Advent Archives - Page 11 of 18

Good Tidings of Great Joy

Christ Church on December 15, 2019

The Text

“Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger” (Luke 2:8-14 ).

What content of the Angel’s proclamation makes the tidings “good”?
- Location
- Heritage
- Title
- Outcome
- A Babe
How does this content relate to our creeds, what we believe?
Does Great Joy come as just a gift to be received or is it a result of the gift giver receiving us?
If the Joy of the Lord is your strength, what does Great Joy look like in your life?

Part 2: A Theology of Christmas Presents

Christ Church on December 8, 2019

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

In the first message of this series, we considered that there are three basic kinds of gifts—the mandatory gift of the tithe, where God is teaching us how He runs the world, the free will gift of the offering, where the student demonstrates that he is beginning to grasp the lesson, and the celebratory gift, which God has placed deep within our nature.

So we already considered the ground of our giving, which is the ultimate gift of Christ, the gift that God gave to us in order to restore the world that we had ruined. We have now come to the second point, which is the nature of giving. In future messages, we will look at the nature of receiving, and the goodness of the material world.

The Text

“And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:32–35 ).

Summary of the Text

Our text here is the conclusion of Paul’s exhortation to the elders of the church at Ephesus. He is reminding them that his dealings with that church were entirely aboveboard. He first commends them to God and the word of God’s grace, which can do two things. First the grace of God can edify them and build them up (v. 32). And second, the grace of God can give them an inheritance among the sanctified (v. 32). His interest is in them receiving their inheritance, and he moves seamlessly into the next point, which is that he had been no apostolic bandit among them. During his time there at Ephesus, Paul had coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or clothing (v. 33). He calls the elders of the church as witnesses—they know this (v. 34). Paul could hold out his hands and tell them that they know that “these hands” supplied the needs of Paul himself, along with his entourage (v. 34). They did not leech off the church. What Paul taught them to do Paul also did himself (v. 35), showing them how Christians ought to work in a way as to support the weak (v. 35). And Paul then quotes the Lord Jesus, and this is interesting, because it is a saying that none of the four gospels records. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Both giving and receiving are most necessary, as we will see by next week, but if you have to choose between them, choose to be among those who give. It really is more blessed to give than to receive. But as we shall see, because of our finitude it is not possible simply to give.

So Not So Fast . . .

Now notice something here. The Lord Jesus did not say that it is “more proper to give than to receive.” He did not say that it is “more noble to give than to receive.” And He did not say that it is “more polite to give than to receive.” No, not at all. Jesus said that it is more blessed to give than to receive. But what is it to be blessed? It is to receive. There is no way to receive the blessing associated with not being a “receiver” except by receiving. A blessed man is a recipient of a blessing, given by another. In this case, the giving is done by God.

It is therefore more blessed to receive by giving than to receive by receiving. We are finite creatures and this means that some kind of receiving is inescapable.

Everything we give away is on loan to us from God, and when we give to Him, we are simply returning to Him what He has given to us. We are like little children buying our father a Christmas present at the dollar store, using a dollar that He gave us for the task.

The word for blessed (makarios) means to be happy, fortunate, enviable, one to whom God has extended His benefits. Another way of seeing this is to understand that for every finite creature, there is a built-in reciprocity for every act of generosity. Like one of Newton’s laws of motion for the spiritual realm. If we are creatures who want to live in the favor of God (which is to say, if we want to live in Christ), there is no escape from giving and receiving.

A System That Cannot be Gamed

So the thing that distinguishes an ungodly giver from a godly one is not the fact that they get from giving. The issue is what they want to get from their giving. When carnal men give anything (with their carnal eye on the carnal prize), they receive what they wanted and they already have their reward. So they already have their reward (Matt. 6:2 ), and it comes to pieces in their hands. “And he gave them their request; But sent leanness into their soul” (Psalm 106:15 ).

When spiritual men give anything (with their spiritual eye on the spiritual prize), God honors and blesses them. They refuse to do what they are doing in order to be seen by men (Matt. 6:1 ). But notice what happens if they sin in this matter, and are showboating for the grandstands. What do they lose? They lose their reward from our Father in heaven (Matt. 6:1 ).

Now when Paul gave to the Corinthians, he was jealous to protect that reward. “But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me: for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void” (1 Cor. 9:15 ).

Back Around to Christmas Presents

So bring this back to the matter of Christmas presents. That is what we are supposedly talking about, right? What is the difference between a carnal prize and a spiritual prize? To make matters really confusing, sometimes the prize itself can appear to be identical. You shopped long and hard to find that “perfect gift” for your father, and the difference between joy at Christmas and misery in Christmas is to be found in that dark little ego-center of your heart. Compare: “That is just what he wanted—God must be rejoicing to see my father rejoicing” over against “That is just what he wanted—I’m glad I found it before my sister did.”

The Joy Set Before Him

Jesus endured the agonies of His trial and crucifixion because He knew what was in store for Him on the other side of the agony.

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds” (Heb. 12:1–3 ).

And we are told, in all our trials, all our striving, all our struggles, all our pilgrimage, all our shopping, to imitate Him in this. We are to look to Jesus, considering His behavior, as we look to modify our own behavior. Otherwise, we are going to grow weary and faint in our minds. We are going to grow weary and faint in our giving, and this applies to giving of whatever magnitude. Do you think anybody grows weary and faint in the Christmas rush, forgetting the whole point?

So everything is to be cruciform—but not a crucifix. And the difference between the two is this. Every cross is a cross in a story, and every Christian story has the blessedness of joy at the end of it. In all your giving, try to give like Jesus did. But also, in all your giving, repent of the folly of trying to be more spiritual than Jesus. He did not remain on the cross because the joy was before Him. We are not supposed to seek to remain there either. We must not try to evade the cross, and we must not try to perpetuate the cross. The story is a cruciform story, not a crucifix story.

And Christ is the one who shows us.

Part 1: A Theology of Christmas Presents

Christ Church on December 1, 2019

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

During this Advent season, I want to spend some time in this series of messages working through a theology of Christmas presents. Quite a number of you are going to be spending quite a bit of time on this aspect of your Christmas celebrations, and so—as Christians who seek to bring every aspect of our lives into submission to the Word—how should we think about Christmas presents? We will need to consider in turns the ground of our giving, the nature of giving, the nature of receiving, and the good of the material world.

The Text

“Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;) Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God. For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God; Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men; And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift” (2 Cor. 9:10–15).

Summary of the Text

Now in this part of his letter, the apostle Paul is speaking a benediction for the Corinthians. He asks that the God who provides seed for the farmers would bless the ministrations of the Corinthians (v. 10). He asks that God would provide them with food, and multiply the effects of their generosity (v. 10). He wants this to result in abundance for them so that they might be equipped to give more, with the result of even more thanksgiving (v. 11). The reason is that this kind of giving has two benefits—it meets the need and it results in thanksgiving to God (v. 12). As the recipients approve of and rejoice in what they (and others) receive, they are glad for this tangible evidence of the submission of the Corinthians to the gospel of Christ (v. 13). In return for the gift, the recipients pray for and long for the donors as they see the surpassing grace of God resting upon them (v. 14). And then Paul anchors his benediction by referring to the ground of all generosity, which is the generosity of God toward us, in the gift of His Son—the unspeakable gift (v. 15). All our gifts, of whatever kind, are to be grounded here.

Different Kinds of Donations

By the grace of God, you own or possess what you have. Now the Scriptures describe for us different sorts of circumstances under which we give some of it away. And this giving would include anything of monetary value going out from you and with nothing coming back immediately in return. In other words, we are talking about an expenditure that is not “buying” something.

For our purposes, we can divide this up into three categories—tithes, offerings, and celebrations. Christmas presents would obviously fall into the third category.

Tithes

The tithe is a gift that is not discretionary. In other words, it is God’s tribute, assigned to us by Him. Contrary to the assumption of many believers, the tithe is not a “Mosaic thing.” Abraham tithed to Melchizedek before there was a Mosaic code (Gen. 14:20). Moses certainly included it in his law, the same way other ancient practices were included, practices like circumcision or animal sacrifice (Dt. 14:28). And then, in the New Testament, Paul tells us that those in Christian ministry should be supported in the same way that the Levitical priests were supported, which is to say, by means of the tithe (1 Cor. 9:13-14). Paul describes how the priests were supported in the OT, and then says even so, in the same way, Christian ministry should be supported.

So if you look carefully at the Scriptures, you will see that lawful recipients of the tithe are ministers of the Word (1 Cor. 9:14), the poor (Dt. 14:29), and the merchants who provide you with the goods for your celebrations before the Lord (Dt. 14 22-29).

Offerings

Scriptures frequently describe the giving of the tithe in terms of seed going into the ground, and seed that goes into the ground is the ordained means of obtaining a harvest or a crop (Mal. 3:10). To say that the tithe is a mandatory gift is simply to say that God requires us to put a certain amount of seed corn into the ground. He cares for us. Otherwise, we would tend to eat our seed corn.

But once we learn that money is seed corn, the wise among us want to figure out how to give more. But we do not give to get, period. We give to get in order to be enabled to give some more. “The liberal soul shall be made fat: And he that watereth shall be watered also himself” (Prov. 11:25).

And Paul encourages the Corinthians to apply the logic of the tithe to their thinking about their free will offerings.

“But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:6–7).

Celebrations

And so we come to the custom of celebrating through gifts. We already saw some indication of this in the Dt. 14 passage, where God requires what might be called a party tithe. But it appears that God has embedded deep within mankind an impulse to give gifts when celebrating. This is even the case with wicked men (Rev. 11:10). But impulse is also found among the righteous. What happened when the Jews were delivered from a great threat in the book of Esther?

“As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor” (Esther 9:22).

The Unspeakable Gift

And so now we find the basis for all our Christmas shopping. Like all Christian generosity, it seeks to mimic the generosity of God, grounding our giving in the fact that God has given so generously to us. “freely ye have received, freely give” (Matt. 10:8). It shares this feature with our tithes and with our offerings. And, at the same time, all our Christmas gifts are also a celebration of that great gift that was given to us. We celebrate the Incarnation—the prerequisite gift that enabled God to give us the even greater gift of the crucifixion and resurrection. Jesus was born to die, and all of this—birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension—was given for us men and for our salvation.

Provided we remember why we are doing it, it is entirely fitting that we give Christmas gifts to one another.

Dayspring of Christmas

Christ Church on December 1, 2019

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Texts

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,” says the Lord of hosts, “That will leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. 3 You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this,” says the Lord of hosts. 4 “Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, with thestatutes and judgments. 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 6 And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse” (Malachi 4:1-6).

“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, 77 To give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, 78 Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; 79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:76-79).

Christmas Confession of Sin

Christ Church on December 30, 2018

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

John opens this letter remembering Christmas, and so this is a fitting message for our consideration as we finish up Christmas festivities and look forward to the new year.

The Text

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, our hands have handled, of the word of life…” (1 Jn. 1:1-10).

Summary of the Text

John echoes his gospel describing the “Word of life” from the beginning as something that has become flesh, something heard, seen, looked upon, and handled (1 Jn. 1:1, cf. Jn. 1:1). This Word is the life manifested from the Father (1:2), and the apostles have seen it and heard it and declared it as witnesses so that all who hear their testimony may have fellowship with them and with the Father and the Son (1:3). This fellowship is fullness of joy (1:4). The message they proclaim is that God is light and there is no darkness in Him at all (1:5). Therefore, fellowship with God in His light means that we must not walk in darkness, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1:6-7). If we deny that we have sin, we are liars and we make God out to be a liar, but if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all sin (1:8-10).

Christmas & Confession

What have you heard and seen and looked at and handled over the last few weeks? As you have sought to celebrate Christmas as Christians, you have heard and seen and looked at and handled the Word of Life. The whole point of the presents, the tree, the meals, the songs, the cookies, the eggnog – the whole point of all of it was Jesus, the Word of Life. We gave because He gave. We celebrated because He came. We rejoiced because we have fellowship with Him and with one another. But this fellowship is only possible because the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (Jn. 1:14). God became man in order to reconcile all things in His flesh. “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight” (Col. 1:21-22). “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity” (Eph. 2:15-16). So the Word became flesh in order to reconcile us to God and one another. The Word became flesh in order to abolish the enmity between us and God and one another, making true peace and fellowship. This is the only basis for Christian joy (1 Jn. 1:3-4). This fellowship is through the cleansing of the blood of Christ (1 Jn. 1:6-7). And the blood of Christ cleanses us as we confess our sins to God and one another (1 Jn. 1:9).

Fellowship & Lies

Christian joy is real joy because it built on the truth of Christ. But as descendants of Adam and Eve, we have not only inherited their guilt and tendency to sin, we have also inherited their tendency to try to hide their sin. They tried to hide their nakedness with fig leaves, and they tried to hide from God in the trees of the garden (Gen. 3:7-8). In the presence of God, all darkness is shade. Sin is turning away from God’s light, and that darkness includes trying to hide our guilt, trying to cover our shame. Even true Christians are still tempted to do this. This is why the Bible teaches us that dealing with our sin right away is enormously important. Jesus says that if you bring a gift to worship and remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift and go be reconciled to him first (Mt. 5:23-24). It’s better to be 10 minutes late for church and worship in Spirit and in truththan to stand before God as a liar. Paul says that when there are divisions in the Church, especially at the Lord’s Supper – an act of fellowship, we are not actually celebrating the Lord’s Supper, and we are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, causing sickness and weakness and even death (1 Cor. 11:18-30). If you have anything against anyone go make it right as soon as possible. “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath; neither give place to the devil” (Eph. 4:26). The devil is the father of lies, and he is happy for Christians to pretend to be in fellowship when they are not. So do not give an inch to the devil here. When fellowship is broken, go make it right.

Fellowship & Joy

John clearly says that the heart of Christian fellowship is fullness of joy (1 Jn. 1:3-4). And this is echoed in other places, specifically related to confession and forgiveness of sin. In Psalm 32, David sings, “Happy is the one whose transgression is forgiven… When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long… I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin… Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart” (Ps. 32:1, 3, 5, 10-11). Likewise, in Psalm 51, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make to me hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice… restore unto me the joy of thy salvation” (Ps. 51:7-8, 12). So lying about our sin (that it isn’t a big deal or that it isn’t there) and lying about God (that He can’t see it, that Jesus didn’t need to die for it) is the central cause of sadness and sickness and depression in this world. You cannot enjoy fellowship with God or other Christians while guilt and shame weigh upon you. Non-Christians experience this agony as well, but Christians have the added grief of grieving the Spirit who lives in them (Eph. 4:30). When we grieve the Spirit by sinning and refusing to confess our sins, the Spirit grieves us. Because God loves His children, His hand is heavy upon them in their sin. The greatest horror in all the world is God giving us up to our sin (Rom. 1:24).

Conclusion: Comfort & Joy

Christ was born in order that we might know God, that we might have fellowship with the Father and the Son by the Spirit. And this fellowship is the fullness of peace and joy. But this peace and joy is maintainedand enjoyedby the application of the blood of Jesus to every bump and bruise by confession of sin and forgiveness. Confession of sin agrees with God by naming the sin biblically and asks Him and any offended parties for forgiveness. God forgives us by promising not to hold our sin against us for the sake of Christ, and so we must forgive one another like that (Eph. 4:32). Forgiveness is not based on our feelings. Forgiveness is based on the fact of the Cross. When we are faithful to forgive as we have been forgiven, the Holy Spirit works true comfort and joy into our hearts and homes.