Christmas Two Millennia Ago ... and Today
Breakpoint
Colson Center
4.8 • 3.1K Ratings
🗓️ 25 December 2023
⏱️ 1 minutes
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Summary
As we celebrate Christmas today, let's look back at the world into which the Word who became flesh entered human history.
It was a world shaped by the worship of false gods, gods who didn't care about their worshippers with worshippers who didn't care much about each other.
The God who became flesh changed everything. His life, death, and resurrection not only exposed the false gods for the counterfeits they were, but His followers demonstrated a new way. As historian Rodney Stark puts it, Jesus' followers offered "mercy and security" to a world filled with "squalor, misery, illness, and anonymity."
What started in Bethlehem two millennia ago continues today. Jesus is still disarming false "gods," like money, fame, sex, and power, and His followers are still called to to offer a better way of being human than anything currently offered in contemporary society.
This is the gift we have to offer the world.
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This Point was originally published on December 25, 2020.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | For the Colston Center, I'm John Stone Street with the point. |
| 0:03.0 | As we celebrate Christmas today, let's look back at the world into which the word who became |
| 0:07.0 | flesh entered human history. |
| 0:09.0 | It was a world shaped by the worship of false gods. |
| 0:11.0 | God's who didn't care about their worshippers, with worshippers who didn't care much about each other. |
| 0:15.6 | The god who became flesh changed everything. |
| 0:18.0 | His life, death, and resurrection not only exposed the false gods for the counterfeits they were, but his followers demonstrated a new way. |
| 0:25.6 | As historian Rodney Stark put it, Jesus' followers offered mercy and security to a world |
| 0:30.2 | filled with squalor, misery, illness, and anonymity. |
| 0:33.3 | What started in Bethlehem two millennia ago continues today. |
| 0:36.6 | Jesus is still disarming false gods like money, fame, sex, and power, and his followers |
| 0:41.1 | are still called to offer a better way of being human than anything |
| 0:45.1 | that's currently offered in contemporary society. That's the gift that we have been |
| 0:49.7 | given and we can give the world. Merry Christmas. |
| 0:53.0 | For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street. |
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