Is God like Santa Claus?

Tonight, a jolly big fellow will visit a lot of homes around the world. While I think the Santa Claus thing has definitely been overdone in our American celebration of Christmas with more than 80 of homes saying that he is an important part of the holiday. Relax! I am not going to bash the old guy, I just would like to take the Santa Claus story and compare it to the reality of God, our Father. In so doing, I hope that your understanding of who God is and how He acts in this world might be deepened! Even more important to me, is that you grasp the glory of grace of the Christmas story.

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To many of our friends, the idea of God and Santa Claus are very similar concepts.

They share the following traits....

Omnipresence- God is everywhere present. Santa is in every store and on every street corner.

Omniscience- God knows everything about you and that guy from the North Pole "knows who's been naughty or nice."

Moral judge- God will bring us into accountability for our actions, Santa claus will leave a gift for the good guys and coal in stocking of the bad guys.

At first glance it would seem that Santa and God are indeed similar, wouldn’t you agree?

If you’re as confused as Santa appears to be in that clip, I hope to help you get it straight.

I. Consider with me the presence of God and the presence of Santa claus.

Santa claus spends 364 days of the year secluded in his home at the North Pole. He is watching and keeping record of the way that kids live, but he offers no real help for being good other than the threat of withholding rewards. An awful lot of people think in this same way of our Lord.

When they think of God they have an idea of a wise old man hidden away in a remote place called heaven. Every now and again, he takes a look over the balcony of paradise to see how we are doing down here. More or less, he keeps a record of what's going on with us, but he is not really active or present in the world in any real way.

This idea of a remote, disinterested God is hardly compatible with the loving Lord that we find in the Scripture’s revelation!

Jesus said,

"I will not leave you as orphans...the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, will teach you all things.

He lives with you and will be in you." [John 14]

In Isaiah 43:2 the Lord said of Himself,

"when you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the flames, you will not be burned."

As Jesus was about to go into heaven, he told his disciples, "surely I will be with you always, to the end of the age."

God is present. He is active. He offers his strength to us today and the power of his goodness to help us to live in such a way that we are able to resist the temptation to sin that is ever present.

2. . Consider with me the credibility of Santa and the credibility of God.

By age 10-12, kid's have figured out the implausibility of a man in a red suit with flying reindeer. The game's up, a child cannot be manipulated by their parents and other authority figures once a that child wises up to the story.

For some kids when they outgrow Santa Claus, they also ‘outgrow” the reality of the living God!

It is tragic that for many adults the story of Luke 2, at least in terms of being true, is about the same level as the Santa Claus story. They would admit to a kernel of truth in both stories, but disavow their entire veracity.

Partially, they are right! Our beloved story about Santa Claus grew out of a story of a man named, St. Nicholas, who lived about 1,000 years ago. He was a great guy, full of genuine compassion. He took gifts to the children of his town in celebration of the birth of the Savior. Over the years the story was embellished by the telling until it became the fantastic story of that we tell our children.

The story of God's love recorded in the Bible and specifically told in the coming of Jesus Christ is no embellished story built over time. The Bible tells us an accurate story about real events that happened in a small town called Bethlehem, which God, in His ow and history as it happened. The birth of Jesus in a stable, his life, his teaching, his very real death and resurrection- these are not childhood sentimentalities.

Certainly the events of Christian require FAITH! Angels in the sky, wise men who see stars that announce a royal birth? Sure, those are amazing things, but I accept the wonder of the story along with the mystery of the Incarnation!

There are things that I do not understand that I do believe.

∙ I do not understand the concept of nuclear fission, but I do believe that nuclear weapons could destroy the world in a fiery blast.

∙ I do not understand the physics that govern the flow of electricity into my home, but I believe enough to throw the switch and expect the light bulb to shed light into my kitchen.

I do not, I must confess, begin to understand many of the ‘how’s and why’s’ of God, but I do believe that He loves me, that he gave his Son to save me, and that he will come again to this earth as the king of creation!

The creation, the Scripture, and the Spirit at work in my heart convince that the story is true, full of hope, for me – for you!

Have you dismissed God as just another expressing an inner wish, but which maturity will disprove?

Please consider again your conclusion. "Come now let reason together," says the lord.

3. Consider with me Santa's standard of judgement and God's standard of judgement.

For all the threats, I have never known anyone who really got coal from "Santa". The story says that he keeps a record and according to your works so will be your reward. Kids figure out early on that it really doesn't work out that way. No matter how they act, the man always comes through. He is just a bluffer.

Tragically, many people feel the same way about the Lord. They think that as long as the good outweighs the bad in their lives, God will understand. He's really not all that strict. He bluffs a lot but also let's a lot slide. I've heard an awful lot of "Santa Claus" sermons preached at funerals where families are falsely comforted with platitudes about the love of God despite the fact that the deceased lived a life that ignored every one of God’s invitations to know, love, and serve Him.

Let's set the record straight! God is loving, but he is holy and just as well. His love caused him to send Jesus into this world, to provide forgiveness for our sins for all have sinned. The fact is that you cannot work your way into heaven at all. You have to accept salvation as the unearned gift that it is.

God saves us by forgiving with a costly forgiveness that required great sacrifice!

He was unable in his justice and holiness to just conveniently forgetting! God conquered evil, but not by denying the reality. In his fore-knowledge he saw our need and shaped the plan of salvation, which was set in motion when he sent Jesus christ to deal with it.

Have you accepted the savior of the world as your Savior and :ord?

Are you living in the center of his love each day, growing in his holiness

Or are you counting on the lord to have a memory lapse when you stand before him to give account for your life?

Confessed sin is forgotten sin, because it is forgiven sin. That is the reality of the scripture.

Close-

God is not at all like our big guy in the red suit!

His Christmas gift, his son Jesus, was sent specifically to a world that was naughty, yes to a wicked world.

His gift is for all who will receive. And listen to the promise of the Bible.

"To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God."

Hear these eternal words of promise, believe them and live by them all your days.

Amen

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