A Christmas Greeting

December 23, 2011

“I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.”                 .(Luke 2:10)

 When the angels appeared to those frightened shepherds, they gave them a wonderful Christmas greeting.  They announced that they were bringing good tidings of great joy to all people.

These good tidings were not just for Jewish people or for good people.  They were to bring great joy to ALL people!  That means all kinds of people – and all kinds of people everywhere!

Before He ascended, the last words of Jesus were: “… be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere… to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NLT).

Some enjoy their faith as if the last words of Jesus were “Now don’t let it get around!”  They live out their faith as if the Gospel is a secret to be kept.

Never forget those two beautiful Christmas words, “All people!”

The spiritual community of those who believe and follow Jesus is not to be a secret organization.  It is a community of people who exist for the benefit of their non-members.

Jesus Christ came to bring good news and great joy to people who are not good.  The Bible tells us that all of us have gone astray and turned every one of us to his or her own way.  That’s the bad news.  But the good news is that God laid the penalty for all of our sins on His Son (Isaiah 53:6).

Two more great Christmas words are “mercy” and “grace”.  The mercy of God withholds from us what we deserve and His grace lavishes on us all kinds of marvelous things we do not deserve.  His mercy and grace give us more blessings than we can count if we have the faith to receive them.

 

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Posted by Dick Woodward

A Third Response: The Shepherds & Good News

December 9, 2011

“After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished…”  (Luke 2: 17-18)

For many years I have wondered why God told the shepherds what He was about to do when He put Christmas in place.  We have seen that the first Christmas happened relatively quietly.  The people who were told about the first Christmas played an important role in that great intervention of God into history.  Zechariah and his wife needed to know because they were to be the parents of John the Baptist, the last and the greatest of the Messianic prophets.  Mary needed to know because she was to be the birth mother of God.  Joseph needed to know how and why his beautiful young fiancé became pregnant.  But why did the shepherds need to know about the miracle of that first Christmas?

I am convinced that a clue to the answer can be found when we realize that unbelief shut the mouth of the first person to know about this miracle.  Mary, who is such a marvelous example for us, was so filled with awe and questions that she did not share the miracle.  However, these lowly simple shepherds told everybody what they had been told and seen for themselves.

As we consider the Christmas that shall be we must follow the example of the shepherds and tell people who have no hope the good news that God is going to do Christmas again when Jesus Christ intersects human history a second time.  Will you prayerfully consider telling people about the Christmas that was and the Christmas that shall be?

Will you give hopeless people a reason to hope?

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Posted by Dick Woodward