Scripture text: Luke 2:1-20
With all of the thoughts being offered as to what Christmas should, or shouldn’t, mean to the world, have you ever wondered just what it might have meant to God?
From an article in Perspectives, "Is this the birth of the most wanted child in the world or the most unwanted child in the world; was this the birth of the most unexpected child; the most dangerous child; the most needed child in the world." --Perspectives,
November 1995, 24
Non Christians, and I dare say especially atheists, would probably agree with all of the negatives, while Christians would claim the positives. But perhaps Jesus was all of these things for the people of earth. From God’s perspective, though, I believe that this was the birth of the most promised and glorious child in all the world – the culmination of promises given throughout the ages! Just think of all the prophesy that surrounds this day:
Isaiah 7:14-16 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel…..”
Isaiah 9:6-7 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace…..”
Daniel 7:13-14 “..I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was let into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power, all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him…”
Daniel 9:25-26 “From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty two ‘sevens…”
Micah 2:13 (The prophet is speaking of deliverance) – “One who breaks open the way will go up before them…”
Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”
Malachi 3:1 “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me, Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come….”
Luke 1:30-33 - Gabriel’s message to Mary
For over 700 years, God had been promising the people that Messiah was on the way – and He didn’t tell them just once, but over and over. Now, while God is timeless, and we like to think that He is devoid of all emotion, this great plan had been in place since before creation, and I don’t see how the Lord could possibly have been taking the culmination of this phase of His plan calmly. This radical departure from everything that humanity had known, or at least had thought about their God, was about to turn the world upside down. The sacrifices that were made by people of nearly every nation would soon loose their importance. The purpose of all the Laws that everyone knew were required in this life would soon be completely changed. The “arms length” relationship between the masses and God would soon become an everlasting embrace.
How could our Lord God Almighty not give a hardy “Yes!”?
Oh, He knew that the next phase would involve living intimately with the people, that Jesus would be teaching things that would be so very hard to accept and that many would not accept, that God Messiah would have to live 30 years in the flesh, experiencing all of the struggles and pains and temptations that humanity did, and that the next phase would cause such agony for them both that it would be nearly unbearable.
But for now, this entry of God into the physical world could be nothing short of absolute joy! We hear that joy in the words of the angel – “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people .. a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”
God with us – Immanuel! The plan had been set in motion and there was nothing that could stop it. God had been anticipating this day for millennia, and the prophet Jeremiah may have very well have been speaking of this when he related Yahweh’s words (29:11-14)“’I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord.”
God has a glorious plan, and it has to give Him great joy to see us “call upon Him”, to “come to Him”, “to pray to Him”, “to seek Him” and “to find Him”.” We can no longer say with any truth or certainty that God doesn’t understand us, or our situation, or our life, or our temptations, because He has lived them – every single one of them.
Harry R. Boer writes “The Point of Christmas, is that the simplest soul [is told] that God understands him. It tells us that God identifies with our problems, sorrows, hopes, frustrations, joys. God knows them not because God made us, not because God is all-knowing, but because God became a simple soul. God became a human being. God who is the ever-blest second Person of the Trinity, became a person.
--The Reformed Journal, December 1975, 2.
God has given us a gift that is unlike any other. He has given Himself, and we can do nothing to prove our worth of that gift – we can only accept it. And that is what will give our Lord the greatest joy this Christmas season – to see our wide eyed amazement when we discover the blessings that come in receiving His Good Work!
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
“God’s Will”
Text: Hebrews 10:5-14
There are still many people today who believe in the personal and physical sacrifice that is so pronounced in Judaism. You’ve heard them all - “We have to earn our place in heaven”, “We have to say prayers and offer sacrifice to become freed from the effects of our sin.”, “We have to please God before we will ever receive His benefits.”, “If we are good enough, God will accept us.”
The truth of the matter is that we can never do enough to earn our way into God’s heart, we can never pray enough or sacrifice enough to overcome the condemnation of our sin, if we have to convince God that we love Him as much as He loves us, it will never happen, and we can never ever be good enough, on our own, to enter into glory.
God’s grace and God’s overpowering mercy is the only way that any of this will ever come to be.
Read Hebrews 10:5-8
God’s Will, not ours. God’s Way, not the world’s.
Martin Thornton, in his book Spiritual Direction (Boston: Cowley, 1984), searches for a new vocabulary to describe the dynamics of how God operates in our spiritual lives. He suggests a three-fold pattern: God the Provider, God the Lover and God the Disturber. We like the first two. It's the third that we run from. (From Homeletics OnLine.)
Isn’t that true? We want to see our Lord as one who gives and gives and gives some more, and loves us in spite of what we do. We want Him to be loving, compassionate, all forgiving. We want Him to be the one who makes everything around us right! We do not want him to be the one who changes us, who makes us uncomfortable in our current situation, who waits for us to lay down our will and lean completely on His!
We want the Lord to make everything right in us, without requiring too many radical changes in our lives!
But the writer of Hebrews tells us that it is only God’s Will that can make us Holy – His Will!
Read Hebrews 10:9-10
Even Jesus came to do the Father’s Will. I don’t know about you, but this has been an issue of some consternation for me. Jesus had to do God’s will, but if He was God, why wasn’t it His will, too? Have you ever wondered about that?
The truth is that in becoming fully human - a being held in this mortal flesh - Jesus had to constantly return to the Father to know that He was on the right track. Why else would He need to sneak away for private prayer? Why else would He constantly seek His Father’s Will? Jesus, as a complete human being, even though He was also fully God, needed to seek God’s Will for His life, just as much as we do!
Obedience to God's will does not mean everything will go smoothly, that the wind will always be at our backs and that the journey will be easy. Jesus told his disciples to cross to the other side of the lake, even though he knew the wind would be working against them. Despite the wind's contrariness, they struggled on because they knew they were doing his will.
--Shawn Craig in Between Sundays, cited in Christianity Today, February 8, 1999, 72.
It was Jesus’ Will, because it was, first and foremost, God’s Will. Every Sunday morning, and more often, I hope, each of us prays “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.!”
I have never heard, and I have never seen, a single version of that prayer that includes “But from time to time, I will need to exert my will for my life!”
The old ways of sacrifice and self control and self achievement of God’s grace has come to an decisive end, and has been replaced by simply accepting God’s great gift to each of us, and in response to that gift, by seeking and following God’s will for our lives.
Read Hebrews 10:11-14
God’s Will was that He would offer the one and complete sacrifice that would break the hold that sin has on all of humanity. “By one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”
It isn’t those who are holy who have been made perfect – did you notice that? It is those who are being made holy who have already been made prefect! John Wesley used the words “going on to perfection”, and maybe he should have said “the perfect in Christ are going on to holiness”! Of course, it isn't our human life that becomes perfect - it is our spiritual life that receives His perfection. So, it seems that it all comes down to one question – have you accepted the one who offers you perfection?
Human efforts have been set aside because they are ineffective and wholly insufficient, and the only sacrifice that is effective and sufficient is the one that God Himself made on our behalf.
Isn’t it incredible that holiness actually comes from perfection? And that perfection comes perfectly to those in Christ Jesus? Not by our means but by God’s alone.
And that holiness began on that first Christmas so many years ago when perfection itself came to earth in the form of a bloody, noisy baby, mothered by an unwed teenage girl, in the humblest of all settings – a smelly, dirty cave that was home to a bunch of sheep and goats. Heaven’s perfection, right in the midst of our imperfection. God’s will taking precedence over human standards and desires. A small piece of heaven beginning the process of redeeming earthly life.
How could salvation not be God’s Will? And yet, there are those who steadfastly refuse to accept the gift. Oh, they like the earthly trappings and decorations of Christmas, they like the parties and gift giving, they may even reach out, as sanitarily as they can, to help someone in need, but they feel that they have no need for the One that this day is all about.
Holiness, come to bring perfection to all who will accept. Have you accepted the Infant gift that God has offered to all? Are you going on to holy perfection? It is God’s Will, you know! Why fight it?
There are still many people today who believe in the personal and physical sacrifice that is so pronounced in Judaism. You’ve heard them all - “We have to earn our place in heaven”, “We have to say prayers and offer sacrifice to become freed from the effects of our sin.”, “We have to please God before we will ever receive His benefits.”, “If we are good enough, God will accept us.”
The truth of the matter is that we can never do enough to earn our way into God’s heart, we can never pray enough or sacrifice enough to overcome the condemnation of our sin, if we have to convince God that we love Him as much as He loves us, it will never happen, and we can never ever be good enough, on our own, to enter into glory.
God’s grace and God’s overpowering mercy is the only way that any of this will ever come to be.
Read Hebrews 10:5-8
God’s Will, not ours. God’s Way, not the world’s.
Martin Thornton, in his book Spiritual Direction (Boston: Cowley, 1984), searches for a new vocabulary to describe the dynamics of how God operates in our spiritual lives. He suggests a three-fold pattern: God the Provider, God the Lover and God the Disturber. We like the first two. It's the third that we run from. (From Homeletics OnLine.)
Isn’t that true? We want to see our Lord as one who gives and gives and gives some more, and loves us in spite of what we do. We want Him to be loving, compassionate, all forgiving. We want Him to be the one who makes everything around us right! We do not want him to be the one who changes us, who makes us uncomfortable in our current situation, who waits for us to lay down our will and lean completely on His!
We want the Lord to make everything right in us, without requiring too many radical changes in our lives!
But the writer of Hebrews tells us that it is only God’s Will that can make us Holy – His Will!
Read Hebrews 10:9-10
Even Jesus came to do the Father’s Will. I don’t know about you, but this has been an issue of some consternation for me. Jesus had to do God’s will, but if He was God, why wasn’t it His will, too? Have you ever wondered about that?
The truth is that in becoming fully human - a being held in this mortal flesh - Jesus had to constantly return to the Father to know that He was on the right track. Why else would He need to sneak away for private prayer? Why else would He constantly seek His Father’s Will? Jesus, as a complete human being, even though He was also fully God, needed to seek God’s Will for His life, just as much as we do!
Obedience to God's will does not mean everything will go smoothly, that the wind will always be at our backs and that the journey will be easy. Jesus told his disciples to cross to the other side of the lake, even though he knew the wind would be working against them. Despite the wind's contrariness, they struggled on because they knew they were doing his will.
--Shawn Craig in Between Sundays, cited in Christianity Today, February 8, 1999, 72.
It was Jesus’ Will, because it was, first and foremost, God’s Will. Every Sunday morning, and more often, I hope, each of us prays “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.!”
I have never heard, and I have never seen, a single version of that prayer that includes “But from time to time, I will need to exert my will for my life!”
The old ways of sacrifice and self control and self achievement of God’s grace has come to an decisive end, and has been replaced by simply accepting God’s great gift to each of us, and in response to that gift, by seeking and following God’s will for our lives.
Read Hebrews 10:11-14
God’s Will was that He would offer the one and complete sacrifice that would break the hold that sin has on all of humanity. “By one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”
It isn’t those who are holy who have been made perfect – did you notice that? It is those who are being made holy who have already been made prefect! John Wesley used the words “going on to perfection”, and maybe he should have said “the perfect in Christ are going on to holiness”! Of course, it isn't our human life that becomes perfect - it is our spiritual life that receives His perfection. So, it seems that it all comes down to one question – have you accepted the one who offers you perfection?
Human efforts have been set aside because they are ineffective and wholly insufficient, and the only sacrifice that is effective and sufficient is the one that God Himself made on our behalf.
Isn’t it incredible that holiness actually comes from perfection? And that perfection comes perfectly to those in Christ Jesus? Not by our means but by God’s alone.
And that holiness began on that first Christmas so many years ago when perfection itself came to earth in the form of a bloody, noisy baby, mothered by an unwed teenage girl, in the humblest of all settings – a smelly, dirty cave that was home to a bunch of sheep and goats. Heaven’s perfection, right in the midst of our imperfection. God’s will taking precedence over human standards and desires. A small piece of heaven beginning the process of redeeming earthly life.
How could salvation not be God’s Will? And yet, there are those who steadfastly refuse to accept the gift. Oh, they like the earthly trappings and decorations of Christmas, they like the parties and gift giving, they may even reach out, as sanitarily as they can, to help someone in need, but they feel that they have no need for the One that this day is all about.
Holiness, come to bring perfection to all who will accept. Have you accepted the Infant gift that God has offered to all? Are you going on to holy perfection? It is God’s Will, you know! Why fight it?
Sunday, December 6, 2009
“The Good Work Has Begun!”
Scripture Text Philippians 1:3-11
Theologian Matthew Fox tells the story of a Catholic Sister in Chicago who worked with women in prison. She told the women she had funds which could either get them a good lawyer to review their cases and possibly get them out sooner; or she could bring in a welder to teach them welding so they could have a skill when they were released; or she could get a dancer and a painter to come teach them to dance and paint.
Ninety-five percent chose the dancer or painter. Why? Because they said it would be the first time in their lives they would have a chance to express themselves. The oppressed and imprisoned and dispossessed need more than money or food or freedom. They also need creativity and self-expression.
--from a tape on “Art, Spirituality and Social Justice” as quoted in Nena Bryans,
Full Circle: A Proposal to the Church for an Arts Ministry
(San Carlos, CA: Schuyler Institute for Worship and the Arts, 1988),30-31.
Isn’t that interesting? Of the 3 options, this is the last one that I thought they would choose. A legal advisor to get their sentence reduced, or possibly even overturned? Isn’t freedom the most tempting of the 3? But what about job training? Many people who are in prison are either unemployed at the time of their arrest, or else will never be able to return to their old jobs when they are released. Isn’t a marketable skill important in the rehabilitation process? But I would never have seen the arts as a desirable choice! It would seem that goodness and worth actually goes beyond human definition – it goes to a value that rises up above the things of earth.
Read Philippians 1:3-6
Good works aren’t defined by the human experience. Paul is telling us that it is the work of Christ that characterizes the best that is in us, and that it isn’t even ourselves who have conceptualized these “good works”. All good things are of God, and created by God, and begun by God, and none of it is of us – we are simply the messenger, the delivery service, if you will, for the good works of the LORD God Almighty.
It’s also interesting that Paul says “I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel”. Paul - that arrogant young man who had been appalled by the blasphemy that he saw in those first followers of Jesus. Paul - a staunch believer that Jews were good and every one else was worthless,. And this same Paul was now proclaiming joy in being partnered with both of these groups. His arrogance and self centeredness was gone. It was no longer about him – it was now about Jesus Christ! The church of today could learn a lot from this simple verse.
Read Philippians 1:7-8
And he isn’t simply working alongside the others in ministry – there is a genuine affection for his brothers and sisters. How did this huge change come to be? It was the “good work” of Jesus Christ that had filled him, and now was busting out all over! For Paul, it didn’t even matter if he was in prison, or being beaten, or making tents, or reaching out to the lost and hurting, or traveling some dusty road, or sharing his story about discovering Christ in his life
For him, it is all about preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. All too often, the Church of today gets lost in the innuendos and minutiae of denominational differences. We can’t work with the Catholics because they put too much emphasis on Mary. We can’t work with the Southern Baptists because they don’t give any value to women. We can’t work with the Presbyterians because they think that God has already decided who is going to be saved and who is to be condemned to hell. We can’t work with the Episcopalians because they ordained a gay bishop. Now in all honesty, I don’t see a lot of this attitude here, but believe me, it permeates the Church.
But what ever happened to Jesus? Have we, sometime during the last 2,000 years, drawn and quartered the Lord, with each of us taking a little bit of Him for our selves, claiming that we have gotten the best part? The denominational church of the 21st century has, somehow, moved humanity to the first position and Jesus to the 2nd. So much for the “good work” (singular!) that God has begun in us!
When will we begin to give God the credit for the things that we are able to do?
When will we give the headship of the church back to Christ?
When will we begin to long, and pray, for a unified church “with all the affection of Christ Jesus”?
Read Philippians 1:9-11
“That our love (our goodness – our good works) may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.”
The good work that Christ has begun in each of us can only grow and blossom as we become more and more attuned to the workings of Christ. We study God’s word. We pray, not only for situations and people, but for ministry and personal direction. We strive to understand His ways. We give ourselves over to the leading and indwelling of His Spirit. And it is all with a joy filled heart and spirit – never out of obligation.
And even as we readily admit that our love of Christ is imperfect, that our understanding of His Ways and desires for us is insufficient, that even on our good days we miss His best; regardless of where we are, that “good work” has begun. And the whole deal began 2,000 years ago, in the womb of a teenage virgin. It began within one of us and has spread to all of us! And whether we are in one of our best days, or stumbling through a very dark day, Christ’s goodness can still shine through us if we let it.
During this Christmas season, will the best of Christ shine through each of us? Will we give the glory and praise of our lives to God? Will the “good work” that the Lord has begun in us be wasted, or will we “carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
It’s our choice. Which will it be? Will you choose a benefit of earth, or will you express yourself for Jesus?
Theologian Matthew Fox tells the story of a Catholic Sister in Chicago who worked with women in prison. She told the women she had funds which could either get them a good lawyer to review their cases and possibly get them out sooner; or she could bring in a welder to teach them welding so they could have a skill when they were released; or she could get a dancer and a painter to come teach them to dance and paint.
Ninety-five percent chose the dancer or painter. Why? Because they said it would be the first time in their lives they would have a chance to express themselves. The oppressed and imprisoned and dispossessed need more than money or food or freedom. They also need creativity and self-expression.
--from a tape on “Art, Spirituality and Social Justice” as quoted in Nena Bryans,
Full Circle: A Proposal to the Church for an Arts Ministry
(San Carlos, CA: Schuyler Institute for Worship and the Arts, 1988),30-31.
Isn’t that interesting? Of the 3 options, this is the last one that I thought they would choose. A legal advisor to get their sentence reduced, or possibly even overturned? Isn’t freedom the most tempting of the 3? But what about job training? Many people who are in prison are either unemployed at the time of their arrest, or else will never be able to return to their old jobs when they are released. Isn’t a marketable skill important in the rehabilitation process? But I would never have seen the arts as a desirable choice! It would seem that goodness and worth actually goes beyond human definition – it goes to a value that rises up above the things of earth.
Read Philippians 1:3-6
Good works aren’t defined by the human experience. Paul is telling us that it is the work of Christ that characterizes the best that is in us, and that it isn’t even ourselves who have conceptualized these “good works”. All good things are of God, and created by God, and begun by God, and none of it is of us – we are simply the messenger, the delivery service, if you will, for the good works of the LORD God Almighty.
It’s also interesting that Paul says “I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel”. Paul - that arrogant young man who had been appalled by the blasphemy that he saw in those first followers of Jesus. Paul - a staunch believer that Jews were good and every one else was worthless,. And this same Paul was now proclaiming joy in being partnered with both of these groups. His arrogance and self centeredness was gone. It was no longer about him – it was now about Jesus Christ! The church of today could learn a lot from this simple verse.
Read Philippians 1:7-8
And he isn’t simply working alongside the others in ministry – there is a genuine affection for his brothers and sisters. How did this huge change come to be? It was the “good work” of Jesus Christ that had filled him, and now was busting out all over! For Paul, it didn’t even matter if he was in prison, or being beaten, or making tents, or reaching out to the lost and hurting, or traveling some dusty road, or sharing his story about discovering Christ in his life
For him, it is all about preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. All too often, the Church of today gets lost in the innuendos and minutiae of denominational differences. We can’t work with the Catholics because they put too much emphasis on Mary. We can’t work with the Southern Baptists because they don’t give any value to women. We can’t work with the Presbyterians because they think that God has already decided who is going to be saved and who is to be condemned to hell. We can’t work with the Episcopalians because they ordained a gay bishop. Now in all honesty, I don’t see a lot of this attitude here, but believe me, it permeates the Church.
But what ever happened to Jesus? Have we, sometime during the last 2,000 years, drawn and quartered the Lord, with each of us taking a little bit of Him for our selves, claiming that we have gotten the best part? The denominational church of the 21st century has, somehow, moved humanity to the first position and Jesus to the 2nd. So much for the “good work” (singular!) that God has begun in us!
When will we begin to give God the credit for the things that we are able to do?
When will we give the headship of the church back to Christ?
When will we begin to long, and pray, for a unified church “with all the affection of Christ Jesus”?
Read Philippians 1:9-11
“That our love (our goodness – our good works) may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.”
The good work that Christ has begun in each of us can only grow and blossom as we become more and more attuned to the workings of Christ. We study God’s word. We pray, not only for situations and people, but for ministry and personal direction. We strive to understand His ways. We give ourselves over to the leading and indwelling of His Spirit. And it is all with a joy filled heart and spirit – never out of obligation.
And even as we readily admit that our love of Christ is imperfect, that our understanding of His Ways and desires for us is insufficient, that even on our good days we miss His best; regardless of where we are, that “good work” has begun. And the whole deal began 2,000 years ago, in the womb of a teenage virgin. It began within one of us and has spread to all of us! And whether we are in one of our best days, or stumbling through a very dark day, Christ’s goodness can still shine through us if we let it.
During this Christmas season, will the best of Christ shine through each of us? Will we give the glory and praise of our lives to God? Will the “good work” that the Lord has begun in us be wasted, or will we “carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
It’s our choice. Which will it be? Will you choose a benefit of earth, or will you express yourself for Jesus?
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