The Reality that Must Flavor Every Fiber of True Christmas Festivity

My Confession Exhortation from last Sunday (Dec 12):

Saints of God, what day is this? 

(Congregation) It is the Lord’s Day! 

Why is it the Lord’s Day? 

(Congregation) Because Christ rose from the dead on this day! 

What kind of day is it? 

(Congregation) It is a gift that is glorious and joyful! 

This is advent or Christmas season: a time which, as we will see in the kids’ play this morning, we focus on the birth of Jesus. However, we must remembering that beginnings mean very little if there is no proper ending. There needs to be a fitting finish. This day is the Lord’s Day because God always finishes what He begins. It is the Lord’s day because Jesus, the baby born in the maternity barn; the one who shared his newborn moments with cattle and goats and smelly shepherds, because Jesus lived, obeyed perfectly His father, died on the cross conquering the dragon-Satan, and rose from the dead in three days. He is King and He will never surrender His title…world without end. This reality must flavor every fiber of our Christmas festivity and manger remembrance! We know the end from the beginning because the Author has let us in on this one…baby Jesus is now King! That old Serpent, Satan, has been defanged! We the Church are a new creation by the Holy Spirit; we are a new people from the seed of the woman who were rescued by that great dragon-slayer (namely, Jesus) and the gates of hell will not prevail against us! This is glorious, this is joyful and the best is yet to come!

Do we believe this? Rather, do we live, think, sing, pray, hope, give, and talk as though this is a reality? This should remind us of our need to confess our sins and look to Christ.

God Wired Us to Party With a Vengeance

My confession exhortation from this past Sunday:

I think it’s fair to say, as far as our culture is concerned that we are now into the “Christmas season” in full force. Sadly this does not mean our nation’s attention is reverently and joyfully focused on the birth of the Christ, the King of the world. Stores are packed with consumers, and online shopping is ripe with sweet deals and free shipping. All around us we see lights and icicles; Santa and scented candles; reindeer and wise men; candy canes and silver bells; snow men and nativities; Bing Crosby and Shrek Christmas; blockbuster movie openings and constant jingle bell commercials; carols and endless cookies, Handel’s Messiah and It’s a Wonderful Life: as Johnny Matthis reminds us annually – “it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.”

Now I am not here to pull a Grinch or Scrooge on you (or to use biblical terms – a “Pharisee” on you) because this season IS the birthday month of King Jesus. Festiveness is in order and I don’t mean the kind that constantly grumbles about silly decorations, materialism, traditions, gluttony and family get-togethers. God wired us to party and to party with a vengeance. Decorations, traditions, get-togethers, gifts, special songs, trees, lights, feasts, partying and much, much more can and probably should fit into a proper Christmas celebration--yet the question of WHY must always be at the forefront of our minds. When we’re asked “What’s this all about?” Do we clear our voices and sheepishly say—“mmmmm. Oh yah, Jesus, I guess” as though we had a brain freeze? Or does our celebrating find its beginning, middle and end with the radical and world-changing reality of Christ becoming man for our salvation and the worlds’?

We should sing till our voices are raw, because our hearts demand the release of joy in God! We should give in loving, wise and sacrificial ways to show off the one who gave His all for us! We should feast with full vigor while reminding our kids and others that all this is blood-bought by the one who was born in a Manger! By all means, put Chevy Chase to shame in your decorations—but for a much different reason. Embrace Christmas traditions, honor your family in get-togethers, be patient and kind to those who miss the point—but by all means – DON’T MISS THE POINT. I mean JESUS. We are His disciples, and as His disciples, we have more reason than anyone to enjoy the month that remembers His birth.

He is the Great Shakespeare of Our Play

Exhortation for November 7, 2010 at Grace Church

(Sermon Today – Joy Because of a Sovereign God – Ecc 3:1-15)

Are you catching on yet? Have you put up the white flag of surrender seeking for terms of peace with the biblical reality that trips us up on a daily basis? I am talking about the truth that God is absolutely sovereign and, well…we are not. God’s sovereignty means that He is in control; absolutely in control. You thought you were the final determining factor on what you wore today…think again.  He is the Great Shakespeare of our play called life (under the sun). We are the Hamlets, Romeo and Juliets who have little…well, there I did it again…no determining factor on how the play will go. This is not to say that we don’t make choices, experience consequences for our choices, and are held responsible for them—the Great Author made it that way when he spoke us into existence (by the way, we exist right now because He keeps speaking us into existence – isn’t that a humbling and mind-twisting thought?). There is a lot of mystery here, but the Bible is very clear on this – God is sovereign. Sometimes we think we have things planned out smoothly…but a smooth road will only be a reality if God declares it and if He doesn't, potholes are the least of our problems.

This means that as you come to this place on the Lord’s Day this morning you come to approach the one who holds your life (and every second of it) in His hands. You come to Him as dependant creatures to a God who amazingly has made a covenant with you. Shakespeare never did this with Hamlet. He does not control our lives because he gets a sadistic kick out of seeing us squirm and groan…He does so because He is God. He is a God who is Love and Wisdom and He is intent on pouring out maximum (We can’t fathom His maximum) joy on His creatures. He is love and the fact that we are here this morning is a sign of His love. We are here because He made it that way. We are here and He intends to serve us…the actors in His Drama. He plans to pour out His grace and love to this piece of artwork that He is sculpting; the poem that He is writing--called the Church. How will He do this? He does this weekly by declaring to us that our sins are forgiven because of Christ; by accepting our gifts and offerings, our prayers and our praise; by feeding us with His Word through means of reading, sermon, songs and communion. This is not a morning of shallow or meaningless ritual, this is one of God’s means of shaping us into the people He intends to shape us. And in shaping us He is shaping a new humanity in the likeness of Christ the new Adam. So let us repent of our unworthy expectations and our haughty unbelief and rejoice in His forgiveness and commitment to us.