I heard someone say, “There are five gospels, and four of them no one reads.  The fifth one read by many is YOU.”  During this Christmas season, I find myself asking, “What gospel are others reading in me?”  We all know people in our circles of influence who are unchurched and may not even be hearing the Christmas story, so how do we help them experience and not just hear about the Christ of Christmas?  

I have been pondering this while enjoying the Christmas messages during this Advent season.   I love hearing sermons at this time of year to see how pastors share the same, unchanging story of the virgin birth of Jesus and focus different characters in the story in fresh, new ways.  I found myself with a similar challenge as I was preparing the Sunday school lesson on John 1:1-14 last week, but the Spirit did not disappoint me.   John chooses to introduce the Christmas story by sharing that Christ dwelt above us (John 1: 1-3) before He came to dwell among us (John 1:14) as the God-man, i.e.  being  fully God and fully human.  This is what we call in the Christianese language the incarnation of Christ.  Christ dwelling among us by entering the world as a baby is what we celebrate during the Christmas season.  So it begged the question, “What happened after Christ dwelled among us?” 

If we get out our binoculars and look ahead to see how the Christmas story unfolds, we will see that  Christ did not come to dwell among us just to hang out with us as His creation, but rather  to hang on a cross as a sacrifice for His creation.  He came to pay the penalty of our sins so that those of us who believe that Jesus is the Son of God could be reconciled to God (I Pet 3:18) and enjoy the free gift of eternal life that comes with our profession of faith in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation (I John 5:11-13).  Once Jesus accomplished the mission of being the perfect sacrifice for our sins by shedding His blood on the cross, He was resurrected.   Between the time He was resurrected from the dead and His ascension back to Heaven, He made sure to meet with His disciples to prepare them for the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8).  The gift of the Holy Spirit is sealed within all believers the moment we declare our faith and trust in Christ for our salvation.  

So here is how Christmas has a brand new energy that is being experienced in a fresh and powerful way for me, and I hope for you as well.  Christ originally dwelt above us, then came down to dwell among us, and now dwells within His believers.  I have never attached the indwelling of Christ in me to the Christmas message, but this whole theme of incarnation just kept blossoming.  John 14:10(b) quotes Jesus, “…it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.”  Jesus was telling Philip that God the Father was indwelling Him.  Christ was modeling how to live in our earthly bodies with the power and presence of the living God within us.  Now that Christ has ascended to Heaven and no longer has an earthly body, Christ is looking for bodies to indwell, and that is you and me!  (You may be yawning at this point and needing a seventh inning stretch here, but my spiritual adrenaline is rushing!)  I have known for years that Christ lives in me.  Galatians 2:20(a) says, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”  It absolutely excites me to think that when Christ was in human form, His Father dwelled in him, and now that we are in our own bodies, Christ chooses to dwell in us.  As believers, we are the “incarnation” of Christ.  Since Christ parted with his earthly body, He is counting on our hands to be His hands.  He desires for our feet to be His feet, and our mouth to be His mouthpiece.  He wants to permeate every part of our being.  If you would like some inspiration around this idea through music, I invite you to listen to a beautiful benediction piece by John Rutter called “God be in my Head” that can be offered as a prayer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPQcRmN6hvg). 

Since there are people who have never read the four gospels, may we be the hands and feet of Christ as we go through this Christmas season to be the “fifth gospel” that draws people closer to Christ.  The power of the CHRISTmas story is living and dwelling in us!  If people can see Christ in us, then from the vantage point of Christ who is celebrating His birthday,  I can only imagine that He is having a very Merry Christmas indeed!  You have a very Merry Christmas as well!  

Blessings,

Lee Ann