Merry Christmas!!

You might be thinking to yourself, either you are rather late or very early. But let me say again,

Merry Christmas!!

We live in Ukraine, so Christmas for us is on January 7 and today is January 10 my first day off since Christmas and I want to take the time to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

Christmas was not like usuall this year. It was in many respects better than past years. On Christmas morning at 11:00 our church celebrated with the children. The children put on a Christmas pageant. It was wonderful to watch the story of the Inn Keeper, who gave the last room to a rich merchant and thus no room was found for Mary and Joseph and how this Inn Keeper later came to worship Christ and was cured of greed. The children did a splendid job, I was so delighted for them.

Then at 16:00 we gathered with the adults and youth. First we had a Christmas worship service and then we had a meal together. I preached a sermon entitled If its Christmas, why is Rachel crying? Today I translated the sermon from its original Russian language and will share it here with you. I welcome your feedback, comments and opinions.

Merry Christmas!! But why is Rachel crying?

It's Christmas again. Christmas is without a doubt one of the best times of the year. Christmas is the time when we celebrate God coming to visit us. God took on the form of a person and came as a person. He ate our food, He knew hunger and lived a human life. We celebrate this gift from God, we give gifts, we say nice things and all of it is very good.

Who would have thought that God who created all things and to whom all things belong would come to visit this planet as a person?! Yes! Because not only did God create this world He also sustains it and loves it. He created us for Himself, but we rejected Him and this time He Himself came to once again draw us unto Himself. He came to take responsibility for our sins and to pay the price for our disobedience.

When I remembered the Christmas story this year, (January 7, 2009 — Ukrainian Christmas) I remembered Rachel. If God came to give us life, forgiveness and joy why is Rachel crying??

I asked myself again, why is Rachel crying??

You might, depending on how well you know the biblical version of the Christmas story, ask, «Who is Rachel?»

Rachel is the name given to all the mothers in Bethlehem who lost their sons when Herod gave orders to kill all the male children two years and under in the vicinity where Jesus was born. Herod felt threatened by the birth of Jesus and the most simple solution was to kill Jesus.

Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi. Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "A VOICE WAS HEARD IN RAMAH, WEEPING AND GREAT MOURNING, RACHEL WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN; AND SHE REFUSED TO BE COMFORTED, BECAUSE THEY WERE NO MORE."
(Matthew 2:16-18 NASB)

Why, if Jesus was born to wipe away tears, was it necessary for Rachel to cry? Why, if Jesus was born to give life, was it necessary for these innocent boys to die?

Of course you could say that satan, working in and through Herod wanted to kill Jesus and I agree with this. Satan has always wanted to kill Jesus and not only Jesus, but also everyone who is close to Him. It is a well known fact that if you get close and personal with Jesus satan will want to kill you.

But still the question remains, why didn't God protect these innocent children, Rachel's children?

It turns out that when God redeems and frees that He often does it through sufferings. It pleases Him to redeem and to free in this way. The one, through whom, God brings: redemption, freedom, justice, reconciliation, must bear the price, and suffer.

There must be a spiritual law to all of this, some reasoning to it. Some of you might know what the reasoning is, you might know the spiritual law to why God redeems through suffering.

Today, I am not so interested in proving why this happens, but I can show that it does and to some extent what happens in the process.

Let's look at some characters from the bible.

1.Abraham — in order for God to bless all the nations through him, he had to leave his home.

2.Joseph — he was sold into slavery in order that God might save his father, Isaac and family. All of God's promises to Abraham were wrapped up in the person of Isaac, so it was very important for God to save this family from starvation.

3.Ruth — she suffered the death of her husband and needed to leave her homeland, then work in the fields to feed her mother in law. God took her sufferings and hardships into mind and included her in the lineage of Jesus.

4.Esther — forced to marry a heathen, then she needed to make up her mind to be ready to die before God saved the Jewish nation through her.

5.David — forced to live in the mountains, go without food, embrace sufferings before he became the leader and shield for those who needed protection the most.

Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Now there were about four hundred men with him. (1Samuel 22:2 NASB)

6.Look at the lives of the prophets and you will see the like, repeating itself over and over again.

When a person commits his life to Christ, he or she usually knows that Christians are supposed to do good deeds, and love other people. Some even know that being a Christian includes loving your enemies, some don't know this and when they find out they stumble. But few know, when they commit their lives to Christ, that the Christian life includes a ministry of suffering. Few talk about it. What does this mean and what does it look like in real life?

Let us look at two of Jesus' ministries while He was physically on earth, from the time of His birth in Bethlehem to the time of His death on the cross.

1.The ministry of healing. — Jesus had a very special ministry of healing!! Healing, though, was a ministry before Jesus' birth — look at Naaman in 2 Kings 5 and others. God also healed through others after Jesus. Peter, Paul and others had ministries of healing. All ministries of healing find their source and climax in Jesus. However, the ministry of healing existed before Jesus' birth and continues even to this day.

2.The ministry of suffering. — Jesus had a very special ministry of suffering!! The ministry of suffering existed before Jesus' birth and continues to this day. Again, Jesus accomplished the most through His suffering, and all suffering for the name of Christ, both before and after Jesus' life finds its source and climax in Christ.

The death of Jesus Christ was enough to reconcile us to God, but His sufferings did not end at the cross.

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions.
(Colossians 1:24 NASB)

How can you prove your faith?
1.Through your life? - many people live good lifes.
2.Through your good deeds? - many people do good deeds.
3.Through your readiness to suffer for Christ? - yes! For no one will suffer for something that they don't believe in.

Suffering for Christ's sake proves our faith.

1.Suffering for righteousness lets us find favour with God. It pleases Him to acomplish His tasks in this manner.

It pleases God when we suffer for righteousness.
For by Christ's wounds we received healing.
Our sufferings are added to the sufferings of Christ, through which we find healing and justification.

For this {finds} favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer {for it} you patiently endure it, this {finds} favor with God. Christ Is Our Example For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH;and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting {Himself} to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
(1Peter 2:19-24 NASB)

Suffering for good deeds is part of God's will.

For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. For Christ also died for sins once for all, {the} just for {the} unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
(1Peter 3:17,18)

2.God even gives some people a special gift — to suffer for His name.

For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, (Philippians 1:29 NASB)

What does God accompish through our sufferings?

1.Through suffering God accomplishes a work in us.

i.Suffering for the name of Christ helps us gain freedom from sin.

Keep Fervent in Your Love Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
(1Peter 4:1,2 NASB)

ii.Suffering for the name of Christ teaches us obedience.

Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. (Hebrews 5:8 NASB)

iii.Suffering for the name of Christ, strengthens us, builds us up, gives us confidence in our decisions, and perfects us.

After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen {and} establish you.
(1Peter 5:10 NASB)

2.Suffering for Christ's name proves that we are God's children.

Suffering proves that we are God's children and these sufferings are nothing in comparisson with what we get.

and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with {Him} so that we may also be glorified with {Him.} For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
(Romans 8:17,18 NASB)

3.Suffering for Christ's name brings us into God's glory.

God's glory rests on those who participate in the sufferings of Christ.

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
(1Peter 4:12-14 NASB)

It gives us an extra measure of His comfort.

God comforts.

For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. (2Corinthians 1:5 NASB)

4.Suffering for Christ's name always comes with great rewards!

Thus says the LORD, "A voice is heard in Ramah, Lamentation {and} bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; She refuses to be comforted for her children, Because they are no more." Thus says the LORD, "Restrain your voice from weeping And your eyes from tears; For your work will be rewarded," declares the LORD.
(Jeremiah 31:15,16 NASB)

So why is Rachel crying? She is crying because she lost her children. Her children were choosen by God to suffer for Christ's name. They share in His glory and were part of God's plan in redeeming us. Rachel is crying! but the reward for her tears is the best Christmas present ever for all of humankind.