General Superintendent
Max Edwards
December 3, 2024
Jesus was Willing
In our neighborhood and all around, the evidence is clear - - Christmas is just around the corner. And I love everything about Christmas! What an amazing time of year, and what an amazing truth. Emmanuel has come! Jesus condescended to humanity to teach us, to love us, and to save us.
But make no mistake, Christmas has an enemy! A tremendous truth is in the balance, and the kingdom of darkness would be widely successful if we allow Christmas to be SIMPLY about the decorations … the presents … the food … and precious times with family. We can enjoy all of those things, but the reality is that humanity had lost fellowship with God through sin, selfishness, and rebellion, but Jesus came to make a way back to God for us if we will repent and receive Him. THAT IS THE REAL STORY.
C.S. Lewis wrote this in his “Reflections on the Psalms”: “There is a stage in a child's life at which it cannot separate the religious from the merely festal character of Christmas or Easter. [But once he has distinguished between them] he must put one or the other first. If he puts the spiritual first he can still taste something of Easter in the chocolate eggs; if he puts the eggs first they will soon be no more than any other sweetmeat.”
We must not miss the real cause for celebration - that JESUS WAS WILLING TO COME TAKE OUR PLAC E. Our spiritual enemy is desperate to keep everyone from understanding the gravity and glory of that truth.
Jesus came for THE LOST . In Luke 15, Jesus tells three stories about lost things. About a lost coin, a lost sheep, and a lost son. The clear and obvious point is this … You and I are lost. We cannot find our way back to God, so he searches for us.
Jesus came for THE LEAST . You don’t have to wonder if God cares about you, no matter how rich or how poor you may be; no matter your station or status. Luke’s account of Christ’s birth makes it plain … He came as a baby to a common family, in a common place, wearing common clothes. And In Luke 4 when Jesus stood to read in the synagogue, He read Isaiah and the prophetic passage powerfullly declared that he had come for the poor, the captive, the downtrodden, and the oppressed.
Jesus came for THE LONELY . The fact is that so many people in our time are starving for connection. So much of our cultural “diet” is performance-based - - plastic people wearing masks of beauty or popularity or power. Loneliness is rampant and suicide is on the rise because people want something real and God cares. Psalm 86:6: “God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy …”
Jesus was willing! He came to lay it all on the line. He loves us that much.