Do We Recognize the King of Our Lives? A Christmas Meditation

When we think of kings we think of privilege, palaces and thrones. We look for armies, power and riches. Is it no wonder that we often miss one aspect of the Christmas story and that is Jesus, born in a humble manger, is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! (1 Tim. 6:15, Rev. 19:16) In the United States of America we do not have kings but we have a government that is a republic. Even Scripture reminds us that upon Jesus' shoulders His government will stand. (Is. 9:6-7) No matter where one lives upon this planet, we cannot escape that Jesus is sovereign.  But do we recognize Him as our sovereign leader or do we look to ourselves and our earthly governments for our solutions to the problems we are responsible for?

When we look at the baby in a manger which is a feeding trough, we may not be convinced that He is the supreme ruler of our lives. We may say, "O how cute", but may not say, "Lord, save me!" After all, He is just a baby. Until He forms an army, I will put my trust in myself thank you very much. But we are called to see The King at His birth. The wise men saw it. Simeon saw it. Can we see it?

At His dedication in the temple, an old man exclaims, "My eyes have seen Your salvation!" (Lk. 2:22-35) He looked at this baby and saw salvation. But He is just a baby! The wise men followed a star looking for a king and would not stop until they paid tribute to Him. The star stopped and there in a house, just a house, was a baby. And they bowed down leaving their tribute of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They recognized a King even though there was no palace! No armed guards, no entourage. (Mt. 2:7-12)

In America we want more power to solve our problems of poverty and violence. We look to the force of government or fire power. We look to ourselves or those whom we elect. We don't look to a humble baby who has been promised long ago to be the Anointed One who will rule and govern us. We just don't see it! Old men and ancient wise men see it. But for the most part we are too smart and too proud to see it. We are the cause of our problems. It is called sin and we need to be saved from ourselves! We need to accept the gift God gave us in His Son, Jesus Christ, The Righteous! Look at Him for He is our salvation!

"Adoration of the Shepherds" by Gerard van Honthorst, 1622

My War on Hypocrisy!

You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

“‘This people honors me with their lips,
    but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
    teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” (Mt. 15:7-11)

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Mt. 7:21-23)

In a recent discussion I had with a layperson, I tried to explain that not everyone in church was a Christian. They may show up and go through the motions but they are not true converts. Nor is everyone in Church a member of God's elect. (Mt. 13:24-30) This seemed like news to this person. 

A preacher needs to preach the whole counsel of God. (Acts 20:26-28) This includes predestination, election, law, sin, judgment, hell and grace! We do no one any favors when we leave them with the assumption that everyone is going to heaven if they say a prayer, perform good works or know who Jesus is. The Christian must see themselves as a sinner in need of a redeemer. They must recognize an old self that once was and a new self that is of God's making! (Eph. 4:17-24)

A hypocrite means a mask-wearer, the root word coming from the masks worn by actors in Greek theater. A hypocrite plays the part but is only a pretender! Unless there is a true encounter with Christ leading to true conversion, we remain false in our sins!

Jesus is the Reason for the Season More Than Ever!

Let us not forget why we celebrate Christmas. Yes, Jesus is the reason for the season and I am quite sure there are other cliches as well. But why Jesus? 

This Christmas will be an extremely painful holiday for too many families in Newtown, Connecticut as a man wielding three guns walked into an elementary school and murdered almost 30 children and adults. This was after he killed his own mother in her home. The carnage ended with the killer taking his own life. 

I only watched about an hour of news on television that day but what I heard will not answer the why of such an evil act. TV commentators were saying mental health and access to mental health providers should be increased. No, this does not answer the why of such an atrocity. The reason for the evil is sin. Man is sinful by nature. Scripture is quite clear about that. 

 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Gen. 6:5

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
    and in sin did my mother conceive me. Ps. 51:5

“None is righteous, no, not one;
¹¹     no one understands;
    no one seeks for God.
¹² All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
    no one does good,
    not even one.” Rom. 3:11, 12

This is why Jesus is the reason for the season! Without Him, there is no cure for sinful man!

Jesus came to unite our flesh with our most holy God. He is a redeemer meaning He is buying us back from the slavery of sin. Rom. 6:20-23. He came into our world, a world where murder abounds, to save us from such evil. But first we must all recognize that it is we who are all guilty. No one is sinless. Hell, God's divine punishment for sinners, is just as good for you and me. But God desires to give us life and life abundantly. Death abounds because we deserve it. Life abounds because of God's mercy! 

This Christmas season let us live out the cliches but this time truly understand that what happened in Newtown, CT is the reason we need Christ to redeem us from sin! By acknowledging our own sins and our helplessness in helping ourselves, we open the door for Jesus to come in and change our hearts thereby being freed from our sinful nature and free to serve God in holiness and righteousness.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
    for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
⁷⁷ to give knowledge of salvation to his people
    in the forgiveness of their sins,
⁷⁸ because of the tender mercy of our God,
    whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
⁷⁹ to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
    to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1:76-79