A Tale of Two Mornings – Nothing Significant?

God is forever using the ignoble for noble purposes. Take me for instance. I have the honor of leading His people in worship, teaching His Word and proclaiming God’s love to those he puts in my path.

This morning I found myself thinking about how God used two insignificant mornings to make a huge difference in life as we know it. The first came in a small insignificant town called Bethlehem, to two insignificant people named Mary and Joseph. The news of the Savior’s birth came to a group of insignificant shepherds—the lowliest of the low. This Savior was wrapped in strips of cloth and later given burial spices as a birthday present. Who would have guessed that which we celebrate this insignificant morning would have been so significant.

Some thirty-three years later, on another insignificant morning, just a few days after the tragic execution of an innocent man, this Savior, who had been, once again, been wrapped in strips of cloth, was again brought a present of burial spices. However, He was no longer in that grave! And once again, the good news was once again announced by an angel to a group of insignificant men and women.

So, here we are, over 2000 years later, and we still celebrate those two “insignificant” mornings. May this time with family and friends be shared and richly enjoyed, not because we have much under the tree, but rather because we who were once insignificant are now heirs of God.

"The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” Romans 8:16-17

May you and yours have a Significant Christmas!

Christmas Lifesongs - part 2

This past weekend, our church did had Christmas program. It wasn’t a large fancy production, just something simple to walk through the Christmas story in Word and in song. I got to sing one of my favorite Christmas carols as a solo, “O Holy Night.” I love this song. It is such a powerful song both musically and lyrically I still get goose bumps when I hear a powerful voice like Phelps sing it, especially when you know they understand the meaning. I especially love the second verse. It declares some of the most powerful truths. “Truly He taught us to love one another His law is love and His gospel is peace… Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother and in His name all oppression shall cease.”

I haven’t had the misfortune of spending any time in jail nor chains, but I have come to love freedom nonetheless. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” (Rom. 8:2) We have been set free! That is tremendous reason to celebrate. “Let all that is within us praise His Holy name!!!!” He has taught us to love. That in a nutshell is the Christian life-- love God, love people.

What is within you? Is it bursting out in celebration to His Holy name or are we just celebrating with our leftovers? Christmas is a great time to start anew.

Christmas Lifesong Notes- part 1

I love Christmas songs. This year especially, it seems like I have noticed, more than usual, how much the old Christmas carols speak of the Christian life and the hope that we have through the Christ child. One of these songs is “God Rest You Merry Gentlemen.” The first line says “God rest you merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay…” Isn’t that such an appropriate message for today?

Given the current financial dire straits, I have heard frequently in recent days people say a phrase that disturbs me, and I think it disturbs me most because I have heard myself say this in years past. The phrase is some version of this, “we don’t have much money this year so we are not going to have much of a Christmas.”

As a man, carrying the responsibility of provider for my family I too have felt the anxiety of not having many presents for those I love under the tree. As a result, in years past I succumbed to the pressure of putting “Christmas” on plastic. And although we haven’t done that for years, we are still paying the ghost of Christmas past. I equated in my mind, as many others do, weather or not there were presents under the tree with “having Christmas this year.” I missed the real meaning of Christmas. As Stephen Curtis Chapman so eloquently put it “Christmas is all in the heart.”

These days I am reading in the book of Romans. It seems that Romans always takes me the longest to read. There is so much doctrine that often I am captivated and find myself meditating on the truth of just one verse. This morning, it was the first verse of chapter 8. “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” This verse speaks of the same hope as this accent Christmas carol. Rest. The rest that we can experience has it’s root in the freedom from the law of sin and death. Of which the following verses speak. And yet, too often we loose sight of that and allow the world to dictate to us how we celebrate such a wonderful time as Christmas.

My brothers and sisters, this should not be! The next line of the carol calls us to, “remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas day.” This Christmas season, are you able to rest well in the truth that you no longer stand condemned before a holy and righteous God, for He has “saved us all from Satan’s power when we were gone astray.” These are tidings of comfort and joy.

Clock Watchers

"A watched pot never boils." At least that's what the cliche says. We are not a patient people. We are constantly moving faster and faster. Often when I talk with friends and they ask how things are going for me, my new response is it's going in "Fast-Forward." We use flash drives, microwave dinners have mostly replaced home-cooked meals, and the pace seems to quicken the longer I live. And yet, God doesn't move at our pace. He is above our time... he created it!

I began reading the book of Exodus this past week. This book begins its account of the Hebrew people some 400 years after Joseph and his brothers settled in the Egyptian land of Goshen, and even longer since God's initial promise to Abraham regarding the promised land. From this point, they are still a generation away from it. God's people are in bondage and have been for a long time. God has a plan for His people. He made a promise to His people, at yet, it takes hundreds of years to come to fruition. I have to imagine that had they had clocks back then, would they be watching them saying, "Um, hello God? We are a little uncomfortable here. You mentioned something about a promised land?"

God kept his promise, but it wasn't on their schedule, rather it was on His. The Hebrews struggled a lot with this attitude while they wandered in the desert and longed for the onions and leeks they used to have in Egyptian slavery. In the process of wandering, God refines and purifies his people. History tells us that right in his own timing, God answers His people's cry and fulfills His promises. Always has, always will.

In my own ways, I often begin whining and complaining longing for "onions and leeks" of yesteryear, and yet God is refining and purifying me. I must learn to wait patiently for the Lord. When I read the Bible, so often, for me the action that God takes is but a page turn. But to those in the situation, often times it is years in the making, sometimes, generations.

Lord, Your timing is always perfect. Teach me to trust you, and wait on You. I know that Your "apparent delay" always has a bigger picture in mind and is but a page turn away.

"The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." (2 Pet. 3:9)

Big Change from Little Words

Sorry for the change in title and picture but apparently, all I did was either offend or confuse. Perhaps this will suffice. If you have heard me teach, you have likely heard me state that my favorite word in the Bible is the word "but." Grammatically speaking, the word "but" is a conjunction, which describes a contrast from one phrase or clause to another, and in my reading this morning, I ran across one BIG "BUT!" I was reading Paul's letter to Titus when I ran across it.

Paul is writing to Titus, the pastor of the church on the island of Crete and one of Paul's converts. The book's outline and message is simple and straightforward. First, Paul speaks about church leadership, then he addresses how a diverse church should interact with one another, and in the third and last chapter, he instructs on how the church should interact with the world. He reminds them of who they (we) once were: "For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another." (3:3) I don't know about you, but I usually don't have much trouble remembering my past. So, why would Paul bring up the past? However, the thought doesn't stop there...

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 of eternal life." (vs. 3:4-7)

Can you see why I like the word "but?" And this is a big one! This describes a transformation of identity. This, folks, is the Great Exchange! We go from rebels to being heirs! The awesome thing that this verse declares is that we can do NONE of it! God does it all himself, because He is the only one who can do anything about our plight (go back and look at all the times the words "He" and "His" is used)! The verb forms used here state that this is a done deal! And since it is God who is doing this, it is sealed! (cf. 2 Cor. 1:22, Eph. 1:13)