The lights are on . . .

Isn't it great to drive around and look at all the houses with Christmas light. (Except for the Pagans, who sneakily hang their lighted Pentagrams in celebration of the Winter Solstice.) We have a practice of criticizing the glistening strings that adorn peoples humble houses. We especially like to make fun of trees. Have you ever noticed the terrifying floating swirling mass of lights people string around the outside of their tree in the front yard with no leaves. They've done it for years and haven't added any strings so the swirl stops halfway up, because the tree kept growing. That drives me nuts. What doesn't drive me nuts is that all of it is an attempt to "Spread the Light of Christmas Joy"

I know, the celebration of lights goes back for thousands of years. The Romans even had a celebration (Dec 25th) to commemorate "The Invincible Sun". The Egyptians, Celts, Norse, and many others all had celebrations to end the long nights and welcome back the sun for longer days, fertility, and agricultural prosperity.

All of this is a great attempt, and shows our need, as fallen people for a new light in our lives. It shows how all people are searching for and have a deep desire to worship God. We realize we live in a dark world and need something greater than us to save us from the darkness. Though it falls extremely short of what is truly needed for us.

The prophet Isaiah, and others, taught about our need and promised a solution, "the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." (Isaiah 9:1-2)  Jesus told Nicodemus, an expert in Jewish religion, "Light has come into the world, but men love darkness instead of light because their deeds are evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear their deeds will be exposed." (John 3:19-20) A little later Jesus said, "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)

So if Jesus is the "Light of the World" lets look back at a few of those verses again, but we are going to replace "light" with "Jesus".

Isaiah 9 The people living in darkness have seen a great [Jesus].
John 3:19-20 [Jesus] has come into the World, but men love darkness instead of [Him] because their deeds are evil. Everyone who does evil hates [Jesus], and will not come into [Him] for fear their deeds will be exposed.

This year, since it is the celebration of new beginnings, lets put our faith into the one who is the Light of World. Let's celebrate the true "Invincible Son" who proved it by showing his power over death and still lives today. He isn't scary at all (at least not for those who are in him) and welcomes everyone into his life and light. "But if we walk in the light [God the Father], as he [Jesus] is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin." 1 John 1:7

As we see the lights on houses, weird looking trees, and lined driveways with candy canes, remember they are all an attempt to show the True Light of the World that offers life, Jesus.

A “free gift” of coffee

One day I went down to my favorite coffee shop Coffee Xpresso. I usually went  down every other Wednesday, have a cup of coffee, and read, work on lesson or something of that nature. Most people wouldn’t think it possible, but when you have a hard time focusing, it is chaotic enough to get a lot done. As i was going in I stopped to make faces at a kid in the car of a very close friend. When i got inside there were several people in there I usually see and spoke to them. I ordered my coffee and sat down, opened my MacBook and started working. When Andrew, the Barista, finally brought my Pecan Pie Latte, I told him I would pay before I left because I needed some coffee beans. He said, “Somebody already paid for it, so don’t worry about it.” I asked who it was, because the shop had almost cleared out by that time, and he said I knew he wouldn’t tell me. I asked him to thank whoever it was and enjoyed a very delicious latte. It might even have tasted better than if I had paid for it.

Now I don’t accept things very easily. My first thought is out of pride. “Why would someone do that? I can pay for a latte.” “I’ll just go ahead and pay for it myself.” And then, “Am I going to be indebted to this person?” Those kind of things are normal for me when someone does something nice. However I am learning  to accept things, so these questions are not much of an issue issue anymore. This got me thinking, “It would be silly to try and pay for something that was already been paid for, especially from God.”

 Romans 5:15 But God's free gift is not like Adam's sin. Many people died because of the sin of that one man. But the grace from God was much greater; many people received God's gift of life by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ.

Romans 6:23 “The payment for sin is death. But God gives us the free gift of life forever in Christ Jesus our Lord.

John 4:10 Jesus said, [to the samaritan woman at the well] "If you only knew the free gift of God and who it is that is asking you for water, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" Let the one who hears this say, "Come!" Let whoever is thirsty come; whoever wishes may have the water of life as a free gift.

Salvation is free to us. We can’t give enough offering, hug enough babies, pet enough puppies, do enough missions, or teach enough lessons to pay for our sins. We can’t read our Bibles enough, pray, fast, or worship enough to pay for our salvation. IT IS FREE. And we should live like we are not paying God back, but enjoying being in his Grace. 

Like my Latte, how much more could we enjoy life if we just lived it with God. How much better would we enjoy church, if we didn’t feel indebtedness, but worshipped out of freedom and desire. What would our lives look like if we accepted the fact that God’s grace is much greater than our sin.

I couldn’t pay for my latte anymore than I can pay for my salvation. 

One Spirit to Drink

In first Corinthians Paul has to straighten the corinthians out on some very significant problems with their doctrine. He goes through proper worship. Then Paul talks about the Lord's Supper in chapter 11, what is appropriate and what is inappropriate. He reminds them of Jesus' words when He took the bread and the cup. He talks about judgement and remembrance. Then he talks about spiritual gifts and how all of us who are in Christ Jesus are a part of one body. chapters 12 verse 13 he says something very interesting. “For we are all baptized by One Spirit into One Body [church] – whether Jew or Greek, slave or free – and we were all given the One Spirit to drink. “We are all given the One Spirit to drink.” I've over looked this verse dozens of times. I've read it and said to myself, “Yeah, one spirit, one body, got it.” But I hadn't looked at the “One spirit to drink” part. So this sent me looking through commentaries and essays. I ended up reading a bunch of greek words which I have no clue about and some really big english words which I had no clue about so I sat down with a dictionary. Here is the gist of it. When we are baptized we are given the One Spirit. The Holy Spirit to dwell within us. We are marked as clean. Our sins are washed away. We call this justification. Made just-as-if- i'de never sinned. It's a one time thing. As believers we are suppose to continually grow to become more like Christ. To be set apart for a holy purpose. That is why God gives us gifts through his holy spirit to build up the church. We call this “Sanctification” to be set apart for a holy purpose. Let me summarize one theologian I read. The Lord's Supper is more than just remembering the body and blood of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. This is a spiritual meal. It is a key component of our salvation. Where baptism is a one time thing, the Lords Supper is repeated again and again. All of the church takes communion at the same time, it reaffirms our salvation in Christ Jesus and reaffirms our unity as a body. Partaking in the Lord's Supper makes the church share in the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. That's why Paul made such a big deal about eating in an appropriate manner. This is more than a remembrance. This is all of us joined spiritually as one body. We can't see it or touch it or even explain a lot of what the spirit does, but what one of us does in the spirit seems to have implications for all of us. Just like in baptism, there is so much more happening spiritually that we can't yet know or understand, That is why Jesus kept things simple when he explained them. But what is important is that we are to eat this meal on a regular basis. That it has spirit rewards and consequences. That we need this meal to continue our sanctification process. You know I'm still young. As a a human I'm only 34 years old. I'm done growing up, I'll just grow out now. As a believer I'm only 21 years old. There is still so much I have to learn. Visiting different churches lately and participating in their different styles of communion has help remind me of these two facts. I have a lot to learn and every group of believers that gather for communion are all united as on body in Christ Jesus. This is one thing I do that helps on a regular basis, getting together with the One Body, joined by the One Spirit, sharing in the One Meal.

Ponder a while

In Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus he describes the angels going to the shepherds and then the shepherds going to see Jesus. “So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. It seems everyone else was amazed and surprised at what the shepherds said, except Mary. You see Mary had been visited by an angel. Joseph had been visited by an angel. Mary’s cousin’s husband had been visited by an angel. Maybe this was starting to become a normal thing for the young couple. 

The greek word used for “ponder” means “to put one thing with another to consider circumstances”. So Mary took all of these events that happened over the last months to form her conclusion as to what was happening. So she added this event with the shepherds account. In eight days, when they go to the temple, she will add more. When the magi come to the house with the gifts she will add more events to her treasure of circumstances. That would have helped since they had to pack and flee for their lives in the middle of that same night. Then when Jesus stays behind in the Temple, and scares his parents to death, Mary treasures these things as well. 

John, immersing people in the Jordan, would call him “The Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.”

Later on when Jesus was older and being crucified between common thieves she would have had to pull these memories together to consider what was happening right then in light of everything that happened up till this  point in their lives. 

She would remember the Angel telling Joseph, “You will name him Jesus, because he will save people from their sins.” and she would remember the shepherds coming bowing before the infant king, just as the centurion dropped to his knees and proclaimed, “Surely this was the Son of God.” Which would have brought back the angels words to her, “He will be called the Son of the Most High”.

As they poured the myrrh on his body to bury it, she remembered the Wise men that came and brought the gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. 

Jesus returned to life three day later and when she saw her boy on the path, the words from the angel continued, “The Lord God will give Him the throne of his Father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his Kingdom will never end.”

Nothing that happened with Mary, Joseph, and Jesus was an accident. Everything that happens in our lives is seen and known about by God. 

It isn’t an accident that you are reading this. It isn’t an accident that the weather was like it was this week. It is all a part of God drawing us to Him. What we have to do is what Mary did. Look at all of the events that happen in our lives and ponder, put them all together, to see how God is working. 

Jeremiah wrote 31:3 “The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness’.” 

Cowardly lions

The past couple of months a reoccurring theme has popped up over and over. I didn’t really notice it at first, but this theme has been consistent in lots of areas and came from lots of places. This theme that keeps coming up is courage. I have read about it in my devotionals. I have been slowly working my way back through a book I read several years ago, and courage has come up in it in the last couple of chapters.  I also have always thought I relate best to the cowardly lion from the Wizard of Oz. If I only had some courage.

GK Chesterson defines courage as a contradiction. He says courage is “A STRONG DESIRE TO LIVE TAKING THE FORM OF A READINESS TO DIE.” In other words I want to live so much that I am ready to die for it. He uses examples like someone lost at sea, continuing to swim. Or military personnel caught in a fire fight. If they loose that desire to live, then they just give up and they will surely die. If they loose the readiness to die  then they become cowards. 

Courage is a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die.This isn’t just for people on the brink of death. This isn’t just for the men and women of the military. Jesus said this is for every believer. Jesus said this to his disciples “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” (Matthew 16:25) 

What is there to be afraid of here in America today. The church is not persecuted. We are not slaves. We do not fear soldiers, or secret police in our midst ready to bust through the doors with guns to arrest us. I know all of this, yet there is still a part of me that is afraid. There is still that person inside of me, or maybe spirit outside of me that says, “you shouldn’t share the gospel with them, it might offend them.” Or “Show people the love of God by just your actions.” And my favorite is, “what if they find out what you are really like? That you are not the perfect Christian,” I have the strong desire to live, with people, to be liked. I lack the readiness to die, to put myself out there, to vulnerable to people and share my faith. 

Jesus also said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” I used to think great, he is all around me. I’m protected on all sides and nothing can get to me. That wasn’t necessarily true. Things did get to me. I’ve learned that doesn’t mean Jesus is just with me, but fights for me. It’s not up to me if someone accepts Christ. It is up to me to share the Gospel with them. It is not up to me to fix problems, It is up to Christ, I have to be available to be used by Christ. The Bible says the battle is already won. That means the problem is in the past with God. The victory is already there. 

When Christ died for us, it took an incredible amount of courage. He wanted to live with his Father and us so much he was ready to die for it. His resurrected life allows His Spirit to be with us. The same spirit that gave Samson incredible strength is in us, the same spirit that caused David to dance before God, is in us. The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead, is in us. So that no matter what we face, we have already won, and that should make us courageous lions.

Be like the Youngest

Have you ever noticed that when something serious is happening and you are really trying to bring home an important point something, or someone always has to mess it up by cracking a joke or bringing up a point or thought that is completely unrelated. It happens a lot with kids. Well, that is exactly what happened when Jesus sat down with his disciples for His last supper.

Luke 22:24-26 Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. 25Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over the people; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors (one translations says they rule as politicians who like to be called “friend of the people”). 26But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.

So here is Jesus giving the lords supper. This is my body that is broken for you. This is my blood that is being poured out for you. Eat this meal in remembrance of me. And then they start arguing over who is the greatest. But Jesus once again reminds them about being the youngest. 

“BE LIKE THE YOUNGEST”

Do you remember what it was like to be a kid? Do you remember the excitement of catching a fish and squealing and throwing your fishing pole? Do you remember what it was like to hit the ball in little league baseball game? Do you remember catching frogs, tadpoles, or  salamanders and just looking at them in a mason jar and wanting to keep them? 

Do you remember being told God made the stars and put them in place and we just believed it. 

Do you remember memorizing the 23rd Psalm, and learning God takes care of us. Then learning how shepherd took care of sheep and the picture of Jesus reaching down to a lamb that had fallen over a cliff. 

Do you remember making hand prints in plaster of Paris, and writing “Jesus made me special” underneath them. 

Do you remember singing “Jesus Loves Me” and “The B-I-B-L-E, Yes that’s the book for me. I stand alone on the Word of God. The B-I-B-L-E”

Remember learning Jesus died on the cross, with all of our sins, so we wouldn’t have to. Remember Jesus’ blood. It washes all my sins away and makes me clean. While teaching a group of elementary kids about communion I told we do it every week so we don’t forget what Jesus did for us. One kid said back “How can you forget THAT?” 

When it comes to faith,  don’t look at it with all of these complex theological issues. Look at simply as the youngest would. The kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these. 

Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. All of us to him belong. We are weak, but he is strong. 

Peace on Earth

“Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1)

Peace with God. I don’t know if you think the way I do, but I have a hard time excepting peace, forgiveness, and grace for myself. I know what goes on in my mind. I know what rises up in my heart. I even think the way I smell after working outside all day is repulsive. I wake up with morning breath and think, how could anything, much less an all knowing God, want a relationship with me.  I know the feeling I have and all the ways in which I lack in my maturity in Christ. and I know the conflict that goes on in my mind over my salvation. 

Now, I can give peace and forgiveness. I can even tell you, quote scripture, and pray and lead you to salvation. I can give you scripture of God’s reconciliation and desires to be in a right relationship with us as humans. But I have a hard time excepting it for myself. 

Now this is not peace of mind. Where your mind is clear and calm, and flowers are blooming and birds are singing and everything is good and right with the world. this is a peace in this verse of an end to conflict. 

Peace with God means that we have been reconciled with him. There is no more hostility between us, no sin blocking our relationship with him. Peace with God is possible only because Jesus paid the price for our sins through his death on the cross.A perfect example of the definition of peace, proving you care more about others than winning an argument.” 

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In Chapter 5:8 it says, “God demonstrated his love for us in this; while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” 

I can get that. but then he goes on. 

verse 10 “For if, when we were God’s enemies we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” If Jesus was willing to die for us as sinners, how much more will he do for as as his brothers and sister. That is his ministry now, to keep us in relationship with him. This is a fact I remind myself of often. Not as much as I use to.

As we stop everything, and try to get a little peace of mind to sit and talk with God, remembering his sacrifice. Remember that he has reconciled us to himself. He Got rid of everything that did keep us from him. The details are different for each of us, but the basics is sin. 

You might be like me, having to remind yourself, God does want me, loves me, and has given me a peace treaty he won’t break. 

You might be totally different from me, its something you have complete confidence in, and it never crosses your mind. Enjoy your time. 

Or, You might be sitting there having never accepted his love for you. You’ve never accepted his reconciliation. Give in. He is a God that has this absurd love for humanity. It doesn’t make sense to me. But he does and he proved it.