Merry Christmas Sons and Daughters of God!!

Ever wonder why a God who was already active throughout history would send his Son to earth. There were hundreds of stories of a God who had already made himself known.  It's not like we needed to see what God looked like in order to know of or believe in his existence. So if Jesus' primary reason for coming to earth was not to show us what God looks like then what was it. I think it much more likely that he came to show us what it means to be human. He came to show us how to be more human.

Christmas time is often about family. I know that growing up in my family each person played a particular role defined by their birth order. The same is true in God's family and in the Christmas story. I want to look at what it means for God to send his Son.

In the Old Testament the phrase "Son of God" is first used to describe Israel. Israel was God's chosen people whose job it was to show the rest of creation what it meant to love and serve their heavenly Father. In their culture the father was the one who made plans for the family, and the first born was the son whose responsibility it was to act out those plans. Israel, the first born of man, held the task of being the image-bearers of God. They were to reflect God's image to the rest of the world. When Israel failed to live up to their occupation as image-bearers the God who was already active and moving in the world sent Jesus to fulfill the task of being first born Son.

So when we say Jesus is the Son of God, we are saying he is the first born son who came to act out the will of the Father. He came to do what humanity could not. He came to be the most human and perfect image-bearer of God. In embracing this task he became the necessary sacrifice for all mankind so that we may truly become sons and daughters of God and brothers and sisters with Christ. When Jesus claimed to be the Son of God he was accepting the full responsibility of being first born. Not in becoming God but in becoming human Jesus created the path so that all of us could journey together as the children of God.

Merry Christmas