Christmas Playlist by Alistair Begg (2016)

Posted on 2023-12-19 by thelittleman

Rating: 4 out of 5.
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Four Songs That Bring You to the Heart of Christmas

I wasn’t sure I was ready for another music-themed Christmas book this holiday season. After all, I had just finished reading the educational and entertaining book by Ace Collins, Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas, which contained mini-biographies of 31 of the most famous Christmas carols. Surely this book must be a repeat. Thankfully, it’s not.

Rather than focusing on Christmas carols passed down from generation to generation, Pastor Alistair Begg instead goes straight to the Bible and the events surrounding Christ’s birth. The four songs he emphasizes in this book are those sung by Mary, Zechariah, the Angels, and Simeon as recorded in the Gospel of Luke. It was refreshing, it wasn’t a repeat, and I’m glad that I read it this Christmas season.

This is not a long book. Rather than being an exhaustive study of the four songs found in Luke (which I’m sure he could have written), this book contains just four short chapters that provide an overview of each song with a pause for emphasis on a key word or two from each. I imagine Begg preached this entire book as a single evangelistic sermon one Christmas Eve, and we readers are now the benefactors.

Begg breaks the songs down into the following progression in an effort to lead people to Christ Jesus as God. He begins with Mary’s song (Luke 1:46-55) to show us what God is like by emphasizing that our mighty God is mindful of us, caring enough about us to give us His Son. Next, he shares Zechariah’s song (Luke 1:68-79) to show us why we need God, emphasizing that Jesus “has come to his people and redeemed them,” because our sin that has separated us from God demands a payment. Then, he shares the angels’ song (or at least their words, as recorded in Luke 2:8-14) to show how God came, emphasizing the reasonableness of the virgin birth and the promised peace that only a divine King could provide. Finally, he shares Simeon’s song (Luke 2:27-35) to show how God would accomplish this payment for sin and peace with God, specifically that the baby’s life would bring joy and heartbreak and even pierce Mary’s own soul, all predictions of the sorrow that awaited them, predictions fulfilled at Jesus’ crucifixion. Begg concludes the fourth chapter this way:

That’s why the Father sent his Son, and why His Son went to the cross. The cross shows me that my sin is very real and is absolutely horrendous—it took the death of God’s only Son to deal with it and free me from it. But the cross also shows me that God is very real and awesomely loving—God the Son came to die so that my sin could be dealt with.

And this is why the wooden food trough led to the wooden cross, and why you will never get to the heart of Christmas if you don’t grasp the meaning of Easter. Christianity is not good advice about what we should do. It is the good news of what Christ has done. Christianity does not proclaim that you are worth saving or able to save yourself. It announces that God is mighty to save. (61)

It’s true that a much lengthier volume could be written about all the theology snuggled away inside these four marvelous passages of Scripture, but I like the simplicity with which Pastor Begg approaches it here. This Gospel-focused book might serve as a stocking stuffer, though the only non-believers willing to read it or capable of understanding it would be those already versed in the biblical narrative. It would only serve well as a Gospel tract to the “churched” unbeliever. Still, I think it’s a great method of delivering the Gospel in a Christmas-themed way, especially to those who know there’s a God but just haven’t met Him yet. I like how Begg put it:

All of us, whatever our background or beliefs, have a picture of God. Many of us have a God who we do not believe in because we do not like him. If you do not believe in God because he is distant, uncaring, and unhelpful, I understand. I do not believe in that God either! (22)

Begg closes his book by describing his favorite Christmas carol, “Once in Royal David’s City” (also not in Ace Collin’s book) and then laying out the Gospel as clearly as possible. He challenges his readers to place their faith in the work of Christ Jesus and accept God’s free gift of salvation by offering a prayer they might use as a template. It’s a fitting conclusion to a solid Gospel presentation.

I enjoyed this book, and I actually plan to give it to my pastor. This month, he’s working through a cool series that he’s titled “Gospel Christmas Cards”—four weeks on the Christmas story from each of the four Gospels; yes, even from Mark! I think that a future four-week series in December could cover these four songs from Luke and make for another Gospel-focused, Jesus-centric, God-honoring sermon series at Christmas. This book could serve as a great little resource for that.

©2023 E.T.

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