Real Jesus - Part 2: Santa Claus Jesus

The following is from The Crossroads Community Church message series "Real Jesus" by Pastor Shawn Kemp.

During the Christmas season, we are taking a look at who Jesus really is. After all, Jesus is who Christmas is all about. It’s his birthday that we are celebrating.

You see, there are a lot of people who say they like Jesus, but they don’t necessarily know a lot about Jesus. For a lot of people, Jesus is little more than a plastic bobble-head doll that is kind of amusing and makes you smile and they have good feelings about him, but that’s about all there is to their image of Jesus. But the real Jesus is so much more phenomenal, so much more amazing, so much more incredible. And, so, what we are doing in this series is we are just looking at some of the popular images and ideas of Jesus that are out there, and comparing those images with the real Jesus.

Jesus one time posed the same kind of question to his disciples.

“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ‘But what about you?’ he asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’”

Who do you say that I am? Here’s why this is so important. Because our view of Jesus has a huge impact on the way we live our lives. Your view of Jesus will effect the way you treat other people, the way you pray, the risks you are willing to take in life, the way you impact the world around you, the things you give your time and energy and talents and money to. Your view of Jesus affects your work and your marriage and your relationships with your children and your friends and your family. Who you see Jesus to be, how you understand Jesus affects just about every part of your life.

So, last week we looked at “Jesus Is My Homeboy,” pop culture Jesus, Jesus on t-shirts and Jesus on television and the movies, Jesus on a cross around your neck, the Jesus who is popular and everybody loves. And we discovered the truth that Jesus is popular, that people are drawn to Jesus. But we also saw that Jesus’ teachings are often unpopular and that following Jesus requires commitment.

Now, this week, we are looking at a second popular image of Jesus, Santa Claus Jesus. Santa Claus Jesus is Jesus who is very much like Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. This image of Jesus is Jesus who loves everybody. He is jolly and immensely friendly and kind and loving and warm. He has a beard. He smiles a lot. And he wears a white robe with a red sash. This version of Jesus is an important holiday symbol. After all, it is Christmas. Now, for this holiday symbol, instead of making the annual trek to the mall to see him, you go to church to see him. Maybe you have him in a nativity set or you send out Christmas cards with pictures of him on them. Santa Claus Jesus loves children. I mean, the pictures of him look a lot like Santa. He’s sitting down and he’s got kids in his lap whispering in his ear. You tell me, haven’t you seen those pictures of Jesus?

But at the heart of Santa Claus Jesus is you tell him whatever you want, and he gives it to you. Just like when you sit on Santa’s lap and tell him your Christmas wishes, Santa Claus Jesus you use the format of prayer, but you tell him whatever you want or need and he gives it to you. And there are a lot of preachers who promote the idea of Santa Jesus. You need a car, you need a raise, you need a bigger house, nicer clothes, a new boyfriend, whatever you could possibly desire, you tell it to Jesus, wait a little while, and he will give it to you if you’ve been a good boy or girl. In this respect, Santa Jesus is very similar to Jesus in a Lamp, rub the lamp, out pops Jesus you tell him your wishes and he grants them, or slot machine Jesus. Pull the arm of prayer enough times and you’re bound to hit the jackpot.

So, that’s Santa Claus Jesus. Now, what’s the reality, the real Jesus and is there any truth to Santa Jesus? Well, first, Jesus loves people. There is some truth to that aspect of the Santa Jesus. Jesus loves people. Probably one of the most famous verses in the Bible is John 3:16: "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Jesus whole existence, his whole reason to coming to earth and becoming a man, is bound up in the love of God for people. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. The motivation behind Christmas is the love of God. The purpose of Jesus is the demonstration of God’s love.

So, the idea that the Santa Jesus loves people is not wrong. I just don’t think it goes far enough. If the love of God is just a warm fuzzy toward everybody, it is not nearly as incredible as the real love of the real Jesus. God so loved the world. He loves red people and brown people and black people and white people and tan people. He loves people who speak Spanish or English or Korean or Arabic or Swahili. He loves men and women, children and adults, short people and tall people, fat people and skinny people, pretty people and ugly people. He loves people who are kind and gentle and generous.

But he also loves people who are cruel and wicked. He loves addicts and prostitutes and liars and thieves. He even loved the people who nailed him to a cross. And he loves people who will ultimately reject him and spend eternity separated from him. Santa Claus loves you if you’ve been a good little girl or boy. But if you are naughty, there’s not going to be much for you in Santa’s bag of goodies. But that is not the love of the real Jesus. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus loved us while we were still his enemies, while we were still set against him. And the gift Jesus gave was not a doll that talks or a pair of skates, but the gift of his own life.

Why did he do it? Look at 1 John 4:9: “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.” God loves us and he showed it by sending his Son, so that we could have life. Here’s the great thing. Jesus loves us even while we are sinners, but he loves us even more than that. He loves us so much that he is not content to leave us like we are. His love is a love that changes us. You see, Santa says that you have to be a good little boy or girl, but he doesn’t do anything to help you be good. Jesus changes you from the inside out so that we might live through him.

Jesus loves people. Second, Jesus can meet all my needs. Again, there’s some truth here behind Santa Jesus. The idea that Jesus can meet whatever needs I bring to him is absolutely correct. Philippians 4:19 says, “My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” My need will never exceed God’s supply. God owns it all, so there will never come a time in my life that God cannot meet the needs in my life if I bring them to him. Look at Mark 11:24: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” That seems like a pretty open-ended promise, doesn’t it? Whatever you ask for, believe it and you’ll receive it. That sounds like the Santa Claus Jesus.

But look again at Philippians 4:19. There’s a part of that verse that we often miss, the last part. In Christ Jesus. The greatest riches God has to offer are found in Jesus Christ. We so often are asking God for stuff, for money and possessions and cars and houses, and God is saying, “But wait, I have so much more to give you.” Jesus Christ was the greatest treasure heaven had to offer. The greatest treasures God has to give you have nothing to do with money or possessions. The greatest treasures are the things God wants to give you in a relationship with Jesus. It’s not that Jesus gives us treasure. He is the treasure.

We ask for the wrong things and with the wrong motives, so God doesn’t give us the things we ask for.

“You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” James 4:2-3

When I was in the eighth grade, I got in a fight on the school bus one afternoon. I prayed and prayed for God to not let me get a paddling. I made God all sorts of promises. Monday, when school came around, you know what happened? I got a paddling. Jesus is not Santa Claus. He’s not a genie in a lamp, and he’s not a slot machine. He gives us the things we need, and he wants to give us so much more if we would ask him for those things.
The problem is not that we pursue pleasure to satisfy the needs in our lives. The problem is that we are satisfied with such meaningless pleasures.

Here’s the secret, the secret to getting what you ask for in prayer. Ps. 37:4: “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” When you get to the point that God is your heart’s desire, where following God and his will for your life is all that you want, where you desire to know him better and love him more, where the cry of your heart is Jesus himself, then God will always grant your request. Santa wants to give you stuff. Jesus wants to give you himself, and that is so much better than stuff. Jesus can meet my needs.

Then, third, Jesus gives and he takes away. Just like Santa Claus, Jesus gives gifts. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” Romans 6:23. God offers an incredible gift through Jesus, the gift of eternal life. And all you have to do to get that gift is receive it. You don’t earn it. You don’t work for it. You don’t have to try to be a good enough person. You don’t have to straighten your life out. You don’t have to try to impress anybody. All you have to do is receive the gift of God by believing in Jesus Christ, making him the leader of your life, and asking him to forgive you of your sins.

You see, some people have this mistaken idea that Jesus is like Santa Claus when it comes to good boys and girls. They think he’s making a list and checking it twice, gonna find out who’s naughty and nice. And just like Santa Claus, they think God has this list where he keeps track of every good thing you’ve ever done, and every bad thing you’ve ever done. And if there are more good things on the list than bad things, then you are a good little boy or girl and God lets you into heaven.

Now, there are two ways that people generally react to that idea. Some people think they are good. They think they are a pretty good person, they’ve lived a good enough life, and they are on the nice list. But, man, I’m not comfortable with staking my eternity on whether or not I’ve been good enough. To think that I have to work my way into heaven. I mean, talk about making you paranoid. There’s no security there. How do I know if I’ve done enough good stuff. Man, I can’t even keep track of all the bad stuff I’ve done, all the times I had a bad thought, all the mean things I’ve said, all the times I told a lie, all the times I let a friend down, all the times I’ve acted selfishly. I don’t have a shot.

Then there are people who think they are for sure on the naughty list and there’s no way they could ever get in. There’s no way God could ever forgive them. They think they have permanently screwed up their lives.

Well, let me show you God’s list, and what Jesus has done with that list. Colossians 2:13-14:

“When you were spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power of your sinful self, God made you alive with Christ, and he forgave all our sins. He canceled the debt, which listed all the rules we failed to follow. He took away that record with its rules and nailed it to the cross.”

Charges for a crucified man were listed above him. Jesus took our list. It’s as if on the cross, Jesus took the charges that were intended for us, and they were nailed above his head. He took our list, and he destroyed it on the cross.

You see, Jesus does what Santa can’t do. He doesn’t just give, he also takes away. You see, Santa can’t do anything about your discouragement. Santa leaves and you’ve still got to deal with a broken relationship with your husband or wife. When bills need to be paid in January, Santa is long gone. When you are trying to overcome an addiction in February, Santa is no help. When your kid is in a car wreck after the prom, Santa is no help. When you are going through the pain of a divorce, he’s nowhere to be found. When you are struggling with worry or doubt or confusion, when you are crying because of guilt or anger or hurt, when you are depressed and alone and afraid, Santa’s no help.

But there is a Savior, named Jesus Christ, who came to take all that away. Look at 1 John 3:5: “[Jesus] appeared so that he might take away our sins.” You see, Jesus offers us this wonderful, incredible, amazing deal. He says, “You give me all your guilt and all your hurt and all your sin and all your doubt and worry and confusion and anger and addiction, give me all your stuff, and I’ll give you all my righteousness and all my peace and all my joy and all my love, I’ll give you all my stuff.” That’s a really good deal. So, how about you? Are you willing to make that deal.

Remember all the anticipation you had waiting for Santa to arrive. Well, Jesus is way better than Santa Claus, and you can have the greatest gift of all this Christmas if you give your life to Jesus.