Christ Church (Moscow, ID‪)‬ ChristKirk

Having heard the Christmas story many times, it stirs up familiar images in our mind’s eye. The Lord Jesus is welcomed into the world by his mother and father. A young couple, just getting started, stare down at the baby boy wrapped in swaddling clothes. They smile with delight and have all of the normal reactions that come with being a first time parent, “He has your nose. Look at all that hair.” But in addition to the delight one experiences in taking the child in, finally being able to see after nine months what this kid looks like, they have other thoughts to contend with, thoughts that none of us as parents have ever had to deal with, thoughts like, “What is to become of this child? I hold the messiah in my hands. I am a virgin mother. The angel said to me, ‘He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ And it is my job to raise Him. God help me.”

Prayer is a tricky thing. You know that God is sovereign, that He has predestined all things, and knows the words that you will speak even before you speak them. In light of this truth, you may develop an attitude that thinks prayer is irrelevant. Then, when a trial arises and you begin to fear, and prayer will become an exercise in worrying before God. Both of these attitudes are disobedient and result in disobedience because they flow from doubt and unbelief. The reality is that believing, fervent prayer is potent and necessary for obedience. It is a wonderful privilege. 

If you ask a muslim, “Who is Jesus?” he will say, “Jesus, peace be upon him, is a prophet of Allah.” And while Christians will agree, He is a prophet of God, He is not merely a prophet of God. And of course when they use the term Allah (God) they mean a very different thing than we do. If you ask a Latter-Day Saint, “Who is Jesus?” they will say, “He is God the Father’s firstborn spirit-child in heaven and the spirit brother of lucifer. He was begotten on earth by God the Father by natural means, not by the Holy Ghost and is now one amongst many millions of other gods.” If you ask a Jehovah’s witness, they will say, “Jesus is not God almighty, he is God’s son. Jesus is God’s first creation, inferior to God the Father. And Jesus is actually Michael the archangel.” Like any lie, satan prefers to sprinkle truth in amongst falsehood so as to feign authenticity. Jesus is the son of God. Jesus is a prophet of God, but He is not created. His origin is one of eternity, begotten of the Father. He is the firstborn of all creation, but this is a title of preeminence, not descriptive of a point of time where he came into being. Like the person of the Father, the son has eternally existed. And so when Christians are asked who is Jesus, we recite the Athanasian creed.

One of the best ways for a Christian child to honor his father and mother is to surpass them. If a child outgrows his parents in love for Christ, in knowledge of the Bible, and in a true grasp of what the gospel is all about, no one who truly loves God can begrudge it. And there is a paradox involved in it. One of the best ways to surpass your parents is to make sure you look up to them. The first will be last, and the last first. 

For far too long the Christian Church has been passive and apathetic, watching freedom and justice slip away from our land, but how does our Lord’s teaching about enemies and justice apply to us? Whether we are thinking about the way pagans are seeking to destroy our Christian culture, or international conflict in the Middle East or Europe, or interpersonal conflict you may have in your family, what does Jesus mean and how does this teaching apply?

As we examine the Scriptures on this topic, we find that the central duty that Christian offspring have is the duty of honor. This honor has different manifestations depending on the time of life, but there is always honor at the center. And this means, in its turn, that learning how to be a Christian kid means learning how to honor.