Advent DAY 22 Who Is This That Is Born In Bethlehem

I John 4:13-15 (NIV) ¹³ This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.

Jesus lived by the conviction that He was the Son of God, and He died for this conviction when He refused to deny it. He was born the Son of God, born of a woman and the Spirit, a person who gave perfect obedience to God. As a boy He was in the Temple seeking to do what God wanted of Him. At His baptism He offered His life to God. Jesus Christ lived and died in continuous, unfailing acceptance of the will of God.

This unique relationship gave Jesus Christ a unique authority, so that when He spoke people heard His words as the very words of God. This unique relationship gave Jesus Christ power to still a storm, to heal the sick, to cast out demons. The unique relationship gave Jesus Christ knowledge of God.  But it is simply because Jesus Christ is Son of God that He is meant to receive our faith and life. Jesus Christ is not worthy of our praise because of what He did, but rather because of who He is.

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the rules of the peoples’ relationship to God had become more the object of their faith rather than God. Because they trusted more in God’s rules than in God Himself, they failed to recognize who Jesus was. And still, for too long, people have been hit with rules and requirements of the Christian life before being introduced to Jesus Christ in order to establish a relationship with Him first. Just as there are “rules” and expectations in all relationships, especially marriage, these are not the object, the goal, the purpose of the relationship. The point is that we need to get involved with the person of Jesus Christ before we get bogged down in the rules and responsibilities of the Christian life. While at times the Christian life is hard and tedious, and the requirements are sometimes demanding, as we live with Jesus Christ and trust Him, we discover it is worth it.

Our commitment is to the person of Jesus Christ before it is a commitment to any kind of good behavior. The goal of our faith is Jesus Christ, but the result of that faith is a desire to live a life that is pleasing to Him. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope December 6, 1970

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles