, one thing I like about Christmas is that Jesus rewards the faithful. Jesus rewards the faithful. That means when I serve Jesus, I can expect reward. I can expect reward now or an eternal reward. That's not my total motivation for serving, but it surely is a great motivation to know that he's going to return and he's going to reward us according to what we've done. Revelation 22, 12. Behold, I'm coming soon. My reward is with me, and I would give to everyone according to what he has done. These rewards could we can take with us for eternity. These rewards are significant. Would you like to have your life acknowledged by Jesus, complimented by Jesus? Wouldn't you love to hear Jesus say about your life? Well done, good and faithful servant. That would be so awesome and what a great way to live. And when we think about Jesus, his plan, his purpose, his provision, and even the fact that you know if we live right, there could be promotion for eternity in Jesus. I mean, just think if Jesus finds us faithful in this life today, then in the rest of eternity, he might give us greater opportunities to do so much more.