It would have been a very peculiar Christmas in Big Sandy, Texas.
Bleak and barren of classic Christmas thrills and frills.
Exactly 30 years ago in 1994.
The head of a large international organization had just delivered a nearly three-hour message to stakeholders, leaving them in a state of stupor.
Delivered on Christmas Eve, it would indeed be the eve of tremors and aftershocks of global proportions. The biggest that many of the listeners would ever experience.
Theirs was a worldwide empire having marked their 60th year. Ubiquitous on TV, radio and print – not known for flying under the radar. Raking in nearly $100 million annually.
And this message at Big Sandy precipitated the giant crushing to dust of much of this organization’s operations and size, and sinking of its raison d’être.
Its change of course lambasted as a seismic departure from the achievements and out-of-the-box thinking of its late founder.
Amidst the turmoil, a vast majority of the organization’s members and backers pulled out. Shrinking operations and massive liquidation of assets would follow, leaving an ebbed remnant of what once was.
You might be trying to think back and wonder if you had ever heard of this. What exactly is it that happened three decades ago of this magnitude, to such an organization?
“Does this have something to do with Enron?” you might wonder.
Another blast from the past. But no, this had nothing to do with Enron.
But like Enron, this organization’s trajectory left many feeling betrayed by those under whose watch it occurred.
There was, however, a small handful of members who had reason for rejoicing.
But why? What could they possibly have gained amid such an upheaval?
Everything.
Everything? Through some daring escape from the law? Scurrying off with the spoils to some far-off haven?
No, not quite. But keenly enough, not terribly far off either.
And what exactly was contained in an hours-long lecture that preceded this cataclysm?
And, of all days, on Christmas Eve?
Whoever you are, read closely. What happened to the listeners might just happen to you.
“Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? … Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? (Gal 3:2, 5-6)”
“Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions… So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. (Gal 3:19, 24-26)”
“For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus….. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. (Rom 3:20-24, 28)”
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Rom 5:1-2)”
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom 8:1-4)”
“ … how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Heb 9:14)”
“For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near… And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all… For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (Heb 10:1, 10, 14)”
By now, you’re cluing in. A church, not Enron. A sermon unveiling Christ in scripture, not the statement of a grim corporate report (although again, the sermon was grim to some, but not to others).
“So what is the point of this? Don’t churches have sermons on Christmas Eve?” you might wonder.
You would be hard pressed to find this sermon being delivered anywhere on Christmas Eve. In any church.
You would have been even harder pressed to find this sermon being delivered to the Worldwide Church of God. At any time, since its founding in 1934.
Until Christmas Eve, 1994.
In a church, incidentally, that forbid the celebration of Christmas.
You would, however, not have been hard pressed to find the Worldwide Church of God conspicuous on the airwaves and newsstands popping up everywhere offering their free magazines – in addition to being showcased in all manner of publication on cultic religions.
It can be said that the Worldwide Church of God’s captivating founder compelled followers to strive for divine favour through Old Testament adherence.
Frequent religious feasts. Subservience to sabbaths. Toilsome teachings on tithes. Dictates and decrees.
Such as the condemnation of Christmas.
But as validated by verses in the Christmas Eve Sermon, such efforts do nothing to achieve acceptance by God.
Only accepting what Jesus did, as a gift, can reconcile us to God. Accepting that Jesus was punished for our sins in our place, brutally executed on a wooden cross.
Although the good news of Jesus Christ has left its imprint worldwide – as even the name Christmas suggests – it is still not a popular message.
To many, it is offensive that God has judged us to be deserving of punishment.
That our sin-stained lives will never achieve a tip-of-the-hat from God.
That God alone had to provide, and himself become, the sacrifice to receive the punishment that our sins deserve.
Take the result of profound undercurrents creating doctrinal shifts in the Worldwide Church of God, culminating in the dramatic Christmas Eve Sermon’s emphasis on grace.
Grace. That is, God giving us what we cannot earn, through Christ’s sacrifice for us.
This message was refused by tens of thousands, splintering into gatherings that continued to pursue old religious rigor that could never achieve what Christ accomplished at the cross for us.
But those who turned to seek God, on his terms, in the statistically diminished Worldwide Church of God entered into spiritually stirring fulfilment and joy.
Joy with the greatness of the Father’s love, and acceptance through Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for us. And this in the power of the Holy Spirit, by a people newly confessing the triune nature of God.
They later adopted a new name: Grace Communion International.
Grace. As in, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph 2:8)”
Sounds like the best Christmas gift one could ever hope to get.
And if Jesus is indeed embraced as the “reason for the season”, it would stand to reason why Grace Communion International ceased to oppose celebrating Christmas.
No sane parents make their kids work for their Christmas gifts. And no sane kids try to earn their gifts.
But like kids who overflow with love for the parents who first loved them, so it is with us, born from above, loving the God who first loved us with such amazing grace.
If you try to earn salvation from God, you will indeed receive your wages.
But then, you will never get the gift.
Put another way, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 6:23)”.
Like those who became Grace Communion International, I celebrate and give thanks for this indescribable gift.
And giving thanks that I did not receive what I actually deserve. And gladly following the one who did receive what I deserve. Who gave me what he alone deserves.
Celebrating Christmas, or not celebrating Christmas, is not a requirement to be saved.
Receiving Christ as a gift, however, is.
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (1 Pet 2:24)”
The gifts under the Christmas tree, nice as they are, will perish.
Those who receive the gift given by the one who died on the tree will never perish.
Joy to the world. For God so loved the world that he gave us his only Son.
Joy to the worldwide church of God. All who believe in the Son, who will not perish but have everlasting life.
Joy to the communion of grace. By faith alone through Jesus Christ alone.
Joy in the power and fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
Happy 30th anniversary of the Christmas Eve Sermon.
Merry Christmas.