May the mumbling commence!
Happy Birthday, Jesus! To the one who has no beginning or end, we celebrate the glorious miracle of your coming to earth in human form. You came to live among us, and through your Holy Spirit you live with us still. You came with great vulnerability and great power.
You showed us how great vulnerability and great power can dwell together in the same person. You were not corrupted by great power. You remained obedient until the end of your human life. And you live on forever at the side of your Father in heaven – and thanks to you, He is our Father as well. Yes, we are the children of God!
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. (1 John 3:1-3)
What a great Christmas present to me! The reading for today comes from Hebrews and 1 John – two of my favorite books of the Bible. I love Hebrews because it bridges the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament with clarity. I love 1 John because it is a great letter of encouragement to all believers – reminding us all of the promise upon which we put our hope and which we live our lives anew in the presence of God.
1 John was also the book of the Bible that began my love affair with the Scriptures – reading them over and over again. How great is the love of God! That statement makes me think of the hymn The Love of God by F. M. Lehman. Read the last verse of this hymn:
Could we with ink the ocean fill
and were the skies of parchment made;
were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill,
and everyone a scribe by trade;
to write the love of God above
would drain the oceans dry;
nor could the scroll contain the whole,
though stretched from sky to sky.
God loves us and calls us His children because that is what we are! Like Father, like sons and daughters! When God appears, we will resemble him like children resemble their earthly parents. To resemble God is to know what love is.
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:16-18)
To love is to show those around us with our actions of mercy and grace and truth. So, what present should we bring to our Lord Jesus this morning? How do we please him with our gift to him?
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. (Hebrews 13:15-16)
We confess your name, O Jesus, in the congregation and in the world this morning – now and forevermore. We strive to benefit those around us by sharing of our resources of food, money, power, influence, knowledge, and wisdom. Confessing the name of Jesus and doing good and sharing with others is how we will please Jesus this day.
I leave you now with the beautiful benediction that comes in the last chapter of Hebrews:
May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (13:20-21)
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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