Morning Message Text: Luke 2:11
1 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
Morning Message:
The birth of Jesus was also a foundation for eternity: “Unto you is born …. A Saviour” (KJV). Jesus Christ is our Savior. God entered into humanity so that humanity would be able to enter eternity. The birth of Jesus, while it happened at a point in time, began something that will never end.
Christmas blues are sometimes called “S.A.D. Syndrome”— seasonal affective disorder. We must stop thinking about Christmas and start thinking about Christ. He is our Prophet, Priest, and King; He is the Master, the Bridegroom, and the Good Shepherd; He’s the Holy One of God; He is Immanuel, God with us. And His name is Jesus.
John introduced Him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). The Magi recognized Him as the King of the Jews (Matthew 2:2). Thomas called Him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). Christmas is all about Christ. It isn’t about presents; it’s about His presence. You may not have family nearby, but your Father is close at hand. When you get depressed, refocus you attention on the One who loves you more than you can dream, who came to this earth to be your Savior.
In the mountains of Virginia, there existed a one-room schoolhouse where no teacher had lasted more than a few weeks. Mean-spirited boys thought their main objective in life was to run off everyone who tried.
One day a young teacher applied for the job. The director of the school said, “Son, because of your age, you’re going to take an awful beating.” “Well”, said the teacher, “I’m going to risk it.”
On his first day, he walked into the classroom and noticed that the kids had gathered around a guy named Tom—Big Ol’ Tom; he was the class bully. Loud enough so that the new teacher could hear him, Big Ol’ Tom said, “I’ll take care of this one; I won’t need anyone’s help; he’ll be gone by the end of the day.”
When the young teacher stood before the class, he said, “I have come to conduct the class, but I must confess that I cannot do it without your help. We need a few rules, and I want you to help me. What rule do you think we ought to have?” Such a suggestion had never before happened.
As the teacher went to the blackboard, one kid hollered, “No stealing!” The teacher wrote it on the board. “Nobody can be late.” He added it to the list. By the time he had finished, ten rules were instituted to which everyone agreed; but as they were agreeing, they laughed out loud.
“Now,” said the teacher, “there is no such thing as a good rule without a penalty if the rule is broken.” Big Ol’ Tom stood up and said, “Whoever breaks one of these rules gets ten licks across his bare back.” The teacher thought the penalty was a bit severe—and obviously this story is dated—but he agreed.
On the following day, Big Tom told the teacher, “Someone stole my lunch.” So the teacher said, “Class, one of our rules is no stealing, someone stole Big Tom’s lunch, and I want to know who.” After everyone had been questioned, a little ten-year-old boy stood up and said, “I stole his lunch. I was so hungry, I couldn’t help it.”
“Well,” the teacher said, “You know the penalty: ten licks across your bare back!” The little boy began to beg, “Teacher, please don’t do that. And whatever you do, don’t make me take off my coat.” The teacher, knowing that he was on trial, made the young boy unbutton his coat. Underneath there was no shirt, just the suspenders holding up his pants. The teacher thought to himself, “How am I going to whip this child? But if I don’t, I will forever lose control of this class.”
So, he said to the boy, “Son, how is it that you have no undershirt?” The boy answered, “My father died, my mom’s real, real poor, and I only have one shirt. And on the day that she washes my shirt, I wear my brother’s coat so that I don’t get cold. I’ll have my shirt tomorrow, but I don’t have it today.”
The teacher slowly got the strap (a worn piece of a man’s belt about two feet long) hanging from a nail pounded part- way into the frame of the blackboard, and while mustering up courage to inflict the punishment, Big Tom stood up, jumped over everyone in his way, walked over to the teacher and said, “If you don’t mind, I’ll take Jim’s licking for him.” The teacher made some philosophical statement about the right for substitute punishment and off came Tom’s coat. After five hard strokes, the teacher paused and realized that everyone in the classroom was crying, especially little Jim who, by this time, was hanging on Big Tom’s neck for all he was worth. He cried, “Tom, I’m awful sorry I stole your lunch, I was so hungry. I will love you ‘til I die for taking my lickin’ for me.” This broke the hearts of all those hard-nosed kids, and broke the heart of the teacher because, on that day, Tom had become his brother’s savior.
You and I have broken the rules, haven’t we? But one day, the Lord Jesus came into our classroom, took off his coat, stretched Himself out on a wooden beam and took the stripes we deserved. And that day He became our Savior.
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11 KJV). Do you know Him as your Savior? It’s not enough to believe that He is the Savior of the world. You must acknowledge that, because of your sin, you deserve God’s punishment; and then you must trust in Jesus as your Savior from God’s wrath. To express your desire to be saved, just pray from your heart, “Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for me. That’s what I deserved, and I know it. Today I accept Your punishment for my sin and receive Your forgiveness; I accept You into my heart and life to be my Savior.” Let this day be the day when you invite Christ to be your own personal Savior and Lord.
Merry Christmas,
Pastor Bob
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