He Came to Us

The teacher asked a young boy, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"I want to be possible," he answered.

"Possible? Of all things, why do you want that?"

The boy replied, "Because my mom and dad are always saying that I’m impossible."

* * *

We are impossible and so is eternal life, if left up to us. But God makes the impossible, possible by coming to us.

One of the Christmas themes is, "Emmanuel: God with us."

God came to us!

He came to the ugly and the undesirable.

He came to the imperfect and the impossible.

He came to the shepherds and to the sinners.

He came to you and to me.

And He loves you as you are.

He loves us with all our faults.

He loves us with all our failures.

It doesn’t matter if you are old and ugly or young and pretty.

It doesn’t matter if you are fat or skinny.

It doesn’t matter if you are smart or dumb.

It doesn’t matter if you are sinful and have "quite a past."

He loves you. He loves us.

He proved how much He loves us by coming to us. He came as a baby and grew and developed.

God loves you as you are but wants you to grow and develop in his love, becoming like him. That’s something to think about.

Merry Christmas!

Enough

We’ve nearly always burned an Advent candle.

Why?

It’s a way of building excitement through anticipation, focusing on an event, a specific day of great joy! It teaches about waiting and measuring it.

We wanted our children to enjoy it all. Wait. Anticipate. Celebrate!

I love Simeon in Luke 2. He’s old and a man of deep, abiding (waiting) faith.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

His waiting is measured in daily faithfulness in the small things. He’s been waiting all his life for God to free his people from oppression.

Finally, the wait is over! He sees the 40-day-old Christ child, holds him, and praises the Lord. He says this, which seems like a peaceful death wish:

You now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation. . .

Simeon believes the promises of God are beginning at this tine, in this helpless little baby.

Just knowing the process of deliverance is beginning is enough.

He trusts God, believing the deliverance will unfold and be fully realized as this baby grows into a man.

It is enough to know that everything is in place and will unfold!

Simeon did not see, nor did he need to see, the fulfillment of all things. He finds peace in knowing that it is beginning. It is enough. His wait is over.

I have lots to learn from old Simeon.

25 Questions for Mary

From Max Lucado’s, "God Came Near."

1. What was it like watching him pray?

2. How did he respond when he saw other kids giggling during the service at the synagogue?

3. When he saw a rainbow, did he ever mention a flood?

4. Did you ever feel awkward teaching him how he created the world?

5. When he saw a lamb being led to the slaughter, did he act differently?

6. Did you ever see him with a distant look on his face as if he were listening to someone you couldn’t hear?

7. How did he act at funerals?

8. Did the thought ever occur to you that the God to whom you were praying was asleep under your own roof?

9. Did you ever try to count the stars with him….and succeed?

10. Did he ever come home with a black eye?

11. How did he act when he got his first haircut?

12. Did he have any friend by the name of Judas?

13. Did he do well in school?

14. Did you ever scold him?

15. Did he ever have to ask a question about Scripture?

16. What do you think he thought when he saw a prostitute offering to the highest bidder the body he made?

17. Did he ever get angry when someone was dishonest with him?

18. Did you ever catch him pensively looking at the flesh on his own arm while holding a clod of dirt?

19. Did he ever wake up afraid?

20. Who was his best friend?

21. When someone referred to Satan, how did he act?

22. Did you ever accidentally call him Father?

23. What did he and his cousin John talk about as kids?

24. Did his brothers and sisters understand what was happening?

25. Did you ever think, That’s God eating my soup?

Don't Miss the Point

In December 1903, after many attempts, the Wright brothers were successful in getting their "flying machine" off the ground. Thrilled, they telegraphed this message to their sister Katherine:

"We have actually flown 120 feet. Will be home for Christmas."

Katherine hurried to the editor of the local newspaper and showed him the message. He glanced at it and said, "How nice. The boys will be home for Christmas."

He totally missed the big news – man had flown!

We don’t want to miss the point at this time of the year. The point is not really about a specific day, nor even a season. The point is that God came to us.

John 1 presents some intriguing things to consider, and it also makes a practical point. The Message says this about the Word, which is Jesus.

The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.

God moved into our world in a very real way to sympathize and to show us how to truly love, live, die, and live again. Please don’t miss the point.

Slaughter of Innocents

This should have been a fun week, anticipating Christmas, but reality reared its ugly head. Evil showed itself in a most shocking way.

The slaughter of innocents in a school room reminds us of our badly broken world, and now innumerable people are experiencing unimaginable grief. Unimaginable!

It’s interesting that the original Christmas story also contains a slaughter of innocents. Herod, so insecure and evil, orders that all baby boys in the Bethlehem area be killed. Why?

Because of one of them someday could challenge his position as King of the Jews. His evil action produces some of the most sobering words in Scripture (Matthew 2:18).

"A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more."

It’s into this kind of world and this kind of grief that Jesus is born. He came to begin a loving process of redeeming it all, leading us toward something where this stuff will not exist.

In the meantime, as we follow him, we work to make things better through his ways, while we hang onto to his words (John 16:33).

"In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Because of the Resurrection of Jesus and his promise that we too will rise again, I expect to see all those innocent ones, for I am sure they are in the presence of God.

That’s where I want to be. Sooner rather than later. Maranatha!

Keep it Simple

One of my favorite Christmas carols is Silent Night.

Silent night, holy night

All is calm, all is bright

Round yon Virgin Mother and Child

Holy Infant so tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace

Sleep in heavenly peace

Evidently it was a favorite of a young girl also, and after hearing it one day, she decided to draw a picture of the Nativity. The picture was very good! It included Mary, Joseph and, of course, baby Jesus. She drew a few animals, and she placed the shepherds and the wise men in the scene as well.

As the teacher was admiring and encouraging, she noticed a rather rotund man off to the side. The teacher asked, "Who is that man?"

The little girl explained, "Oh, that's round John Virgin."

OK, sorry about that! It is funny, though, that we often mishear and misunderstand things in humorous ways.

Not so funny, however, is to miss the point of God’s intention, and I am certain that he did not intend his entrance into the world to be celebrated as a time of greed and great debt.

Keep it simple and stress free and think about what it’s really all about.

Deeper Trust

Can imagine being a young teen girl approached by an awesome angel, probably clothed in bright white light?

He tells you things you don’t understand: you’ll conceive while a virgin and then give birth to a boy named Jesus who will be the Son of God and the Messiah. The angel sums up his presentation to a puzzled Mary by saying, "Nothing is impossible with God."

Mary’s ultimate response (Luke 1:38)? "I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said."

I wonder how many times, when challenged, she remembered that divine encounter? I wonder how many times she had to repeat her humble response back to herself?

Recently I read an article about a well-known preacher (John Piper). In it he says this.

"Don't question in the dark what God showed you in the light. Darkness comes. In the middle of it, the future looks blank. The temptation to quit is huge. Don't. You will argue with yourself that there is no way forward. But with God, nothing is impossible. He has more ropes and ladders and tunnels out of pits than you can conceive. Wait. Pray without ceasing. Hope."

I’m pretty sure Mary would "amen" that, because she probably had to practice it. A lot.

God, that’s what I want for Christmas. Please give me the gift of a deeper trust.

Plans Changed

Little ditty about Joe and Mary

Two peasant kids growing up in Galilee

Joseph and Mary, probably peasant teens, talked about the predictable path their lives would take. He would be a carpenter, bringing home enough to provide food, clothing and shelter. Mary would take care of those three, along with a houseful of children.

That’s what they knew and hoped for, but God had a different plan. Wow! God intervened and invited them into his story in a most amazing way, and, frankly, it wasn’t easy, to say the least.

Mary, undoubtedly, was ridiculed. "Yeah right Mary! Pregnant and a virgin. Sure!" Joseph didn’t believe her either. Another angel, another "don’t be afraid," persuaded him to hang around.

It probably wasn’t until after the resurrection, 30 something years later, that Mary understood God’s plan. Joseph disappears early in the story, so we don’t know about him.

I was thinking about this in the context of the challenging changes that we face at times. We don’t always know what God is calling us to, do we? All we can do is trust, obey, and know this:

"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared
for those who love him

(1 Corinthians 2:9)

Sometimes it takes awhile before we realize the plan of God, so keep trusting through (the pain of) plans changed. It’s going to OK+!

Do not be afraid

There is a lot of fear in the original Christmas story. I especially notice it in the first couple of chapters of Luke’s gospel.

When an angel shows up, old Zechariah is "gripped with fear."

When the same angel shows up to Mary she is "greatly troubled." (I’m pretty sure she is afraid too.)

When the angel shows up to the shepherds, they are "terrified."

What happens to all three of them?

To Zechariah, "the angel said to him: ‘Do not be afraid.’" (Luke 1:13)

To Mary, "the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid.’" (Luke 1:30)

To the shepherds, "the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid.’" (Luke 2:10)

See a pattern? To him, her, and them, the same words are spoken, the same ones God wants us to hear: Do not be afraid.

An encounter with the God is a fearful thing, but he desires to quickly dispel the fear. That’s the nature of God and his Amazing Grace.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear. And grace my fears relieved.

Allowing God into your life is a bit scary. Will he love me, even when he knows everything about me? His answer? Do not be afraid. His entrance to our world makes the point loud and clear.

Christmas Confusion

It that’s most wonderful time of the year! It’s also a bit confusing.

Christmas is a confusing time in lots of ways. There is a mixture of this and that from here and there, some sacred, some pagan, some good, and some bad. There are lots of things to sort through.

The confusion was really brought home to me several years ago, when I was working with Laotian refugees in Nashville, Tennessee, the boat people. One day, around Christmas, one of the older children, who was learning about Jesus and Santa at the same time, asked this. "Oh Allen, is it right that Santa Claus died on the cross for me?"

I laughed and corrected. What else could I do?

Hebrews 2 gets at one of the real reasons for the Incarnation, which is what we celebrate.

Since the children are made of flesh and blood, it’s logical that the Savior took on flesh and blood in order to rescue them by his death. By embracing death, taking it into himself, he destroyed the Devil’s hold on death and freed all who cower through life, scared to death of death.

Jesus went all the way to the womb of a peasant girl to identify with us, all of us. That’s Good News! Understood and embraced it frees us from the fear of death and ushers us into new life, eternal life.

Do you believe that?

Who Are You?

The professor giving the English final exam was very strict and told the class that any exam not on his desk in exactly two hours would not be accepted. "Automatic F!"

A student rushed in 30 minutes late and asked the professor for an exam booklet. "You're not going to have time to finish." the professor stated sarcastically.

"Yes I will," replied the student. He took a seat and began writing.

After two hours, the professor called for the exams. All the students filed up and handed them in, except for the late-comer. A half hour later, he came up to turn in his exam.

"No! I'm not going to accept that. It's late."

The student looked incredulous and angry. "Do you know WHO I am?"

"No, as a matter of fact I don't," replied the professor.

"You mean to tell me that you don’t know who I am?" the student asked again.

"No, and I don't care!" replied the professor.

"Good," replied the student, who quickly lifted the stack of exams, stuffed his in the middle, and ran out of the room.

* * *

I hope you know who and whose you are. If you follow Jesus, then you are God’s beloved daughter or son.

Romans 8:15ff.:

This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What’s next, Papa?" God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children.

Good News

How about some Gospel Truth? How about some Good News this morning?

What is it?

Jesus said this (John 3:16-18):

This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

And this (Matthew 11:28-30):

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, 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."

The basic gospel message is that Jesus HAD to die for us, to take care of our sins, and that he was GLAD to die for us because we are so loved, valued, and treasured by God. He wants us in relationship with him and makes it possible.

Jesus shows us how to live, how to die, and how to live again, becoming like him through it all.

Yes, that’s certainly Good News, something to live by.

Do you believe it?

Pain, Peace, and Joy

 
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

God wants his people, including you and me, to experience his peace and joy, but it comes at a price. It cost God, and it costs us. The peace and joy of God often arrive through a process of pain, pain often rooted in sin of some sort.

There is a good promise in it all, one that we must hear. It’s articulated in lots of ways and in lots of places in Scripture.

Listen to God, in/through Isaiah (ch. 43), comfort his people who were defeated because of their sinful rebellion. They were in exile, in pain, and wondering if God loved them anymore. He does!

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

God knows your name and has not given up on you. If you turn to him and desire to walk with him, then he’ll walk with you through everything in your life, even, and especially in, your pain.

Faith

Do you remember Joseph, the one with the nice coat? He lived in Egypt a long, long time ago. He was there because his brothers hated him and wanted to hurt him. The hatred led to the hurt, as usual.

Joseph had a really hard time for a long time, but God stayed with him and was working through all the bad stuff to eventually bring good things, as usual.

It’s a great story, and you can read about it, beginning in Genesis 37. Eventually Joseph’s mean brothers had to come and bow down before him. Rightfully so, they were afraid of Joseph and revenge.

Joseph has a different view of life, one that sees God working in the bad, even in the unjustified hurt that comes from others. Here’s what he says about that to his brothers in Genesis 50:19-21.

Joseph said to them, "Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid."

I need to be very careful in judging the motives of others when I am hurt, but even more important, I need to trust that God is working in the pain to accomplish something good.

I may not know about it until much later.

That’s faith isn’t it?

Shake it Off and Step Up

A donkey fell down into a well, and he cried for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. He decided the animal was old and wasn’t worth saving, and the well needed to be filled in anyway.

His neighbors came over to help him. They began to shovel dirt into the well. At first the donkey cried horribly. Then he grew quiet.

The farmer looked down in the well and was astonished! As each shovel of dirt hit his back, the donkey did something amazing. He shook it off and took a step up.

As the shovels of dirt continued to hit the donkey, he shook them off and stepped up. Pretty soon, to everyone’s amazement, the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

* * *

Is there a possibility that people will throw dirt at you, and on you, this week? If so, just shake it off and take a step up. Use those challenges as stepping stones to do good, even great, things!

Take to heart these words from 2 Corinthians 4, The Message.

We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives!

Shake it off and step up!

Shake it off and Step up

A donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. He decided the animal was old and wasn’t worth saving, and the well needed to be filled in anyway.

His neighbors came over to help him. They began to shovel dirt into the well. At first the donkey cried horribly. Then he grew quiet.

The farmer looked down in the well and was astonished! As each shovel of dirt hit his back, the donkey did something amazing. He was shook it off and took a step up.

As the dirt continued to hit the donkey, he shook them off and took a step up. Pretty soon, to everyone’s amazement, the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

Is there a possibility that people will throw dirt at you and on you this week? If so, just shake it off and take a step up. Use those challenges as stepping stones to do good, even great, things!

Take to heart these words from 2 Corinthians 4, The Message.

We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives!

Shake it off and step up!