Christmas is about Messy Relationships and Receiving a Gift

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..." - John 1:14

It's hard to believe 2014 has almost come to an end! This next week, we will be celebrating Christmas. This holiday has stolen our radio stations, our TV's, our homes, and if you work in retail, our sanity. But this time of year truly is “the most wonderful time of year" for personal reflections for many. Amidst the chaos of shopping, “Elf”, and long hours, let’s take time to reflect on what Christmas means for us, whatever our perspective

What is Christmas about?
The problem is when people go about doing "Christmas reflections" they are often reflecting on their own idea of Christmas, not the actual one. Reflection on our own ideas will lead us to nothing but pride and arrogance. Today's Christmas reflections can often be self-indulgent and legalistic. "Was I giving enough?" "Did I spend enough money?" "I sure hope they like what I got them." "I'm thankful I am so fortunate." These can be good things to think about, but they miss the point.

Christmas has never been about us. Christmas is about God. If we are going to take Christmas seriously, we must see it as Christians do (Say what you want about it being a Pagan holiday, so are the days of the week, but no one is whining there). And for Christians, Christmas is about mystery.

The mystery of Christmas is found in one word...wait for it...incarnation. As John 1 puts it, the "Word became flesh." The Divine perfectly united with the human. The inconceivable was conceived, while never ceasing to be eternal and infinite. The Infinite became finite. In darkness, the light entered the world. God- in the flesh. Christmas is about God.

The Triune God sought to save a rebellious humanity through an obedient human, Jesus Christ. He came as a man, so that He could truly sympathize, but was God so that He would be a perfect sacrifice. He was made man so that He could suffer; He was God so as to be without sin. Two natures, one true person, He was without conflict in mission. His mission was to "save His people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21). Only Jesus could do it.

Therefore Christmas is also a celebration of the cross. Jesus Christ was the perfect sacrifice, bearing the wrath of a Holy God. Jesus would die, be buried, and rise again to conquer sin, death and Hell. By faith in this work, He rescues and ransoms people for His glory.

Yes, Christmas is about gifts. A gift. The gift of eternal life. And that is what Christians celebrate and what personal Christmas reflections call us to. We are called to reflect on the gospel- the good news- the work of Jesus Christ and the glorious mystery of His incarnation which is foundational to the gospel itself. We must reflect on the incarnation because without it, our gospel has major holes in it. In fact, without the duo-nature of Christ we have no salvation.

5 Reasons Christians Should Sing and Sing Often

This is a photo from my church choir at Christmas.
http://yellowcreekbaptist.com/worship/

I’m sure we’ve all met those people who “just don’t sing” at church.  Whether due to their lack of vocal ability, shy personality, or (supposed) unfamiliarity with the songs; I have heard tons of excuses for why people do not want to sing in church.  While, certainly singing is not a requirement for being a Christian (faith in Christ alone is!) we find that singing is right at the heart of our faith.

1) Jesus was a “singing person.”  Jesus was all about singing!  One example of this is found in the Last Supper He shared with His disciples.  “After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”- Matthew 26:30.  Jesus does this during a crucial moment in His ministry.  He is sharing what would be His last supper with His disciples before the cross, but He also is instituting an ordinance for His church!  This was a moment to be cherished and remembered and what does Jesus do?  SING!  This raises so many questions I wish we could know!  What vocal range was Jesus?  What song did He sing?  Was this spontaneous or planned?  What we can know is that singing was used as a part of the celebration and was a part of the Son of God’s preparation to suffer.  This bring us to number 2….

2) Singing helps us endure suffering  We can also draw the conclusion that Jesus was a singer because of how much He seemed to cherished God’s inspired song book: the Psalms.  We find that 14 times in the Gospel of Matthew that Jesus quotes the Psalms (ESV Study Bible, pg.2609-2610).  One of the most profound moment we find is when Jesus is on the cross, and of all He could declare, He quotes lyrics to Psalm 22 (Matthew 26:45-46).  In Jesus darkest hour He found comfort in songs overflowing with Holy Spirit inspiration.  As Jesus Christ was bearing out sin, He had a song in His head.  Should not songs of truth be a bedrock for us in the midst of suffering?

3) Singing is a means of fighting temptation.  Once again, in the ministry of Jesus we find another example of Jesus singing.   Jesus, when faced with temptation found power in Holy Spirit inspired Torah and Psaltery.  In Matthew 4 Satan actually tempts Jesus through misquoting Psalm 91, but, He knew Psalm 91 and counteracted with a quote from Deuteronomy.  A song was a means by which Jesus overcame temptation, how much more for us?  Yes, we have the Psalms, but the truth of Scriptures can be communicated via the songs we sing corporately.  Gospel saturated songs have sin conquering power.  In the midst of heavy temptation I often find myself singing, “When Satan tempts me to despair, And tells me of the guilt within, Upward I look and see Him there, Who made an end of all my sin.”  If Jesus fought temptation through singing God’s truth, how much more should we?

4) We will sing in Heaven

Corporate worship is an earthly shadow of a Heavenly reality (Hebrews 9-10), so when we sing we are mimicking (and joining in with) the choir off Heaven!  Revelation 5 pulls back the veil and we hear that the Gospel truth is declared even by glorified saints, “And they sang a new song, saying ‘Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.’” (Rev. 5:9)  Heaven will be far to glorious to want to hold back due to being “shy.”  Worship will not be cold or dead in Heaven.  In fact, many may think we are Charismatic (this coming from a non-Charismatic!).

Certainly we are going more than sing for all eternity, the next verse says we will be reigning as well, but this passage and many others make clear that much of the joy of Heavenly is going to be found in expressing our salvation in song.  Song is not sinful, but in fact even in the garden was expressed by God’s image bearers to express delight (Gen. 2:23).  Singing is at the core of what it means to be human.  Even God Himself expressed his delight in song, which is why we need not fear singing to Him…

5) Because God’s singing over us will always be louder than our singing to Him

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” – Zech. 3:17 (ESV)

The glorious news is that God does not accept us because we sing well, or because we sing loud, but God sings over us because of His great love for us in Christ.  Christ died that God might sing.  Sing over sinners.  Delight over you.  You.  In the gospel, God sings a song over you.  Even on our “best” worship days, the singing of God over His people will always be louder than a congregation in chorus together.  That, my friends, is good news.  News good enough to sing about.

Going To Begin A Series on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Posting the Introduction soon!  (I have posted a few pieces of it, but it will be posted in a better order)

"Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified" - A.W. Tozer

"The Pursuit of God" pg 96

John Griffith, the Bridge Operator

My pastor shared this story this morning.

Great reminder.

"Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him..." - Isaiah 53:10

D.L. Moody Quote, "Wake Up Church!"

“People talk about our being earnest and fanatical—about our being on fire. Would to God the church were on fire! This world would soon shake to its foundation. May God wake up a slumbering church! What we want you to do is not to shout ‘amen’ and clap your hands. The deepest and quietest waters very often run swiftest. We want you to go right to work; there will be a chance for you to shout by and by. Go and speak to your neighbor and tell him of Christ and heaven. You need not go far before you will find someone passing down to the darkness of eternal death. Haste to his rescue!”

Yet Another Reason Believers Need The Local Church...

...For Our Humility
(I will go into greater details on what I believe are four other Biblical Reasons we need to Church. To get an overview on this, go HERE)

I think we all commonly hear Romans 12 quoted in reference to Gospel centered sanctification. The first verse reads:

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. "

"God's mercy" here is referring back to the first 11 chapters of Romans.

What do we read in Romans 1-11? Well, a quick overview would go like this:

We are hopeless, blind, dirty, sinful creatures who have misplaced worship and affections. (Romans 1-3)

But, through the perfect life, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and our Trust in it we have forgiveness of sin, new life, hope, the gift of the Holy Spirit, God's promise that we can never be separated from Him, and victory in our life over sin. (Romans 3-8)

Also, that this was not of our own work, but all of Christs sovereignty and power, so that we can not boast. (Romans 9-11)

There mercies, which are the foundation of the Gospel, are the mouth to the river of our sanctification. Beyond that, if we look to the Gospel and apply the Gospel to ourselves, it produces in us a change of mindset.

Romans 12:2- "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Restoring A Broken Faith...In The Church

I have this friend who the Lord used to lead me to Christ. Though, once totally on fire for the Lord, now, it is hard to separate him from the rest of the "lukewarm Christians" that seem to fill the pews in America.

I can only imagine that this how John felt coming the sermon he wrote to the church at Ephesus (This sermon is recorded in the book of 1 John). Three main themes are addressed in this book: True Doctrine, True Obedience, and True Devotion. The latter of these themes are the answer to the other two, and this is found within the Local Church.

Save The Nuba

"Dr. Susan Rice, US Permanent Ambassador to the UN, has warned that by March 2012, more than 500,000 people in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile region face a level 4 humanitarian crisis, which is one step below a full-scale famine, if humanitarian assistance is not allowed into the conflict areas."

Christians are dieing because of there faith and terrible living conditions, Church, what are we going to do?

Get Educated, be an advocate, give all you can, pray without ceasing.

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans.  Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.  As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’  Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. ~Matthew 10:5-8

Find out more at: http://savethenuba.com

"If you think the worship services are too long now, wait till you get to Heaven, it'll last forever."

A Shelter for the World

Week three of the summer Series "The Shelter"

It’s going to be hard to get back into this, but, I’ll somewhat explain where I was last week, and why there was no service.  I have been sick, not only physically, but emotionally, and what I really found out is that my own sin really makes life harder.  It creates hostility between us and God, and puts distance and space between us. (Romans 8:7)  My own impatience made me sick to my stomach, and in the long run, I stressed myself into submission. 

I’ve learned that sometimes it’s easier to trust God.  You know how sometimes, when you really want something to be easy, you end up doing things the hard way in the end?  Such as procrastinating on an assignment or being too lazy to get up and get the remote and suffering through some awful television show just because you don’t want to get up?  Isn’t it just easier to get up and do it?  But, it shows that our enemy is alive, and active.

A Present Tense Confidence

Part two of the Summer Series "The Shelter"

I’d like to start out with a couple simple thoughts before I jump into Scripture.  The Church is more then a building.  I remember I was having a conversation with a friend and we were talking about the Church, what my local one was doing and I was giving what I think God calls all Churches to be in the world, missions and evangelism centered.  When I typed a lower case “church” they responded back by capitalizing it.  I never put much thought into this, but God spoke too me through that.  I always knew the church was more then a building, but it really came full circle when you think about the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit has been granted too all Christians upon Salvation, it’s a piece of God inside everyone of us.  Here’s the thought I’ve had:

Is not the Church a gathering together of not only God’s People, but also of God’s Spirit?