A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world!”

Late on a sleepy, star-spangled night, those angels peeled back the sky just like you would tear open a sparkling Christmas present. Then, with light and joy pouring out of Heaven like water through a broken dam, they began to shout and sing the message that baby Jesus had been born. The world had a Savior! The angels called it ‘Good News,’ and it was.”
                    –Larry Libby

       “But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.”
                    –Micah 4:2 (NIV)
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Since we are through with the Psalms and other songs found in the Holy Writ, I thought it might be appropriate to use a well-known hymn written by Charles Wesley.  A couple of things before contemplating the words of this great carol.  First, Wesley was a prolific hymn writer who wrote about sixty-five hundred hymns, many of which we still sing today.  He committed his heart to the Lord in 1738 and began his ministry of preaching and the writing of these songs.  When we read his hymns we see them full of rich scriptural teaching.  The second thing is a question:  do angels sing?  Dare to find a verse in the Bible that states that angels sing.  It may be implied when it says the heavenly host praised God in Luke 2.  But praising doesn’t necessarily mean singing.  Could it be that singing in heaven is reserved for God and His family?  Just a thought–don’t make a doctrine of it.  Now to look at Wesley’s hymn.

          Hark! the herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King:
          Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!”
          Joyful, all ye nations, rise, join the triumph of the skies;
          With th’ angelic host proclaim, “Christ is born in Bethlehem!”

          Christ, by highest heaven adored, Christ, the everlasting Lord,
          Late in time behold him come, offspring of the Virgin’s womb:
          Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail, th’ incarnate Deity,
          Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel.

          Hail, the heaven-born Prince of Peace!  Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
          Light and life to all he brings, risen with healing in his wings.
          Mild he lays his glory by, born that man no more may die,
          Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.

          Come, Desire of nations, come!  Fix in us Thy humble home:
          Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring seed, bruise in us the serpent’s head;
          Adam’s likeness now efface, stamp Thine image in its place:
          Second Adam from above, reinstate us in Thy love.

          Hark! the herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King.”

Second Adam, the woman’s conquering seed, our Emmanuel are just a few of the great doctrinal points mentioned.  We see Wesley ministering through his wonderful writing skills.  With that thought, know this–we all are what Paul calls “living letters.”  People read the gospel of Christ by what we say, act, and do.  Some may do it through song, others through preaching, while others may write, but with all of our talents the greatest message is our lives.
     “Jesus is not only the Son but also the Sun.  The Sun of Righteousness brings not only light but life.” (William Petersen)  He is the light of the world.  And look up during this Christmas season.  Look up in the day to see the Sun knowing that righteousness is brought by the Son.  Look up at night and think of that day long ago when the angels appeared to the shepherds outside that little village to herald forth the Light of God coming into the world.  Ponder the words of Psalm 103:20-21, “Praise the LORD, you angels of his, you mighty creatures who carry out his plans, listening for each of his commands.  Yes, praise the LORD, you armies of angels who serve him and do his will!” (NLT)

This is Christmas: not the tinsel, not the giving and receiving, not even the carols, but the humble heart that receives anew the wondrous gift, the Christ.”
                    –Frank McKibben

       “And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you.  I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new obedient heart.”
                    –Ezekiel 36:26 (NLT)
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Murders, hatred, bitterness, racism and everyone is looking for excuses, trying to rationalize it in some fashion, or blaming others.  Fix this, fix that, and it will all be better.  Give them better housing, give them free food, give them, give them, give, give, give.  But no, that is not the answer.  Anything man tries to do is only like putting a band-aid on a cancer.  “The basic problem of the human race is sin and guilt–a real moral guilt, not just guilt feelings, and a real moral sin, because we have sinned against a God who is there, and a God who is holy,” so wrote Francis Schaeffer.
     Sin, a term that is not to be used today, but it is the problem.  People bemoaning their condition, when the root of it is sin.  Think of the time when Jesus was born.  “Three-fifths of the world was in slavery.  The clanking of chains could be heard and slaves–human beings–were bought and sold as oxen, and they were beaten and bludgeoned and killed without hesitation or compunction.  There was a law among the Imperial Romans, that if a man killed an ox–just an animal–the death penalty followed for such an awful thing, but if he killed a slave, his fellow man, it was passed by and nothing thought about it.” (George Truett)  This was the world into which the holy Child was born.  Think of what happened right after the Wise Men came–Herod had the babies in the region of Bethlehem killed.
     Children were not often welcome in a home at that period.  They were regarded as a burden, they were in the way in many cases, and they were just another mouth to feed, especially if the child were female.  (Truett)  A woman was little better off than a slave.  She was a burden-bearer, not a homemaker.  Think of what women are doing with their “freedom” today, they are again choosing slavehood in Islamic beliefs and countries or they are choosing slavery to career, clock, and gain. Truett said, “How can any woman keep from loving Christ, can keep from bowing before Him, from accepting Him as Lord and Master, is a deeper mystery that I can understand.  The supreme champion of womanhood is Christ!”  Read the Gospels and dare to find a place where Jesus spoke harshly to a woman.
     How do we live like we are supposed to live?  By ignoring sin?  By deleting the term from our vocabulary?  By hiding our heads in the sand, saying that sin doesn’t exist.  Man is the solution to his own problems.  “Christ gives us the right perspective, the right estimate, the right measure of a human being,” (Truett) and He begins by calling us to repentance.  Man is eternal and cannot solve eternal problems.  Do not let the devil confuse your mind and thoughts.  Enjoy Christmas, think of Jesus coming as a baby, don’t get caught up in the false hubbub of the season.  Celebrate, but mindfully.  Understand that the Babe in the manger was God in the flesh.  The Incarnation, oh what a glorious mystery!  Never forget that “Jesus had to be fully human to step in as our substitute and sacrifice, and fully God to make that sacrifice count for eternity.” (James Merritt)
     As man looks for answers, as he sometimes declares that he has the answer, know this–the answer was given to us that day long ago that we celebrate on Christmas.  When you hear “give, give, give,” understand that the Gift has already been given.  God sent His Son to take care of sin, not place a bandaid on surface problems.  Why do people reject this wondrous Gift?  John tells us, “This is the verdict:  Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” (3:19-21, NIV)

Everytime we love, everytime we give, it’s Christmas.”
                    –Dale Evans Rogers

       “Give, and it will be given to you.  They will pour into your lap a good measure–pressed down, shaken together, and running over.  For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”
                    –Luke 6:38 (NASB)
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Materialism!  That’s all Christmas has become.  It’s all been commercialized.  Bah Humbug!  Yes, there is that aspect of materialism and commercialism at Christmas.  The businesses will try to sell their wares and the consumers, well, it is up to them whether or not to buy.  One thing for sure, as Bob Welch points out, “Materialism shackles us to self.  It diverts our attention from the things that matter most:  our faith, our families, and our fundamental responsibility to help those less fortunate.  It promises much but delivers little.”  People end up loving things that cannot love back, or loving the money in which to buy things.
     It is important to realize that you cannot purchase joy and happiness, and it is bought only for the moment.  In fact, the buying can become a sort of idol.  Some get caught up in the idea that they can purchase love.  Buy the most expensive gift, the most gifts, or the best gifts.  That will only produce a pseudo-love.  A false love that will haunt throughout the life if it is not stopped.  I knew of a man who in his business made $50,000 a week, but in the process lost the time with his family, which ended in divorce and his two kids on drugs and serving jail time.  Which ended up costing more?
     Then we have the other side–Scroogism, I’ll call it.  The love of money so dear that it is not spent, but hoarded.  Bah Humbug!  Welch writes in his book about Dicken’s, “A Christmas Carol, “I wonder how many people, at the end of their lives, wind up regretting that they lived to work instead of worked to live.”  Perhaps you’ve heard the little quip, “Nobody, on his deathbed, ever says, ‘I wish I’d spent more time at the office.'”
     Someone said that, “Joy is having all you want before unwrapping a thing.”  We are to be proper stewards of the time, the resources, and yes, the money that God has given us.  It is not to hoard, but is to be enjoyed within a proper setting and within proper bounds.  Giving is not wrong, but making it the sole purpose, such as, “I’ll give for their love,” is definitely moving along the wrong track.  To not give is entirely wrong as well.  As Christians we are to be giving people as our heavenly Father is giving.
     In other words, keep a proper balance.  Enjoy the wonder of the season, just don’t let your mind get off the true Gift that the season is for.  This wonderful season, this time of year should not come only in December but should be found in us all year long.  Wilfred A. Peterson reminds us as he was reminded, “Christmas is not in tinsel and lights and outward show. The secret lies in an inner glow. It’s lighting a fire inside the heart. Good will and joy play a vital part. It’s a higher thought and a greater plan. It’s the glorious dream in the soul of man.”  Joy to the World!  Let that be your theme.  Don’t give with wrong motives, or overgive, but on the other hand do not be like Scrooge whom Dickens wrote, was as “Solitary as an oyster.”