Intro
Mistreatment of others is a hallmark of every nation on earth. Legislators may try to make laws to prevent it but even their laws are at times responsible. Does the message of our Savior’s birth give us any hope?
Why
I hope that this message helps us recognise humanity’s mistreatment of others and how Jesus is our only hope.
Plan
We will look at two areas of abuse in our world, foreigners and innocent children.
The Bible and Foreigners
Jesus was a foreigner in Egypt and later in Nazareth. Under God’s law, uncircumcised foreigners did not have the privilege of citizenship like eating the Passover or being king. Citizens could not be charged interest but foreigners could. But in every other way foreigners were not to be mistreatedin any way, not oppressed, must be given the same poverty relief as a native born citizen, live the the same legal standards, and the same loving care as native born Israelites. God watches for the welfare of the foreigner and other disadvantaged groups. God will bless a people that does not oppress the foreigner. In the New Testament we are told that God will speak the Gospel through foreigners, but Christians of all nations are not foreigners to each other, though foreigners to the world with their citizenship in heaven.
Killing our children
One of the saddest stories of Christmas is the murder of the children (Matthew 2:13-23), yet we are no different. We decry the senseless murder of innocent children at a school and the perverted treatment of little ones in child porn and then turn a blind eye to the greatest abuse of our children, abortion. Legitimate medical reasons for choosing between a child's life and its mother’s exist, but we kill innocent children mostly for convenience. We are a terribly hypocritical uncivilized peoples. We abhor rape and rightly have sympathy for our women. Yet we also punish the wrong people, the innocent children who had nothing to do with the crime, but are just as much victims as the mothers were. We decry all kinds of terrorism except our own homegrown terrorism against the innocents. When will we stop!
Outro
Jesus came to offer forgiveness and salvation from these and other sins. Humanity cannot solve its own problems. That’s why the world needs a Savior.
