VIP Ministry Network

Christmas Eve Service: “Build a family of God!”

Why did God choose to be born through the Virgin Mary?

God can create a human being out of nothing. It is not impossible for God to create life in a woman’s womb! Our question should not be whether it is possible for a woman to have a baby without a man; rather, it should be: what is the meaning of life without human effort.

God chose the Virgin Mary to create a new kind of family. Many human tragedies are related to the narrow concept of “my family” that has something to do with bloodlines. Nations and tribes have struggled to keep their bloodlines pure, excluding other races, tribes, and families. When Jesus was born from the Virgin Mary, God declared that now Jesus would start a new kind of family, God’s family.

Everybody is welcome here, if he or she accepts this new family

John declared that in the beginning there was the Word and the Word was God. In the Word there was life and the life was the light. This life, this light, this Word was for everybody. However, some people tried to monopolize the life, the light, and the Word. Some claimed that they were the chosen ones.

However, listen to the Word of God: “To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” Now our biological line is not important anymore. God created a new family who gathered around faith, not blood.

Jesus was not Joseph’s son.  The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

Jewish people waited for the Son of David, the Messiah. They dreamt of restoring the Davidic Kingdom for the chosen people. However, God did not send a son through the biological bloodline of David. The Bible says, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus had to be born from the Father through the Virgin Mary.

Are you lonely? Make our church your family!

Sometimes, our elderly members feel lonely. Their children are busy or poor and cannot come to see them. However, they do not have to stay lonely because we are all one family.

When I spent my first Christmas here in the U.S. A. I knew that my biological family members were far away, but I found that my church family members were only one phone call away. I laughed with them, and I cried with them. My church family was there when I had hard times and when I celebrated successes.

Who is my family?

When Jesus was visited by his mother and brothers while he was preaching, Jesus asked this question, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers/sisters! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:33-35)

Then at the Cross, when Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home (John 19:26-27).

As followers of Jesus, we are all called to build this new family.  Recently, the CEO of a large company donated 99% of his money to the children of the world when his daughter was born. He knows that we need to build a world family that is bigger than our biological, tribal, racial, and ethnic family.

We are all called to build God’s Family.

These days, people use the term “Kindom of God” instead of “Kingdom of God.” God is not our King but our Father. We are not just citizens of His Kingdom, but we are all children in God’s family. Let us pray for one big family of God where all the races, peoples, cultures, and tribes get together and love each other. You are my fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters. You are my family!