A few days ago we took some of our family to the airport so they could fly home for Christmas. (Personal presence is so important in seasons of celebration. In the US Thanksgiving and Christmas are the biggest travel days of the year). Of course, we took a Picture with some of the decorations in the airport. My guess is that this season we all will take some seasonal pics and share them with friends.
Right now I would like to present a Christmas PIC, because I want the words of this message to stay with you and etch themselves into your mind.
Presence,
Illumination, and
Commission
Presence
Christmas is all about God’s presence.
Look! A virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Emmanuel, God with us. (Isaiah 7)
I’ve heard some people say that the Gospel According to John has no Christmas section, but it does. The first chapter is John’s Advent passage.
In the beginning was the Word and the word was with God and the Word was God
. . . the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . .
And we saw His glory, glory of the only begotten Son, come from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1)
This idea of God being with us is related to The Call/Commission, but will get to that in just a minute.
David
Psalm 23
The LORD is my Shepherd I shall not lack anything.
. . .
Though I walk through the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil (WHY?) because You are with me.
David wrote in another song
It is high, I cannot attain it, such knowledge is too wonderful for me
Where can I go from your Spirit
Or flee from your presence?
If I rise up into heaven, You are there. If I make my bed in hell, look! You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning and fly to the ends of the earth, you are with me . . .
God’s presence is a fundamental element of Christmas-maybe the most important, because God loved us so much He paid a price to be with us. And wherever He is, since He is light and in Him there is no darkness (1 John 1:5).
Illumination in the Dark
700 years before Jesus was born, God spoke through the prophet Isaiah
The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned. (Isaiah 9, NIV)
Just a few verses later, we all know the passage from Christmas concerts every year
For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given
Jesus is that Son. He is the light dawning in the land of darkness.
I am the Light of the World! Those who believe in Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. John 8
Let’s face it. The world seems very dark.
But it is often in those times of darkness that the light is most clearly visible.
We could easily talk about the war zones of the world, and the journalists, medical professionals, and peace negotiators who work in them-how they shine in such times of darkness.
But I think we all can relate to the light shining in the darkness most poignantly in our own lives when times seem tough.
In May of this year, my dad had a brain hemorrhage. He already had Alzheimer’s, and the brain bleed accelerated those symptoms. I traveled from Bangalore to the US as soon as I could, and saw that my dad’s condition was critical, and my mom was overwhelmed—my parents needed me. So, I found a job & signed a one-semester contract to teach here in Tulsa (we have family here), and moved my parents here so we could assist them at this time.
My dad's condition took a turn for the worse last Friday Dec 9. He did his usually laps with his walker, within the house, that day. But, that evening he had a slight fever & suddenly lost the strength to stand on his own, and forgot how to walk. He was in bed Saturday & Sunday-we took him to the doc on Monday-the doc asked us to take him to the hospital for tests-they admitted him for observation-then released him Wednesday for home hospice care . . . Sunday we had an evening service in his bedroom with all their grandkids (there are only 3 :) & us & a few friends. We sang his favorite hymns (It is Well, Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus, Softly & Tenderly, Goin' Home) & prayed together. 2 am Monday we all woke & came to him, he breathed his last as I read from Romans 8 (What can separate us from the love of God) & 1 Corinthians 13 (love is patient, love is kind . . .) His favorite chapters. We feel like we had the best kind of memorial service-the last few days of his life we were sitting around his bed, reminiscing about his life & our experiences with him. God gave us the chance to bid proper farewells while he was still able to hear. Through all of these challenges, we have had a profound sense of God’s presence, and His love, His provision. He is, as always, the very present Help in times of need. Now my dad is enjoying his first real Christmas concert, and the first in which he will actually sing on pitch (while he was here he couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket).
The world is dark. What do we do when we enter a dark room? What do you do? Do you start flailing around, commanding the darkness to flee? No! That would be a strange response to darkness. You simply turn on the light.
By sending Jesus, God has turned on the light in the dark room of this world, and in the abysmal caverns of our souls. As Phillips Brooks wrote more than 100 years ago
O little town of Bethlehem (House of Bread) how still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by
Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight
This is how God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heaven,
By shining His light in the darkness.
God’s presence is with us in Christ,
And He invites us to join Him as Children of the Light-of His illumination.
He gives each of us His commission.
Commission
Moses
When God called to Moses from the burning bush, Mo was hesitant.
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
12 And God said, “I will be with you. Exodus 3
Joshua
General Joshua was a great warrior, and because of that we may think he was very brave. But God saw that Joshua needed encouragement. As He commissioned Joshua He promised His presence (remember, I said we would return to that theme?)
As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. Joshua 1
Remember the song of David, that mused over how God is with us at all times?
Remember the continuation of that great song?
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139, NIV)
God has a plan for our lives, even before we are born. He has ordained that we be His representatives.
Jesus commissioned His disciples saying
All authority is given to me in heaven and earth, therefore,
Go, make disciples of all nations
Teaching them to do all that I have commanded you
And Look I am with you always, even to the end of the age! Matthew 28
In the Sermon on the mount, as Jesus established the principles of His Kingdom He said “You all are the light of the world”. You see, we become like the One we worship. As we worship the Light of the Word, His light begins to ignite in us. Then we become light in the darkness.
As Paul said it (I can’t let a Christmas pass without quoting Philippians 2)
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who though He was God, and thought equality with God not something to be grasped, but He emptied Himself, and took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was found in the form of a human. And being found in the form of a human He submitted Himself to death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him.
Notice in all these commissionings, God promises His presence. Because He is with us, we can expect His character will be expressed among us. If we want to bring Glory to God, we have to be His emissaries of peace. As the angels proclaimed to the shepherds at the birth of Jesus
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward humanity. (Luke 2)
If we want to see God glorified, as He was at the birth of Jesus, we must work toward the good of humanity.
Christmas is all about being like Jesus
The Work of Christmas is to fulfil His Commission in our lives-to conform to His image.
Howard Thurman wrote:
When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with their flocks,
the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost,
to heal the broken,
to feed the hungry,
to release the prisoner,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among the people,
to make music in the heart.
As we celebrate the birth of Jesus
I pray He will be born in us this day. And that in all the Christmas pictures we take this season, His glory, goodness, grace, and light will shine.
