You Better Watch Out (Part 1)

The Real St. Nick?

We all know that there are plenty of fake Santas out there. Pretenders. Imposters. There are also many legendary tales of Santa Claus and Saint Nicholas. It leaves us asking the question: Will the real Saint Nicholas please stand up, please stand up, please stand up?
The real Santa Claus or Saint Nicholas lived in Myra, Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) during the AD 300s (fourth century AD)
Saint Nicholas is known for many things. One less known thing is that he slapped or punched a heretic or Arius himself in the face for his famous heresy called Arianism.

In general, heresy refers to beliefs that are against orthodox Christian teachings or beliefs about God that are not biblical or sound.
So who is this heresy creating Arius that Santa Claus supposedly punched? Well, Arius was the proponent of the heresy we now call Arianism, which purports that Jesus was not fully God, but instead was created by God the Father and thus not coeternal with God the Father and not of the same substance of the Father (denied homoousios).
- Homoousios (same substance) = homo (same) + ousios (substance)
- Homoiousios (similar substance) = homoi (like) + ousios (substance)
This all happened at the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 — first world-wide church council.
- This Council was a response to and against Arianism.
- It led to the Nicene Creed, which denies Arianism and affirms Trinitarianism, one God in three persons.
Santa was perhaps present and signed his name to the creed. Also, he was perhaps kicked out and temporarily stripped of his rights and duties as a Bishop for slapping Arius across the face because of his heresy.

So you better watch out. Santa might deck you in the halls for being on the naughty list of believing heresy.
But really, I’ve titled this new sermon series “You Better Watch Out” because, like Santa, we must watch out for false teachers and false teachings. We just spent the last 4 weeks celebrating Christmas with Paul and we learned that Paul spends much of his time reflecting upon the second coming of Jesus more so than the first coming. And so Advent and the Christmas season should, according to Paul, have us looking forward to the coming of the Messiah at the end of the age.
And by the way, the 12 days of Christmas begin on Dec 25 and end on Jan 6, and so we’re now on the third day of Christmas—so you should’ve gotten three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree from your true love already. Remind them if they haven’t done so yet.
But alas, Advent and Christmas should have us yearning for the returning of Jesus. And there is one command in the NT above all commands related to the second coming of Jesus, and it’s not, “Be afraid,” or “Get prepping,” or “Let this world go to Hell in a hand basket.” Instead, over and over again, the command is, “Watch out!” or “Beware!” or “Make sure that no one deceives you!”
- Matt 24:4-8, 23-28
- Mark 13:5-8, 21-23
- Luke 21:8-9
- 2 Thess 2:1-4
- 1 John 3:7

So you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I’m telling you why: Santa Claus is coming to town…to punch in the face all those on the naughty list? Maybe. We all need a wakeup call from time to time. But no. We’re watching out, because Jesus Christ is coming to town, which means that false prophets, false teachers, false Christs, and perhaps even anti-Christs are coming too. And we need to be ready and prepared for that. That’s what we’ll spend the next couple Sundays doing. As that one song goes, “People get ready. Jesus is coming.” Amen.