The last time we met here, we thought a little about miracles. Jesus performed many miracles during his life on earth, some that are recorded in the Bible. The dictionary says a miracle is, “a visible interruption of the laws of nature, understood only by divine intervention and often accompanied by a miracle worker”. We also considered how God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. I hope you have been considering those thoughts and are ready to take that one step further.

In his book, Christmas is Not Your Birthday, Experience the Joy of Living and Giving Like Jesus, Rev. Mike Slaughter says, “Grace may be free, but it is never cheap.” Miracles come at a cost. Can you imagine the ostracism and rejection that Mary experienced as an unwed teenager?” . . . “At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of the Messiah, who was born not only to die sacrificially for us, but also to show us how to live sacrificially. Sacrifice is not a pleasant word for most of us. Just the idea of it can make us uncomfortable. So it’s not surprising that, . . . most folks would rather have a holly, jolly Christmas than to give themselves for an honest-to-God Christmas miracle.”

But wait, let’s go back a moment to our original question: What would Jesus want me to do for His birthday? Wouldn’t it depend on how Jesus defined his mission? Jesus’ mission centers on three Biblical mandates: The Great Requirement, The Great Commandment, and the Great Commission. I hope all these sound familiar to you, but in case they don’t, let’s read them together.

The Great Requirement: Micah 6:8 – “He has shown all you people what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

The Great Commandment: John 15:12-13 – “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

The Great Commission: Matthew 28:18-20 – “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

What kind of things is Jesus looking for us to do for him? Another direct clue is in Matthew 25:34-36 –“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “

When asked when his followers did these things for Jesus, his reply was, v.40 –“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

Now that we have a good recollection of the ministry mandates Jesus set for himself and for us, what do we need to do? Some of you may be thinking, well, it would be a miracle if I could follow all of those! Yes, I agree. Except by the grace of the Holy Spirit, we cannot and will not.

But not so fast! Maybe by the will of God, we can be a part of this Christmas miracle. Think what are the needs you see in our communities? How could we be a part of the solution? Every new way to meet the needs of the least, the last and the lost must start somewhere. This is where the sacrifice may come in. God may be laying on your heart a special need you know you can help take care of. It may take time or money or both.

Here is the challenge Mike Slaughter put before his church members and friends. “We too are called to give ourselves sacrificially with Christ for the world God loves. More of him and less of us. More for him and less for us. Such sacrifice is paradoxical because the more of ourselves that we give away, the more abundant our faith and our contentment will be with what we have.”

This is the challenge they asked of their church members and we could consider, too: to commit to giving an equal amount of money to a ministry that would honor Jesus to that which we spend on our family and friends for Christmas. And if we cannot make that commitment change all in one year, could we keep increasing that amount until you do? After all, Christmas is not our birthday; it is Jesus’ birthday. How will we honor him this year?

Written to God’s honor and glory.