Around 1535, the great Reformer Martin Luther wrote a hymn for his five-year-old son, Hans. It was apparently sung during the an­nu­al Christ­mas Eve fes­ti­val at the Lu­ther home. A man (dressed as an an­gel) would descend from a staircase and sing the open­ing verses. Then the child­ren and other guests would greet the heavenly messenger beginning with the verse, “Now let us all, with gladsome cheer.” May these beautiful words draw us to Jesus this Christmas.

From Heaven above to earth I come,
To bear good news to every home;
Glad tidings of great joy I bring,
Whereof I now will say and sing.

To you, this night, is born a Child
Of Mary, chosen mother mild;
This tender Child of lowly birth,
Shall be the joy of all your earth.

’Tis Christ our God, who far on high
Had heard your sad and bitter cry;
Himself will your Salvation be,
Himself from sin will make you free.

He brings those blessings long ago
Prepared by God for all below;
That in His heavenly kingdom blest
You may with us forever rest.

These are the tokens ye shall mark,
The swaddling clothes and manger dark;
There shall ye find the young Child laid,
By Whom the heavens and earth were made.

Now let us all, with gladsome cheer,
Follow the shepherds, and draw near
To see this wondrous Gift of God,
Who hath His own dear Son bestowed.

Give heed, my heart, lift up thine eyes!
What is it in yon manger lies?
Who is this Child, so young and fair?
The blessed Christ Child lieth there!

Welcome to earth, Thou noble Guest,
Through Whom e’en wicked men are blest!
Thou com’st to share our misery,
What can we render, Lord, to Thee!

Ah, Lord, who hast created all,
How hast Thou made Thee weak and small,
To lie upon the coarse dry grass,
The food of humble ox and ass.

Were earth a thousand times as fair,
Beset with gold and jewels rare,
She yet were far too poor to be
A narrow cradle, Lord, for Thee.

For velvets soft and silken stuff
Thou hast but hay and straw so rough,
Whereon Thou King, so rich and great,
As ’twere Thy heaven, art throned in state.

Thus hath it pleased Thee to make plain
The truth to us, poor fools and vain,
That this world’s honor, wealth and might
Are naught and worthless in Thy sight.

Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child,
Make Thee a bed, soft, undefiled,
Here in my poor heart’s inmost shrine,
That I may evermore be Thine.

My heart for very joy doth leap,
My lips no more can silence keep,
I too must sing, with joyful tongue,
That sweetest ancient cradle song.

Glory to God in highest Heaven,
Who unto man His Son hath given,
While angels sing, with pious mirth,
A glad New Year to all the earth.

This past week, I submitted an advertisement to the local newspaper for our upcoming Christmas services. I created the ad in Microsoft Publisher, but when it came time to email it, the Ad/Sales Department said they need to receive all ads in .pdf format. How do you create a .pdf document?

If you work with .pdf regularly and need lots of editing features, you may want to purchase Adobe Acrobat. But, in my case, I don’t need all those bells and whistles – just a simple program that creates .pdf documents. And Pdf995 does just that. The basic version can be downloaded for free and enables you to create your own .pdf files.

.Pdf files are very useful because they create high quality documents from any application and can be read on any computer with a PDF viewer (e.g. Adobe Reader). Here are a couple examples of how you might use Pdf995:

• Sharing a document with people who don’t own the original program. For example, not everyone owns Microsoft Excel, or Microsoft Publisher, but by making your document into a .pdf file, it creates a “snapshot” of your document that others can easily view. Our Christmas newsletter this year was made in Microsoft Publisher, and then converted it into .pdf before emailing it to everyone.

• Sharing a document with people who don’t have the same fonts installed on their computer. This is handy for desktop publishing, creating a class syllabus, or uploading an article to the internet.

So, how does Pdf995 work? After you download and install the driver and converter, just open whatever document you want to convert into a .pdf file. Then, click the “print” command, and select Pdf995 as your printer. The program will take a few seconds to process the request, then, voila! Your own .pdf file!

Fridays are often dedicated to practical church ministry issues. If you have a question or suggested topic for the future, please email me.

When Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, He did not surrender or compromise His Deity in any way. Instead, God the Son added something wonderful and entirely unexpected to His nature: He became a Man. The God-Man. This doctrine is called the “incarnation,” and a verse in the Christmas carol “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” expresses it well:

Christ, by highest heav’n adored, Christ, the everlasting Lord! Late in time behold Him come, offspring of the virgin’s womb. Veiled in flesh the God-head see; hail th’ incarnate Deity, pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel. Hark! the herald angels sing, “Glory to the new-born King.”

One of the key verses in the Bible that explains the incarnation is John 1:14: “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” In that lowly stable of Bethlehem, on the night of Jesus’ birth, three changes occurred that would forever change the world:

Immortal became Mortal. John says “And the Word became flesh.” Just as we use words to communicate our thoughts to others, so God used His “Word” to reveal His mind to humanity. This “Word,” of course, refers to Jesus Christ (cf. John 1:1, 17). D. A. Carson writes, “God’s ‘word’ in the Old Testament is His powerful self-expression in creation, revelation and salvation, and the personification of that ‘Word’ makes it suitable for John to apply it as a title to God’s ultimate self-disclosure, the person of his own Son.” Apart from Jesus Christ – the Word – it would be impossible for us to know God! But at the incarnation, the immortal Word of God took on mortal flesh. Though God could not die, Jesus could die. And this provided the means for His substitutionary death. Without the manger, there would have been no cross.

Heavenly became Earthly. After becoming flesh, this incarnate Word “dwelt among us.” The Son of God did not stop for a brief visit, but settled down to be with us. John pictures the Lord “pitching a tent,” dwelling in the midst of His people much like the tabernacle in ancient Israel. Jesus didn’t consider His glorious Deity and heavenly throne something to flaunt or cling on to, but humbled Himself to be like you and me (Phil. 2:6-7). As a human, He was tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15), thus succeeding where Adam had once failed (Rom. 5:18-19).

Invisible became Visible. In the second half of verse 14, the Apostle John gives an eyewitness testimony. He says with absolute certainty, “we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” In other words, when John and the other disciples saw the glory of Jesus Christ, it was just the kind of glory you would expect to see radiating from God’s one-and-only Son. Of course, the baby Jesus had no visible halo as many Christmas cards depict. Isaiah said “He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him” (Is. 53:2). However, there were certain times when Jesus pulled back the cloak of His humanity and let us gaze into His Divine glory. As John wrote these words, he undoubtedly thought back to that night on the Mount of Transfiguration when “the appearance of [Jesus’] face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming…but when [Peter, James, and John] were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him” (Lk. 9:28, 32). Finally, in Jesus Christ, the glory of the invisible God was put on display for all the world to see. And we are to radiate that glory today in the church (Eph. 3:21).

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift, and for His marvelous incarnation!

Matthew 5:14-16 says, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

When Natalie taught Kindergarten a few years ago, she taught her children the classic song, “This little light of mine.” Some of the other stanzas begin, “Hide it under a bushel? No!” and “Don’t let Satan (puff) it out.” But my wife and her co-teacher thought up a new stanza for this song: “Shine your light at Christmastime, I’m gonna let it shine.” I like that.

So, how are you letting your light shine this Christmas? Christmas is one of the best opportunities you will have all year to shine for Christ. Here are a few ideas:

• Invite a friend to church next Sunday. The North American Mission Board reported that 61% of Americans plan on attending a religious service this holiday. Maybe your friend is just waiting to be asked to come with you.
  
• Invite an unsaved friend to your house for dinner on Christmas
• Have an open house and invite some neighbors
• Include a Christmas tract in your Christmas cards, or smile and hand one out to the clerk while Christmas shopping. (It’s probably a little late to order for this year, but it’s something to keep in mind for the future.)

Any other suggestions out there? Just add a comment below. And be sure to shine your light at Christmastime!

Over Thanksgiving break, I finally saw the latest Pixar film, Ratatouille. It traces the life of a cute little rat name Remy who has a knack for cooking. Remy develops his culinary skills in a rural French home, but finally hits it big when he arrives at the famed restaurant Gasteau’s. As the film reaches a climax, the staff at Gasteau’s are challenged to please the highly critical palate of the food critic Anton Ego. And of course, they succeed. What does it take to please him? A savory dish of every child’s favorite meal – Ratatouille.

I’m sure that pleasing a food critic is quite an achievement. But what would it take to please the Apostle Paul? Although he didn’t give out compliments indiscriminately, apparently he was quite pleased with the church at Thessalonica.

In 1 Thessalonians 1:2-4, Paul says,

We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father, knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you;

These people weren’t perfect by any means. But they were showing remarkable progress for a church only one year old. Three virtues in 1 Thessalonians 1:3 stand out about this church that should distinguish each of our lives as well.

• “your work of faith” – We must place all of our faith, or trust, for eternal salvation in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And this faith should drive us to engage in the everyday ministries of a Christian. “Work” is a common word for business, activity, ministry, and task. So, whether it’s visiting a widow, or hosting a lunch, or leading a Bible study, our faith should drive us to regularly work and exercise our gifts.

• “and labor of love” – The word “labor” looks more at the effort and even pain sometimes required to fulfill an activity. It notices the sweat on the brow, strain on the muscles, groans from exhaustion, and wrinkles of concern. Sometimes ministry is hard work. But what motivates us to press on when times are tough is love – a love for God, and a love for others that actually puts their interests above our own.

• “and steadfastness of hope” – “Steadfastness” or “endurance” means to remain under pressure and keep bearing the weight, like a jack under the frame of a car. Only hope gives us endurance during life’s most difficult trials. Even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we don’t need to fear evil, for God is with us. We have absolute confidence in the second coming of Jesus Christ, our glorious resurrection, and the final judgment of all evil. That should cause us to endure!

Oh, that more of us would exemplify these precious virtues in our lives.