Safe on the Rock

 When I was four, my family lived near the Atlantic Ocean. "Close enough to enjoy the water," my mother used to say, "but far enough that we don't have sand in the house."

One afternoon my father brought me to the beach to escape the blistering summer heat of our apartment. I still remember splashing in the water, squealing as the gentle waves surged and ebbed around me.

I suppose he was only a short distance away when he turned his back for a moment. But during that moment, a wave knocked me off balance and plunged my face beneath the water. Frantic, I fought to regain my footing as each successive swell threw me under again and again. Panic grew into terror as the current swept me deeper beneath the waves.

Then, from nowhere, strong arms suddenly pulled me free. Within moments, I found myself safely on the warm sand. The lifeguard had come to my rescue. 

"Hey! What are you doing?" My father ran toward us, shouting at the man who saved me. "I was watching him. He was okay." Then he looked at me. "You were okay, weren't you?"

I remember it was more a command than a question. Embarrassed and confused, what could my four-year-old self say? I stared at my feet and whispered, "Uh‑huh."

Vindicated, my father led me back to our beach blanket. I didn't feel like going into the water anymore that day.

Years passed, and I found different waters in which to revel. Swept along by gentle waves of philosophies and temptations, I drifted from one immoral or rebellious pleasure to another. Life ebbed and flowed lightly around me.

Then a wave knocked me off balance.

I fought to regain my footing, but each attempt met powerful and successive waves that pulled me deeper toward sin, desperation, and finally, despondency. I knew intuitively that my future promised little more than ever-increasing bondage to those very things I once thought gave me freedom. I knew I could no more stop doing what I knew to be wrong than I could prevent the ocean's currents. But oh, how I longed for forgiveness, cleansing – and rescue. In despair, I cried out to the One I had for so long ignored and begged Him to deliver me from myself. 

I still remember His rescue. The Holy Spirit led me to friends who told me of God’s promise of salvation and the power to change direction. All I needed to do was ask God for mercy.

Suddenly, from nowhere, strong arms pulled me free from sin's grip. Overwhelming guilt and fear gave way to assurance and peace. I’d been rescued. Lifted onto the Rock. Oh, how glorious was the sense of freedom, to be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.

But within days, friends and even family rushed to my side. "You were okay, weren't you? You weren't really in trouble . . . .”

What could I say? What would I say?

Pressure from family or friends often prevents a child from choosing right over wrong. But how should adults react in the face of truth? Despite my self-assured façade, I desperately needed help, and the Lord Jesus so graciously reached down to rescue me.

What could I say to those friends and family? The choice could not have been clearer. It was time to put away childish things. It was time to shoulder my responsibility and admit that the gospel is the power of God to rescue from sin’s bondage everyone who turns to Christ (Romans 1:16).

And so, the real point of this essay: What will YOU do today, as 2021 draws rapidly to a close? What will you say to Christ who offers you not only forgiveness, but also a changed life?

If you have already sought and found His forgiveness, please, do not cease to continue seeking Him. Repentance, confession, and turning from sins is never a ‘one-time’ event.

And if you have never sought Him – I hope you will do it now, even as you finish this essay. It was Jesus who said: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Puffs of Smoke

 I’m again in the middle of my reading through Revelation. And I came to this passage in chapter 11: “And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged . . . .”

This text falls during the unthinkable carnage, death, and destruction wrought by God Himself in judgment of the world that has consistently, willfully, and persistently spat at Him and His commandments. If it has been a while since you have read Revelation, I urge you to do so sometime soon. Don’t let the imagery keep you from learning the lessons therein. But, back to the text: “And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged.” (Revelation 11:18). Sometimes I am completely flummoxed by how such intense supernatural blindness, such spiritual INSANITY can completely distort those who love darkness, such as those described in chapters four through eighteen of Revelation. It is a true insanity that propels mere creatures, puffs of smoke, whose breath God can take from them in less than a heartbeat – insignificant mounds of flesh and blood and bone – to fulminate, blaspheme, and shake their fists in their Creator’s face. You can’t make this stuff up. Surely this truth is stranger than any fiction. And make no mistake – please, do not make the mistake to think such supernaturally shaped blindness is dissimilar to that which we see beginning to engulf our world today, and falling across our country – as well as many of our families. Christian – if you are not yet awake, I beg you – wake up! Even on this day after the celebration of our Messiah’s birth, strengthen the things that remain. The various and stern warnings the Lord Jesus lays against the seven churches in chapters two and three of the same book – those same warnings apply to you and me in this 21st century. Do not let the supernatural blindness enfold you. This is not a time to play church. It is not a time for ‘business as usual.’ Remember what happens to those spoken of in Jesus’ Parable of the Sower.

Exact Truths

 Sermon Christmas 2021

December 25

 

Today is Christmas. For many of us, it’s a day of family visits and festival foods. And soon, the happy – or sad memories will linger, and then slowly fade.

 

If ever there was a time you and I needed an anchor for our souls, something that will remain true, and positive, and will not ever fade away, it is this day – especially as we face 2022. That is why I want us to look to Luke’s gospel on the day we celebrate the Lord’s miraculous birth. Why? Because the Holy Spirit has something to tell us.

 

“Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus; so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.”

 

It is important at the outset of this gospel letter Luke wrote to Theophilus that, although Luke penned the words, he was directed by the Holy Spirit who inspired Luke’s letter. That does not mean, of course, God dictated word for word what the physician should write. What it means is God illuminated and directed Luke regarding what to report and HOW to report it. God permitted the inspired write to express divine truth in the manner and the vocabulary the writer was already accustomed to – yet God at the same time protected them from writing error. That is one reason St. Paul wrote in his second letter to Timothy: “All scripture is inspired by God" (2 Timothy 3:16). And St. Peter tells us, “No prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (2 Peter 1:21).

 

So while Luke’s purpose of the letter was so that he would “know the exact truth about the things” he had been taught, God used the physician Luke to write those things so that WE TOO can know the exact truth about the things we have been taught – assuming, of course, that we have been taught by honorable and biblically knowledgeable men and women – including our parents who taught us the word of God.

 

The exact truth. Not everyone wants to know truth. Truth demands of the hearer an action – either receive the truth and LIVE obediently to the truth, or – to reject the truth. We MUST take sides. No one can stay neutral very long in the face of truth.

 

Jesus warned about those who reject truth. Here is what He said: “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” (John 3:19-21)

 

So, what is it that God had Luke write to Theophilus who, many commentators believe was Luke’s friend? What are those truths?

 

Well, Luke’s letter has 24 chapters of truth, and we cannot take time in this one message to expound on all that the Holy Spirit wanted Theophilus – and us – to know. So, for this Christmas message I will limit myself to only a few truths we can know on Christmas 2021.

 

Exact truth number one: Jesus’ birth was miraculous. Here is how Luke records it:  Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”  (Luke 1:26-34)

 

Jesus’ birth was miraculous because Mary became pregnant with Jesus without having intercourse with Joseph, her betrothed husband. THAT is a critically important truth we must know because many today in the pulpits and even more in the pew scoff at the idea of a virgin conception of Jesus.

 

Some even here might wonder about it all. We know where babies come from. Mary knew the biology of it all. That’s why she said to the angel Gabriel, and let me paraphrase it for us, “How can this be, since I am not intimate with a man?”

 

Those of you who know the story, Gabriel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. For nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luke1:35-37)

 

Nothing will be impossible with God. It’s what God also said to Abraham when his wife, Sarah, laughed at the promise that she, in her very old age, would have a son. God said, “Is anything to difficult for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14).  It is what Jeremiah acknowledged to the Lord when he wrote: “Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You.” (Jeremiah 32:17)

 

Christmas is the story of God’s miraculous physical intervention into the affairs of His creation. No longer, as some supposed, a distant management of the affairs of life. No longer an absent landlord of this home called earth. Christmas is God’s answer to those charges that God doesn’t know what it is like to be ‘Me’ – because yes He does know what it is like because He became human and lived and died as a human.  And He rose again on that third day JUST AS every child of His will rise again in our own resurrection.

 

Why should it seem so inconceivable that the God who created the suns and the moons and the planets by simply SPEAKING them into existence, why should a simple virgin conception of Jesus in Mary’s womb be so unbelievable? I never cease to be shocked at the absolute hubris of creatures – men and women – creatures created by God who dismiss the miraculous because they do not understand it or think it can happen. There is no more arrogant a person than that.

 

So, this Christmas, what do YOU believe about the exact truth Luke wrote to Theophilus about Jesus’ miraculous birth?

 

Exact truth number two. God the Holy Spirit wanted Theophilus – and you and me – to know that John the Baptist had developed doubts about Jesus. You may remember the story when John was in prison, he sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus: “Are you the Expected One? Or do we look for someone else?” (Luke 7:19)

 

Why might St. John the Baptizer have asked that question? Surely, he knew the story surrounding the miraculous birth of Jesus. Surely his aunt Mary told him and his mother and father –Elizabeth and Zacharias – the message she received from the angel Gabriel. So, why was John now questioning it all?

 

It could be – and this is what I think to be the case – it could be that John, as each of Jesus’ twelve disciples and the nation of Israel itself at that time – everyone expected the Messiah to bring His reign to earth and do away with their Roman oppressors.

 

But as far as John could tell, Jesus was not doing that. And to make matters even worse and more confusing, if Jesus was the Expected One, then why did He allow His cousin to be arrested and thrown into a nasty, stinky, filthy prison for standing up to the abusive and wicked Roman king Herod?

 

It seems to me that those are some reasons John might have gotten to thinking he’d gotten it all wrong.

 

Do those kinds of doubts make their way into the minds of even mature Christians today? They’ve heard the stories of Jesus all their lives. But this same miracle worker is, for them, not now meeting THEIR expectations of what He ought to do and how He ought to do it.

 

When the Holy Spirit inspired Luke to write about John’s confusion, perhaps God is telling us that our doubts are okay – because HONEST questions result in seeking honest answers, as John sought answers. Never think God doesn’t want you or me to seek truth when we struggle with faith. Seeking truth with an honest heart is how we grow in our faith.

 

Has Jesus sometimes disappointed you? Has He not met your expectations in the past – or even now – when you asked for things that are really important to you – like healing your child, or spouse, or parent? Like getting you a job so you can pay your bills. Like relieving your loneliness. Or to supply you the finances to pay the rent and put food on the table?

 

All Christians at some point make an adult decision to give our heart to Jesus. And as we continue our faith journey, we continue to offer Him our heart. But what about the hopes we have for ourselves or our family? What about our dreams? Our deepest longings and expectations? And what do we do when life takes a sharp turn, and our dreams are irretrievably lost, like charred ashes after a house fire?

 

What then?

 

If you haven’t yet asked yourself that question, the time will come when you have to ask it. That’s why, on this day after Christmas, I urge us all to prepare now for our answer. Everything in our life from that moment of distress and deep disappointment – everything in our life from that point on will depend on our response.

 

Now let’s get back to John’s disciples and the Lord’s response to John through them:  “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them. Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.” (Luke 7:22-23)

 

And there is the answer to our dilemma when we face our own questions about Jesus when He fails to live up to our expectations. If we are at times not sure of His Lordship and Messiahship because of His words, then we can believe in Him because of His works. And you might remember that is precisely what Jesus said to the doubting crowd in Jerusalem: “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” (John 10:37-38)

 

And His most miraculous work, His most wonderful work, was to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah when Jesus took upon Himself – an ineffably wonderful work in itself – when Jesus took upon Himself your sins and mine, when Jesus substituted His life for yours and mine: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6)

 

And as if to emphasize the point, God repeats several verses later: reiterated several verses later, “My Servant will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities.” (verse 11)

 

Which brings us to exact truth number three: Jesus is going to return to earth – not as a baby, but this time as a Lion. Here is Luke 21:10-19, 25-28:

Then He continued by saying to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.

“But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake. It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute. But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you will be hated by all because of My name. Yet not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives . . . “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Jesus is coming back. We can be absolutely certain of that because He promised to return. Now, while it is true that there have been in history periods of famines and earthquakes and persecutions and wars – Remember Jesus said in Mark’s gospel that these things are just the beginning of the upheavals earth and those who dwell on earth will experience before Jesus returns.  BUT – Luke also records Jesus to say: “when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

“Let not your heart be troubled.” You will remember Jesus’ words to His disciples in chapter 14 of John’s gospel. “You believe in God; believe also in Me.”  Then the Lord went on to say, “In my Father’s House are many dwelling places. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will return to take you to Myself, that you may also be where I am.” (paraphrase of John 14:1-3)

 

Luke wrote what is the exact truth the Holy Spirit wants us to know as we journey our journey with Christ in this life into 2022 and beyond. We looked today at only three of those truths: Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, It’s okay to be disappointed, and yes, Jesus is coming again. Soon. I hope before this day is over. But even if it takes another decade for His return, we can rest our souls in His arms, who promised – He is preparing a place for all who love Him, for all who call Him Lord, for all who obey His voice.

 

Merry Christmas. A blessed 2022 to all of us. And Maranatha, Lord Jesus. Come quickly.

Something to think about before Christmas

 

I always find this vignetter in Acts 19 instructive:

“But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.” (verses 13-16)

If our faith in Christ is not a personal faith, then it is nothing more than a bit of trivial knowledge. If our faith is based only on what we have heard of Him from others – and not in what He Himself has taught us as we’ve sat at His feet in prayer and study of Scripture, then we do nothing more than imitate Sceva’s seven sons.

They relied on their 'hand-me-down' knowledge of Christ – and it resulted in complete failure.

Fast forward 2100 years. Nothing is different about Christ-centered faith today. Only a personal faith and relationship with Jesus grants us the authority to overcome the darkness in our own lives -- and through prayer and personal knowledge of Christ, the darkness in the lives of others.

The Christmas season is a great time to reexamine ourselves. What kind of relationship do we have with Jesus?

And what must we do to make it better?

Christmas by the Letters

 

THE 4TH SUNDAY ADVENT 2021

CHRISTMAS by the Letters

Over the last three weeks we’ve looked at several Biblical texts surrounding the first Advent of Jesus when He entered humanity as a helpless baby. Today is the fourth and final Sunday of Advent –but I am sure not the last time we will rekindle our efforts throughout the next 12 months to better reflect the meaning of Jesus’ birth to our families, friends, and neighbors.

I opened my message for the first Sunday in Advent by looking at how we can better prepare our lives for the 2nd Advent when our Lord returns for His bride – the Church.

On the second Sunday of Advent, we looked at Pilate’s pronouncement to the jeering mob – Behold, the Man. And we asked ourselves the very timely question – what do We in the 21st century say about that Man? 

Finally, last week, the third Sunday of Advent we looked at Pilate’s pronouncement to the murderous mob – Behold, your King! And we asked ourselves also the very timely question – what will we in the 21st century do with our King? 

This brings us to our message today – the fourth Sunday of Advent, just days before Christmas day.

So, knowing what we know of Jesus’ first advent – specifically WHY Jesus came to us in the first place – I want to use the word CHRISTMAS as an acronym – each letter of the word will serve as a springboard to the meaning we should derive from that first advent in a Bethlehem manger.

So, starting with the letter ‘C’ let’s look at the phrase: Come to Jesus.

We know from repeated references in the NT that Jesus came to rescue sinners – that means you and me. Jesus came to rescue sinners from the jaws of hell and the Lake of Fire. He came to rescue not only horrible, murderous, adulterous, despicable sinners, but He came to rescue plain, ordinary, and, as many of us like to think of ourselves, ‘not-so-bad sinners’ from the SAME destiny of hell as murderous, adulterers, and so on.

And contrary to what some clergy like to tell their biblically illiterate sheep, hell is populated today, on this fourth Sunday of Advent, by those who have scoffed at God’s commandments and died in their ongoing rejection of Christ’s sacrifice for their sins.

Let us never lose sight of God’s view of sin as told us throughout Scripture: All sin, all sin, any sin separates us from a holy, holy, holy God. And all sin, every sin, ANY sin results in eternal death for all who choose to die without repentance of their sins to God and living in obedience to Jesus the Savior.

Let us never lose sight of the nearly unspeakable and staggering truth that Bethlehem’s manger held the Baby who would grow to be the Man who would redeem us by His death and resurrection from Satan’s talons. The apostle John called Jesus the propitiation for our sins – a fancy word meaning the sacrificial satisfaction God requires as payment for our sins. You remember what St. Paul wrote: “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.” Romans 6:23

But just because Jesus CAME to do that job, His work is useless unless sinners – you and I – seal the deal. Listen to what the Lord said in Matthew’s gospel: “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden. TAKE MY YOKE upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11).

How do we seal that deal?  How does a person come to Jesus? Let me tell you how I did it: I came to Jesus 49 years ago on Christmas Eve by telling God I was sorry for my sins, and I asked His forgiveness of those sins. And then I promised I would serve Him through Jesus Christ all the days of my life. Shortly thereafter, I was baptized in the pool on the US Naval base by one of our chaplains.

So, the ‘C’ of Christmas urges us to Come to Jesus. Just as we are, sinners as we are – come to Jesus and let Him wash away your sins with His sacrificial blood.

Which brings us to the ‘H’ in Christmas. I use that letter to bring up the subject of hope – as in the hope of eternal life.

Hope, as I have shared many times in the past, hope in the NT is not like hope in the way we use the word today. ‘I hope it won’t rain on New Year’s Eve next week’ – but we know it might rain. The word hope, as translated from the Greek, is best translated as a ‘confident expectation.’ In other words, we have every good reason to believe what we hope for WILL happen.

I am amazed by how many Christians – how many children of God have a ‘maybe-it-will-happen’ hope about their eternal salvation, instead of that confident expectation of eternal life.  If you ask them the question, “If you died today, will you spend eternity with God?”  They will answer, “I hope so.”

But why is that when Scripture gives them the right to say, “Yes. I know so”? As St. Paul wrote to Titus: “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope (e.g. the confident expectation) of eternal life.” (Titus 3:4-7)

Or this word by the apostle John: (1 John 5:11-13) “And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

Christmas means God has given everyone who accepts His gift of salvation by faith, He has given every one of them the gift of forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

Are YOU confident of your salvation? If you are living for Christ, you have every reason for confidence.

Which brings us now to the R in Christmas, which I will use to remind us of the resurrection of Jesus. Joined to the birth of Jesus as God’s gift is the crucifixion of Jesus to pay the penalty your sins and mine deserve. 

Isaiah 53:5 “But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. ⁶ All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.”

It was Christ’s death that purchased our redemption and forgiveness of sins, but it is His resurrection from the dead that, as St. Peter tells us, “caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3)

Jesus said to Martha after her brother Lazarus died, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” Then Jesus asked Martha, “Do you believe this?”

And don’t think for a moment Jesus is not asking you and me the same question even now: “Do you believe this?”

I hope you do.

Which brings us to the next letter in Christmas ‘I’.   I use the “I” in Christmas to remind myself how then ought I to live. For that, I refer to this simple but profound chorus Nancy and I used to sing in churches. Many of you will know the chorus yourselves:

I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice/And it told Thy love to me;
But I long to rise in the arms of faith/And be closer drawn to Thee.

Draw me nearer, nearer blessèd Lord/To the cross where Thou hast died.
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessèd Lord/To Thy precious, bleeding side.

I CANNOT live for Christ in obedience to Christ unless the Holy Spirit continues to change my heart, piece by piece, day by day, year in and year out. I know, as St Paul mourned, “that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.” (Romans 7:18), and that in my flesh not only do I not want to do God’s will, but I am UNABLE to God’s will (see Romans 8:7).

That is why I – that is why YOU – must come to Christ each day, taking up our cross, and seeking His Holy Spirit to not only show us our sins, but to change us to better reflect Christ to our families, our friends, and our neighbors.

The next letter in Christmas is ‘S’  And ‘S’ reminds me of the word Solace, meaning consolation.  For many people, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. But for many others, Christmas is the most loneliest time of the year. Nevertheless, our Father in heaven is not unaware of your sorrow. He shares your grief.

Jesus knows what it is like to lose someone you love. He mourned His cousin, John the Baptist. He wept at the grave of Lazarus. And He weeps over your loss and your loneliness as well. Christmas is a time to remember that God remembered humanity, lost in our sorrows and grief. And He became human, like us, to share in our heartache. Surely, He is Emmanuel, God with us.

Yes, Christmas is a time to find assurance that God remembers you. I wonder if the writer of this hymn wrote the song from the depths of his own emotional pain – “Be Still My Soul”:

Be still, my soul; the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain . . .

Be still, my soul, though dearest friends depart

And all is darkened in the vale of tears;
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrows and thy fears . . .

Be still, my soul; the hour is hastening on

When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored . . .

So, ‘S’ is for solace. God became flesh to give us solace. Let Him hold you close to Himself in your time of sadness and sorrow and loneliness.

And so we come to the next letter in Christmas ‘T’, which reminds me of Thankfulness this Christmas.

What good things has God done for you?  Then make application of this song of encouragement: “When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed, when you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Count your blessings, name them one by one; Count your blessings, see what God hath done; Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.”

It is not likely you or I will be able to recall all that God has done for us unless we get alone and get quiet with Him. But please take the time this last week of the Christmas season to do so. Maybe bring a pen and a pad of paper and let the Holy Spirit take you on a remembrance tour. You may be surprised to remember the so many things for which you can be thankful to the Lord.

“M” is the next letter in Christmas’ – and we should never think of Christmas without thinking of the mother of Jesus – Mary.

Why did God choose Mary to mother His Son? We really don’t know the full answer to that question. But here are a few reasons to consider:

Mary demonstrated humility before God. And so, it was in humility Mary – knowing the scandal such a pregnancy would surely cause, Mary said to Gabriel: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word.” The Greek word used here for ‘handmaid’ carries the idea of being a slave to God.

Next, Mary demonstrated obedience to God despite what that obedience could cost her. In Israel’s first century culture, unwed pregnancy was a capital offense punishable by stoning. Mary, knowing her pregnancy would cost her betrothal to Joseph, her reputation, and perhaps even her life, nevertheless laid herself at God’s feet and told the angel, “Let it be done to me according to your word.”

Finally (if there is a final thing we can say about Jesus’ mother), Mary loved the Scriptures. In an era when Israelite culture didn’t consider it a priority to teach girls the Scripture, it is clear Mary read and memorized God’s word. Her adoration of God (Luke 1:46-55) is an example. In those short ten verses of her Magnificat, Mary quoted or alluded to at least six Old Testament texts. (1 Samuel 2:1-10, Psalm 34:2, Psalm 35:9, Psalm 98:1, Psalm 103:17, Psalm 107:9).

Can we emulate Mary? Should we emulate Mary? Why not? After all, God thought well enough of her to choose her to bear and nurture His only begotten Son. If God thought so highly of her, why should we not think of her so highly?

And now for the next letter in Christmas: ‘A’  For me, the letter stands for the word, ‘all.’

All to Jesus, I surrender/All to Him I freely give/I will ever love and trust Him/In His presence daily live.

What does “all” mean?  All my hopes, my joys, my pain, my disappointments, my unmet expectations, my loneliness, my losses, my ambitions, my dreams . . . All of everything that has ever come into my life – I surrender it all to the gentle hands of my Savior.

What about you? What have your surrendered to Jesus?  What WILL you surrender to Him from this time forward?

And so, we come to the last letter, ‘S’ in Christmas. In this letter I see the concept of Service.

Christmas is not so much a time as GETTING as it is in GIVING. “God so loved the world that He GAVE us His Son, so that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have eternal life.” And anyone who’s lived this long knows the joy of giving gifts to another – to see the joy in their eyes that you not only remembered them – but were thoughtful about your remembrance of them. And I am not talking only of family and friends now.

What about those less fortunate than many of you? There are so many needs out there – how can we hope to meet them all?  We cannot. But there are organizations that combine five dollars here and ten dollars there that then help hundreds, even thousands of needy people. Nancy and I support organizations such as Samaritan’s Purse, and One Child Matters. And I hope many of you support Christian organizations as well – and especially at Christmastime.

Let me quickly conclude this message with a quick review of my Christmas points: Christmas is a time we can do at least nine things:

1. Come to Jesus,

2. Hope -- live a life of confident expectation before Him and others,

3. R remember always the resurrection of Jesus because His resurrection assures us that we also will rise from the dead,

4. I In Christ alone are we complete

5. S Solace, comfort, consolation are available to us only in Jesus

6. T  Thank God for His goodness toward us,

7. M to learn to imitate Mary the mother of Jesus,

8. A All to Jesus I surrender time, treasure, and talents to our Savior,

9. S Recommit ourselves to service in Christ’s name to others.

Behold, The King

 Sermon Third Sunday of Advent 2021

December 12, 2021

Behold, The King

 

Somewhere around the first week of December I start listening to Christmas music on my car radio. Before long songs like this well-known seasonal song comes through the car speakers:

 

Dashing through the snow/In a one-horse open sleigh/O'er the fields we go Laughing all the way/Bells on bobtails ring/Making spirits bright/What fun it is to ride and sing/A sleighing song tonight/Oh, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells/Jingle all the way . . .  and so on. You know the words by heart, I am sure.

 

And, of course, along with such seasonal songs also come Christmas hymns, such as this one: What Child is this, who laid to rest/On Mary's lap is sleeping?/Whom angels greet with anthems sweet/While shepherds watch are keeping?/This, this is Christ, the King/Whom shepherds guard and angels sing/Haste, haste to bring Him laud/The Babe, the Son of Mary!

 

I like both ‘Jingle Bells’ and ‘What Child is This?’ I sing along to both when they play on the radio. But I want to remind us on this third Sunday of Advent of the contrast between the two. Although Jingle Bells is often called a Christmas song, it really has nothing to do with Christmas, and should more accurately be called a seasonal song. Jingle Bells doesn’t focus on the reason for the Christmas season, whereas “What Child is This?” turns our thoughts to the one who alone is the reason for Christmas. It is Christmas hymns that turn our thoughts toward King Jesus who came to us in that little town of Bethlehem through the virgin womb of Mary.

 

So, today is the third Sunday of Advent – the time in which many Christians make an additional attempt to better prepare ourselves for the celebration of the Lord’s birth in that little town of Bethlehem some two millennia ago.

 

As I said last week, and repeat today for its seriousness, a problem many Christians face in our daily journey with Christ is that the reason for this season tends to get lost in the familiarity of the stories we have heard all our lives about Jesus – from the Bethlehem manger to Calvary’s hill. As a consequence, the blood Jesus shed on that cross tends to lose its power to move us toward a holy lifestyle maintained and nurtured by a routine prayer life, study of Scripture, and the confession of our daily sins.

Jesus left His throne in glory to rescue us from Satan’s domain of darkness, of sin, and of eternal death. He did that on Calvary’s cross where He died in our place, taking the punishment for our sins, and thereby fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah: “But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, everyone, to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:5-6).

My text last week came from the 19th chapter of John’s gospel where I focused attention on Pilate’s statement to the jeering mob: “Behold, the Man.” This week I will focus attention what he also said at that time to the crowd as Jesus stood before them draped in a purple robe and a crown of thorns pressed into his forehead. To do that, let’s drop back for a few verses into chapter 18 for context.

We start with John 18:33-38 “Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?” Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate *said to Him, “What is truth?”

And now into chapter 19, beginning at verse one: Pilate then took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head and put a purple robe on Him; and they began to come up to Him and say, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and to give Him slaps in the face. Pilate came out again and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.” Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the Man!” So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God . . . As a result of this Pilate made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried out saying, “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.”

Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!”  So they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified.

The title of today’s message is: Behold, Your King! The subtitle of today’s message is: And What Will We Do with Him?

Pilate asked Jesus several questions during his interrogation. One question was this: “Are You the King of the Jews?” Now notice the Lord’s response: “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?”

 

I will not focus too long on this repartee between Jesus and Pilate because of time. But I do want us to pay attention to the Lord’s response to Pilate, and I want to emphasize that Jesus asks the same question of us as He asked of Pilate:

 

Do we say Jesus is Lord and King because our parents, our pastors, our teachers, or what our friends have told us about Him? Or do we know Jesus as OUR Lord and King because we have an intimate and personal relationship with Him through prayer and humble searching for truth?

Good question. Good point. And one which requires from us an answer. WHY do we say Jesus is Lord, Savior, and King?

 

Pilate also asked Jesus, “What is truth?” But instead of waiting for an answer, he turned and walked away – he walked away from the very embodiment of Truth. You will remember on an earlier occasion Jesus told His followers, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me (John 14:6)

 

Pilate walked away after asking Jesus about truth. And that is yet another question from this text that, although I will not spend much time developing because of the clock, we must nevertheless answer soberly and thoughtfully: What is truth?

 

Listen, please. If we do not think we will find Truth embodied in the Lord Jesus, then we will NEVER find truth about life, death, and eternity.

So, just who is this King Pilate told the crowd to behold? Well, what saith the Scriptures? For example, here is the prophet Daniel: “I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14)

And from the prophet Isaiah: The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.. . . . For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder. And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and upon His Kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. (Isaiah 9:2, 6-7)

Pilate disagreed with God’s view of the Man standing in front of him. And so have millions of political, religious, and average men and women throughout the millennia. They all have disagreed with God’s view of the Man in Pilate’s custody. They’ve called Him a great prophet. A great moral teacher. And some have called Him a charlatan. Few have called Him Jehovah God in the flesh of a man.

You might have heard or read this opinion of C.S. Lewis about Jesus. I repeat it now because it dovetails into my point about God’s view of the Man standing before Pilate – and what should be OUR view:

 

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [that is, Christ]: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse…. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” (Mere Christianity)

 

Please hear this irreducible truth: Jesus is King of heaven and earth. And His throne will never be usurped.

 

As I prepared this message about the kingship of Jesus, this scene recorded in John’s gospel when the mob cried out, “We have no king but Caesar” – this scene reminded me of two incidents in the books of Old Testament books of 1 and 2 Samuel.

 

The first story has to do with the time Israel demanded the prophet Samuel to appoint for them a king to rule them. They no longer wanted to be ruled by God’s prophets or His priests as they’d been guided since the days of Moses. They told Samuel they wanted to be just like the other nations. Here is what God said about it to Samuel:

 

“Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them. (verse 7)

 

Isn’t that what the mob before Pilate said when they said, “We have no king but Caesar”? And isn’t that what humanity has been saying to God ever since the Garden of Eden, “We don’t want God over us”? Frank Sinatra captured the philosophy well in his signature song, My Way:

 

For what is a man, what has he got/If not himself, then he has naught/
Not to say the things that he truly feels/And not the words of one who kneels/The record shows I took all the blows/And did it my way

The next incident similar to the record in John’s gospel occurs in 2 Samuel. God had anointed David to be King of Israel. But – and to make a long story very short – Absalom, one of David’s sons – wanted to be king instead of his father. He organized a treasonous rebellion and would have killed David if he had the chance. In the ensuing battle between David’s army and Absalom’s, Absalom was killed.

When David learned of his son’s death, he “was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And thus he said as he walked, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”  (2 Samuel 18:33)

In the next chapter, someone tells Joab, the general of David’s arm: “Behold, the king is weeping and mourns for Absalom.” (2 Samuel 19:3-4)

That phrase, “Behold, the king . . .” reminded me of Pilate’s proclamation to the mob: “Behold, your king!”  To which they responded, “We have no king but Caesar.”

I reflected long over David’s grief, and his desolate cry, “O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!” Would that I had died instead of you.”

 

Listen! Please hear me. Do not think for a moment that King Jesus does not mourn over every man and woman who rebels against His authority. Don’t think for a moment Jesus does not cry out the names of all who reject His Kingship over them.

 

Is He at this moment crying out your name? Or the names of your children, or grandchildren? Did He cry out the names of your parents, or spouse? “Oh, Sharon. O Sharon . . ..” “Oh, Steven, Oh Steven . . ..” “Oh, Brenda, Oh, Brenda . . ..”

On and on and on, name after name, King Jesus still, to this day, weeps aloud for today’s lost souls – just as He wept over Jerusalem: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it! (Luke 13:34)

David said of Absalom, “Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”

But to every Sharon, Steven, Brenda, and every other man, woman and child living today, Jesus the King says it repeatedly, “I DID die for you. I took your place. I took your punishment; I took on Myself God’s wrath against your sin so that YOU might live around our throne forever.”

Absalom had a choice – to rebel or to place himself under the authority of his father, the King. In the same way, you and I, and all those we care about, also have a choice -- to rebel or to place ourselves under the authority of Jesus, God’s anointed King.

Absalom could have been reconciled with his father. He could have said to him, “I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no long worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.”

And so, everyone today has a choice. We can rebel against the King of Kings, whose heart breaks for us – or we can come to Him in prayer and admit to Him, “I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son or daughter. Make me as one of your hired servants.”

 

There’s nothing wrong with Jingle Bells or any of the secular songs of the season. But let us be ever mindful that Christmastime serves as a reminder – a much needed reminder – that God sent His Son, whom the Virgin Mary wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a cattle feeding trough – God sent His Son to be our Savior, and our King.

 

Pilate said it, and as Jesus stand before us even now, our Father in heaven, says it: “Behold your King.”

 

What will we do with Him? Will we receive Him now – for the first time, or the hundredth time – as both Savior . . . and King?