First Sunday after Christmas Day: Isaiah 61:10-62:3; Psalm 148; Galatians 4:4-7 (or Philippians 2:5-11); Luke 2:22-40
The Name of Jesus is Good News. It tells us of the Saviour’s love.
‘The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me... to proclaim the year of the
Lord’s favour’ (Isaiah 61:1-2). Jesus has fulfilled these words (Luke
4:18-21). Jesus has come, ‘proclaiming the Good News of God.’ He tells
us that ‘the time has come.’ This is the time of opportunity, the time
for making our response to Jesus Christ. He calls for our response -
‘Repent and believe the Good News!’ He calls us to make our response now
- ‘now is the acceptable time... now is the day of salvation’ (Mark
1:14-15; 2 Corinthians 6:2). There will come a time when the time of
opportunity comes to an end. When Christ returns ‘with power and great
glory’, it will be ‘the Day of vengeance of our God.’ We do not know
when Christ will return. Get ‘ready’ for His Return. Put your ‘faith’in
Him (Isaiah 61:2; Matthew 24:30, 36, 44; 25:13; Luke 18:8).
God has
given us ‘a new Name’. It is ‘the Name which is above every name’, the
Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ (Isaiah 62:2; Philippians
2:9-11). Christ loves us. He has given Himself for us. He calls us His
‘Bride’ (Ephesians 5:25-27; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Revelation 21:2, 9).
Through faith in Christ, we have become ‘the Holy People.’ Through Him,
we are ‘the Redeemed of the Lord.’ We have been ‘Sought After’ by the
Lord. In Him, we are ‘the City No Longer Deserted’ (Isaiah 62:12; 1
Peter 2:9-10; 1:18-19; Luke 19:10; John 14:18). ‘There is a Name I love
to hear... It tells me of a Saviour’s love, who died to set me free. It
tells me of His precious blood, the sinner’s perfect plea... Jesus, the
Name I love so well, the Name I love to hear! ... O how I love the
Saviour’s Name, the sweetest Name on earth!’ (Mission Praise, 672).
We hear the Good News of the Saviour’s love, and we say, “Praise the Lord.”
‘Praise the Lord’. Psalms 146 and 147 began and ended with these words.
Now, we find the same beginning and ending in each of these three
Psalms - ‘Praise the Lord’. Our personal song of praise to God - ‘Praise
be to the Lord my Rock... I will sing a new song to You, O God... I
will exalt You, my God the King; I will praise Your Name for ever and
ever; Every day I will praise You... My mouth will speak in praise of
the Lord... I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my
God as long as I live’ (Psalm 144:1, 9; Psalm 145:1-2, 21; Psalm 146:2)
- is just a small part of something so much richer and fuller - ‘Let
everything that has breath praise the Lord’ (Psalm 150:6). May these
great Psalms of praise inspire us to praise the Lord more truly and more
fully.
We hear the Good News of our Saviour. God has given His Spirit to us.
‘God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts’ (Galatians 4:6).
The Spirit is not a reward we earn by being good people. The Spirit is
God’s gift (Titus 3:5). Paul connects the gift of the Spirit with
Christ’s death for us and our faith in Christ (Galatians 3:13-14). We do
not come to God with our religion in one hand and our morality in the
other, insisting that we deserve to be blessed by Him. We look away from
ourselves to Christ - ‘Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy Cross I
cling’ (Church Hymnary, 83). All pride in ourselves must be brought to
Christ’s Cross as we humbly pray, ‘Spirit of the living God, fall afresh
on me, break me, melt me, mould me, fill me’ (Mission Praise, 613). God
has given His Spirit to us. Let’s give ourselves to Him - to ‘be filled
with the Spirit’ (Ephesians 5:18).
We hear the Good News of our Saviour. God will complete His good work in us.
Do you feel like you can`t go on? Do you feel like giving up? Here`s
God`s Word of encouragement for you: ‘He who began a good work in you
will bring it to completion at the Day of Jesus Christ’ (Philippians
1:6). God finishes what He starts - ‘He didn`t bring us this far to
leave us. He didn`t teach us to swim to let us drown. He didn`t build
His home in us to move away. He didn`t lift us up to let us down’. In
all the changes of life, we must remember this: God is faithful. His
love is unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable. We don`t keep going
because we are strong. We are ‘kept by the power of God’ (1 Peter 1:5).
In ‘humility’ let us live ‘to the glory and praise of God’ (Philippians
2:3; 1:11). ‘Jesus Christ is Lord’ (Philippians 2:11) – He will give you
the strength to keep going when you feel like giving up.
We hear the Good News of our Saviour. Let us offer our worship to Him.
Jesus ‘fulfilled all righteousness’ (Matthew 3:15). His circumcision
and presentation to the Lord was ‘according to the law of Moses’ (Luke
2:21-24; Leviticus 12:1-8). Jesus’obedience was always more than mere
conformity to ‘the written code.’ He was walking ‘in the Spirit.’ He was
filled with ‘the Spirit of the living God’ (2 Corinthians 3:3, 6). His
obedience came ‘from the heart’and His ‘praise’came ‘not from men but
from God’(Romans 6:17; 2:29). What joy there was for Simeon and Anna!
This was ‘salvation’, ‘redemption’ (Luke 2:30, 38). As you journey
through life, don’t ‘lose Jesus’ (Luke 2:43-45). Keep close to Him! If
you do ‘lose Him’, where will you find Him again? - ‘In the temple’
(Luke 2:46). Have you lost your way? Find your way back to ‘the
sanctuary of God’ - and things will start to fall into place again
(Psalm 73:16-17)!
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The Bible Readings are taken from the Revised Common Lectionary – Year B.
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