The Birthday of a King!

‘And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.  And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” –Luke 2:6-7 (ESV).

Now the birth of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords was on this manner:

Because there was no room in Bethlehen Inn, Mary with her husband Joseph were lodged in a stable.

This humble resting place may have been, we are told, a lime-stone cave in a hillside near the inn where animals were kept from the elements and where they rested after grazing all day.  Or it may have been, others say, the place where the people who were actually lodging in the inn stabled their animals while they were in the town. This would have been a room or area perhaps below the inn at ground level that was the room for animals.  We are told that the Jews, being very fastidious, cleaned the stable area every day.  Still, this was an unlikely place for the birth of anyone, let alone the King of Glory, the Lord of Lords, the Savior of the world, the Messiah.

And so it came to pass that the place of his birth was a stable.  The first resting place for the newborn King was a manger—a feeding tough.  We are not told, but we can imagine Joseph quickly cleaned any residue of animal food from the manger tray and laid it with soft, fresh hay.  That would have made a fragrant-smelling crib to receive the Babe, wrapped in swaddling cloths that no doubt His mother, anticipating His birth while they were in Bethlehem, had brought from Nazareth with her.  What does the manger point out for us?  It bespeaks the poverty, humility and humanity of Jesus.  The poverty:  “no crib for a bed”  we sing the words from “Away in a Manger.”  Of lowly parents and of lowly beginnings, even His birth identified Him with one who told His disciples later that He “had no place to lay His head.”  But there, on the night of His birth, His head was cradled on the hay.  His birthplace speaks of humility—Immanuel, God with us, was among the lowliest—born where a servant might have been born.  Paul wrote about this humility in Philippians 2:6-7:  “Who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”  And as to the humanity of the Babe, He could cry, He felt heat and cold, He was subject in His body to all the feelings, emotions and needs of any human, although God.  He was both wholly human; wholly divine.  Later we would be told of Him:  “He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin”(Hebrews 4:15)  The human side of Him would know that dimension.

Jeremiah wrote:  “I will raise up…a King who will reign wisely” (Jeremiah 23:5).  Song writer and musician William Harold Neidlinger gave us both words and music to the carol “The Birthday of a King”:

“In the little village of Bethlehem, There lay a child one day,

And the sky was bright with a holy light O’er the place where Jesus lay.

Aleluia!  O How the angels sang.  Aleluia!  How it rang!

And the sky was bright with a holy light,

’Twas the birthday of a King.

Prayer.  Today, as we celebrate the King’s birthday, let us allow the depth of truth of this blessed event draw us closer to Him.  May we adore and serve Him in true allegiance to the King of Kings.  Amen.

Break Forth into a New Song!

“Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth!  Sing to the Lord, bless His name; tell of His salvation from day to day.  Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!  . Splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.  Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!  Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering and come into his courts!  Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before Him all the earth!  Say among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns!  Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; He will judge the peoples with equity.” Psalm 96: 1-3; 6-10  (ESV).

With great exuberance the writer of Psalm 96 invites readers (and hearers, for this is a hymn-psalm used in worship) to sing a new song unto the Lord.  On worship days believers still meet in many congregations throughout the world, wherever the Word of the Lord is proclaimed.  A usual part of worship is singing songs of praise to God—Creator, Sustainer, Father, Savior.  This psalm invites worship in new and adoring ways and in recognition of God’s omnipotence.  We sometimes recoil as “new songs” are introduced into our orders of worship in churches.  We like the old, the familiar.  We are often resistant to change and dubious when hymns which we may not have heard before are introduced into worship.   Yet God’s Word commands us in many places, not just in Psalm 96:1, to “sing to the Lord a new song’—and that admonition is extensive, including “all the earth.”

One of the check-points I do almost every Sunday is to read from the hymnal who wrote the words and composed the music of the hymns and spiritual songs we sing.  I recognize these contributors to our worship and thank God for the talents they employed to add to our experiences of worship.  I think, when our talented keyboardists (organist, pianist, other instrumentalists) play the prelude, postlude or offertory, how many people have contributed to this phase of our worship.  Those who are the faithful presenters of the music are offering their dedication in years of study and preparation to play flawlessly and worshipfully their sacrifice of praise.  They, in turn, owe gratitude to the teachers who taught them fundamentals of music and how to be facile in the execution of a piece of music set before them.  Beyond the pieces of music are the composers, likewise whose talent was a gift from God, and whose inspiration and writing of the piece was God-initiated.  Apply these same points of talent, inspiration, study and production of the music to each hymn we sing, each song that inspires us and we have a virtual army of people who are offering up a sacrifice of praise to the Lord God.  Is it any wonder that the English Standard Version of the focal passage verses today use exclamation marks to denote the exuberance and wonder of this whole process of bringing “a new song” before the Lord in worship?  What a wonder it is, indeed!  We are not alone in offering up new songs to the Lord, our Redeemer!

As we gather for praise, worship, adoration and proclamation, may we picture peoples from all nations and tongues raising a mighty chorus of praise to God.  We are in the midst of that great throng!  This is prelude of a future promised time and place when “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (see Isaiah 45:23, Romans 14:11, Philippians 2:10).  I choose from Psalm 33 verses that reiterate the joyous experience of praise:

                “Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!

                                Praise befits the upright.

                Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;

                                Make melody to Him with the harp of ten strings!

                Sing to Him a new song;

                                Play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts…(Ps. 33:1-3)

                The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord! (Ps. 33:5b) [From ESV]  Amen!

Be Still Before God

“Be still and know that I am God:  I will be exalted among the heathen; I will be exalted in the ear

-Psalm 46:10 (KJV)

Meister Eckhart stated, “There is nothing in all creation so like God as stillness.”  The stately truths of Psalm 46 begin:  “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea” (Psalm 46:1-2, KJV).

Throughout history God’s people have been admonished by spiritual leaders and the Word of God Himself to “Be still and know that I am God.  The Word of God tells us “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:11-12).  The time will come when everyone—believer and unbeliever—will bow and confess the Lord of glory.  If you doubt this truth, see a good concordance of the Bible and note the several places this truth is stated.

I want to be counted in that number who bow voluntarily and not among the agnostics and atheists, who, because of the hardness of their hearts, do not acknowledge God this side of eternity, and therefore (too late, too late!) will bow and declare and exalt His name.

We live in a fast-paced age.  Noise and clamor are on every hand.  Many entities vie for out attention.  Amidst it all comes a still small voice through the din and uproar of a world turned aside from God and His priorities.  That whisper is from the Holy Spirit, God with us, urging each person:  “Be sill…be still and know that I am God.” 

This morning as I was praying, studying and writing devotionals ahead, as I sometimes do, I received the news that my brother-in-law, Wade, had gone to be with the Lord in his sleep.  He had lived a full and, although sometimes hard, a good life, one in which he had served his fellowman as an expert builder/carpenter, had been a hero in General Patton’s army in World War II, had reared a good family of three Christian children, and had taken excellent care of his late wife who had been ill for a number of years.  In recent months, in his sometimes confusion, he had begged his children to take him home, not recognizing his own home as the place of his residence.  He was ready for the move from earth to heaven, and in the stillness of the night in his sleep on June 22, 2012 he made the transition from earth to heaven.  How beautiful to think that God said to him, “Come home, Wade.”  In stillness and in acknowledgement of God He works for good to them who love Him.  To God be the glory!

(Note:  This devotional, in slightly modified form, was published in Mountain Meditations, a compilation of devotionals by House of Prayer Church, Blairsville, GA, produced by Morris Printing, Kearney, NE, 2007, p. 207.

Used by permission, with addition of the last paragraph, written 06.22, 2012. –EDJ)

Timothy, an Example of a Service-centered Life

“I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon so that I too may be cheered by news of you.  For I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.  For they all seek their own interests not those of Jesus Christ.  But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.  I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.” –Philippians 2:19-24 (ESV).

“I have no one like him,” wrote Paul of the younger preacher Timothy as he planned to send him on a journey to the church at Philippi.  What a commendation coming from his teacher and mentor whom Timothy considered as a father and Paul, in turn, termed Timothy his ‘son in the gospel.’  Scholars generally agree that the letter to the church at Philippi was written about 62 A. D. when Paul was a prisoner in Rome.  The salutation of the letter says it is from “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus’ (1:1).  As we learned in the study of Acts, Paul, though imprisoned, was in his own ‘hired house,’ and even though guarded by a Roman soldier from the Praetorian Guard, he could have visitors.  Timothy was with him when he wrote the letter to the church at Philippi and was to be sent shortly by Paul, probably to bear the letter, and certainly to encourage and teach the Philippian Christians.  In the letter, Paul is optimistic and thankful, even from prison, stating: “”I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.  And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.” (Phil. 1:12-14). Observing this attitude in Paul, his mentor, it follows that Timothy would have been greatly influenced by his optimism.  Paul had heard from Epaphroditus when he took a love offering to Paul from the church that there was some division in the fellowship.  Paul was interested to know how the church at Philippi fared, and was sending Timothy to them.  Timothy had a genuine concern for the people’s welfare, what we sometimes call ‘a pastor’s heart.’  Until Paul himself could be freed from prison with the possibility of visiting the church at Philippi again, he was sending Timothy as Christ’s representative.

What we know of Timothy we learn from Acts and from several of Paul’s letters.  He was instructed as a child by his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois.  He was born in Lystra of a Jewish mother and a Greek father.  He was converted to Christianity on Paul’s first missionary journey (Acts 14:6-23) and was referred to several times as Paul’s ‘child in the faith’ (1 Cor. 4:17; 1 Tim. 1:2; 2 Tim. 1:2).  Of the thirteen letters written by Paul in the New Testament, seven of them have both Paul and Timothy listed as authors in the salutation:  2 Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, I and 2 Thessalonians and Philemon. In addition, Paul wrote two letters to Timothy.  I Timothy was written to him when he was at Ephesus serving as pastor of that church.  He encouraged Timothy to “know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth” (I Tim. 3:15).  In the second letter to Timothy, Paul urges his protégé to minister in the spirit, “not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tim. 1:7) and to never “be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord” (1:8).  Paul asked Timothy to visit him in prison, to come before winter and bring his winter coat, and to brings scrolls and parchments so Paul could study (see 2 Tim. 1:4, 4:13, 21). Hebrews 13:23 speaks of Timothy’s imprisonment and release.  To have an older, dedicated mentor is a good experience for a younger Christian.  Paul’s ‘son in the gospel,’ Timothy, had a good example to follow and he proved himself faithful.  To God be the glory.

Cultivate Humility

“The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.” –Proverbs 22:4 (ESV) “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”-Philippians 2:3 (ESV). “Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, ‘He yearns jealously over the spirit that He has made to dwell in us?’ But He gives more grace. Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’” –James 4:5-6 (ESV).Humility is a personal characteristic that is often sadly lacking in modern day society. Sometimes, to define a word, we must state the opposite of what it means. Humility is seen in those who are not arrogant, not proud, not puffed up. Humility is meekness, not thinking of oneself as better than others.

Both the Old and New Testaments teach the value of humility. In Psalm 51:17 and Micah 6:8 we learn that God desires even more than sacrifices, that the worshiper have an humble spirit. We usually think of an humble person as lowly, not with riches or fame, yet Proverbs 22:4 states that “the reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.” Kings were reminded to be humble so that God could exalt them. In Jesus Christ, we have the epitome of humility. Jesus invited all his followers to come to Him and, like Him, to follow humility: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is lightl." (Matthew 11:28-30).

Early in my husband’s ministry, I had a very good example of humility in action, in a lady in our church who was humility personified. Soon after we moved to that church Mrs. Pearl asked me to go with her on a mission to someone ill whom we needed to visit. Pearl had told me in advance that one of the women’s groups at the church was caring for a sick, needy lady, and my pre-assigned job for this mission was to make some homemade chicken soup. Pearl drove us to a run-down, shabby area of the neighborhood and stopped at a very poor house. When we went in, I was introduced to the patient, a very thin, emaciated lady lying on a not-too-comfortable looking bed. After introducing me, Pearl then went into action, directing me in a firm but gentle way of what needed to be done. She would bathe the patient and change her bed while I was to clean the two room house as best I could. (Yes, Pearl had brought all the cleaning equipment we needed which we had unloaded from her car, including rubber gloves for both of us while we did our work). After a while of very hard work, we had our patient clean, settled into a clean bed, in a straightened up and much cleaner house. I found out that Pearl did this mission of mercy every week, and had lined up other women to help care for the patient on a rotating basis, so that she would have fresh food and visits from someone every day of the week. A task? Yes. But leading the way by example was Pearl, one who presided well and with dignity over the Woman’s Missionary Union Associational meeting, and could hold her own in almost any discussion or meeting. But she had a servant heart, the humility and love to help one of the very lowliest and neediest persons in our community. I remember with gratitude the example Mrs. Pearl set for me. She was living out the scripture, “He gives more grace.” She wanted no praise for the good deeds she did for the poor, sick woman in our community who needed help so badly. There was a need and Mrs. Pearl was willing to lead out in fulfilling that need. Her acts of compassion drew no attention to herself. She saw and acted upon needs. She exemplified humility in action. What can you do for others in the spirit of humility?