Christ Church

State of the Church 2010

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Introduction

This is a season for personal inventories, and for resolutions. This is appropriate and fitting . . . unless one of your resolutions needs to be to rely less on resolutions and more on actually doing something. Assuming your resolutions help you get things done, you don’t want to lose ground here in order to gain ground there. Sanctification is accumulative—one virtue should not displace another.

The Texts

“Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God” (Rev. 3:2).
“Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing” (Phil. 3:16).

Summary of the Text

Our first text is taken from the admonition given to the church at Sardis, and it is a pretty stern rebuke. The church there had a reputation for being alive, but was dead (v. 1). It become apparent in the next verse that they were not completely dead (v. 2), but the remaining life there was about to die. There were just a few embers in what had been a roaring fire, and those needed to be blown back into a blaze. “Strengthen the things that remain” means that they needed to get back to first principles, they needed to go back to the word they had first received (v. 3). In the words of the admonition to the church at Ephesus, they needed to return to their first love.

The second text assumes that those reading the exhortation have been faithful, and the call is not to repentance. At the same time, there is no sense of “having arrived.” Paul does not consider himself as having “apprehended” but he continues to press on toward the goal (v. 13). The mark that he strives for is the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (v. 14). Anyone who is mature should think the same way, which shows us that maturity is not complacency (v. 15). Let us continue to do what got us here (v. 16). Let us live up to what we have already attained.
If we have wandered off the path, let us return to it. If we have stayed on the path, by the grace of God, let us keep on.

Time and Obedience

In this world, time is not an automatic friend. We have just passed one of our culture’s milestones for time, going from the year 2009 to the year 2010. This is good . . . or it is not. Time deepens wisdom, but it also hardens folly. Time is given so that we might have time to repent, but it also given so that we might be without excuse. Time allows the grain to ripen, and it allows the weeds to grow. Time allows the meat to roast in the oven, and is also what causes it to burn.

Keeping the Gospel

God is triune, and reveals Himself to us as triune. The principle way He chose to do this is through the Incarnation of Jesus. In other words, the doctrine of the Trinity was made necessary by God’s complete identification with us—which seems counterintuitive. How can the fact that the eternal Logos became a human being forever and ever lead us to the a complex doctrinal formulation that makes our heads hurt? Well, if it makes our heads hurt, then perhaps we are not as Trinitarian as we might like to believe. It is a given that the infinite God cannot be comprehended by finite minds. That much even unbelievers can know. But our glory is that this infinite God who cannot be comprehended took on human flesh forever, and has assumed a dwelling place among us. The relationship we have with Emmanuel, God with us, is not a relationship with a figure of speech. This is gospel; this is what God has done—a perfect man, living a perfect life on our behalf, and then offering up that life in blood sacrifice, so that we might be put right on the basis of His resurrection from the dead. Put right? Put right with what? With everything . . . put right with ourselves, put right with the creation, put right with our neighbor, and put right with our God.

Keeping the Gospel Fresh

This gospel, in its experienced reality, is transformative. It changes things, and, as it happens, it often changes things that didn’t want to be changed. Over time, one of two things will happen. The first is that we persevere in staying on the path, just as we ought to have done. If this is the case, then we need to be encouraged to “keep on keeping on,” as we used to say. The other option is that we slide back into the ways of death, as the saints at Sardis did, all while keeping relics of the gospel around. We revert to the sin while keeping this very fine catechism. As time progresses, that catechism becomes a large pebble in our shoe, one that makes us walk funny.

The way we deal with this is that we objectify the truth, putting it “out there,” giving credence to it “in its place.” Thinking that we have created a safe house for the truth to live in, we are actually killing it. The truth is meant to be lived, and if it isn’t lived it isn’t our truth. The truth is meant to be loved, and if it isn’t loved it isn’t our truth. Now truth is objective, but we must not objectify it. That is what Paul is talking about when he says that the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. Paul is not hostile to letters—he wrote “the letter kills” with letters. His words are objectively true, and by this we mean that they are not made true by our applause, and they are not falsified when we withhold our applause. But we objectify truth when we say, “Yeah, uh huh, I heard that before.” Or “I knew that once.” For those in this position, they must either come to their first love, or they must return to it.

Keeping It Simple

This year our congregation will be 35 years old. During that time, children born in the first years have grown up, married, and are bringing up children of their own in this same congregation. Things we knew and learned have been successfully passed on—let us continue to live up to what we have already attained. Some have joined the conversation part way, and feel like they are always catching up. Some other things we have drifted away from, and so let us return to the basic things, the simple things—love God and hate sin. Love His Word, despise the world, and learn to love the world.

A fitting conclusion is provided by a couple songs—the old gospel song Sweet Jesus says, “Everybody talking about heaven ain’t goin’ there.” And as the song Denomination Blues puts it, “Ya gotta have Jesus, and that’s all.”

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The Wise Men And The Nations

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Introduction

This part of the Christmas story is not a stand alone story. In the narrative, we find a type of how all the rulers of this world will eventually come to kiss the Son.

The Text

“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him . . . When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way” (Matt. 2:1-3, 9-12).

Summary of the Text

After the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, certain wise men from the east appeared in Jerusalem (v. 1), and they were looking for Him (v. 2). The one they were looking for was King of the Jews because they had seen His star in the east, and intended to worship Him (v. 2). Herod heard about this and he was troubled, along with all Jerusalem (v. 3). After Herod gets some information from his rabbis, he deceitfully sends the wise men on their way. After they left Herod’s presence, the star they had seen back home led them to the right house in Bethlehem (v. 9). Seeing the star gave them great joy (v. 10). They came to the house (not the stable) where they saw the young Jesus along with Mary, His mother (v. 11). From the age of the boys murdered by Herod, we can infer that the wise men arrived sometime within two years of Christ’s birth. They fell down and worshipped Him, and presented their famous and costly gifts—gold, frankincense and myrrh. We don’t know there were three wise men, this being simply an inference from these three gifts. God warned the wise men in a dream, and so they went home by another route (v. 12).

We Three Kings

Now these men are not described as kings, but there are good reasons for treating them as members of the ruling aristocracy, as men who could decide to go to visit a king. First, in the Old Testament, this kind of person was frequently found at court (magi, wise men). Second, these men were dignitaries of sufficient rank to have their questions attract the attention of a king, and to be summoned to his court. Third, their gifts to the young Christ were kingly gifts—the kind of gift that kings would receive from princes. Fourth, the text draws attention to a comparison between their eagerness to worship Christ, and Herod’s false willingness to do so. Fifth, not only did God want the reader of Matthew to know that a king was born in Bethlehem, God wanted Herod to know that a king had been born there. And He wanted him to know it on the kind of authority that he would accept.

Foreshadowing

So what is this story doing here? The clear intent is to show us that Christ is a king, and He is the kind of king who receives legitimate worship from nobles. This is a proleptic story, meaning that it is prophetic. If the toddler Jesus receives this kind of honor, what will He receive later? He receives hostility at the beginning (from Herod) and He receives prostrate worship from Gentile noblemen at the beginning. This is an a fortiori situation, and which one will win out?

Honor and Glory

Paul says that God wants all kinds of men to saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4). This “all kinds of” includes kings and those in authority (1 Tim. 2:2). In this matter, Paul practiced what he preached. When he had opportunity to present the gospel to kings and rulers, he did so (Acts 26:28). Kings are told to kiss the Son, lest He be angry (Ps. 2:12). While we are to fear both God and the king (Prov. 24:21), the king is to fear God particularly (Dt. 17:18).
But sin being what it is, this is not something that kings like to do. The gospel being as powerful as it is, however, means that the kings of the earth will come. They all will bring their honor and glory into the Church (Rev.
21:24, 26). They do become nursing fathers to the Church (Is. 49:23), submitting themselves to the Church, and being discipled by the Church. The phrase “nursing fathers” can be misleading, making us think the Church is somehow subordinate to the State—which is the opposite of what the passage says. In the restoration of Israel’s fortunes that is the Church, what does it say? “And kings shall be thy nursing fathers [lit. nourishers], and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.” The leaves on the tree of life are for the healing of the nations, and they cannot be applied without the nations actually getting better (Rev. 22:2).

Tribute and Authority

There are two ways to give. One is an act of authority and the other is an act of submission. There are two ways to receive—and not surprisingly, one is an act of authority and the other is an act of submission. Telling the two of them apart is perfectly clear for the humble, and opaque to the proud. Were the wise men placing Jesus and Mary in their debt with these very expensive gifts? Or were they showing their indebtedness? When our federal government today cuts a check, are they exercising authority or showing submission? This is not a hard question. This story right at the beginning of Christ’s life shows us the pattern that we should expect and require. Christ will not receive (and His Church must not receive) any money whatever from the state unless it is accompanied by prostration before Christ and true worship of Him.

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Getting Dressed For Christmas: A Little Holiday Preparation

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Introduction

Holidays are frequently times when people get trapped by the expectations game. Because everyone around you assumes that the day is going to be “really good,” “special,” or “fantastic,” and is constantly telling you to have a “merry” one, it is easy to assume that having a merry Christmas is an actual possession of yours, and if not a possession, at least a birthright. Consequently, the tendency is to sketch out in your mind what you would like that possession to be like. But it turns out, metaphorically speaking, that you get socks instead of the shotgun, or cookware instead of pearls, and the expectation lost is a set-up for real disappointment. This is one of the reasons why holidays can be such an emotional roller coaster ride for so many, and Christmas is no exception.

The Text

“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him” (Col. 3:12-17).

Summary of the Text

The text obviously deals with how we as Christians are to live all the time, and not just during the holidays. But the holidays are nothing other than what we normally do, ramped up to the next level. And so as we prepare our hearts for this celebration, ramp this up as well. Problems arise when we exert ourselves physically, emotionally, financially, and so on, and we don’t exert ourselves here. Think of this as getting dressed for the season—here, put this on. What should you put on? Tender mercies, kindness, humility of mind, meekness, patience (v. 12). That is holiday garb. When you are clothed this way, what are you dressed for? Snow pants are for going out in the snow, right? What is this clothing for? It is getting dressed for forbearance and forgiveness (v. 13). You are all dressed up and therefore ready to drop a quarrel, and to forgive as you were forgiven (v. 13). But that is not enough—you need to put on another layer. Over everything else, put on charity, which is the perfect coat, the perfection coat (v. 14). When you have done that, what are you ready for? You are ready for peace with others, and that peace is saturated with gratitude (v. 15). You are also ready for some music, and particularly the music of grace and gratitude (vv. 15-16). And then, to crown all else, you are dressed for everything—whatever you do, whether in word or deed, you can do it in the name of Jesus, giving thanks to the Father (v. 17).

Getting Dressed Beforehand

Many Christians know what they are supposed to be doing, and so they try to do it. And they feel bad when they fail. But for some reason they don’t prepare themselves beforehand for what they know is coming. They don’t know that how they are dressed for the task is affecting their performance of the task itself. Now, let us suppose that for the last seventeen Christmases in a row you have gotten out of fellowship about something—for gifts you didn’t get, for lack of adequate enthusiasm for gifts you gave, for lack of adequate help with the meal, etc. Seventeen years in a row. Now, is it possible to tell which day this will happen the next time? Sure, it is this next Friday. The 25th. It is marked right there on the calendar, leering at you. So started getting dressed for it now. You don’t really want to be surprised again.

Giving and Receiving

When you are clothed as you ought to be—in kindness, humility of mind, and charity—you will be able to take more delight in gifts you give freely, than in the gifts you receive. You delight in both, of course, but what does Jesus teach us? “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 20:35). There are two basic things to remember here. First, giving is better than receiving. Second, this truth is so obviously clear that many people have had to work out complicated ways of receiving—i.e. receiving credit for being so giving (Matt. 6:2-3). As you give, you need to avoid running a trade deficit, with all categories—emotional, physical, and spiritual—taken into account. Remember that gifts are gifts, and gifts are also symbols. And symbols are also layered.

The Gift Gives You

“For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account” (Phil. 4:16-17). Or this: “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?” (1 Thess. 2:19). What is our crown? Is it not you?

In giving a gift, you are attached to it. In receiving a gift, the blessing that comes to the giver is your chief delight. And the you that is attached to the gift that is given is either a gift just like the physical gift, or it is booby-trapped box full of hidden emotional expenses. Do not be like the woman that C.S. Lewis said lived for others—and you could always tell who the others were by their hunted expression.

You give the gift, certainly, but the gift also gives you. And it will always give the “you as you are” and not the “you as you appear in your daydreams.” And this is why you must prepare yourself for the giving. You don’t want the gift to give you, and have that “you” be a cheap toy that doesn’t make it through the afternoon of Christmas day.

This is why you must get dressed for the day.

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Tidings Of Comfort And Joy

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Introduction

Last Lord’s Day, the message was brought to us from the conclusion of Isaiah 40, and we learned from that message that there are two kinds of waiting. There is a waiting that causes our strength to dissipate, and there is a waiting that gathers our strength for us. There is a waiting that renews, an anticipation that is full of joy, and there is a waiting that is an emotional corrosive. This week we want to develop this idea further, and to do so from a few verses earlier in that same chapter.

The Text

“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever” (Is. 40:1-8).

Summary of the Text

The text begins with comfort (v. 1). Godly preparation does not begin with affliction, but such preparation actually ends the affliction. How so? The prophet speaks comfortably to Jerusalem, telling her that her sins are forgiven before the great deliverance arrives (v. 2). The next verse is a prophecy of the ministry of John the Baptist (v. 3; Matt. 3:3; Mark 1:3; John 1:23), who prepared the way for the coming Christ. Every valley is lifted up, and the high places are humbled—for just one example, Zebulon is humbled, and Galilee is exalted (Is. 9:1). Notice that this time of preparation is a time when things are made level, not uneven, when things are made smooth, not rough, when things are made straight, not crooked (v. 4). This time is aiming for a particular result, which is the revelation of the glory of the Lord, which all mankind will see (v. 5; Luke 3:4-6). The prophet is told to cry out—but what is he told to cry? Men are like the grass, and their glory is like the flowers of the field (v. 6)—and as the grass withers and the flowers fades, so men also fade (because of the breath of the Lord). This passage is quoted by the apostle Peter (1 Pet. 1:24-25), to the effect that the Word preached to Christians is the Word that stands forever, and it is the Word by which Christians are born again (1 Pet. 1:23). This means that men who are regenerate are no longer numbered with the withered grass and fading flowers. That Word is preached “by the Holy Spirit” (1 Pet. 1:12), which is of course the same breath that makes the flowers fade.

Two Kinds of Sorrow

Just as there are two kinds of waiting, so also there are two kinds of sorrow—and they parallel the two kinds of waiting. One dissipates strength and the other restores it. One kind of sorrow rakes you over the coals, and the other is the word that speaks comfort. “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death” (2 Cor. 7:10). One sorrow leads to comfort and no regret, and the other leads to sorrow upon sorrow. You can be sorry today, sorry tomorrow, and you can die sorry. That is not what Christ came to do for you.

Repentant or Penitential

Our English words repentance and penitence are obviously related to one another (via the Latin paenitere), and we do have to be careful not to be superstitious about words. But there are different connotations to these words (in English) having to do with their history in our theological debates. Beginning with Tyndale, who translated metanoeiete as repent, instead of do penance, we have had a long history of distinguishing what it means to receive the grace of God, and what it means to try to surreptitiously earn the grace of God. Luther’s 95 Theses began with this whole issue of penitence understood in gospel terms: “Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, in saying “Repent ye,” etc., intended that the whole life of believers should be penitence.”

The Real Deal

True repentance should take the time to confess and forsake real sin, and the time should not be wasted through indulgence in nebulous angst about possible sinfulness that is always carefully undefined. “Penitential” seasons can be put to a genuinely good use if they are a time when serious, once-for-all mortification of particular sins occurs— if real sins and real bad habits are uprooted from your life. Pray, practice and pursue Colossians 3:5 and 3:8. Who could possibly be against that? The real problems come in when sin is not really dealt with, and yet the times of squirrel-cage run penitence don’t even slow down, and the penitent daily comes to resemble more closely the policemen in Penzance. “Yes, but you don’t go!”

Glad Tidings

Jesus assumes that such times can be spiritually healthy, but He requires His followers to keep it a secret that they are observing such a time. “Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly” (Matt. 6:16-18). A fast is a time for reflection, personal discipline, and confession, and if you are doing this during a penitential season, Jesus requires that you take reasonable measures to hide what you are doing from others. Why? Because your life should embody the truth that this entire season is a time when we are bringing to the world tidings of comfort and joy.

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Reformation Sunday 2009: The Little One In Our Midst

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Introduction

It’s well known that the Protestant Reformers instigated an overhaul of the Roman church system. Luther recovered justification by faith, the centrality of Christ’s life/death/resurrection was reasserted, and right celebration and understanding of the sacraments was worked toward. It’s less well known that the Reformers also worked toward a recovery of faithful Church discipline. One of the great church discipline passages is Matthew 18, but what’s striking and a bit strange is that Matthew shows us Jesus going from little children to church discipline almost in the same breath. The “children of Israel” weren’t paragons of virtue and wisdom. Our children seem barely civilized. So what’s the deal?

Luther posted his theses on All Saints Eve, the great culmination of Trinity/Pentecost Season giving glory to God for all His saints, all His faithful down through the ages. The desire to purify the Church was a desire to love the children of Israel, to rescue the lost sheep of the Church, and to defend them from the wolves that had crept into the Church. I want to explore why the Protestant instinct to recover church discipline was a recovery of Jesus’ requirement that, “Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt. 18:3)

Children

Matthew has three scenarios piled on top of one another, all linked by the subject of “little ones.” In answer to the question “who is the greatest in the kingdom?” Jesus sets a little child (paidion) in the middle of them all (18:1-2). Jesus says that they all must be converted and become like little children to enter the kingdom (18:3) which doesn’t quite answer the original question. Once they have become little children, they must humble themselves like this child (in the midst of them) has who has become the model for kingdom citizens (18:4). Jesus explains that the path to becoming children is through receiving a little child in His name (18:5). And this is the same as receiving Jesus Himself.

Little Ones

Jesus continues, but He broadens his subject matter with the term “little ones” (micron) (18:6). Children are only one subset of this category. This would include all of the insignificant, the marginalized, the humble, the lost (cf. 18:12-13). The warning Jesus gives seems extreme. It reminds us of the Red Sea crossing and the judgment on Pharaoh’s men (Ex. 14-15); it also reminds us of the death of Abimelech whose head was crushed by a millstone (Jdg. 9:53). To cause a “little one” to fall into sin is to become an enemy of God’s people. So rather than causing one of these little ones to fall into sin, we ought to be at war with everything and everyone who does this. Cut off the hands and feet and pluck out the eye that causes “you” to fall into sin (18:8-9). And in case some might have thought that Jesus’ warning was merely hypothetical, Jesus assures them that they have advocates who have access to their Father, the Judge of all the earth (18:10).

One Lost Sheep

Even one lost sheep may seem insignificant, little, trifling, but Jesus says that our Father rejoices more over those little ones, those insignificant ones who have been stumbled, who have fallen into sin and been restored (18:11-13). Nevertheless, our Father’s wishes are that none of these little ones should perish. We should not only receive them, not only protect them, but also go searching for them just as God has done for us in Jesus. All of this comes as the context for the famous passage on seeking out a brother who has sinned against you. This is what should be done when someone does fall into sin (18:15ff). Given the context, part of the concern is dealing with those who do cause the little ones to sin. This is one of the ways we deal with “hands/feet/eyes” that cause us to sin. But this can also be viewed as the way we are to seek the little one who has stumbled and strayed. These are instructions for seeking to bring the sinning brother back into our midst, back into the middle of the community.

Refusal to seek out the lost sheep is refusal to receive little ones in our midst, which is tantamount to refusing to be converted and become like little children. We should point out that getting cast out of the Church is worse than drowning in the depths of the sea. Excommunication is an act that hands an individual over to Satan (1 Cor. 5:5) which is the beginning of being cast into hell. But refusal to discipline, refusal to seek out the straying sheep is allowing the “hand/feet/eye” to remain and is only more fodder for the fire. Note that Jesus closes these instructions with the promise to be in their midst when they are gathered in His name, just like the child in their midst whom they receive in His name (18:5, 20). When they gather as little children, Jesus will be in their midst.

Connecting the Dots

God has been very kind to us as a community, granting us a heart for children, and there are a multitude of examples where that love overflows to the sick, the lonely, the weak, and the straying. But we need to make sure we are connecting the dots from loving our children to loving all the little ones.First, this means seeing the messiness of “little ones” as part of growing up into the wisdom of God. Our children (and all the children in the Church) are types for ministry to the body in general. It’s constant, it’s busy, and it can very easily be frustrating. This means that we need to realize that little ones will act like little ones. Become a child doesn’t mean throwing fits; it means receiving and loving little ones who sometimes do. It’s no accident that Jesus goes from talking about discipline straight into a conversation about forgiveness.

Second, we should not draw a false dichotomy here between loving our little ones and loving the little ones all around us. But we need to have an eye to the big picture. Suppose a brother or sister is in sin, how should you approach them? You should approach them like you would your son or daughter (and vice versa).

Third, the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is the one lost sheep that is found. God the Father rejoices over the little ones that are restored, and therefore so should we. This means that we need to continue to grow up into a community of restoration, rehabilitation, a community that rejoices in finding the one lost sheep. If your child went missing, surely you would not go about as business as usual. The names of those who have strayed from the faith that we pray for week after week should not become ordinary.

It can be easy to think that the messiness of children and little ones means that everything has gone wrong. And of course sin is always wrong. But welcoming the mess, receiving little ones in Jesus name is receiving Jesus into our midst (18:5). When we face the challenges in Jesus name, we are seeking Jesus in the challenge. And this means we are seeking wisdom. We need Jesus in our midst when we gather in His name for discipline (18:20). And we do this by loving the little ones, protecting the little ones. As we learn this wisdom, we welcome the enthroned Child into our midst (cf. Rev. 12:5).

As we celebrate Reformation Day and All Saints Day, we celebrate becoming like little children, rescuing lost children, protecting the little ones, and welcoming Jesus into our midst.

In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen!

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