SENDING

“No one can come to the Father who sent Me draws Him.”   John 6:44  NIV

How many of you were sent by your dad to do something?  Clean your room?  Pick up the backyard?  Go to school?  Find your best friend and ask forgiveness for an infraction which broke up the tight bond between you two?

Dads just send their children places – whether we agree it’s a good thing or not.  And a happy child is the obedient child.

Jesus was an obedient Son –

Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what he suffered.  Hebrews 5:8  NIV

As Jesus tells us in John 6:38 –

“I have come down from heaven not to do My will but to do the will of Him who sent Me.”

Jesus came and moved into our neighborhood (John 1:14 MSG) because of God’s great love for us – Jesus came because He was sent.

And if you think about so many people in the Bible, they too were at the LORD’s command.  Think about the shepherds in Bethlehem who were sent to find the baby Jesus.  The angel told them the Good News, and it was indeed good news for all men.

However they got there, if because of their obedience to the command or because of sheer curiosity - they went and beheld the Messiah.  The Father wanted them to know so He made it clear the objective as well as the command.  Through an angel, an angel choir, bright lights and just a wow of the night sky being lit up.

Joseph and Mary were sent to Bethlehem – most definitely not on their own accord but because of a decree for tax purposes.  Mary was far along in her pregnancy and the thought of riding on a donkey about 100 miles, ending up in a small village with no room at the inn – but a stable mind you.  But they went out of obedience.

The Magi were sent because they saw a star – the Star which led them to the Christ child.  King Herod tried to deter, or at least delay, the Wise Men who knew the stars and were fascinated by this new one.  God wanted these Gentile men to seek and find Jesus.  Because Jesus was:

A light for revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory to your people Israel.  Luke 2:31

God sent because He loves the whole world – all mankind.  He sent His Son because He gave us a piece of Himself.  God Himself gave us a sign – His only Son (Isaiah 7:14).

These are powerful verses packed full of meaning that will take a lifetime to learn and digest.  When just looking at the surface, we see the Father sending and people obeying.  But on a deeper level, each one of these sendings has a bigger and higher purpose for which we can only catch a glimpse of.

There are times we see through the glass dimly, and other times, when like the shepherds out in the fields at night, we are flooded with light.  Glorious light.

I do not know about you, but is God sending you somewhere?  Maybe not to a physical location, but to a time of suffering, reconciliation, a loss of some sort?  Or maybe to the manger where the obedience paid off in great dividends.  The shepherds got to see the baby Jesus – before the waiting world even heard the birth announcement!

Is God sending you to an answer to prayer you have been praying for and have just about given up hope for ever seeing the answer? 

God does not owe us anything – well except His wrath because we are a sinful people.  But because of His love, He sent His One and only Son to earth to die for the sin of mankind so that we may have eternal life with Him in heaven.

This is the best Christmas gift of all.

PRAYER

Father, thank You for Your gift of sending: Your Son, Your people, Your will.  Thank You for being so gracious, so merciful, so kind and so compassionate.  It is hard to fathom at times because it is so immense.  It is out of this world.  But I am so very thankful because I can have peace now and an eternal future later, with You.