Mensa Otabil - Worship Christ the King
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Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas to each one of us and each one of you. It’s been a joyful ride, trusting the Lord this year, working with Him, walking with Him, and knowing Him. I trust that the times we’ve had sharing the Word of God have been beneficial to you as we have discovered the Scriptures together. I wish you and your loved ones the joy of the season.
Matthew chapter 2, verse 11: «And when they had come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.»
So today, on this Christmas Day, I just want to share briefly with you about the significance of this day to each one of us. For many of us, Christmas is a time of fun memories. If you are an older person, you remember your childhood, and you probably remember your parents and your siblings sitting together, having joy, and having a meal, and going out to visit relatives. In our part of the world, in Ghana, and I think in most of West Africa, Christmas is very public. In the Western world, it’s very private; people gather in very small numbers.
In our world, we gather in large numbers for big family gatherings with extended family members. I remember my childhood when we had to build a Christmas home and bring food from our homes to share with friends in the neighborhood, sitting around, making music, and enjoying fireworks. We thank God for those memories, but we also have to remember in the midst of all those fun memories that there is a serious thing happening: that God has sent His Son. God has become flesh to live amongst us, and His name, Emmanuel, means «God is with us.»
It’s very possible to celebrate Christmas and enjoy the festivities while forgetting the center of the story: that God so loved the world that He gave His Son to us. So this Christmas Day, as you contemplate the joy of the season and wish your friends and loved ones a Merry Christmas, think of Jesus Christ. Don’t take Him out of the picture. Without Him, this is just a holiday, but with Him, it’s not just a holiday; it’s Christmas, Christ Mass, a service in honor of Christ, and we must always keep Him at the center of the occasion.
The wise men kept Christ in the center. They met Him; they had been traveling for a long time. They saw the star and followed it, and now they have found the child. They didn’t just find the child and say, «Okay, we’ve seen Him,» and go back. They worshiped the child, and that’s what we want to do at Christmas: to worship Christ Jesus and then offer ourselves to Him. They gave Him gold, frankincense, and myrrh- very deep symbolic prophetic gestures that spoke about who Jesus was and what God had called Him to be, mainly expressing that Jesus Christ was a King and a Priest. He was royalty and spirituality.
So, in Christ Jesus, God reached out to us, but in Christ Jesus, we also reach out to God. He came to us, and we go through Christ to Him. Jesus Christ Himself says, «No one comes to the Father except by me.» He is the mediator between God and man.
So this Merry Christmas, let Jesus remain the center of your festivities. Express your joy with other people, make peace with people, and enjoy the moment. Have a happy day because, you know, very soon we will enter a new year and will start running again, dealing with all the things that we must face in life. But for the moment, let’s pause and thank God for the gift of life and the joy that He brings to us through Jesus Christ.
Let us pray. Say with me: «Heavenly Father, you freely gave your Son to us. Today, we freely give our hearts, minds, and bodies to you. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.»