The very word “advent” essentially means the arrival of something. So, as we celebrate Christmas, we supposedly celebrate the arrival of God into human form. The Incarnation is a moment to savor.

All of our presents and lights and parties ought to have a better meaning. But usually they don’t. So, in a bid to create a more relevant/helpful/meaningful Advent season, the church of late has sought to delineate itself from the commercialization of our country’s Christmas culture. Oddly enough, we have done so by simply offering Christianized versions of what they were already doing — Christmas dinners, Christmas plays, Christmas musicals, and Christmas events in every size and shape. But, alas, we have done no better than my neighbor [with his elaborate Christmas decorations]. The church has cluttered the Advent season with our own set of lawn décor.

Sure, our event planning seems more spiritual than the guy who wants his house to be seen from outer space. And yes, our events are done so with the façade of telling people the ubiquitous “reason for the season.” (Am I supposed to capitalize “reason”? I don’t know any more.) But are we bringing anyone closer to understanding the gospel? I fear we are only adding more decorations onto the already crowded front lawn of culture.

But we must show them the real Jesus. The tidy Anglo version will never connect. The perpetually smiling Jesus is not realistic nor biblical. They deserve to see the gritty moment of the Advent. Though we are enamored with what is pretty, they need to hear that Jesus’ entrance into the world was done through a working-class Jewish family in the backwaters of the Roman Empire. It was a moment of struggle — like most of life seems to be.

Our Advent celebrations should find their embodiment in work similar to His. He spoke the truth — so should we. He cared for the outcast — so should we. He sacrificed personally — so should we. It is not complicated to emulate a living example.

We have a message that is worth conversing about over coffee. There is no need to protest in the streets over the manner of holiday greetings. There is no need to snarl back at the cashier who says “Happy Holidays” with a grumbled “Merry Christmas.” Our task is not to be the lingo lawmen of culture. We need not employ protest as our major method of evangel. The gospel surpasses the mundane manner in which the world speaks about their vacation time at the end of December.

Our return to the simplicity of the gospel is a necessity this Advent season, as it is in every moment of the year. The gospel never needed tinsel to look good anyway.

— Ed Stetzer is president of LifeWay Research Division. He is an author and a well-known conference and seminar leader. He is a contributing editor for Christianity Today, a columnist for Outreach Magazine, and is frequently cited or interviewed in major news outlets. This article first appeared on his blog at EdStetzer.com and is reprinted with permission.