The Gift Child

Text: Luke 2:8-18

Introduction: Imagine if you will the shepherds out in the fields watching their sheep, minding their own business on a particular night sometime in December a little over 2000 years ago. It would have been an unseasonably warm evening, for if it had been winter cold the flocks would have been gathered together in a sheepfold for warmth. But on this night the shepherds were out on a hillside when suddenly a light as bright as the sun appeared and shown down on them.

To say that they were scared probably isn’t sufficient to describe their reaction. This is a day long before helicopters with spotlights ever hovered overhead looking for criminals. A light from the sky was something they would have been wholly unprepared to expect. Luke says they were “sore afraid.” They probably thought their lives were all but over that very moment.

But then the angel speaks words of comfort, “Fear not.” He has a message for them direct from God, but it’s not one of judgment. It’s a message of “great joy.” The long awaited Savior had been born in Bethlehem. It’s interesting that the shepherds were the first to be given this great message. They weren’t educated scribes or Pharisees. They weren’t doctors of the Law. But neither were they ignorant. They knew the promise of a coming Messiah. They knew what the angel meant, and they were privileged to receive the first notification of the event, and then become the baby's first visitors.

An angelic choir then joined the angel and sang praises. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men.” Who was this child that He should receive such an announcement of His birth?

About 750 years earlier the prophet Isaiah wrote about this child in Isaiah 9:6-7, and described who He should be and what He would do. In 1741, the famed composer, George Frideric Handel, was given a libretto drawn from the King James Bible by Charles Jennen. So impressed by the idea of a Sacred Oratorio, Handel worked furiously, hardly stopping to eat or sleep for weeks until his crowning masterpiece, Messiah, was completed. One of the choruses in the oratorio is taken from Isaiah 9:6.

(We stopped to watch a recording by Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of For Unto Us a Child is Born, from Handel’s Messiah.)

Let me for the next few moments share three thoughts with you about this Gift Child who was so spectacularly given to us so long ago; the Gift, the Government, and the Guide.

I. The Gift.

First let us be clear that this Gift was given to “us.” That is, all of us. He was not given privately to wealthy or privileged people. You don’t have to be rich and famous, successful, important or any special thing to know Him. He was given to all; rich and poor, famous and infamous, important and unknown. Jesus is a gift to all of us given by an all-loving God. In one verse John 3:16 explains it as clearly as it can be described:

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son; that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life..

Second notice also that specifically a Son was given. Not just any Son, but the Son of God, Emmanuel, God with us.

Our Catholic friends here in Olongapo love to celebrate with parades around the city at Christmas and Easter. On my way to church today a parade passed by on our street. Novices in hooded white robes carrying tall candlesticks led the procession. Faithful devotees followed crowded around four floats. On each of the floats was a statue of Mary wearing a crown. There were no Nativity scenes, or Mary holding baby Jesus, just Mary. Now I respect the Catholics for their piety and devotion, but they have missed the point. Christmas isn’t about Mary; it’s about Jesus Christ.

Mary was a humble, pure, godly young woman whom God honored by allowing her to bear the Christ child. But she was a woman, the daughter of a man and a woman, just like every other woman since Eve. She was not immaculately conceived, and she is not the Mother of God. She is the mother of the Man, Jesus. Neither is she the co-redemptrix. When she shared her news with her cousin Elizabeth, Mary spoke what has become known as the Magnificat in Luke 1:46. “My soul doth magnify the Lord.” She took no honor for herself. She gave it all to the Child she was bearing.

I took a psychology class in high school and one day we had a discussion about God. One girl made the comment, “If only God would come down and show himself to us then we would believe.” Ah, but that’s just what He has already done. He came to us as Jesus Christ, lived a sinless life, walked on water, fed thousands, healed the sick, raised the dead and rose from the grave, and people still rejected Him, as they still do to this day.

Third you might take notice that this special child was born in the humblest of places in a manger, a cattle stall. But it made perfect sense. What better place for the Lamb of God to be born than with the sheep in a barn? The picture of humility is complete. But along with the humble gift comes the responsibility of government.

II. The Government.

Isaiah makes an unusual comment in 9:6, when he writes, “the government shall be upon his shoulder.” It’s an ancient phrase that was common at the time. The person who had the government on his shoulder was the ruler. He was the king, dictator, Caesar, whatever, but he ruled. Isaiah makes it clear this child would rule.

He is the heir to the Throne of David, but not just any heir, and His kingdom will not be just any kingdom. Verse seven says it will be an everlasting kingdom. It will be a rule of prosperity and peace, an economy that will never go into recession, and a peace that won’t end. No one will be cheated or unfairly punished. It will be a rule established on judgment and perfect justice. The Lord himself guarantees it.

Isaiah is speaking of a day when the Lord Jesus Christ will reign here on the earth. It is a reign that will, according to Revelation 20:4, last for a thousand years, commonly called the Millennial Reign. Isaiah further describes it in chapter 11 of his prophecy as a time when the wolf and the lamb lie down together, and children will lead the calf and the lion. There will be no poisonous snakes or scorpions. Not just man will be at peace, but all nature as well.

More information about this glorious reign is given in Isaiah 35. Rivers will flow in the desert and it will blossom like a rose and rejoice. The weak and feeble will be strengthened. There will be no need to fear. The blind will see, the deaf hear, the lame leap, and the mute sing. For the ransomed of the Lord it will be a time of great joy and gladness.

But that's not all. This child who will reign is further identified. In many ways He will be our Guide.

III. The Guide.

This child who will have the government on His shoulder is identified by several titles. First He is called "Wonderful Counselor." In the King James text a comma separates these two words, and well could this child be described as both Wonderful and Counselor. But in the Hebrew it is actually a single term. The wonder is indicative of a miracle, and certainly the reign described above could be considered to be a miraculous reign.

Counselor is often used in Hebrew in parallel with King. The prophet, Micah, in chapter 4:9 of his prophecy, used the two terms synonymously. So Wonderful Counselor seems to indicate miraculous counsel that will be given by this King.

The next title is "The Mighty God." The Hebrew word is El Gibor. It is the strongest of all the titles given in identifying this child. El is a word that always refers to God, never to a man. Gibor literally means “Hero.” Together these words describe God as the Mightiest Hero. There is none that can stand before Him. He is the only one that could be Creator and Redeemer, because He is the only true God. Isaiah further records this Mighty God saying in 42:8,

I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

In the strongest possible terms, El Gibor describes this child as the Almighty God.

Next He is called "The Everlasting Father." Literally He is the “Father of Eternity.” It signifies the eternal Creator and Author of eternal life. More than that, the title moves from power and strength, to love and compassion. God is not an evil tyrant sitting on a throne somewhere on the rim of the universe watching His creation with disdain. Neither is He a cruel taskmaster. He is a loving, heavenly Father, who cares for us from the depths of His soul, who gave His own Son for our redemption, whose yoke, according to Jesus in Matthew 11:28-30, "is easy, and His burden light."

And finally He is "The Prince of Peace." The Hebrew term is Shar Shalom. It indicates that the Mighty God will be a benevolent, kind Ruler, who will bring peace on earth through the establishment of His kingdom. We live in a violent world. Tensions between nations are continually growing worse. We hear people, from leaders and diplomats to the lowest of citizens, crying for relief and for peace. But there will be no peace until the world turns its eyes to the Prince of Peace and He comes to reign.

In Isaiah 7:14, God gave the wicked king Ahaz a sign when He said that a virgin would conceive and bear a child. The child’s name would be "Immanuel." But this prophecy was obscure and not well understood. What could it mean a virgin would conceive? Nobody had ever heard of such a thing. But Isaiah 9:6 brings Immanuel to clear light: this child is himself God incarnate. And likewise Matthew explains it in 1:23 of his Gospel. His name was Immanuel, meaning "God with us."

Conclusion: This is the great God we serve. What a wonderful time the Christmas season is when we realize just how great the Gift Child really is, and just what a great sacrifice He made for us. Truly all who know Him can call Him “Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace.”

The question today is, “Do you know Him yourself?” Not just do you know about Him, but do you know Him in your heart? Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? Have you ever repented of your sins and asked Jesus to come into your life and save you?

This is the true purpose and meaning of Christmas. We talk of peace, but there is no peace without Jesus Christ. O struggling soul, the peace that you need in your heart, that will calm all your fears and prepare you for heaven, comes only from the Prince of Peace.

If you do not know Him, or if you are unsure about eternal life, wouldn’t you like to settle that matter now? Pray this prayer from the sincerity of your heart, or word it in your own way, and ask Jesus Christ to save you.

Dear God, I realize I am a sinner, and I am lost. I believe that Jesus Christ is the only Savior, that He was born of the Virgin Mary, that He died on the cross for my sins, and that He rose again bodily from the grave. I now repent of my sins and sinful ways, and receive Jesus as my Savior. Please forgive me, come into my heart and save me, and give me the gift of eternal life as you have promised. In Jesus name, Amen.

Ants

If you have ever lived in the deep South you probably know about sugar ants. They are little red ants that can smell sugar, honey, and anything sweet from seemingly miles around. They live in the woodwork and under the tile floors of homes. They come out whenever you're not looking and will glom onto anything not protected. If you've ever lived in Texas you've probably heard the legendary stories about women who have baked a fresh pie or a cake and put it in a bowl in a basin of water to keep the ants off, only to come back later and find the ants have crawled up the wall across the ceiling to a point directly overhead and dropped like paratroopers down onto the cake.

I lived in south Texas for over four years and I never saw anything like that happen, but I know about sugar ants. Once I had moved into a brand new apartment building and never thought that a new place with new cupboards and new paint could fall prey to sugar ants so quickly, but I was wrong. I bought a box of cereal and a carton of Chips Ahoy cookies. I had the cereal for breakfast one day, and the cookies for snacks later on. The next morning when I got the cereal box it was covered with sugar ants. So were the Chips Ahoy cookies. I learned right away the value of tupperware.

We have an ant problem here in our apartment. A multiple ant problem. We have these black ants that are about a sixteenth of an inch long. They usually come out when the lights are off, but if there is any fruit on the counter, especially bananas, they are all over it at any time. They're fast too. I'll bet if they were human size they'd be moving a hundred miles an hour. But that's not all. We also have these little red ants that are about half the size of the black ants. They are everywhere. They come crawling over my little desk in the bedroom and run around on the computer, even getting under the keys. They're in the bathroom all over the sink and on any spilled toothpaste or open tube. They've even taken up residence in the couch, and of course they are all over the kitchen counter anytime of day.

I have two six foot high book shelves side by side, the put together yourself kind that you get with laminated wood from Lowes or wherever. The lamination is all finished and polished, but the tops of the side pieces are just rough and not varnished. I have books on the top shelves and one day as I picked a book out to read, I noticed ants all over the bottom of it, in the binding, and crawling up into the pages. A closer examination found they were all over the bottom of all the books. When they started to scatter I at first thought they were little spiders. They were all carrying little white things. Then as I started smashing them I realized those were eggs. They had come up out of that lamination and were trying to set up nests in my books. By the time I removed the books and smashed all those ants the top of the bookshelf was wet from all those broken little eggs.

There's a third kind, a little brown almost microscopic kind, that run camouflaged along the grout on the countertop tiles until they get close to food and then spring surprise attacks. These are probably the least obnoxious simply because you can hardly see them, but they are there.

I decided to go on a campaign to eradicate the apartment of ants. I have sprayed, wiped the counters with Clorox, put everything into tupperware, and smashed every ant running loose that I can get my fingers on. It's no use. No matter how many I destroy, the survivors never run back into the woodwork or walls and tell the others its dangerous, don't come out. They just keep coming. I keep smashing, but one day not long ago I read that the experts, whoever they are, estimate that there are about 1.7 million ants for every human being on earth. I probably kill a hundred or two every day. In other words, I'm hardly making a dent in my share of the ant menace in the world. They are persistent little vermin. No matter what the odds they never give up. They keep coming back to the same old thing even if they get smashed every time.

They remind me of liberals. They never quit spouting their failed socialist doctrines. No matter what the truth is, it never prevails against their mode of thinking. Ferguson, Missouri for example. No matter how many times they are smashed in debate, and no matter how many times their policies put into practice fail, they keep coming back with the same debunked ideas. They never learn, never grow, never improve themselves, and yet they never go away. They are relentless and the result is BHO in the White House, obamacare, 18 trillion dollars in debt, a border crisis, a constitutional crisis, and myriad scandals. Yet they keep coming back touting the same stupid failed socialist mantra.

Solomon said, "Go to the ant thou sluggard" (Proverbs 6:6). Conservatives would do well to take this advice and become as relentless in our pursuit of the truth as the liberals are in their efforts to pervert it. It has only been six weeks since the resounding midterm election victory and the conservative movement is already being sold out by RINOs, liberals in Republican clothing. Now we're already talking about the next presidential election and the first announced candidate out of the box is a RINO, Jeb Bush, who agrees with BHO on an open border and amnesty, and favors the hideous Common Core program for education.

The problem with conservatives is we tend to sit back and let things go until they reach a breaking point and then we get energized to save the country. But when the elections are over, even after a big victory, we tend to go back into our cubbyholes and let liberals take control of events. We need to learn the lesson from those relentless liberals and become relentless ourselves, never resting, never stopping, never letting liberals, whether Democrat or RINO, gain the upper hand. Unless we learn from the ants and become as active and relentless in pursuit of conservative ideals, we will never win our country back. A good place to start would be replacing John Boehner as the Speaker of the House.

Alias Smith and Jones

The western was the first and perhaps the most popular genre ever produced in both movies and on television. The very first movie made for theaters was a fifteen minute oater called The Great Train Robbery in 1903. William S. Hart and Buck Jones made westerns popular in the silent era, and Harry Carey and Tom Mix topped a plethora of cowboy actors in the 1920s, both leading the transition into talkies. Many future stars, including Clark Gable, got their start in westerns. Gable's first credited role was in a William Boyd (Hopalong Cassidy) cowboy picture called The Painted Desert, in which he played a very grumpy bad guy.

In 1930 John Wayne was given his first starring role in The Big Trail. It was a monumental production about the Oregon Trail, but because the movie studio used a new widescreen format called 70 mm Grandeur Film, the movie flopped. Theaters were unwilling to change to the widescreen because of the cost and the uncertainties of the onset of the Great Depression. With few exceptions, such as The Plainsman, starring Gary Cooper in 1936, Westerns were relegated to B movie and weekly serial productions through most of the 1930s.

Then John Ford, the greatest of all western movie directors, took John Wayne, by this time a B movie western staple, and not only made him a star but elevated the western to A level status in Stagecoach. From the 1940s through the 1970s westerns again dominated the screen, and no actor more personified the genre than Duke Wayne, who rode the western to superstardom.

Along came television and again the most popular form of entertainment was the western. There were at least 91 different western shows on TV in the 1950s, beginning with Hopalong Cassidy and The Lone Ranger in 1949, and extending on into the 1960s. The longest running TV drama until Law and Order was Gunsmoke, which was on the air from 1955 to 1975. TV westerns still dominated the early 60s, but by the end of the decade most of them were gone. In 1970 there were only eight western shows left, and four of those would not be around in 1971. Two others would be gone in '72, and Bonanza, after the death of Dan Blocker (Hoss) would only limp through its fourteenth and final season in 1973.

In the '70's only eighteen new westerns appeared on TV, most of which didn't make it through one season. The most successful was Michael Landon's Little House on the Prairie, which lasted nine years from 1974 until 1983. Clint Walker made several made for TV western movies, but the best of all of these '70s productions were two mini-series, Centennial, and James Arness's How the West Was Won. In the '70's cop and detective shows dominated the airwaves, and in the '80s prime-time soaps eclipsed everything in popularity.

Several attempts through the years to bring back the western failed to gain strong followings, although there were some quality programs such as Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and on the Silver Screen blockbusters like Silverado, and Clint Eastwood's Pale Rider. Nowadays if you want to watch a good western you have to go back to the good old days to find them. Fortunately in the DVD age they can be found. There are also western channels on cable and satellite TV, and a lot of programs can be found on the internet for free on such websites as Youtube.

The reason for the decline in the popularity of the western may have been that after twenty years of saturation every night on TV the story lines had become monotonous and people grew tired of them. In 1971, however, there was one new western that potentially had the appeal to revive interest in the genre. Alias Smith and Jones hit the screen in January as a mid season replacement and was an immediate hit. It was an unlikely tale about two outlaws trying to go straight and the predicaments they went through in order to get amnesty from the governor of Wyoming. The addition of occasional humor to a somewhat serious/somewhat tongue-in-cheek drama gave the show a light-hearted air that resonated with the viewing audience and in the fall it was back for a second season.

Smith and Jones starred two young, good-looking guys who meshed so well together you might have thought they were close brothers. In fact, Pete Duel and Ben Murphy who played Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry, alias Joshua Smith and Thaddeus Jones, had a chemistry that Murphy would later say was just luck. They worked together well but did not socialize off the set. Roger Davis had become friends with Duel previously when they had worked on another TV pilot. Both Davis and Murphy greatly admired Duel's talent and ease as an actor.

Before Smith and Jones, Duel had been in two TV series, Gidget, in which he co-starred with Sally Fields, and Love in the Afternoon with Judy Carne. He had also made numerous guest appearances on different TV shows before he was picked for the part of Hannibal Heyes. His resonant baritone voice was perfect for the role of a "silver-tongued" manipulator who could talk his way out of any situation. Ben Murphy had fewer credits to his record, but Kid Curry, the fastest gun in the west, would be the biggest role he would ever play. After Smith and Jones he starred in two short-lived series and appeared in episodes of numerous other programs. Roger Davis got his start in a World War 2 drama called The Gallant Men in 1962. Later he would appear in two Dark Shadows movies as well as the soap opera. His greatest claim to fame may have been that he was the first husband of Charlie's favorite Angel, Jaclyn Smith. (She was also his first wife.)

The show moved smoothly into its second season and continued its success until tragedy struck on December 31, 1971. Few people knew that there was a dark side to Pete Duel. In spite of all of his good looks, success, and fame, he brooded over his life and conditions in the world. He felt like he had to do something to make it a better place, and that somehow he wasn't doing enough. He often suffered from fits of depression. In 1968 he campaigned for Eugene McCarthy in his bid for the Democratic nomination for president, but came away disappointed when McCarthy lost. He also had a problem with alcohol and began to despair when he lost his driver's license for a drunk driving accident he caused that injured two women. As his drinking became worse he became despondent for not being able to break the addiction. Then in the early morning hours of New Year's Eve, after an argument with his girlfriend, he got drunk, put a gun to his head and killed himself.

The producers of the show, uncaring, money greedy mongrels that they were, called Roger Davis that very morning to take Duel's place as Hannibal Heyes and continued working without even taking a moment to mourn Duel's passing. Davis and Murphy tried, but there wasn't the chemistry that had developed between Murphy and Duel. In all fairness to Davis, nobody could have filled the role once Pete Duel had established it. They continued to finish the second season and start a third, but the show's popularity died with Pete Duel, and so did any real chance (if there actually was one) of reviving the 1950s and early '60s popularity of the TV western.

Recently I came across Alias Smith and Jones on Youtube, all fifty episodes. I'm about half way through. Most of them aren't that good of quality, but it has been fun watching and remembering some of the episodes I watched 43 years ago. In 1971 it was my favorite show on television. I still remember how saddened I was when I heard the news about Pete Duel on the radio. It still saddens me to this day. I suppose it was one of the things that kind of marked a passing for me from a time of teenage innocence to the realities of life. Six weeks earlier, a friend of mine since the first grade, Dean Mosier, had been killed in a motorcycle accident, but Duel took his own life. It added perspective. Life is short and can be taken in a heartbeat, and all the fame, money, women, and success in the world can't bring peace to a troubled heart. Neither can drowning your sorrows in alcohol.

It also saddens me that the western movie genre has mostly disappeared from our culture today. Oh there are still westerns from time to time, but none like those simple old programs of half a century ago that often taught real values of decency and family, character and integrity, and sometimes even Christian principles. Today's movies dwell in computer generated unrealities filled with potty-mouthed dialogues and actions that are generally indecent and teach nothing of merit. How far we have come!

Interesting that the decline of the western sort of coincided with the removal of God and the Bible from public schools and discourse in the early '60s. Just a thought, but could it be that there is a connection?

Oh for the days of Smith and Jones.

Another Vietnam

I seldom found myself agreeing with Ted Kennedy while he was alive. In fact, I don't think I ever agreed with him on anything. But there is one thing that he said that I am now finding I at least partially agree with. Back in 2004, in typical liberal fashion, after voting for the invasion of Iraq, he turned on President Bush and opposed it. On April 16, he said, "Iraq is George Bush's Vietnam."

Actually, it didn't become Bush's Vietnam. After the war effort stalled due to lack of sufficient troops, and after the 2006 Republican shellacking in the midterm elections, Bush authorized a troop surge that effectively destroyed most all Al Qaeda resistance in Iraq and stabilized the country. In spite of the criticism he still receives, it turned into a great Bush success.

Then Obama got hold of it. He pulled our troops, which were helping keep the peace and training the Iraqi army, out before Iraq was ready, and shamelessly took credit for ending the war. But hardly had our troops returned home before Al Qaeda started moving back in, suicide bombings began shaking Baghdad again, and now ISIS controls a large part of the country.

In response Obama has called for limited air strikes against ISIS, and began redeploying troops as military advisors in Iraq. At first it was 375, then 400 more, eventually a deployment of over 1500, and today it was announced elements of the 82nd Airborne are being sent, bringing the total number of "boots on the ground," which Obama promised would never happen, to over 4,000. This is exactly how Lyndon Johnson ramped up the war in Southeast Asia, and then kept the American military from winning it by directing the war from the White House.

Ted Kennedy was right in one respect. Iraq is becoming another Vietnam. Only it's not George Bush's, it's Obama's.