12-07-2013

   Good Morning All,

    Luke 2:17; “And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child”

    When I watch television, I usually watch MeTV.  It has all the old classics that I can still understand.  I was watching Dragnet the other day and I still love Joe Friday’s standard line, “Just the facts ma’am, just the facts.”  How many times have you ever wanted to say that to someone as they droned on and on and never made any sense while they were doing it.  Yet in many ways, as Christians, what we are called to do is just what Joe Friday asks for; just the facts.

    If you step back and look at our faith; it is very unique.  It really starts right here in our verse.  This was the response of the shepherds who were “keeping watch over their flock.”  The angels proclaimed the good news and gave glory to God for his greatness.  The shepherds went to see this baby who was the Savior of the world.  After they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.  Just the facts.  It started with simple, uneducated farm kids.  Young men who were shepherds.  Shepherds were the kind of people who got lost in the crowd.  Shepherds were sometimes the kind of people who wanted to get lost in the crowds.  Shepherds were about as unlikely candidates to announce the birth of the Savior as you would find.

    They were almost as unlikely as a bunch of fishermen who told the world that they had seen the risen Savior.  There wasn’t a whole lot of flowery language; just the facts.  A simple faith for simple people who only knew how to do one thing; relay the facts.  These people didn’t have an agenda or a policy to follow.  They didn’t try to appease or avoid; they just told the facts; Jesus the Christ, the Son of God was born man, died for our sins and was raised from the dead by God to show that it is true.  Just the facts, ma’am. 

    The beauty of this is that all we ever have to do for our fellow man is to give him the facts.  You don’t have to defend it or explain it; you don’t have to possess a theological doctorate degree; you only need to tell them the facts.  If people reject the facts, that is up to them.  All we can do is to state the facts and try and live the facts.  “Try” is a good way to put it; we are sinful by nature and will fail once in a while but our desire is to do God’s will; to love as he first loved us.  That can be very hard but that is our goal here on this earth; to love as God first loved us.

    So whether you are a college graduates with degrees plastered all over your wall or whether you never got beyond the 6^th grade, just tell the facts.  Jesus died for your sins in order to redeem you and to make you his own.  His resurrection shows that God was satisfied with the payment.  So go tell, make known what was told to you.

Loving Father, help us to tell the facts.  Give us the courage to speak of your love to those around us.  Help us to be especially kind to those who most need your Words of mercy.  Give us the right words to make known what you have given to us.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret