A Christmas Acronym - Part Two

 

A Christmas Acronym – Part Two

 

Last week’s Christmas message centered around the word, “Christmas’ which I used as an acronym. As I peeled apart the first five letters of that word and began my message with the letter ‘C’ to remind us of how God cherishes us. The letter ‘H’ stood for the question, “How could God love a sinner such as I – and you – that He did what He did by becoming flesh and dying that torturous death. The ‘R’ represented ‘reconciliation.’ Because of our sins God and all humanity were at irreconcilable enmity with each other. But in Jesus the Christ, God reconciled us to Himself when He placed our sins onto His Son.

 

With the next letter, ‘I’ I spoke about God's Invitation to all who want to receive from Him forgiveness and the total remission of our sins – even the worst of our sins. And finally, last week, the letter ‘S’ stood for the word ‘Seek’ as in ‘Seek Him while He may be found – not only during Christmastime, but throughout the year and throughout our lives.

 

Which brings us now to today’s message. I’ll start now with the ‘T’ of Christmas. ‘T’ represents the word ‘Take’ – as in ‘Take the message of the manger and the cross into 2024.”

 

Oh, may it be our prayer from time to time that we never forget this eternal truth as plainly stated in Scripture: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In other words, EVERYONE on planet earth deserves God's wrath. And it is, as Hebrews tells us, “A terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Romans 3:23 and Hebrews 10:31)

 

It will be an ETERNALLY terrifying thing for our families, for our friends, our neighbors, and acquaintances. Everyone. Even those we consider to be very nice people, even those we think are morally upright. Everyone. Jewish, Protestant. Catholic. Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist, agnostic. ALL have sinned and fall short of God's requirement for salvation, which is obedient faith in the bloody sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who is the Righteous God's ONLY acceptable atonement.

 

Listen to St Paul tell the so-called righteous Jews and Gentiles of his day: (Romans 8:1-4): “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. ³ For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. . . . ⁹ However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”

 

But how will our families and friends and neighbors and acquaintances know – or be reminded – of God's absolute and unchangeable requirement of faith in Jesus for eternal life if WE who know the truth don’t tell them?

 

And when was the last time you said to God, as Isaiah said when God asked: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” And Isaiah responded, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8)

 

Listen, I have spoken to enough people during my half-century of walking with Jesus to know that MOST of those in our families and among our friends and so forth are not only uninterested in what we have to say about Jesus, but some can become downright nasty about it. And I am not suggesting we continue to badger them. Pray for them? Yes. But not badger.

 

But what of those to whom we have never spoken, or only on occasion. Oh, God still says it to us: (Isaiah 52:7) “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation . . . .” 

 

So, the ‘T’ of Christmas -- Take the Name of Jesus with You into 2024. And the ‘M’?

 

We should never think of Christmas without thinking of Mary, the mother of Jesus. I mean, she herself, under the full inspiration of the Holy Spirit cried out: (Luke 1:47-48) “My soul exalts the Lord, ⁴⁷ And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. ⁴⁸ “For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave; For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.”

 

And you will remember with Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptizer proclaimed when Mary first visited her: Luke 1:42b -43) “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! ⁴³ And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me?”

 

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 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 this young teenager 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).

 

So, I think Mary’s love for God and her obedience to Him is worthy of our great admiration, respect, and emulation for this young woman of God.

 

Which now brings us to the letter ‘A’ in Christmas. This letter represents the word, ‘Arise.’ It is at this point in my message that I want to remind us that Christmas is not only God's promise of the remission of our sins, but ALSO it is His promise about the future and guaranteed resurrection of every faithful follower of Christ.

 

When we studied through the Song of Solomon, we learned that many scholars consider this message as a picture of Jesus and His Bride – the Church. Listen to what the Bridegroom says to His Bride – especially as how it can apply to the Rapture of the Church, or to our individual homegoing. (Song of Solomon 2:10-13) “Arise, my darling. Come away, my beautiful one. ¹¹ For now the winter is past; The rain has ended and gone away. ¹² The blossoms appear in the countryside. The time of singing has come, and the turtledove’s cooing is heard in our land. ¹³ The fig tree ripens its figs; The blossoming vines give off their fragrance. Arise, my darling.
Come away, my beautiful one.”

 

Arise, my darling one. My beautiful one. Listen: Jesus is addressing this to YOU who call Him your Lord, Master, Savior, King, Friend, Lover of your soul. To YOU. This Christmas. Every Christmas. And everyday between each Christmas.  “Arise my darling, and come away with Me.”

 

You might remember the passage in Luke’s gospel when Jesus visited the city of Nain and saw a funeral procession carrying a coffin out of the town.  (Luke 7:13-15) “When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, “Do not weep.” ¹⁴ And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!” ¹⁵ The dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother.”

 

Because of Christmas – AND the Cross AND the empty tomb – every faithful follower of Christ will one day hear the shout of the Lord Jesus – similar to what He shouted toward Lazarus’ tomb: “ARISE, my love. COME FORTH from the grave. The winter of your life is past. The tears and the pain and the loneliness and the sorrow are all gone away. Truly I say to you, the time has arrived for singing. Arise my darling, my beautiful one, and come away with Me.”

 

Listen to the Bridegroom’s promise through St Paul: (1 Cor 15:50-58) –

 

“Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹ Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, ⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³ For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. ⁵⁴ But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. ⁵⁵ O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” ⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; ⁵⁷ but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”

 

And, speaking of remaining steadfast and immovable, this is a good segue into the last letter of Christmas S. For this message today, ‘S’ reminds us to STAY THE COURSE. To STAND FIRM. To seek to mature every day in our relationship and obedience to Christ so that we will be able to say at the end of our life as St Paul was able to say: (2 Timothy 4:7-8) “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; ⁸ in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

 

My brothers and sisters, I BEG you: Stay the course. Persevere. Keep doing the right things even when you don’t want to do the right things. Even when you’re tired, or depressed, or lonely, or broken. You and I have choices in those circumstances to give in to our negative emotions, or to push through those negative emotions toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

 

Stay the course. Satan has been unleashed on this planet AND in so many of our churches and denominations to seduce the faithful into unfaithfulness. For example, you all watch the cable news and listen to word of mouth among your circle of friends and family and acquaintances.

How many have been seduced into believing ‘all religions lead to God’? Or, ‘If a woman can’t afford a baby at a time in her life, it is perfectly acceptable that she kill the baby in an abortion clinic.” Or, if two men or two women love each other, it is wrong to call that a sinful relationship.”  Or if a man and woman love each other, it is fine for them to live together outside of the marriage bond.” 

 

And there are so many other satanic lies and deceptions circulating the churches and the culture that it would take a proverbial ‘month of Sunday’s’ to examine them all and tear them all apart with God's sword, which is His holy word.

 

Remember what St Paul wrote to Timothy in that first letter: (1 Timothy 4:1ff) “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith . . . (Then Paul tells him further down in this text): “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.”

 

And in Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he wrote; (2 Timothy 4:1-4) “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. ³ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, ⁴ and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

 

Listen, Christian – people are watching us. They are listening to us. So, please, pay close attention to yourself and to your responses to life’s hard and easy circumstances. In Christ, with Christ, and through Christ, persevere on your journey toward the Celestial City.

 

I will bring this message now to a close. Christmas is not merely about a pretty manger scene. It is about that ugly, bloody cross on Calvary’s hill – and, of course, the empty tomb three days later. Christmas is about how God CHERISHES you and me. God incarnate answers the question, “HOW can it be that the utterly holy God would so willingly receive to Himself sinners – even the chiefs of sinners?” The Christmas holy day and the Christmas holy season is about the Almighty Holy God RECONCILING sinners – even the chiefs of sinners – to Himself through the bloody body of His most precious son, Jesus. It is about God's INVITATION to join His eternal family. It is about SEEKING Him while He can still be found – NOT the Baby in the manger, but the MAN on the cross.

 

Christmas is about taking the message of the manger and the cross into 2024 and beyond that. Christmas is about Mary – reflecting in our own lives her humility, her love for Scriptures, her obedience to God despite that it could have even cost her life. It’s about the PROMISED resurrection to eternal life to all who know Jesus as their master, king, and savior. And Christmas is about STAYING the course, STANDING for Christ, STAYING true to Him and to His holy word.

 

Christmas. The word itself reminds us of what God did for us, for it is “In [Christ] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace ⁸ which He lavished on us.” (Ephesians 1:7-8a)

The Rich Man and Lazarus

 

I recently reread the story Jesus told of the Rich Man and Lazarus. You’ll find it at the end of Luke 16. Over the years, I’ve read the story more than 100 times. But this time the Holy Spirit showed me something I’d never seen before. He made application to me from the story that He’d never before made. Please read the text below. I will make comments afterward:

“Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and *saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.  And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ But Abraham *said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16:19-31)

After I read this passage, this thought dropped into my mind: The Jews of Jesus’ day had their priests. They had their rabbis. They had their Doctors of the Law. They had their High Priest. They had their traditions.

But Jesus, through Father Abraham, would send the Rich Man’s brothers to none of them.

To NONE of them.

He would send them to “Moses and the Prophets.” In other words – to the Scriptures.

I recently urged my Bible study group to read the entire 119^th Psalm (not necessarily in one sitting) and to pay close attention to how often the Holy Spirit through the Psalmist talks about the CRITICAL importance of God's word.

Of course, the 119^th Psalm is not the only place where, like a laser, God directs us to His word for guidance and hope and exhortation and rebuke and so forth. Joshua 1:8, Isaiah 40:7-8, Matthew 7:24-27, and 2 Timothy 2:15 are only a few of the nearly countless references to the critical nature of knowing (and applying) God's word.

But, back to the passage in Luke. Jesus focused the brothers, and He focuses us on His word. Not on tradition, or priests, or pastors, or theologians - but on His word.

Now, certainly there is great need for the guidance of such learned people as we study God's word ourselves (see Ephesians 4:11-13). But we must not at all overlook in the slightest how Jesus uses this story in Luke to focus us all on the necessity of personal and individual study of the Scriptures.

And on that note, please observe the early part of Acts 17. St Paul and Silas, having been run out of Thessalonica, went to the city of Berea. It was in Berea that Paul began teaching the gospel message to everyone who would listen.

But what is important to this point is found in verse 11: “Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.”

I hope you caught what happened in that verse. The Holy Spirit Himself praised the laity in Berea because they examined the Scriptures daily to VERIFY what none other than the great apostle Paul was telling them.

Listen, if the Holy Spirit praised THEM for verifying even St Paul, then don’t you think He praises US for verifying what our teachers and traditions and pastors and priests – even what some might call today a ‘high priest’ – don’t you think the Holy Spirit will praise US for going back to the Scriptures to check their stories?

As I said above, surely there are passages of Scripture that are difficult at first to understand. And there certainly is a need for teachers and pastors and so forth. But I have found that in MOST cases the difficulties disappear after a time of concerted effort and research, letting Scripture always define Scripture – just as the Bereans did.

The Lord Jesus promised: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” (John 14:26) And a little later, He added: “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth.” (John 16:13a)

Jesus would have told the Rich Man’s brothers to read Moses and the Prophets. And the Lord would tell us the same: Read them. Study them. Obey them, for their words are the very words of God.

A Christmas Acronym

 

Fourth Sunday of Advent 2023

A Christmas Acronym – Part One

 

My text today for the fourth Sunday of Advent, and for this the day before we celebrate the birth of our Lord – my text comes from Luke’s gospel:

“In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:8-11)

 

Today’s message begins a series of two messages that revolve around the acronym I will be creating from the word, ‘Christmas.’ As many of you know, an acronym is a word that is formed from the initial letters of another word or phrase. For example, shoppers often look for BOGO sales, which stands for, “Buy one, Get one [free].”

 

So, let’s begin with the first letter of the word, “C”, which represents the word ‘Cherish.’ A definition of cherish is to ‘protect and lovingly care for someone.’ Some synonyms are to ‘value,’ to ‘prize,’ to ‘treasure.’

 

I talked last week about God's passionate love for you. Passionate. It never wavers. It never cools. It never gets warmer. His passionate love for me and for you is forever unchanging.

 

And as I’ve spoken of many times in the past, the first advent proves that God cherishes us. He treasures us. But let’s make that more personal. The first advent proves to me – Richard – that God cherished me. The manger proves that God cherishes YOU – put your own name in there. He treasures you. You are of unimaginable value to Him.

 

Sometimes – perhaps many times – it’s difficult to wrap our minds around that truth, especially when we’re struggling with pain or loneliness. I mean, God is omnipotent. Nothing is impossible to Him. So why doesn’t He CHANGE my circumstance?

 

I don’t know. BUT I do know He did for us the most He even as God can do to demonstrate just how much He loves us. He – in the second Person of the Holy Trinity – He, who shared an eternity past in the holy glory of heaven, left that perfect place to be incarnate in Jesus, and took on human flesh.

 

And just think for a few moments, the Almighty Creator in human flesh for the first time in all eternity felt physical hunger, and thirst. He knew what it was like to hit his hand with a hammer, to stub His toe in the dark, and to cut His skin and bleed. He knew the emotional trauma of losing a parent and of losing a beloved cousin, John the Baptizer. He knew the pain of rejection by His own brothers who scoffed at His claim of Messiah. He knew what it was like to agonize in prayer during His darkest hour, and yet His beloved disciples slept through it all. He knew what it was like to hear his beloved Peter deny knowing Him.

 

The Almighty, matchless, incomparable, eternal God did all that and a much, much more. Why? Because he cherished and cherishes you and me. Jesus, who although “He was rich, yet for [our] sake He became poor, so that [we] through His poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9)

 

I could preach an entire series of messages on this point, but I must move on. But before we do, I must ask – “Do you cherish God?”  I certainly ask myself right that question even I am now speaking with you, “Do I cherish God?”

 

I know my own answer. It’s ‘No” – certainly not in the way I WANT to cherish Him. Which is why I often ask God to change my heart in such a way that I WILL cherish the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Please, Holy God, change me so that I DO cherish You. Give me a whole heart to really love you; An undivided heart to seek You.

 

So now to the ‘H’ in Christmas, which stands for the word, ‘How’ – as in: “How can it be that the utterly holy God would love an utterly sinful sinner such as I?” Oh, I have often pondered that incomprehensible truth. And as I have pondered it, I’ve sometimes thought of the lyrics by Kris Kristofferson, “Why Me, Lord?”

 

“Why me Lord? What have I ever done to deserve even one of the pleasures I've known? Tell me, Lord. What did I ever do that was worth loving you, or the kindness you've shown? Lord help me, Jesus, I've wasted it so; Help me, Jesus, I know what I am. But now that I know that I've needed you so, help me Jesus. My soul's in your hand.”

 

How can it be that God would receive ME – after all the horrible, horrible things I have done in my life before I came to Christ? How? I don’t understand such love, how He could have cherished me before I ever knew Him. How He could still cherish me even AFTER I gave Him my life and sinned in word, in thought, in action in ways that make me most ashamed?

 

And what about you? Have you ever spent time reviewing your past? Some of you, I am sure, lived a fairly innocent life. You were blessed by God beyond your comprehension to have never been guilty of egregious, terrible, horrible sins. But some of you, like I, have done some things in your life that you shudder even to bring them back to your memory.

 

So, yes – How can it be that God should love a sinner such as I – and you? I don’t know. And neither do you. But oh! How wonderful is love like His.

 

Let’s continue moving through the word ‘Christmas’ and come to ‘R.’

 

For this Advent message, R represents ‘reconciliation.’ A Bible dictionary defines reconciliation as “the restoration of harmony between two persons at enmity with each other by the removal of obstacles that come between them.”

 

You and I were in an irreconcilable and ongoing conflict between ourselves and the Holy Creator of the universe because of our sins and our sin nature. Nothing could repair our devastatingly broken relationship. Our sinful thoughts, actions, words, and lifestyles all relentlessly merged to create an unbridgeable gap between us and the Holy God.

 

Enter that first Advent, followed three decades later by the Cross. Why and how did that do what was undoable? I’ll remind you who know the answer, and I will tell you who do not know the answer:

 

God cherished YOU and me so much that He gave us His only begotten Son, with a vow to you and me that if we believe in Him and in what His work on that cross would do for us – if we only believe with obedient faith in Him, the unbridgeable gap would be bridged, and the obedient follower of Christ would have everlasting life. We can be reconciled to our Holy God. We can be brought into full and complete harmony and union with our Holy God because He – through Jesus – has forever removed the obstacle that stood between us and Him.

 

Isaiah tells us how it used to be with us: “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” (Isaiah 59:2).

 

And then the prophet tells us how God removed that obstacle of sin: “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.” (Isaiah 53:6)

 

Reconciliation. Adoption. Cherished. That’s what Christmas is all about! But let’s again move on. The next letter in Christmas is ‘I.’ For our purposes today, the “I” represents the Invitation.

 

Remember what Jesus said to those with ears to hear Him: “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)

 

Listen. We here all know that Christmas is not about the gifts we give each other, or with the gifts we receive from one another. Christmas is about God’s invitation to participate in His eternal life. Christmas is an invitation to adoption into the holy family of God, the family of brothers and sisters in Christ numbering multiple millions since the first century. It’s an invitation to belong to a family comprised of every race and language and nation and background – multiple millions saved from God's wrath due to them because of their sins – saved from that wrath just like you and I have been saved from the eternal judgment our every sin deserves.

 

Christmas is an invitation to FOREVER enjoy the beauty of His holiness, the beauty of His love. It is an invitation to be washed thoroughly clean, to be given a new beginning, to be made into a new person in Christ. To watch Him cast our former lives into oblivion and make all things new to us.

 

No wonder the apostle Paul – formerly known as the religious terrorist, Saul of Tarsus, no wonder St Paul trumpeted: “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" (2 Corinthians 9:15)

So, what will we do with the invitation? How do we receive the invitation? We don’t receive it because of our good works, or our heritage, whether Jew or Gentile. We don’t receive the invitation because our parents were Christians, or we give our offerings to missionaries and charities.

 

Listen again to the former religious terrorist: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. . . and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus . . . For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:4-5, 6, 8-9)

 

God's invitation to be adopted into His holy family that spans the ages is received by faith – trusting that God is true to His word about His love for us, about His full forgiveness of the penitent, about walking in righteousness, about how we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:10)

 

The invitation is received in the same way St Luke tells us that the tax collector received it. Listen to these words in Luke 18:10-14:

 

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

 

So, what have YOU done with God's invitation? How long has it been since you stood or knelt before our Holy God and told Him, “Be merciful to me, the sinner”? If it’s been longer than 24 hours, I urge you to do it right now, in your seats, in the privacy of your own heart. “Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner.”

 

And finally, for today, because of the time, I close with this next letter, the letter ‘S’. Seek the Lord, not only at Christmastime, but with equal and increasing passion throughout the coming year.

 

Seek Him while He still may be found. The Great Shepherd sought US, as a good shepherd leaves the ninety-nine sheep safe in the fields and searches for the one that was lost. That’s what the first Advent is all about: Searching for the one that is lost.

 

I was lost. You also were lost. Maybe some of you right now are lost. But now what? Well, Jesus said His sheep know His voice and they follow Him. So, am ‘I’ following Him?  Are YOU following Him. Are we SEEKING Him? This Christmas season is yet another good time to seek Him.

 

Please hear this. Scripture is very clear, from one end of the Book to the other, there WILL come a time when those who had their chance to seek Him and follow Him but chose not to do so, they will at some point no longer be able to seek or follow Him. For example, listen to Proverbs 1:24-28:

 

“Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention; And you neglected all my counsel and did not want my reproof; I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes . . . Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently but they will not find me.”

 

Yes, God is love – but He is not a tame lion, as CS Lewis wrote in his Narnia Chronicles. We need to get away from the pretty Christmas card scenes and remember Calvary where God spent his wrath – His WRATH – against our sin and rebellion and idolatry. Yes, God is love, but He is also a jealous God. Listen to what He tells us through Moses: (Exodus 34:14) “[F]or you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”

 

He will not turn a blind eye when His creation, and especially those who call themselves Christians, He will not tolerate them following after other gods -- gods of wealth, or of power, or popularity, or any other such thing.

 

God demands of His creatures – you and me – total devotion. And that He has every right to do. We couldn’t even blink our eyes without His permission and enabling.

Seek Him while He may be found.

 

Let me bring this final point for today to a close and try to answer the question: HOW do we seek Him? My answer may seem terse. Perhaps even brusque. I don’t mean it to sound like that, but this is too important a question for me to give a long and rambling response.

 

How do we seek Him?

 

1) Make time for Him. Stop being lazy about OUR relationship with Him. Set a specific time – even if it is only 10 or 15 minutes in the morning AND in the evening – to pray through a prayer list and read a chapter or more of Scripture. And we must not close the Bible without asking ourselves questions such as, “What did I just learn from this passage? What in my life must I change so that I will be more obedient to what I just learned from this text?

 

2) Through practice, learn to hear the Holy Spirit’s voice when He tells us things such as: Don’t say that; Don’t watch that; Don’t do that. And on a positive side, learn to hear Him when He tells us things such as: Say that; Watch that; Do that.

 

The first Advent and the Christmas season demonstrate to all with ears to see and eyes to see that God cherishes us. Even when we were dead in our sins, He breathed new life into our souls. He sacrificed Himself through Jesus to reconcile every one of us back to Himself. The manger and the cross remain through the ages His invitation to all men and women to become part of His glorious and eternal family. And the manger and the cross flash like a neon sign from God: “I have sought you. I have bought you with my redeeming blood. Now it is time for you to seek Me while I may be found.”

 

Next week we will finish this two-part series as we look at the last four letters of the word, ‘Christmas.’