Westside Church of Christ

It is a festive time of year. Lights decorate the landscape; grumpy old folks tone down their grump a bit and attention is focused briefly on Jesus. If we can get past the commercialization of the season, we will see the great gift of God. A Son born among the animals with no room for Him among the humans. A Savior pushed to the periphery. Kind of like now, huh?

The word of God offers neither the date of His birth nor instructions about celebrating it, but the world chooses this as the time to observe His coming into the creation. The angels proclaimed this birth announcement to shepherds who were busy about their work. Today it would have been on all the cable news networks, maybe. Maybe not. It really wouldn’t be the kind of story they would like to headline. They might have ignored it. After all, God coming to earth would make a lot of folks uncomfortable.

Good news has become unwelcome. At least, His story has been shoved out of the public’s eye. Virtually everybody knows John 3:16, but verse 19 is not as familiar. Light is unwelcome. It exposes too much. The serpent of the Garden of Eden has not retired, and he is still luring people into the darkness. We are shocked at the hostility demonstrated toward the light of the world. We shouldn’t be.

God sent His Son anyway. Deity in a diaper is hard to imagine. A totally dependent king doesn’t have preconceived notions of One who came from glory. A Creator who loved His creation so much that He stepped into the corrupted world to redeem the ones He had created in His image. It had become unrecognizable to human eyes. It still is, but He sees beneath our exterior to assess our hearts. He walked the dusty roads seeking the lost. We might keep our distance from them, but He didn’t. What a blessing.

Time spent in the grip of the world leaves its impression on us. Our thoughts are a bit scrambled. The evil one had his way with us for a long time. The blemishes are evident at times. Others are internal. Our hearts need softening, and our souls need saving. He alone journeyed through the darkness without giving in to it. He rose above it, and wants to take us with Him. He bears the scars that we deserved.

It seems impossible that a tiny baby could be the answer to all of the world’s problems, but He was. He still is. He did grow up, after all, and took our sins to the cross. Blood flowed from the innocent one to wash us. The date may remain buried in the dust bins of history, but His mission isn’t. He came to save. He brought forgiveness. It’s the best news ever.

Call to Praise: Romans 6:20-23

His word on it: Ephesians 2:8

Sermon: “The Gift of God”