Two weeks ago we talked about the importance of the Old Testament prophecies about God sending his Son into the world. They provided such hope for those who waited in darkness. Last week we talked about the fulfillment of those prophecies and what they meant in the lives of the people who lived during the time that Jesus walked the earth. But the question remains: What about now? What difference does Christ make in the world today? Is he real in the lives of people here and now? Could he be real and make a difference in your life?
The witness of history, both past and present, is weighty with evidence that he has made a dramatic difference in the lives of people in every age — so much so that the course of history has been changed. He has changed so many lives, in so many ways, that it would fill the world with books telling all their stories. To whom has Jesus Christ made a difference and to whom did he come?
First of all, Jesus Christ came to: People who needed a friend. Lee Eclov tells the story of one such person. “People came early one Christmas Eve for the 11:00 pm service at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, in New York City. Among them was a recovering alcoholic, six months sober, who slipped into the eleventh row. This was his first Christmas since having lost his family. A family of four sat down two rows in front of him. Seeing them together was crushing. He decided he couldn’t handle it — he had to have a drink. As he moved from the sanctuary to the narthex, he ran into Pastor Thomas Tewell. ‘Jim, where are you going?’ the pastor asked. ‘Oh, I’m just going out for a Scotch,’ Jim replied. ‘Jim, you can’t do that,’ the pastor responded. He knew that Jim was a recovering alcoholic. ‘Is your sponsor available?’ Jim replied, ‘It’s Christmas Eve. My sponsor is in Minnesota. There’s nobody who can help me. I just came tonight for a word of hope, and I ended up sitting behind this family. If I had my life together, I’d be here with my wife and kids too.’ Pastor Tewell took Jim into the vestry to talk with a couple of other pastors. Then he slipped into the auditorium, having no idea what to do. He whispered a prayer: ‘O God, could you give me a word of hope for Jim?’ He welcomed everyone and made a few announcements. Then he said, ‘I have one final announcement. If anyone here tonight is a friend of Bill Wilson — and if you are, you’ll know it — could you step out for a moment and meet me in the vestry?’ Bill Wilson, better known as Bill W., was a cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous. From all over the sanctuary, women, men, and college students arose and made their way out. ‘And there while I was preaching in the sanctuary about incarnation,’ said Pastor Tewell, ‘the Word was becoming flesh in the vestry. Someone was experiencing hope.’” Jim experienced the friendship of Jesus Christ through the people who had been touched by him and in whom he lived.
Jesus is called the friend of sinners (Matthew 11:19). God has said that he would never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). Jesus said, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). These are all the promises of a friend. The Bible says, “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24).
How does God become our friend? We become God’s friend when we believe in the one God sent. Jesus said, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent” (John 6:29). The Bible says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God’s friend” (James 2:23).
But there is second group to whom Jesus came. Jesus came to: People who needed a change. Joanna was telling me about a friend she knew in college. He was a very brilliant student, but also an atheist. To look at him, he seemed like he had it all together, but he needed a change. He would not consider turning to God. The idea was preposterous to him. Another student tried to witness to him, but without success. Even though this Christian friend was not successful, he was persistent. One day the skeptic said to his Christian friend: “I’ll make you a bet. I bet that I can read through the entire Bible and still not believe in God.” So that semester he read through the entire Bible — and lost the bet. He is now a dynamic Christian who is living for God and working in missions in Asia. His life was changed — transformed. But that is what Christ does when he comes into a person’s life. When Christ was born into the world he changed the world. That’s what Bethlehem’s babe does.
Bret Harte wrote a story entitled “The Luck of Roaring Camp”. The story goes that Roaring Camp was supposed to be the meanest, toughest mining town in all of the West. It was reported that there were more murders and thefts than any other place around. It was a terrible place inhabited entirely by men, except for one woman who made her living in the only way she knew how. Her name was Cherokee Sal. She became pregnant by who knows whom and died while giving birth to a baby. The men took the baby and put her in a box with some old rags under her. Somehow that just didn’t seem right, so one of the men rode eighty miles to buy a rosewood cradle. He brought it back, and they put the rags and the baby in the beautiful new rosewood cradle. But the rags didn’t look very nice in the beautiful new cradle, so they had another man ride to Sacramento where he bought some beautiful silk and lace blankets. Now they put the baby in the cradle lined with silk and put the new blanket over her. It looked fine until someone happened to notice that the floor was so filthy. So these hardened, tough men got down on their hands and knees, and with their calloused hands scrubbed the floor until it was spotless. Of course, now the walls and the ceiling and the dirty windows without curtains looked absolutely terrible. So they washed down the walls and the ceiling, and they put curtains at the windows. Things were beginning to look a lot better. But of course, they had to give up a lot of their fighting, because the baby slept a lot, and babies can’t sleep during a brawl. So the whole temperature of Roaring Camp seemed to go down. They would take the baby out and set her by the entrance to the mine in her rosewood cradle, with one of the men staying next to her, so the others could see her when they came out of the mine. Then somebody noticed what a dirty place the mine entrance was, so they planted flowers, and they made a garden there. It really looked quite beautiful. The men would bring her shiny little stones that they would find in the mine. But when they would put their hands down next to hers, their hands looked so dirty. Pretty soon the general store was all sold out of soap and shaving gear. The baby was changing everything.
That’s also the way it is for those who have placed their faith in the babe of Bethlehem. The baby enters into their lives, and he slips into every crevice of their experience. The Bible says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come ” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Jesus came for those who needed a change.
The third group that Jesus came to was: People who needed a Savior. Again, of all the needs we have this is the greatest need of all. Everyone would like to have a friend. Many people would like to experience a change. But in order for that to happen, they must receive the Savior. We need to be forgiven for our sins, and then we need to learn to live for God. Here is an important truth for you to understand: Jesus Christ did not come to make your life easier, he came to make your life mean something. Jesus Christ did not come to fulfill your desires, he came to fulfill HIS desire in you. He did not come to help make your plans work, he came to give you a whole new plan. And when his plan and his desire are fulfilled in you, your life becomes everything it should be. It becomes something greater than you ever thought it could be. That is why we are to seek his will rather than our own. The babe of Bethlehem said, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:28-33). He came into the world to be its Savior.
I recently read the story of two Americans who had been invited by the Russian Department of Education to teach morals and ethics in their prisons, businesses, police departments, and also at a large orphanage. They were given complete freedom to teach Christian values. They went to the orphanage with about 100 children. The children had been abandoned, abused and left in the care of the government. One of the men told what happened in the orphanage when they told the Christmas story to the children — which was the first time these children had ever heard it. He said, “We told them about Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem. Finding no room in the inn, the couple went to a stable, where the baby Jesus was born and placed in a manger. Throughout the story, the children and orphanage staff sat in amazement as they listened. Some sat on the edges of their stools, trying to grasp every word. Completing the story, we gave the children three small pieces of cardboard to make a crude manger. Each child was given a small paper square, cut from yellow napkins I had brought with me. No colored paper was available in the city. Following instructions, the children tore the paper and carefully laid strips in the manger for straw. Small squares of flannel, cut from a worn-out nightgown an American lady was throwing away as she left Russia, were used for the baby’s blanket. A doll-like baby was cut from tan felt we had brought from the United States. The orphans were busy assembling their mangers as I walked among them to see if they needed any help. All went well until I got to one table where little Misha sat — he looked to be about 6-years-old and had finished his project. As I looked at the little boy’s manger, I was startled to see not one, but two babies in the manger. Quickly, I called for the translator to ask the lad why there were two babies in the manger. Crossing his arms in front of him and looking at his completed manger scene, the child began to repeat the story very seriously. For such a young boy, who had heard the Christmas story only once, he related the happenings accurately — until he came to the part where Mary put the baby Jesus in the manger. Then Misha started to ad lib. He made up his own ending to the story as he said, ‘And when Mary laid the baby in the manger, Jesus looked at me and asked me if I had a place to stay. I told him I have no mamma and I have no papa, so I don’t have any place to stay. Then Jesus told me I could stay with him. But I told him I couldn’t, because I didn’t have a gift to give him like everybody else did. But I wanted to stay with Jesus so much, so I thought about what I had that maybe I could use for a gift. I thought maybe if I kept him warm, that would be a good gift. So I asked Jesus, “If I keep you warm, will that be a good enough gift?” And Jesus told me, “If you keep me warm, that will be the best gift anybody ever gave me.” So I got into the manger, and then Jesus looked at me and he told me I could stay with him — for always.’”
Jesus Christ not only transformed lives 2000 years ago, he is still making a difference today. The babe of Bethlehem is the Savior of the world. He is a friend to the fatherless. Just speaking the name Jesus transforms lives and brings peace to the sinful, heals the sick, brings hope to the hopeless, gives faith to those who doubt, restores dignity to those who have been shamed and renews wholeness to the broken. Praise be to God for his unspeakable gift
Rodney J. Buchanan
December 22, 2002
Mulberry St. UMC
Mt. Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
