The King’s English

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1 John 3:1-4:7

Imagine two scenarios.

Scenario 1:  We are on a ship.  It springs a leak and starts to sink.  While we’re fleeing to the life-rafts, you manage to grab a bag.  Unbeknownst to the rest of us, your bag contains a bottle of water and some canned meat – tuna, spam, etc.

We all huddle together in the life-raft, bobbing along the open sea.  Eventually we spot an island in the distance.  We start paddling towards it and as we get closer we see that the island is incredibly bare.  Not a stick of shrubbery, no sign of fresh water, it’s basically a big rock in the middle of the ocean.  But it’s our only hope.  So we row towards the island and as we get closer your brother turns to you and says “Boy I’m thirsty.”  What do you do?

Scenario 2:  We’re on a ship.  Our ship sinks.  We flee to the life-rafts.  Unbeknownst to everyone you have a bag containing water and canned meat.  As we bob along in the open sea we spot an island in the distance.  As we paddle towards it, we see that it’s lushous, luxurious, full of life.  You can see the trees heavy with choice fruits.  There’s a gushing waterfall in the distance.  It’s a tropical paradise.  As we row towards shore your brother turns to you and says “Boy I’m thirsty.”  What do you do?  Do you give your brother a drink of water?

Surely you are more likely to share the wealth in scenario 2.  But why?

Are you a much nicer person in scenario 2?  Are you suddenly more moral?  What has changed between scenario 1 and scenario 2?

Surely it’s this:  your vision has changed.  You have seen an abundance of life and it’s liberated you to be generous.  You’re still the same bundle of sins and selfishness.  But now you’ve seen something captivating.  Now you’re celebrating.  Now you’re assured that things are going to be ok.

In his first letter, the Apostle John makes precisely this argument: Christians are those who have seen the abundance of grace and love flowing from the Father, through the Son.  We have seen Jesus and said “that is the life!” Christ has invited us into the “fellowship” He shares with the Father (1 John 1:1-4) and now we share this wealth with others.

The whole letter is summed up in chapter 4, verse 7:

“Beloved, let us love.” (1 John 4:7)

In Greek it’s only two words.  Beloved, love.  We who are dearly beloved, may we go and love others.

Because we are not just those who are heading towards a tropical island.  We are residents of a kingdom of overflowing life, recipients of a torrent of unending blessing.  Children adopted into the ultimate royal Family. Therefore we can afford to crack open our little stashes and be generous with our supplies.

So John would say to us:  if we are not loving, have we really received the love of God? If we’re not overflowing to our brothers and sisters, has God’s love really been poured out to us? From the fountainhead of our beloved-ness will flow our life of love.

Thus John would have us meditate on that word “beloved.”

The Greek word (agapetoi) is most often translated “dearly beloved” in the King James Bible (e.g. Romans 12:19; 1 Corinthians 10:14; 2 Corinthians 7:1; 12:19; Philippians 4:1).  And that phrase is probably best known to us as the opening words of the marriage service.

It’s interesting to note that “dearly beloved” occurs seven times in the Book of Common Prayer.  On three occasions it refers to the congregation.  On four occasions it refers to Christ, “the dearly beloved Son” of the Father.

That’s highly significant.  The theology of Thomas Cranmer is very biblical here:  What the Son is singularly, the Church is corporately.  How the Father feels about His Son is how He now feels about us – clothed in His Son.  As Jesus Himself said:

“The Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.”  (John 16:27)

We are dearly beloved.  Loved with the very love that predated and produced the universe.

Therefore, as John continues:

“Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” (1 John 4:11)

There is abundant life overflowing for us.  Ultimate reality is not like that barren rock in the ocean, forbidding and sparse.  Ultimate reality is paradise.  It’s the God who is love and who has invited us in.  If we’ve seen anything of His love, won’t we reach into our supplies – our time, money, goods, emotional energy – and won’t we share what we’ve got?

Dearly beloved, let us love.

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Matthew 2:1-12; Psalm 72

What do you buy the man who has it all?

Advertisers pose that question this time of year.  And usually they answer: some kind of razor.  But here’s the one occasion where the question is not hyperbole.  Jesus really is the Owner and Inheritor of the universe.  As Colossians 1 puts it:

“By [Christ] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers:  all things were created by him, and for him:  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”  (Colossians 1:16-17)

So what do you give the Man who has it all?  The three wise men were faced with that conundrum.  And here’s what they came up with:

“And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him:  and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”  (Matthew 2:11)

Perhaps through Daniel and the other exiles these wise men from the east had access to the ancient Scriptures.  Perhaps they had heard that the cosmic Messiah will receive gold from distant kings.  That’s certainly what Psalm 72 prophesied:

“The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents:  the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.  Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him… to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba:”  (Psalm 72: 10,11,15)

Isaiah repeats the thought and adds another appropriate gift:

“The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising…  all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the LORD.”  (Isaiah 60:3,6)

Such gold seems the perfect gift for a lesser king to give to a greater One. And certainly gold placed on the head is a sign of kingly rule (Genesis 41:42; Psalm 21:3, Daniel 3:1).  As we’ve seen, Isaiah adds an accompaniment to gold: frankincense.  This is because the universal King is also a Priest.

Frankincense is almost always used in connection with the temple and priesthood (e.g. Leviticus 2).  So the wise men bring a priestly as well as royal gift to the baby Jesus.  He will not only rule man for God.  He will mediate man for God.

And how will He do so?  This brings us to myrrh.  And on one level, myrrh is just another fragrant gift like frankincense.  It is paired with frankincense on many occasions – especially when describing the Ideal Bridegroom of Song of Solomon (3:6; 4:6; 4:14).  Yet at the end of the Gospels we see a common use for myrrh – embalming corpses (John 19:39).  And here is how Jesus will reign; here is how He will offer humanity to God – through His death.

It’s a strange gift for a child, embalming fluid!  Granted it had other uses but, within the Gospels, myrrh is very much associated with death.  And so from the beginning of Jesus’ life, He was marked for the cross.  As King He would reign from the tree.  As Priest He would raise His arms in intercession for the world.  In His death He would be established as Royal Reconciler, bringing heaven to earth and earth to heaven.

These are the appropriate gifts for the Man who has everything.  Not additions to a needy Christ, but acknowledgements of His Person and work.  This Christmas, follow the wise men.  Be awed again by your Cosmic King, your Interceding Priest, your Humble Sacrifice.  There He lies in the manger for you.

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Matthew 2:1-12

The wise men and the shepherds tend to get mixed up in our recollections of Christmas.  But actually they couldn’t be more different.  The shepherds were poor Jews.  The wise men were rich foreigners.  For the shepherds, the birth of Christ was a ‘bolt from the blue’ as they went about their ordinary business.  For the wise men, Christ’s birth was a distant certainty that had directed their course for some time.  For the shepherds, seeing Christ marks a beginning – they rejoice and spread the word.  For the wise men, it marks an end to their long journey.  Yet for both the low born and high born, for those with nothing to give and those with everything, for Jew and Gentile, for the expectant and the surprised, Christ’s birth proves to be the fulfilment of all their hopes.

In Jesus, Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, learned and common, meet.  And with the wise men especially, the whole incident proves that Christ is indeed the Desire of all nations.  His birth is not a parochial event for the tribe of Judah.  It is truly global.  Here is a baby to unite, redeem and rule the world.

“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:1-2)

The word for ‘wise men’ in the Greek is Magi from which we get ‘Magicians’.  Traditionally they are called ‘three kings’, but Matthew doesn’t tell us their number, nor whether they rule, (though they are clearly wealthy).  The questions we want answered are:  Where have they gotten the idea that a baby could be born King?  How would they know that the King of the Jews demands universal worship?  And what is their view of the created world such that stars preach to them the birth of a universal King?

Well the human race can trace itself back, not only to Adam but also to Noah.  Humanity has a collective memory, not only of the first Adam and Noah, but also the promise of a second Adam, a second Noah – a Man Who Brings Rest.  The Jews prophesied that their coming King would rule the nations (Genesis 49:10) and that the stars proclaimed His coming (Numbers 24:17).  Even the nations knew that this Jewish God was Lord of all (Joshua 2:9-11).  And when the Israelites went into exile, the Babylonians, Persians, Medes and Greeks came to hear about this Promised One (see, for instance, the book of Daniel).

It’s no surprise that wise men from the east would be eagerly awaiting this cosmic King.  Listen to lines from the Roman poet Virgil.  Writing around 40BC this Gentile, lost in pagan superstition still speaks of a new age dawning with the birth of a Boy to rule the world:

Now the last age by Cumae’s Sibyl sung
Has come and gone, and the majestic roll
Of circling centuries begins anew:
Justice returns, returns old Saturn’s reign,
With a new breed of men sent down from heaven.
Only do thou, at the boy’s birth in whom
The iron shall cease, the golden race arise,
Befriend him, chaste Lucina; ’tis thine own
Apollo reigns. And in thy consulate,
This glorious age, O Pollio, shall begin,
And the months enter on their mighty march.
Under thy guidance, whatso tracks remain
Of our old wickedness, once done away,
Shall free the earth from never-ceasing fear.
He shall receive the life of gods, and see
Heroes with gods commingling, and himself
Be seen of them, and with his father’s worth
Reign o’er a world at peace. For thee, O boy,
First shall the earth, untilled, pour freely forth
Her childish gifts…

…The serpent too shall die..

Begin to greet thy mother with a smile,
O baby-boy! ten months of weariness
For thee she bore: O baby-boy, begin!
For him, on whom his parents have not smiled,
Gods deem not worthy of their board or bed.

Co-mingled with confusion and darkness, the hope of a baby-boy gripped Gentile as well as Jew.  The Son of his heavenly Father would bring a new age, a golden race and even the earth would pour forth its gifts for him.   No wonder the Magi brought tribute!

Jesus came not simply as the Jewish Messiah.  He was the Desire of all nations and hope of the ages.

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Luke 2:21-40

—  “Old Testament folks were not particularly Messianic in their faith. And even if they were, it was very confused.”

–  “Expectation for Christ revolved around a conquering Warrior who arrives on a white horse.”

–  “Believers BC wanted the Messiah to come and defeat the nations oppressing them.”

It’s common to hear many views like this about the state of Old Testament faith.  And, no doubt, many Israelites fell into those caricatures.  But they shouldn’t have done.  And faithful Israelites didn’t. Like Simeon.

What did old Simeon do when he laid eyes on the Christ-child?  He bore witness to true Hebrew belief:

“Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:  For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.  And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.  And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”  (Luke 2:29-35)

As Simeon cradles the baby Jesus, he identifies Him as salvation.  To see Jesus – even the “little Lord Jesus” – is to see the salvation of the world. And notice that Simeon is not at all nationalistic about this.  He does not become excited at the thought of Christ growing up to crush the Romans. No, Jesus will be a “light to lighten the Gentiles.”  He has not come to overthrow the foreign powers but to save them – to save the world.

If there’s going to be any over-throwing it will be of Israel itself.  There will be a “fall and rising again of many in Israel.”  There will be a death and resurrection.  Through Jesus, the old will be brought to nothing and something new will be raised up.

Simeon sees all this in 8-day-old Jesus.  And now he can die happy.  In Jesus, all that he’s waited for has come to pass.  So Simeon, as a representative Old Testament saint, “departs in peace.”

The law and the prophets have done their job.  They have prepared a people for the coming of Messiah.   We can imagine all the righteous of the Old Testament joining in with Simeon’s song.  The Hebrew saints are accompanying him, jealous of his awesome privilege – to hold the long hoped-for Messiah!

But with the birth of Christ, the time of anticipation ends.  Now there is the establishment of all that was promised.  And Simeon leads the Old Testament chorus line off stage.  The time of fulfilment has arrived and so they depart in peace.

As Jesus would say to those who witnessed His ministry:

“Blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.  For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.”  (Matthew 13:16-17)

In a sense we have seen more and in a sense we have seen less than them. We have not held the Christ-child in our arms, but we have read of His glorious death on Calvary.  We have not witnessed His miracles personally, but we have been told of His mighty resurrection from the dead.  All that was promised has now been accomplished, and so our attitude is encapsulated beautifully by the Apostle Peter:

“Having not seen [Jesus], ye love [Him] … though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.”  (1 Peter 1:8-9)

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Luke 2:8-20

In science fiction, alien life forms are always showing up from another world.  Most often they come to destroy and dominate.  In Luke chapter 2, there is a very different kind of alien invasion:

“8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

These creatures from another world are terrifying.  But they do not come to terrify, they come saying “Fear not.”  They do not wage war.  They wage peace.

Their announcement is good tidings of great joy to all people.

Where science fiction aliens say “Take me to your leader” these angels say the opposite:  “Here, have our Leader – He’s wonderful!”  What an astonishing invasion.

The King of the angels is born as a man and for man.  For all men (v10). And, as if to underline the point, the announcement comes, not to the great and good, but to shepherds who lack even a roof over their heads. Here are the meek souls for whom Christ is given.

Therefore, what is God’s attitude towards His world (and therefore what is His attitude towards me)?  Well we have it on good authority from the heavenly host: God’s heart for His creation is, “Peace, goodwill towards men.”

And if we doubt that we ought to make the journey the shepherds make. We ought to go to Bethlehem and see the babe lying in the manger.  If we’ve seen the Judge of mankind wriggling in a feeding trough, how can we ever doubt that God’s will towards us is “Peace”?  If we’ve seen the lengths to which Christ the LORD has gone to be God-with-us, how could we ever deny His stunning good will towards men?

If, by faith, we see what the shepherds saw, we too will “make known abroad” the good tidings.  We too will praise and glorify God.

The truth is “out there.”  But the truth is not dark and disturbing.  It’s glad tidings!  There is life from another world, it is intelligent and very powerful.  But this life is for us.  In incarnation, this life has embraced us in full and wills peace and eternal joy for all mankind.  Look to the manger and rejoice.  God has moved heaven to earth to bring you peace.  He has emptied Himself to the depths of crib and cross to give you His very Self. The deepest of all truths is good news of great joy.

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Luke 1:57-2:7

You didn’t choose to be born and neither did I.  Only Jesus has ever chosen to be born.  But if such powers were at our disposal, would we have decided upon the path that Jesus took?

Surely not.  Surely we would have opted for powerful parents, fabulous wealth, plush surroundings, an easy life.

And it’s all the more justifiable in Jesus’ case.  After all, He arrives as King.  He is taking the throne of His father David (Luke 1:32).  Doesn’t that demand a certain level of pomp and ceremony?  Or at least dignity?  Or publicity?

But no, Jesus chose penniless teenagers in an oppressed backwater under the thumb of mighty Rome.  He chose to be born in the land of the shadow of death (Isaiah 9:2, 6).  He entered our world at its darkest depths.  And so His Kingly nature is revealed, not in His high standing but in His lowly stooping.

When the time came, He was not delivered in comfort or safety.  In a day when many women died in childbirth:

“[Mary] brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”  (Luke 2:7)

What John said theologically, Bethlehem’s innkeepers said practically:

“He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”  (John 1:11)

It’s horribly ironic.  Bethlehem means “House of Bread.”  Yet when the true Bread of life appears, no-one wants Him.

Nonetheless, Mary puts Him in a feeding trough (i.e. a manger).  There He lies as this world’s true Food.  And thus,

“Where meek souls will receive Him still,
The dear Christ enters in.”

More on those ‘meek souls’ tomorrow.  But for now, marvel at the stooping Saviour.  To see the nature of God, we naturally look to the heavens.  Christmas tells us to look down into the manger.  There is true deity.

As Luther has said:

“Reason and will would ascend and seek above, but if you would have joy, bend yourself down to this place.  There you will find that boy given for you who is your Creator lying in a manger.  I will stay with that boy as He sucks, is washed, and dies . . . There is no joy but in this boy.  Take Him away and you face the Majesty which terrifies . . . I know of no God but this one in the manger.”

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Luke 1:39-56

How do you feel about musicals?  Many people dislike them because ‘in real life, ordinary folk don’t burst into song.’  Well, hopefully Luke chapter 1 will win over the doubters because here we read, not one, but two examples of spontaneous lyricism!

At the end of the chapter (Luke 1:68-80), Zechariah – the father of John the Baptist – waxes lyrical over the coming of Messiah.  But first it’s Mary who overflows with praise.

Commonly her words from v46-55 are called ‘Mary’s song’ or ‘The Magnificat’, since that is the first word of its Latin translation.  In many churches it’s said or sung on a weekly basis.  (In Anglican churches it’s most likely to be used at Evening Prayer / Evensong).

Read Luke 1:46-55 and notice two themes – Fulfilment of promise and Reversal of fortunes:

Fulfilment of Promise

Mary’s song is very much like Hannah’s song (1 Samuel 2:1-10) in which she too was given a miraculous child, she sang of great reversals from the LORD and ended by hoping in Messiah.  But Mary’s song is not simply a recapitulation of Hannah’s – it’s the fulfilment of all Old Testament promise.  The birth of Christ is “in remembrance of God’s mercy.”  It is what He “spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever.”  What is the sum and substance of Yahweh’s mercy?  It is the sending of Christ.  What is the essence of the LORD’s covenant love to Abraham and the Patriarchs?  It is the LORD’s enfleshment, born of a virgin.

The Magnificat sounds like it could have been lifted straight from the Psalms.  And, in a deep sense, it could have.  Both Mary and David were singing of the same mercy, the same covenant love, the same Messiah.  The Old Testament is Christian, through and through.  And Mary is a Hebrew, through and through.  The events of the New Testament are not a departure from the Old Testament narrative – they are its intended destination.

Secondly, let’s consider…

Reversal of Fortunes

This song is the battle hymn of a gospel revolution.  All our expectations are upended.

Those who are high are brought low:

The proud are scattered

The mighty are put down

The rich are sent away empty

Meanwhile the meek are lifted up:

The lowly are exalted

The hungry are filled

This is not so much a political manifesto (though it will have implications for all of life).  It is, first and foremost, a profound theology of incarnation.  Here is what Mary is contemplating: the eternal Christ has emptied Himself.  The Word of the Cosmos, has made Himself small.  So small in fact that He rests within this penniless teenager.  But if that is the trajectory of this world’s Judge, then all worldly trajectories come under judgement.

While the world attempts to lift itself up, the LORD of all comes down.  Therefore the high and mighty find themselves dangerously out of step with their Maker.  All who seek their own interests find themselves on a collision course with Mary’s child. Jesus redefines majesty as meekness, greatness as service, glory as sacrifice.

For those full of themselves, Christ’s coming will turn out to be their judgement.  For those who know they have nothing, it will be exaltation for the lowly and feasting for the hungry.

“Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.”  (2 Corinthians 8:9)

As you meditate on the LORD’s humility, how will you consider money, power and status today?

Most importantly, as you think on Christ’s self-emptying, won’t you sing with Mary:  “My soul doth magnify the Lord!”

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Luke 1:1-38

Gabriel says to Mary:  “have gratia plena!”  Or at least, that was Jerome’s Latin translation from around 400AD.  In English it would read “Hail Mary, full of grace.”  But that’s not a good translation of Luke 1:28.

Jerome’s version sounds as though Mary is a repository of some spiritual substance called grace.  And if we believed that then we might seek deposits of “grace” from the blessed virgin.  Yet that is not right.

It is right to call her “The Blessed Virgin Mary”.  After all, Gabriel does:

“Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee:  blessed art thou among women.”  (Luke 1:28)

It is right to call her “Mary, the mother of God.”  She does indeed bear the Son who is “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  (Isaiah 9:6).

But it’s not right to call on her as some storehouse of heavenly blessing. Mary is not full of grace, she is graced by God – “highly favoured” as the KJV has it.  If we’re looking for a Storehouse of divine blessing we should look to the Child who she carries.  He is Grace Himself – the One in Whom is all heavenly blessing (Ephesians 1:3).

But the reason Christ can offer this grace to the world has everything to do with the virgin Mary.  You see Mary’s virginity is vital to Christ being full of grace for the world.

Mary’s virginity is triply underlined in Luke 1.  She is twice called a virgin before she is even named (Luke 1:27).  And when she’s told she is to carry the Christ-child she exclaims:  “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?”  (Luke 1:34)

The virgin birth is a non-negotiable of the Christian faith.  And this is not simply the assertion of a biblicist.  The logic of the gospel demands this supernatural conception.

You see, Mary’s child is not the result of human reproduction.  We did not produce the Messiah.  He was a pure gift:

“Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given.”  (Isaiah 9:6)

And this Gift from on high is something completely new.  This child is not the son of men – He is the Son of God!  He takes a full and perfect humanity from Mary.  But He is the true and eternal Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary (as the creeds say).

This is so important, because this world is full of the sons of men.  And that, really, is our problem.

Luke chapter 3 ends by running us through a potted history of humanity. From Christ back to Adam, Luke charts our family tree as a succession of men who give rise to more men.  But at the top of the tree we find something curious:

“Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.”  (Luke 3:38)

Everyone else has been described as the son of a man.  But in the history of the world there are two exceptions – one is Jesus, the other is Adam. When Adam was brought into existence, his family tree was just him and the Lord God who formed him.  He could be described as a son of God.

Think of him, standing alone in the garden of Eden:  All of humanity was in him.  Even Eve herself was in Adam and came out of Adam.  And between them came the whole world.

Therefore, when Adam fell, he took the human race with him.  And ever since, humanity has been born in Adam – born into his estrangement and sin.

So the last thing we need is a Messiah who simply belongs to that slow-march towards the grave.  What we really need is something new.  We need the original Son of God.  We need Him to come as the Second Adam, the Man from heaven.  We need Him to be born of a virgin to restart the human race in Himself.

And just as we were born into Adam’s old humanity, so through Christ we are born again into His new humanity.

As the carol says:  “Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.” (Hark the Herald!)

That’s the meaning of Christmas, and it’s the virgin birth that guarantees it.  So don’t Hail Mary as full of grace.  But thank God for her.  Through her came the Second Adam, who invites the whole world into His new humanity.  This is the fullness of grace that we all need.  And it’s the fullness of grace which Christmas brings.

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Matthew 1:18-25

Both Joseph and Mary were given strict instructions regarding the name of the Christ-child (Matthew 1:21; Luke 1:31).  Angels had to come – they moved heaven to earth! – just to tell them the vital importance of being “Jesus.” Think of all the advice these first-time parents might have received… “You’re bearing the Son of God, don’t drop Him!”  But nothing like that. The one thing they need to know is how to call Him, that is, how to think of Him, speak of Him, identify Him.

And what is His name?  Joseph is told:

“Thou shalt call his name JESUS:  for he shall save his people from their sins.”  (Matthew 1:21)

The name “Jesus” is the same as the name “Joshua”.  (It’s from the same Hebrew word, but translated into Greek and then Anglicized).  And just as Joshua led the people out of the wilderness and into the promised land, so Jesus would lead His people out of sin and into God’s presence.  The name “Joshua” (or “Jesus”) means “the LORD is salvation.”

So we learn three things from the naming of Jesus:

First, we learn what kind of LORD we worship.

Jesus reveals God Most High.  He is the way and the truth and the life, we only come to the Father through Him (John 14:6).  So we don’t simply learn about Christ’s nature when we study His name.  His name reveals the depths of the divine life.

Therefore, what does it mean to say that the LORD is salvation.   It means that His very nature is a saving movement towards us.  To know the LORD is to know Him in His gracious approach to sinners.  The heart-beat of God is rescue:  the LORD is salvation.

And who could deny this when we look to the baby Jesus.  From heaven to earth, from a throne to a manger, from King of the angels to man of sorrows.  Why?  Only to save.  His infinite riches are poured out in incarnation and crucifixion.  He becomes poor, just to make us paupers rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).  What is our God like?  The LORD is salvation.

Second, we learn what salvation is.  You see, the LORD is salvation.

Salvation is not a package of spiritual benefits which Jesus bestows.  It’s not the accumulation of heavenly things: forgiveness, a righteous status before God, eternal life, feelings of peace and purpose.  Jesus is not like a Prince riding along in his carriage and tossing bread to a pauper.  Jesus is far more like the Prince who gets out of his carriage, sets his love on the pauper and pledges himself to marry her.  He Himself is our redemption.

Salvation is not our receiving of heavenly stuff – it’s receiving the LORD Himself.  And in Him, we receive forgiveness, righteousness, eternal life, etc, etc.  What is salvation?  The question is who?  And the answer is:  The LORD Jesus!

Third, we learn about ourselves.  If the LORD is salvation then we must be lost.  And that is certainly what our verse describes.  The Christ-Child is called JESUS:  “for he shall save his people from their sins.”

Jesus does not come to save us from loneliness, or lack of purpose, or material poverty.  He comes in a very specific salvation – to save us from our sins.  Therefore this is our greatest need – a remedy for sin.

As Max Lucado has said:

“If our greatest need had been information,
God would have sent us an educator.
If our greatest need had been technology,
God would have sent us a scientist.
If our greatest need had been money,
God would have sent us an economist.
If our greatest need had been pleasure,
God would have sent us an entertainer.
But our greatest need was forgiveness,
so God sent us a Savior.”

Allow Jesus to define your greatest need.  It’s not your health, your finances, your job, your family, your relationship breakdowns.  There is a much bigger problem:  your sin.

But now, let Jesus “say unto your soul, ‘I am thy salvation.’” (Psalm 35:3). You are delivered from your real problem, and empowered to face all others.

Take a minute and allow Jesus to define for you…

… God

… salvation

… your sense of proportion in life.

1 John 1:1-2:2

Last year I went strolling along a Mauritian beach with my wife.  We bought tropical fruit from a roadside vendor, went for a swim and then lay down on a deckchair sipping a cold beer.  I said to Emma, “This is the life.”

When have you said that phrase?  “This is the life”?  You might not like hot holidays.  Maybe you’d rather go skiing with friends and then sit down by a roaring fire with a big hot chocolate, extra cream.  “This is the life.”

Or you go out and celebrate some success at your favourite restaurant with your favourite people. “This is the life” we say.

It’s funny how rarely we use that saying isn’t it?  We live for awfully long stretches of time without saying “this is the life”.  Apparently most of life isn’t “the life”.  Only very rarely is life the life.  We have to stop doing everything we’ve been doing and fly halfway around the world before our life starts to be the life.

Can that be right?  Is it the case that most of our lives aren’t really “the life”?  That would be a real shame wouldn’t it?

36 hours after I said:  “this is the life”, we were locked outside our house in the freezing rain, rummaging through our suitcases and concluding that our house-keys were somewhere on the continent of Australia. Was this still “the life?”  “The life” seemed far away at that point.

I think for most of us “the life” seems out of reach.

But the Apostle John wrote a letter (1 John) in which he spoke very differently about “the life.”  For John “the life” is not a time or a place.  “The life” is a person – a person who was there in the beginning.  A person with whom we now have fellowship.  Here are the first few verses of the letter:

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;  (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)”  (1 John 1:1-2)

This is the life.  Not a time or a place.  A person.  This is the life:  Jesus.  He was there in the beginning.  There with the Father.  He came in the middle, to live out “the life”.  And John had seen the life.  He had walked the dusty roads of Israel with the life.  And when John saw Jesus he said to Himself “this is the life.”  Jesus is the life.

Therefore John wants to tell the whole world about ‘the life’:

“That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us:  and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.”  (1 John 1:3-4)

John’s greatest joy is to pass on the life to us.  Therefore we can enjoy the life, not just when we’re sunbathing by the pool or having drinks with friends, but when we’re locked out of the house in the freezing rain, when we lose our jobs and our health and our friends, our family, even our own lives.  We can lose everything in life and still have the life.  Because we have Jesus:  the Author of Life, the Word of Life, the Meaning of Life.

What do you normally think of as ‘the life’?

The life we seek is usually self-indulgent.  The life of Jesus is self-giving.  The life we pursue is about sitting back and relaxing.  The life of Jesus is an outgoing life – from the Father to the disciples and out to the world.  Our kind of life is directed towards comfort, ease, distraction, entertainment.  Jesus’ kind of life is so much better – it’s a life of fellowship (with God and His people) and of joy.

“The world”, to use a phrase common in First John, gives a counterfeit vision of ‘the life’.  Perhaps today we need to re-orient ourselves to John’s vision.  As we turn our thoughts to another year, let’s not seek counterfeits. Jesus Himself is the life.  We need not weary ourselves with other visions that cannot satisfy.  We have Jesus, therefore in all of life we have ‘the life’.