It has been an eventful day. Two of our precious members were married in church today and many of us saw it live streamed or were at the service to watch this blessed union. Several members were also serving and performing lovingly to help make the wedding ceremony memorable and meaningful Christmas day is approaching fast as well as the new year. Unfortunately, the Novel Corona Virus has its own plans and will disrupt our church services again.
Starting from tomorrow, December 24 until Monday, January 4 all Daejeon Onnuri in church services will be cancelled. Therefore, we will not have our OEM service this Sunday or next at 2:00 pm. Tomorrow, links to OEM service will be posted on this page. I will also try to get you the link for the Association of International Ministry (AIM) Christmas service which will be live on YouTube at 10:00 am Christmas Day.
During the Christmas season, we give gifts to each other, but we often do not intentionally give gifts to Jesus, whose birthday is on Christmas. There is the story of the Wiseman and their gifts to Jesus to honor his birth and kingship.
And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
Matthew 2:11 ESV
When the wise man came and saw Jesus, they humbled themselves to worship Him. Part of their worship were valuable gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. We also know that the Wiseman traveled a great distance to find the Lord. Sometimes, we find it hard to come to worship God. We come to church, yet our focus is elsewhere. We want to worship God, but our gifts have little value. The Wiseman had the hindrance of travel, but they still came and made worthy sacrifices.
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem,
Matthew 2:1 ESV
The Wiseman also had faith that they could travel away from their countries and their comfortable lives to look for the savior. There was no guarantee that they would find the savior or that the savior was out there to be found. This was not an easy task. We, too, like the Wiseman need to put God first. Is God included in your workplace, family, and love life? We will need to make sacrifices and be different from the people who are not followers of Christ. The Wiseman overcame the hindrance of doubt by their faith.
The Wiseman had also to overcome the hindrance of enemies of Christ. Some people worship God but not in truth and in spirit. King Herod's true intentions are revealed later.
And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”
Matthew 2:8 ESV
Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”
Matthew 2:13 ESV
The Wiseman found Jesus because of a bright star. As Christians, we need to illuminate Christ like the Bethlehem Star, so those who are seeking can find Jesus.
saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
Matthew 2:2 ESV
God will bless us, but we need to put God first. We need to put God first in all things.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Matthew 6:33 ESV
As Christians, we are soldiers for God, and we must fight for Jesus cause and endure suffering.
Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.
2 Timothy 2:3-4 ESV
if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us;
2 Timothy 2:12 ESV
The Wiseman gave good gifts to Jesus. At the times, these were the best gifts to give to Jesus because these gifts were to prepare Him for His ministry and His resurrection. Today, the best present you can give the Lord is yourself. The best time to give yourself is now. In fact, God appeals us to give our lives fully. God needs us alive to serve him and a dead sacrifice will not work. A dead body is useless to God.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Romans 12:1 ESV
Often, we take advantage of God and His gentle mercy. We give ourselves more time before we get ourselves aligned with God's plans. Although we would never openly say we will not follow God, we do this with our decisions and actions.
We need to understand that the only way to Heaven is through Jesus. We also need to tell others that Jesus and his free gift is for them also.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6 ESV
Let us be more intentional and thoughtful in our service and worship to God. God has blessed us and protected us during 2020, how can we give back to God.
For most Christians, they have fond memories of giving and receiving gifts at Christmas. Many people think of Christmas as a season of gifts even if Jesus is left out. Nevertheless, this is a reciprocal event of joy for the giver and the receiver. For this mutual benefit, there must be a relationship between the giver and receiver. The benefactor must give gift within their resources and the beneficiary must have a willingness to receive the gift. The whole gift giving event can be ruined when the receiver refuses the gift. As Christians, we need to reflect on the gift that God has given to us.
The scripture tells us that Gabriel came to Mary while she was in Galilee.
And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
Luke 1:30-32 ESV
Mary accepted the message but was still curious how this would happen. Gabriel had this answer.
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the child to be born will be called holy— the Son of God.
Luke 1:35 ESV
Mary accepted Gabriel's proclamation and believed what was going to happen through the power of God. Mary was blessed by her willingness to trust the Lord as stated by Elizabeth.
And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
Luke 1:45 ESV
Blessed in this context means that a person who lives a complete life of physical health, material prosperity and spiritual relationship with God. Mary is blessed because the Lord living in her womb converted her life into a full life.
The nature of blessings found in the package of Mary's gift is the first image of what Christmas brings. It is a new life of being well in totality as God had always intended us to live. This is the first gift that everyone receives when they accept their Christmas gift. This a life that restores your relationship with the Father and takes away the barriers that keep you from the Father.
We need to accept this larger Christmas gift and allow it to incarnate in our lives. Just like Mary this is beyond our understanding, but we need to accept and believe. We can understand later after we accept, believe and experience God's gift.
There is also a vulnerability for love found in this Christmas gift. This is another gift from God. God chooses to come to world through a woman of lowly stature. In that time and society, women were looked down on. When Mary was first described, her genealogy is left out. We do not know who her mother or father were. Elizabeth however is described in more detail.
In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth... But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.
Luke 1:5, 7 ESV
We can assume that Mary had nothing noteworthy to mention about her heritage. We know she was betrothed to Joseph and she came from Galilee. Isaiah 53 has more to add to the importance of Galilee.
Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isaiah 53:1-3 ESV
God had empty himself and become someone who was not admirable in worldly terms so we could receive salvation and have an intimate relationship with God. We could not have an intimate relationship unless one in the relationship makes himself or herself vulnerable. God made Himself vulnerable, so we could have a genuine and close relationship with God.
The gift of Christmas also gives us a gift of hope and peace of mind while going through suffering. Jesus is a God who suffered and understood suffering. His humbled state endured suffering. We often focus on our suffering and our language becomes a language of complaints. We need to change our language to one of thanksgiving. When suffering, we can focus on God and His presence with us during our suffering. Jesus knew lack and grief
And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
Matthew 8:20 ESV
Jesus wept.
John 11:35 ESV
One gift we often refuse is the gift to accept all people. God made himself known to a world of darkness. We need to get out of our prejudices and our comfort zones. This means that we need to love the unlovable. God reached out for us when we were unworthy, so we must also reach out for those whom we feel are unworthy.
In this Christmas season as we remember the great gift that God has given us, let us also remember to accept it fully so that we can live a blessed life knowing God is with us at all times and understands suffering. And we also need to remember to be generous with our forgiveness and compassion to everyone since our gift was given to us when we did not deserve it.
A simple definition of Christmas is that it is Christ's mass which celebrates the coming of Jesus to earth. However, I the book of John, the author gives a more fundamental definition of what Christmas is. John tells us that Jesus is a tabernacle among us. The word became flesh and dwelt with us.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14 ESV
In Exodus, we read of another time when God came to dwell among the Israelites. God gave specific instructions to build a place for God to be with the Children of Israel.
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
Exodus 40:34 ESV
The reason that God decided to dwell among the Israelites was not because of their obedience. In Exodus chapters 32 and 33, we read how the Israelites made a golden calf to worship while Moses stayed on top of Mt. Sinai with God. God was angry that His people had violated the statues which He had given them. In fact, God was so angry, he had planned to destroy His people, but then He chooses to dwell among His people and spare them. The children of Israel felt guilty and realized that they could not survive without God. When God does come, He stays with them throughout all their journeys to the promised land.
For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.
Exodus 40:38 ESV
We celebrate Christmas because we understand that God has come to dwell with us to save us from our sins. God emptied himself to become a nobody, so we could be saved.
For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
John 1:16-18 ESV
God knew that His people wanted to see a physical God. This is the reason the Israelites insisted on the golden calf, which was something they could see, touch and, unfortunately, put their trust in. They grew impatient with an unseen god who spoke only to Moses, who was not always with them.
When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”
Exodus 32:1 ESV
God understood that He needed to come to His people in a manner that the Children of Israel could understand. The tabernacle could be understood by the Children of Israel. God was able to give them a sense of direction, but the Israelites still had to follow God.
Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up.
Exodus 40:36-37 ESV
This guidance gave security to the Children of Israel. They did not have to worry if they followed the cloud. They were going through a hostile wilderness that was real. We, too, need to put our trust in God despite what our circumstances tell us.
Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.
Isaiah 3:10 ESV
Jesus came to bring us a life full of glory to the Lord. Jesus came to be our personal God.
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
John 1:11-12 ESV
If we can internalize that knowledge, we could have the peace that Jesus offers us. Jesus presence also allows us to acknowledge that we are undeserving, yet Jesus still loves us and wants us saved.
John invites us to reflect on the great miracle of Jesus giving us the right to be children of God although we do not deserve this gift. We should be intentionally with our reflection of what God has done for us. Not only does God dwell with us to give a sense of direction and safety, but God has also pitched His tent with us forever. All that God desires is that we be grateful for this precious gift.
