What Will You Do With It?, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: Isaiah 9:2-7

9:2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness on them light has shined.
9:3 You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder.
9:4 For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.
9:5 For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
9:6 For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
9:7 His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. 

          It started out so well, too.  A man and a women with nothing to do but love one another and love God, in a garden paradise made just for them.  There was plenty provided to sustain them, they had the joy of children, and they walked in the garden with their Creator. 

          Today men and women rush about with far too much crowding into their lives, creating their own problems, some very well off, some doing without, as society in general poisons the ethical and moral well for children, designing their own gods in their own image.

          How in the world did the human race get so far astray from the Heavenly Father's plans for them?

          Since the Living God is all-knowing as well as all-powerful, it would be hard to believe He did not know in advance the straying path people would take, and that at some point, we would need a course correction, a savior.  The prophet Job, in chapter 5, verse 7, shares with us, "Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward."   And we've been doing our very best to prove Job right.

          But no matter how badly, or even how righteously, mankind behaved, God has His own plan and the Savior's appearance, the coming of the Messiah, would not be rushed.   Galatians 4:4 tells us "But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law."  Only when the time of His choosing was correct, then would God act.  But even in that, God has His own plans.

          Mankind, caught up in winning and losing, conquering and being subjected, looked for the Messiah riding to the rescue on a white horse, if you will, arriving with a mighty army, laying waste to the enemies of God's people; they looked for a mighty king of a savior.  They were under the rule of the Roman Empire, trampled upon by those who worshipped multiple gods, demeaning, insulting them and blaspheming their God daily.  They desperately needed a Messiah to ride to their rescue.

          But God knew they needed much more than that.  They needed much more than a conquering king with temporary salvation.  They had experienced that all along.  And so it was that " a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and He is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."   

          All the mechanics of human rule remained in place.  From tax collectors to the rulers of the synagogues, the regional kings, the Regimental Prefects, the Praetorian Corps commanders, Consuls and Centurions, those who commanded Roman Cohorts and entire Legions, all the way up to the Roman Emperor, August Caesar.  All intact.  Outwardly, nothing changed.  But as Caesar was feeling confident in his rule of the entire known world, the Creator of suns and worlds and entire galaxies lay helpless, wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in an animal manger in Bethlehem.  But He did not come unheralded by God the Father.  The world was alerted, those who sought Him, through a star, a bright light that served to bring men out of the darkness of ungodliness, into the light of a new world.  And it hasn't been the same since that remarkable day.

          To this day, no one is exactly sure what day the Son of God, Jesus Christ, took on the flesh of this world, lowered Himself into the human race, and allowed Himself to be born of woman as an infant in order to become one of us, becoming our bridge to the Father by offering us forgiveness for wrongs, shedding His own blood where our blood could not pay the price, wrapping us in His own holy righteousness. 

          Still, all over the world we agree to celebrate December 25th as the day the entire world changed.  It did not come in thunder claps or on horseback or rumbling with might and conquest, but it came in the tiny, pink form of an infant who loved and was loved in return.  Throughout the Bible, as we see him grow and mature, He is the very embodiment of the love of God.  Of His inception into flesh, of His birth, life, death, burial and resurrection, threaded through every moment is the great love of God, coming through the Son from the Father, to us; to each of us, individually. 

          God has not forgotten a one of us, not even the hairs of our head has he lost track of, knowing who we are, where we are, what we think of Him. 

          What do you think of Him?  What have you done about the gift of life, purchased for you with His very blood, His flesh?  What have you done about Jesus Christ?

          Such great love, more love than we can even understand, has come so very near to us, and instead of overwhelming us, demanding we love back, waits upon our decision to love Him or reject Him. 

          As a tiny infant in His mother Mary's arms, as a bruised and bleeding sacrifice on a cross at Golgotha, as a risen Son seated once again at the right hand of the Father in power and glory, He brings to us that very great love that comes so near to us.  What will you do with it as we celebrate His arrival into our life?

          Amen.

Week of Worship

December 25, 2011 - January 1, 2012

Invocation:  Ever-loving God, Who came into the world clothed in our garment of flesh and Who willingly gave Yourself to the cross, clothe us in Your own Spirit, that persons will recognize You in us and receive Your great gift of love.  In the name of Jesus, Your greatest gift.  Amen.

Read: Psalm 96

Daily Scripture Readings

Monday                Exodus 20:18-26

Tuesday               Galatians 3:23-4:7

Wednesday         2nd Corinthians 5:16-21
Thursday              John 3:1-8
Friday                   Ephesians 1:3-14 
Saturday              Colossians 1:15-23

Sunday                 Isaiah 61:10-62:3; Galatians 4:47; Psalm 111; Luke 2:22-40

Reflection: (silent and written)


Prayers for the church, for others, for yourself.

Hymn: "In the Bleak Midwinter"

Benediction:  Now clothe yourself with my flesh, Lord Jesus, and do Your good work in me and through me today.  Amen.