Final wishes

    I waited to post this Sunday's message because of its significance.  It is my final sermon as the pastor of the Worthington Baptist Church.  I hope to maintain this blog by posting sermons from the time before I began this blog.  I will probably begin with a study of I Thessalonians.  
   The personal nature of this message will be understood, given its setting.

Final Wishes

Ephesians 4:1-7

Over the years I have occasionally ended an old year or began a new year by presenting a “wish list” for the future.  Some of those wishes were very practical; some were more spiritual.  I haven‘t done it in a while because I feared it had become a gimmick. 

Still, I thought it might be appropriate to return to that practice this morning. 

Before I turn to wishes rooted in my text I want to share some that are more general.

I wish I might be able to more adequately say, “Farewell”.

In my fourth decade as a pastor, I’ll admit I’ve had a strange career or, at least, an unexpected one.  I was going to teach, you know.  There were a couple times when I thought that was going to happen.  It didn’t.  So, I was the pastor who knew more about Pietism than pastoral psychology, more about Tertullian than church administration.

Oddly, though, during those thirty-four years I have served only two churches.  That is very rare for a Southern Baptist pastor, especially when you consider the average pastorate is between three and four years.  I am leaving Worthington, as I left Dawn, with the longest pastorate in the church’s history. 

I hope this wasn’t because the Lord was saying, “It’s safest to just leave him there; but if he starts doing too much damage, I’ll move him somewhere else.”

When I left Dawn, it seemed the right thing to do.  When Cathy called on behalf of the pastor search committee I had never heard of Worthington and was not sure where Columbus was in Ohio.  She said Worthington was on the river and I assumed she meant the Ohio River.  She could not remember where the committee had found my resume and I couldn’t remember ever sending it off to Ohio. 

I’ve often told people the move proved God has a sense of humor.  Everyone in Dawn was involved in agribusiness; here people held all kinds of jobs—there were even people in  “IT” jobs and I wasn’t sure just what they did.  In Texas you could joke about Longhorns, about Aggies, about Horned Frogs; in Ohio, you apparently don’t joke about Buckeyes.  (How do Buckeyes spend their first week of fall practice?  Studying their Miranda rights.) Ultimately, though, I’ve concluded God didn’t move us to get a good laugh; He moved us to bless us.  I could list a lot but because we moved we have Mikelle and Kelly in our lives.  Because we moved we have you in our lives.

So, I’m not saying Farewell because we have a better offer.  I am saying Farewell because it seems the right thing to do; perhaps God has a younger person in mind for this church, perhaps God has a more dynamic person in mind for this church, perhaps God has a more denominationally-sympathetic person in mind for this church.  I’m sure God knows but he hasn’t told me.

2.  I wish for you a healthy balance of continuity and change.

For church’s 25^th anniversary celebration in 1997 I prepared a little booklet sketching the history of the church.  I concluded with a brief essay on the characteristics marking the church during each decade of its history.  I saw a church united, though diverse; compassionate; faithful; and resilient. I could describe the church in the same words today.

But there is also a resistance to change. An old joke asks, “How many Baptists does it take to change a light bulb?”  The answer:  “CHANGE.  Whataya you mean change.”

Churches are changing.  We’ve embraced some of those changes—though some of you may feel those changes ambushed you.  There’s still a place for Wesley and Watts but there had better be a place for Green and Grant as well.  I learned how to do the proposition/big idea sermon, the kind of sermon presented from behind a pulpit.  I’m not sure how well I can adapt to the casual—even “pointless,” as it were—messages delivered while sitting on a stool or an easy chair.  But you might need to learn how to listen to them and learn from them.  My doctorate is from a seminary where the dean cut his grass in a shirt and tie.  In the past few years I’ve dressed more casually because an insightful Christian—older than I—pointed out how a suit and tie creates a barrier that keeps some modern people from hearing.

Don’t make every change a deal-breaker or a battleground.

Speaking of change, over the years I have tried really hard to be wrapped up by 12:00 o’clock; I haven’t always been successful but I think more times than not I have.

Whoever follows me may not be so inclined.  Instead of complaining, learn to eat a bigger breakfast.  With the clock in mind, let me move on to some wishes rooted in my text. 

Remember that in Ephesians Paul is explaining how in Christ God has created one new people to live for him and work for him in the real world.  In chapter four, he is laying out a picture of how that ideal finds its expression in the church.   Paul’s wishes for the church are my wishes for you.

I wish you might each possess those qualities unquestionably marking you as Christ’s people.

He begins by underscoring those traits that ought to be found in every Christian.  Christians are to live “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love.”

We can’t look at each trait in detail but, taken together, they describe a remarkable person.  Such a person does not scramble to be the Alpha dog; but is willing to do the menial if it benefits the church.  Such a person meets you without assuming you want his undivided opinion.  Such a person is a soothing presence in potentially explosive situations.  Such a person has marked “retaliation” out of the dictionary and written “patience” in the margins.  Such a person shows a dogged determination to start once again from square one with that spiritual slow-learner.  Such a person ties up all these qualities with Christian love.  At the same time, because the Spirit intends these qualities to make us Christlike, not nice, such a person will not allow bullies to go unchallenged and error to go uncorrected.

Imagine what church would be like if each person possessed and demonstrated these qualities.  Imagine the impact that church would make. Every Christian would be a living defense of the faith.  It’s why I wish it for you.

Of course, Paul’s own words remind us this vision is sometimes thwarted.  These qualities are too often missing from my life.  But I offer this wish because, we ought to aspire “to live worthily of the calling with which [we] have been called.”  I think Paul is reminding us we have been called to be part of a redeemed people, a changed people, a new people; a people whose lifestyle testifies to the fact God has been at work. 

I wish you might celebrate your unity as God’s People.

As Paul wished for the Ephesians, I wish you would “be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” 

Let me point out something that seems clear from Paul’s language.  If the Ephesians were “to maintain the unity of the Spirit” it’s reasonable to assume the unity was already a reality.  We know of churches were unity is gone; only animosity remains.  I believe better things of this church.  So, I want you to celebrate your unity.  But let me be very clear.  The unity worth celebrating is “the unity of the Spirit,” that unity produced by the Holy Spirit.  Since the Day of Pentecost the church had known the unifying presence of the Holy Spirit.  In Paul’s view, unity is the natural state for the church.  It’s a unity that manifests itself in “the bond of peace.”  

Peace is a big theme in Ephesians.  In the second chapter Paul speaks of the impact of Christ’s work on the cross:  “Christ himself is our peace,” he says, “Christ came and preached peace to you who were far away from God, and to those who were near to God.”

We Christians are bound together because we have peace with God and peace with each other.

So, celebrate your unity.  Learn from each other.  Let yourselves be inspired by the testimonies of those who don’t share your background.  When you look around and see someone whose accent is different than yours, whose political affiliation differs from yours, whose experience differs from yours, remember Christ is in the business of tearing down walls.

But let me remind you, there is one whose business is building walls.  So, let me add a footnote to this particular wish.  For, I wish you might understand the threats to your unity are many and you must be diligent to resist them.  Peace—even peace generated by the Spirit—can be fragile.  Paul’s words imply maintaining demands commitment and work.  Here’s the Amplified Bible’s rendering of the command:  “Be eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness produced by the Spirit.”

I do not know how long it may be before God sends a new pastor.  That waiting period may be a time of stress and tension.  Be on guard against that happening.  Hold onto the vision of being a united church.

The threats to unity may take various forms.  Be on guard against interpersonal relationships getting out of control.  Watch out for parties forming.  Pray you don’t allow jealousy and ambition to make you a pawn of that great Divider, Satan. 

Remember, there may come a time when you must take the mantle of peacemaker.

I wish you might treasure the essentials of the faith without obsessing over the non-essentials.

Some believe Paul might have been citing an early creed as he says,

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you too were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all

In this list Paul cites those things that ought to bind us together.  We are united in “one Body” for Christians in a local church shouldn’t behave like they belong to different churches.  We are united through “one Spirit” for the we are all received the Spirit and become more like Christ as the Spirit works within us.  We are united through “one hope” for we should share the common yearning for God to complete the work of salvation within us.  We are united through “one Lord” for it is Christ to whom all of us owe our allegiance.  We are united through “one faith” for each of us is saved “by grace through faith,” none of us can claim any other basis for our salvation.  We are united through “one baptism” for though the stories of how we may have come to that place may differ, we have each declared our allegiance to Christ.  We are all united through “one God and Father” for we are doubly privileged to be part of God’s family and to call him Father.

I think Paul is telling us that the Faith is to be experienced not just talked about.  But this doesn’t mean there aren’t essentials of the faith.  There are core elements on which our hope stands or falls.  Yes, we are united through “one Lord,” but we must be absolutely clear who that Lord is.  He was more than a wise teacher reputed to have done a lot of good things. He alone could claim that anyone wanting to know what God is like should look at him.  Ignore that and you have jettisoned much of the Christian message.

Just a few verses later, when Paul speaks of the varied ministries of the church, he stresses the importance of being grounded in these essentials.  The ministry of the church has its goal for us to

all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ…

I wish for you to treasure those essentials.  

But be careful you don’t get caught up with non-essentials.  Watch out for those who claim to know more than they can possibly know.  Avoid, as Paul warned Timothy, those who have “an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words.” (I Timothy 6:4)

I wish you might each discover your spiritual gift so you might work together to accomplish Christ’s purpose for you as his people in this place.

Once again I’m going to have to be content with broad strokes, leaving it to you to fill in the fine detail.  Listen to what Paul says:

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.  It was he who gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry…

In Paul’s discussion of spiritual gifts in I Corinthians 12, he focuses on the nature and character of the gifts.  Here, we might say he focuses on the gifted within the church, those who are both gifted and gifts.  But what’s more important than the contrast between these passages is what they have in common.

Both make it clear Christ provides what his churches need to do his work.  Do you get what that means?  Because of Christ’s provisions a small church doesn’t have to wait until it is big to do his work; a poor church doesn’t have to wait until it is rich to do his work.  And, remember, those provisions are manifested through the lives of individual Christians.  In both passages Paul tells us each believer possesses some gift (a charisma) from the Spirit.  Ironically, that means we are all charismatics but I don’t intend to pursue that notion on my last Sunday with you. 

Keep in mind how Paul uses “grace.”  It is the “unmerited favor” that opens the way to salvation but it is also a God-given enablement.  The Expanded Bible translation gets to the point:  “Each one of us has been given the special gift of grace,” where the phrase refers to a “graciously bestowed divine endowment.”  Those who possess such “gifts of grace” have no more earned them than they earned the gift of salvation.

The proper response to Christ’s gifting his people isn’t pride but an eagerness to discover and use those gifts in ways that will honor the Giver and accomplish his vision for the church. 

What’s important now is for you to understand you possess—by God’s grace—the capacity to do the work of the church even as you search for a new pastor. 

Let’s try to relate this to the text.  Good Christians differ over whether there are still “apostles” and “prophets” in the church.  We won’t resolve that this morning.   But it’s not impossible for one of you to have an apostle-like ability to so testify to your experience of Christ that new doors are opened for the gospel, doors that no “professional” minister could open.  Or maybe, in the days to come, the church will need someone with a prophet-like ability to apply the insights of God’s Word to some challenge.  Maybe that will be you. 

I don’t think it’s off base to suggest that the work of these individuals Paul lists may been done by Christians who never have the title.   You may be one of them.

While there’s no doubt an individual like Billy Graham can wear the title “evangelist,” you may discover that if you ever once ask God to help you overcome your fear, you might be able to help a friend or neighbor toward faith.  Of course, in doing this work of evangelism you will discover that some might trust Christ the first time you offer the gospel.  Others, probably most, will be brought into the Kingdom through a measured process.   All of us are to be witnesses, but you may discover God has specially graced you to do that kind of midwifery. 

Many believe when Paul speaks of “pastors and teachers,” he uses the phrase in a way that calls for a hyphen, that he is describing a single office, that of the “pastor-teacher.”  Once again, while Paul is certainly speaking of an individual who holds a specific office or role in the church, the pastor-teacher’s work is not exclusive to that office.  Obviously, the Sunday school reveals the pastor is not the only teacher in the church.  Then, too, even if you are not the pastor, you may be so gifted that you are able to relate pastorally to others.   You may be the person God uses to “shepherd” a confused believer, to comfort a broken-hearted fellow Christian.

Don’t ever assume the work of the church must cease until you’ve found a pastor.   God wants the work of the church go on; trust the God who has gifted you to make that happen.  Then, when you have found the new pastor, keep using your gifts to help the church.

CONCLUSION

Those are my wishes for you, some of them, at least.  In the days to come, remember God has wishes for you too and His wishes are always the best.

Before I finish I do want to say thank you.

Thank you to all of you who have, for almost twenty-three years, given me the privilege of serving as your pastor-teacher.  I am aware that in this age of hi-tech entertainment it is audacious to expect people to sit and listen to one person for 20 to 40 minutes.  Yet, you have.  In my preaching, I have tried to be clear, beneficial, and faithful to God’s Word.  I’ve tried hard to preach because I believed I had something you need to hear, not because it was 11:30 on a Sunday morning.

I want to thank the members of the Filipino Fellowship.  I consider it a privilege you allowed me to open the Word to you.  Getting to know you has been a joy.  And I want to thank Pastor Butch for letting his congregation come—not every pastor would do that.

I want to thank Philip and David who were willing to move across the country so I could do what I’ve done for nearly two decades.   You embraced them but outside the church, they put up with anti-Texas prejudice which they overcame with good humor and style.  We’re proud of the men they’ve become.

And, of course, I want to thank Pat.  Now, this is me speaking not her.  She has stood by me when there were challenges we felt we could tell no one about. She has been a healer to the hurting, gracious to the ungracious, a voice for the voiceless.  When you called me as pastor you never realized the treasure I’d be bringing with me.  Some of you may regret her departure more than mine.

Now, please stand and join me in prayer.

Reading the Christmas Story Again--Slowly

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.  (Luke 2:1-7)

It’s easy isn’t it to read these familiar words and then lay them aside until next Christmas?  Easy to see what we’ve always seen.  As a preacher I struggle to find something new in these words.  Then, I hear the voice of my better self or, perhaps, the voice of the Spirit saying, “How can you hope to find a more glorious story—you just need to read it slower.”

So, let’s do that for just a moment.

“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.”

Of course, we all know the story of how Joseph and Mary had to head off to Bethlehem so they could be registered.  Registered, so the tax rolls would be complete.  The Romans didn’t want anyone to slip through the cracks.  Nothing new about that; governments want all the taxpayers they can get.

But think about what that word “decree” means.  It’s an edict, a command, a mandate.  It was a reminder that people like Joseph and Mary weren’t in charge of their own lives.  Joseph couldn’t say, “I don’t mind paying taxes but my Mary is pregnant.  We’ll just stay here and I’ll send my information by messenger.”  No, the Romans wouldn’t listen to that plea; in fact, they enjoyed reminding their subjects just who was in charge.  We feel like that sometime—the government pulls all the strings or my company runs my life.  We may even wonder how God could do anything in our lives when some other entity has all the power.

In this case, consider who that entity was.  The decree went out “from Caesar Augustus.”  He was Caesar, the August one.  He was Julius Caesar’s adopted son and a skilled commander.  When he defeated Antony and Cleopatra about thirty years before Jesus’ birth, he arguably became the most powerful man in the world.  The founder of the Roman Empire, he wasn’t especially concerned about the plight of a peasant couple in faraway Palestine.  

Don’t miss the mention of Augustus’s underling, “Quirinius … governor of Syria.”  He wasn’t a popular governor and this census didn’t change that.  He was governor of Syria, a Roman province that would have included Palestine.  Now, note this.  In the province of Syria, unlike other Roman provinces, women paid taxes.  Think of it as a perk of equality.  Seriously, this may be why pregnant Mary found herself on the road to Bethlehem.

Then, too, Mary, whom Luke describes as Joseph’s “betrothed, who was with child,” may have been along for the trip because the couple had no choice.  To the uninformed, Joseph and Mary gave the appearance of a married couple expecting a child.  But, back home, the people were probably very much aware that Mary was pregnant before she and Joseph were legally married.  Mary’s friends and some of her family may have turned their backs on her.  Perhaps no midwife would be willing to help her.  It may be Joseph felt he couldn’t leave Mary behind. 

Both Joseph and Mary were descendants of David, so Bethlehem was their ancestral home.  But Joseph’s ties may have been more recent.  Some believe he owned property in Bethlehem or had relatives in the little city but both those suggestions are conjectures.

In any case, at the insistence of some bureaucrat in Rome, they were heading to a little town whose glory days were clearly in the past.  Of course, there were those students who loved to explore the minutia of the Bible who were aware the prophet Micah had predicted the Messiah would be born there.  While Mary and Joseph were certainly aware God was up to something great in their lives, we don’t know if they were aware of that bit of Bible trivia.  

Joseph may have just wanted the trip to be over so he could get Mary somewhere comfortable and Mary may have thought of little else than the fact that her time to give birth was approaching.  Perhaps, because of her condition, she couldn’t travel as fast as others on the road. Maybe she had to rest more often.  In any case, they were about to discover there were lots of people heading toward “the house of bread,” Bethlehem.

By the way, as you read this story you need to notice what is missing.  Where’s that familiar little donkey Mary is so often pictured as riding with Joseph leading them along?  Sure, if scholars like Rodney Stark are correct and Joseph was fairly affluent, there may have been a donkey or even a cart for Mary to ride.  But we don’t know that.  She may have walked those dusty roads alongside her husband.

Someway, somehow, this exhausted couple finally arrived in Bethlehem.  They could rest at last.  But “there was no place for them in the inn.”

Now, you should know scholars quibble over the meaning of the word translated as “inn.”  Some modern translations render it as “guest room,” which is a very legitimate translation.  So, too, is “inn.”  It idea is that Joseph’s family had a guest room where the couple hoped to stay but it was occupied when they arrived in the little town suddenly filled with others who needed to register for the privilege of paying the Romans taxes.  Scholars who favor the “guest room” translation say Bethlehem was too small and too far off the main roads to have an inn.  That is a plausible argument but not necessarily conclusive.  Get off the main roads in Oklahoma or west Texas and you’ll see tiny motels with a half dozen or so rooms waiting just in case someone wants to spend the night.  Besides, we’re not talking about the Bethlehem Hilton; for that matter, we’re not talking about the Bethlehem “Dew Drop Inn.”  So, at least for now, I’m going to bow to tradition and say the couple was turned away from an inn.

In any case, the couple was disappointed in their quest for a place to stay.  By the way, it probably wouldn’t have been a private room anyway, just a bit of space to throw down a bedroll.  

Now, over the years we’ve heard quite a bit about this despicable, mean-spirited innkeeper (or would-be host, if you insist).  But, really, what choice did he have?  There was “no room in the inn.”  The “No Vacancy” light had been turned on long before the couple arrived.  To bring the couple in would mean putting someone else out.  And, since everyone was probably crowded already, he may have been kept busy with complaints.  He may have already broken up some fights.  He knew better than to appeal to his guests’ good nature and ask someone to give up their space.  When people are tired and irritated, good nature is rare.

But, I like to imagine him suddenly remembering the stable.  According to tradition the world’s most famous stable was in a small cave.  Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity is built over such a cave and Alfred Eidersheim believes there’s a good case for it actually being the site of Jesus’ birth.  It would have been warm—or could have been made warm—and it was far more private than the inn.  

So, the innkeeper may have just been a man who didn’t have a lot of options but who did something when many would have done nothing.  Maybe he said to himself, “I wish I could have done more.  But God knows I did what I could.  God knows even if no one else remembers I gave a wandering family a place to stay.”

It’s easy to forget how much is accomplished by the people who do what they can.  They drop a few coins in a jar at the grocery store to help a children’s hospital.  It won’t buy them naming rights to the new wing but because they and thousands of others have done what they could, there are toys for sick children to play with or a quiet area for parents to wait in until the doctor can report on their child.

At Christmas, whether we are thinking of the innkeeper, the legend of the Poinsettia, or even the story of the little drummer boy, it’s important to keep in mind the impact of those who have done what they could.  

We don’t know how long Joseph and Mary were in the stable before the Child came.  The notion she went into labor the night they arrived is not necessarily found in the text.  However, once they were in Bethlehem, Joseph probably felt it was too risky to try to return to Nazareth.  So, they waited and before long “the time came for her to give birth.”  She probably had the help of a midwife.  Then, following the custom, she wrapped the Baby tightly in “swaddling clothes” or “strips of cloth.”  Interestingly, modern mothers are returning to this practice, wrapping up the baby in a tight little cocoon-like package.  It’s believed the old custom makes the baby feel more secure.

What wasn’t a custom was placing the Baby in a feeding trough, a manger.  Some were built of lumber, some were hewed from stone.  Though designed to hold feed for cattle, they look remarkably like a cradle.  There the Son of God, the Incarnate Word, the Savior slept.

So, there’s the old familiar story.  I could go on to talk about shepherds and wise men but I’m going to stop.  Instead, let me take you back one more time to the opening of this passage.  “A decree went out from Caesar Augustus…”  In far-off Rome there was a man who likely never heard of Bethlehem.  As the story begins it would be easy to picture this man as the one who has all the power.  With a simple decree he could fill the roads of Palestine and elsewhere with his subjects.  No appeal to the chaos and inconvenience he was causing would persuade him to change his mind. He was in charge.

But was he?

Decades later, Paul would write, “In the fullness of time God sent forth his Son.”  We might put this way:  Caesar played into God’s hands.

I you are ever tempted to believe the powers of this world may somehow thwart the plan of God, remember Christmas.  The mighty Caesar was God’s agent and he didn’t know it.                                             

Three decades later, the actions of some powerful men had seemingly thwarted God’s plan.  Three days later they found out how wrong they were, found out who was in charge.

The Gift at Christmas

     This Sunday morning our choir joined with the choir from the Filipino Fellowship to present our Christmas cantata.  Usually, I do not preach on these morning;  this morning I was asked to bring a brief message on God's Gift of his Son.

Years ago I had a relative who regularly gave as birthday and Christmas presents such things as socks and underwear.  She would explain, “Everyone needs underwear.”  Now, I suppose that’s true but no nine-year-old boy wants underwear for Christmas.

One of the debates about Christmas gifts asks, “Is it better to give something a person wants or something they need?”

What about the Great Gift of Christmas, Jesus?  Did we need this Gift?  Did we want it?

The angels help to answer this question.  To Joseph the angel said, “You will name the Child Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.”  To the shepherds the angel said, “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people:  To you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior.”

A  Savior.  If you’re supposed to rejoice when you learn of the arrival of a Savior, you’re in trouble.  Real trouble.

You and I are different yet the same.  Our skin may vary from fairly pale to fairly dark.  Yet, if I may cite a bit of wisdom from Larry the Cable Guy, “If you cut us, we all bleed red.”  But, there is a more fundamental sameness than that.  We are all sinners.

Each of us is born into a broken relationship with God, a condition revealed in our tendency to do those things we ought not to do and to leave undone those things we ought to do.  The evidence is in every newscast, discussed over the dirty dishes after every holiday meal.  The condition unites us as humans.

No amount of therapy, no surgery, no drug can deal with this condition.  Born into this condition, we need to be “born again.”  Only God—through Jesus—can accomplish this spiritual rebirth.

God’s Gift at the first Christmas was a Gift we needed.

But, was it also a Gift we wanted? A Baby born in a barn who grows into a Man eventually executed as a criminal may not seem to be a gift we might want.

Usually, when we want a gift, we can tell any potential giver everything about it.  We have all the specs of the new mobile memorized.  We know all the colors and accessories available.  We know what we want.

But occasionally, we want something but we don’t know exactly what it is we want.  Maybe we tell a friend, “I want something that will let me listen to music throughout the house but I don’t want wires running everywhere”  Our friend says, “Then what you want is a Sonos system.”  We already knew what we wanted; now we know what to call it.

Throughout our history, men and women have said, “I want to be better.” Or, maybe, “I want my life to have meaning.” Or, perhaps, “I want to be free, really free.”

God’s Gift at that first Christmas was not only what we needed, it was what we wanted.  Maybe we couldn’t put it into words but the Child born in that barn fulfills our deepest longings.  According to the angels, his birth brought “good news.”  A Savior—a Liberator—had been born.

We want something more than the narrow confines of this world.  We have that in Christ.  John puts it this way, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. Whoever puts his trust in God’s Son will not be lost but will have life that lasts forever.”  By trusting him, anyone can have a “whole and lasting life.”  Jesus explained why he came, “I came that you might have life, and have it in abundance, (to the full, till it overflows).” 

And isn’t that what we all want?

Christmas is about the great Gift God gave.  God’s Gift is one we need and, whether we know it or not, it is one we want. 

The night the Gift was given, the angels said something remarkable to the shepherds.  Here’s how the Wycliffe Bible told the story two hundred years before the King James Version.

The angel of the Lord stood beside them, … and they dreaded with great dread.

And the angel said to them, “Do not ye dread; for lo! I preach to you a great joy Lo!  I evangelize to you a great joy, that shall be to all people.

For a Saviour is born to day to you, that is Christ the Lord, in the city of David.

And this is a token to you; ye shall find a young child wrapped in `clothes, and laid in a feed-trough and put in a cratch.’

And suddenly there was made with the angel a multitude of heavenly knighthood, praising God, and saying: “Praise God in heaven.”

As you know, the shepherds then headed to Bethlehem.  The angels told them of God’s Gift but the shepherds had to act on their word to see the Child for themselves.

The songs sung in countless cantatas, the carols we have sung since childhood, thousands of preachers in thousands of churches around the world all tell about God’s great Gift.  But to make that Gift your own, you must act on their word. 

If you know you have a spiritual problem you cannot deal with on your own, accept God’s Gift. If you want something more for your life, accept God’s Gift.  It’s a Gift you need and, you might be surprised do discover, you want.