Friday, December 6, 2013

Join the Christmas Party!




The two big highlights of my childhood occurred annually on Christmas day and Flag Day. Christmas, because of the many presents under the tree, and Flag Day because that’s my birthday. I love having birthday parties and I really loved getting birthday presents at my birthday parties. I will never forget getting a Mongoose California BMX bike for my 13th Birthday; it was so cool! As a kid, there was nothing better than birthday parties, birthday hats, cake, presents and party games!

Christmas is the traditional day we celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ. It is a day of celebration because God loves us humans so much that that he took on the condition of humanity. He left the glory of heaven and freely chose to become like us, fully human and in the mystery of what we call the Incarnation, fully God. Christmas is the Birthday of love becoming human! The disciple John understood, perhaps more than most, how love is the central theme of the Christmas Birthday.

1 John 4:16
We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

God is love, and Christ, being God, is love in human form. Earlier, John is clear that real love, authentic love, is what God did when he became man. He was born in Bethlehem but he didn’t stay in Bethlehem. He grew first in that small town, then in exile in Egypt, and finally as an adult in Nazareth and the surrounding region. And this man/God Jesus, this author of love, was put to death on a cross so that we could have life, forgiveness, and an eternity with him. That sacrifice is love.

1 John 4:10
This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

If God is love and it is perfectly experienced in Christ, then Christmas is the ultimate celebration of love’s Birthday. And if our birthdays typically have cake and presents, what is present at the Birthday of love?

In Luke 2:8-12, Dr. Luke records what is at this party.

An angel announces the good news of the birth of Jesus in Luke. This would be like watching your favorite Christmas special and the broadcast getting interrupted by an unplanned presidential statement. You would take notice. No one would interrupt It’s a Wonderful Life unless it was of crucial importance. For the Shepherds, the good news was all about the most important of announcements. Take notice, pay attention, shepherds! Everything will change because of this news report.

The shepherds know immediately that the good news is positive as the angel exclaims that this is news of great joy! Joy is so elusive in our day. Joy is the experience of faith in Christ, when we understand that joy is authored in Christ, joy is possible because of Christ, and that Christ is the focal point of our joy. When we get this, we get Christ. From a prison cell the Apostle Paul writes, “I will say it again: Rejoice!” Joy that is anchored in Jesus Christ is tireless. One author writes, “It’s like a little child squealing, ‘Do it again, Daddy!’ to which our heavenly Daddy replies heartily, ‘Yes, let’s do it again! And again and again!’” Because of Christ, that kind of Joy is possible.

And the angel doesn’t stop there. In verse 11, this angel proclaims, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you.” Connecting David with Savior was significant for these shepherds. David was the greatest king that Israel had ever had. When the shepherds heard stories of the golden years, they would have been referring to the reign of King David. He rescued them from their enemies and established a secure kingdom. This Savior, at least from the perspective of the shepherds would, like David, rescue them from the oppression and occupation of the Roman Empire that had been ruling their land. This truly was some good news.

Yet this Jesus was so much more because the angel does not end with the word Savior. He is also Christ. Jesus was a common name in those days but Christ was all about the anointed one, the chosen one. The Messiah. This was the person whom all the ancient writers pointed to, the one who was sent by God to culminate God’s plans for the Jewish people. Nothing would ever be the same again.

This savior Christ is the Lord, the Supreme Authority. The current king of the land, Herod, was not the supreme authority. The supreme ruler of the vast Roman Empire, Caesar Augustus, was not the supreme authority. No – it was this baby surrounded by family and animals; he was the Supreme Authority over all lands.

The shepherds could not fully grasp all that the angel was saying. This was not some mere mortal. This was God becoming man, offering humanity the way of love. The love of a God who provided the way of life, of healing, and of relationship. This was the way that the Creator of all things would provide a way for each of us to be in relationship with Jesus Christ and to see his Kingdom and his purposes be birthed in our life and in the world. That is the party we are invited to. As I tell my kids on Christmas morning, we give gifts at Christmas because God gave us the greatest gift of all, Jesus Christ. And because of the gift of Jesus Christ, we have purpose in our life; we have forgiveness of all our sins (all the garbage in our life). In this gift of love, Jesus, we can experience God’s incredible heavenly reality now and into forever. That is all possible because God loved us so much to send us his son Jesus Christ. That is what we celebrate on Christmas day!

Who can come to that kind of party? You would think just a few chosen people. But this birthday was for all people. This act of love was for all humanity. I have been passed over, by-passed and skipped when it comes to party invitations. We all know what that feels like, especially as a small child realizing that everybody else in the class was invited, but not you. Truly devastating. God doesn’t do that. He never forgets, never skips you. Everyone, no matter their past, ethnicity, economic status; everyone, no matter the choices you have made or are making in life. Everyone - no exception - is invited to the party. Is invited to be in relationship with the God of Love!

If we are all invited, how do we come to this party? How can we be in relationship with the God of all Creation? We must identify with the shepherds. God could have chosen to first announce the birth of his son Jesus Christ to kings, leaders, rulers, priests, centurions and Caesars. But instead, God chose this greatest of news to be revealed to a class of people one step above the lowest class. Shepherds were despised, and considered religiously unclean and outsiders in their day.

When we, no matter our position in society, identify with the shepherds, we are welcome to come to Jesus, to come to the party. God does not come to the self-sufficient. The message of Christ is for those who know they need Jesus. If you are in need, you are welcome to come to Jesus. Jesus said:

Matt 11:28
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

John 6:29
Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

If this Christmas you are not sure that you are part of God’s party; if you are not sure that you truly know Jesus Christ, and if you sense your need for him, you are welcome to enter the party. Come to him and he will give you rest, believe in Him and find life. Trust Him and find a love that will last forever.

Jason Esposito,
Lead Pastor, Crossway Church, www.crosswaygt.org  

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