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Christmas hymn affirms true rest comes from Jesus

By Keith Getty
Special to Baptist Press

Charles Wesley is probably my biggest hymn-writing hero. He wrote the perfect hymn for every season, every celebration and every genre of Christian congregational worship. 

For Easter he wrote “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.” For Christmas he wrote “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” On the theme of redemption he wrote “And Can It Be.” No one can compete with him. 

His advent carol “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” contains a wonderful sense of bursting anticipation: 

Come thou long expected Jesus 

Born to set the people free 

From our fears and sins release us

Let us find our rest in Thee.

This sense of anticipation reminds us not only of the Israelites longing for their promised Messiah, their King, to set them free but also reminds us that we, in the midst of celebrating the birth of our Savior, are still waiting and anticipating and hoping for Christ’s return.

He is the long expected Jesus for both the Israelites in the past and for us in the present as we look with expectation to the future fulfilment of all God’s plans.

In the third and fourth lines of this first verse, the words fear and rest are juxtaposed reminding us that Christmas is often a time when our fears are amplified — our worries about our family or the future or our feelings of loneliness can all increase in the run up to Christmas. 

There is often an unspoken pressure that Christmas must be perfect and harmonious, a time when we can stop and rest and have a break from all the usual stresses of life. 

And yet the reality is that the Christmas holidays don’t always give us the reprieve that we long for — many of us continue to carry huge burdens and difficulties. 

This carol reminds us so beautifully that no matter what we are facing or how stressful our lives might be our true rest is found in Christ — rest from striving, rest from busyness but also rest for our souls, our bodies, our minds and rest from the fears and sins that so often keep us captive. 

Only Jesus can release us from our fears and sins and bring us the true rest we so desperately need. 

When I sing this song at our Christmas concerts, it’s just extraordinary to see the expressions of longing and anticipation on people’s faces as they sing these lines:

Israel’s hope and consolation 

Hope of all the earth thou art

Dear desire of every nation

Joy of every longing heart.

The promised Messiah was the consolation, the comfort, the solace of all of Israel and still today so many people are seeking consolation and comfort, often in the wrong things, but wonderfully these words assure us as the verse turns upward that Jesus is the joy of every longing heart.

So often at this time of year we are promised through the big brands and department stores that we will find fulfillment and joy through the gifts we give and receive — the more expensive the better! 

But it’s an empty promise and this carol brings us back to the truth that can so easily get lost in the midst of consumerism, busyness and striving — Jesus is the fulfillment of every desire. Jesus is the person in whom we find ultimate joy. 

Born Thy people to deliver

Born a child and yet a King

Born to reign in us forever

Now Thy gracious kingdom bring

By Thine own eternal Spirit

Rule in all our hearts alone

By Thine all-sufficient merit

Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

The carol finishes on a note of triumph and encourages us to look toward eternity. It reminds us that there is still a much bigger heavenly celebration to come. 

It encourages us to wait with expectancy, with longing and anticipation while at the same time calling us to recognize the joy and fulfillment that Jesus’ birth has already brought. 

EDITOR’S NOTE — Keith and Kristyn Getty are modern hymn writers whose compositions are sung the world over. For more information on Getty Music and the Sing! initiative, visit www.gettymusic.com.

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Rejoicing and giving

One Christmas song reminds us this is the most wonderful time of the year — and it is in many respects. 

Especially during this season we honor and recognize the birth of Jesus Christ — God becoming flesh in the person of our Lord and Savior.

As Alabama Baptists and Southern Baptists we have an opportunity to help others around the world hear the gospel by our support for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering (LMCO) for International Missions.

The International Mission Board (IMB) has a national goal of $165 million dollars. Alabama’s goal is $12 million.

Pam and I decided that our LMCO gift would be equal to the largest gift we make to anyone this Christmas — actually a little more. 

I would invite you to put the LMCO at the top of your gift list. If you do that your priorities are right in order.

Alabama Baptists are part of a wonderful missions team. We have a stellar leader in Paul Chitwood as IMB president. He is doing an excellent job and our missionaries are on the frontlines of service.

So let’s remember: It’s a time to rejoice but it’s also a time to give — the most wonderful time of the year.

—Rick Lance

EDITOR’S NOTE — Rick Lance is executive director of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.

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Letters to the Editor

The article in the Dec. 5 issue about Lineville Baptist Church’s missions partnership in Ireland got my attention as being very much like the Pickens Baptist Association’s many missions trips to Brazil. 

Many people have heard about Jesus but have never heard the truth of the gospel. 

These people are just as lost as people who have never heard the name of Jesus.

Several years ago we shared the gospel with a Brazilian man who said he had been going to church all his life but had never heard that Jesus could and would forgive his sins. 

God saved him that day! We have seen this same type thing in many parts of the world.

As David Platt has said, every saved person this side of heaven owes the gospel to every lost person this side of hell. We are the plan of God, and there is no plan B. The stakes in this spiritual battle are eternal.

Buddy Kirk
Carrollton, Ala.

It is very interesting that during the time we are emphasizing Kingdom expansion, being Great Commandment- and Great Commission-minded, and meeting the “Acts 1:8 Challenge” of reaching the lost, the ideas of J. Frank Norris and John R. Rice resurface in the minds of some people. 

Thank God for the Cooperative Program.

James Preachers
Enterprise, Ala.

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Do not try to keep Christmas without good will towards men.

Charles Spurgeon
Pastor and author

I had a dear friend who has passed, Grace Davis, who told me her morning prayer included a request to God to send someone she could help so she could have a blessing. I try each morning to follow her example and make that same request. I have found that it is easy to find opportunities to reach out in so many ways.

Peggy Tucker
via Facebook

I wish the church was as eager to offer redemption as the colleges were to hire a new coach. A losing coach can get fired, spend a year or two in “restoration” and they become the most sought after head guy.

Pastor Mickey Bell
Comedian and author

I firmly believe in the Bible. The Bible says you walk by faith and not by sight. I trust in the Lord.

Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa
University of Alabama  

We tend to dislike rules unless we are the rule-makers. It all began with Adam and Eve. We inherited their aversion to regulations. If we pick and choose our rules though, watch the chaos roll. How quickly we remember that strict adherence to the law makes us legalistic Pharisees.

 Jesus, however, didn’t attack the law but those who thought obedience to it made them right with God. It wasn’t the doing of the law that God wanted but the open heart behind the doing. Even Jesus asked for obedience from His disciples. “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Pursue the rule of love that Jesus introduced. It’s a good rule.

Darryl Wood
Retired pastor

While stores, as well as shopping habits, have changed, we still need many of the items they sell. Through the years, churches have changed too. Houses of worship are often larger, look different and have various styles of worship. Worship services are even delivered to our homes via television and internet. One thing remains the same — we need spiritual nourishment, which can be found only in God.

Director of Missions Bill King
Tuskegee Lee Baptist Association 

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From the Twitterverse

@DustyMcLemore

Someone asked Mother Teresa what could be done to promote world peace? She replied, “Go home and love your family!” If you want to change the world, start at home! #thewordforyoutoday

@BlalockMarshall

Churches must make missions personal because it is. There are no insignificant people. With over half of our Southern Baptist Convention churches not giving even one penny to Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, it’s time to make it personal. Will you make a personal commitment?

@KieBowman

She loved a man she couldn’t marry. She was a celebrated linguist when 19th century women didn’t go to college. She lived in obscurity and died penniless and malnourished weighing 50 pounds. But more than $4 billion has been given to missions in her name. Are you sure you know Lottie?

@NationalWMU

We were lost, wandering in despair and God came for us. God sees you! He loves you no matter what.

@MarcHodges3

Conferences are good. Cohorts and huddles are better. @PassionTreeNet and @RobertAtCCC in Alabama are doing a great work connecting and equipping pastors to #MakeDisciples.

@Rogerdwill

God is more concerned about who you are than what you do. If who you are does not please God, then what you do is virtually useless. — Stephen Olford

@wmbrown

Both @NAMB_SBC and @IMB_SBC are calling for more missionaries. But missionaries don’t grow on trees. What is your church doing to mobilize, identify and develop church planters and missionaries?

@davidcofield

“Prayer is the divine equalizer.  Some preach, others teach, a few sing publicly but all can pray.” — Dick Eastman