Dear Parents and Friends of CCS,
We all know the old carol, What Child is This:
What Child is this who, laid to rest,
On Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing;
Haste, haste to bring Him laud,
The Babe, the Son of Mary
I’d like to focus this week on this little-sung chorus from this beloved carol:
Nails, spear shall pierce Him through,
The cross be borne for me, for you;
Hail, hail the Word made flesh,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.
This short chorus is a beautiful, poetic rendering of the gospel of the Kingdom embodied in God incarnate, and His deep work in providing us humans the only way, and the power, to be rescued.
It is poignant in the sense that Someone had to suffer and die to pay the payment for our debt of disobedience, both historic and in our daily life today.
And that fact, if it is really true, would quite literally change our whole perspective, and we would be moved to continual gratitude and surrender.
Yet many in our culture, even some who attend “bible-believing” churches, have never come to grips with the immense sin-load that we carry apart from Christ.
Though they may claim salvation, these folks have tacitly accepted that there are “good” people” and “bad people” in this world, usually measured by the amount of “really bad" or “really good” things they’ve done.
It’s such a common idea that it sounds right to our ears. Yet this is not the gospel of the Kingdom, the good news of Jesus Christ.
Instead, we see in Ephesians 2 a summary of the real story:
“He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son (Jesus) and forgave our sins.
He has showered His kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.
God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill His own good pleasure.
And this is the plan: At the right time He will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Eph. 2: 7-10 NLT
As common and simple as it may sound to us living in the vestiges of a Christian culture, this is the very truth for which many persecuted Christians around the world are willing to die for this Christmas.
This beautiful reality has so changed their lives that even an oppressive government or abandonment by close family members cannot deter their worship of Jesus, He who is God-become-man.
And what of us?
This Christmas many of us will be spending time with family and friends who have not embraced the true gospel. I can’t help but wonder:
What is God calling us to do about that?
Is it time to be more specific or more vocal about Jesus…or perhaps less?
What level of discomfort and risk are we willing to experience in order to orient them more toward Jesus?
How concerned are we really about the spiritual condition of our family and friends?
The point here is not guilt, but instead an admonition to you and me to walk with God so closely that we can “hear” His voice telling us how much to say and when to say it.
And so with much love for and gratitude to you and the LORD I leave you for this year of 2023 with a prayer based on Ephesians 6:19-20 NLT:
I pray that God would give us the right words so we can boldly explain God’s mysterious plan that the Good News is for everyone. I pray that we will keep on speaking boldly for Him, just as we should.
May God inspire us to speak of Jesus more boldly this season, with our words, our priorities and our actions.
And may He richly bless us and our families with a renewed sense of our need for His grace and the courage to claim the full inheritance he offers us as our own.
For CCS and the Kingdom,
Tom