Council Grove Christian Church

Servants of God,

“The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels;
they go down into the inner parts of the body.”
-Proverbs 18:8
“And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen,
 as it had been told them.”
-Luke 2:20

There I was in Menards with a couple of grandchildren standing…and staring, almost mesmerized by the large blue and spinning buttons on a giant inflatable Frosty the snowman. The thought that raced through my feeble mind was: Has it come to this? Is this supposed to claim our interest and cause us awe and wonder at Christmas time? The secularized culture we live in beckons us to settle for this.  As if, something like this should give us joy! 

Information comes. We live in an information age, we are told. We all receive a lot of information each day. Have you ever been given some information that just has to be shared? Think about the small child who knows a “secret” and how difficult it is for that little person to keep the information to him or herself. They are just brimming with desire to tell someone else. When some really good news comes into our possession it is difficult not to share it.

Not all information is good news. Sometimes we need to hold our tongue. How can you identify a person who loves to gossip? That type of person gets a dual thrill out of the information they receive. They are delighted to receive the news and cannot wait to pass it on. Gossip is not merely passing on information. It almost always involves passing on information that could potentially (and unnecessarily) damage another human being. Gossip makes our world a worse place. It is the practice of the person who disrespects others. There is a time to be self-controlled and very careful about sharing information. Be careful about sharing too much private or sensitive information with a person who is too eager to hear bad or scandalous news.

I have heard evangelism defined as “gossiping the gospel.” I think I understand the concept of eagerly sharing the good news, but I am not sure describing it as gossip is the best choice of words. So how should Christians respond to good news? Isn’t it appropriate to tell others? Of course it is.

When the shepherds received the news of the Messiah’s birth, they first went to Bethlehem to check out the angel’s announcement. Once they could authenticate the claim, they got busy giving God the credit for the marvelous event.
How much of that will you and I do this Advent and Christmas season? Will we make a habit of praising God for the birth of Jesus and all the good that has resulted from God’s willingness to send his only begotten son? Because the forces of darkness want to obscure the truth and to urge humanity to give attention to someone or some thing other than Jesus, our world is filled with jingle bells and lacking in the first Noel.

I am not a fan of Santa, Rudolph, the Grinch and Frosty. I think I know how Moses felt when he saw the golden calf his brother Aaron had substituted for the Lord who had just struck down the first-born of Egypt and parted the waters of the Red Sea. Surely, he must have wondered something like “Seriously, Aaron? You are offering that lame excuse for a god? That is supposed to substitute for the great and glorious I AM?” An inflatable plastic Frosty with buttons that spin, is a hollow substitute for the living God who took on human flesh and died on the cross.

As Christians, we have a wonderful opportunity to plead with our culture to put away the golden reindeer, er, I mean calf. We have the perfect opportunity to tell the truth about the meaning of the Christmas season. That good news, if received in faith can enter a human being and go down deeper than any morsel of gossip. When it reaches the heart, it can regenerate the dead and give consolation and hope to all who believe it. It is my prayer we can all hear the good news of the birth of a savior  afresh, verify it in our own hearts, and spread around as much as possible the gospel of Jesus Christ.
A very Merry Christmas to all of you,
Pastor John
Coram Deo