FREE CHILDREN OF PROMISE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.

These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.

But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written:

“Be glad, barren woman, you who never bore a child; shout for joy and cry aloud, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.”

Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now.

But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

Galatians 4:21-31

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia had one central purpose...to convince the Christians there to reject an attempt to a new emerging distortion of the true Gospel.

This emergent threat was from a group of Jews referred to as the Judaizers who were adversely influencing the Galatian Christians to be obedient to the Mosaic Law of the old covenant in addition to accepting Jesus as Savior. In other words, salvation required more than simply believing in Christ.

This was a perversion of the real Gospel, the one Paul had taught when he brought the Galatians to Christ and established the churches there. Paul’s fear was that the Galatia believers, new in their faith, would allow themselves to be persuaded to follow the direction of the Judaizers and so he used his letter to try and discourage them from doing so. As we have seen, he actually invoked prominent figures in the Old Testament to make his point, especially Abraham, and as we see in the final verses of Chapter 4, he continues this tactic. Look again at his words here:

Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.

These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.

But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written:

“Be glad, barren woman, you who never bore a child; shout for joy and cry aloud, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.”

Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now.

But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. Galatians 4:21-31

To understand what Paul is getting at you need to go back to the Book of Genesis and read chapters 16, 17, and 21. There, we find Abraham and Sarah grappling with the matter of conception and child birth in old age.

In chapter 15, God assured Abraham that he would have a son who would be of his own flesh and blood, not a servant as Abraham proposed. And so as chapter 16 opens, we have Sarah losing faith that she would be able to bear a child for her husband and so she tells Abraham to sleep with their Egyptian slave, Hagar. When Abraham did, Hagar became pregnant and delivered a son who was named Ishmael, a name given to Hagar by an angel of the Lord. Abraham was 86 when he became a father for the first time.

As the story moves to chapter 17, God once again assures Abraham that he and Sarah would have a son together named Isaac and the child would grow up to be the father of twelve rulers as God made him into a great nation. In chapter 21, we read where God makes good on his promise as Sarah conceives by Abraham and gives birth to Isaac. Shortly thereafter a feud between Sarah and Hagar erupted again and Abraham’s wife demanded Hagar and Ishmael be sent away, a proposal that God supported as he assured Abraham that Ishmael too would become a great nation as well.

And so it was. The slave woman, Hagar, departed with her son Ishmael who would have no entitlement as a formal heir to Abraham’s birthright for that honor fell to Isaac.

Okay, with this review complete, we can now read Paul’s words from the end of Galatians 4 and understand them better as he uses Hagar and Ishmael and Sarah and Isaac to make his point about a distinction between two covenants.

Paul reminds his readers that Abraham had two sons, one by way of a slave woman (Hagar) and the other from a free woman (Sarah).

Ishmael was born according to the flesh. God hadn’t prescribed that he should bear a son with Hagar. It happened through the will of Abraham and Sarah. In fact, neither of them even inquired with God as to whether or not they should do it. This is why Paul calls Ishmael “born according to the flesh”.

On the other hand, God has promised Isaac’s birth. It was His divine will that Abraham and Sarah would bear a child together. This is why Paul refers to Isaac as being born of a free woman.

Each of these women represent a covenant, Hagar the old and Sarah the new.

Hagar was a slave and Paul’s stance about the Mosaic Law was that it enslaved anyone who was under it. No one could perfectly keep the Law under the old covenant and therefore would never be separated from it. They would never be free.

Conversely, Sarah’s child Isaac represented the future. Go to the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew, chapter 1 and you will see Abraham first in the line followed directly by his son Isaac. In other words, God placed Isaac in the direct ancestral line to His only Son, the One who would usher in the new covenant which would ultimately lead Christians to the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21) or the Jerusalem that is above.

Paul likens all Christians who follow the true Gospel, receiving salvation by simply believing in Jesus as Savior, as being free children of promise, just as Isaac was. Today, we still have that same claim to hold onto, a claim grounded in hope that death is never the end but just the beginning of a glorious future that will last forever.

Today, and every day, let’s give thanks for the gift of Jesus and how He saves all who place their belief in Him, those who will then become free children of promise.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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GOOD ZEALOUSNESS

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them. It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you.

My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!

Galatians 4:16-20

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Have you ever been zealous for something?

It’s not really a word you hear used too much so let’s put a definition to it and then reconsider the question.

Looking at the dictionary, to be zealous means a person is shows great energy or enthusiasm while in pursuit of a cause or objective.

I enlisted in the United States Navy in 1983 and went onto serve 28 and a half years. Considering that much dedicated time to a single cause, you could say I was zealous about serving my country.

As you well know, I am also zealous for serving my Lord. I’ve been blessed to be a Bible teacher for thirty years now answered a call from the Lord to launch The Christian Walk ministry in 2007. I have no greater passion than sharing the word of the Lord with others and helping them become the people He wants them to be,

Maybe you have your own examples of having zeal for something. If that zeal is associated with ministry work of some kind, feel free to share it through a comment on this message.

Well, as we see in our scripture passage, this matter of being zealous isn’t just a modern day happening. For the Apostle Paul touches on the matter as he writes to the churches in Galatia and through his words, we are reminded that zeal can be applied in good and bad ways. Look again at his words here:

Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them. It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you.

My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!  Galatians 4:16-20

There was no question that Paul was zealous about the Gospel-sharing, Christian church planting mission that the Lord had him on. His self sacrificing passion for carrying out the Great Commission and making disciples is unmatched in the Bible as we study how he embarked on four missionary journeys in his lifetime.

Yes, the Apostle Paul was zealous for sharing the true good news about salvation through Christ and Christ alone but as we see in this passage and in this letter as a whole, there was an emerging issue infecting the Galatian Christians, an issue grounded in people who were just as zealous as Paul in their approach but zealous in a sinful way. In other words, zealousness can be just as bad when applied to a cause as it can be good,

The bad zealousness Paul was concerned about came from a group referred to as the Judaizers. These were Jews who fervently worked to convince Christian believers that there was more required to be saved than simply believing in Jesus. They pushed a doctrine that mandated an adherence to the Law of the old covenant in addition to believing in Jesus as Savior. To further ensure they got their way, they worked hard to try and discredit Paul in what was a classic tear-someone-down-so-we-can-look-better scheme.

We read where Paul calls out the Judaizer’s zeal as being no good. While the dedication to their belief seeming legitimate, the Jews were really just trying to alienate the Galatians from Paul and his team, the ones who were sharing the legitimate Gospel.

Paul wasn’t bashing zealousness. Rather, he made it clear that zeal was great as long as it was associated with a good purpose and Paul’s purpose was indeed good as it was in sync with the Lord’s purposes.

Today, there are also people who are zealous for all the wrong things.

An unchecked zeal for alcohol consumption can lead to alcoholism. Ditto for illegal drugs and drug addiction.

An unchecked zeal for food can lead a person into obesity and subsequent health consequences that come along with it.

An unchecked zeal for sinning is always going to be bad in the Lord’s sight and put the offender in the crosshairs of God’s punishment.

We need to make sure we self examine ourselves and what we are zealous about to make sure our energy and excitement are focused on the right things. We can do this by allowing the Lord to drive our zeal so that we are enthusiastic about the right and good things, the right and good things He wants us to be engaged in.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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A CHANGE OF HEART

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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from these things, for I have become like you Gentiles—free from those laws.

You did not mistreat me when I first preached to you. Surely you remember that I was sick when I first brought you the Good News. But even though my condition tempted you to reject me, you did not despise me or turn me away. No, you took me in and cared for me as though I were an angel from God or even Christ Jesus himself.

Where is that joyful and grateful spirit you felt then?

I am sure you would have taken out your own eyes and given them to me if it had been possible.

Galatians 4:12-15 NLT

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The Judaizers, who had invaded and adversely influenced the Christian churches in Galatia, had promoted a modified Gospel from the one Paul had brought, a Gospel that the Galatian believers were buying into. This perverted version of the Gospel required that the old Jewish Law be complied with in addition to belief in Jesus in order for salvation to be gained from God.

This caused a quandary for the Galatian Christians who were forced to choose between the past teaching of Paul and the present proposal of the Judaizers, a quandary Paul attempts to speak into through this New Testament letter that we are studying.

In today’s passage from the fourth chapter, we find the Apostle reminding the Galatians about their attitude toward him when he had visited and established the very churches they worshiped in. Look again at his words here:

Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from these things, for I have become like you Gentiles—free from those laws.

You did not mistreat me when I first preached to you. Surely you remember that I was sick when I first brought you the Good News. But even though my condition tempted you to reject me, you did not despise me or turn me away. No, you took me in and cared for me as though I were an angel from God or even Christ Jesus himself.

Where is that joyful and grateful spirit you felt then?

I am sure you would have taken out your own eyes and given them to me if it had been possible. Galatians 4:12-15.

As Paul discusses the time he visited Galatia, we learn that he had fallen ill when he brought the Gospel to that region. There isn’t any specific reference to what the malady was but it’s obvious that the Galatian believers could have simply rejected Paul just because of his sick state. There was a temptation present to reject him.

But that didn’t happen. The new believers in Galatia embraced Paul and cared for him as if he was Jesus or an angel. They held such compassion for the Apostle that they would have been willing to exchange their good health for his if it would mean that he might be healed.

That was where things were when Paul had been in Galatia but now things were different. The Christians in Galatia, who had been so dedicated to Paul and the good news of salvation through Christ and Christ alone, had now abandoned the true Gospel for the distorted teachings of the Judaizers. This led to Paul’s question:

“Where is that joyful and grateful spirit you felt then?”

In other words, Paul was essentially asking, “What happened?” or you could also say he wanted to know, “Why the change of heart?”

These are open-ended, thought-provoking questions, ones that would invoke self reflection.

Perhaps we can hear our Lord asking us the same questions as we approach a new year, questioning the times when we have shown ourselves unfaithful to Him, and we all have been guilty of this. During our times of failure, perhaps we should hear God asking us, “What happened? Why the change of heart?”

Like Paul, the questions work to bring us back to where we need to be, to the place of Jesus and full obedience to God and His word and will.

After all, isn’t that where we’re supposed to be as Christians?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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BACKSLIDING

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.

Galatians 4:8-11

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Have you ever found yourself reverting back to old sinful habits after you became a Christian?

I think we have all been guilty of something referred to as “backsliding”.

By definition, backsliding is “to go back to doing something bad when you have been doing something good”.

Need an example in the Bible?

Look pretty much at the entire Old Testament and the history of the Israelite’s relationship with God after He delivered them from their captivity in Egypt.

You’ll remember the covenant God made with His people. He would be their God and would be faithful to them. All the Israelites had to do was remain as faithful to Him, a responsibility they regularly messed up.

Why?

Because despite God commanding they live in a certain way, a way grounded in compliance to His commandments, the people of Israel chose over and over and over again to do what they wanted to do, chasing after their desires instead of the desires God had for them. It’s something I have always referred to as the Old Testament cycle. It goes like this:

1. The Israelites would sin against God.

2. God would send a warning, usually through a prophet, promising dire consequences if the Israelites didn’t repent and turn back to Him.

3. The Israelites would ignore God’s warning and continue in their sin. God would then impose His judgment on them.

4. The Israelites would repent in the midst of God’s punishment and God would restore them.

Then, the Israelites would backslide and the cycle would start all over again.

Maybe this hits a little too close to home for many of us because how many times have we decided to live in ways contrary to what the Lord commands in our own lives?

One would be too many but I think we’ve all been guilty of multiple offenses. Perhaps we wouldn’t want to know the count if God decided to bring it up.

I think it’s obvious that God dislikes backsliding by His followers. This is why Paul chooses to bring it up as he writes to the Galatian Christians. He wanted them to see the wrongs of their ways and commit to getting right with God again.

How were the believers in Galatia erring?

They were reverting back to their ways before following Jesus and, as Gentiles, that meant they went back to worshiping false gods with the emphasis on gods (plural). This was a time when they didn’t know God and were therefore “slaves to those who by nature are not gods”. The Galatian believers had turned “back to those weak and miserable forces” and regressed into once again trying to impress God through “observing special days and months and seasons and years”. Specifically, this was getting back to the issues Paul covers at length in chapter 3 of this letter. The group of false teachers within the Galatian church was adversely influencing the believers there to conform to the Law as a means of gaining salvation. This was a clear perversion of the Gospel, one that Paul was not going to stand by and watch without a firm rebuke. Based on what he knew about the backsliding sin of the Christians in Galatia, Paul was having feelings that he may have wasted his time trying to bring the genuine Gospel to them.

The Galatian believers were guilty of backsliding and Paul dedicated himself to, first, call out the inappropriate behavior, and second, bring the Galatian church back to a focus on salvation through Christ and Christ alone.

We need to follow this same playbook as we do an unbiased evaluation of our Christian lives. If upon examination, we identify any return to past sinfulness we once checked at the door to follow Jesus, we need to repent and get back on track by returning to living as Jesus did. After all, the main root of the word “Christian” is “Christ” and every day we are to strive to be more and more like Him in the way we live.

For when we are moving forward in modeling our Savior, we are protected from moving backwards into prior sin.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

 

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THE GREATEST INHERITANCE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world.

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are His sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”

So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are His child, God has made you also an heir.

Galatians 4:1-7

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I don’t know if you have ever had to deal with an estate after someone has passed away but if so, you know it’s not easy. I can speak from experience.

The first step in the probate process is establishing the number of heirs and then having those heirs appoint someone to handle estate matters on behalf of the family, a person who is referred to as the executor.

The executor then oversees the management of the estate with the assistance of a probate attorney, identifying assets and then working with the attorney to ensure the assets are distributed accordingly to heirs in accordance with the law. If an heir is a minor, then they will have someone appointed to oversee their portion of the inheritance until such a time as they are deemed an adult and are then of age to receive their estate share.  

Why go into all this at the beginning of a Christian message?

Because we need to have a base understanding of how inheritance distribution works in order to fully grasp what the Apostle Paul writes at the beginning of Galatians, chapter 4. Look again at his words here:

What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world.

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are His sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”

So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are His child, God has made you also an heir.  Galatians 4:1-7

What we see here is that the matter of heirs receiving a portion of an inheritance is far from a modern day phenomenon. It ranges well back into biblical times and this provided a perfect illustration for Paul to continue to drive his point home that the true Gospel and its associated benefit was not law-centric but rather Jesus-focused.

Before Jesus was born, God’s people were like minor children who had no more right to a part of the estate as a slave did. The minors were granted an inheritance but access to it was restricted “until the time set forth by his father”. When that time came, the father would allow his son, the now adult heir, to have his entitlement. This is the way things were handled in first century AD.

In relating this illustration to the point he was trying to make, Paul wanted the Galatian Christians to know that until Jesus came, all believers “were underage” and in slavery because of the Law, a Law that set forth stringent direction for human behavior that no one could perfectly keep.

So God, not wanting for any of His children to perish, “sent His Son, born of a woman” but also born under the law” when His “set time had fully come” which can be translated as God’s appointed time.

You see, God wanted to redeem His people despite the sinners they were. He spared them His judgment by giving every person a chance to simply believe in His Son as Savior. In doing this, a person would move from mere “adoption to sonship and because a person became a son, they would receive “the Spirit of His Son (Jesus)” into their hearts, a Spirit that would have them cry out to acknowledge God as “Abba, Father.”  

When Jesus came, He freed everyone from the bondage of sin so they would no longer be a slave to it. He made the way for any believer to become a child of the God Most High and that special relationship brought with it the privilege of heirship to the very kingdom of Heaven, the greatest inheritance anyone could ever ask for.

As you read this today, having left Christmas behind while heading toward the new year, have you placed your belief in Jesus as Savior?

If so, then rejoice and be glad because you are not only a child of God but an heir to an incredibly divine bequeathing, a portion of the very kingdom of Heaven.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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SEEK, FIND, AND TELL

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.

An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord.”

“This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 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.

Luke 2:8-18

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Jesus was born without fanfare in the little town of Bethlehem.

There wasn’t any family celebration because Joseph and Mary’s families were in Nazareth.

Inside Bethlehem, no one came to be a part of what was the most important birth in human history. No one knew that the promised Messiah had arrived to save them.

No, Mary delivered God’s one and only Son into the world in private with only Joseph as witness as they concealed in a stable. This meant that Jesus’ first bed was a manger used to feed the animals because there were no rooms for the family from Galilee to stay in.

So the Savior of the world was born, fulfilling the words of the prophets, and no one was aware. That is, until the most unexpected and amazing disclosure happened, a message brought to a most unlikely group. Look again at today’s passage from Luke’s Gospel:

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.

An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord.”

“This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 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. (2:8-18)

It was a night like any other night for the shepherds in the fields outside Bethlehem as they tended to their flocks by night. People didn’t typically interact with shepherds, mostly because their reputation wasn’t that great. They were seen as people of low moral standing and even prone to stealing. And then there was their occupation as all they did was hang out with animals all the time. It wasn’t a clean job and therefore the shepherds were considered unclean and unsightly.

This is what made the entire event that transpired that night so incredibly improbable.

Now, imagine you are one of the shepherds. You’re doing your thing like you do night after night after night but on this evening, an angel suddenly appears and the entire field was illuminated with a great light as the glory of the Lord surrounded you and the others with you. First you are startled but that is quickly replaced by fear as you know something remarkably divine is taking place.

And then the angel speaks, saying:

“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord.”

It was a lot to process in such a short period of time but thankfully the angel was bringing good news. At least it wasn’t a declaration of God’s judgment.

No, this was a birth announcement of the highest order. No other child ever born in human history had their coming declared by an angel of the Lord but we see where there was far more than this.

For no sooner had you absorbed the declaration of the angel that the skies became ablaze with the light of a multitude (think army) of the heavenly host appearing and saying:

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.”

And with that, the angel and heavenly host disappeared back into the heavens, leaving the shepherds changed forever. I mean, who wouldn’t be transformed by a visit from angels?

Well, in the wake of their unbelievable experience, the shepherds decide to go immediately to Bethlehem and seek this baby Messiah who the Lord had told them about. They remembered the angel said the child was wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger so this would narrow the search down a little as they wouldn’t have to go to each and every residence, just the stables.

And so the shepherds left the fields and hurried off to the city of David where they found Mary and Joseph, and Jesus, who was lying in the manger.

What an astounding thrill and honor this must have been for the shepherds who were used to being treated with disgrace. God didn’t proclaim His Son’s birth to a king or priest or prophet. No, He willingly and willfully gave the shepherds the privilege.

So what did the shepherds do in return?

They went out of the stable and shared the good news about Jesus, telling other what had been told to them.

What was the result?

Those hearing the testimony were amazed at what they heard.

Today, we still get the opportunity to answer God’s call to first seek Jesus and then find Him so we can go and tell others about Him. The Christmas season provides a great opportunity for us to share the Gospel with others with the hope of getting people to shift their holiday focus toward Jesus more than anything else.

As we march toward 2023, let’s all commit ourselves to be like the shepherds and tell others about Jesus, the Savior of the world born unto all people in Bethlehem.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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