[Steve Myers] Well, it is that time of the year. I just received an email that came to me – it was soliciting some information. Also wanted me to sign up to help get ready for Advent. And so this email was offering different products and things to help prepare for Christmas. Now of course, Advent is referring to the first coming of Christ – the advent, the birth of Christ. And that’s what Christmas points to. But the question is, is that something we should prepare for? In fact, is that something we should even celebrate? What I’d like to do today is challenge you to take a look at this very thing. Of course, many Christians today celebrate Advent – these four Sundays or so, these weeks before Christmas – as a preparation.

But here’s the challenge: is the worship of Christ on Christmas – the whole celebration – is it really a biblical thing? If you’re really honest with yourself, I hope you’ll begin to look at what the Bible really teaches. Take the Christmas challenge and see if it’s really there. Not the birth of Christ. Christ was certainly born and most rehearse that story pretty well. But is it something we should celebrate? Is it something that should be a part of worship?

I think Christ intimated some very interesting things that could be applied to this topic as well. In John 4:22, it picks up a middle of a conversation that Christ is having with a woman – in fact, a Samaritan woman. If you know anything about the Samaritans, the Samaritans took true religion, the worship of the true God, and they kind of formed it into their own kind of worship. They added extra things. They didn’t really worship the true God in the true way. And so they thought they could honor God whatever way they wanted, and that should be okay with God. But as Christ is talking to this woman, here’s what He says. He says, “The hour is coming, and now is, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” Now, He says this because previously He said to this woman, “You worship what you do not know.” You worship what you do not know. Christ said, “We know what we worship” (John 4:21-24).

So take the Christmas challenge. Do you really know what you worship? Christ was convicting this woman, saying, “You think you’re worshiping the true God.”  Or in other words, “Can you worship the true God any way you want? Do you get to choose how to worship the true God?” So that means, you better be able to find Advent, you better be able to find “Christmas”, and specifically worshiping at that time, in the Bible.

So take the challenge. You should study. Get out your Bible and study the hows when it comes to true worship. Study why – why do we worship the way that we do? And in fact, maybe as Christ said, you don’t know what you’re doing. Study the “what” about these things and see if it matches up with what Scripture says. Does it match with what Christ’s actions were all about? Take that challenge. See if these things that are all associated with Christmas are really biblical days of worship. In fact, maybe that’s a good question to ask – what are true biblical days of worship? I hope you will take that challenge. You may come out with an entirely different perspective.

That’s BT Daily. We’ll see you next time.