Sermon, Children's Christmas Program

It really is foolishness to the world.  What kind of religion would have a
god who came to be a human being?  No other religion.  All other world
religions require people to save themselves.  Their gods don't really do
anything for them.  Christianity alone has a God who came to be one of the
people, even starting out life as a tiny child.

It is even hard for many who call themselves "Christian" to preserve the
truly wonderful teaching that God came to be with us.  Churches such as the
Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons lower Jesus Christ from His true position
as God.  Many other churches want to teach that Jesus did not fully pay for
our sins.  They leave something up to us, something left for us to work on.

These other churches have missed the truth of Christianity.  They indeed
have missed the Christmas Mystery.  Now the mystery here is not the same
kind of mystery as Agatha Christie or Murder She Wrote.  It is not like a
mystery novel or detective story.  It is not something which we have to
search out an answer.  It isn't a matter of just looking in the right
places or being clever enough to find the answer.  No, this Christmas
Mystery is really more of a "Wonder."  Something deeper than we can fully
grasp.  Something beyond what we can conceive.  This Mystery is something
so deep we cannot fully fathom it.  God works in deep and mysterious ways.
After all, He is God and our tiny intellects cannot approach His.  His
infinite mind can plan things which our feeble minds cannot penetrate.  We
can only cling to part of mystery at any one time.  We must insist,
however, that the Mystery not be abandoned, simply because it is too deep
to understand.  We must hold on to the truth, despite what the world around
us does.

God has made foolish the wisdom of the world.  The world tries to
understand what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.  They try, but because
of the depth of the mystery and wonder, the world gives up.  There are many
who corrupt and truncate the Christian teachings because they find the
truth foolish.  Those who the world often consider the wisest people are
those who reject Christ outright.  The supposed wisdom that the world
thinks it has becomes only foolishness when it faces God's incredible
mystery.

As we work again to express the depths of the wisdom of God, the Children
will turn to God's Word.  By sticking to that Word, we can be sure we are
holding to the truth.  By sticking to that Word, we can get the full depths
of the revelation God gives us regarding His mystery.

It is appropriate that Children should speak of the mystery of God.  It was
God who said we must have the faith like a little child's.  And, in the
face of the depth of the Christmas wonder, we are like little children.  We
will not grasp the whole tonight.  We will each only see part of the
mystery.  Yet, we await the second coming of our Savior, for then the dimly
lit things will be made bright.  The awesome wonders of the Christmas
mystery will be opened fully to our understanding and we will live forever
in the presence of this God who came into human form.  This God who came,
starting as a child, growing to an adult, dying and rising again.  This God



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who did all this so that our sins might be removed and eternal life made
ours.  This God who came as the child, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus.



















































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