Thesis
Pastor Pat McCalla argues that Christmas and Easter cannot be separated: to truly celebrate the birth of Jesus, we must understand why He had to die. Drawing from Romans 3, he walks through five reasons Jesus died — atonement, ransom, revelation, victory, and relationship — showing that God, being perfectly just, could not simply ignore human sin, yet in boundless grace provided Jesus as the once-for-all sacrifice that covers sin completely, frees us from death and the enemy, reveals God's love, and restores us to relationship with Him.
Key points
- 1
The birth and death of Jesus are intrinsically linked; we cannot fully understand Christmas without understanding why Jesus had to die.
- 2
Jesus died as the once-for-all atoning sacrifice — the propitiation — that permanently removes sin rather than merely covering it temporarily as the Old Testament sacrifices did.
- 3
Jesus died as a ransom, buying us back from slavery to sin, death, and hell.
- 4
Jesus died to reveal God's character — His love, mercy, and grace — by dying for us while we were still sinners.
- 5
Jesus died to give us victory over the devil, disarming and shaming spiritual rulers and authorities through the cross.
- 6
Jesus died to restore relationship between God and humanity, reconciling us back to the God who created us in His image.
- 7
We should thank God that things are not 'fair,' because fairness would mean judgment for our sin — instead, God took the initiative in grace to solve the problem we could not solve.
Outline
Introduction — 'That's Not Fair'
Pastor Pat opens by tapping into the universal childhood cry of 'that's not fair,' showing that deep within every human being is a longing for justice — a longing that has massive implications when taken to its logical end.
Christmas and Easter Are Linked
Using an imaginative journey to Bethlehem and the shepherds' fields, Pastor Pat establishes the sermon's central claim: the birth of Jesus and the death of Jesus are inseparably connected, and we cannot truly celebrate Christmas without understanding why Jesus had to die.
Why Jesus Had to Die — False Explanations
Pastor Pat briefly addresses and dismisses three false explanations for Jesus' death — accident, martyrdom, and appeasing an angry God — clarifying that Jesus reveals God as savior rather than saving us from God.
Reason 1 — Atonement
Drawing from Romans 3:24-25 and the Old Testament mercy seat, Pastor Pat explains that Jesus was not merely 'a' sacrifice but 'the' once-for-all propitiation, permanently removing sin rather than only covering it year after year.
Reason 2 — Ransom
From Mark 10:45, Pastor Pat explains that Jesus' death ransomed us from bondage to sin, death, hell, and addiction, buying us back completely.
Reason 3 — Revelation
Romans 5:8 shows that Jesus died to reveal God's character — His love, mercy, and grace — demonstrated by His dying for us while we were still sinners and enemies.
Reason 4 — Victory
Colossians 2:15 reveals that through the cross Jesus disarmed and publicly shamed the spiritual rulers and authorities, giving believers real victory over the enemy.
Reason 5 — Relationship
From 2 Corinthians 5:18, Pastor Pat concludes that the whole biblical story is about relationship — God created us in His image for relationship, we broke it, and Jesus died to reconcile us back to God.
Conclusion — Grace Is Not Fair
Using a professor-and-late-papers illustration, Pastor Pat brings the 'that's not fair' theme full circle: real fairness would mean judgment for all our sin, but God in grace took the initiative to solve what we could not — and we should be profoundly grateful that grace is not fair.
Memorable moments
Jesus does not save us from God, Jesus reveals God as savior
An unjust God is not a God
there is no Christianity without the cross
He had to die so that he could be that, not just a propitiation, not just a sacrifice, but the sacrifice, So now when you pull back that covering, that propitiation, there's nothing there
you should thank God that things aren't fair
we have a God who is so full of grace and love and mercy that He took the initiative to solve a problem that we could not solve
Application
Pastor Pat calls us to hold Christmas and Easter together — never separating the manger from the cross. Practically, he suggests hanging a crown-of-thorns ornament on your Christmas tree as an annual reminder of the depth of what is being celebrated: that Jesus was born specifically to die, so that your sin would be gone permanently, not just covered. The takeaway is personal and weighty — stop asking 'that's not fair' as though you deserve better, and start marveling that a just God chose grace instead of judgment. If you are in a broken place, the message is that Jesus already dealt with it; if you are in a good place, let gratitude deepen as you remember what it cost. Either way, the invitation is to receive and rest in a reconciled relationship with the God who took the initiative to save you.
