In yesterday’s study, we concluded by making the point that in identifying Christ as the Lord, we are not only confessing Him to be God, but also our Master.
And the difficulty we have with that is that we don’t particularly want a master. We don’t want a lord. We want to go our own way. We want to live our lives as we choose to live our lives. We don’t want to bow the knee to Jesus. You know, Jesus Himself didn’t let people get away with that kind of thinking. He explained what it meant to follow Him. He said, “If anyone will come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Jesus is the leader and we must follow Him. He said to people who, on one occasion, were calling Him “Lord,” but disobeying Him, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do what I say?” What He meant is that it was impossible to have Him as Lord and disobey Him. If He’s Lord, He must be obeyed. And if He’s Savior, He must be Lord. Jesus didn’t allow anyone to think that somehow they could be saved and do their own thing. But if they were going to be saved, it was going to be by Jesus the Savior, who is at the same time the Lord. And it was impossible to have one part of Him without having the other. By nature we don’t want that kind of Savior, but that’s the kind of Savior we very much need.
Haven’t you noticed that when you try to make your own decisions, you mess things up? This happens even as a Christian, when you know better, when you try to order your own paths, when you try to determine your own course, yet somehow you don’t quite have it all together. You can’t quite determine where you come out because you can’t see the end from the beginning. And what we need is One who is not only the Savior and the Messiah, but One who is Lord and who, because He is Jehovah Lord, is able to guide us infallibly and provide the will and the power we need to walk that way.
Now I have just two more thoughts as we close. I want you to notice first that when we talk about the birth of this kind of a personage, it would be quite conceivable that it would be such an important thing, that it would be beyond and above us. Maybe it’s something for the great of this world to know about, but certainly nothing for common people. Actually the opposite was the case. Here was the birth of the most important Person the world has ever seen, and it was announced, not to the kings in their hidden chambers, but to the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem. And the One they were invited to come and see was not a king perched upon some lofty throne, but a baby in a manger whom they could see, and touch, and hear, and in whose very presence they could bow down.
I wonder if you understand that about Christianity. Christianity is not something that is remote, because Christ is not remote. You know, when Paul was in Athens and was talking to the Athenians, he said, “God is not far from every one of us.” And when Paul came to write to the Romans, he said, speaking along the same lines, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who shall ascend up into heaven?’ as if to bring Christ down, or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’ that is, to bring Christ up from the dead. What does the Scripture say? It says, ‘The Word is near you. It’s in your mouth and in your heart.’ That is the Word of faith we’re proclaiming. And if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it’s with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it’s with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” The joy of Christmas is as easy to experience as that. It’s a matter of heart response to the work of Him who is the Savior, and the Messiah, and the Lord.
And then I have this final thought. This joy of the shepherds was a very personal thing. Here was the God of the universe in the form of a baby, brought up close and personal to them. But it wasn’t exclusively personal. They were to take that message, which they had received, and proclaim it to all others who also need to hear it.
In other words, their joy was for everybody. We sing about it. We sing, “Joy to the world,” not just “Joy to me.” And the angels said this as well. They said, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”
This is what the shepherds were commissioned to announce. You say, “Did they do it?” The story tells us that indeed they did because it goes on to say, “When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this Child. And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. They returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”
You know, that is the only thing I know of that will increase the personal joy of having come to know Jesus Christ as your own Lord and Savior. That is a great source of joy. It’s a wonderful thing. But the only thing that will increase it is to share that good news with others that need to know Him. That is the ultimate joy of Christmas.
