A New Chapter

This mortal adventure we’re having is a journey, and is in many ways a “book” of our life with a variety of interesting and sometimes challenging chapters. Looking back I can clearly see “chapters” in my life. Some of them occupied a fairly long time (15-20 years) while others were shorter length (a “short story”). While each chapter builds on previous stories, coming to a new chapter requires the present one to come to a satisfactory conclusion. Individuals have life chapters; families have life chapters; local churches have life chapters. Some chapters are introductory with a focus on training and preparation. Some chapters are interludes, serving as stepping stones and bridges. Other chapters contain major assignments designed to make major contributions. While we’re still in the middle of a chapter, we just want to enjoy it and get the most benefit we can out of it. But there are times when we sense we are coming to the end of a chapter, and that means finding a way to conclude the chapter while anticipating and preparing for what is to come.

The most important “new chapter” anyone could ever experience is the journey out of death into life. One day when Jesus was teaching the crowd he made this profound statement: “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24). Since we live in the “Bible Belt,” almost everyone has heard the Gospel and claims to be a “Christian” (at least culturally). Yet rarely do we consider the implications of the Gospel for our lives. In this passage Jesus is literally claiming that before we “believed him,” before we turned to God with a heart of repentance and faith, we only experienced death. In fact, we are born dead. Before you get too excited let me remind you that the biblical definition of death is “separation from God.” Because the essence of sin is any and every attempt to live independently from God, by definition sin separates us from God. The only possible outcome of sin is death. However, when we respond to the Good News of God’s provision of restoration/reconciliation/salvation through Jesus, we “cross over” from death to life. Those who believe are literally removed from one place and transferred to another; they depart one place in order to journey into an entirely different place. This is not only a new chapter, it is a whole new life, a new existence, with a new destiny and a new purpose. How is this possible? “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself” (John 5:26). True life is found only in God, the Father and the Son. There is no other source of life. To the extent that we live our lives independently from God, doing our own thing, finding our own way, we are dead. To the extent we are united with God through Jesus, we are alive – with an abundant, overflowing, divine-quality of life.

We then understand that we experience the life of God in community. The local church is a family of families, journeying together, sharing together in the life and mission of Christ. The central celebration of that life and journey is the “Lord’s Supper” (also called “Communion” or the “Eucharist”). In the Bible, every covenant was celebrated with a covenant meal as an expression of the all-important “table fellowship.” It was a reminder of the grace, goodness and faithfulness of God that had rescued us from death and brought us into God’s own kingdom community. In fact, the first church in Jerusalem was devoted to “the breaking of bread” as a part of their weekly lifestyle (Acts 2:42). The apostle Paul loved to reflect on the new covenant meal. He described it this way: “Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf” (1 Corinthians 10:16-17). When we worship around the table of the Lord we are joining in the fellowship made possible by the blood of Christ. Our celebration is a very significant sign of our fellowship in the body of Christ. When we worship together we are declaring that because Jesus allowed his body to be broken, we can now be “one loaf,” united together by our common faith and dedication to Christ. We worship as “one body,” a new community made up of all those who are sharing in the life of Christ – young and old, rich and poor, black and white, men and women, from every culture, nation and situation in the world. While our society is divided and sick, filled with hostility and injustice, the body of Christ is one, celebrating the body and blood of our Lord as one.

As we come to the end of this year we are coming to the end of a chapter, indeed the end of a season. We’re trusting God to give us the grace and wisdom to close one chapter and move with strength and freedom into the next chapter God has written for us. It has been a grand journey filled with exciting challenges and lessons learned. Because we are still human, there have been misunderstandings and disappointments. Yet we come as one body to worship our Lord in a spirit of unity and renewed commitment to the rule of Christ in our lives and in our world. May our hearts be knit together, excluding no one from the life of Christ and the life of the community. We can say with confidence, the best is yet to come!

“He Will Save His People from Their Sins”

Everyone has their favorite version of Jesus. Some see Jesus as a radical hippie from Frisco. Some like to think of him as a Palestinian revolutionary come to upset the status quo. Others think of Jesus as a wise teacher, a religious genius. Then there are those, especially at Christmas time, who prefer to see Jesus as an 8 lb. 6 oz. baby with golden fleece diapers, cuddly but omnipotent. Holiday sentimentality aside, who was this baby born in a manger, and why did he come into the world?

We have no better or clearer explanation about the nature and mission of that Child then the pronouncements from the Archangel Gabriel. Remember what he said to Mary: “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end” (Luke 1:30-33).

·         You are to call him Jesus. The Greek New Testament gives us the name Yesus, a translation of the Hebrew name Yeshua, or the English name Joshua. It literally meant “The Lord’s Salvation” or “The Lord is Salvation.” It was a fairly common name in first century Palestine and indicated the people’s hope in a coming Messiah.

·         He will be great. It must have been odd for anyone to describe a child born in Nazareth, a very small, very poor out-of-the-way village as “great,” but this would be no ordinary child. In the end, all of human history would pronounce him to be “great.”

·         He will be called the Son of the Most High. While he will be a human baby born in the normal human way, he will be more than human. He will be the very Son of God, the perfect and complete revelation of God, the face of God, come to live among ordinary human beings.

·         The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. This child will be the promised greater son of David, the rightful King of Israel. He will be the fulfillment of the promised Jewish Messiah.

·         His kingdom will never end. He will be so much more than the Jewish Messiah and the Davidic King; he will be the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He will come with a universal mission to establish his righteous rule over all the earth and among all people.

Somewhat later Gabriel appeared to Joseph to provide him with his own understanding of the child he would raise. “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21).

·         Joseph son of David. Joseph of Bethlehem was himself the rightful heir to the throne of David, the King of Israel in his own right. Joseph would provide a human pedigree for his greater Son.

·         Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife. Joseph obviously loved Mary and was committed to her, but he couldn’t live with the disgrace and dishonor of having Mary give birth to an illegitimate child. He needed personal encouragement and confirmation from the Lord.

·         What is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. Joseph was made to understand that the child forming in his beloved was the result of a supernatural encounter with God, the power of the Holy Spirit miraculously producing a special human being. Mary was a faithful, godly girl who had simply allowed God to do something very unusual in her life.

·         She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. Once again we see heaven’s choice of a name for the Child.

·         Because he will save his people. He will be God’s provision of salvation for all humankind. He will be God’s deliverance, God’s rescue plan for all those who had become separated and alienated from God and his purposes.

·         …from their sins. The faithful in Israel were expecting God’s salvation, a Deliverer sent from heaven, but they were looking for someone who would deliver them from Rome and re-establish the nation of Israel. They hoped for someone who would cause Israel to be a bright shining beacon in the midst of a dark world. But God had so much more in mind for his Son. The enemy of humanity is sin, and there will be no deliverance, no salvation, unless sin is dealt a death blow. Jesus came to establish his rule and defeat sin once and for all. And that salvation is still available to all who call on his name, believing God for the rescue Jesus came to provide.

“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’)” (Matthew 1:22-23). Ultimately, Jesus is God with Us, God who has become one of us, God who is himself the bridge of reconciliation, the one who broke down the wall of separation between us. During the fourth week of Advent the church has traditionally reflected on the role of Joseph in the coming of Christ into the world. Joseph was a faithful, righteous man who promptly obeyed whatever instructions were given to him by God. “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife” (Matthew 1:24). As we anticipate our celebration of Christmas day, may we have a heart that is quick to believe and obey God’s promise of salvation. 

Just "Google" It

The current “Information Revolution” is both a blessing and a curse. Vast amounts of information (not all of it accurate) are now available to anyone with an internet connection. With the click of a mouse or a tap on your smart phone you can find out almost anything you might want to know (and some things you really don’t want to or should know). It’s hard to get away with false or misleading statements these days. It’s not unknown for church folk to “fact check” their pastor while he’s preaching. In fact, “google” has now become a verb in our language. It’s all about knowing what to search for and how to search for it.

In fact, “searching” or “seeking” has been an important part of the human experience from the beginning. Everyone is searching for something, and most are searching for similar things. There are some basic things, basic human needs, that all are seeking. We all know that in the beginning God created all things, including human beings, to be very good and to reveal the glory and be an expression of the nature of God. The sin-disease threw God’s good plan off center, resulting in universal gaps and needs that can only be filled by a return to God and his good purpose. It was Blaise Pascal who said, “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man [and woman] which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.” Twelve centuries earlier St. Augustine wrote, “Because God has made us for Himself, our hearts are restless until they rest in Him.” The Westminster Confession asked, “What is the chief end of man?” And the answer: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”

So we are all searching, longing, hoping, many times “looking for love in all the wrong places.” Sin has left major gaps in our souls and lives, and those gaps can only be filled in one way and by one Person. The ancient Israelites were promised, “But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 4:29). King David sang, “Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always” (1 Chronicles 16:11), and advised his son Solomon, “acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you” (1 Chronicles 28:9). During times of dryness, naturally and spiritually, God promised, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). God is looking for “a generation of those who seek him” (Psalm 24:6). That is the only thing that will truly satisfy. “My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!’ Your face, Lord, I will seek” (Psalm 27:8). The honest seeking heart concludes, “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1). “Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always” (Psalm 105:3-4). The prophets advised, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near” (Isaiah 55:6), “Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you” (Hosea 10:12), and “Seek the Lord and live” (Amos 5:6). For the Lord had promised them, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

In his sermon at Athens Paul explained it this way: “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us” (Acts 17:26-27). On that first Christmas magi from the east were searching for a king, Israel was searching for a Deliverer, and the shepherds were just hoping for peace. Little did they know that the fulfillment of all their hopes and dreams, the answer to the search of all humanity, was being born in a manger in Bethlehem. Jesus was, and still is, the only thing that can fill the gaps in our souls and lives. Everything and everyone other than Jesus will satisfy for the short-term but only increase the painful longing in the long term.

During the third week in Advent the church traditionally reflects on the role of Mary in the birth of the Christ, including her response of simple faith and obedience. Mary was a simple peasant girl, the teen-aged daughter of a poor farmer in Galilee. But she had been looking to God, seeking the Lord, for the fulfillment of his good purpose in and through her life. So when Gabriel brought her an unbelievable greeting her simple response was, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.” Nothing else really mattered – for Mary and for us here today. May we find the true joy of Christmas as we surrender every part of our hearts and lives to the presence and word of God. 

Chill!

If you were heaven’s choir director and had just received an assignment to rehearse a song announcing the birth of the promised Messiah, the Son of God, what would you anticipate? How would you visualize that greatest of all Christmas cantatas? You would possibly see the angelic choir taking their place in one of the great concert halls, filled to capacity with well-dressed, wealthy, influential leaders. What would you think when the day finally arrived and you found out the concert would take place on a hill in a pasture outside of a little farming community in Judea? Well, at least the invitees will be holy, faith-filled, prominent citizens. But no! Now you find out that your audience, the crowd you have been preparing for so long and hard, is going to be shepherds and sheep!!

To begin with, why give the announcement to shepherds? They would become the eyewitnesses to the birth of Jesus, those who would be the first ones to proclaim the Good News that the Messiah had been born. Why not priests or kings or prophets? Shepherds were so low on the social status, only Luke mentions them. In ancient Palestine they were classified with tax collectors and dung sweepers. Shepherds were considered incompetent and untrustworthy. They experienced continual rejection from the surrounding society and lived a fundamentally unstable, unsettling life. Yet these were the ones who were to witness the angelic announcement and see the new born Son. What does that tell you about the heart and nature of God? What does it say about God’s plan to redeem and restore humanity, to establish God’s rule, defeat sin and reverse the curse?

And then there were those sheep! Ancient Egyptian culture considered sheep to be the lowest of all animals, worthless for either food or sacrifice. Sheep tended to eat too much and destroy crops. Sheep were high-maintenance animals, unable to take care of themselves. They depended on shepherds to find them water and adequate pasture. Sheep had to have a shepherd to keep them organized and moving in the right direction. If there was any sense of danger or instability, sheep tended to jump up and wander off, requiring shepherds to gather the scattered sheep. They wouldn’t cross water on their own so the shepherd had to venture into the river first to prove that it was safe. Newborn lambs were especially vulnerable, requiring constant, personal care from shepherds. Sheep were prone to sickness and disease, calling for shepherds to have an adequate knowledge of care and healing. Sheep were accident prone, meaning that shepherds needed to have the ability to mend broken bones. Because sheep were so vulnerable, they were favorite targets for robbers and wild animals; shepherds had to be willing and ready to drive off anyone attacking the flock.

So why give heaven’s glorious announcement to a group of shepherds and sheep? And what was this good news so longed for and desperately needed? “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:14). “Glory to God,” the glory of God being revealed in a stable and on that hillside. It is the highest glory, originating in the highest heaven. This is the supreme revelation of God and his glorious, eternal purpose for creation and humanity. “Peace,” the coming of God’s wholeness and fullness, the restoration of heavenly harmony and God’s righteous order. “On earth,” God’s shalom coming into human history at a specific time and place. God’s “favor,” God’s good will, good pleasure, God’s best desire and wish for all humankind, was being proclaimed. Everyone equally needed to hear that message, starting at the bottom with the lowliest, the neediest, the most despised and rejected.

The fact is, we are all God’s sheep. Everything that is true about those beautiful but vulnerable animals is true about us. When we find ourselves in an uncertain, unstable time, we tend to get nervous, to get up and begin to stumble around. Some even scatter and wander off. All we like sheep need to hear a word of comfort, a word of peace, a message of favor. In Christ, that message has come. And when we receive that message, like those shepherds long ago, we have the joy and privilege of spreading the good news to the world. “When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them” (Luke 2:17-18).

The second week in Advent continues our heart preparation to celebrate the coming of Christ into the world by reflecting on the message and ministry of John the Baptist. John heard heaven’s pronouncement while he was still in his mother’s womb, and he rejoiced. John then dedicated himself to being a “voice,” pointing to Jesus and inviting all who would hear to be true followers of the Messiah. Do you hear that voice? Today is your opportunity embrace the message and find true rest for your soul. 

"Waiting For the Light"

When I was a young pastor in Springfield, Missouri one Christmas I thought I would try my hand at choir directing. With a background in music I thought – why not? We picked a musical entitled, “Waiting for the Light,” and went to work – recruiting, rehearsing, laughing, rehearsing some more. And when the day arrived, it actually sounded pretty good! To this day, members of my extended family who participated in that event still remember the songs and the lines from the cantata. In the words of my daughter, we were “waitingly patiently for the Lord.” In fact, all these years later my experience has taught me that the vast majority of our faith journey involves waiting, and not always patiently, for the Lord.

Our faith journey involves a series of “faith mountain peaks,” of prophetic moments, when we hear the voice of God calling us, and we have the opportunity to respond with obedience (or disobedience). There is really no other way for our faith to grow. Remember what Paul taught the Roman believers: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17 NAS). Faith is our response to God’s initiative. Faith requires an object: ultimately God himself (“faith in God”) and then faith in God’s word. When we hear God, when we experience “the word of Christ,” the response of our heart is “faith.” As our sensitivity to God’s voice increases, so does our faith. On several occasions Jesus declared, “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear” (see Matthew 11:15; 13:9, 43; etc.). Having a “hearing ear” is a matter of the heart and involves a soft, submitted, responsive heart toward God and his word. On the other hand, some people’s hearts have become hard and unresponsive. “For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them” (Matthew 13:15; see Isaiah 6:9-10).

God never speaks unnecessarily, and God always speaks at the precise moment he chooses to speak. For that reason, we “hear” a fair amount of silence, and it is in the silence that we learn how to “wait” for and listen to the Lord. The grace to be silent and listen is considered a mark of wisdom. “Be silent, Israel, and listen” (Deuteronomy 27:9).  “Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues” (Proverbs 17:28). The psalmist considered silence to be a sign of growing faith and spiritual maturity. “Tremble and do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent” (Psalm 4:4). “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret” (Psalm 37:7). Even the Lord said, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:10).

Experiencing the silences of God, learning how to wait and listen, can be a very positive and powerful thing. When the prophet Elijah met with God on the mountain he expected to hear God’s voice as a great wind, an earthquake or a fire (see 1 Kings 19:11-12). Instead, God’s voice was experienced as a “gentle whisper” (NIV), or a “sound of sheer silence” (NRSV). We want God to speak plainly so we can more easily hear and determine our response. Instead, God wants us to hear his breath, to hear his heartbeat. God values our personal relationship and wants us to learn how to draw near, stay close, lean heavily, and wait for him with hope in our hearts.

The silence of God is a time of preparation, an opportunity to be alert and ready for the time when God’s word will surely come. There’s an interesting and strange verse in the book of Revelation: “When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them” (8:1-2). This is a key moment at the end of the age, begun with “silence.” Commentators refer to this moment as a “dramatic pause.” It is a moment of expectation, an opportunity to pause and get ready for the trumpets that were about to sound. If you are experiencing a time of silence in your life, get ready! The trumpet is about to sound! This is your opportunity to prepare!

Today begins the first week in Advent. The first Sunday is usually commemorated by lighting the first candle, a light that begins to shine in our darkness. A light that symbolizes our longing, our desire, our hope. We remember the time almost 2,000 years ago when there was silence and darkness in Palestine. And then God sent his Light into the world, and everything changed. “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5). During the Advent season we reflect on the first and the final coming of Jesus, and we prepare our hearts to see him and to hear his voice. The first week in Advent is focused on the prophecies in the Old Testament that promised the coming of the Lord, prophecies that brought hope and expectation to a people living in darkness and silence, waiting for the Lord. This year more than ever, we look for his coming into our lives in a new way.