JPK CNOOC-HCML-TAC KODEV 2013 Christmas & New Year Sermon
TO KNOW, TO LOVE, AND TO BE LIKE JESUS
“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family” – Romans 8:29 (NRSV).
How big is your family?
All of us have different answers to the question. Sometimes, especially in Indonesia, while family means extended family for some (that can include up to three generations), others will directly point to the core family members: parents and children. Whatever your answer may be, family is still a very important factor in one’s life.
In the 1920s, when the Batak people first migrated to Jakarta, they often bring three things: the bible, some money, and a paper with their family tree on it. The last item proved to be essential in their new place. People often became very close when they meet other people who happened to be on their family three. They often met the so-called “family member,” just because their great great grandfather is somehow related to the other person great great grandmother. For them, family is family.
Now we come to the question, what do you mean by family? What is family? A hit song by Sister Sledge said,
“We are family, I got all my sisters with me…Ev’ryone can see we’re together, as we walk on by… all of the people around us they say, can they be that close, just let me state for the record: We’re giving love in a family dose.”
Family, they said, is seen by the love that they show.
Paul wrote the letter to the congregations in Rome (Rm. 
to remind them that they are the adopted children of God (vv. 15-16), and that they are now the “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” (v. 17). As heirs, they, and we are too, will receive the blessings that God has provided. We are now in the same family as Christ. What Christ has received, we will also receive it.
However, being a family member also comes with responsibilities. Jewish tradition dictates that children have certain responsibilities in the family. One of which is that they have to defend the family honor. In some things, family honor is even more important that personal honor. We can compare this to the family relationship in Indonesia, where society (i.e. family) controls the individuals.
When Christ was born, he made us a family member of the Kingdom of God through the Spirit. His birth was a representation of that invitation to become the family member of God. The journey of the wise men showed that the invitation is not limited only to the Jews, but also to other people who came because they were drawn by the light. Here, the notion of “family” extended beyond blood relations. Family means everyone who can see the light and follow it.
There are three implications that we can learn from the explorations above.
First, to know Jesus. The invitation to become the family member of God is like an invitation to hope (v. 24). We must first know what kind of family we are entering. Nobody wants to become a part of something – long-term – that they didn’t know. So the first invitation in the spirit of Christmas is to get to know him. Who is Christ? This question becomes important since the spirit of Christmas as the birth of Christ is now somewhat changed into the spirit of Christmas as the day that Santa Claus brings gift. Can you see Christ in the Christmas celebration on the television, the malls, the posters, the celebrations and the discounts? Lately, the festivities are becoming Christ-less. We are celebrating Christmas without Christ, and that is why some people started writing “X-mas” because they do not want “Christ” in their “mas.” The invitation to know Jesus is very important. You have to first know him who was born for us.
Second, to love Jesus. After knowing who Christ is, we will definitely love him. However, love should be more than just words. Love is action. To love Christ is to be like him.
And now we come to the third message: to be like Jesus. Since we are now the children of God, let us also behave like one. We must have a change of heart through the spirit, in good times and bad times. This is why Paul said that “the suffering of the present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us” (v. 18). When we said that we love Christ, then we have to do good to other people, be honest in our work, help those in need, and become the light in our everyday life. It does sound like a tough job, but it comes with its perks: life everlasting with hope and peace.
Paul understands hope as something that he believed to exists and is different with daydream. Hope is something that is achievable and not impossible. When he says, “But if we hope for that we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (v. 25), it means that it is there but we just have not seen it with our eyesight. We are hoping in something that is there, but we just could not see it yet.
With this knowledge, that we are now the family member of God, we are entering 2014. Even in the face of a lot of uncertainties in 2014: Indonesian general election, the World Cup, global warming, etc., we are strong in hope.
As family member in our workplace, we are also asked to help other family members. See the people around you, and realize that they are your family as well. We can show that we love Christ by being like him and help the people who are around us. Amen.
Binsar Pakpahan
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