Response to Christmas

Over several decades now we have witnessed Christ slowly being taken out of Christmas, so that this glorious festival has become Xmas. X being the unknown factor, Xmas has become the season when anything goes. Muppets and meercats, Star Wars and soccer all themed to Xmas!

Finding Christ at Christmas in our  highly commercial world is difficult, it has always been thus as this Christmas study shows. But to those who will seek Him with heart and soul He promises - you will find Me.

1. The Commercial Response. LUKE 2:7 'And she brought forth her firstborn Son and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn' .

Room in the stable, but not the inn!! Among cattle, but not among the people!! Why? Was there really 'no room', or does the innkeeper have a more pragmatic reason for refusing room in the inn? Mary is obviously heavily pregnant. Should she give birth in the Inn, Mary would, according to Jewish law, be unclean for seven days, and the room itself. Thus the innkeeper would suffer financial loss. Commerce has no room for Christ unless the coffers are filled.

In the recent past some of the major stores have stood against Sunday opening but now Christmas has become Xmas, Christ relegated to the unknown. You may not be a businessman, but are financial considerations more important to you than giving room to Christ in your life? Not just at Christmas time, but throughout the year. Is increasing your income more important to you than the means of grace?  

2. The Ideological Response. MATT 2:3 King Herod was 'troubled' at the news concerning Jesus.          v8 Feigns friendship 'That I may come and worship Him also'. Herod’s true purpose revealed when he ordered all males two year old and under to be killed. There is no room at the stable for Herod as King, for there is but one King - Jesus. Although Herod rebuilt the Temple, the Jews never trusted him, his massacre of the Jews revealed his true character.

Communism is presents itself as the friend of the people. But in Russia, Cuba, China and other communist regimes any perceived threat to the power and position of the dictatorship is dealt with in Herodian style death, imprisonment, torture. Ideology and Christ are not compatible, as Richard Wurmbrand so cruelly learned.

Notice the feigned interest of Herod ‘that I may come and worship Him also’. Today we are faced with a plethora of legislation, supposedly to protect the rights of individuals yet the state becomes more involved in ordering the Church. The ideological response ultimately is to get rid of Christ and His Church, powerful forces are working to that end in Britain today.

3. The Intellectual or Considered Response.  MATT 2:2 Wise men ask 'Where is He that is born King of the Jews' Their interest arose from much study of the sacred books and learning. For these wise men learning and wisdom was to be acted upon. Thus they sought Him of whom they had read and learned. Their seeking lead to disappointment at the court of Herod, but as they resumed their journey disappointment turned to ‘exceeding great joy’ as they again saw HIS star. Finally they found Him - They came v11 - They humbled themselves 'fell down' - They worshipped Him - presenting gifts.

Intellect or wisdom need not be a bar to finding and worshipping Christ - those who having found Him, worship Him, are truly wise.   They found one of the great promises of scripture fulfilled -  If you seek Me with all of your heart and with all of your soul you will find Me. In JOHN 5:39 Jesus declares that the Scriptures testify of Him. Therefore be like the wise men who through reading and searching the scriptures found Christ.

4. The Response of the Common People. The shepherds, working men, representative of the common people. LUKE 2:8 'There were shepherds living out in the fields keeping watch over their flock  by night'. Here we note the very ordinariness of their lives - the common people, the very lowest. Living out in the fields watching/tending their flocks, going about their daily business. Into this scene the messengers of heaven came with startling suddenness and a world stunning message. 'For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord'.

Note how they responded: 'Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.'  Thus an immediate response, even their responsibilities for their flocks did not hold them back. So what holds you back from coming to Christ?

v17,18  They spread the news to everybody. v20 They  glorified / praised God for all they had seen. Their response can be summed up thus - worship and witness. Likewise our response to Him should be that of worship and witness.

5. The Religious Response.  We find two groups here, albeit a short time after the birth.

•  Those who were waiting and watching (the remnant).
• Those who were not watching (the Pharisees and Sadducees).

The first group represented by Simeon and Anna. LUKE 2:29,30 'Lord now You are letting your servant depart in peace according to Your word For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared...' Anna praised God, spreading the news in Jerusalem '..to all who looked for redemption..'

                  

The second group, the religious leaders of the day, Pharisees and Sadducees are conspicuous by their absence. Formal dead religion has no room for a living Saviour, or ritual good works with the fruit of the Spirit.

6. Heaven's Response. LUKE 2:9 as God’s messenger announced to the shepherds the good news: ' suddenly -- there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace goodwill toward men'.

The Christmas message, that the Saviour has been born draws forth from the angelic ranks great rolling waves of praise. If heaven rejoices that earth now has a Saviour, how much more should men who have been redeemed, worship and praise the Saviour.

What is your response to Christ this Christmas?

Do you like the innkeeper find no room for Him?

Are you like Herod really an enemy of God and His people?

                                        Or

Will you seek Him for yourself as the wise men and the shepherds did?

Will you humble yourself and bow before Him acknowledging His Lordship like the Wise men, and worship Him like the Shepherds. 

Imitation is the sincerest of flattery...

...so wrote Charles Caleb Cotton in his work ‘Many Things in Few Words.’, circa 1820. Many others have expressed similar sentiments. Imitation can however have both good and negative results.

Take commerce for example, a product may be so good that other manufacturers will seek to copy it in order to capture a share of the market. That imitation often extends to the way a product is packaged and marketed, even the position it occupies on the supermarket shelves. One of our leading brands of breakfast cereal has countered such tricks with the slogan ‘If it doesn’t say Kellogg on the box, it’s not Kellogg in the box’. What a challenge for all who label themselves Christian - is Christ dwelling within?

What does the Bible say about imitation? Paul writing to the Corinthian church urged them to imitate him 1COR 4:16. A brave almost arrogant call, but Paul himself was also imitating someone else and reveals who in 1COR 11:1 where again he calls on the Corinthians to imitate him, in the same manner that he imitates Christ. Then in HEB 6:12 we find we are to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. That is those who have persevered, those who have finished the course 2TIM 4:7. Theirs has been a successful life, their imitation of Christ complete.

To be like Jesus, to be like Jesus,

All I ask, to be like Him,

All through life's journey, from earth to glory.

All I ask, to be like Him

Eastern Valley Foodbank

For anyone who's in South Wales:

The Trussel Trust is a Christian organisation operating a number of emergency foodbanks across the country.  They are planning to open such a foodbank in Torfaen early next year.  The foodbanks help individuals and families in crisis, through the provision of emergency food supplies.  A network of distributors, consisting of health visitors, social workers and other community based support services work closely with the foodbanks to supply much needed food in these times of need, and the Trussel Trust see this as a great opportunity to demonstrate the love of Jesus in a practical way in a broken world.  Across the country the Trust’s foodbank network fed over 100,000 people in the first six months of 2012, and each month the numbers needing help are increasing.  The need in Torfaen is likely to be equally high.

If you would like to be involved as a volunteer with this venture, or would like more details about how you can donate, you can find out more by telephoning 07766 791441 or go to www.trusselltrust.org or www.easternvalley.foodbank.org.uk

Looking Skywards

How would you feel if you got up on Christmas morning to find that your loved ones had bought you a parachute jump as a present this year?  Apparently, for not much more than £100, you can learn to jump from a plane and land safely at a local airfield!  Suddenly socks and jumpers don’t seem that bad a gift after all!

          However scary such a jump might be, it would pale in comparison with that accomplished by Felix Baumgartner just a few weeks back.  Did you see it on the news?  He broke the world record for the highest ever jump, having leapt out of his capsule some 24 miles up.  The whole event was screened live over the internet and people around the world held their breath as they watched him tumbling over 128,000 feet to the earth. Though there were many dangers to be considered, and indeed at times during the jump there were real fears at ‘mission control’ that he might have died, we were able to see him land safely to the adulation of the world’s media.  Since then he has appeared on chat shows all around the globe.

          One of the things that became obvious as I watched the film of that jump was what a long way down it was.  There is a long way between the heavens and the earth.  King David, the Psalmist, had no idea just how far it was, but it did not stop him writing “As the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His [God’s] mercy toward those who fear Him” (Psalm 103:11)

          That is particularly worth remembering as we come to the Christmas season. This month we celebrate again the coming of another man who left heaven for earth.  But he didn’t jump out of a capsule to return to the earth he had left moments earlier.  He left the heaven of heavens, the dwelling place of the triune God, where He had enjoyed perfect companionship with His Father for all eternity.  His arrival on the planet wasn’t watched by the world like Baumgartners was.  It was hidden from view, in the rural backwater of Bethlehem, an insignificant town in a despised part of the Roman Empire.  And He didn’t just take a risk when He came to earth, but came knowing, indeed planning, to die a cruel death on a cross.  Nor did He enjoy the adulation of the world for his coming.  He was “despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.” (Isaiah 53:3).  Whereas the name of Felix Baumgartner is praised today, the name of Jesus Christ is still used as a swear word across the globe, 2000 years later.

          But the coming of Jesus Christ into the world all those years ago is still celebrated all these years later, and will continue to be long after Baumgartner’s achievement is forgotten.  All across the world are men and women who have found salvation and eternal life through this Jesus.  His death on the cross means their sins are forgiven and, though sinners, they can be accepted by God.  That can be true for you too, this Christmas, if you will believe in Him!