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Announcing the birth... ::
One of our collection of as-yet unpublished Christmas resources.
This is written by LUKE TATTERSALL and first used Christmas 1996
Source: Author – unpublished in Perspective
ANNOUNCING THE BIRTH
When our first daughter Lauren was born we thought that we were well prepared parents. We thought we had everything ready for the trip to the HOSPITAL.
It wasn’t until after Lauren was born that we realised we had forgotten something VERY IMPORTANT. We had forgotten to take the CHANGE with us to make the NECESSARY PHONE CALLS.
When a child is born there are a lot of people that you need to TELL – that is why they have lots of PAY PHONE near the MATERNITY WARD in hospitals. We had a LIST OF PEOPLE all ready worked out.
And I have figured out that there is a PECKING ORDER when it comes to WHO YOU CALL. The PHONE CALLS are made on an ORDER OF IMPORTANCE. You have to ring the GRANDPARENTS of the new arrival first. Then come other family members – your brothers and sisters. Then come the FRIENDS.
The ORDER is all important. You have to tell the MOST IMPORTANT people FIRST and then it works on a kind of is a SLIDING SCALE until you run out of change for the phone.
If someone you know has a BABY and you hear the news by reading it in the paper or by hearing from someone who heard the news from someone else then you can feel pretty confidant you were not on the list while the change was still in hand.
TELLING THE SHEPHERDS
Now if ORDER is ALL IMPORTANT when it comes to telling people about the BIRTH of a BABY then the BIRTH OF JESUS is a VERY STRANGE INCIDENT.
Who were the FIRST PEOPLE to hear about the birth of Jesus? Who were the first to hear the news about the BIRTH OF GOD’S SON? The KING OF THE WORLD has been born and who gets to hear about it FIRST?
Well strangely enough it was a BUNCH OF SMELLY SHEPHERDS. They weren’t RELATED to Jesus. They didn’t know his family.
But God sent the HEAVENLY CHOIR on a BRIEF TOUR to earth to ANNOUNCE the birth of HIS SON. And the angels went and SANG to a bunch of SHEPHERDS.
THE UPSIDE DOWN KINGDOM
Seems like a very UP-SIDE-DOWN way of doing things.
But that wasn’t the ONLY UP-SIDE-DOWN thing about the Kingdom that Jesus came to bring in.
If Jesus was the KING then he certainly didn’t LOOK like it while he was GROWING UP. He was the SON of a CARPENTER – a NOBLE PROFESSION – but not what you’d expect a KING to be doing.
He grew up in a LESS than FASHIONABLE TOWN called NAZARETH – it was kind of the DAPTO of the MIDDLE EAST. It was the town that everyone used to make JOKES about.
And what about those he had as his ASSISTANTS. He had 12 disciples who were with him for about 3 years – but they were hardly anything to BOAST about according to the standards of the world. They certainly weren’t the HIGH FLYERS or the IMPORTANT PEOPLE of the day. They were FISHERMEN and TAX COLLECTORS.
And then there were the people that he MIXED – all the OUTCASTS and DEAD BEATS of society – what the Bible calls the PROSTITUTES, TAX COLLECTORS and SINNERS.
But throughout his life, Jesus kept talking about the Kingdom that he had come to bring in. He kept saying that HE was the KING and that THROUGH HIM people could be FRIENDS WITH GOD.
WINNING BY LOOSING
But BY FAR the MOST UP-SIDE-DOWN thing about Jesus’ KINGDOM is that he WINS by LOOSING.
Who would have thought that DYING ON A CROSS would be a fitting way for a KING to WIN his most IMPORTANT BATTLE – but that is what Jesus did.
He told his followers that his MOST IMPORTANT TASK he would DO as KING would be to go to Jerusalem, be REJECTED by his own people and DIE on the CROSS.
Normally a you would EXPECT a KING – especially a King who was ALSO the Son of God – to do something a little more IMPRESSIVE than DIE ON A CROSS.
But for all the DOUBTS that people may have had about Jesus he was able to BACK UP his claim that he was the KING and the SON OF GOD.
Lives were CHANGED by this man. The BLIND were given their SIGHT. The DEAF were made to HEAR. He was able to RAISE PEOPLE from the DEAD. And to CAP IT ALL OFF he himself came back from the dead.
He may not have LOOKED the part of the KING. Much that he SAID and DID may have led people to QUESTION his claim to be KING.
But Jesus PROVED himself to be the KING – the SON OF GOD who had come into the world. And he had come for a PURPOSE – he had come to make it POSSIBLY for us to KNOW GOD.
Jesus says that ANYONE who ACKNOWLEDGES HIM as KING – those who are willing to PUT THEIR TRUST in him – can enter into FRIENDSHIP with God.
In fact the Bible says that it is MORE than just FRIENDSHIP – we can become PART of God’s family. Listen to what the Bible says about Jesus coming into the world:
HE WAS IN THE WORLD, AND THOUGH THE WORLD WAS MADE THROUGH HIM, THE WORLD DID NOT RECOGNISE HIM. HE CAME TO THAT WHICH WAS HIS OWN, BUT HIS OWN DID NOT RECEIVE HIM. YET TO ALL WHO RECEIVED HIM, TO THOSE THAT BELIEVED IN HIS NAME, HE GAVE THEM THE RIGHT TO BECOME THE CHILDREN OF GOD. (John 1:10-12)
CHRISTMAS
Well that is what we remember at Christmas. We remember the KINGDOM that in SO MANY WAYS seems to be UP-SIDE -DOWN.
The KING and SON OF GOD who was born in a SHED. The King who WINS by LOOSING.
I hope that tomorrow is a WONDERFUL DAY for you and your family. But most of all I hope that tomorrow is a day when you REMEMBER what it is we are celebrating – the BIRTH of the KING – the one who make you right with God – who can make you a CHILD of God if you are ready to TRUST HIM.
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