Column: 'That’s Baby Jesus in His car seat!’

Bo Wagner

By Bo Wagner

Published: Friday, December 7, 2012 at 08:51 AM.

We sometimes forget that not everyone knows all of the things that we take for granted, especially concerning the fact that according to John 1:14, God was made flesh, and dwelt among us. We celebrate this fact every year at this wonderful time that we call Christmas, but there are those who don’t quite have everything down pat yet when it comes to the birth of Christ.

My dear mom came to me laughing last week, telling me of a sweet scene that took place recently at another church in the area. A friend of hers has a precious three-year-old daughter named Vanessa. Little Vanessa went to Sunday school, and stared in wide-eyed wonder at the nativity scene there, especially at Baby Jesus in the manger. After class, the Sunday school teacher asked her, “Do you know what that is?” Vanessa confidently replied, “Yes, that’s Baby Jesus in His car seat!” Well now, that is about the sweetest, most precious thing I’ve heard in a long time!

That precious child will hopefully learn all about Christ and Christmas as she grows. But even here in the Bible belt, that is not a guaranteed thing. Fifteen years ago or so, in the early days of my church, I was bi-vocational. I owned and operated a store on Lafayette Street, and used the money both to support my family and to help the church get up and running.

In early December of that year, I was working very late one night, and there came a knock on the front door. I looked out and recognized a 13-year-old boy from just down the road in Ramblewood. He often came over looking for work, and if I had any odd job he could do, I would let him do it and pay him a few dollars. I opened the door, let the young man in, and told him that I didn’t have any work for him right then.

But then the Holy Spirit nudged my heart. I realized that I had never witnessed to the young man. So I asked him if he could answer a question for me. I asked him if he knew what Christmas was all about. His amazing answer to me was “No, I don’t have any idea what it’s about.”

We sat there in the little lobby, and I told him the entire Christmas story. I told him how man had fallen into sin, and that someone had to die to pay for those sins. I told him that whoever died to pay for those sins had to be perfect and sinless himself, or it wouldn’t count. I told him how, in order to accomplish the task of both being perfect and being able to die, God, who so loved the world, became flesh, being born of a virgin, fully God yet still fully human. I told him that Jesus came to Earth in the manger so that He could go to the cross and die, so that whoever would receive Him into their hearts could escape Hell and go to Heaven.

The young man left that night, and I wondered if he had understood all that I said. The very next night, there came another knock on my door. I looked out, and it was the same young man. But this time he had another young man of about the same age standing beside him. I opened the door and let them in, and the young man said “Hey, could you please tell him what you told me last night? He’s never heard it either!”

We sometimes forget that not everyone knows all of the things that we take for granted, especially concerning the fact that according to John 1:14, God was made flesh, and dwelt among us. We celebrate this fact every year at this wonderful time that we call Christmas, but there are those who don’t quite have everything down pat yet when it comes to the birth of Christ.

My dear mom came to me laughing last week, telling me of a sweet scene that took place recently at another church in the area. A friend of hers has a precious three-year-old daughter named Vanessa. Little Vanessa went to Sunday school, and stared in wide-eyed wonder at the nativity scene there, especially at Baby Jesus in the manger. After class, the Sunday school teacher asked her, “Do you know what that is?” Vanessa confidently replied, “Yes, that’s Baby Jesus in His car seat!” Well now, that is about the sweetest, most precious thing I’ve heard in a long time!

That precious child will hopefully learn all about Christ and Christmas as she grows. But even here in the Bible belt, that is not a guaranteed thing. Fifteen years ago or so, in the early days of my church, I was bi-vocational. I owned and operated a store on Lafayette Street, and used the money both to support my family and to help the church get up and running.

In early December of that year, I was working very late one night, and there came a knock on the front door. I looked out and recognized a 13-year-old boy from just down the road in Ramblewood. He often came over looking for work, and if I had any odd job he could do, I would let him do it and pay him a few dollars. I opened the door, let the young man in, and told him that I didn’t have any work for him right then.

But then the Holy Spirit nudged my heart. I realized that I had never witnessed to the young man. So I asked him if he could answer a question for me. I asked him if he knew what Christmas was all about. His amazing answer to me was “No, I don’t have any idea what it’s about.”

We sat there in the little lobby, and I told him the entire Christmas story. I told him how man had fallen into sin, and that someone had to die to pay for those sins. I told him that whoever died to pay for those sins had to be perfect and sinless himself, or it wouldn’t count. I told him how, in order to accomplish the task of both being perfect and being able to die, God, who so loved the world, became flesh, being born of a virgin, fully God yet still fully human. I told him that Jesus came to Earth in the manger so that He could go to the cross and die, so that whoever would receive Him into their hearts could escape Hell and go to Heaven.

The young man left that night, and I wondered if he had understood all that I said. The very next night, there came another knock on my door. I looked out, and it was the same young man. But this time he had another young man of about the same age standing beside him. I opened the door and let them in, and the young man said “Hey, could you please tell him what you told me last night? He’s never heard it either!”

I seem to recall crying myself to sleep that night – tears both of sadness and joy. Joy at being able to tell two young men the real reason for the season, and sadness that here, in the Bible Belt, in the shadow of two or three steeples, two teenage boys have never yet heard. Christians, we have some work to do. So in the midst of all of your shopping and eating and decorating this year, why don’t you do something? Why don’t you stop someone, maybe even a complete stranger, and ask them if they know what Christmas is all about? You may get a precious answer like that of little Vanessa, “That’s Baby Jesus in His car seat!” Or you may get the most amazing of opportunities; you may get to share the gospel with someone who has never heard.

Dr. Bo Wagner is pastor of the Cornerstone Baptist Church in Mooresboro.