Wise Men Still Seek Jesus

  When Abraham Lincoln was born, his cousin, Dennis Hanks, 9 years old, was visiting.  Nancy let Dennis hold the baby and Abraham just cried and cried.  Dennis handed the crying baby back and said, “Aunt, take him, he’ll never come to much.”
How wrong could a person be.

  When Jesus, the Messiah, was born, there were at least three groups of people who responded differently to the coming of Jesus.

  Herod’s response was: “O come let us destroy Him.”  
“Herod gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under.”  Matthew 2:16
Herod feared that this Jesus would take his place as King.  The only answer he could come up with was to rid himself of this competition.  He tried to have Jesus killed.

  The Jews were ignorant as to the claims of Jesus because they refused to search the Scriptures. And when they did, their prejudices blinded them to seeing Jesus.  There the Messiah was before them and they deliberately ignored Him.  Their response was “O come let us ignore Him.” 
“He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”  John 1:11 

  See the wise men as they come seeking a Savior, so they could worship Him. “O come let us adore Him.”  “They bowed down and worshiped Him.”  Matthew 2:11  They expressed their devotion by giving Him gifts.

  What is our response to Jesus, who is the Messiah?

  Many people today wish Jesus was dead, so He wouldn’t threaten their way of living.

  Many people today just ignore he light of the world, Jesus.  They don’t hate Him or love Him, they just are indifferent toward Him.

  However, wise people today still seek Jesus to worship Him.  They give Him their lives as an expression of devotion.  We must worship Him in spirit and in truth. The star was God’s means of leading the wise men to His Son.  Our star is the Scriptures. Wise people seek God’s guidance through His Word.  One wise man said, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”     Psalm 119:105 
  Paul urged Timothy, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”    2 Timothy 2:15 
God’s word leads to Christ and, through Him, to God.

  Nelson, the great admiral, always treated his vanquished opponents with the greatest kindness and courtesy.  After one of his naval victories, the defeated admiral was brought aboard Nelson’s flagship, and on to Nelson’s quarter deck.  Knowing Nelson’s reputation for courtesy, he advanced across the quarter deck with hand outstretched, as if he was advancing to shake hands with an equal.  Nelson’s hand remained by his side.  Nelson said, “Your sword first and then your hand.”

  Before we can be friends of Jesus, we must submit to Him.  We must always meet Christ on terms of complete submission and complete surrender.  He must be King of Kings and Lord of Lords of our lives.                             May the Christ of Christmas be yours today and always.

God With Skin On

                 I want to share with you my favorite Christmas story. 

     A little girl had been tucked in bed one night after the family prayers.  It was a stormy night, the lightning flashed across the sky and thunder shook the house.  The youngster endured this as long as possible. Then, she scurried to the living room and threw herself into her mother’s arms exclaiming, “I am afraid.”  The mother quieted the child as she put her back to bed saying, “Remember, honey, God loves you and He will keep you safe.”
But, no sooner had the mother returned to the front room and seated herself comfortably, than the child appeared in the doorway crying, “Mommy, I’m still afraid.”  Mother put the child back to bed telling her, “Honey, you must stay in bed, you are perfectly safe, I told you that God loves you and He will take care of you.”  The little girl replied, “I know God loves me mommy, but, when it is thundering and lightning, I want someone with skin on to love me.”

      Jesus was God in human flesh.  He put skin on in order for us to know Him. 
What was God like as a baby?  Go to Bethlehem and stand by the cradle of the child, Jesus.   What was God like as a growing boy?  Go to the carpenter’s shop in Nazareth and see Jesus as He learns the carpenter’s trade from Joseph.   What was God like in temptation?  Go into the wilderness and share in the fierce attack of the devil upon Jesus.
What was God like in making decisions?  Go to Gethsemane and hear Him pray, “Not my will but your will be done.”    What was God like in suffering and dying?  Go to Calvary and see Jesus hanging upon that cross, dying for sinful humanity.    What was God like in victory?  Go to the empty tomb and hear the angel declare, “He is not here, He is risen, even as He said.”
 
      We can know what God is like.  He is like Jesus.  Only Jesus could say, “The Father and I are one.”…”When you have seen me, you have seen the Father.”

     May Christmas mean this to us, that the coming of Jesus is God’s unmistakable revelation of Himself to us.

                    “He became like us, so we could become like Him.”

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What is in a Name?

  My name is Max E Smith.  How I got that name, so I am told, is that my mother was hoping for a baby girl, but I came.  She had picked out the name, Maxine, for her girl.  Since I was a boy, she just shortened the name to Max E.  I have no middle name just the letter ‘E’.  Interesting how children are named.

  It was not up to Joseph and Mary to name their son. An angel told Joseph, “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”   Matthew 1:21 

  The name, Jesus, is the Greek form of the Jewish name, Joshua.  Joshua means “Jehovah is salvation.”  Jesus was born to save God’s people from their sins.  The whole purpose for His coming was to “seek and to save the lost. “  We find other names for Jesus in the Old Testament scriptures such as: “Emmanuel, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  Each reveals a particular trait expected in Jesus.  Jesus is the Greek word in the New Testament for the Hebrew word in the Old Testament “Messiah.”   This Jesus is the fulfillment of all Old Testament prophecies.

  I am stirred by the Bill Gaither song, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus; There is just something about that name.”
“Jesus, the mere mention of His name can calm the storm, heal the broken, raise the dead.
At the name of Jesus, I’ve seen sin hardened men melted, derelicts transformed, the light of hope put back in the eyes of a hopeless child. 
At the name of Jesus, hatred and bitterness turn to love and forgiveness, arguments cease.
I’ve heard a mother softly breathe His name at the bedside of a child delirious from fever, and I’ve watched that little body grow quiet and the fevered brow cool.
I’ve sat beside a dying saint, her body racked with pain,who in those final fleeting seconds summoned her last ounce of ebbing strength to speak earth’s sweetest name, Jesus, Jesus.

  Emperors have tried to destroy it, philosophies have tried to stamp it out.  Tyrants have tried to wash it from the face of the earth with the very blood of those who claimed it.  Yet still it stands.
And there shall be that final day when every voice that has ever uttered a sound–every voice of Adam’s race shall raise in one great mighty chorus to proclaim the name of Jesus–for in that day “every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

  Ah, so you see, it was not mere chance that caused the angel one night long ago to say to a virgin maiden, “His name shall be called Jesus.”   JESUS, JESUS, JESUS
You know, there is something about that name.”

  We may ask, “What’s in a name?”  There is everything in the name of Jesus. That name stands for the person of Jesus, the Christ, God’s Son. There is salvation in the name of Jesus. 
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there  is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”  Acts 4:12 

Jesus alone is unique in that He came from God and is able to tell us all about God. In Jesus, the distant, unknowable, invisible, unreachable God has come to earth.  Jesus is God with us and that’s Good News. Jesus is the greatest gift we could ever receive.  And that is what Christmas is all about.  Christmas is all about Jesus.             CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS BY CELBRATING JESUS

The Open Doors

  The beloved John, imprisoned on the isle of Patmos, convict island, the Alcatraz of his day. Here John spent all his time, never leaving the confines of this island.  John says very little about his imprisonment, but it could not help but have an effect upon him. Therefore, one wonders what reaction John had, when God spoke to him of open doors. John knew only shut doors.  Doors of opportunity and privilege, doors of happiness and friendship, doors of unlimited service for Jesus; these were all shut doors to John,  Yet, God speaks to him of open doors.
Even to write to the church about open doors was difficult for John to do, because the church was going through difficult periods of persecution. Christians were being imprisoned and put to death. Rome was ruling with an iron fist.  It would seem that in the midst of such darkness, it was no time to talk about open doors.  Yet, this is the directive of God to John.

  We hear much about closing doors.  Doors shutting because of racial tension, rising nationalism, political religious forces and isms of all kind. Yet, God speaks of doors which He opens and no man can shut.
It is high time that we stop this deadly talk about closed doors.  It is time we listened to God and not to our defeated hearts.  Look at these open doors as shown to us in the Book of Revelation.

I-Open door of Revelation
Revelation 4:1 “After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”
God wants to be known.   God offers to every person the door which leads to the knowledge of Himself.  We see God in all that He has made. Most of all, we see God as He is revealed to us through His Son, Jesus as recorded for us in the Bible.  We need to return to the Book. The Bible is not a closed book, unless by our indifference and neglect, we leave it shut. The door of revelation of God is an open door.  The Bible is the adequate piece of the mind of God.  We can know God.

II-Open door of intimate fellowship with Christ
Revelation 3:20 “Here I am. I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me.” 
At the door of every heart, there comes the knock of the nail pierced hand.  He wants to come in. However, He recognizes the right of each person to open the heart’s door or keep it shut.  It is as the occupant pleases. Christ will not force entrance into our hearts. The answer to every need is before the door of the heart, in Christ. But, we have to let Him in. If we do, the past will be forgiven, the present changed and the future made glorious.  “What a fellowship, what a joy divine.”

III-Open door of opportunity
Revelation 3:8  “I know your deeds.  See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut, I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”   
What a beautiful witness, the Christians were to the world in which they lived.  The glorious message of Jesus was spread by word and deed to people everywhere. Their faithfulness, to their God, was evident to all.

  It is not the doors that are shut. It is our minds, our hearts, our eyes that are closed.
There was a door closed in Jerusalem one day, a door closed by fear. Jesus had been crucified and His disciples huddled behind a locked door in an upper room, defeated.  But, no door can stay shut to the Lord.  John writes, “”Though the doors were locked. Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”  John 20:26  Not even fear can hold Jesus out of our hearts and task, if we will commit ourselves unto Him.
The doors are open,  The issue is, what are we going to do about these open doors?  They stay open only as we use them.   Our God is able.  Will we make use of God’s open doors? 

This Old House

  Someone has said, “Time flies when you are having fun.”  Let me tell you, that time flies whether you are having fun or not.  Days, months, years just rush by.  James tells us that “You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”  James 4:14   My favorite statement about age is, “Age is a matter of the mind, if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”  Edward Tuck said this about age, “Age is a quality of the mind. If you have left your dreams behind, if hope is cold, if you no longer look ahead, if your ambition’s fires are dead, then you are old.”

  There is such a lack of understanding concerning aging. There are those who have a difficult time with living and dying because they have no understanding of the origin, purpose and destiny of life.  To many people, life is basically selfish.  They just milk out of living all they can, as long as it gratifies their physical senses.  But, life is more than the physical.     :

This poem says it well.  “This Old House”
You tell me I am getting old, I tell you that’s not so.
The ‘house’ I live in is worn out and that, of course, I know.
It’s been in use a long, long while; It’s weathered many a gale.
I’m really not surprised you think it’s getting somewhat frail.
The color is changing on the roof, the windows getting dim.
The walls a bit transparent and looking rather thin,.
The foundation not so steady as once it used to be.
My ‘house’ is getting shaky, but my ‘house’ isn’t me.
My few short years can’t make me old, I feel I’m in my youth.
Eternity lies just ahead, a life of joy and truth.
I’m going to live forever there. Life will go on, it’s grand.
You tell me I am getting old?  You just don’t understand.
The dweller in my little ‘house’ is young and bright and gay.
Just starting on a life to last throughout eternal day.
You only see the outside, which is all that most folks see.
You tell me I am getting old?  You’ve mixed my ‘house’ with me.” 

  Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes writes about this ‘old house’ meaning this physical body.  He tried to find the highest good for living in fleshly pleasure, earthly wisdom and material wealth.  He tried wine, women and song. But, all he tried ended up in meaninglessness. He was not a happy, fulfilled man.  He was not a holy man but a hollow man. And as long as he looked for meaning “under the sun”, “under heaven” meaning this earth, this world, this physical body, he came up empty. 

  Solomon has told it all. He has been honest with his life’s story.  He found life here upon this earth meaningless.  Life is not a bowl of cherries.  It sometimes is the pits. Life is a challenge.  Life is sickness and terminal illness. Life is uncertain.  Life is deterioration and disappointment. So, be mindful of Solomon’s conclusion for living in this frail, imperfect world, “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”   Ecclesiastes 12:13        There you have the sum and substance of life. 

  None of us can find true happiness, contentment, meaning, without a right relationship with God. We are created by God and for God and to deny that is to make the greatest mistake possible. The search for meaning has to begin and end with God in Jesus Christ.  No matter your age.  No matter how the years have battered “this old house.”  Now, is the time for all of us to build our faith on the solid rock, Jesus Christ.