Month: January 2021

Bounce Back to Prayer

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(Ephesians 3:14-21)

When we bounce back to the Word, to our baptism, and to witness, we hear and are reminded of who God is and what he has done for us, and we pass that on to others. We see the value he attaches to us in his willingness to sacrifice his Son. And all of these things are enough to give us a window into God’s heart to see his true colors and how deeply loved we are. And if we had just that and nothing more, it would be magnificently more than we’d ever need or deserve! But God outdoes himself. He isn’t content simply to reveal his own heart to us; he wants to know what’s on our hearts as well. If it’s too trite to say that Christianity isn’t a religion – it’s a relationship, then maybe we can at least agree that it’s a religion that is all about our relationship with God. He craves a connection with us that surpasses the status of mere acquaintance or association. So he invites us to pray. He delights in hearing our prayers. Let us then bounce back to prayer.

How do you feel about prayer? Does the general thought of prayer comfort you? Is it a treasured blessing? Likely you will agree that it is. But if I ask more specifically about your particular prayer life maybe your feelings change a bit. When I ask that question, be honest – does the thought of your prayer life make you tense up just a little, as if I just added one more item to your checklist that you already feel guilty for not accomplishing enough? Does the topic of prayer drum up more feelings of guilt than grace? I ask because when the topic of prayer comes up with Christians, it frequently seems to be followed by a sense of apology or regret over our prayer lives.  

If so, then we have some work to do. Let’s start by asking ourselves a question: what would your prayer life have to look like in order for prayer not to be a source of guilt? Is it a matter of quantity? If you prayed more, would you feel less guilty? OK, then – how much would you have to pray for you to not feel guilty? Several times a day? Throughout the day? Several hours a day? If it isn’t a matter of quantity or frequency of prayer, then is it quality that has you feeling guilty? Do you feel like your prayers don’t have much substance to them, that they’re not “churchy” or “religious” enough (whatever that means!)?  

You really need to think through the answer to this question, because if you don’t, prayer and guilt will always go hand-in-hand. But here’s the real reason: if you view prayer as a performance by which to please God, you’ll always feel guilty – and frankly, you should! Because if our relationship with God is based on pleasing him with our performance, then we will always fall woefully short. We will never measure up in any way, including our prayers. 

So again – and stop me if it sounds like I’m a broken record here – bounce back to the Word and to your baptism. God does not base his relationship with you or his interest in you on your performance; he bases it on Jesus’ performance. And his was perfect. Yours never will be, so stop pretending your connection with God is based on something he needs from you. He already has what he needs in his perfect Son; he needs nothing from you – including your prayers. 

But he does want them. Do you see the difference between needing and wanting? If he has what he needs in Christ’s perfection, then he doesn’t need your prayers. But he wants them. He wants to bend his ear to you. He wants to be your go-to. He wants to show you how good and gracious he is. He wants to demonstrate his superiority to anything else that might make a play for first place in your heart. He wants to satisfy you in ways the world never can. 

Do you sense that Paul was very much aware of God’s desire and ability to do so? He knows full well what he’s tapping into when he taps into God’s power through prayer. “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power…” and “to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:16, 20). God is not living below the poverty line. He’s nowhere near middle class, even. The means God has at his disposal to answer prayer are beyond what we could ever comprehend. He is able to answer prayers in such monumental ways that our limited minds aren’t even able to think to ask! So the issue will never be one of our asking too much of God, but rather never asking enough of him. 

Elon Musk was recently crowned the wealthiest man on the planet. Suppose he wanted to showcase how wealthy he was by stating that he was going to pick one lucky person and grant that one person whatever he asked, no matter how much it cost. When the moment of truth comes and that individual reveals his request, he asks for – drumroll, please… a Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwich. Now I don’t care how good a chicken sandwich is – when the richest man on the planet invites you to ask for anything you want and you ask him for a sandwich, not only is there something wrong with you, but the other – the bigger issue – is that you’ve just insulted his wealth and generosity. What a slap in the face to the world’s richest man to be robbed of the opportunity to display his wealth and generosity!

So then, tell me again why we ask so little of the God who owns the deed to everything on the planet, the planet itself, along with the entire universe? Why do we rob him of the opportunity to display that wealth and generosity? What do we really think of him if he invites us to come in his name and ask him for anything and we either ask infrequently, sporadically, or for so little? How we insult him with our infrequent, small-minded requests in our prayers! Forgive us, Lord, for thinking so little of you!

To help us put it into perspective, suppose I told you that when you get home today, Amazon is having a 24-hour window for you to order anything you want, as much as you want, for absolutely nothing. While I would like to think all of you would at least stick around for the whole service, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if some of you immediately pulled out your phone and started ordering. There’s not a single one of us who would not spend the better part of the next 24 hours ordering everything under the sun – if not for you, then to meet the needs of other people.

Of course that’s too good to be true. But you know what isn’t? Taking those requests to God, “who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (v.20). Amazon has limitations – believe it or not there are still plenty of things you can’t buy on Amazon. Yet there is nothing God cannot provide, and his window of provision isn’t limited to 24 hours.

Neither is his window of provision limited to physical things. There are just some things that only God can provide. Try searching Amazon for consolation when a loved one dies. You won’t find it. Neither will you find any deals of the day on forgiveness for your past wrongs. You won’t find contentment with the click of a button. The peace to let go of when others have wronged you will never show up in the search bar. Yet God can grant all of this and so much more… if we ask him. 

You know what I find amazing about reading any of Paul’s letters when he touches on prayer? Physical requests are the last thing on his mind, and yet if anyone could have used prayers for physical things, surely it was Paul! Hi concerns are not based on the physical stuff, but the spiritual. No “pray that I get out jail” or “pray that I don’t get beaten again” or “pray that I don’t suffer” or “pray that I have enough clothing and food” Even though these were all constant struggles for Paul, his letters don’t waste any words asking his listeners to pray for his physical health or well-being, but always on the gospel and spiritual things. He doesn’t ask God to remove his suffering, but rather thanks God for using it to spread the gospel!

And before us in his letter to the Ephesians he does the same. The whole prayer here is for the spiritual growth and vibrant faith of the Ephesians! He prays for them to be strengthened with power through the Holy Spirit so that Jesus might take up permanent residence in their hearts. He prays that the roots of Jesus’ love would be anchored in their hearts to grasp how all-encompassing his love for them really is – a love that goes beyond just head knowledge. He prays that that might happen so that they might be filled to the brim with God. 

What if your prayer life reflected this approach for a week? a month? the rest of the year? For many of us, it’d be a big shift in the way we pray. Less of the physical – jobs, relationships, health, finances – and more of the spiritual – depth of faith, Christ-like love for others, peace that really does defy understanding – but can absolutely be experienced, patience in an impatient world, compassion and contentment, joy in my identity in Christ, self-control that can say no to physical temptations, overwhelming gratitude, a forgiving heart, Godly wisdom, etc. Yes, let us bounce back to prayer the way Paul did – with a kingdom focus – and experience first-hand how much easier we find it to be OK even when life isn’t. 

Bounce Back to Witness

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(John 1:43-51)

A part of embracing our identity is telling others who we are and what we’ve seen. We become increasingly secure in that identity through our time in the Word and as we recall our baptism. Bounce back to those frequently and you will become much more clear and confident in who you are, and OK when life isn’t. But, like at the end of an infomercial, “wait, there’s more!” While the Word and your baptism clearly and repeatedly remind you you are a child of God, we reflect that and reinforce it when we verbalize it to others.

What difference might it make if we shifted the way we think about evangelism and the role of a witness from something we do to something we are? The Word and our baptism provide us with a rock-solid identity that isn’t based on performance or approval ratings. Because of everything that Jesus has done for me, my identity has changed. I am a child of God, bought and paid for with the blood of Jesus. And a part of that identity means that I am also a witness. Another way of saying it is that I am a disciple. Another way of saying it is I am a disciple who makes disciples. That is when it starts to click, when witnessing isn’t merely something some Christians do and others don’t, but is rather who we are. When it becomes as natural as breathing air. When it becomes second nature that we don’t overthink it or talk ourselves out of it, but becomes as routine and habitual as brushing our teeth. Of course it’s far more effective than just keeping cavities at bay; it’s effective at keeping souls from being lost. 

Notice how it happened as John recorded it. Philip followed Jesus. Rejoicing in who he was, he invited others to follow who he had found. And his invitation couldn’t have been simpler: “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” (v.46). Not complicated at all. Philip was just sharing what he had discovered, something that we typically do without even giving it even a second thought. He found the Savior and he told Nathanael about it. This is simple. It’s easy. But what happened next was terrifying. Absolutely mortifying. It must have been Philip’s worst nightmare come true. Nathanael pushed back.

Ugh. How deflating! How debilitating! Nathanael didn’t simply respond the way we wish everyone would, with a “That’s great – tell me more! I am so interested in what you’re telling me! Is there a service or a class I could join you at?” No, instead he responded in a way that resonates very strongly with us: Nathanael threw up the smokescreen. “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” (v.46). Nathanael honed in on one little detail of Philip’s good news and missed the forest for the trees. He blew right past Philip’s elation at having discovered the Messiah and sought to detour their dialogue by focusing on Nazareth.

Anyone who has ever witnessed to others has had a relatable experience in one way or another. The testimony of who Jesus is and what a difference he makes or the invitation worship or some other function is met with an attempted detour. “Organized religion isn’t for me.” “The church has done a lot of damage throughout history.” “You really believe in a book that was written by a bunch of old men thousands of years ago?” What then happens we can feel compelled to take that detour and end up in a discussion that is a far cry from both where we started and where we wanted to go. We address one of many symptoms of the problem and not the problem itself. We chase down the rabbit hole and then walk away frustrated because we didn’t successfully or adequately address the detour raised by the other person. It can take the wind right out of our sails. It can be deflating. But, and while I don’t mean to downplay or dismiss our need to and the benefit of getting better at being able to discuss those detours, there is a better way; a way that each and every one of us can carry out. 

Philip’s response demonstrated that way, and it couldn’t have been simpler: “Come and see” (v.46), he said. Not complicated at all. Consider how powerful that invitation is, and why it is so effective. While we may occasionally express our satisfaction with a service or a product for somewhat trivial reasons, the most compelling reason we’ll ever become vocal about something is because we had a positive personal experience with it. Inviting someone to come and see is essentially saying, “Don’t take my word for it – see for yourself.” It is an invitation to test-drive what we’re talking about, an invitation to experience a risk-free trial. That’s why free trials are so popular today! This approach provides another benefit. In addition to taking the burden off of us in having to convince someone else, the best reason for taking this approach is that it lets Jesus do the work. 

Too often we place the responsibility of building Christ’s Kingdom on our own shoulders. Not only is that an uphill battle, it’s impossible. You don’t build Christ’s Kingdom; he does. Remember that Jesus is the one who did the work in you and me. Jesus is the one who continues to do the work in you and me. Let him do the work in others.

Otherwise, our zeal and passion for evangelism or witnessing will wane. Furthermore, it betrays how inherently self-centered we really are. While we naturally avoid witnessing rather easily because we say we’re afraid of doing it, if we dig a little more what we’ll really find is pretty convicting: we’re afraid of failing because we’re overly focused on ourselves. When we make evangelism about ourselves we truly reveal how much we really care about ourselves, not others. We can call it insecurity. We can cower in fear. But those things only come because we’re caring more about ourselves than either that other person or Jesus himself. Stop thinking so selfishly. Stop making evangelism about you and start focusing on the other person and start focusing on Jesus. Let Jesus do the work. 

When I selfishly let my own ego or my own fear quiet my witness and keep my mouth closed, I can downplay it or excuse it or blow it off because it’s such a common struggle, but I finally have to call it what it is: sin. And, while our tendency to rate or rank sin from bad to worse might not see this sin as nearly as bad as others, think of it this way – not only is it a sin against God, but it’s potentially the most harmful thing we can do to our neighbor at the same time by staying silent about their salvation! So who will rescue me from my own fear and ego in failing to witness?

Jesus already has. Bounce back to the Word, where we’re reminded of what Jesus has done for us: “Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters” (Hebrews 2:11). Look at that! Even though we’re quiet and we clam up around others instead of making some bold confession of our faith in Jesus, or even inviting others to come and see more, Jesus does not disown us or dismiss us. He made us holy by forgiving our sin and replacing it with his righteousness, and because he did, he still calls us family. He still considers us brothers and sisters. Who doesn’t want a family member like that? So let’s tell others about him. Good things happen when we do, and when we let Jesus do the work.

See how things played out when Philip let Jesus do the work? Good things happened. It strikes me that after Philip’s invitation to Nathanael to come and see, the rest of the account is all about Jesus doing the work. And what happened when he did? “Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel” (v.49). Jesus didn’t get sidetracked by Nathanael’s Nazareth detour, but directed the conversation back on Nathanael. Then, he pointed Nathanael to himself as the Messiah. See what happened when Philip made witnessing not about himself, but about the two others involved in the equation – Nathanael and Jesus? Good things happened! Let Jesus do the work!

I think we forget how easy it is to let Jesus do the work. Do you realize how many different ways you can essentially invite someone to “Come and See” today? Sunday morning worship. Bible class after worship that is specifically for discovering and exploring Jesus more. Share a YouTube video. Every Sunday morning I share this message on Facebook and Instagram. You can listen to the sermon as a podcast. You can read it on this blog. And every one of those is shareable! You can either share them on your own page or send them to someone else. It has never been easier to invite others to come and see! It has never been easier to let Jesus do the work!

And… there have never been so many people needing the work that Jesus does. If we are seriously concerned about where our nation is today, and where it is heading, can we really keep pretending that politicians are going to save us? that the media will come to the rescue? that even a vaccine itself will magically free everyone from fear and replace it with hope and optimism? If so, we’re asking the impossible. None of those efforts will change hearts for the better. But you know who will? Jesus. When you firmly believe that is when you invite others to come and see it, too. And that’s when Jesus gets to work. 

Bounce Back to your Baptism

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(Mark 1:4-11)

One of the most under-utilized resources at our disposal to help us bounce back, or to be OK when life isn’t, is baptism. You may think I am overstating its importance or value in your life, but I would respond by asking how well you rate yourself at being OK when life isn’t. If your answer is anything less than a perfect score, isn’t it at least worth considering how your baptism could play a bigger role in helping you be OK when life isn’t? If so, and if we’re going to leave today with a clearer understanding of and a deeper appreciation for our baptism, we must first start with His.

Here’s something rather fascinating about Jesus’ baptism: it is one of the very rare events in Jesus’ life and ministry that is recorded in all four Gospels. The Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – are the books of the Bible that record Jesus’ words and works for us. Now then, to put it into perspective, I think we’d all agree that Christmas – Jesus’ birth – is a pretty big deal, right? You know how many of the Gospels cover Jesus’ birth? Two. Just two. So, without reading too much into it, can we agree that at the very least, an event in Jesus’ life that is covered by all four of the Gospels is deserving of our attention?

If ever there was reason make a big deal of something or to have a high-end ceremony, it might be Jesus’ baptism. But what is recorded couldn’t be more unceremonious. The angels who announced Jesus’ birth are not lined up along the Jordan announcing his baptism. Crowds weren’t flocking to Jesus to witness his baptism; rather, he was a part of the crowds flocking to John to hear his message first-hand and be baptized. John himself was not dressed in some ornately flowing robes, rivaling the pomp of a pope, but rather primitive animal skins. The setting stands out in its stark simplicity.

The simple setting itself wasn’t the only surprise; the matter of why Jesus was even being baptized in the first place added to the surprise even more. Mark detailed for us that those coming to him to be baptized were “confessing their sins,” an activity in which the sinless Son of God could not participate – he had no sin to confess! John even expressed his confusion, asking, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (Mt. 3:14). What business did Jesus have participating in a practice meant for sinners?

Ah, and that last phrase captures it: “meant for sinners.” Jesus and baptism have something in common in that regard: they are both meant for sinners. Baptism was given for sinners, and as we were just again reminded at Christmas, Jesus came for sinners. It wasn’t his own personal need that prompted his baptism; it was yours and mine. Jesus responded to John’s confusion by saying, “It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness” (Mt. 3:15). Being righteous meant that Jesus was to carry out the Father’s will. What’s more, imagine how awkward it would have been before Jesus’ ascension if he had commissioned his church to make disciples by baptizing and teaching, while he himself had not carried out the very directive! So in being baptized, Jesus was doing the right thing as our perfect Substitute. 

And now let us zero in on the detail of Jesus’ baptism which must always stick with us if our own baptism is going to serve as the stuff that has real substance to be OK when life isn’t; to bounce back when everything and everyone else may fall apart. That detail happens immediately following Jesus’ baptism. “As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open…” (v.10). Now I wasn’t there, but stop and consider how jaw-dropping it must have been to see heaven “torn” open! Was there a seam that split in the skies? Was it as if a curtain had been peeled back for just a moment? 

Even more amazing than the physical occurrence was the spiritual significance of what was going on. To appreciate it, go back to the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve’s sin. God sent them out of the garden and had it guarded by angels with flaming swords. See what sin had done! It had literally separated man from God! God used to walk in the garden with Adam and Eve, but after the bombshell of sin dropped on our world, so did separation from God. But now look what was happening! Jesus was on the scene. The holiness of heaven was split open. Hope was being restored for a restoration and reconciliation between God and men in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Our sin separated a fallen world from a holy heaven, but Jesus coming onto the scene was about to change that forever. And the exclamation point on all of it? That was in what happened next. 

Then the Father spoke – and do not let his words fall on deaf ears this morning. He proclaimed to Jesus, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (v.11). Psychologists have studied the impact that parental approval – or lack thereof – can have on the development of children. Some children struggle well into adulthood because they never felt they had either one or both of their parents’ approval. They always fell short and never lived up to their expectations. It can drive us to prove ourselves in unhealthy ways as adults while still striving to achieve approval from parents. And it isn’t just family. It’s friends. It’s the workplace. It’s social media followers and likes. We constantly crave approval. 

And here, on this divine day in the desert, the Father gives his full approval to his Son. Not only does he pour out his Father’s heart, verbalizing his love, but he also expresses the delight, the pleasure, the pride he has in Jesus. Let there be no doubts about Jesus’ calling and credentials to serve as the Savior! The Father himself approves, giving consent with his own voice to Jesus and the work of salvation that he was born to carry out. The Father approves!

Friends, the Father approves. The Father approves. The words he spoke at Jesus’ baptism live on in our own baptism. THAT is why Jesus’ baptism matters – it is what makes ours matter! 

Siblings help us understand the connection between Jesus’ baptism and our own. If there is one thing we can count on when raising kids, it’s that siblings will be absolutely determined to do everything in their power to make sure they get what their sibling got. Go ahead and throw any rational or logical thinking out the window. “If my brother got it, then I should get it. If my sister got it, then I should get it.” They will not be shortchanged. They will not be slighted. They will get what their siblings got, and will whine and complain and fuss until it happens. 

Stated positively, that is exactly what we receive in baptism – we get what Jesus, our brother, got: the Father’s approval. The Second Lesson today from Romans helped explain how that happens. “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:3-4). The point is that baptism binds us to the blessings Jesus won for us. Jesus suffered and died for our sins and through baptism we died that death. That means there is no more punishment for our sins – the death penalty has already been served! But Jesus didn’t stay dead; just as he was raised from the dead, our baptism means that we have been raised to a new life. 

Do you know what comes with that new life because of the blessings bound to our baptism? The Father’s approval! It is as if we can take the very words the Father spoke to the Son at his baptism and insert our first name: “You [name] are my son/daughter, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (v.11). This isn’t just fluffy church talk or spiritually sappy stuff – baptism in Jesus is the assurance that the Father loves you and that he is pleased, thrilled, delighted with you! 

And the love he has for you and the delight he has in you is not performance-based. It isn’t because you managed to impress him or win his favor by anything you ever did. But neither does your track record disqualify you! That means he isn’t waiting for you to right all your wrongs, as if any of us ever could. It means that no matter what you did in the past, no matter how much you’ve convinced yourself it’s beyond forgiveness, or how much others have condemned you, baptism even washes away that past. So if no such sin any longer separates us from God, as Adam & Eve’s cast them out of Eden apart from him, then you have God’s approval. Jesus’ baptism, life, death, and resurrection, made that possible. And your baptism guarantees it.

So if you want to be OK when life isn’t, remember to bounce back to your baptism. Remember that it isn’t just some event that happened in the past, but it’s who you are. That day was not just the day on which you were baptized, but on that day and every day after, you were set apart as a baptized child of God, bought and paid for with the blood of Jesus. As a baptized child of God, the Father approves.

You don’t have to try to please everyone to get their approval. You don’t have to be the best at your job to get recognition from your boss. You don’t have to be more like that parent so your kids think you’re the greatest. You don’t have to buy this or own that to seek out validation. Stop feverishly chasing from others what you already have from the Father: approval. After all, whose opinion of you matters more – theirs, or His? He has already spoken. He is pleased. The Father approves. Jesus and your baptism guarantee it.

Bounce Back to the Word

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(John 7:40-43)

Five years before the world was introduced to Harry Potter, JK Rowling was a struggling single mother living on welfare. She wrote while working as a teacher at night, and her manuscript was rejected 12 times before finally being published. Walt Disney’s first animation company went bankrupt, he experienced other failures, and some of the most loved characters today were initially panned by critics. Rowland Macy had four failed retail stores before opening his first Macy’s, and even his first Macy’s had to close because it didn’t bring in enough. Not until he opened another one fifteen years later did the store stick. Abraham Lincoln failed at multiple businesses, lost one election to Congress, two elections to Senate, and even the vice-president election before becoming the 16th President of the United States. Great as all these stories ended up, you know what it sounds like? It sounds like they all went through their own 2020. They all had their share of experiences that they wouldn’t have asked for at the time, but which allowed them to get where they ended up! Bitter before the sweet!

Will 2021 be your comeback story? Will it be the year that you bounce back? Will you turn a set back into a comeback?

If so, the single greatest key to your ability to bounce back in 2021 is to realize that it doesn’t depend on your ability to bounce back. Rather, it depends far more on how much you depend on the single greatest comeback story of all time: Jesus Christ. There’s no greater comeback story that will ever be written than the One who bounced back from death to rise up and live again. And don’t dare forget that he did not accomplish this for himself, but for you. He came back from the dead so that your comeback story could be written. Christmas was the start of what would become the greatest comeback story ever written. So if you want to bounce back in 2021, hear me out: doesn’t it make good sense to make the greatest comeback story in history a bigger part of yours?

That was basically the issue at hand as our text today picks up the people’s response to Jesus. What did they think of him? Who was he? Was he of any benefit to them or not? Was he to be followed, his advice acted on, his counsel considered, his teachings to be trusted? Guess what? “On hearing his words… the people were divided because of Jesus” (v.40, 43). Not everyone came to the same conclusion about Jesus’ place and role in their lives. Some acknowledged his place as a prophet. Others saw him as Savior, the Messiah and long-awaited answer to sin and salvation. Others still struggled and were on the fence with questions and answers that didn’t add up for them. 

It’s no different today – outside of the church to be sure. Prophet, preacher, pacifist – opinions vary, but there is a consistent theme to the world’s view of Jesus: they use him as they see fit. There is no small amount of animosity toward Jesus when his teachings don’t approve of a certain way of life that a person insists on living. Most, though, will not direct their disdain at Jesus himself, but ease their own consciences by claiming to be just fine with Jesus, while pretending the problem is with Christians themselves or with organized religion – as if those are in some separate category into which Jesus doesn’t belong. They become experts in their own minds at using Jesus’ words against Christians to point out where his followers are failing. Such people clearly are not familiar with Jesus’ own words to comfort his followers, “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil” (John 7:7). No matter how they may disguise it then, the world’s differing views of Jesus are ultimately a dismissal of Jesus.  

But that wouldn’t apply to those of us inside the church, to believers, would it? Surely our words and actions couldn’t be perceived as a dismissal of Jesus… right? What would a quick glance back over the course of 2021 reveal? Did we ever find ourselves as activists more concerned about a movement or a cause than about Christ? Did we ever stoop into the darkness to dabble in debate with others steeped in the dark rather than letting Christ’s light shine through us? Did we look to worldly solutions – sometimes even destructive ones – to console us and help us cope with crisis, rather than to Christ? Ah, then perhaps we shouldn’t be too quick to deny dismissing Jesus the way the world does, for the ugly reality is that we are quite adept at it. In fact, we’re so good at it that we even manage to pull the wool over our own eyes so that we don’t recognize how frequently we dismiss Jesus. 

2020 also provided us with another challenge to reflect on our relationship with Jesus: our relationship with church. Gathering restrictions have forced us to think about the role a local congregation may or may not play in fostering our faith in Jesus. In our case, some leaders were concerned that if members couldn’t meet for worship, some may not be spiritually disciplined enough to personally keep growing in their faith on their own. Others saw a positive opportunity for individuals to take more ownership of their faith, rather than presuming that worshiping for an hour on Sunday is sufficient for spiritual growth. I don’t know that anyone can claim to have the answer, but the past year has required us to evaluate our connection to Jesus and his Word and where our church fits into that.

But enough about the problems and challenges. While we could spend all day discussing such matters – and much of it would be very profitable to be sure! – let us instead focus on the solution, for the solution in all of these matters of what one thinks of Jesus is the same solution: the Word. Truly, if 2021 is to be a bounce-back year, the Word alone will serve as the catalyst to make it happen. Sure, there are certainly other solutions that will help in other areas of life, but if this year is going to count in the one area that matters most – our walk with Jesus – then let us get back to the Word. 

Why? Because it works. “For the word of God is alive and active” (Hebrews 4:12). God says through the prophet Isaiah, “[My word] will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Is. 55:11). The Word works. We want stuff that works, right? More than ever, we don’t have patience for things that don’t work. How many times would you guess you’ll Google something this year to find out how to do something or where to buy something? Whatever you’re searching for, the desired outcome is the same: you want a solution that works. You don’t want to purchase something that doesn’t work. You don’t want to learn a new tip or fix-it trick that doesn’t work. You want what works – we don’t have time for what doesn’t. 

Friends, we have 100% guarantee that this (Word) works! It is alive and active. It will accomplish what God desires and purposes. It will work. If. We. Work it. See, it doesn’t matter if we have a solution that works if we never bother to use it. When I make pizza dough for pizza and a movie with the family on Fridays, yeast does a great job of making the dough rise… if I use it. It’s not so effective, however, if it doesn’t ever get mixed in. Your phone is a great tool for keeping in touch with family members who live in another state… if you use it. A dumbbell will help you add muscle and build strength… if you use it. You get the point. 

So it works, if we use it. Here’s the bigger question: why should we use it? Ultimately, we’re only interested in using something that works if it achieves something I am interested in. I am glad your curling iron works, after all, but I don’t have much of a need for it. Unless we see why it matters for us that the Word works, we aren’t likely to use it. Now I could go a step further and tell you it matters because it will strengthen your relationship with Jesus, but you might naturally go the next step and ask, “So what? Why does it matter that I have a stronger relationship with Jesus? After all, I already have faith and I know I’m going to heaven – isn’t that good enough?”

You know why you want a deeper relationship with Jesus through his Word? Because he is the only one who will be 100% real with you all the time. He isn’t going to be fake with you to suit his own purposes. Neither is he going to cater to your every whim and demand, like so many are willing to do in this cancel culture. He isn’t afraid of showing you tough love. He isn’t going to tell you one thing and then do another. He won’t make a promise and then break it. He is 100% real with you all the time.

That can be extremely painful when he is blunt about how disgraceful our sins are and how much he despises them. He will not buy our excuses or accept our ignorance when we try to downplay our violations of his commands. He will not hesitate to be completely transparent about the hell we deserve for dismissing him and despising his Word for so much of our lives. He will be real with us, and it will hurt when he exposes what’s really buried within our hearts. 

But he will be real with us as well when he lavishes us with an unwavering love that will not be deterred by even our worst sins against him. He is 100% committed to you, proving it by his willingness to have his body pounded to a cross while his own life was slowly drained from him. He was not interested in seeking out revenge for all the wrongs you’ve done against him, but seeking out forgiveness for them, not so that he could get even, but so that you could have peace. No one – NO ONE – on this earth will ever care enough about you to show you that level of commitment. That kind of loyalty, that kind of love, will never be found but in Jesus Christ. You want 2021 to be a bounce back year? It’s got to include more of Jesus and less of anything and everything that gets in his way.

Fast-forward to New Year’s Eve, Friday, December 31, 2021. Look back on this year. Will you reflect on this year and see it as a bounce-back year from 2020? That depends on what happens after today. What happens this week? next month? this summer? I will boldly guarantee you this: if you are committed to reading and applying the Word of God this year like never before in your life, 2021 will easily exceed your wildest expectations.

Looking Forward as We Look Back at the Mess

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(Psalm 96)

Newer models may be replacing it with a rear-facing video camera and screen on the dashboard, but the rearview mirror is always going to be a necessary part of driving a vehicle. Whether you’re looking into an actual mirror or at a screen, you need to know what is behind you to drive safely. That would be most obvious when backing up, but it’s necessary other times, too. It allows you to see if someone is driving too closely behind you, or if a car is speeding or swerving behind you. Or, if you are heading somewhere with another driver who doesn’t know where you’re heading and needs to follow you, you can make sure they’re still behind you. A rearview mirror isn’t an optional feature on a car; it’s a necessary one.

At the same time, if you only drove looking into the rear view mirror the whole time well, let’s just say you wouldn’t be driving too long. It wouldn’t take long at all for you to hit something or someone in front of you if you were only focused on what was behind you. So while a rear view mirror is necessary, remember that its purpose is to assist you in getting safely to wherever you are going. When we use it for that purpose, it is helpful, but if we used it the whole time we were driving the car, it would actually put us at risk. It would do more harm than good.

So it is with life. There is great value in looking back. Some of us don’t do it enough. We make one mistake after another in life and when we never look back to review or assess how it could have gone differently, we wonder why we seem to be plagued by all the same mistakes. We never look back to grow from them. On the other hand, some are so accustomed to looking back that the present and the future will never live up to their expectations because the good ole’ days are behind us and life will never be that great again. 

As we are in that limbo time of the year after Christmas and rolling into the new year, let’s take a balanced approach. As we close out this series, let’s do so Looking Forward as We Look Back at the Mess. To guide us in that process, we’ll focus on the words of Psalm 96, which you might recognize as the psalm for Christmas Eve each year. 

Notice that long before Buddy the Elf pointed to singing loud for all to hear as the best way to spread Christmas cheer, the writer of this psalm gave the same encouragement. “Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name” (v.1-2a). Three times he urges us to sing, starting with the encouragement to sing a “new” song. You get to sing a new song in the year ahead. No matter what mess this year leaves behind, you don’t have to sing the same song. Choose to sing a new song rather than the same old negative refrains that we’ve grown so tired of over the course of this year. A new year means a new song, and you get to choose what you’re going to sing.

What will you sing about? What milestones and memories would you like your song to be about in 2021? Will your current job or a new one bring you unprecedented happiness or success? Will you make the jump to the next level in your education? Will your song be a love song as a new relationship blossoms? 

Realize there is nothing wrong with any of those new songs, and they can certainly be good things to focus on. Just be aware that they also carry with them the possibility of more disappointment. I don’t say that to throw a wet blanket on any optimism for the year ahead. I am all for growth and progress and personal development and being excited about the possibilities a new year holds. But not all of us are able to handle the failure and disappointment that such efforts can bring. What am I trying to say then? I’m not saying those things can’t be a part of your new song for 2021, but I am confident in saying that they shouldn’t be the refrain. They shouldn’t be the main focus. There’s something better and far more fulfilling to serve that role, and the psalmist highlights it repeatedly for us: 

Make the Lord, rather than your own life, the focus of your new year. The added good news? Just because the song you sing is new doesn’t mean you have to come up with your own original content. The psalmist offers some very solid suggestions for the basis of the new song you’ll sing as you look forward to a new year. “Proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples” (v.2b-3). So as we look back, don’t just look back over the course of this past year; go further back. Go back about 2,000 years, to that day when salvation was born into the world, accompanied by the glory of the angels who themselves were spreading Christmas cheer by singing loud for all to hear. And what were they singing? Glory to God in the highest! 

Put into perspective. This entire psalm is a song of rejoicing over God’s authority and salvation, and it was written hundreds of years before salvation even came to earth in Christ. Then, on the day of Christmas, the angels – the beings who are themselves continually in the presence of God’s glory in heaven – belt out praises of glorious joy at the birth of a baby amidst earthly surroundings that are the farthest cry possible from the glory of heaven. And in strikingly stark contrast to both the psalmist and the angelic messengers… here we are, just two days removed from our Christmas celebration of salvation coming to earth, and already our song is muted. Our joy has been jettisoned. Any glory appears to be gone. 

The psalmist encourages us: “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness” (v.8-9a). But… could we possibly sound more depressed when we mumble through the psalm responsively? Could we muster any less gusto when singing our songs? Could we put any less energy into our worship so soon after Christmas, let alone at any point during the rest of the year? Is that ascribing the Lord the glory due him? Is that worshiping the Lord in the splendor of his holiness? No wonder it’s so natural for us to focus more on our life than the Lord year in and year out when we can hardly muster so much as an ounce or two of joy or excitement as we gather for worship to declare his praises and celebrate his salvation!

Is it possible we have forgotten what it means that he is “to be feared above all gods” (v.4), or to “tremble before him all the earth” (v.9b)? Is our tepid worship due to the fact that we so quickly forget that “he comes to judge the earth” and “will judge the world” (v.13)? Do we forget that the God who knows and sees all things is well aware of the ho-hum worship we offer up to him each week? Would he not be right to question if we really actually believe any of what the psalmist writes based solely on what he sees us trying to pass off as worship? For shame! Will there finally be fear and trembling when it sinks in that if his judgment is based even just on our worship, let alone anywhere else in our lives, that we are doomed?!? Yet this psalm is filled with so much singing and praise – how can this be? How can it be when our very singing and praise are themselves a dismal reflection of what is sorely lacking in our ability to meet God’s level of splendid holiness? 

The psalmist knew what we know by faith, what we cling to as the only source of our salvation. When he wrote that the Lord “will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth” (v.13), it was not our righteousness (or unrighteousness!), not our truth (or falsehood!) which will serve as the basis for his judgement, but rather his righteousness and his truth. Christmas matters not just because that baby would grow up to die in our place, but because that baby, Jesus Christ, also came to live in our place. Perfectly. Purely. His righteousness – not our lack of it – will serve as the basis of the Lord’s judgment. And, as popular as it is for people to speak of “your truth” or “my truth” or “their truth,” you can keep all of that silly talk to yourself; it is but nonsense. There are not multiple truths that are relative to each and every one of us. Thankfully, there is one truth, and it is Jesus, who alone even merits the title “Truth,” along with the Way and the Life. His truth is the only one that matters, and it says that he is the holiness we need for heaven. He is the Substitute we needed to avoid hell. He is our salvation.

What would your 2021 look like if you made your new song more and more about that? I really mean it. How many years in your life are you going to let slip by telling yourself “this is the year that I am going to seriously commit to growing in my faith,” only for nothing to change? Aren’t you tired of it? Aren’t you the least bit curious about what your 2021 could look like if it embodied Psalm 96? What difference would more consistent worship make? What changes in you might the Holy Spirit bring about through daily time in his Word? What untapped gifts and abilities might you discover about yourself be getting more plugged in and committed to your church? How could your generosity touch others as you plan to increase your giving in new ways? What could your congregation look like a year from now if its people dedicate themselves to singing a new song this year – one that is based less on our own lives and more on the Lord and his glorious salvation? Let’s leave the mess of 2020 behind and find out together. 

God with Us in the Mess

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(Isaiah 9:1-7)

What. A. Year. The word “darkness” in our Lesson from Isaiah sums it up pretty well.

Novel coronavirus, COVID-19. Pandemic. Historic job loss and unemployment records. Lockdowns. Stay at home orders. Mask mandates. Isolation. Darkness.

George Floyd. “I can’t breathe.” Almost 8,000 BLM demonstrations and protests over a three-month period. Rioting and looting. Businesses burned down and destroyed. Racism. White privilege. White power. Proud boys. Police brutality. “Defund the police.” Darkness. 

Politics. Election. Debate debacles. $13 billion spent – more than double what was spent in previous election. Conspiracy. Social media censoring. Fake news and voter fraud. Division. Darkness.

Record-breaking tropical storms and hurricanes along the Atlantic Coast. Major rain and flooding in the Midwest. Record-breaking stretches of heat in the Southwest. Raging wildfires in Colorado and California – the largest ever in each state. Hazardous air quality. Literally, darkness.

“Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress… The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned” (Is. 9:1-2). Light! A great light! No more gloom for those who were in distress! Light shines in the darkness! Hope! Goodness! Possibility! Rescue! Newness! Light bundles all of these together as it drowns out the darkness! The world is not trapped in never-ending night! Daylight has dawned! Bright has replaced night! 

And it has all already happened! What Isaiah was referring to has already taken place. Christ has been born. Our Savior has been born. The perfection needed for our assurance of a home in heaven has been earned. The price required as payment for our sin has been paid! He died the death we deserved and rose to give us a life that we never deserved! It all happened. It’s a done deal. The cry of “It is finished!” from the cross meant the little child born in Bethlehem had completed his mission. The One whose name means “Savior” lived up to his billing. He came. He saved. 

Ah, how promising it all sounds! But how quickly the words of Isaiah seem to be hushed. When I looked back on a Christmas sermon from a couple of years ago, guess what? With the exception of the virus, the same matters of racism, politics, and natural disasters were issues back then! So I ask you this: with all of our technology, our advancements, with all of our progress… is the world getting better? Is it really getting brighter? Or is it as dark as it’s ever been? Isaiah tells us a light a great light has dawned, so why does it still seem… so dark?

It seems so dark because, well, it is dark. And what’s more? It’s going to stay dark. But friends, don’t be discouraged, for the darkness also allows us to see the light! Think about the only purpose darkness serves: it’s dark when we’re sleeping. When we’re not functioning. When we’re not active. When we’re not living and moving and existing. But when we’re up and awake, when we’re living and active, darkness has no place in our lives. All it does is showcase the light. We turn on lights in a dark room for the purpose of making it light. And, even when we turn off the lights to make it dark, why do we do it – to better see some sort of light. The movie theater is dark to better highlight the light on the screen. We limit light pollution and want a it dark at night for what – to better see the light beaming from the stars in the galaxy light years away. So darkness always showcases the light – never the other way around. 

But we have to be aware, because when we allow the light to be dimmed, we can get too used to the darkness. Think of how your eyes need to adjust when you turn the lights off in the house at night to go to bed. Initially everything is pitch black, but after a few minutes your eyes adjust and you can start to make out shapes and see things with enough familiarity to avoid injuring yourself. You get by. You learn to adapt to the darkness.

Sadly, Christmas can be like that for many of us as Christians. The light shines. We go to church. We celebrate Jesus. But then the light dims after December 25th, and we go back to being in the dark. Our eyes adjust to it again. We get used to it. We even slip into worldly ways with such ease that we don’t even notice how dim it has gradually become again. We live like the rest of the world and rather than letting our light shine, we fit right in with the darkness. And then? Then we wonder why the world seems so dark. It’s because we’ve allowed ourselves to adjust to it once again, instead of letting the light of Christ shine brightly in our lives all year long. 

So what is our solution? We just avoid talking about the darkness altogether. Pretend it doesn’t exist (as if avoiding any problem EVER made it go away!). Or, we manufacture our own light. We focus on positive things. Send good vibes. Think good thoughts. Uplift others. But have you not figured out yet that those solutions don’t really cut it? We can avoid talking about the darkness I mentioned in the beginning. We can avoid talking about the darkness of our own sin, but doing so and thinking we can deal with the darkness by avoiding it doesn’t provide us with any light. And our manufactured light doesn’t do the trick, either. It it did, then all the “love and light” being sent all over the world should see depression and suicide decline, right? But the exact opposite is happening! Our fabricated lights don’t cut it. They aren’t a viable solution. Instead, we look to the ONLY light that shines in the darkness. We look to Jesus.

See him as Isaiah described: “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” (v.6). Do you still struggle to see the light? Ah, then it can only be because you have yet to embrace his place in your life. For you know that the titles Isaiah applies to Jesus are more than just a list of labels to fill the front of Christmas cards and seasonal art, right? These names reveal to us the qualities of the Savior we celebrate at Christmas! They tell us who he is and what he is capable of and why his birth brought brightness into this dark world!

But you will not likely see that light until you match the first part of verse 6 with all the titles in the second part. Isaiah says he was born “to us,” given “to us.” To you and me. That means he is your Wonderful Counselor, your Mighty God, your Everlasting Father, your Prince of Peace. If you really want his light in your life, then make everything that he is yours. 

See him as your Wonderful Counselor. There’s no shame in acknowledging that we can benefit from a counselor, but what do we gain when we have the best Counselor possible and don’t use him? I will say that hands down, you will not find better counsel and advice for your life than in here (Bible). But it’s of no use to you if you don’t know about it, learn it, and then apply it. And the other benefit of having a Counselor? You can talk to him. Anytime. He is always listening. You have emotional struggles? Need to sort through your thoughts? Take them to your Wonderful Counselor and see how his light brightens the darkness.

Don’t stop there. See him as your Mighty God. What impossible, insurmountable challenge are you facing in life right now? Have you tapped the strength of your Mighty God? He delights in making the impossible possible! In verse four Isaiah referred to the victorious rout God brought against Midian, a battle in which God whittled down his own army from tens of thousands of soldiers to several hundred and still brought about a decisive victory through such an impossibly small group of men! Oh, and there is the matter of making a virgin into a mother, and raising the dead to life, and the list goes on. Do you think this Mighty God may just be able to show his strength in your own life if you can set aside your pride that needs to fix everything yourself and in humility let him be the Mighty God he claims to be?

Don’t stop there. See him as your Everlasting Father. Not everyone has had the blessing of having a compassionate father in their lives, and for some the picture of a father brings up nothing but negative, painful emotions. But Christmas put flesh and blood on another Father, the One who is himself everlasting, and who will love you with an everlasting love. He is a Father who protects and provides and who will never leave us in the dark, assurances which no earthly father could ever give us. He is more than just a Father, more than the Father; he is your Everlasting Father.

Don’t stop there. See him also as your Prince of Peace. In fact, although it’s the last title listed, I would encourage you to start with this one. It’s everything, and it beautifully summarizes why Jesus Christ was born, and why Jesus Christ matters to you. He came to be your Prince of Peace. Let’s consider why this matters. What is the worst possible thing you could ever do at work? What is the most unforgivable wrong you could ever do to your spouse? What is the most devastating thing you could ever do to your kids? Now imagine you’ve done that. More than anything else in the world, what would you crave to hear from the one you have wronged? Would there be anything more impactful than to hear that person say, “It’s OK. I forgive you”? 

Now let’s step away from the hypotheticals into reality. That is exactly why Jesus Christ was born into this world – so that he, the Prince of Peace, could assure you that for every worst possible thing you’ve ever done, he says, “It’s OK. I forgive you.” This, friends, is not wishful thinking. This is not movie magic. This is not hypothetical. This is real – as real as the birth of Jesus Christ. It’s as real as the holy life he lived in your place and credits to you by faith. It’s as real as the death he came to die in your place to pay the price for every single sin. It’s as real as his resurrection from the dead to assure us that our own death isn’t permanent. This is real peace the world simply cannot give, but which the Prince of Peace gives freely to all who believe. He came into this dark mess to bring the radiant light of forgiveness for all. You are at peace. 

When everything that Jesus is becomes yours, you start to see the light shining. A little bit at first. Then more. Then brighter. Then it happens that the light beams so brightly in your life that you hardly notice the darkness anymore. Oh, it’s still there alright, and always will be until Jesus returns on the Last Day; but you notice it less because you see him more. May he fill your Christmas and your new year – no matter how dark – with his wonderful life-changing light! Take to heart the promise the Christ-child himself spoke later as an adult: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). Merry Christmas!

Hope for When Others Want to Mess You Up

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(Matthew 2:1-18)

It is one thing for us to find hope in the mess of things that are messy just because that’s a part of living in a messed up world with messed up people and plans. But what about when messed up people and messed up plans collide together specifically to mess us up? How do we handle it when we’re no longer in the realm of dealing with messy generalities but intentional efforts to mess us up? What do we do when it feels like we’re stuck in the real-life version of Home Alone, trying to fend off one attack after another from the bad guys? How do we find hope when others deliberately and intentionally desire to make our lives difficult, miserable, and unmanageable?

In the verses from Matthew today, Herod managed to take “malicious” to new heights. Not only did he seek to manipulate the magi and their honorable intentions of worshiping Jesus, but in his malice Herod intended to murder the Messiah, giving his insidious executive order to “kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under” (v.16). That’s messed up! How twisted and insecure does someone have to be to go to those lengths to destroy other people’s families and lives? 

For Joseph and his young family though, God directly intervened to disrupt Herod’s plans to mess up the Messiah. “When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod” (v.13-15). That’s certainly one way to do it – for God to miraculously intervene and thwart the plotting and scheming of others to do harm! And we’re especially grateful he did in this case, particularly because it allowed his own plan of salvation through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection to be carried out for our benefit!

But how realistic is it to expect God to do the same for us? What if our story doesn’t involve an angel visiting us in a dream to guide us to the right solution? When we’re waiting for some “sign” from God to help or direct us when others are plotting and scheming against us and God seems distant or disinterested, what then?

We will come back to this. Before we do, we need to address what is most often the biggest challenge when it comes to others having it out for us. If we can learn to deal with this challenge, we’ll find that the vast majority of cases where others want to mess us up will suddenly start to subside. It’s not easy to do, and in fact many, many people refuse to ever deal with it, but it has the potential to make the biggest impact on others having it out for us. Do you want to know what the biggest difference maker is?

It’s not what; it’s who. And that who… is you. You are the biggest problem when it comes to others having it out for you, because you allow a different story to be told in your head that doesn’t match up with reality. You have a whole drama played out in your head – an entire novel or movie script, sometimes! – of what you think is going on… and more often than not, there is little to no truth to it. You allow yourself to fill in the unknown details of the narrative with your own interpretation, and frankly, what you’re telling yourself in your own mind is just not the least bit true. There is no basis for it, other than that you have chosen to tell yourself this thing or that thing, and so you believe it to be true. 

The coworker didn’t do that because she’s trying to ruin your life. Your neighbor didn’t say that to mean it in the way you took it. Your family member may enjoy getting under your skin once in a while, but he actually has other priorities in his own life than making yours miserable. There is no hater hell-bent on destroying you. There is no “universe” conspiring against you. This can be a tough pill to swallow, but – precious few other people are thinking about you as much as you are thinking about you. Sorry. You’re just not that important.

Why do we so quickly presume others have it out for us? Because we are sinfully bent toward playing the victim. “My problems are someone else’s fault.” “I deserve to be happy.” “Other people owe me something.” The key to solving this problem is to start realizing you’re the one causing it. Some of you will start to be in a far better place just by realizing this. Why? Because you get to put an end to it. You can choose to stop making up the drama in your head that is not reality in anyone else’s world but your own. You can start to realize, as Paul did in our Second Lesson today, that you aren’t actually a victim; you’re a victor in Christ. He wrote: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). Think about it – this is actually much easier to fix than if someone else really does have it out for me because this I can control. How I handle it is up to me. I can play the victim, or I can realize that in Christ I am the victor.

So how do we know if we’re just guilty of playing the victim or if someone else really does want to mess us up? One way to keep this from happening is to review each word or action the other person took and see if there is any possible way we could reframe it, putting the best construction on it instead of the worst. When we do that we often end up coming to a rather rational explanation for the words or actions of others that didn’t actually have any ill intent at all! Or, simply talk to the other person about it. That, too, might clear up an awful lot. Or, share your concerns with a third person to provide an outside perspective if we’re misreading the situation. Any of these steps will likely reveal more often than not that someone else isn’t actually gunning for you at all.

But… what about when they legitimately are? I said we’d come back to it, so what about cases when someone legitimately wants to mess me up… like Herod in our text today? That was real devilish scheming! Purely evil intentions! How do we handle when the drama is real and not just imagined in our own minds? I’m going to give you three short-term first steps to take and three long-term steps that may take a little longer and be more of a challenge. 

Your first three short-term steps: 1) read, 2) pray, 3) share. Do you know what separates the good sports teams from the great ones on any level? It isn’t necessarily that they’ve got the best talent, although that certainly helps; it’s that they execute the basic fundamentals extremely well. Can we say that about theses three spiritual disciplines? Do we execute the fundamentals extremely well? Do we read the Word daily – are we dialed in to God devotionally as a non-negotiable every day? Or is it sporadic? Occasional? Sometimes? If I remember? Recall the bitter pill of realizing that no one else thinks about you as much as you do – that you’re just not that important? Well, there’s one exception: God. God thinks about you. Constantly. You are and always will be important to him. He lived and died for you to forgive you and claim you as his own. He rules everything for you. But if you’re not reading about his love and devotion for you daily in his Word, you forget about it, you doubt it, or you take it for granted. Read the Bible. Every day. 

And pray. When others are trying to mess you up, take it to God in prayer. In fact, combine these first two steps by praying through the Psalms – the psalm writers are rich with examples of others trying to mess them up and they then unload those burdens on God. Don’t just sing about taking everything to God in prayer; actually do it! Pour out your heart to him and confide in him. 

Then do the same with your brothers and sisters in Christ: share. When we enlist the help of our community of Christians, not only do we find more support to hold us up when attacked, but we can multiply the prayers being offered up on our behalf. We are reminded we aren’t alone. When we neglect to share with others it’s like choosing to take on Satan and his army alone instead of rallying our fellow soldiers to do battle with us. Share – with each other, with your elder, with me, so that we can be there for each other when others want to mess us up. 

In addition to these three short-term steps – read, pray, and share – here are three long-term steps that may take some more work: 1) run to God for rest and refuge, 2) love your enemy, 3) thank God for the good he’ll bring out of it.

Your ability to carry out this first one is going to be tied to the level of consistency in your devotional life. The more you read the Word, the better you get at resting in God. Give God the opportunity to be the rock and refuge he claims to be. When we are hard pressed and others are legitimately conspiring against us, aren’t those exactly the times it would make sense to find our refuge in the Lord? When else do we need refuge but from a threat or an attack? Seems like the perfect time to seek out the Lord’s promises of refuge, a refrain so common in the Psalms as if to almost be forgotten in its familiarity. When others are trying to mess us up, doesn’t God promise protection? Deliverance? So let us run to him first – not last. Not as a last resort only after we have exhausted every other possible solution we could imagine. Go to him first for refuge. He will put your problem in perspective. As he bends his ear to hear your worry and concern about others having it out for you, don’t be surprised when he reminds you of how harmless your enemy is compared to The Enemy, our adversary, Satan. When God then reminds you that he crushed Satan’s head by the death and resurrection of Jesus, wonder no more if he can also handle some temporary, earthly threat to your physical or emotional well-being. He has removed the greatest possible threat to you for time and eternity by his victory over the devil. Know then that there is not any human being who poses any sort of the same degree of threat in your life. Run to God for rest and refuge.

That will make the second step of loving your enemy easier to do. This one can be so easily overlooked. We get so focused on the one trying to mess us up that we forget he is the very person Jesus calls us to love. He is my enemy! God is actually giving me the opportunity to carry out what he calls me to do rather than what I want to do: fix it and put an end to it. Maybe what God wants instead is for you to grow in your ability to love your enemy, and that’s why he keeps allowing them in your life. In that way God wants to use you to bless your enemy – by loving him or her! How do you get better at this? Get better at the fundamentals – the first three steps – as well as the first step of resting in God, and you’ll find loving your enemy starts to come more easily. 

Finally, thank God on the front end for the good he’ll bring out on the back end of your trial. Recall Joseph’s – not the Joseph of our Lesson today, but Genesis Joseph – reflection upon being reunited with his brothers. He acknowledged their intent to harm him, to mess him up. But what carried more weight for him was that he knew God brought good out of it. He will for you, too. So don’t wait until it happens to thank him – start thanking him now, in the midst of the mess others are trying to make of your life. 

Read, pray, share, then as you are able, run to God for rest and refuge, love your enemy, and thank God for the good he’ll bring out of the trouble others try to cause in your life. May these steps help us to find a renewed joy this week as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, and how a gracious God either thwarted or used to his advantage every plot and scheme against his Son to allow him to save us from every mess, both now and for eternity.