I watched a film with my kids last week called “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever”. The story is about a church in a small town which finds its very popular and perfectly presented annual children’s Christmas pageant threatened with disaster. The disaster comes in the form of the incursion of a family of six virtual orphans who are the local school terrors—neither the children nor the parents like or trust these kids an inch. These Herdman siblings push in on the pageant auditions to intimidate the other children, but they also become intrigued by the story of Jesus’ birth that it tells. Many of the church parents try to remove these children from the play and evict them from their lives.
Through the Herdman children’s attempts to play their parts and to grasp what the story means, the church community is forced to grasp afresh the meaning and purpose of the Christmas story. They had lost focus. Their concern had become preoccupied with the performance of the show and the orderly community they enjoyed. Through the unwitting involvement of the Herdman children it dawned on them that Jesus was a gift, and that this gift was for people like the Herdmans.
Some might find the story of the film a little trite, but it is a poignant reminder that we must never lose focus on the things that matter about our faith. Our focus must not be drawn away by church fixtures and programmes, exciting theology or trending podcast preachers. Instead, we must maintain focus on the God-defined reality of the life we share together.
The great truths of Christian faith must define us and be held forth by us. God is the centre of his universe, and we live in it. Sin is a real problem. Jesus died in our place. Jesus lives and reigns from heaven. Conversion is supernatural. The Spirit has bestowed on us more than we realise. The Father loves even the unlovable, and he has demonstrated that by giving his one and only Son. The Bible is God’s word to us. Faith and repentance and discipleship are required responses to the news of Jesus. The most important commandment is that we love God with everything we have. The second most important commandment is that we love our neighbours. The kingdom of God is coming whether we are ready or not.
Without these, Christian faith is less than it should be. Remember the core truths, and maintain focus. We evangelical Christians are people of the gospel. May we never be unfocussed evangelicals.