Tag: Christmas

The Salvation Song of Simeon

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(Luke 2:22-40)

If you were asked to make a list of the top Christmas songs, which ones would be at or near the top? I wonder if your answer to that question on the last day of December would differ from the answer you would have given on the first day of December. After all, part of the “magic” of the holidays is that a month of listening to the same songs can turn the nostalgic into the nauseating.

When it comes to Christmas favorites, we’d probably need to differentiate between the traditional and the trendy, between the hymns we enjoy singing in church and the songs that are played throughout the season on the radio. Some Christmas hymns are so close to our hearts, that to go through the entire Christmas season without singing them in church just wouldn’t seem right. Families tend to have their own particular play list of songs and artists that they find especially meaningful.

Whatever songs might make your list, add to them the one recorded in Luke 2. It is a “Christmas” song that has remained on the top of the chart of Christianity for 2000 years. How many other songs of Christmas can compete with that? So popular is the song that the church still sings it today as a regular part of worship!  It is known as the “Song of Simeon,” or Nunc Dimittis (“Now you dismiss”) in Latin.  

Who is this Simeon? Outside of Luke’s Gospel, we know nothing reliable. Nevertheless, Luke does share with us several telling details. “Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout.  He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him” (v. 25).  He is not given any special title or recognition.  He was not mentioned as being a priest or any other position of authority; just a man in Jerusalem.  He was both “righteous” and “devout.” He took his faith seriously and was a deeply committed man of God – a man who delighted in the Lord.    

This devout man had been waiting patiently in his lifetime for what Luke refers to as “the consolation of Israel.”  Consider that phrase for just a moment.  Who is it that needs consolation?  It is someone who has experienced a loss or disappointment. We think of a person shedding tears to be in need of some sort of consolation to help ease the loss. Even in the sporting world, a team settles for a consolation prize if they can’t compete for the championship. 

But the word used in the context of Simeon is much deeper. The reference is to the One who brings consolation from sin and its guilt.  Simeon is waiting for the Messiah—the Anointed One—the promised of God to every generation.  He was waiting for his Savior.

And by some special revelation of the Holy Spirit, it was made known to him that “he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (v. 26).  It was not mere coincidence then, that he would encounter Mary and Joseph and their newborn son in the temple. Through divine intervention, the Holy Spirit had led him there, but it was ceremonial law that had led Mary and Joseph there. 

They were there to fulfill law that required every firstborn son to be presented to the Lord. This practice had its origins in the Passover. While still in Egypt, God had initially “passed over” the Israelite homes that had marked their doorposts with the blood of a lamb and spared their firstborn son. To serve as a reminder of how God had spared every firstborn son, God’s people were then required to dedicate every firstborn son to his service. Later, even though males from the tribe of Levi eventually overtook this role, parents were still required to present every firstborn son to the Lord by paying a price to redeem him, as he belonged to the Lord. Mary and Joseph had gone to the temple to pay that price for their firstborn son, Jesus.  

So the scene was set for Simeon to meet his Savior, and when he did, “Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace.  For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel” (v. 28-32).  Not only are these words a beautiful confession of Simeon’s faith, but they also serve as a wonderful proclamation of all that the infant child in his arms would accomplish.  So magnificent were Simeon’s words that God included them in his Holy Word, and has led the church to include them in regular worship for just about as long as Christians have been gathering for worship!  For these reasons, let us look carefully at these words and come to appreciate them more fully.

Simeon expressed the reason for his rejoicing in his song: “For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people.”  With his own eyes, Simeon saw much more than just a baby; he saw his Savior. And, by his words, Simeon expresses the realization that the child in his arms was not only his Savior, but the Savior of all people. Jesus came for the salvation of every soul.  He would secure the salvation of every soul. Some teach that Jesus saves only those who accept him or have a strong enough faith or are generally pretty good Christians. Simeon reminds us that he came for all people. 

This truth is also emphasized by the words, “a light for revelation to the Gentiles.”  Throughout Advent and during Christmas we see and hear the recurring theme of Jesus as the Light of the world. Simeon echoes that theme with this very phrase. Jesus was a Light to reveal salvation not only to God’s Old Testament chosen people, the Israelites, but also to the Gentiles—to every nation on earth.  

But that didn’t in any way take away from what he meant to Israel. Israel could still make the claim that no other nation on earth could make: that Jesus came from their people, the people of Israel. Simeon said it like this: “for glory to your people Israel.”  Madonna was from my home town of Bay City, Michigan.  San Diegans can claim a number of famous people had their roots here. Only those of Jewish descent can claim the Savior as one of their own. Whether they acknowledge it by faith or not, Jesus is their greatest glory.

See how the God-with-us/Immanuel Savior affected Simeon! “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace.”  With this phrase Simeon points out something that is unique to God—he keeps his word. God promised that Simeon would live to see his Savior and he did. Keeping promises is really what Christmas is all about. The Savior was born in Bethlehem because God kept his promise. 

The promise kept at Christmas carries a special weight to it for New Testament Christians, because that promise kept gives credibility to all of God’s promises that followed and continue to follow. The Savior was born, just as God promised, and so we know that he would live perfectly as our Substitute, just as God promised. He would die for us, just as God promised.  He would rise again from the dead, just as God promised. Finally, he will come again, just as God promised.

The irony of course is in how badly we, who do not keep promises, need the One who did.  One drawback of God’s Christmas promise is that it serves as another reminder of how bad we are at keeping our promises—promises to ourselves, to others, and to God.  “This year I’m going to get everything done early.  I’m going to eat less.  I’m going to spend less”  Broken, broken, and broken.  “This year we’re going to do something special as a family.  I’ll keep in better touch with my extended family over the holidays.”  Broken and broken.  “This year I’m going to follow through with my commitment to spending more time preparing spiritually.  I’m also going to spend more time in God’s house for worship.”  Broken and broken.  We evaluate our own inabilities to keep our own word, our own promises, and we quickly become aware of how much we needed the one who keeps his every promise, not the least of which is his promise to forget our sins through Christ Jesus. 

That same God is the one who had kept his promise to Simeon, and Simeon in his song then confirmed the peace that had swept over him: “you now dismiss your servant in peace.”  Many assume here that the dismissal to which Simeon referred was speaking of his departure from his earthly life to heaven.  Indeed this portion of Scripture has brought much comfort at the funerals of those who have died in Christ. Such an application is most certainly appropriate, especially given the way it is portrayed in the original language. Quite literally, Simeon said, “Now you release your slave, master.”  Picture a lifelong slave being freed from every labor and toil and the anguish associated with it.  How could such a situation bring about anything less than peace?

And here already we begin to understand and more fully appreciate why these words have been sung for centuries by Christians who have just received the Lord’s body and blood.  For what is it that we receive in that body and blood but release!  We receive release from the guilt of our sins.  We receive release from the heavy burdens of our own disobedience.  Yes, through the Lord’s Supper the chains of sin that bind us to the devil are smashed to pieces.  And as we return to our seats we know personally the very peace of which Simeon spoke in his song.  

It was a peace that a mom discovered unexpectedly. As a thunderstorm rumbled loudly throughout the night, her scared little girl came into her room to slip into her bed and snuggle up. As soon as she had done so, she fell back asleep. While her mother felt her gentle breathing and saw how peacefully she was sleeping, she had a realization. Her daughter didn’t come in and ask her to make the storm stop, she just wanted to be by her during it. How often in her own life had she prayed and pleaded for God to make the storms stop instead of simply seeking out God’s presence to be near her and get through those storms peacefully? 

In the year ahead, friends, you know there will be storms. During those times, with arms of faith, embrace the Prince of Peace like Simeon in the temple courts, and find peace and security. We don’t always need God to put a stop to the storms; we just need him to be near us through them. And he is. And he always will be every time we marvel at him like Simeon and like Mary and Joseph. 

We aren’t surprised to hear the reaction of Mary and Joseph to Simeon’s salvation song:  “The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him” (v. 33). Little did they know, they had just heard one of the most popular Christmas songs ever; so popular, in fact, that it has to be sung more often than just Christmas. It begs to be sung by Christians all over the world who experience the same peace that Simeon did—a peace that comes not only at Christmas, but whenever we receive the Lord’s Supper and all other times God’s Word assures us of our forgiveness.

The Savior Who Saves

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(Titus 3:4-7)

Admittedly, the title of this post might be one of my least creative yet. It’s the equivalent of calling a plumbing company to fix a leaky toilet and asking if their plumbers have any plumbing experience, or asking an electrician if he’s ever worked with the electrical in a house. Duh. So I get that the title would appear to be stating the obvious.

But the Savior’s role also happens to be only the most important detail about Christmas that we absolutely must get straight. Since Christmas has been celebrated for generations and generations, that means centuries of people attaching their own meaning and significance to it. While it’s one thing to have our personal traditions and fond memories tied to Christmas, it’s another to redefine Christmas altogether. Christmas first began to be observed for a reason; it was first about something notable. And perhaps because that reason is so easily lost in our world today, it’s always the right time for the simple reminder of what Christmas is really all about: the Savior who saves.

So what exactly does it mean that we call Jesus “Savior?” Over time, the meaning of words can change or be lost. Certain words that were spoken regularly in the past would cause great offense today. Words that used to carry a certain weight or significance don’t pack the same punch today. Other times the meaning of the word is simply lost over time.

“Savior” might be one of those words, if we aren’t careful. If you asked someone outside of Christianity if they’ve heard the word “Savior,” if they’ve heard it applied to Jesus, or if they understood what Christians mean when they refer to Jesus as their Savior, I imagine you’d hear a number of uncertain responses. And even though we may see the word “Savior” more frequently around the holidays, that “overexposure” can also sometimes lead people to tune it out.

It’s like one of our local Mexican places that offers new menudo. If you live nearby you may not even realize they had new menudo? Why? Because they’ve had the words “new menudo” on their sign for at least the past ten years. You see it every time you drive by, nothing changes about the sign, and so you tune it out. And since you tune it out, it doesn’t even matter if you know what menudo is or not, because you never notice it on the sign!

That is the last thing we’d ever want to happen with the word Savior, and not just the word Savior, but the Savior himself, Jesus Christ. Perhaps more than any other church services of the year, Christmas services will have the widest variety of attendees. The makeup of guests, friends, and extended family attending hold to numerous backgrounds and beliefs, which means different experiences and understandings about religion, church, and most importantly, Jesus. Here are a few of the more common views people hold to about the Savior.

People view Jesus as a wise teacher. Anyone with a little bit of knowledge of Jesus’ teachings would be right to conclude that he was indeed wise. The way he wove parables into his teaching helped enlighten his listeners. He had a knack for simplifying some difficult concepts with relatable parables.

On more than one occasion, Jesus outsmarted those trying to trap him between a rock and a hard place with their trick questions or hypothetical scenarios pitting one answer against another. They attempted to frame him so that no matter how he answered, he could not avoid giving his enemies ample ammunition. Each time, though, he turned the tables and displayed profound wisdom – so much so that still today people view him primarily as a wise teacher, and perhaps nothing more.  

Many also see Jesus as a good person, a moral example to follow. Regardless of what religion a person is or isn’t, there is a certain level of respect that people have for Jesus. He was someone who lived an upright life and encouraged others to do the same. He not only taught with wisdom, but also walked the walk. He practiced what he preached and treated people the way we would like to see everybody treat others. His encouragement to love and forgive others has great appeal in an often loveless and unforgiving world. We look at how he lived his life and we want our children to learn to follow in his footsteps.

This view of Jesus as an example or guide for good living became quite a trend years ago when the letters “WWJD” found their way onto wristbands, accessories, and apparel. In a bind? Stuck in a tough situation? Unsure of how to decide to move forward? Just let the letters serve as a reminder to guide you by asking “What Would Jesus Do?”

A third popular view of Jesus is to see him as a finish carpenter of sorts. This view is a little bit more of a religious take, holding to the idea that Jesus is for those who do their best in life, who try their hardest, who are mostly pretty good people. Jesus is the guy to fill in whatever gaps our lives leave (after all, nobody’s perfect, right?). So long as we’ve completed most of the work in our lives, we have him on standby to come in and finish everything so that our lives are satisfactory before God. 

While these views – and many others like them – are not uncommon, they miss the mark on Jesus’ role as Savior, and end up stealing the real joy of Christmas, and ultimately compromise a person’s eternity. 

So who is Jesus, really? The angels announced in clearly in Luke 2.  “An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord’” (Luke 2:9-11). You heard it from the angels. They didn’t tell the shepherds that Mary had just given birth to a wise teacher. It wasn’t a good example who was born. It was “a Savior” that had been born.

They announced the source of good news for all people: a Savior for everyone all over the world at that time and everyone all over the world today. That, dear friends, includes everyone. That includes you. Regardless of past behaviors or beliefs, that Savior came to save you.

The verses from Titus 3 reinforce this. “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Titus 4:4-5). What drove him to save us? His kindness and love. What described the actions he took to save us? His mercy. Not our righteous works or best efforts or good intentions. These amount to nothing before him. We cannot do a single thing to save ourselves.

You may have heard some version of the story about a boy and his mother at the beach. When he asked if he could go into the water to swim, he had to agree to remain close enough so that his mother could keep an eye on him. After some time had passed, the mother looked up to spot him, as she had been doing, but this time she couldn’t spot him. She started scanning back and forth through the waves and eventually found him, but she noticed he was clearly struggling in the water. She immediately ran to the nearby lifeguard station to get help for her son.

The lifeguard grabbed his binoculars and peered through them until he spotted the boy, and kept an eye on him. The mother pleaded for him to go into the water to rescue her son, but he didn’t move. She looked out again at her son and could tell that he was starting to have a hard time staying above the water. The lifeguard looked through his binoculars again but remained right where he was. Again the mother looked at her son, who was now really struggling, waving his arms and doing his best to keep from sinking.

“Why are you just standing there?” she asked the lifeguard, “Please swim out and rescue my son!” The lifeguard looked one more time, left the tower, and swam in to successfully rescue the boy. While the mother was grateful, she resented that the lifeguard had waited so long to come to his rescue. At that point he explained that any attempt to rescue the boy while he was still frantically kicking his legs and swinging his arms could have put both of them at risk of drowning. Only after the boy had given up and was no longer putting up a fight could the lifeguard safely rescue him. 

I don’t know whether the account is based on a true story or not, but it illustrates the truth about our salvation: we can do nothing to save ourselves. In fact, if we want to take it a step further to speak the way the Bible does about us on our own, we aren’t just drowning on our own, but are actually dead to begin with (see Ephesians 2). That’s how we come into the world ever since the fall into sin, and that is how we would remain, spiritually speaking, unless someone saves us.

That someone is Jesus Christ our Savior. He came to save. Christmas is proof, and it fills us with newfound joy when we know and celebrate what it’s all about: the Savior who saves.

As our verses clearly state, God’s mercy alone saves. His mercy moved him to live the required sinless life in our place so that his holy obedience could attain the perfection we need for heaven. His mercy moved him to meet his fate as our Substitute when he was sacrificed for us on the cross. His mercy alone made the final judgment on all people: because of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who came to save by paying for our sins, we are not guilty (“justified”). It is only the grace of God, his undeserved love for drowning sinners, that makes this so.

The result of his work on our behalf – all of which began on Christmas, is that we are heirs of eternal life. So Christmas means that death isn’t the end. Christmas means that condemnation is not a legitimate fear. Christmas means that joy endures. Christmas means that peace is real. And all of this is true because of the Savior who saves. 

A Savior Born to Act

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(Isaiah 63:7-9)

As our continued Christmas celebration finds us turning the page from one year to the next and you look back on 2022 and reflect a bit, I have a question for you: did you do everything you said you’d do? Were there resolutions that sounded nice on paper, but never gained enough traction to experience the coveted “crossed-off” or checkmark on a to-do list? 2022 was somewhat unique in that it started to provide us with opportunities to seize the day and prioritize the things that the pandemic exposed in our lives – things we wanted to change and give attention to or things we wanted to stop or discontinue. Some of us vowed not to return back to the days of filling every waking hour with some activity or responsibility, but leaving margin for downtime with family or simply to slow down more. Some of us realized there were some ambitious things we wanted to do with our lives and feeling COVID shortened the window of opportunity, we were going to really get cracking on some things. And inevitably there are the “someday” projects that we’ve talked about – some of them for an embarrassing number of years – that we were fully committed to finally making happen in 2022. So… did you do everything you said you’d do in 2022?

Didn’t think so. Neither did I. Some of us are better at it than others, but the majority of us have at least some level of unfinished business in our past. I suppose we fall into one of probably three categories of people when it comes to those incomplete commitments we made either to ourselves or to others: 1) Maybe someday we’ll actually get to it and get it done. 2) Maybe we have already forgotten about it or will forget about it at some point and never revisit it again. 3) Maybe all we’ll do with it the rest of our lives is spend more time convincing ourselves that someday we’ll get it done than spend any actual time getting it done. 

Depending on which category you fall into, it probably impacts how you feel about those unfinished commitments, too. Those who are ambitious and driven feel angry or ticked off. Others who are more carefree won’t lose any sleep over any unfinished commitments. Then there are those who feel stuck and frustrated because they’re tired of not doing the things they said they were going to do. They mean well, but they fail to follow through and the same repeated struggle is discouraging and exhausting. No matter which of those types of people you are, no matter which feelings you most relate to, I have good news for you this morning: Christmas is about completion.

So as we put one year behind us and enter into a new one, before we completely hit the stop button on our celebration of Christmas, let’s rejoice that in Jesus we have a Savior born to act. Ours is not a Savior who makes empty promises. Ours is not a politician who says whatever needs to be said just to gain support and then not deliver on his campaign promises. Ours is not a Savior of soundbites or catchphrases. His words aren’t empty. He came to take action. 

Isaiah foreshadowed not only his actions but also his attitude behind them. Look at all of the ways Isaiah described the Lord. He speaks of compassion, love, and mercy. If I asked you to pick three adjectives that best describe yourself and our society these days, would any one of these three show up? It might be borderline laughable to pretend any of these three would accurately describe our society. But sadly, if we could carry out an honest self-assessment, I don’t know that compassion, love, and mercy would be the top three descriptions of my own attitude either. I would like to think at least one or two of them might make my list, but as much as I know they should, my inconsistent past track record betrays that they would.

So when Isaiah describes our Savior this way, it isn’t only to help us appreciate that we’re on the receiving end of that compassion, love, and mercy, but also that those are the attitudes that drive his actions. Even that is so unlike us. Remember that God isn’t only concerned about our outward actions, but about our hearts. Doing the right thing with the wrong heart is still the wrong thing in God’s eyes, and so often that’s where our actions come from. Obligation-driven obedience does not measure up to the compassion-driven compliance that God calls for. So when our Savior acts, his actions are an outward expression of a holy heart.

I also want to call your attention to another reality of our Savior that relates to how he acts on our behalf: when you hurt, he hurts. Isaiah wrote, “In all their distress he too was distressed” (v.9). Those either cautious about or even skeptical of Christianity often struggle with how a loving God could allow so much hate and hurt in this world. But why should we conclude that the presence of hate and hurt somehow indicate that God condones it or is indifferent toward it? The Bible doesn’t speak of God that way and Isaiah certainly paints a different picture of the Lord right here. Yes, it weighs heavily on your Heavenly Father’s heart when you hurt. He is distressed when he sees you distressed.

But the Lord doesn’t stop there. If Isaiah only revealed the Lord’s attitude and how he feels about us, it might bring us some level of comfort, but it would be short-lived. Nice as it is when others express thoughtful sentiments, they are just that. “I’m sorry for your loss” lets us know that someone is aware of the hurt we’re feeling and cares enough to express it. Someone may “hope” for the best or “wish” us the best in the future. Knowing how someone feels toward us in our situation is not unappreciated… but it isn’t the same as when someone takes action. A kind gesture that supports kind words makes a different impact by providing added weight to words. We might say that actions amplify attitude.

They also build trust. Consider the difference between two people who each spoke words of encouragement or concern to you while you endured some hardship. In addition, they each expressed their intention to do something for you as well. But, only one of them actually did it. While you probably weren’t unappreciative of the encouraging words of each person, the one who also took the action to do the thing she said she would is perceived as more sincere and heartfelt. Actions amplify attitude. 

Isaiah described the Lord’s actions, too. He called them “many kindnesses,” “deeds for which he is to be praised,” “many good things he has done,” “saved,” “redeemed,” and “lifted up and carried.” That’s quite a combination of nouns and verbs that denote action – action that the Lord takes for his people, and action that amplifies his attitude.

Isaiah’s audience knew it firsthand. So much of the Jewish faith is about recounting what God did in the past for his people. He guided and guarded the patriarchs while blessing them along the way, as through them he built the foundation of what would become the nation of Israel. He raised up Moses and used his leadership to break the chains of oppressive slavery, delivering the Israelites out of Egypt by splitting the sea and then swallowing Pharaoh’s army with it. He fed them in the wilderness with bread from heaven while protecting them as they made their way to the land he had promised. He flexed his mighty arm to grant them victory over their enemies living in the Promised Land, allowing them to enter it and establish themselves. In all of this, the Lord’s actions amplified his attitude, showing very clearly what compassion, love, and mercy looked like – never turning his back on his people, even when they did so to him! 

As another celebration of Christmas has passed, we are not without our own recounting of what God did in the past for his people. All that he did for Israel he did for us, too, as it allowed everything to fall into place for the Savior to be born, just as he had promised. Through the birth of the Savior – and specifically through faith in him – our eyes are opened to see the constant kindnesses of the Lord on our behalf.

How good God is to us! The physical blessings abound, as another year of unwrapping gifts demonstrates the need to get bigger trees every year because the presents spill out from underneath and start to consume the whole room. We have so much that you probably have come to realize how challenging it is to shop for people in a day and age when everyone already has everything.

But God’s constant kindnesses aren’t only on display on December 25 – they abound all year long. Think back to how many times you worried about work, stressed about school, dreaded the doctor, and yet here you are – God’s care and compassion carried you through yet another year.

Yet as much as God has and continues to take action on our behalf to address our physical needs, your Savior was born for more than that. He came to take action that would impact your eternity, not just the handful of decades we’re granted here on earth. He came to take action that would guarantee you a future free from a fate that we would wish on no man, a future that guarantees that no soul should ever have to get what it deserves: the judgment of a guilty verdict and the ensuing sentence of eternity in hell.

No, hell is not what anyone really wants to talk about at Christmas, but understand that it’s precisely because of Christmas that we don’t have to! Christmas is God doing what he has always done, taking action that amplifies his attitude. It was never enough for God to express his hope that we’d be eternally OK or send us positive vibes to aid us on our journey. He took action. He took on flesh. He took on the law and perfected it. He took on our punishment and endured it. He took on our sin and paid for it. He took on hell and overcame it. He took on death and destroyed it. He took action. 

He did everything he said he was going to do… for people who don’t. People like you and me. How do we respond? Wallow in guilt and self-deprecation? No. There’s a better way. 

Tell about the one who does what he says he’s going to do on the biggest scale ever, having taken action to secure your salvation and continuing to take action so that you remain secure in your salvation. Join me in making the commitment in 2023 to imitate Isaiah. “I will tell of the kindnesses of the Lord, the deeds for which he is to be praised” (v.7). Join me in fervently celebrating the one who did what he said he was going to do for us, by now following through with what we say we’re going to do and taking action to tell others about him.

A Savior Born to Change the World

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(Luke 2:1-20)

There will always be unavoidable tension at Christmas that we are all forced to face every year. A part of what we love and long for this time of year is the familiarity of tradition, all those little things that we have to do and experience this time of year that mark it as special. It is that sameness that sets it apart from the rest of the year. It’s the time of year when we have to watch this movie, listen to that album or artist, bake this specific cookie or that sugary treat, or any number of other customs, just like we do every year for Christmas. The sameness helps cement this season as special.

But the tension starts to stiffen when that sameness is threatened by change, which always springs up in one way or another. A canceled flight or travel arrangements can cause change. Our kids grow up and, depending on which stage of life they’re at – possibly beginning new traditions of their own with their family – it may no longer be a given that we get to celebrate with them anymore. And as we age, we certainly don’t welcome the change of having to be much more discerning about what and how much we snack on over the holidays!  

Adding to that tension is how well we’re focused on the reason for the season – the birth of the Savior of the world, Jesus. I invite you to wrestle with that tension and reflect on the weight of his birth – not pounds and ounces – but the weight of same vs. change. Did Jesus come into our world to ensure that everything in your life would stay the same? Or, did he come into our world to make sure that everything would change forever? 

As we listen to the Christmas Gospel from Luke 2, we notice several things that were the same. A census was being taken – something that had been done the same every five years in the Roman world for several centuries already. Mary and Joseph were heading to their hometown to register for the census, just the same as everyone else in the Roman world was doing. The same shepherds were watching the same sheep in the same hills that surrounded Bethlehem. 

Ah, but then God pierced the timeline of history with something that was drastically different, something not at all the same. “An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Lk. 2:10-14). 

Did you catch it? Did you notice what had changed? Yes, an angel addressed the shepherds. Yes, an angelic army pierced the pitch-black night to proclaim the glories of God. Yes, those things were not at all the same. But the biggest change ever was what had just happened ever-so-subtly beneath the world’s radar: a Savior had been born. 

That had never happened! It had been promised, yes; prophesied, yes. Those same promises and prophecies had been passed down for centuries. But this was different. This was not the same. This wasn’t just a declaration of what would be; rather, it was the reality of an event that had taken place. What was hoped for had happened! The Savior was born. Everything changed. 

Contrast that with an area of your life and mine that has not changed – at least not as much as we’d like it to, and certainly not as much as God has called it to: it’s called sin. Sin, simply put, is missing the mark. It is as if every thought we think, every word we speak, every action we take, is like being at the foul line shooting a free throw. God’s demand is that every thought, word, and action is a swish from the line that seals our perfection. But instead of shooting 100% from the line, our lives are filled with one brick after another that clangs off the rim. 

We read through the picture-perfect details of other people’s family life in their Christmas letters and cards and we can feel the envy creep in. CLANG! Another brick. Another half-truth at work to the boss to tide him over for the holidays. CLANG! A drink or two too many at the office party. CLANG! A snarky shot back at mom or dad when asked to help around the house. CLANG! A testy text fired off in anger or impatience. CLANG! Brick after brick after brick – some days may see more go in than others, but we’re nowhere near 100%, and never can be, because every CLANG from our past will always count against the perfect percentage God requires of us. Meanwhile, we keep adding missed shots every day of our life. That’s the same in our lives and it always will be. It will never change!

So the change that Luke recorded in chapter 2 was absolutely necessary. “A Savior has been born to you” (v.11), the angel announced. A trainer to get you in shape isn’t what you need to hit 100% of those free throws. You don’t need a motivator to yell at you or inspire you. You don’t need a shooting coach to help you with your form or technique. While they all might make some noticeable contributions, what you need is someone who is guaranteed to hit every single shot for you. 

The good news of Christmas is that the Savior was born to do just that. Envy never once entered his heart. Lies never left his lips. He was never hungover, never dissed his dad or mom, and practiced patience perfectly. With his perfect life, he never missed the mark. He carried a perfect percentage. 

That gift of his perfection would have been outstanding on its own! But the Savior is not like Santa, only bringing gifts one night a year. No, the Savior came to give so much more. He didn’t only come bearing the gifts of his perfection. He came to give a gift that would cancel out every future CLANG and forgive all future free throws ever missed. While the Savior got his start in Bethlehem, he would meet his end just outside of Jerusalem. The gift wrapped up in swaddling clothes would one day be stripped of those clothes and publicly whipped and crucified. He stepped in as the substitutionary gift to die in our place to save the human race. He paid the price for our sin and changed everything. 

The angels pointed out that he would be the source of joy and peace for all people. Until Jesus arrived, the world’s experience with joy and peace had always been the same – short-lived, dependent upon temporary circumstances, or based on the hope of what was to come. But the Savior’s birth changed that forever. It would never be the same. The joy of our very real salvation has been permanently solidified. The peace of a fully restored relationship between mankind and God that is no longer divided by sin has been permanently solidified. The Savior’s birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension assure us of it. They guarantee that nothing will ever be the same!

So how can you be? Knowing this, believing this, trusting this to be true – the Savior has changed us. The tension has been resolved. We have been released and freed from it. We have been changed! That means our joy is not connected to our circumstances, whether good or bad. That means our peace does not exist only in the absence of conflict or stress. Rather, joy and peace belong to us all day long, every day.

So when you don’t get what you hoped for under the tree this Christmas, you’re just looking in the wrong place – joy is found in the manger. When December 26 hits and the world begins its hurried rush into whatever is the next urgent thing to get ready for, we can still be at peace, found in the manger. When a new year begins and the same old problems spring up, they may not change, but how we handle them has, because they cannot rob us of the joy and peace the Savior came to bring. He came into a world that was otherwise stuck in the sameness of sin, and he changed it forever.  He changed you forever, too, from sinner to saint. Merry Christmas!

Come, Lord Jesus! – as Immanuel

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(Matthew 1:18-25)

While the concept of karma has no basis in Scripture and therefore is not covered in any lessons in our Bible Basics class, the idea of it has certainly crept into our American way of thinking. We may rather flippantly comment on karma playing a role when someone pretty universally considered to be a jerk has a stroke of bad luck. Our usage of karma tends to be more negative than positive – that when bad things happen to bad people, it’s karma coming back to get them.

On the flip side, maybe the slightly twisted Christianized version of karma is this: “Do the right thing, and everything will work out.” Sure, there may be a few detours or unexpected potholes along the way, but generally speaking, when we do the right thing, everything works out. That’s why we have the Ten Commandments after all, right? Follow those pretty closely, and things will go our way. Be nice to people, tell the truth, don’t take what isn’t yours – do those kinds of things and generally speaking, everything works out. 

I wonder if that’s why we’re so drawn to a guy like Joseph in the Christmas account. Here is a good guy that the Bible always describes as doing the right thing. The verse today tells us he was “faithful to the law,” (Mt. 1:19), which used to be translated simply as “righteous.” He did the right things. Even after the angelic explanation for what was going on, we see Joseph doing the right thing. “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him.” (v.24). And later, after Jesus’ birth, Joseph again follows an angelic mandate to take his family to Egypt to avoid Herod’s wrath. We don’t see Joseph dismissing or disregarding what he is told to do. We don’t see him calling an audible and changing the game plan to what he thinks might be a better option or solution. We see him faithfully following orders – a good guy just doing the right thing. 

Yet, look what this good guy had to go through! The quiet, humble, do-gooder Joseph was going about everything the right way in his relationship with Mary. He had been faithfully honoring the period of engagement before marriage, which could have been a rather lengthy time as the families negotiated the details of the marriage, and then the bombshell dropped: she was pregnant, and Joseph was definitely not the father. So much for “do the right thing, and everything will work out,” huh?!?

It’s happened to you, too, hasn’t it? You did all the right things, but still, look what happened. You’ve been prudent and disciplined with your finances, budgeting wisely and refusing to get caught up in a buy everything and buy it right now culture, but still cannot seem to get things into the black. You’re the model employee, following company policy and always getting your stuff done in a timely manner, and no one ever takes notice. You take care of your things far better than your negligent neighbor, and yet you’re the one who always has car trouble or the leaky roof. You really felt you were doing all the right things as a parent, but your heavy heart questions it as you watch your child’s life continue to crumble in one part of life after another. You’re doing the right thing, but everything is definitely not working out! 

That carries over into our spiritual lives, too, doesn’t it? You’re doing the right things God calls you to in your marriage but the burdens are far outnumbering the blessings. You’ve been much more deliberate about being active and engaged at church, but your problems persist. You’ve been reading your Bible, but rather than experiencing clarity, confusion continues. You committed to the three-month challenge of increasing your giving over the final quarter of the year, but it’s been much more difficult than you thought it would be. You’re doing the right thing, but everything is definitely not working out!

It gets more troubling as we get more personal. I’m talking about trying to do the right thing after you’ve done the wrong thing – that internal scale that we try to balance inside our own minds. Our history of exploding in a fit of sinful rage has resulted in physical damage or scathing words more times than we can count. Therefore, we work really hard at being more patient… only to inevitably lose control again. The next morning we tell ourselves last night was the last time we’re ever going on that website… and then after visiting it again the very next weekend we have to establish a new “last time we’re ever going to visit it.” Your dismal financial situation, caused by credit card debt racked up through your unnecessary purchases leaves you feeling ashamed and guilty, so you end up making it worse by trying to escape the guilt with more buying. You know you should forgive the person who sinned against you as readily as Jesus forgives your sins, but… you just can’t. You’re trying to do the right thing – even when trying to balance the scales because you’re the one who’s done the wrong thing, but it is definitely not working out! 

If you are frustrated or discouraged by this struggle, the Bible provides some insight to help explain what’s going on. “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 16:25). “By the works of the law no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:16). That’s pretty sobering news for those hoping to make progress by taking the “do the right thing and everything will work out” approach. It won’t work out. It doesn’t work out.

That misses the whole point of God’s law, which is really summed up by “do the right thing.” Or, to put it another way, love perfectly at all times. That isn’t just a tall order; it’s an impossible one. And that’s what God needs us to realize. Even guys like Joseph, guys we’d prefer to look up to and emulate as “good guys” – they are never good enough. We’ll never prove ourselves worthy or free from guilt by getting to the point of good, because it’s an unattainable goal. 

So what did Joseph do when that bombshell of Mary’s pregnancy dropped? Well, since he was the kinda guy who did the right thing, that’s exactly what he stuck with – he did the right thing.

But there’s a monumental difference between doing the right thing in hopes of satisfying God and doing the right thing once you find out God’s more interested in satisfying you. That, after all, was what was revealed to Joseph in his dream. The angel explained the significance of Mary’s pregnancy and birth. “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Mt. 1:21). “Joseph, did you hear that? You don’t have to be good enough! You don’t have to try harder! You don’t have to live in limbo, wondering if you’ve done the right thing so that everything will work out eternally. The Son born to Mary would take care of all of that. He will save people – including you, Joseph – from their sins!”

Brothers and sisters in Christ, did you hear that? You don’t have to be good enough! You don’t have to try harder! You don’t have to live in limbo, wondering if you’ve done the right thing so that everything will work out eternally. The Son born to Mary would take care of all of that. He will save people – including you – from their sins!

And he wouldn’t leave us wondering where we stood by remaining in heaven and barking out directions or to-do’s that could we could follow to be saved from our sins. He had to do it, and not from heaven, but here on earth. Matthew connected the dots for his readers to no one would miss that Mary’s Son would be God’s Son, the Savior who, just as Isaiah had promised, would come to be with us: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”)” (v.22-23).

Immanuel, “God with us,” is not just the stuff of nostalgia; it’s the stuff of necessity. In Christ, God came to be what Joseph couldn’t be, what we couldn’t be, what no one could be: both perfection and payment. Jesus was the good we all strive so unsuccessfully to be. Jesus was the perfect that we’ll never pacify. Jesus was the payment we could never make. 

Christmas is Christmas because it had to be. Out of necessity. I need that child born on Christmas Day. You need that child born on Christmas Day. You love that child and you love Christmas when you are emptied of the notion that you can just do the right thing and everything will work out. It won’t. So God had to fix what we couldn’t, what we can’t, what we will never on our own be able to fix: ourselves. 

For all of his righteousness, his faithfulness to the law, his doing the right thing, Joseph still needed Jesus. So do we. Good news: on Christmas, we celebrate that God gave us just what we needed: Immanuel.

Come, Lord Jesus! – as Messiah

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(James 5:7-11)

“We’re almost there.” Every child is eager to hear those words on a long trip. Workers striving to hit an end-of-the-year goal are energized by those words as their boss sends out the office-wide memo. Fresh off another thrilling win, the team’s belief in its ability to achieve its championship aspirations swells as the coach shouts those words. “We’re almost there!”

James wrote it a bit differently, but with a similar purpose in mind. Instead of “we’re almost there,” his refrain was “He’s almost here – the Lord is near!” The words instill a sense of urgency, a call to action, an encouragement to be ready for his arrival. There is a sense of imminency in James’ words! “Just a little while longer! It won’t be long now! The wait is almost over!” 

But something may strike you as you consider these words from James: they were written a looooooooooong time ago. And still we wait. Jesus was a no-show to the first ears that heard these words of James. Jesus has been a no-show ever since. 

That tends to take a little wind out of the sails, doesn’t it? The sense of urgency dissipates over such a long period of time. So what are we to make of what can often feel like a boy-who-cried-wolf warning about Jesus’ imminent return that has been sounding for 2,000 years? When James first wrote these words, his audience had experienced what it was like for the long wait to be over when Jesus came the first time at his birth. But when century after century after century has passed and Scripture’s words, “the Lord is near” are still supposed to tide us over, well, urgency ever so gradually morphs into complacency. 

We see it in the church. You still find yourself wondering about certain folks you haven’t seen for who-knows-how-long. You might wonder if they’ve moved elsewhere or if they even still belong to the church. And here’s how that complacency cuts both ways: it isn’t just those who seem to be MIA, but it’s also those of us who are here but have been complacent about reaching out to them. For as much as we lament how neglected the Bible is, perhaps a close second is our neglect of the church directory.

And by no means is complacency’s reach limited to just this area – it can infect our service to others, our offerings, and our Christian living in general, allowing our fruits of the Spirit to become mushy and soft. Love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal.5:22-23) need their own missing person’s report filed. 

How do we make the shift back? How do we ditch the complacency and recapture the sense of urgency? ICYMI, James happens to mention a solution just once or twice (or four times…): be patient. Easier said than done! What exactly does that look like? Glad you asked, as James provides some pointers for patience as we await the Messiah’s return. He says to stand firm, avoid grumbling, and persevere. 

What are you standing on right now? Be careful, because if you say Jesus, then your life will show Jesus. What I mean is that simply knowing what the answer should be does not always line up with reality. We fail to realize what experts we are in this area. We convince ourselves that this thing matters to me or that thing matters to me or we’re this type of person or that type of person. But often the cold, hard truth is that no one else observing our life would even begin to draw the same conclusion based on what they actually see.

We tell others that we absolutely love [blank], but then immediately follow it up with the excuse that we don’t have time for [blank]. Sorry, but no you don’t love it that much if you can’t even make time for it! We buy stuff that we’re convinced we need to support this hobby or interest… but the only time those things get touched is when they’re moved from being in the way in one place to being in the way somewhere else. And there they sit, serving as constant reminders of our imaginary hobby or interest. Parents go back and forth with their children and husbands go back and forth with their wives with what we refer to as nagging – but we fail to realize the reason it feels like nagging is that every comment is a convicting reminder that I am not who I say I am or am not interested in what I say I am interested in.

So if you say that you are standing firm right now on the truths and promises of Jesus and his Word, I’d encourage you to do a personal assessment to take note of exactly what evidence in your day-to-day living supports that confidence. If you don’t see as much evidence as you thought, there’s no time like the present to adjust it. If that is the only step you take in applying James’ pointers for patience, it would be a commendable one – and one that will reap noticeable blessings. 

James also says that patience involves avoiding grumbling against one another. Uh oh. Grumbling in general is such a way of life for some of us. Your “Grumble List” from just the morning alone is already into its second column. “It’s too early. I don’t have anything to wear. We don’t have anything to eat. They’re sitting in our seat. I don’t like this hymn, etc.”

And when that comes so easily to us, it isn’t much of a stretch to direct that grumbling against others. “Our spouse leaves this there, our kids neglected that, so-and-so at church didn’t do it the right way…” Now, these things may have some merit, but grumbling is really not about addressing the actual issue itself so much as it is my attitude and approach to it. I can see an issue through a lens of gratitude or grumbling, and whichever perspective I take is going to determine how I interact with the other person involved. See – grumbling isn’t actually about others as much as we think; it has much more to do with our own attitude. Addressing this is another way we wait patiently. 

And to round out the three keys to patience as we wait? Perseverance. Not our strong suit as a society. Adversity hits, and how do we respond? Outrage. We can’t believe this thing happened. We can’t believe this thing happened to us. We can’t believe someone else would do that.

Our default is the victim mentality that is convinced that removing the adversity – which is clearly someone else’s fault – is the only option. We don’t even consider how we might actually endure it or deal with it or process it or handle it or put up with it. We go right to eliminating it, which means turning the bullseye on someone or something else as the cause.

Those are just the cases that don’t even really involve significant adversity. What about when those arrive? What am I talking about? Fighting (in a good way!) instead of giving up. Forgiving instead of getting even. Growing instead of going when it gets tough. Trusting when tested. Some of you are going through seasons right now that are forcing you to face these difficult decisions. The adversity is real. The pull to call it quits is as strong as it’s ever been. Giving up seems so much easier. But patience means perseverance, friends!

Consider James’ examples. The prophets. Talk about a tough job description! “Go to God’s people and call them to repentance, but be careful – they won’t like you and will want you imprisoned or dead.” That’s perseverance! Or consider Job, who had everything, then had nothing, and was surrounded by nothing but miserable advice from his wife and friends to help him cope with trauma and tragedy. Still he didn’t turn away. That’s perseverance!

What fuels your perseverance? Where do we find the power to keep pushing? James tells us. “The Lord is full of compassion and mercy” (v.11c). You know what? That’s worth waiting for. Patiently, even!

But you know what else? We don’t have to wait for that – the Lord’s compassion and mercy are already ours! What proof of this do we have? Look back at Jesus’ first coming as Messiah. THAT was compassion and mercy. 2 Corinthians 1:3 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3). Literally, God is the Father of compassion, for his Son is its source! The Messiah – the anointed or chosen one – has already come, and he already brought compassion with him the first time.

The gift wrapped up in swaddling clothes in Bethlehem was compassion personified. He came to give himself as the gift on Calvary that would keep on giving. What greater gift of compassion could there be than canceled sins? What greater gift of compassion could there be than the comfort of constant forgiveness for sinners? God doesn’t just call himself the Lord full of compassion and mercy – he backs it up!

Think on this for one second. If that is what the Messiah came to bring with him the first time, can you even imagine what he’s bringing with him when he returns??? Can you even imagine how he can top that? Well, you won’t have to wait much longer – He’s almost here. The Lord is near! In the meantime, we wait patiently for the Messiah to return. We do so by standing firm, giving up the grumbling, and persevering. And we do all of that with the compassion and mercy the Messiah brought with him the first time to tide us over until he comes again. 

Redeemer

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(Galatians 4:4-7)

While a sermon isn’t typically the place to look for hot stock trading tips, this morning you’re in for a treat. Years ago you might recall a video rental chain by the name of Blockbuster. There was a new service entering the movie rental industry that allowed you to go online to choose which movies you wanted to rent, and this company would mail the DVDs directly to your home. This company was called Netflix. Its growing success was threatening Blockbuster’s business model, causing Blockbuster’s stock price to decline significantly as a result. But, since Blockbuster was starting to get on board with the mailing model and already had 1,000s of physical locations from which to operate, I jumped on the stock, convinced it would be a matter of time before it caught up and jumped back to the top in the industry. 

I was wrong. Would you care to know how much each share of Blockbuster is worth today? About 1/10 of a cent. It’s worthless. It is of no value whatsoever. Be sure to follow me for more hot stock tips! 

Share prices of stocks go up and down in value. In fact, the value of a thing can fluctuate, can’t it, as its value is really determined by how much someone thinks it is worth. This morning as we continue our What Child Is This? series, in addition to the answer Isaiah provides us with on Christmas Eve, that this Child is the Prince of Peace, we also today see that he is our Redeemer. Through this title, we see how valuable we are to God because of the worth he attaches to us.   

Most of us are familiar enough with the term redeemer. We will talk about a person needing to redeem himself. When we speak of it in this sense the implication is that someone has carried out some wrongdoing in general or some damage to a relationship with another individual. When sufficient effort is then made to remedy the situation or reconcile with the other individual, we speak of that person having redeemed himself. So there is a sense of righting a wrong when it comes to the idea of a redeemer. 

Now that may work in a court of human law or public opinion, but there is a courtroom where no man can redeem himself or another: God’s. The psalmist writes, “No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them – the ransom for life is costly, no payment is ever enough” (49:7-8). Suppose I borrowed $10,000 from you to buy up all that Blockbuster stock. Now, years later, you ask for your money back. For obvious reasons, I don’t have the money, but offer to pay you back in shares of Blockbuster. Would you accept? Of course not! It’s not worth anything! No lender would accept payment in the form of the same worthless investment that just lost you a significant investment! So neither can we who have by our own sin made ourselves worthless, pay back anything to God! The very thing that put us into the position of needed to be redeemed – sin – is what taints us so much that we can never offer anything of ourselves of value to redeem ourselves before God!

But boy do we still try! We have solutions for trying to redeem ourselves. Some religions emphasize the ongoing effort to redeem ourselves by becoming better, by being good people. Sounds good enough, but it ignores the real issue that needs redeeming: sin.

An increasingly popular approach in our age of secularism is to deny God and any need for redemption at all, but this, too, falls short. Sin is real. It separates. Ignoring it, calling it something else, pretending there is no God who takes issue with it, these offer no redemption.

So Paul helps us understand precisely why God came into our world bearing a body. “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship” (Galatians 4:4-5). First, let’s talk timing. Paul says “when the time had fully come.” What he means is that in God’s governing over all things, he had determined the exact time for the promised Savior to arrive on earth. One can look at the Roman world at the time and see how ideal it was for Jesus to be born. The Roman Empire was enjoying a season of peace from war. A universal language was used, making communication much more effective. The Roman system of roads made places far more accessible for travel. It was an ideal time.

Yet, we might think that today would be much more suitable. After all, consider all of the technological advancements. Think of all the ways we could communicate the birth of Jesus if he had been born in 2021. Seems like now, not 2,000 years ago, would have been a better time, doesn’t it? 

Ironically, one could also argue that all of the reasons for now being a better time could also be used to argue against it. How well would the message be received in an age when we are inundated with more information in a month than people of the past were in a lifetime? And the technology – a blessing, for sure, in so many ways… and yet a constant distraction at the same time. Does technology serve us or enslave us? So maybe Paul had it right when under divine inspiration he argued that God had determined the best time for the Redeemer to enter our world. And how would he carry this out? Why did it have to be done the way it was done? 

If a person is to be rightly rescued – redeemed – then it stands to reason that he must be rescued from the actual threat facing him. You don’t save a drowning person by running to the hospital to grab a stretcher. You don’t treat a broken bone with a band-aid. No, for the solution to provide an actual cure, it has to address the real problem. What is the problem that we all needed solved? Make no mistake – the real threat is having to answer for our sin or suffer the consequences of a real hell.

To rescue those being crushed and condemned under the weight of the law, God – who by his holiness established the law in the first place! – bound himself to keeping it so that, placing it on his shoulders and flawlessly fulfilling it, he could keep it from crushing us with its eternal condemnation in hell. While by our disobedience we disqualified ourselves according to the law, Jesus was born to keep the law, so that by his obedience God’s expectation of perfection could be met. Since only man and not God himself who gave the law is bound to it, God became a man so that he could keep it. 

Imagine a youth claiming to be able to drive her whole life without ever breaking the speed limit. While that’s a bold claim to make, she has no way to prove it. She must first be of the legal age limit to drive, and then pass her test to get a license. Once she does those things, she could then set out to prove her claim by maintaining a perfect driving record. But until she is actually bound by the law, it’s not possible for her to keep it. So it is with God – to keep the law he had to first bind himself to it, so he was born into this world bearing a human body, so that he would be bound to the law.

Notice how Paul effortlessly slips into his next thought with the clear implication that Jesus did in fact keep the law. After explaining how it would happen so that we might be adopted as God’s sons and daughters, the verse that immediately follows point out that we are sons and daughters! Jesus did it! He succeeded in perfectly obeying the law, for we are now adopted sons and daughters, no longer slaves, but free heirs to receive the glorious riches of an eternal inheritance, along with all the treasure house of blessings lavished on us while here on earth in the meantime! Now we have that most intimate of relationships, being able to address the Father as “Abba,” akin to “daddy,” a relationship unique to father and child. Now the Son born in Bethlehem calls our hearts his home. 

Now we are worth something, for we have been redeemed. Jesus’ redemption is what has given us value. Apart from him we were worth nothing. We are by nature just like all the BOGOs and discount coupons for this store and that restaurant stashed in your drawer at home – worth nothing until actually redeemed! Until you actually show up, purchase something, and redeem the coupon for whatever discount it is, the coupon is worthless. It has to be redeemed to be of any value. 

So it is with us. Christmas means we are worth something, for that child, that Prince of Peace came into this world to be our Redeemer. And because he redeemed us with his own precious blood, we are worth something. How much, you ask? Considering no price can be attached to Jesus’ holy, innocent blood, and that that was the price paid for you and me, how valuable does that make us? If something of inestimable value was used to buy us back, to redeem us, then how valuable are we – priceless! And that is just how God sees us. For he would not have offered up his only Son as the redemption price for our very souls if he did not treasure us beyond measure! 

What Child is This? He is our Redeemer. Because we have been redeemed, we are sons and daughters who are God’s own heirs, standing ready to receive his greatest blessings both now and for eternity. What other gift that you unwrapped this year even begins to compare to that!?! Merry Christmas!

Prince of Peace

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(Isaiah 9:2-7)

One of the simple things in life that brings joy to just about everyone every time it is shared is the announcement that a couple is expecting or a baby has been born. I know of at least one friend whose family gathering this Christmas will include his daughter sharing the news that they are expecting. Whether it’s the shared anticipation of a couple who is expecting or the exciting news of the baby’s arrival at birth, it’s the kind of news that just makes us happy. 

News of a birth also means wanting to hear all of the details. When was the baby born? How long was labor? Boy or girl? How much did it weigh? What’s the length? These curious questions are a natural follow-up to news of any birth, as we want to get to know a little bit more about the baby.

We heard a baby announcement today from the prophet Isaiah. While we aren’t used to such announcements being given any further out than about nine months at the most, Isaiah shared his announcement some 700 years before the due date! And, he didn’t wait until the baby had been delivered to share the details, but declared them ahead of time. His words today, and the words we’ll look at for the next two Sundays of Christmas, will provide us with the necessary information to answer the question raised by the beloved Christmas hymn, What Child Is This? 

So just who is this Jesus whose birth is celebrated across the world by people of every nation and language? He must matter a great deal, for who else’s birth has been cause for such universal celebration every year ever since it happened?!? That fact alone deserves our attention, doesn’t it? Regardless of what anyone believes, isn’t this birth worth looking into if so many people all over the world have celebrated it for so many years?

What, then, does Isaiah tell us to provide insight into an answer for the question, What Child Is This? Quite a lot, actually! Isaiah tells us he’ll be a beacon of light in a world steeped in darkness. He will be a source of joy. He will bring victory. Then, we get to verses that have served as the basis for some of the most beautiful music ever played or sung; words that have inspired so many in the world of music and the arts; words that have filled hearts with hope for 2,700 years – the words of Isaiah 9, verse 6: “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.” While each of these designations could provide sermon upon sermon or even series upon series, on this day we will give our attention to just the one title that answers the question before us, the title, Prince of Peace. 

To be designated as the “prince” of something is to say the one bearing the title is considered to be the authority in that field or area. The dictionary describes the title as “a man or thing regarded as outstanding or excellent in a particular sphere or group.” So what does it say about Jesus that his birth announcement 700 years before his arrival did not merely associate him with peace or describe that he might bring in a season or period of peace, but that he himself is the prince of peace? It means that any understanding of peace apart from Jesus is either an inadequate or incomplete understanding of what peace is, for he is the prince! A person cannot, therefore, have peace apart from the One called the very Prince of Peace!

But sadly, that doesn’t stop the world from either pursuing peace in all the wrong places or simply flat-out avoiding the things we perceive to be disrupting it. We do have phrases that incorporate the word peace, like “peace of mind,” being “at peace” with a decision, or “making peace” with someone. In one way or another, each of these expressions has to do with something that is unsettling or causing tension or conflict. To achieve peace, then, is to settle the matter, ease the tension, or eliminate the conflict. The result should then be peace. 

Another solution is to simply avoid the things that are unsettling or cause tension or conflict. But with a few rare exceptions avoiding such things isn’t a real solution. It may perhaps buy some more time toward a solution, but the act of avoiding is itself no solution, and very often only exacerbates the problem. This happens especially when avoiding is paired with some attempt at escape like substance abuse or any of the other escapes we explored back in our October and September sermon series. 

If any of these supposed solutions for peace worked, then how does one explain why our world is as unsettled as it’s been in any of our lifetimes? If these solutions worked, then do so many express the feeling that things are getting worse, not better? Shouldn’t we be “at peace” and finding “peace of mind” if we’re finally addressing climate change, calling out privilege and racism, if “our guy” is finally elected President, if individuals are free to identify as whichever gender they prefer, if… the list goes on. But how come all this “progress” hasn’t resulted in more peace? Why is drug and alcohol abuse on the rise? Why is depression debilitating more and more? Why are suicides so regularly in the news? Where is the peace? Is this what peace looks like?

The answer is “no.” This isn’t peace. Peace isn’t found in the absence of COVID or conflict; it’s found in the presence of Christ. Remember, Isaiah already told us what peace looks like! It’s not just Isaiah, either. Peace and God go hand-in-hand throughout all of Scripture. Micah, another prophet at the same time as Isaiah, said this when describing Jesus in a birth announcement of his own: “And he will be our peace” (5:5a). The apostle Paul, who wrote a good chunk of the NT, frequently referred to the God of “grace and peace” in the greeting of his letters. Another writer in the Bible wrote, “Now may the God of peace… equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20). Peace and God go hand-in-hand!

So just how did Jesus secure this peace that all the progress in the world cannot provide? “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in [the Son], and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:19-20). Jesus came not just to be born in a manger, but to die on a cross. His very life was the price for our peace with God. Someone had to answer for our sin that separates us from God, or heaven would have been permanently shut off to us. God had communicated through Old Testament sacrifice that payment for sin was required. Jesus made that payment for us. Since we are no longer in debt to God for the payment of our sin, then we are at peace with him.

And the added bonus that comes with this peace? When you have it, it won’t ever run out. It isn’t a passing peace or a fleeting peace, but a permanent peace, as Isaiah shared in his announcement: “Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end” (v.7a). This kind of peace won’t end. That also means your circumstances won’t change it. The things that happen to you can’t diminish it. Wherever you are, God’s peace through Jesus is with you – even if you’re in jail, like Ruffino Fernandez. 

It was in jail that Ruffino came to faith in Jesus after hearing the Word of God during a seminar. Being so positively impacted by the Word of God in that seminar, he attended another the next time it was offered, explaining, “The teaching and love in these seminars has meant so much to me. I wanted to learn more before I left [prison].” Later, a third such seminar was announced, and Ruffino was very eager to attend. The problem? It was set for the same day as his release from prison, meaning he would miss it because he was being set free. So what did he do? He asked his parole officer for his release from prison to be delayed until after the seminar! (Source: Prison Fellowship fundraiser letter dated July 24, 1984, signed by Charles W. Colson.) Who would do that? Why would anyone do that? Because the prison walls made no difference at all to someone who knew the Prince of peace. Whether held inside the walls of a prison or released into freedom, it didn’t matter – he had peace either way. And because of Christmas, because God made good on Isaiah’s baby announcement and gave you the gift of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, you have peace, too.

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!