Three Wise Men

Why has the story of the wise men who travelled far and brought gifts to Jesus come to represent real wisdom throughout the ages? It’s unlikely these wise men were university graduates with Ph.D.’s. We have no record of their academic pedigree, yet we know they were wise men. Their wisdom is not necessarily reflected by the enormity of their intellect or accumulative knowledge, but by their simple act of seeking to know and worship Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

So it is today. Many in our world are seeking many things. Some seek riches, and upon accumulating them, find the need to accumulate more an all consuming passion. They finally conclude that there are not enough riches in the whole universe to satisfy man’s desire for more affluence.

Inevitably, at the end of life’s way, they find the acquisition of riches has no eternal value or significance.  The words of our Saviour about the temporal nature of riches are all too apt. No matter how much a man may accumulate, when he leaves this world he leaves it all behind. As someone said,  “Have you ever seen a hearse pulling a trailer?” Those seeking fortune always find it cannot buy the simplest joy or real happiness.

Some seek fame, and upon achieving it, find the fleeting fragility of fame and fortune. Just a surface survey of the tragic stories of some recent and contemporary politicians, entertainers and entrepreneurs, will easily confirm the illusory nature of imagined fulfilment through fame and fortune.

How many spend their last days amid the ashes of decaying memories of fleeting moments spent in the fading spotlight of public adulation and popularity? It is sometimes sad to see how the mighty have fallen as a result of man’s cruel propensity to cut down the tall poppies.  Some seek power as the ultimate high of human experience. Only those who have experienced power over the lives of others can really know how seducing this temptress can be. As it is said, “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts, absolutely.” But one only has to consider the end of some of the most powerful men of history to realise the futility of such seeking. Nebuchadnezzar, the Ceasers, Hitler and more recently, the tyrants of the totalitarian communist world, vividly demonstrate the vanity of the quest for ultimate power.  But others, real wise men such as these, seek Christ. Real wise men seek Him as the eternal God of eternal spiritual salvation. After all, it was the Christmas angel that said, “They shall call His name, Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sin.” When real wise men bow their knee before Him in true repentance and faith, they discover eternal and abundant life in all its fullness and eternal significance. Why not be wise and seek Him with all your heart during this Christmas Season?

Have A Good Christmas!

"Have a good Christmas," the shop keeper said. I responded in kind as I turned away with my first Christmas purchase safely in hand. But I could not help wondering, "How many people using that expression this season really know what makes a good Christmas?"

Just what is involved in a good Christmas? Store aisles crowded with eager shoppers making the registers ring with the shrill sounds of shopping success? Bank accounts and credit card limits stretched to the breaking point? Post offices overflowing with those anxious to send that late card or package to family or friends in faraway lands? Bus and train stations, airports and highways congested with record crowds? Christmas parties resounding with ribald humour and reeking with fumes of an alcoholic revelry? A table groaning with a load of culinary delights and Christmas goodies guaranteed to break any diet or exhaust any medicinal remedy? An annual visit to a Christmas pageant or carol sing?

A good Christmas must mean much more than any of this. It must be a Christmas centred upon Jesus Christ, the person whose birth is being celebrated. A Christmas focused upon the greatest of all gifts; God's gift of His Son to a lost and dying world. A Christmas magnifying the meaning of the mission of God incarnate to planet earth. A mission made crystal clear by the angel's announcement to Joseph, "They shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." And later clearly defined by Christ when he said, "The Son of man has come to seek and to save those who are lost."

A good Christmas must be one that has room for Jesus. The pathos involved in the paradox of a simple inn keeper turning away the Eternal Son of God has ever intrigued those who read the Christmas story. But how sad that our sophisticated contemporary culture still seems to have no room for Jesus in the homes or affairs of a nation.

A good Christmas must be one bringing real joy and peace to the world. Not the pseudo-peace or jocular joy that so often characterises earthly relationships and celebrations. But the spiritual joy expressed by the angels on the night of a Saviour's birth and the spiritual peace personally experienced by those who have been justified by faith in Christ.

A good Christmas finds its fruition in the human heart. The Saviour that was born into the world some two thousand years ago stands outside the heart's door during this season graciously seeking admittance. The Father said, "But as many as receive Him, to them He gives to power to become the sons of God, even to those who believe on His name. "Those who would have a good Christmas are those who would receive the Christ of Christmas into their hearts and homes the whole year through - and eternally. My sincere wish for you is that you will have a blessed and holy Christmas.

- Pastor John White

God Became Flesh

Our study of the Biblical account of the birth of our Savior should not be seasonal. Our thankfulness for His unspeakable gift should permeate our life throughout the entire year. We should live our entire life in the light of the glorious truths that normally only momentarily illuminate a few days of the Christian calendar each year. The story of the incarnation of God into the flesh of man is a vital foundation stone of the very gospel of Jesus Christ and should under-gird our faith year round.  Two great philosophers who predate the birth of Jesus had this to say about the necessity of the incarnation, "God will never be known unless He reveals Himself in human form." "Oh, that someone would arise, man or god, to show us God."(Socrates)

You do not have to be an intellectual to recognise the logic of the philosophers' argument. The proof is always in the pudding. The ultimate illustration is in the reality. When God chose to become man He paid the long awaited proposition prophesied by the Old Testament prophets. The concept that Isaiah posited when he said, "Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name, Emmanuel (God with us)"

When God chose to come in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ to flesh out His eternal purpose of redemption for those who would be eternal sons of God, He not only personified an absolute selfless love, but He demonstrated the ultimate in communicating such love to those who were to be the objects of it. Can you imagine the infinite God of a limitless universe, condescending to imprison His infinite being in the finite flesh of man, on a tiny ball of mud, in a far off corner of a very mundane sort of solar system, in a less than spectacular galaxy that man calls the Milky Way?

And why would He do such an unlikely deed? Evidently, in order to say to His rebellious and ungrateful creature, man, "I love you with an infinite love and will make it possible for you to love me with such a love in return! In order to give you the privilege and capacity to do so, I am not only willing to live in your dirty, stinking, sinful and rebellious environment, but to do die unjustly at your hands that you might, in turn, mercifully live forever in an environment fit for a Child of the King!"

If Jesus had not been born of the virgin Mary, God incarnate in the flesh, there would be no gospel, salvation, forgiveness or life eternal. We would be yet without  God, without Christ, and eternally lost in a dark and sin cursed earth. Is it any wonder the apostle Paul was moved to exclaim, "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift!" (II Cor. 9:15) "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.  (Matthew 1:21)