What Christmas Teaches us about Life

Sermon by Domenic Marbaniang, December 18, 2008
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

THE SERIOUSNESS OF LIFE

God would not have become man if He didn't look at life seriously.

The little life that is lived on this planet has eternal ramifications. It is not just about living it here as an old movie song says "Jeena yahan, marna yahan, iske siva jana kaya" - "We're going to live here, die here; apart from this, is there anywhere else to go". Or what the dramatist said in the Tempest about this small little life "rounded by a sleep". That is an Epicurean and Hedonist world-view, a materialistic one. They look at just living the life at present and only enjoying its surface surfs and foams instead of plunging into the eternal depths of its significance.

There is a story of few soldiers on a trip somewhere who loitered around and ended in a pub . After being boozed up to the extent that they swaggered while they tried to get out, they met their general outside. One of the soldiers looked up and asked him (not recognizing him) "Hey bloke, can you tell us where we are" At which the general was thoroughly offended and retorted back "Do you guys know who I am?" This appalled one of the soldiers who blurted out in horror: "We guys are in a real mess now for we do not know where we are and he doesn't know who he is"! The intoxication with the present does blurr our power of right thinking.

One can't just go about without looking at life seriously. There are some who catch up the saying "Life is an ice-cream; enjoy it before it melts". That is a position of irresponsibility and recklessness. The Greek philosopher Socrates said it well that "the unexamined life is not worth living". We need to know why we are here and where we are headed to and what this is all about. That is one reason why the Bible doesn't encourage very much the spirit of jesting (Ephesians5:4) and considers it better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of celebration (Ecclesiastes 7:2). This doesn't mean that life is a gloomy thing. It only means that one must always bear in mind that this life is not an end in itself and that it is a serious walk towards an infinite end (either with God or without Him).

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF LIFE

By His incarnation, Jesus showed that life is significant. It is very important.
There are some who pose questions like "why is there something rather than nothing" and "why did God create this world of problems" or even "why did He create that tree in the garden", etc. The overall answer to all this is that it is so because God considers it to be important and significant and real significance is not a matter of our thinking but a matter of God's thinking. Now, there is a difference between "necessity" and "significance". Was it "necessary" for God to create this world. Obviously, not. He didn't "need" it because He is self-sufficient. But it had a great "significance" for Him for if it was not so Jesus would never have need to become eternally a Man.

There are many things that can be spoken in this regard but space won't permit it. Look for example the beautiful wings of the butterfly, the art of the weaver bird, the care of the sparrows, the agility of the hind, and the the swiftness of the eagle. They talk of perfect design and excellence of art. I can't even imagine that science will ever be able to manufacture anything like a mosquito (tiny and yet complicated) - even if it did the cost of one would be enormous!! Yet, Jesus said that we are more valuable than the sparrows and the hairs of our head are numbered. Do we look at our lives with that importance with which Jesus looks at us?

THE SUBLIMITY OF LIFE

There is an honor and dignity attached to life that comes from God.

We are created in the image of God and in His likeness. The Bible says that God has crowned us with glory. The point behind the Sermon on the Mount is simply that "don't treat anybody with disrespect and do not let anyone make you feel that you are unrespectible before God."

It is sin that separated man from God and made us ignoble, miserable, weak, dejected, sick, and confused. But Jesus came down to this earth when we could not reach up to Him; He took the weak as we were by His hands, took us out of this miry clay and placed us on a rock. He attached dignity to our lives but did that at a cost. The cost was not just His incarnation in which He had to empty Himself of all those divine privileges but also involved the shame of the cross. He endured the shame to give us the joy of a dignified life in the presence of God. He was despised of men and rejected but through this rejection we have found acceptance in the presence of God. Do we live our lives worthy of this dignity with which He treats us?

THE SACREDNESS OF LIFE

Through His incarnation Jesus sanctified the flesh for divine service and prostration.

We are the temple of God and the way was made clear through the flesh of Jesus. All who believe in Him are a new creation.

Obviously, all life belongs to God and is in that sense sacred. But men in their sinfulness have tried to break away from God and desacralize life through a process called godless secularization. They are throwing out the True God out of every human sphere, even religion. Polytheism, monism, pantheism, and such ideologies are in reality atheistic because they throw the real God out of picture and bring in false substitutions. But to those who accept Him as Lord of their lives, He gives the Holy Spirit, the Indweller who gives us access to the Father and makes us a habitation of God.
He dwelt among us; now He dwells in us - It is a sacred experience that we have - something that we should never get just "used to" or take it for granted.

Therefore, the Scripture tells us to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God (Romans 12:1-2). This must give us the sense of the sacredness with which we need to treat our own lives and those of others. Do we reflect God's holiness and sacredness through our lives? Does the holy fire burn incessantly on our altars? Are people able to see the Son of God in our flesh - full of grace and truth?

© Domenic Marbaniang, December 2008