Asleep!

You may have noticed that I have been a bit quiet of late. As some of you know, I recently had the privilege of visiting India.

To be honest, it has taken me some time to fully come to grips with what assailed my every sense. It is called ‘culture shock’. Let me share with you…

First, let’s put into perspective a few things:

India’s population of 1,189,172,864 people are living in 3,287,263 Km2 compared to Australia with 5,363% less people (21,766,712) living in 57% more space of 7,741,220 Km2

Australia has less people in more land. Australians are in the top 1% of the richest people groups in the world!

Indians are very entrepreneurial – they need to be. Life is competitive. Survival depends on being hard workers. If they don’t work they don’t eat. Many are homeless. Many die of disease as they can not pay to get even basic medical attention. Food is not readily available.

In Australia, if we don’t work we have a welfare system that helps us. No one in Australia needs to be homeless or unfed. If we are sick, our hospital system will look after us. We can go to a supermarket and buy any food we need when we need it.

In North India, it is a harsh place to survive in. I scant can begin to describe it to you.

Church Planters Teaching about Jesus

Yet, when I see the Church in North India, it is ALIVE!

Sure, they face many hurdles which we never need to. Christians are a minority people, but full of faith and God provides miraculously. Miracles are a common occurrence and God’s Power and Presence is evident anywhere the church is active.

So much so that I realized how dull we are here in Australia.

As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on the bed. Sluggards bury their hands in the dish and are too lazy to bring them back to their mouths.
Pro 26:14,15

In Australia we are so comfortable in our beds. We have so much. Material wealth abounds – just look around the home and observe all the nic nacs that adorn the surfaces – none of them are critical to our living; none feed us; none help us survive the day. In Australia we have ‘wealth related diseases’ like obesity, depression, suicides, stress, heart, psychological, relational and community breakdown, etc. There are plenty of stats beginning to make a direct correlation between many diseases and the wealthiness of a country.

It wasn’t always like that. Our forefathers and Australian generations before us did good. Our foundations are built upon Christian principles. That’s why we have it so good.

Yet, as we bathe in all that hard won goodness and enjoy the fruits of our predecessor’s labour, we loll about and in a sense, we are asleep… We are getting lazy… We are the sluggard… no?

Do we see testimonies like these in Australia? Not often.

Church Planters on the move!

When I saw the fervor and enthusiasm of the Church Planters in India, I was greatly challenged. I’ve not seen the level of discipleship and day-to-day commitment to the Lord every day…not just for a couple hours on Sunday. They live life in obedience to Christ even at the peril of their own lives. For many, Water Baptism is a death sentence! Yet, they willingly and deliberately follow Christ. And the Presence and Power of Christ is their reality.

We have seen the word that says,

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
Matthew 9:37

Australia is fast becoming more secular than Christian. We are basking in the good deeds of the past. Australia needs Jesus! The harvest is indeed plentiful… so where are the workers?

Sluggards do not plow in season; so at harvest time they look but find nothing.
Proverbs 20:4

There’s those sluggards again.

People, it is time to wake up! It took a trip to India for me to realise how much of a sluggard I have become. I highly recommend going on such an encounter to see the church in action and to become a part of that church in action.

We serve an awesome God. He loves us. He awaits us to arise and let Him be Lord.

Jesus once read from the Scriptures:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Luke 4:18,19

Poor in India

We don’t have too many poor anymore in Australia. It’s all relative. Comparing one another in Australia doesn’t work. Compare our poorest person with a poor person in India. Honestly, we do not have poor people in Australia. Not really. It’s good in Australia, really!

If you want to get fired up and experience God’s Presence then be apart of proclaiming the good news to the poor. Jesus is into that! And you can participate in many ways.

You can get involved in your local church and its mission to the poor.

You can partner with ministries, like Empart for example, who minister to the poor – both physically and in spirit, by sending out Church Planters to transform communities. Empart is planting 3-4 churches every day!

Oh, and if you want to know why I am passionate about India, then just read this single page and you too will know why! I challenge you… nah, let Jesus challenge you!

India doesn’t need just money. It needs Jesus, just like you and me.

The Church is the only answer to transforming India.

We better get it right too because India will be the dominant world power soon and we will all be owned by them. Believe me, it’s not that far off. I would rather have a Christian influenced world power than any other.

Every country that denies Christ or has any other belief system in place is a horrible place to try and survive in. Even a sluggard like Blind Freddy can see this if only he lifts his slumbering head and looks carefully and makes the observation.

Every country that has let Christ reign has become successful, wealthy and fruitful in every way. But for those who forget and kick Christ out of the equation soon go downhill fast. Will we ever learn?

My personal resolve is this: To wake up. To slumber no more. To be a worker of the harvest. To be rich in Christ; richness that includes God’s Presence and His Power. Without it I am poor and that is my poverty!

Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—
and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.
Proverbs 6:6-11

I’m AWAKE!  I’m AWAKE!  I’m hoping I can make enough noise to awaken those around me. I don’t want to do this alone.

Will you join me?

Aggravated Burglary

It is the early hours of the morning and sound asleep in our bedroom.

Then the urgent fearful cry from Judith, “Peter! Someone is in our room!”

The silence and peace in our sanctuary is shattered instantly.

Adrenaline kicks in. I fly out of bed. My mind racing. Trying to make sense of it all through the vanishing fog of sleep.

The intruder has already left and high tailing it down the road.

But my initial concern is for Judith. She’s fine. I race to the front door and out into the street. I can’t see the culprit.

Then I hear Judith call from the bedroom, “He has taken my bag!”

We have been robbed.

The following minutes and hours see the Police attend, declare it as an aggravated (weapon on thief used to cut the flywire) burglary, a search the suburb for the perpetrator on foot, then a search for the bag possibly discarded, forensic team dusting for finger prints, calls for credit cards to be stopped, locksmiths called to replace every lock in the house, garage and the car… the drama is quite unsettling.

In the end, the bag was found miraculously later that day, 15 minutes before the locksmiths were to arrive and begin their $1300 lock replacement campaign. Whew!  The cost to us was the damage to the flywire the thief cut to gain entry to our bedroom, the cost in time replacing ‘stopped’ cards and replacement driver’s license.

All that was physically stolen was a few dollars in cash. But psychologically a lot more was stolen. And we had gained a sense of fear.

I was annoyed.

Then two weeks later almost the same thing. The thief came back and attempted the same entry by cutting through the flywire in the lounge room. But this time was denied entry because the window was actually locked. Police called. Forensics came too. But to no avail.

TWICE! … in two weeks.

The fear factor, especially for my wife and daughter were greatly heightened.

My annoyance had shifted to something else. I was now angry.

Not only had our sanctuary (that is what a home is meant to be) been shattered, but now a sense of fear gripped us all. We were no longer safe to sleep without fear of a return visit.

My thoughts shifted into what I might do to this… this… well, let’s just say I was not in a kind place at this point. It is amazing how the mind can quickly shift to what you think you could do. Like getting a baseball bat and, well there are plenty of movies our mind can use to describe the actions that you would like to take. And I was quite serious.

But my little insanity period didn’t last too long as I took my concerns before the Lord.

In my mind, I was in turmoil. In my spirit, I needed to find peace… and being a bloke, also a solution.

It is times like this, God will bring recall of appropriate Scriptures to mind. This is the Word of God. It is light. It is wisdom.

I am reminded that the loss of material things are not important. The fear is what needed to be dealt with. Perfect love drives out fear! To love is to forgive. Uh oh.

I find myself praying for the thief. And in moments my heart shifts from anger to sorrow for this lost soul. He is heading towards a Christ-less eternity. Sin has robbed him of life eternal. His fate is perilous unless he repents and receives Jesus Christ as Lord. Will he? Can he?

The fear melts away.

Then the solution comes. The following day when the forensic team are dusting for prints, the officer takes me outside and points to all the houses either side of me. He says, “You are a perfect target. You are the only one without any alarm security. The thief looks for an easy mark and will bypass any house with visible signs of an alarm.”

So I now have an alarm. The white box, blue light and even an infrared dome camera surveying the front garden. Coupled with crimesafe fly-screens, new sensor flood lights that trigger whenever someone steps 1 metre onto the property and a monitoring company sign that states, “Warning: You are under 24 hour camera surveillance”.

These things just watch over my house and I have peace of mind.

God watches over my family and I have peace of heart.

And as for my thief?

All actions have consequences. He will eventually get caught for his activity and will pay the penalty.

But when he robbed me, he picked the wrong house.

Now he has both God and me on his case.

Together we are after his soul!

The loss of innocence - PM Julia Gillard ambushed

Whether we are a fan of Julia Gillard or not, she is our Prime Minister. I don’t know about you but I was appalled seeing our Prime Minister dragged clear of protestors on Australia Day.

Then I was sad.

In those moments of seeing the footage surrounding the incident, I had an overwhelming sense of loss.

Our Prime Minister lost her dignity, a shoe and Australia had lost her innocence.

Where else in the world can a leader of a country walk freely amongst the people, still live in a house in the suburbs, and not be surrounded with an exclusion zone marked by an army of special, armed, in-your-face security forces. Most times you don’t see the security surrounding our dignitaries. Sure security exists, but it is discrete and subtle.

Take a quick look at any movement of the President of the United States. You can not get within cooee of POTUS. The entourage of Special Service Agents, Police, Armed forces, SWAT, Sniper details etc permeate the whole environment. Intense isn’t it?

I have unexpectedly met our ex-Prime Minister, John Howard, three times while he was PM. Believe it or not, all three times were at men’s urinals.  No security force invaded the space to clear it and then guard it prior, during and immediately after the Prime Minister wanted to go to a public toilet.

No. Our Prime Minister just ducks into the loo. No big deal. And just like any other bloke would do, he even made a friendly, funny exchange of conversation while standing side by side [and no I'm not telling you what it was -  all 3 are private and treasured moments].

That is Australian. And I love it.

One of the attributes that sets Australia apart in this world is our laid back, relaxed, ‘”she’ll be right” attitude. For example, Mat Prater had this to say on Australia Day:

YOU KNOW YOU’RE AUSTRALIAN WHEN: You believe that stubbies can either be drunk or worn. You pronounce Melbourne as ‘Mel-bin’. You believe that the letter ‘l’ in Australia is optional, and it’s perfectly ok to call it ‘Straya’. You think ‘Wooloomooloo’ is a perfectly reasonable name for a place. You’re secretly proud of our killer wildlife. You believe it makes perfect sense for a country to have a $1 coin thats twice as big as a $2 coin. You understand that ‘Wagga Wagga’ can be abbreviated to ‘Wagga’ but ‘Woy Woy’ cannot be just ‘Woy’. Beetroot with your hamburger…of course! You believe that the more you shorten someone’s name, the more you like them. You understand that ‘excuse me’ can sound rude, but ‘scuse me’ is always polite. You know what its like to swallow a fly, on occasion via your nose. You know it’s not summer until the steering wheel is too hot to handle and a seat belt buckle becomes a pretty good branding iron. You know how to abbreviate every word, all of which usually end in “o”: arvo, convo, garbo, metho, milko, muso, servo, smoko, rego, speedo, righto, etc,….you know that there is a universal place called ‘Woop Woop’ located in the middle of nowhere, no matter where you actually are! And you can understand all of this! Happy ‘Straya’ day! And God Bless the Great Southland of the Holy Spirit!

Australia has a sense of fun. We can laugh at ourselves, take the proverbial out of each other and still be mates.

We have a sense of fair play and when it isn’t we step in to intervene.

With the multitude of influences flooding our culture, I really hope the slide from innocence to intensity living does not continue.

It need not.

The return to innocence starts for each of us through salvation and then living with Jesus as Lord.

Locked into an Impossible situation

Have you ever been in an impossible situation where you are swept along in a series of events which are not fair or reasonable?

And then, the situation becomes impossible.

Take Paul and Silas who were caught up in a situation.

They cast a fortune-telling spirit out of a slave girl who earned a ‘great deal of money for her owners’. The owners who lost this income attack Paul and Silas publicly with false charges, take them to court, and after they incited a crowd the Magistrates threw them into prison with their feet fastened in stocks no less – all without a trial!

I don’t know about you, but my first thought is, “that’s not fair”.

Well it isn’t.

But what really hits me though, is that all along, Paul and Silas have special rights as Roman citizens. At anytime they could have spoken up and claimed that right and it would never have gotten to the point of being thrown in prison.

The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city.
Acts 16:38,39

They do claim that right eventually, not to save themselves, but to show up the Magistrates and teach them a lesson.

So why spend a night in prison?

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
Act 16:25

They were praying and singing hymns while in stocks, in a prison.

Do we pray and sing to God in our impossible situation?

The encouragement here is that God is a God of purpose, and He has a plan…not just to set them free, but to bring salvation.

God loves the Jailer and his whole family.

By allowing Paul and Silas to be thrown into prison he arrests the attention of the Jailer… this was the Jailer’s opportunity and Paul and Silas are the messengers.

Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped.
But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
Act 16:26-30

And purpose one, freedom, is fulfilled:

He then brought them out…
Acts 16:30

And purpose two, salvation, is fulfilled:

…and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”

Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.
Acts 16:30-34

Paul and Silas knew that they have a purpose to preach the Good News, no matter where God takes them.

Even if that means a prison.

No matter what situation they found themselves in, their trust was completely in God and His purposes.

So what situation do you find yourself in?

Is it time to completely trust in God and His purposes?

MMXII

We usher in MMXII … 2012 is a leap year starting today in the Gregorian calendar, and it is already the current year in Kiritimati (Kiribati), Samoa, Tokelau and Chatham Islands. It is 2012AD (Anno Domini – the year of our Lord) designation; the 12th year of the 3rd millennium and of the 21st century; and the 3rd of the 2010s decade.

The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives, highlighting the contribution of cooperatives to socio-economic development, in particular recognizing their impact on poverty reduction, employment generation and social integration. It has also been designated as the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All.

It has also been designated Alan Turing Year, commemorating the mathematician, computer pioneer, and code-breaker on the centennial of Turing’s birth.

There are a variety of popular beliefs about the year 2012. These beliefs range from the spiritually transformative to the apocalyptic, and center upon various interpretations of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar. Contemporary scientists have disputed the apocalyptic versions. So do I.

Predicted and scheduled events

January

• January 13 – January 22 – The first Winter Youth Olympics will be held in Innsbruck, Austria.
• January 31 – 433 Eros, the second-largest Near Earth Object on record (size 13 km × 13 km × 33 km) will pass Earth at 0.1790 astronomical units (26,780,000 km; 16,640,000 mi). NASA studied Eros with the NEAR Shoemaker probe launched on February 17, 1996.

February

• February 6 – Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, marking the 60th anniversary of her accession to the thrones of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia & New Zealand, and the 60th anniversary of her becoming Head of the Commonwealth.

April

• April 6 – April 9 – Easter. Celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Good News for all!
• April 9 – My birthday

May

• May 12 – August 12 – The 2012 World Expo is to be held in Yeosu, South Korea.
• May 20 – Annular solar eclipse. Path of annularity runs through the Pacific Ocean from northern China to California.

June

• June 6 – The second and last solar transit of Venus of the century. The next pair is predicted to occur in 2117 and 2125.
• June 18 – June 23 – Turing Centenary Conference at the University of Cambridge, in honor of the mathematician, computer scientist, and cryptographer Alan Turing, the last day of the conference being the hundredth anniversary of his birth.

July

• July 27 – Opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics begins in London at 19:30 GMT.London will become the first city in history to host the Summer Olympic Games three times.

August

• August 6 – August 20 – Mars Science Laboratory also known as the Curiosity rover is scheduled to land on Mars.
• August 12 – Closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

November

• November 13 – Total solar eclipse (visible in Northern Australia and the South Pacific).

December

• December 21 – The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, notably used by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization among others, completes a “great cycle” of thirteen b’ak’tuns (periods of 144,000 days each) since the mythical creation date of the calendar’s current era.
• December 25 – Christmas! Celebration of Jesus’ birth.
• December 31 – The first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ends.

Date unknown

• China will launch the Kuafu spacecraft.
• 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China will be the next major Congress of the Communist Party of China.
• Pleiades, a proposed supercomputer built by Intel and SGI for NASA’s Ames Research Center, will be completed, reaching a peak performance of 10 Petaflops (10 quadrillion floating point operations per second).
• Sequoia, a proposed super computer built by IBM for the National Nuclear Security Administration will be completed, reaching a peak performance of 20 Petaflops.
• On the Sun, the solar maximum of Solar Cycle 24 in the 11-year sunspot cycle is forecast to occur. Solar Cycle 24 is regarded to have commenced January 2008, and on average will reach its peak of maximal sunspot activity around 2012. The period between successive solar maxima averages 11 years (the Schwabe cycle), and the previous solar maximum of Solar Cycle 23 occurred in 2000–2002. During the solar maximum the Sun’s magnetic poles will reverse.

So what does it mean to you and me?

Well, we could listen to all the doom and gloom predicted for 2012 – from global financial meltdown imminent in Europe leading to global recession/depression to an apocalyptic end of the world – and consequently worry ourselves to death. Honestly, worrying about a whole lot of stuff that may or may not happen will only give you ulcers or a heart attack!

Here is my two-bobs worth: we could choose to make a difference in our spheres of influence instead.

So how could we do that?

Let’s take the Global Financial Crisis as a good example. It is a clear warning to be prudent, understand the money crisis we all face,  understand what wealth actually is and apply the 3 steps to Debt Elimination. That is definitely in your sphere of influence.  Buying more ‘stuff’? Ask yourself if you really, really need it and if you think you do, then ask, “Will this put me in more debt?” Hey, life is full of choices… we must be wise in those choices.

Oh, and could there be an apocalyptic end to the Earth? No, I don’t think so. She is groaning for sure, but it won’t come to an end unless the Lord says so. What He does say is this:

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”   Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you.  For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.  You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.  Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All these are the beginning of birth pains.
…  And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Matthew 24:3-8,14 (emphasis mine)

We have a lot of work ahead of us to see this “this gospel of the kingdom preached in the whole world“. And yes, you can do something about that too!  Spread the Good News, support your local church’s evangelism/mission initiatives or movements like Empart (whose primary goal is to plant 100,000 churches in Asia by 2030) through prayer and by giving generously. Both are equally needed!

And every year I hear this asked: can we tell when the Lord will return? No.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.  “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;  and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
Matthew 24:35-39

Remember, this is 2012 AD – the year of our Lord! And all I truly can say is:

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:57-58

Boxing Day - fill it or take from it?

Boxing Day is usually celebrated on the following day after Christmas Day, which is 26 December. However, strictly speaking, Boxing Day is the first weekday after Christmas (as per the definition in the Oxford English Dictionary).

Like Christmas Day, Boxing Day is a public holiday. This means it is typically a non working day. When Boxing Day falls on a Saturday or Sunday the following Monday is the public holiday.

Why is 26 December called Boxing Day?

Traditionally, 26 December was the day to open the Christmas Box to share the contents with the poor. The Christmas box was a wooden or clay container where people placed gifts.

History of Boxing Day – Boxing Day origins

The exact etymology of the term “boxing” is unclear and there are several competing theories, none of which is definitive. We do see Christmas Boxes were used in different ways and have a common theme:

To protect ships

During the Age of Exploration, when great sailing ships were setting off to discover new land, A Christmas Box was used as a good luck device. It was a small container placed on each ship while it was still in port. It was put there by a priest, and those crewmen who wanted to ensure a safe return would drop money into the box. It was then sealed up and kept on board for the entire voyage.

If the ship came home safely, the box was handed over to the priest in the exchange for the saying of a Mass of thanks for the success of the voyage.

The Priest would keep the box sealed until Christmas when he would open it to share the contents with the poor.

To help the poor

An ‘Alms Box’ was placed in every church on Christmas Day, into which worshippers placed a gift for the poor of the parish. These boxes were always opened the day after Christmas, which is why that day became know as Boxing Day.

A present for the workers

Many poorly paid workers were required to work on Christmas Day and took the following day off to visit their families. As they prepared to leave, their employers would present them with Christmas boxes.

During the late 18th century, Lords and Ladies of the manor would “box up” their leftover food, or sometimes gifts and distribute them the day after Christmas to tenants who lived and worked on their lands.

And the giving tradition still continues today ……

The tradition of giving money to workers still continues today. It is customary for householders to give small gifts or monetary tips to regular visiting trades people (the mailman, milkman, garbos (Garbage truck), paper boy etc.) and, in some work places, for employers to give a Christmas bonus to employees.

In England, even Schools across the country gather together gifts to be put in Christmas Boxes that are sent to poorer countries.

St Stephen’s Day

Boxing Day is also known as St. Stephen’s Day (when Good King Wenceslas looked out).

‘Good King Wenceslas looked out,
On the Feast of Stephen………..’

Who was St Stephen?

Stephen lived in Rome and was the first man to be killed for believing in the teachings of Jesus.

His story is told in the Holy Bible, in the Book of Acts 6:1 to 8:2. It ends with his ultimate gift, given to those poor in spirit – forgiveness.

Family Time

Traditionally, Boxing Day is the day when families get together.

It is a day of relaxing, watching sports and playing board games with the family.

… and then came Shopping

In recent times, some shops have broken from tradition and started opening on Boxing Day to start the New Year sales. Hundreds of people now spend Boxing Day morning in queues outside shops, waiting to be the first to dive for the sales racks as the doors opened.

Personally, I find this is a sad reflection of what we as a society are choosing to do on this wonderful day. At a time when Boxing Day was about ‘giving to others’ we seem to be trending towards ‘what can we get for ourselves’.

We have nearly every other day to shop… maybe this is one day to reclaim!

Please don’t let the holidays get so cluttered that you miss the point of the celebration.

Christmas is usually cluttered. We’re overbooked with parties, concerts, B-B-Qs and shopping trauma while our houses are jammed with decorations, out-of-town guests and way too much food.

Then on Christmas morning, after the presents have been opened, we sweep up the crumpled gift wrap, tinsel, ribbons, bows, pine needles and boxes that are scattered everywhere.

As much as I love the joy of this season, I sometimes struggle to make sure I don’t lose the profound simplicity of Christmas amid the sensory overload.

This year I decided to pay closer attention to the names of Jesus used in the Christmas story. These names are like wrapped gifts—you have to open them carefully to savor their meaning. You might want to share these names with your loved ones at your Christmas luncheon or dinner, or take a break from the stress of the holidays to look up these Scriptures and ponder them carefully.

Remember: Jesus is God’s gift to us.

Have you fully unwrapped this amazing gift?

1. He is the Son of David (Matt. 1:1). Matthew’s gospel, which was written primarily to Jews, stresses that Jesus was in the royal lineage of Israel’s kings. The genealogy that appears in Matthew 1 traces Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary, to David’s line—and then back to Abraham. Even though Jesus was not the biological son of Joseph, He could legally claim the family name. He was King of the Jews in the truest sense; yet unlike the sinful kings of Israel, Jesus was the perfect ruler—and His kingdom will never end.

2. He is the Son of Adam (Luke 3:38). Luke’s gospel, written to a Gentile (non-Jewish) audience, focuses on Jesus’ humanity. And the genealogy that appears in Luke 3:23-38 is not about kingly succession. Instead, it traces Jesus’ lineage through Mary’s family tree and goes all the way to Adam—establishing the case that Jesus was a descendant of the first man. Through the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, God’s eternal Word impregnated Mary, making her child both God and man. Yet Jesus, unlike Adam, never disobeyed God. He remained sinless so He could sacrifice His life for us.

3. He is Emmanuel (Matt. 1:23). An angel told Joseph in a dream that Mary would conceive a son miraculously—and that His name would be Emmanuel, which means, “God with us.” Wrapped up in this name is the mystery of the Incarnation. Jesus is, as John’s gospel emphasizes, the Word that “became flesh” (John 1:14). He was with God before the creation of the world as the glorious firstborn Son, but He left the glory of heaven to dwell among sinners on earth.

4. He is Jesus, the Savior (Matt. 1:21). The angel told Mary she would give birth to the “holy child” and that she would call him Jesus, which is the Greek form of the name Joshua (or Yeshua in Hebrew). Jesus means “the Lord saves.” Just as Joshua in the Old Testament succeeded Moses and took God’s people across the Jordan into the Promised Land, Jesus led us out of the wilderness of sin and ushered us “by grace” and “through faith” (Eph. 2:8) into the blessings of salvation.

5. He is the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6). Angels said to the shepherds in Bethlehem: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased” (Luke 2:14). This harkens back to Isaiah’s ancient prophecy that the Messiah would institute peace on earth. The gift of Christ was, in fact, the greatest peace treaty ever enacted. Wherever the true gospel of Christ is preached and believed, hatred is uprooted in human hearts and wars and violence cease.

6. He is the Light of the Gentiles (Luke 2:32). Simeon, the old prophet who met Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus outside the temple in Jerusalem, recognized that the long-awaited Son of God was not sent just to Israel but to all people. Jesus’ mission was a global one. This was also confirmed by the visit of the mysterious magi—wise men from a Gentile country who bowed before the Christ child and honoured him as a true king. They knew that some day this King would be worshiped everywhere.

7. He is the Messiah, Christ the Lord (Luke 2:11). This is how the angel described Jesus when he spoke to the shepherds in Bethlehem. The word “Christ” means “the anointed one”; the Hebrew word is Ha-Mashiach, or Messiah. It speaks of the Deliverer God promised to send to earth. Abraham saw Him from a distance; King David sang and prophesied of Him; Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Micah, Haggai, Malachi and many other prophets foretold His coming. He was not only anointed by the Holy Spirit to heal the sick and raise the dead during His short time on earth; He was anointed to die on the Cross for our sins and to be raised from the dead so that we could live with Him forever.

Many people today—even many professing Christians—have never unwrapped the full meaning of the Savior. Some doubt His power to forgive them. Some struggle to believe He is the only path to God. Others don’t experience inward peace because they have never fully submitted to His lordship.

Please unwrap this gift. Don’t let the holidays get so cluttered that you miss the point.

To all my friends around the world, from my family to yours, have a Merry Christmas! May you enjoy, and delight in, the the precious gift of Jesus in 2012.

Blessings,
Peter J. Coburn

P.S. Don’t forget Sameesha’s Story this Christmas. How will you respond?

Sameesha - Broken, unloved.

Over the years, I have read or heard of many stories of heartbreak and despair. In most cases they leave you feeling sad and helpless.

And in typical ‘bloke’ fashion, I would suppress my emotions and move on as I realised it wasn’t within my power to do something about them.

My protective veneer is well honed.

Then I read the recent story of Sameesha. It started:

Lying half naked in the middle of the street,  her hair was badly matted, she had not bathed in over a year and she was screaming obscenities to the people passing by as she threw rocks at their faces.

But in the end, there was a miracle.

I cried.

Sameesha’s story hit me in a way I have not experienced before. It seeped in under that tough old veneer.

Sameesha Transformed

The more I tried to shake it, remove it, forget it, the more her story hounded me. I realised it demanded of me, a response.

There are heaps of ‘Sameeshas’ who desperately need help… AND I found a way to finally make a real difference!

I discovered that I could respond. It was so easy.

I have to say that while I work at Empart, and in this case that is the vehicle of transformation, I would have done this long ago… if only I had known.

If Sameesha’s story speaks to you as it did to me, would you consider joining me and being a part of the solution this Christmas? In eternity you will be so glad you did!

See and read Sameesha’s Story for yourself.