“What If….?” (a sermon for Christmas Eve)

Galatians 4:4-7 (NLT)

By John Gill

(Show video clip from “It’s a Wonderful Life” –

- Start the beginning of the second bar scene, through the scene in the snow outside the bar, after Clarence looks up and says, “How and I doing, Joseph,” and then “No, I didn’t have a drink!”)

I’m sure you recognized that movie clip – it’s from the classic Christmas movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” starring Jimmy Stewart. It’s the story of a man who, in a fit of despair, comes to the conclusion that the world would have been better off if he had never been born, - and he tries to commit suicide by jumping to his death from a bridge, hoping to drown in the river.

And, he would have succeeded, if it hadn’t been for that guardian angel, named Clarence, who interceded and granted him the opportunity to get a glimpse of how his world would have been different had he never lived. It’s a “What if….?” story – not particularly original. There are lots of stories that are, in one form or another, “What if…?” stories.

For instance, in Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” Ebenezer Scrooge’s nightmare explores the question of “What if Scrooge doesn’t change his attitude toward life?”

Way back in the 1990s, I sometimes would watch the television series, “Providence”

- a show about a young woman doctor who wonders, “What if I hadn’t come home to Providence after my mother passed away?” – and gets a disturbing vision of what would have happened to her widower-father and to her siblings without her there to be a positive influence on their life-decisions.

Around that same time, there was that movie that came out, called “The Family Man,” – also a “What if….?” story. The main character of the movie is a swinging-single successful investment broker who wakes up one morning in an alternate universe – in bed with his college sweetheart, now his wife of 13 years, and meets for the first time the children that would have been his, had he chosen a different course for his life.

Have YOU ever wondered, “What if…?” I know I have. I suppose we ALL have!

For instance, “What if YOU had never been born?” If “It’s a Wonderful Life” had been made about YOUR life, how would things in your world be different?

There are lots of fascinating “What if” questions in MY life. For instance, “What if my parents had never met? If my mother had married a different man, would I still have been her son, but somehow different? Would I even exist?

I know my parents always hoped for a son. But instead, God gave them three daughters in a row. Finally, at the age of 42, my mom gave birth to her first - and only son. (I always enjoy telling my sisters that our parents “kept trying until they finally got it right!”) But I’ve always wondered, “What if any of my sisters had turned out to be a boy – would my parents have stopped there? And if so, would I be my sister?

And, “What if I had never been appointed to a church in Leesburg, Florida – at the same time Terri’s father was appointed to a church in the near-by town of Umatilla?” Would Terri and I have ever met and married? And if we had not, where would our children be?

The “What ifs” . . . I suppose that these are the biggest, most baffling questions any of us ever ask. And, of course, there is no way to answer the questions. They will always be shrouded in mystery. But that doesn’t stop us from asking the questions.

But, now that we are on the eve of Christmas Day, there is an even more profound “What if….?” question that confronts us – one that we seldom stop to consider, because we take so much for granted:

“What if . . . JESUS had never been born?” Have you ever stopped to think about that? Try to imagine what our world today would be like without the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ – a world without Christmas or Easter. It’s hard to even imagine such a world!

· Time is measured by His birth – everything is either BC or AD, before Christ’s birth, or after.

· The teachings of Christianity replaced the myths and debauchery of paganism, with spiritual truth and moral responsibility. It replaced the legalism of rigid Judaism with a Gospel of Grace. It opened the door of God’s kingdom to untold billions of non-Jews who believed in that grace.

· History has been forever shaped by the life of Christ, whose followers converted a pagan Europe and Asia Minor, and ushered in what we now call “Western Civilization.”

· And it was the spreading of Christianity that caused our own continent to be colonized, and which shaped the principles on which our society is based.

There is virtually NO aspect of our lives that has not been impacted by the life of Jesus Christ in some way. As the poet, George Clark Peck, put it:

“All the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that were ever built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned – put together – have not affected the life of man upon this earth as has that One Solitary Life.”

Indeed, it is impossible to imagine living in a world where Jesus had never been born. Whether we are believers or not, Jesus Christ is woven forever into the fabric of who we are – as individuals, and as a society.

We may not know what a world without Jesus would look like, but we DO know that a world without Jesus would not be the kind of place where you or I would want to live. It would be a world where we would have

· no love for others or for ourselves,

· no peace because we know NOT the “Prince of Peace,”

· no joy in fellowship with God through Christ,

· no hope of living victoriously in this life, and

· no promise of life beyond the grave.

In short, to live without Christ is a life not worth living, at all.

And yet, amazingly, many millions of people choose to go through life without Christ. They live, either oblivious or hostile to the only One who can give their life meaning and purpose. They may celebrate the outer trappings of the Christmas holiday. They may call themselves “Christians,” and even attend church on Christmas Eve and Easter – but they don’t really KNOW Jesus Christ. They don’t have a personal relationship with Him, they’ve never surrendered their lives to Him, and they haven’t discovered the joy that comes from serving Him.

My friends, it is my hope that those words don’t describe anyone present in our worship service this evening – I trust that each of you already have a vital relationship with Jesus. But, if those sad words ring true for you, I want you to listen very closely to what I’m about to say:

“If you don’t know Jesus, then you have nothing to celebrate this Christmas. You might as well be living in a world where Jesus had never been born – because, for all intents

and purposes, so far as YOUR life is concerned, He hasn’t. And you are missing out on the love, and the peace, and the joy, and the hope, and the promise that the Christian life offers you.”

Don’t let this Christmas be an empty ceremony. The Good News we celebrate is that God has broken into history – and into our lives – and offered us Himself in His Son, so that you and I might also become God’s son’s and daughters.

The Apostle Paul summarized what Christmas is really all about when he wrote in our scripture for this Christmas Eve: “But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.”

My friend, this Christmas – Can you honestly say that you have been “adopted” by God – that you KNOW in your heart that you are His daughter or son? Or, do you have some doubts about your status before God?

If so, there is another “What if….?” question that you need to ponder: “What if….you don’t live to see Christmas morning? What then?”

I think the best news of Christmas may well be that, thanks to what happened in Bethlehem more than 2000 years ago, you and I never have to ask, “What if…?” - ever again!

© 2023 by John B. Gill, III

Let us Pray:

Loving God, we thank you that we don’t have to wonder, “What if…?” ever again, because you have acted in history to make it possible for us to know you as our Father, through the gift of your Son. “For unto us a child is born…, unto us a son is given.” Jesus is the only gift any of us need to receive this Christmas. May each one of us open our hearts to receive Him. Amen.“What If….?” (a sermon for Christmas Eve)

Galatians 4:4-7 (NLT)

By John Gill

(Show video clip from “It’s a Wonderful Life” –

- Start the beginning of the second bar scene, through the scene in the snow outside the bar, after Clarence looks up and says, “How and I doing, Joseph,” and then “No, I didn’t have a drink!”)

I’m sure you recognized that movie clip – it’s from the classic Christmas movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” starring Jimmy Stewart. It’s the story of a man who, in a fit of despair, comes to the conclusion that the world would have been better off if he had never been born, - and he tries to commit suicide by jumping to his death from a bridge, hoping to drown in the river.

And, he would have succeeded, if it hadn’t been for that guardian angel, named Clarence, who interceded and granted him the opportunity to get a glimpse of how his world would have been different had he never lived. It’s a “What if….?” story – not particularly original. There are lots of stories that are, in one form or another, “What if…?” stories.

For instance, in Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” Ebenezer Scrooge’s nightmare explores the question of “What if Scrooge doesn’t change his attitude toward life?”

Way back in the 1990s, I sometimes would watch the television series, “Providence”

- a show about a young woman doctor who wonders, “What if I hadn’t come home to Providence after my mother passed away?” – and gets a disturbing vision of what would have happened to her widower-father and to her siblings without her there to be a positive influence on their life-decisions.

Around that same time, there was that movie that came out, called “The Family Man,” – also a “What if….?” story. The main character of the movie is a swinging-single successful investment broker who wakes up one morning in an alternate universe – in bed with his college sweetheart, now his wife of 13 years, and meets for the first time the children that would have been his, had he chosen a different course for his life.

Have YOU ever wondered, “What if…?” I know I have. I suppose we ALL have!

For instance, “What if YOU had never been born?” If “It’s a Wonderful Life” had been made about YOUR life, how would things in your world be different?

There are lots of fascinating “What if” questions in MY life. For instance, “What if my parents had never met? If my mother had married a different man, would I still have been her son, but somehow different? Would I even exist?

I know my parents always hoped for a son. But instead, God gave them three daughters in a row. Finally, at the age of 42, my mom gave birth to her first - and only son. (I always enjoy telling my sisters that our parents “kept trying until they finally got it right!”) But I’ve always wondered, “What if any of my sisters had turned out to be a boy – would my parents have stopped there? And if so, would I be my sister?

And, “What if I had never been appointed to a church in Leesburg, Florida – at the same time Terri’s father was appointed to a church in the near-by town of Umatilla?” Would Terri and I have ever met and married? And if we had not, where would our children be?

The “What ifs” . . . I suppose that these are the biggest, most baffling questions any of us ever ask. And, of course, there is no way to answer the questions. They will always be shrouded in mystery. But that doesn’t stop us from asking the questions.

But, now that we are on the eve of Christmas Day, there is an even more profound “What if….?” question that confronts us – one that we seldom stop to consider, because we take so much for granted:

“What if . . . JESUS had never been born?” Have you ever stopped to think about that? Try to imagine what our world today would be like without the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ – a world without Christmas or Easter. It’s hard to even imagine such a world!

· Time is measured by His birth – everything is either BC or AD, before Christ’s birth, or after.

· The teachings of Christianity replaced the myths and debauchery of paganism, with spiritual truth and moral responsibility. It replaced the legalism of rigid Judaism with a Gospel of Grace. It opened the door of God’s kingdom to untold billions of non-Jews who believed in that grace.

· History has been forever shaped by the life of Christ, whose followers converted a pagan Europe and Asia Minor, and ushered in what we now call “Western Civilization.”

· And it was the spreading of Christianity that caused our own continent to be colonized, and which shaped the principles on which our society is based.

There is virtually NO aspect of our lives that has not been impacted by the life of Jesus Christ in some way. As the poet, George Clark Peck, put it:

“All the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that were ever built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned – put together – have not affected the life of man upon this earth as has that One Solitary Life.”

Indeed, it is impossible to imagine living in a world where Jesus had never been born. Whether we are believers or not, Jesus Christ is woven forever into the fabric of who we are – as individuals, and as a society.

We may not know what a world without Jesus would look like, but we DO know that a world without Jesus would not be the kind of place where you or I would want to live. It would be a world where we would have

· no love for others or for ourselves,

· no peace because we know NOT the “Prince of Peace,”

· no joy in fellowship with God through Christ,

· no hope of living victoriously in this life, and

· no promise of life beyond the grave.

In short, to live without Christ is a life not worth living, at all.

And yet, amazingly, many millions of people choose to go through life without Christ. They live, either oblivious or hostile to the only One who can give their life meaning and purpose. They may celebrate the outer trappings of the Christmas holiday. They may call themselves “Christians,” and even attend church on Christmas Eve and Easter – but they don’t really KNOW Jesus Christ. They don’t have a personal relationship with Him, they’ve never surrendered their lives to Him, and they haven’t discovered the joy that comes from serving Him.

My friends, it is my hope that those words don’t describe anyone present in our worship service this evening – I trust that each of you already have a vital relationship with Jesus. But, if those sad words ring true for you, I want you to listen very closely to what I’m about to say:

“If you don’t know Jesus, then you have nothing to celebrate this Christmas. You might as well be living in a world where Jesus had never been born – because, for all intents

and purposes, so far as YOUR life is concerned, He hasn’t. And you are missing out on the love, and the peace, and the joy, and the hope, and the promise that the Christian life offers you.”

Don’t let this Christmas be an empty ceremony. The Good News we celebrate is that God has broken into history – and into our lives – and offered us Himself in His Son, so that you and I might also become God’s son’s and daughters.

The Apostle Paul summarized what Christmas is really all about when he wrote in our scripture for this Christmas Eve: “But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.”

My friend, this Christmas – Can you honestly say that you have been “adopted” by God – that you KNOW in your heart that you are His daughter or son? Or, do you have some doubts about your status before God?

If so, there is another “What if….?” question that you need to ponder: “What if….you don’t live to see Christmas morning? What then?”

I think the best news of Christmas may well be that, thanks to what happened in Bethlehem more than 2000 years ago, you and I never have to ask, “What if…?” - ever again!

© 2023 by John B. Gill, III

Let us Pray:

Loving God, we thank you that we don’t have to wonder, “What if…?” ever again, because you have acted in history to make it possible for us to know you as our Father, through the gift of your Son. “For unto us a child is born…, unto us a son is given.” Jesus is the only gift any of us need to receive this Christmas. May each one of us open our hearts to receive Him. Amen.