Christmas 2010

19 December 2010

Dear Phyllis,

The calendar on my computer tells me that next Saturday will be Christmas. Apart from the AmericanChristmas carols that we hear in every department store, there is little else around here to suggest that Christmas is near. Up until yesterday, it has been a very pleasant winter. The sky has been cloudless for a month, and the temperature in the 80s almost every day. But yesterday I was surprised to wake up to the sound of rain, and it was so cold and clammy all day that I had to wear a shirt. In northern Thailand, from November until April, it is the dry season. We will go 100 days without a drop of rain or a cloud in the sky. This is really the best time of year here, but it sure wouldn’t remind you of Christmas.

Churches, of course, all crank up with Christmas programs that are primarily designed as an evangelistic outreach. Traditionally, I suppose I should have some Christmas devotion to share with you today. When I think of our Lord’s birth I always marvel at the wisdom of God in how it was engineered.

The Lord certainly spoke a very significant word to the entire world in the birth of Christ. Born in a barn! Who would have ever thought of that?! But the very place of Christ birth speaks volumes.

Perhaps the first message is the accessibility of Christ. You couldn’t find a more accessible place. Had He been born in a hospital, you would have to go through the administration desk first to get to Him. There could be restrictions. There might be a sign No Visitors Allowed. Had He been born in a home you certainly would have to go through the home owner to get there. For children who are born at home, it would be impossible for some stranger just to walk up and knock on the door asking to see the new baby. My goodness, who knows what they might have in mind? They might have a cold, or bring in some infection that would endanger the baby. We have got to be more protective than that. The fact that Jesus was born in an Inn is highly significant. There is nothing more public than an Inn. The very nature of an Inn is that the doors are always open for anyone who wants to come in. But had Jesus been born in a room in that Inn there certainly would have been some restriction. The manager would have said, “I’m sorry, but the rooms are private. We can’t just let anyone enter any room they want.” But there is nothing private about the barn. There were no locks on that barn. There was nothing private about it at all. Any guest, any house maid, any cook, any stranger walking down the street could walk in there any time they wanted, to see the new Baby. Even some shepherds, who were out in a field, could come in the middle of the night and walk right in to see the new Baby. They didn’t have to change their clothes, take off their shoes, wash their hands, or wear a face mask; they could walk right in and see the new Child. You can’t get more accessible than that.

Surely this is the first message the Lord had to say to the world when He sent His Son to live among us. Anyone who will may come. The very life of Jesus began being in the most accessible place God could choose. And, praise God, that is still true today. There are absolutely no restrictions on anyone coming to Christ. As the years pass I increasingly marvel at the unqualified offer, “Whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Rom. 10:13).

 A few years ago the famous serial killer, Ted Bundy was caught and sentenced for execution. Before he was executed, the prison Chaplin led him to Christ. He wanted to give his testimony, but the only man in America he would trust was Jim Dobson. Dobson interviewed him hours before his execution, with an amazingly clear testimony of salvation. The media and millions of people went bonkers over the suggestion that such a serial killer, who had killed over 27 women, could be saved so simply.

Dutch was the director of the infamous Tuol Sleng Prison during the horrendous regime of Pol Pot in Cambodia. He was probably personally responsible for more unspeakable tortures and deaths of Cambodians than any other single person. There were over 18,000 persons brought to that horror chamber – most of whom were innocent. Of the total 18,000 who were brought to that prison, only 12 survived alive. Today the Tuol Sleng Prison is the #1 sickening tourist attraction in Phnom Penh. When the Vietnamese took over Cambodia in 1979, Dutch escaped to the Thai border. Some years later he was brought to Christ by a Baptist missionary. After 30 years, recently, he was brought to trail for his war crimes and sentenced to 40 years in prison. He was the only one of the Pol Pot regime who was truly repentant. He will die in prison, but he is a true child of God, and will spend eternity in heaven. Many find that offensive. But if the worst offenders, as Ted Bundy and Dutch, can be saved, that leaves the door wide open for lesser offenders. You can’t get more accessible than that.

Today, America is one of the most difficult countries in the world to get into – unless you are an illegal Mexican. I would much rather deal with a communist government than with the US Immigration Department. They are just plain evil! It cost $200 just for an interview to make an application for a tourist visa; only to get insulted and refused. And the Immigration Department keeps the money. But anyone who wants one, can have a free citizenship in heaven simply by accepting God’s unspeakable gift of love in giving to us His Son. There is nothing on this earth more ridiculous than that! How can you make it any more easy? How can you make it any more accessible than that?!

And yet, in the wisdom of God, He has perfectly concealed His Son. Years later Jesus would rejoice in spirit and say, “I thank Thee, O Father, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes.” (Lk. 10:21).  Who would ever dream of looking for the Son of God in a barn? The Bible is correct when it says, “Not many wise men after the flesh are called (saved)” (1 Cor. 1:26). God has chosen the foolishness of preaching to save the humble. No man can get into heaven by his brain. It wasn’t to the PhDs in Harvard or the University of Jerusalem, but to shepherds in a field,  that the message came by angels, “You will find Him in a barn” (Lk. 2:12).

 

If there is any message that Bethlehem has to say to us, it is that the one prerequisite for salvation is humility. Salvation is securely hidden from the proud. Only the most humble person would have gone out to seek Jesus in that barn. I am sure a few house maids went out to see the new Child. The wife of the Inn manager probably went out to see Him. But if a guest suggested to others to go see this new Babe, I can well imagine someone responding; “What? you want me to go out there in that barn? My goodness, I would get my shoes all filthy there.” You would have to be willing to get a little cow manure on your shoes if you wanted to see Jesus.

The fact that Jesus humbled Himself so low as to be born in a barn is an eloquent testimony of His fundamental character. In Japan the lower members of society bow lower to those of higher rank. It would be culturally wrong for a teacher to bow lower than a student; or an employer to an employee. No one ever bowed lower than Jesus. Not even Moses is to be compared to Jesus for humility. Paul certainly brings this out when he wrote in Phil. 2:6-8 on how low Jesus humbled Himself – even to the death of a cross. He started out His life in a barn, at His peak, He said He had no where to lay His head, He had to borrow a donkey to ride into Jerusalem, died a criminal’s death on a cross, and was buried in a borrowed tomb. Jesus warned us that the servant is not supposed to be above the master. How is it possible that some who claim to be genuine followers of the Lamb suggest that we should live like the richest kid in town???

We would be utterly enraged if someone suggested that our son should be born in a barn. “No way! Do you think I am nuts to let my wife have a baby in a barn. Maybe my son might be born in the hallway of a hospital but he is not going to be born in a barn!”

 Oh how is it that we miss that message? We have glorified the manger scene so much that we have lost the message. This is the life that Christ is calling us to. The suggestion that we should be like Jesus is so unthinkable that it is down right repulsive. But this is the entrance to the Kingdom.

 Perhaps I have told you that I have written two books. One is my autobiography of the First Fifty Years. And the other one is The Inverted Kingdom. I have noticed that most – if not all – of the laws of the Kingdom of God are exactly the reverse of the natural laws of this world. There hardly is anything more eloquent than the very birth of Christ. What a start! But this is the way of the Lord. Perhaps if we took this more seriously, and tried to live accordingly, we too might find Jesus in a deeper way than when we have looked for Him in the rarified atmosphere of success.

 
It is kind of lonely here in Chiang Mai at Christmas. The Lord has been good in giving me a few friends. I didn’t send out any Christmas cards and I didn’t receive any. I have bought no Christmas presents for anyone, and I doubt that I will receive any. This certainly is not a commercial time for me. I will be working in my shop on Christmas. But one of the greatest miracles that has ever happened is real to me today. The very Spirit of the Christ who was born in that barn in Bethlehem has been born in my heart. I don’t know anything more amazing than that.

                                                                                        bill