Friend of All Who Come to God

That same Jesus who once died for sinners, still lives at the right hand of God, to carry on the work of salvation which He came down from heaven to perform.

He lives to receive all who come unto God by Him, and to give them power to become the sons of God.

He lives to hear the confession of every heavy-laden conscience, and to grant, as an almighty High Priest, perfect absolution.

He lives to pour down the Spirit of adoption on all who believe in Him, and to enable them to cry, Abba, Father!

He lives to be the one Mediator between God and man, the unwearied Intercessor, the kind Shepherd, the elder Brother, the prevailing Advocate, the never-failing Priest and Friend of all who come to God by Him.

He lives to be wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption to all His people—to keep them in life, to support them in death, and to bring them finally to eternal glory.

 

— J. C. Ryle
Old Paths

Confess....Rejoice

If you are truly trusting in Christ, you can’t confess a sin for which God has not provided forgiveness in Jesus.

Indeed, if you work at the discipline of confessing your sin, it should not lead to despair at all, but rather to rejoicing over the extent of God’s love to you in Christ.

—Mark Dever and Michael Lawrence,  
 It Is Well: Expositions on Substitutionary Atonement

The Day(s) after Christmas....

A Prayer About the Day After Christmas is a post from: Heavenward by Scotty Smith

    The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. Luke 2:20

Heavenly Father, it’s reasonable to assume that life just on the other side of Christmas day is as varied as imaginable. For some of us, this was the “greatest” Christmas ever, in terms of healthy, caring relationships… incredible “eats”… thoughtful gifts, both given and received… and above all,  fresh gratitude for the indescribable gift of your Son, Jesus.

For others of us, it was a really difficult day. Palpable tensions… dashed hopes… brokenness abounding. For still others, it was the first Christmas with an empty chair where a loved one used to sit, or a day spend all by ourselves in excruciating loneliness.

Father, my prayer today is for all of us, no matter what yesterday was like. For even our best days are in need of the gospel and none of our worse days are beyond the reach of the gospel.

When the shepherds left Jesus’ manger, they were still shepherds… they still couldn’t worship at the temple… they still couldn’t give testimony in a court of law… they still were stereotyped as thieves by many in their community.

And we shouldn’t romanticize what Joseph and Mary did the day after Jesus was born. As though, all of the sudden, a 5-star Inn in Bethlehem did open up… as though Mary’s body would’ve been spared all the normal chaos and pain of birthing and afterbirth… as though angels started showing up as round the clock wet nurses.

Father, thank you that we’re Christians, not Gnostics. We don’t have to pretend about anything. Christmas isn’t a season in which we’re supposed to be transported into a super-spirituality, rising above reality. The gospel isn’t about denial, but learning to delight in you… no matter what’s going on. We praise you that Jesus came into a real world where everything is broken, but he came to make all things new… starting with us.

Please give each of us the special and the common grace you gave shepherds. Let us hear and let us see more of Jesus, even if we remain “shepherds” the rest of our lives. Enable us to glorify and praise you, Father, for you are not a man that you would lie about anything. Everything you’ve promised us in your Word will come to pass. The gospel really is true. Jesus really is making all things new. Your grace really is sufficient. This is good news for shepherds, kings and us alike. So very Amen, we pray, in Jesus’ faithful and loving name.

Morning and Noon and Night

In The Necessity of Prayer, E. M. Bounds quotes this advice, giving credit only to "an eminent old divine":

Would you be freed from the bondage to corruption? Would you grow in grace in general and grow in grace in particular? If you would, your way is plain.

Ask of God more faith. Beg of him morning, and noon and night, while you walk by the way, while you sit in the house, when you lie down and when you rise up; beg of him simply to impress divine things more deeply on your heart, to give you more and more of the substance of things hoped for and of the evidence of things not seen.

“Fear not.”

Fear Not

Desiring God Blog

And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people' (Luke 2:10).

The Bethlehem shepherds were afraid of the holy angel. That’s understandable. Holy glory naturally strikes terror into the heart of sinful people.

But the angel told them they did not have to fear. He was bringing them good news! Christ the Lord, their Savior, had been born in the city of his father, David. And this Savior would bring peace among those with whom God was pleased—peace with God (Romans 5:1) through the forgiveness of their sins (Luke 1:77).

God had sent his holy Son into the world not to condemn it, “but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). “For our sake he [would make] him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). And that would mean “no condemnation for all who [would be] in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

That wonderful night the herald angel proclaimed the beginning of the end of our terror of God’s holiness. More than that, it was the beginning of the end of all our fears. “God is love” (1 John 4:16), and “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18).

“Fear not.” This is God’s Christmas message to you if you are in Christ Jesus. God is completely for you (Romans 8:31) and he will conquer all your fears and all your foes (Romans 8:35-39).

You have nothing to fear. That is good news of great joy!

Hell's Terror

 

“‘Immanuel, God with us.’  It is hell’s terror.  Satan trembles at the sound of it. . . . Let him come to you suddenly, and do you but whisper that word, ‘God with us,’ back he falls, confounded and confused. . . . ‘God with us’ is the laborer’s strength.  How could he preach the gospel, how could he bend his knees in prayer, how could the missionary go into foreign lands, how could the martyr stand at the stake, how could the confessor own his Master, how could men labor if that one word were taken away? . . . ‘God with us’ is eternity’s sonnet, heaven’s hallelujah, the shout of the glorified, the song of the redeemed, the chorus of the angels, the everlasting oratorio of the great orchestra of the sky. . . .

Feast, Christians, feast; you have a right to feast. . . . But in your feasting, think of the Man in Bethlehem.  Let him have a place in your hearts, give him the glory, think of the virgin who conceived him, but think most of all of the Man born, the Child given.

I finish by again saying, A happy Christmas to you all!”

                          C. H. Spurgeon

Immanuel is a post from: Ray Ortlund

Immanuel (God With Us)

Great quote for today as we approach the day where we celebrate Immanuel - "God with us"

 

Near to God and near to us

Of First Importance

“Would you have your Savior to be one who is near to God, so that his mediation might be prevalent with him? And can you desire him to be nearer to God than Christ is, who is his only-begotten Son, of the same essence with the Father? And would you not only have him near to God, but also near to you, that you may have free access to him? And would you have him nearer to you than to be in the same nature, united to you by a spiritual union, so close as to be fitly represented by the union of the wife to the husband, of the branch to the vine, of the member to the head; yea, so as to be one spirit? For so he will be united to you, if you accept him.… What is there wanting or what would you add if you could, to make him more fit to be your Savior?”

— Jonathan Edwards

Doing All Things Well

 A Prayer About Jesus’ Perfect Birthing Experience is a post from: Heavenward by Scotty Smith

But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.     Galatians 4:4-7

Dear Jesus, like others, I often criticize and sentimentalize the circumstances of your birth. Judging Jerusalem for missing “her moment”… condemning inn-keepers for gross inhospitality… and pitying Mary for having to endure such an ignoble and unsanitary birthing room. Yet everything happened in keeping with the decrees and delights of heaven. “Doing all things well” didn’t just start happening after your resurrection. From cradle to cross to crown, it’s all one big gospelicious story of sovereign grace.

Jesus, you arrived, “when the time had fully come”… not a day early, and not a day late. As humbling as it was to be born under the ceiling of a stable, being born under the weight of the law was a far greater burden. Yet that’s exactly why you came into the world—to take the full weight of God’s law upon yourself in order to redeem us… to redeem me from sin’s penalty, power and presence.

There’s no way we could’ve ever fulfilled the demands of God’s righteous and holy law. Only you could and only you did… and you did it all for us, Jesus. Your life of perfect obedience is now considered to be ours. Your death upon the cross is also considered to be ours—a death by which you exhausted the judgment we deserve for our sin. Because you lived in our place and died in our place, we’re no longer slaves, but fully-righted and much beloved children of the living God. We dance before you and delight in you, Jesus, for such over-the-top good news—for such a glorious gospel.

Abba, Father has already robed us with your righteousness and has sent his powerful Spirit to live in our hearts, and our future looks spectacular, as well. For we will co-inherit the new heaven and new earth with you, and with our whole pan-national family. O my… what is left to say but “Hallelujah, what a Savior! Hallelujah, what a salvation!”

If someone should ask us what we got for Christmas this year and we don’t answer, “More of the gospel!”, have mercy on us, Jesus, have mercy on us. Indeed, we won’t judge inn-keepers this Advent season, but we will rejoice in the God of our salvation. So very Amen, we pray, in your merciful and matchless name.

A New Kind of Man

“God became man to turn creatures into sons: not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man.”
           — C. S. Lewis

Come down to the manger

Come down to the manger, see the little stranger
Wrapped in swaddling clothes, the prince of peace
Wheels start turning, torches start burning
And the old wise men journey from the East

How a little baby boy bring the people so much joy
Son of a carpenter, Mary carried the light
This must be Christmas, must be tonight

Code Bob? Code Cheri? Code Greg? Code Ed?

The “R” word. by Jon Acuff at Stuff Christians Like

The easiest way for a store to make my wife mad is to have a complicated return policy. She refuses to shop at Forever 21 for this very reason. Their return policy is so complicated that the cashiers will often read it to you when you’re making a purchase, kind of like a cop reading you Miranda Rights. “By purchasing this melon colored scarf you realize that should you ever take it out of the bag and merely make eye contact with it, that will forever be held against you in the court of no returns.”

This type of frustration often manifests itself at Target. There have been a number of times when they’ve refused to make some return easy over an amount in question as small as a few dollars. The great irony is that Target will spend tens of millions of dollars trying to get people into their stores via advertising and then argue over $1.50 once they’re at the returns counter. If they paused for a second, they would jump at the chance to pay a $1.50 to get a customer who over the course of her life will spend thousands of dollars in their store.

That’s why I love places like LL Bean. You can bring a canoe on fire into their store and they’ll take it back. Same with Wal-mart, a store we spend a considerable amount of time in. Although the Wal-mart in Franklin is situated in kind of a pit of despair parking lot, we still go pretty regularly. A few years ago, during one of our trips there, I saw something interesting that I’ve written about before. It was a powerful action that in a strange way reminded me of Christmas this year.

One afternoon, in the middle of an ordinary Saturday, the loudspeaker buzzed to life and a less than calm voice said, “All employees, we’ve got a Code Adam.”

In seconds, every employee sprinted to the front doors. A few went outside to scan the parking lot, the others formed a wall blocking the exits. It was like an anthill had been kicked over.

Why?

Because a Code Adam means that a child is missing.

I imagine that most times, the child is found quickly and all is returned to right. That’s what happened when I saw my first Code Adam. But for a few minutes, nothing in the store mattered as much as finding that missing kid. The world of commerce and price tags and sales figures stopped dead as they tried to locate a lost child.

And I think that’s how God is too.

When I am lost. When like the prodigal son, I stumble from the father’s grasp and gaze, I don’t think He cries out “look at Jon sinning again! Look at him failing me again!” I think God cries, “Code Jon! Code Jon!”

And then He rushes outside, hoping to intercept me before I get in the wrong car, desperate to keep me from making the type of decision that is going to hurt me. Because He loves me. I am His delight. He longs, not likes, but longs to show us compassion.

And we are the reason for the greatest Code Adam moment in the history of all mankind, Christmas.

In the tinsel and the lights and the balsam flavored candles we forget that sometimes. It is a beautiful season. It is full of merriment and cheer, but at its heart, Christmas is a rescue.

From the safety and security of heaven, stormed Jesus. From the contentment and perfection of God rushed the Lord. Why? Because God had declared a Code Adam. A Code Jon. A Code Christy. A Code Stacy. A Code Chad. A Code Chris. A Code You.

When we were lost, He did more than just lock a store down. When we were beyond all hope he did more than sprint to the parking lot. He sent his son to the cross for us, to rescue us. And, he speaks this message in a thousand ways every day. He would move the mountains and the cosmos if it meant we came home safe. If it meant we returned to the father and he could stop saying, “Code Adam, Code Adam.”

That’s what I hope we all remember this Christmas.

The reason for the season is a rescue.

We are who God says we are.

I would add to Jared's words that the real Joy of the Gospel is when we can understand what he says in the first full paragraph about being declared a "sinner deserving hell"...yet...by the Grace of God through Faith in the atoning work of Jesus, we are "a beloved child, a joint-heir with his Son, and eternally secure to future glorification with Him."  The Good News is not that good unless we understand our depravity.  That is when the full impact of what Jesus has done is evident.  If we consider ourselves pretty good folks who Jesus needed to give a little help to...where is the Good News?  

 

By Jared Wilson

We are who God says we are.

Does that sound like Joel Osteen to you? Whenever I say something along those lines, someone asks me if I'm not just dipping into the shallow dredge of self-esteem. But no. When I want to know who I am, I dip into the well of the external word in the gospel. God declares me a sinner deserving of hell. Nobody can say anything worse to me than this, really. God declares me a beloved child, a joint-heir with his Son, and eternally secure to future glorification with Him. Nobody can say anything better to me than this.

Cornelius Plantinga says, "We are redeemed sinners. But we are redeemed sinners."

Because of Christ, I am able to acknowledge that I am free to confess that I am a sinner deserving the wrath of God but I am free from both sin and wrath. Why do some Christians think that to seek our identity in Christ, the way the Scriptures say we ought to, is thinking too much of ourselves? Why are they afraid to trust what God says about them? Why ought we to side with the devil in accusing ourselves as if the gospel is not true? As Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, we need to stop listening to ourselves and start talking to ourselves!

In Martin Luther's "Letters of Spiritual Counsel" we find this word of encouragement written to a young correspondent:

When the devil throws our sins up to us and declares that we deserve death and hell, we ought to speak thus: "I admit that I deserve death and hell. What of it? Does this mean that I shall be sentenced to eternal damnation? By no means. For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction in my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Where he is, there shall I be also."

I am not a fan of Neil Anderson, mainly because he appears to deny what is in the Bible (that Luther affirms), the notion of simul justus et peccator, but I have found this list of gospel affirmations compiled in the back of his book Victory Over the Darkness helpful, for me and for those I counsel:

I am accepted...
John 1:12 I am God's child.
John 15:15 As a disciple, I am a friend of Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:1 I have been justified.
1 Corinthians 6:17 I am united with the Lord, and I am one with Him in spirit.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 I have been bought with a price and I belong to God.
1 Corinthians 12:27 I am a member of Christ's body.
Ephesians 1:3-8 I have been chosen by God and adopted as His child.
Colossians 1:13-14 I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins.
Colossians 2:9-10 I am complete in Christ.
Hebrews 4:14-16 I have direct access to the throne of grace through Jesus Christ.

I am secure...
Romans 8:1-2 I am free from condemnation.
Romans 8:28 I am assured that God works for my good in all circumstances.
Romans 8:31-39 I am free from any condemnation brought against me and I cannot be separated from the love of God.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 I have been established, anointed and sealed by God.
Colossians 3:1-4 I am hidden with Christ in God.
Philippians 1:6 I am confident that God will complete the good work He started in me.
Philippians 3:20 I am a citizen of heaven.
2 Timothy 1:7 I have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind.
1 John 5:18 I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me.

I am significant...
John 15:5 I am a branch of Jesus Christ, the true vine, and a channel of His life.
John 15:16 I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit.
1 Corinthians 3:16 I am God's temple.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 I am a minister of reconciliation for God.
Ephesians 2:6 I am seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenly realm.
Ephesians 2:10 I am God's workmanship.
Ephesians 3:12 I may approach God with freedom and confidence.
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.

This is not self-help. This is God help.

Judah, David, Paul and Me

The repetition of redemption.

by Jon Acuff at Stuff Christians Like

Sometimes, I treat God like a gun.

When I want to approach him, when I feel the need to be close to him, I imagine there is a waiting period, much like buying a handgun.

I can’t go right in. I need to string together a good week first. I need a month of clean living. I need to not look at porn or lie or get angry or any other long list of sins for at least a few weeks before I go back to where he is.

In my head, I imagine that God wants me to return to him redeemed. The prodigal son did not just come home, he came home with a plan. And like a boss who wants me to provide solutions, not just problems, I must do the same.

This is how I think sometimes, when the world is quiet and I’ve already read all the shampoo bottles in the shower and there is nothing else to distract me. And I have thought this way for years. But, I think this might be wrong.

I’m starting to believe this because the Bible is such an overwhelmingly powerful redemption story. That is the drumbeat message that sounds out again and again and again.

One of my favorite examples is the story of Judah. He was one of the older brothers of Joseph. And his life, like many of the lives we see chronicled in the Bible, was a mess.

He sold his brother into slavery. This is a tremendous act of betrayal that sometimes gets lost in the general wildness of the Old Testament. But think about it this way, have you ever had a fight with a family member? You gossiped about them or missed their kid’s recital or some other offense? It was tense and ugly and made Thanksgiving a little awkward. But you didn’t sell them into slavery. You might have sworn in front of their kids too many times, but you didn’t make some cash by selling their body to some slave traders in Ohio.

The second part of Judah’s life is even less glamorous. He’s the worst parent on the planet. I know your kids might lose the chapstick top in the car all the time and probably make a Mexican restaurant just look disgusting, like a grenade of rice and chips went off, or they refuse to put their shoes on at the most inopportune times, but they’re better than Judah’s kids. I promise.

Here’s what we’re told in Genesis 38, which is one chapter after Judah has sold his brother into slavery. (Is there a worse double header in the Bible for anybody?)

“But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death.”

How bad do you have to be for God to just kill you? Just flat out kill you? If it happens once, Er was just a punk. Maybe it wasn’t the parenting. Maybe Judah was not to blame for some of the problem. Oh, but then we come to Judah’s second son. And, “What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death also.”

I don’t care if you think you’re a horrible parent, you’ve never had God say, “Wow, I didn’t even know that level of wickedness is possible. I need to take that one out. Yikes!”

So far, Judah is not that much of a hero and the third strike is possibly the worst.

In the same chapter the Lord has killed two of his kids, Judah goes to a prostitute. (We’re not even told he mourned the loss of his kids.) He sleeps with her and gives her some items as a down payment. Only it’s his daughter in law in disguise and she gets pregnant. When he hears she is pregnant, and does not realize he is the father, he proclaims, “Bring her out and have her burned to death!”

Is there anything more vocal and neon than the righteousness of folks leading secret lives? He wants to kill her. His daughter in law, who he failed by not finding her a husband. He wants to burn her.

This is Judah. A failure. A mess up. A train wreck of Biblical proportions. But he is not alone.

King David murdered a man after having an affair with his wife and ended up getting a village of priests killed because of his lies.

Gideon was hiding in a hole from his enemies when God approached him.

Paul held the coats of the people who stoned Stephen.

Peter denied Christ three times after promising undying love.

Moses was a murderer.

Adam and Eve broke the only law they had.

Samson took a blessing of strength and corrupted it.

The list of lives God redeems in the Bible is long and exhaustive. If the Bible was just a book, a publisher would read it and say, “It’s a bit repetitive. Lot of people getting redeemed over and over again.” If the Bible was a song on American Idol, Simon would say, “We get it. You like redemption. That performance felt a bit indulgent.”

Over and over again we see it, and we see it clearly in the final chapters of Judah’s life. When faced with the prospect of losing his younger brother Benjamin, Judah puts himself in harms way:

Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die. I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life.”

Can that be? Is that really Judah? Where is that nobility coming from? How did he change And what does it mean for me?

I think it means we serve a God who loves redemption more than we can possibly imagine. We may feel disqualified for his mercy. We may feel too dirty for his grace. We may feel only a series of white knuckle works will open back up his gates.

But, that’s not what his love letter says. We are not shown a steady parade of heroes who became even more heroic in the hands of God. We are shown a parade of failures who found forgiveness. Losers who found love. Hopeless who found hope.

Christmas is a loud season, but hopefully, you’ll hear the real song.

It’s one of redemption. My redemption. Your redemption. Our redemption.

The God who loved Judah and David and Paul, loves you. And that’s a very redeeming thought.

Calvin and I both make excuses for our Behavior!!

Riches

"We are only poor for this reason, that we do not know our riches in Christ.”

“What is the gospel itself but a merciful moderation, in which Christ’s obedience is esteemed ours, and our sins laid upon him, wherein God, from being a judge, becomes our Father, pardoning our sins and accepting our obedience, though feeble and blemished? We are now brought to heaven under the covenant of grace by a way of love and mercy.”

- Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed

Given to Me what I was not.

“This is that mystery which is rich in divine grace to sinners: wherein by a wonderful exchange our sins are no longer ours but Christ’s, and the righteousness of Christ not Christ’s but ours.  He has emptied himself of his righteousness that he might clothe us with it and fill us with it; and he has taken our evils upon himself that he might deliver us from them.”

“Learn Christ and him crucified.  Learn to pray to him and, despairing of yourself, say, ‘Thou, Lord Jesus, art my righteousness, but I am thy sin.  Thou hast taken upon thyself what is mine and hast given to me what is thine.  Thou hast taken upon thyself what thou wast not and hast given to me what I was not.’”

Martin Luther, quoted in J. I. Packer and Mark Dever, In My Place Condemned He Stood

This is that mystery is a post from: Ray Ortlund

The Great Reversal

The Great Reversal is a post from: Tullian Tchividjian

In C.S. Lewis’s masterful children’s story The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, he tells of a country, Narnia, which is under the curse of the White Witch. This evil queen places a spell on the land so that it’s “always winter and never Christmas.” Under her control, the future of Narnia looks bleak until word gets out that “Aslan is on the move.” In the story, Aslan is a noble lion who represents Christ. He’s coming to set things straight. He’s coming to destroy the White Witch and thus reverse the curse on Narnia. The first sign of Aslan’s movement toward this cursed land is that the snow begins to melt–“spring is in the air.” The cold begins to fade as the sun rays peer through the dark clouds, promising the dawn of a new day. Everything in Narnia begins to change.

You’ll have to read the book to see how the story ends, but when I’m asked to describe the true meaning of Christmas, I like to say that the birth of Christ is the sure and certain sign that “God is on the move.” The arrival of Jesus two-thousand years ago ensured that God had begun the process of reversing the curse of sin and recreating all things. In Jesus, God was moving in a new way and, in the words of C.S. Lewis, “winter began stirring backwards.”

All of Jesus’ ministry—the words he spoke, the miracles he performed—showed that there was a new order in town: God’s order. When Jesus healed the diseased, raised the dead, and forgave the desperate, he did so to show that with the arrival of God in the flesh came the restoration of the way God intended things to be. New life was given, health was restored; God was reversing the curse of death, disease, and discomfort. The incarnation of Christ began the “great reversal.”

Tim Keller observes that Christ’s miracles were not the suspension of the natural order but the restoration of the natural order. They were a reminder of what once was prior to the Fall and a preview of what will eventually be a universal reality once again—a world of peace and justice, without death, disease, or conflict.

To be sure, when Christ comes again, the process of reversing the curse of sin and recreating all things will be complete (1 Cor. 15:51-58). The peace on earth that the angels announced the night Christ was born will become a universal actuality. God’s cosmic rescue mission will be complete. The fraying fabric of our fallen world will be fully and perfectly rewoven. Everything and everyone “in Christ” will live in perfect harmony. Shalom will rule.

Isaiah pictures it this way:

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:6-9)

For those who have found forgiveness of sins in Christ, there will one day be no more sickness, no more death, no more tears, no more division, no more tension. The pardoned children of God will work and worship in a perfectly renewed earth without the interference of sin. We who believe the gospel will enjoy sinless hearts and minds along with disease-free bodies. All that causes us pain and discomfort will be destroyed, and we will live forever. We’ll finally be able “to enjoy what is most enjoyable with unbounded energy and passion forever.”

Christmas is the celebration of this process begun and the promise that it will one day be completed.

The Manger and the Cross

By Allan R. Bevere- pastor of FUMC- Cambridge, Ohio.

Many years ago during an art history course I took in college, I noticed an intriguing picture of the nativity in a book of paintings. It was a very warm, peaceful scene of baby Jesus and his parents. The child is in the manger with a typical look of serene divinity on his face with Mary and Joseph looking down at him with smiles on their faces. But as one looks more closely at the painting, the serenity gives way to a sense of foreboding. There is a shadow being cast right over the manger, right over the child Jesus. It is a shadow in the shape of a cross.

What must it feel like knowing that you were born for the sole purpose of dying? All of us must die, of course, but what must it be like knowing that the reason for our birth was our death? That is exactly the reason that Jesus was born.

It is practically impossible today to visit any church and not find a cross hanging prominently either on the outside of the building or in the sanctuary. People around the world are more familiar with the symbol of the cross, than the logo of Coca-Cola (and that's saying something!). The crucifixion of Jesus stands at the center of the faith and two of the church's most important rituals of worship emphasize the importance of the cross of Christianity. St. Paul tells the Corinthians that when they celebrate the Lord's Supper, they "proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (1 Corinthians 11:26). In baptism Christians are buried with Jesus into his death (Romans 5:4).

Sin has terrible consequences. Sin has not only made trouble for individuals, it has made trouble for whole peoples and entire nations. Hate, greed, lust, the desire for power and other sins have hurt and continue to hurt people all over the world. On a personal level sin hurts the sinner and those around her or him. This is surely not what God intends for us. When one watches the news and reads the newspaper, it seems clear that human beings have truly made a mess of things. We may be well-intentioned at times, but it seems we are unable to get out of the hole we have dug for ourselves, and the more we try to get out of it the deeper it gets.

But fortunately for us, God has something better in mind and he sent Jesus to give to us the goodness we could not achieve for ourselves; and nothing less than Jesus death would achieve that goodness. Jesus indeed came to die.

Jesus came to die, and his death was necessary. We human beings are slaves to sin. Sin is not something that we can get rid of with a little more education, or keeping the right company. Temptation always bothers us and there are many fun and exciting things in the world to do that attract us because they are fun, even though they are wrong. Sin is like an infection in each and every one of us. Sin is, therefore, serious business and the consequences of sin are very destructive. It is so destructive it cost Jesus his life.

We celebrate Christmas only because Jesus died on a cross. Without Jesus' sacrificial death in our place, Christmas means nothing. If Jesus had lived a long life dying of natural causes somewhere in Jerusalem, there would be no celebration of Advent and Christmas, there would be no Christmas trees and decorations, no Christmas dinners, no children's Christmas pageants, no shoppers pushing and shoving each other to buy presents, and we can rest assured, that if Jesus had not died on a cross, there would be no chance for "peace on earth and goodwill to all people."

Over the manger hangs the shadow of the cross. Jesus has died for all; he died for Simeon, who waited his entire life to see "the consolation of Israel," but would never see him grow up, and he died for the Magi who would return to their homeland far away. Jesus died for Joseph, who would himself die while Jesus was still a young man, and he died for the mother who held him in her arms as a baby, who would care for him as he grew, and who would cry beneath the crushing experience of his painful, agonizing death on a cross-- and Jesus died for each and every one of us.

Jesus was born to die

Blessed are the entitled?

This was written by Rachel Evans.  She is a wonderfully controversial Christian Blogger.  I think that many will be angered by her point of view.  I personally agree with her 100%.  Christians are to spread the life giving, redemptive Gospel of Jesus.  The Gospel is the GOOD NEWS.  Our joy, peace, love, patience, kindness and goodness should be evident.  The joy that we share in the Gospel should be infectious and Non-Christians should be drawn to it.  Our lives should ask a question that demands an explanation.  Why the Joy?  Why the Peace?  The answer must be JESUS, of course.  Instead, the annual war that some Christians wage on how Non-Christians secularize Christmas makes us look like petulant children.  How does that share the Good News of the Gospel?  Who among us does not secularize Christmas?  Anyone other than me have an Elf on the Shelf?  Anyone not take kids to see Santa?  We are all guilty.  I am the first on that list. 

 

“Christmas survived the Roman Empire,
I think it can handle the renaming of the Tulsa parade.”  
- Jon Stewart (watch the video)

Ever witness a kid digress into complete meltdown mode after his parents refused to buy him that new video game?  

“But I want it! It’s mine! Give it to me!”  

Entitlement can get ugly, especially around Christmastime.

And the only thing more embarrassing than watching a little kid throw a fit is watching a grownup throw one.

 “If you don’t play religious music at your store, we’ll boycott it!” 

“We demand that manger scenes be placed in front of all government buildings!” 

“How dare you say ‘happy holidays’ to me? I want to speak with the manager!”

 “I want it! It’s mine! Give it to me!” 

I’m not sure when or why it happened, but in some circles, entitlement has been declared December's Christian virtue. Suddenly it’s not enough that Americans spend millions of dollars each year marking the birth of Jesus. Now we’ve got to have a “Merry Christmas” banner in front of every parade and an inflatable manger scene outside of every courthouse... or else we’ll make a big stink about it in the name of Jesus.  Having opened the gift of the incarnation—of God with us—we’ve peered inside and shrieked, “This is not enough!  Where are the accessories? We want more!” 

This is a strange way to honor Jesus, “who, being  in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped…but made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant.” (Philippians 2:8) 

Jesus didn’t arrive with a parade. He arrived in a barn.

Jesus wasn’t embraced by the government. He was crucified by it. 

Jesus didn’t demand that his face be etched into coins or his cross be carried like a banner into war. He asked that those who follow him be willing to humble themselves to the point of death, to serve rather than be served, to give rather than receive. 

What a tragedy that history’s greatest act of humility is being marked by petty acts of entitlement and pride. 

Don't tell anyone, but sometimes I wonder if the best thing that could happen to this country is for Christ to be taken out of Christmas—for Advent to be made distinct from all the consumerism of the holidays and for the name of Christ to be invoked in the context of shocking forgiveness, radical hospitality, and logic-defying love.  The Incarnation survived the Roman Empire, not because it was common but because it was strange,  not because it was forced on people but because it captivated people. 

Let’s celebrate the holidays, of course, but let’s live the incarnation. Let’s advocate for the poor, the forgotten, the lonely, and the lost.  Let’s wage war against hunger and oppression and modern-day slavery.  Let’s be the kind of people who get worked up on behalf of others rather than ourselves.

Blessed are the entitled?

Rachel Held Evans - Blog Posts

Though they are like Scarlet!!!

From Mockingbird Blog:

Isaiah’s words are a fitting opening for this season of Advent. In the first nine verses of chapter 1, Isaiah describes the rebellion and iniquity of God’s chosen people; they have not only strayed, they have rejected their God the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and His commandments (v.4). Isaiah (vv. 10-15) describes the disgust God has over their many sacrifices, vain offerings, feasts. As a result, God turns from His people: “when you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood” (v.15). God, as Judge, has delivered the divine verdict to the people: guilty.

But this is not the final word. Isaiah does not stop there at that word of death. “…though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow…” (v18 b). Among great transgressions, God assures His people through Isaiah: it’s not over, this isn’t the final word; there’s one more word to be spoken: the divine promise, the word of life. This word of life, this divine promise is Jesus Christ: the Incarnate God—the promised Suffering Servant (Is. 53)—Redeemer of the world. Jesus is the Word made Flesh (John 1:1-14) who will (by His life, death, resurrection, and ascension) be the perfect propitiation for the sins of the world, and evoke the very repentance commanded by God (vs. 16-17, 19-20; cf. also 1:27-28); through Him sins are atoned for, “though they are like scarlet, they shall be made white as snow” (v.18b).

Let us, during Advent, wait with Isaiah’s audience, knowing our guilt yet brimming with expectant hope at the fulfillment of the divine promise; let us watch with eager eyes for the birth of Jesus, the Word of Life.

Lord, as we enter into this season of Advent, press upon our hearts the gravity of our transgressions And drive us, Lord, to Your unfaltering promise with full and expectant hearts. Prepare our hearts to rejoice in the Word of Life: Your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Merely a Handbook for Daily Living???

Mike Horton writes about the  importance of Gospel-centered preaching in his book Justified: Modern Reformation Essays on the Doctrine of Justification:

Scripture is of no use to us if we read it merely as a handbook for daily living without recognizing that its principle purpose is to reveal Jesus Christ and his gospel for the salvation of sinners. All Scripture coalesces in Christ, anticipated in the OT and appearing in the flesh in the NT. In Scripture, God issues commands and threatens judgment for transgressors as well as direction for the lives of his people.

Yet the greatest treasure buried in the Scriptures is the good news of the promised Messiah. Everything in the Bible that tells us what to do is “law”, and everything in the Bible that tells us what God has done in Christ to save us is “gospel.”

Much like medieval piety, the emphasis in much Christian teaching today is on what we are to do without adequate grounding in the good news of what God has done for us in Christ. “What would Jesus do?” becomes more important than “What has Jesus done?”

The gospel, however, is not just something we needed at conversion so we can spend the rest of our Christian life obsessed with performance; it is something we need every day–the only source of our sanctification as well as our justification. The law guides, but only the gospel gives. We are declared righteous–justified–not by anything that happens within us or done by us, but solely by God’s act of crediting us with Christ’s perfect righteousness through faith alone.

We must also repent of the reasons we ever did anything right.

Consider these sobering thoughts from Tim Keller (The Prodigal God) on the need to repent, not simply of our unrighteousness, but our righteousness also:

What must we do, then, to be saved? To find God we must repent of the things we have done wrong, but if that is all you do, you may remain just an elder brother. To truly become a Christian we must also repent of the reasons we ever did anything right. Pharisees only repent of their sins, but Christians repent for the very roots of their righteousness, too. We must learn how to repent of the sin under all our other sins and under all our righteousness – the sin of seeking to be our own Savior and Lord. We must admit that we’ve put our ultimate hope in both our wrongdoing and right doing we have been seeking to get around God or get control of God in order to get hold of those things.

It is only when you see the desire to be your own Savior and Lord—lying beneath both your sins and your moral goodness—that you are on the verge of becoming a Christian indeed. When you realize that the antidote to being bad is not just being good, you are on the brink. If you follow through, it will change everything—how you relate to God, self, others, the world, your work, you sins, your virtue. It’s called the new birth because its so radical”

Repenting Of Our Good Works is a post from: Tullian Tchividjian

A Prayer About the Advent Arms of God

A Prayer About the Advent Arms of God is a post from: Heavenward by Scotty Smith

     Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!” See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. Isaiah 40:9-11

Gracious Father, Advent is upon us—the beloved season of remembering and celebrating the incarnation of Jesus—the promised Messiah… your beloved Son… our gracious Savior. O, may it be much more than Advent-as-usual this year. Surprise us, Father. Bring great glory to yourself.

Let us engage with the story of Jesus’ birth as though it was for the very first time. Rescue us from the sentimental and the predictable. Bring familiar stories alive in heart-gripping, life-changing ways. Reshape how we do Christmas this year by the power of the gospel… because everything changed the day Jesus was born. We don’t have to be afraid any longer. We really do have something worth shouting about!

Already this morning I’ve been smitten with Isaiah’s picture of your “Advent arms.”  The promise of the Messiah carries with it the promise of the embrace we all need… but scarcely believe.

In Jesus, you come near to us as the Sovereign Lord, with your sleeves rolled us as the great ruler. Your arm rules over all history… all nations…  all kings… all circumstances Nothing and no one can alter, subvert or change the kingdom story you’re telling through Jesus. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.

In Jesus, you come near to us as the most Compassionate Shepherd, gathering and carrying your lambs in your arms. This image and hope are staggering. To be tended as a dumb sheep… to be held close to your heart… to be gently led… what more could we possibly desire?

Father, these aren’t mere metaphors. Metaphors can’t save us, only inspire us. You really are this kind of God… and you really are this kind. We believe, help our unbelief.

Indeed, the coming of Jesus puts all nations on notice… there is only one true king. And the coming of Jesus puts all your people face down in adoring love… Jesus is a most wonderful merciful Savior—Immanuel, God who is with us and the God for us. So very Amen, we pray with Advent wonder, in Jesus’ matchless name.

Performances, Personalities, Programs and Professionals

David Platt from Brook Hills delivers in his book, Radical, a powerful picture of the church in America today that, on key points, stands in sharp contrast to what the Bible shows us about the person and purpose of Jesus Christ. 

Dependent on Ourselves or Desperate for His Spirit?

 
This is where I am most convicted as a pastor of a church in the United States of America. I am part of a system that has created a whole host of means and methods, plans and strategies for doing church that require little if any power from God. And it's not just pastors who are involved in this charade. I am concerned that all of us -- pastors and church members in our culture -- have blindly embraced as American dream mentality that emphasizes our abilities and exalts our names in the ways we do church.

Consider what it takes for successful businessmen and businesswomen, effective entrepreneurs and hardworking associates, shrewd retirees and idelistic stdents to combine forces with a creative pastor to grow a "successful church" today. Clearly, it doesn't require the power of God to draw a crowd in our culture. A few key elements that we can manufacture will suffice.

First, we need a good performance. In an entertainment-driven culture, we need someone who can captivate the crowds. If we don't have a charismatic communicator, we are doomed. So even if we have to show him on a video screen, we must have a good preacher. It's even better if he has an accomplished worship leader with a strong band at his side.

Next, we need a place to hold the crowds that will come, so we gather all our resources to build a multimillion-dollar facility to house the performance. We must make sure that all facets of the building are excellent an attractive. After all, that's what our culture expects. Honestly, that's what we expect.

Finally, once the crowds get there, we need to have some thing to keep them coming back. So we need to start programs -- first-class, top-of-the-line programs -- for kids, for youth, for families, for every age and stage. In order to have these programs, we need professionals to run them. That way, for example, parents can simply drop off their kids at the door, and professionals can handle ministry for them. We don't want people trying this at home.

I know this may sound oversimplified and exaggerated, but are these not the elements we think of when we consider growing, dynamic, successful churches in our day? I get fliers on my desk every day advertising entire conferences built around creative communication, first-rate facilities, innovative programs, and entrepreneurial leadership in the church. We Christians are living out the American dream in the context of our communities of faith. We have convinced ourselves that if we can position our resources and organize our strategies, then in church as in every other sphere of life, we can accomplish anything we set our minds to.

But what is strangely lacking in the picture of performances, personalities, programs, and professionals is desperation for the power of God. God's power is at best an add-on to our strategies. I am frightened by the reality that the church I lead can carry on most of our activities smoothly, efficiently, even successfully, never realizing that the Holy Spirit of God is virtually absent from the picture. We can so easily deceive ourselves, mistaking the presence of physical bodies in a crowd for the existence of spiritual life in a community.

In my haste and in my leisure.

Holy Spirit of God, visit now this soul of mine, and tarry within it until the eventide. 

 

Inspire all my thoughts. Pervade all my imaginations. Suggest all my decisions. Lodge in my soul's most inward citadel, and order all my doings. 

 

Be with me in silence and in my speech, in my haste and in my leisure, in company and in solitude, in the freshness of the morning and the weariness of the evening. 

 

Give me grace at all times to rejoice in Thy mysterious companionship.

John Baillie

Why I’m Ungrateful

This is from Russell Moore who is Dean of the School of Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

 

“If I hear the word ‘Daddy’ again, I’m going to scream!”

I heard myself saying those words. And, in my defense, it was loud around here. I was trying to work on something, and all I could hear were feet pounding down the stairs with four boys competing with one another to tell me one thing after another. I just wanted five minutes of silence.

My vocal chords were still vibrating when an image hit my brain. It was the picture of me, on my face, praying for children. The house was certainly quiet then. And in those years of infertility and miscarriage and seemingly unanswered prayers, I would have given anything to hear steps on that staircase. I feared I would never hear the word “Daddy,” ever, directed to me. Come to think of it, I even wrote a book about the Christian cry of “Abba, Father.”

And now I was annoyed. Why? It wasn’t that I’d changed my mind about the blessing of children. It was that my family had become “normal” to me. In the absence of children, the blessing was forefront on my mind. But in their presence, they’d become expected, part of what I expected from my day-to-day existence. And that’s what’s so dangerous.

Gratitude is spiritual warfare. I’m convinced my turn of imagination that day was conviction of sin, a personal uprooting of my own idolatry by the Spirit of Christ. What I need to fear most is what seems normal to me.

We’re all, in some way or other, in the same place the people of Israel were in in Joshua 23 and 24. Joshua, their warrior-leader, stands before them and recounts all the blessings God has given, reminding them that “not one word has failed of all the good things that the Lord God promised concerning you” (Josh. 23:14a). Joshua said, “All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed” (Josh. 23:14b).

And yet, as Joshua foretold (and Moses before him), the people would soon be in the land of olive trees and wine presses. These things, what they’d cried for in the wilderness, would soon seem “normal” to them. And, soon enough, they’d crave more and more, so much so that they’d chase after Canaanite idols to get what they wanted.

This is what some philosophers call “hedonic adaptation.” We tend to adjust to the level of happiness or prosperity we have. We grow to expect it, to not even notice it. And then we want more. That’s why it’s so hard for people to come down in standard of living. It’s easy to move from a studio apartment to a two-story house, but it’s awful to do the reverse. Few people have a problem going from a 1985 Ford Fairmont to a brand new BMW, but it’s incomprehensible to go the other direction.

This is the way of all flesh, as it is pulled toward the abyss by the satanic powers. It is always so. The garden of Eden becomes mere vegetation for blinded humans in the beginning. The mountains and caves become mere covering for blinded humans in the end.

The Spirit of Christ draws us toward gratitude because the Spirit convicts us of our creatureliness. We’re dependent on breath, on bread, on love, and these things come, personally, as gifts from a Father (Jas. 1:17).

Is there anything in your life that you’ve grown accustomed to? Is there something you prayed for, fervently, in pleading in its absence that you haven’t prayed for, fervently, in thanksgiving in its presence? There’s several such things in my life, and, I fear, many more that I don’t even think about.

I’m typing this at the kitchen table. I was just interrupted by Moore boys wrestling for the last Little Debbie Cake in the pantry. As soon as I heard “Daddy,” I looked up, even in writing this article, in frustration. But the Spirit still crucifies, still resurrects.

Thank You.