{"id":1042,"date":"2023-01-25T06:08:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-25T14:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/?p=1042"},"modified":"2023-01-22T20:47:52","modified_gmt":"2023-01-23T04:47:52","slug":"a-savior-born-to-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/?p=1042","title":{"rendered":"A Savior Born to Act"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(Isaiah 63:7-9)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019d do? Were there resolutions that sounded nice on paper, but never gained enough traction to experience the coveted \u201ccrossed-off\u201d 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 \u201csomeday\u201d projects that we\u2019ve talked about – some of them for an embarrassing number of years – that we were fully committed to finally making happen in 2022. So\u2026 did you do everything you said you\u2019d do in 2022?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Didn\u2019t 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\u2019ll 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\u2019ll do with it the rest of our lives is spend more time convincing ourselves that someday we\u2019ll get it done than spend any actual time getting it done.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depending on which category you fall into, it probably impacts how you feel <\/em>about those unfinished commitments, too. Those who are ambitious and driven feel angry or ticked off. Others who are more carefree won\u2019t lose any sleep over any unfinished commitments. Then there are those who feel stuck and frustrated because they\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s 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\u2019t empty. He came to take action.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019t 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, <\/em>my inconsistent past track record betrays that they would<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So when Isaiah describes our Savior this way, it isn\u2019t only to help us appreciate that we\u2019re on the receiving end of that compassion, love, and mercy, but also that those are the attitudes that drive his actions. Even that <\/em>is so unlike us. Remember that God isn\u2019t 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\u2019s eyes, and so often that\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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, \u201cIn all their distress he too was distressed\u201d (v.9)<\/em><\/strong>. 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\u2019t 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\u2019s heart when you hurt. He is distressed when he sees you distressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Lord doesn\u2019t stop there. If Isaiah only revealed the Lord\u2019s attitude and how he feels <\/em>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. \u201cI\u2019m sorry for your loss\u201d lets us know that someone is aware of the hurt we\u2019re feeling and cares enough to express it. Someone may \u201chope\u201d for the best or \u201cwish\u201d us the best in the future. Knowing how someone feels toward us in our situation is not unappreciated\u2026 but it isn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019t 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isaiah described the Lord\u2019s actions, too. He called them \u201cmany kindnesses,\u201d \u201cdeeds for which he is to be praised,\u201d \u201cmany good things he has done,\u201d \u201csaved,\u201d \u201credeemed,\u201d and \u201clifted up and carried.\u201d That\u2019s quite a combination of nouns and verbs that denote action – action that the Lord takes for his people, and action that amplifies his attitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isaiah\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s 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!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But God\u2019s constant kindnesses aren\u2019t 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\u2019s care and compassion carried you through yet another year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019re 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, hell is not what anyone really wants to talk about at Christmas, but understand that it\u2019s precisely because of<\/em> Christmas that we don\u2019t 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<\/em> that we\u2019d 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He did everything he said he was going to do… for people who don\u2019t. People like you and me. How do we respond? Wallow in guilt and self-deprecation? No. There\u2019s a better way.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell about the one who does what he says he\u2019s 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. \u201cI will tell of the kindnesses of the\u00a0Lord, the deeds for which he is to be praised\u201d (v.7)<\/em><\/strong>. 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\u2019re going to do and taking action to tell others about him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(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\u2019d do? Were there resolutions that sounded nice on paper, but never gained enough traction… Continue reading A Savior Born to Act<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[65],"tags":[266,4,5,109,36,108],"class_list":["post-1042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons","tag-action","tag-christmas","tag-jesus","tag-preaching","tag-sermon","tag-teaching"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p842FN-gO","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1042"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1049,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042\/revisions\/1049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}