Around our house we really love Christmas. We like to listen to Christmas music and decorate with lots of lights, shop for gifts, gather with family, and eat great food. It’s during the darker and colder days of the year that looking forward to something, preparing for something joyful and celebrating, really makes a big difference in our lives. My wife and I have really enjoyed seeing the excitement on the faces of our youngest children, ages 1 and 3. When we brought the Christmas tree home and decorated it with lights and the ornaments, they stood there truly amazed, gazing up at the tree with wide eyes and smiles all over their faces.
The Christmas story is nothing short of amazing! Everything about Christmas is miraculous. The true Christmas story is about God leaving heaven and coming to earth to save and heal the world. Foretold hundreds of years before, a baby would be born in Israel in the town of Bethlehem. The Gospel of Luke gives us our most extensive record of all that happened when Jesus was born. Angels proclaimed the child’s arrival. Lowly shepherds and eastern kings witnessed the child born to humble peasants. It may not be the way we would have envisioned the King of Kings coming to earth, but it is all a part of God’s perfect story to save us from our sins. We can only imagine the amazement and awe on the faces of Mary and Joseph as they were visited by the angels or the shepherds out in the fields or the kings who followed the star. Sometimes, I wonder what my own reaction would have been to these events surrounding the birth of Christ.
Over the last few months and continuing through the Christmas season, we have been in a sermon and teaching series called “Greater Things.” Our study has taken us through the miracles of Jesus, challenging us to believe for greater things in our lives as we trust God, no matter what we are experiencing or what we are seeing in the world today. We could sum up the series with the simple, yet profound pronouncement of the angel to Mary in Luke 1:37 where it says, “And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For NOTHING WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD.” Again, this is what it’s all about! Do you believe that statement? It really gets to the heart of so much of our fear, struggles, and lack of faith. Consider what it means if God created all things: Is anything difficult for Him to attain? If God is above all and knows all, would there be anything that He would fail to consider or do?
Now, it’s important to understand what this statement doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean that God will give you everything you want. He can only act according to His perfect will and plan. It also doesn’t mean that we can do whatever we want if we just do the right thing and please God, for we are limited in everything we do. In saying that, though, I do not want to take away from the statement’s truth and reality. If God wants to accomplish His will on earth, nothing will stop Him. If God wants to work in and through us, nothing will ever stop that from happening. Now that is life changing, that we are more than able to accomplish what He has for us, both now and in eternity. See, the true miracle of Christmas is God’s grace toward us. Yes, God sent His Son for us. Jesus lived the perfect life we could not live, and died the death we deserve, and rose to life for our salvation in order that we could have a relationship with Him. He is truly the God of the impossible!
So I hope and pray that behind every smile and wide-eyed gaze we have this Christmas is true worship and gratitude for what God has done for us. And as we look forward again with hope, I pray that the Gospel would continue to show on our faces and overflow from our hearts even after the presents have been opened, the tree has been taken down, and the lights have been turned off.
Come and join us Christmas Eve for two unique worship celebrations. This year Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday so we will be worshiping at 10:00 am and also gathering for our traditional Christmas Eve candlelight service at 4:00pm.
Merry Christmas!
-Pr. Nick