It’s A Wonderful Life—Now Show Me The Father
Show Us The Father: It’s A Wonderful Life.
Call it social solidarity, call it collective effervescence, call it seasonal religious ritual, whatever you call it, it’s the most wonderful time of the year, it’s Christmas. Filled with days after days of cooking favorite foods; parties, gift wrapping and opening gifts, and visits to Santa Claus. Watching for Santa as he drives atop the local fire truck and tours the neighborhoods. Caroler’s singing Christmas carols. Loved ones hanging stockings. Watching Christmas movies and listening to Christmas music. Christmas pageants, and attending Church services. Pictures taken of families and friends enjoying the season. So many lovely moments of joy and peace on earth.
Why do these days matter? Why do we look forward to them with such anticipation and often, for some, great trepidation? Yes—these days do bring us together in an affirmation of shared values. Yes—these days help us identify (and identify with) the virtues that bind us together as a community of love. Yes—the events of the season undergird us with the importance of togetherness, family, and friendships. Yes—these days strengthen our social ties. It’s the magic of Christmas. It’s a collective consciousness which can also easily become a very secular spiritual exercise if we forget and reject the true reason for the season.
What is it really all about?
As Charlie Brown shouted out in desperation, “Isn’t there anyone out there who can tell me what Christmas is really all about?”
Dear Charlie Brown,
It’s about a timeless event, a multi-millennial earthly multitude of a heavenly-like host of earth angels singing, and celebrating, about the coming of the truest gift and the most true gift-giver. It’s about the birth of our God as one of us, among us.
Show us the father:
Read John 14:8-21
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
Will it?
Is Jesus enough?
Is the God who hates sin and loves his creation enough to take that sin upon himself the reason you’re celebrating Christmas? Is that the wonderful life you’ve spent days and days preparing for?
Q: Why was Jesus’ timely birth so crucial? A: Because of the Father (our Creator), who was living and working in him. It’s that simple.
Not mere emotional expression. Nothing a secular sequence of seasonal social services can reproduce. Jesus spoke of the reciprocal relationship between the believers and himself. Just as he loved the Father and was loved by him, so there is mutual love between himself and the believers in Him. And that love relationship comes with the positive promise of a Comforter to come and live within us as a mutual indwelling of the Father’s Spirit. And a negative promise that nonbelievers could have no cognizance of him. For many Jesus is not enough. More is needed. Jesus was a mere man; He could not be the Son of God. Perhaps He was “a son of God” in the sense that He was the best man who ever lived, but no more. Such people walk through life being blind to the great love of God.
John 14:24–“Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching.”
So what!—Why is it such a wonderful life?
When you believe by faith that Jesus is God Incarnate you can do greater works than He did on this earth. Especially since the world seems to be getting uglier, more sinful, deadlier, and pain suffering is found everywhere.
How so? You may ask.
Take a look in the gospels—and note the times that large crowds would begin to gather around Jesus following his amazing healing and life restoring miracles. He’d perform some supernatural proof of divine powers and the next thing you know multitudes of spiritually hungry hordes and hangers on would flock to him. What then would Jesus typically do? Would he wave his arms and heal everyone in sight? Would money pour out of the heavens to enrich the widows and the poor? Would the onlooking Roman soldiers weapons melt into flowers? Did the Pharisees lofty religious robes transform into beggars rags? The answer of course is no. So what then did typically happen? Jesus typically preached a sermon, or shared a story meant to explain some hard truth. Typically telling the crowds what following Him would cost them. Yes, Jesus did many great things, but they were done to validate that He was God and God was working through the Son. What followed was greater, it was sharing the truth. If you read the book of Acts and the Epistles you find those greater things. You find multitudes of message moments. You’ll find the sharing of the gospel with someone, so that they might be saved and know the Father.
Greater Things:
If God uses us to heal someone by praying for them, that’s great…all glory to God, but to have someone healed while still rejecting the gospel means they’ll only live a healthier life on their way to hell. What is greater than rescuing a person who would otherwise perish apart from Christ? Does your Christmas celebration help unbelievers to know Christ?
Jesus said—“Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live" (John 11:25b).
I think the Apostle Paul really nailed it when he commented on the value of the Spiritual Gifts; “I would rather you teach me how to use the Word of God to save someone." The tongue, being among the smallest members of the body, can bring about the best…like in unashamedly proclaiming the gospel, which has the power of God to save (Romans 1:18; 1 Corinthians 1:1). Christmas isn’t an offense, it’s not a “holiday” among many others, it’s not a seasonal pagan feast, it’s an opportunity to be like Jesus and share the good news. And you can’t share that good news about the wonderful life-giver giving himself if you’ve decorated the season to fit just about any spiritual window dressing that suits you.
In Conclusion:
As you examine the book of Acts and the Epistles, one thing quickly becomes evident. The supernatural miracles and outcomes based faith growing begins to take a backseat to the sharing of the gospel truth. It becomes clear that the most wonderful time of the year is when the greatest miracle becomes our conversion. A person once dead in their sins and held captive by the enemy is now quickened to life (Ephesians 2:1-2).
Prayer for faith:
Spirit of Truth, by your grace and mercy, enlighten the minds of unbelievers in the midst of us. Help them to incline their hearts to love your word, and to believe the teachings of The Church. Give them the courage to accept the faith and openly profess it; that they may come into union with The Father, and The Son, and The Holy Spirit—through and in Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.