I pray that we be full of joy and thankfulness as we celebrate the Arrival of your Son and the realization of your great love for us. Father, we celebrate what you have planned for us and the grace and mercy you have granted to us. We approach you in humble amazement as we join together in our Christmas celebration. All glory, honor, and praise be unto you, our Heavenly Father. Amen!
Have a very merry Christmas, and may God’s blessings be yours throughout the New Year.
(Ephesians 1:7-10 MSG) Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people – free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, providing for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.
So here in America, we have a day set aside for thankfulness. What a great idea! Americans have much to be thankful for – such as our freedom. This freedom has been bought and maintain at a great price. We are thankful for all those who have sacrificed for our country. Yet there is an eternal freedom that has been afforded us by the sacrifice of just one. This freedom is offered to all who live on the earth.
Our scripture from Ephesians begins with this statement, “Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people…” I don’t mean to trivialize the freedom we have in America, but I do want to emphasize the magnitude of what God has done. All of mankind has been given the opportunity of being forgiven for their sins and to have eternal life. We in America and every other person on the earth can experience this freedom no matter what their circumstances.
Though I have many things that give me reason to be thankful, the foundation of my gratitude rest in Jesus Christ and him crucified. All that I have and hold dear are because he redeemed me and gave me freedom from my sins. Jesus is my reason for being thankful. I have a family and friends that I am privileged to enjoy here in this life, and I have the comfort in knowing they will be with me in eternity. I am eternally thankful to my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ.
When Jesus was explaining the parable of the sower to his disciples (Matthew 13:18-23 NIV) he used this phrase, “the deceitfulness of wealth”. In Matthew 13:22 Jesus said, “The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word making it unfruitful.” This phrase caught my attention as I read through the passage, and I thought it worth a more in-depth look.
I frequently like to refer to The Message to expand my understanding of a passage. Here’s how verse 22 reads, “The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangle what was heard, and nothing comes of it.” The words deceitfulness and illusions both give indication of something that is not really there. Here in America, I believe the deceitfulness and the illusions of wealth hinder us from fully participating in God’s kingdom. Perhaps it is our greatest deception.
I remember, when my youngest daughter returned from a mission’s trip to Mexico, she was deeply impressed by how happy the people were in the village where she stayed. She said to me, “Dad they live in shacks and have nothing, yet they are always cheerful and happy.” It was a great experience for her. She had the opportunity to realize that material wealth doesn’t bring happiness.
As we head into the holiday season, let us not fall victim to the deceitfulness of wealth. The holidays should be more about God’s love and faithfulness. There is a mounting excitement as we gather together for Thanksgiving and then the celebration of God coming to earth. In these moments, there is light to be found. Don’t let the darkness of striving for wealth cause you to miss the light of God’s love.
When we look with wonder into the heavens at night, we connect with the billions of others who have lived on the earth through the centuries. There is in us a great awe as we survey the vastness of the heavens. We are inclined to speculate about where it all came from. For King David there was no doubt that his God had created all that he saw. And in creation, he saw the glory of his God. In Psalm 8 he voiced, “How majestic is your name in all the earth.”
In my quest to understand God, King David, “a man after God’s own heart” (See 1 Samuel 13:14), sets a perspective of God that is foundational. To understand God, I need to see how big he is. You can’t get any bigger than the creator of heaven and earth. Everything I know and understand, plus an infinite amount beyond, was created by God. He’s big! Yet he allows praise from the mouths of little children to silence his enemies. God is big, and he is humble.
What draws the attention of this mighty creator? Human beings are at the center of his creation. In our original state we were created just a little less than God himself. We are created in his image. He made us rulers over all the creature of the earth. David’s response to these thoughts; “How majestic is your name in all the earth!”
As I look into the night sky, the words of Psalm 8 always bring, from deep in my soul, a resounding praise. How amazing are you my God that you can create these limitless expanses, yet I am important to you. Thank you God for loving me, redeeming me, and giving me an eternal future with you.
(2Corinthians 5:17-19) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old is gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
Last week I wrote about God’s amazing plan to bring us back to what he desired for us from the beginning. He reconciled us through the sacrifice of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ. Jesus took our sins upon him and paid the price that we were unable to pay. So here we are a new creation before God. He has given us the promise of eternal life – never to be separated from him again. Can we share a WOW!
What are we going to do to show our gratitude for this great gift? We don’t have to do anything to earn this gift because it has already been given. The Apostle Paul tells us what God wants us to do to show our gratitude. He has given us the “Ministry of Reconciliation”. He wants us to tell those we live among: “that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.”
Yes, as you think about it, this message is not necessarily going to be received as the good news. People don’t always believe it, and some simply want to go on sinning. They are often offended by the message. Jesus told us to be as wise as serpents, but be as gentle as doves since our ministry is not always effective by using the direct approach. I have always tried to live in the joy and hope God has given me. I’ve worked to love people, care for them, and pray for them, while waiting for the time to come when their heart is opened to receive the message. This is how I have approached the ministry of reconciliation, but we are all uniquely gifted by God to share the message in the way he has designed us.
In loving gratitude, let’s continue to tell of the wonderful, miraculous gift God has given us. Our sins have been forgiven, and we have eternal life with him available to us. Thanks be to God that he has entrusted to us the ministry of reconciliation.
In my concern for our country, I would like to spark some Biblical insight about what is happening to America. Last week I shared that countries will be judged for their wickedness. Today I’d like to give some thoughts on what is wrong with our thinking. Have you noticed that our leaders seem especially irrational in their thinking?
In Romans chapter one the Apostle Paul explains how rejecting God affected our thinking. Romans 1:21, For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
If you think there isn’t a God, you fit in well with the liberal thinking of our times. However, America was founded with the idea that there is a God who is identified in the Bible. There is certainly still enough evidence to this conjecture to be convincing. No doubt there are many who would like to destroy this evidence, but let’s get back to our investigation of the problem with our thinking.
Romans 1:28-30, Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents.
In God we find the source of wisdom. We think we’re intelligent, but without God we falter in our use of knowledge. Sin gets in the way of our ability to think rationally. We need God! He is our only hope! Unless we repent and turn to God, we are doomed to continue in our futility and irrational sin driven thinking.
I was reading in the book of Job a couple of days ago when I came upon these words, “The fear of God has kept me from these things – how else could I ever face him?” (Job 31:23 The Message) Job says these words after he describes a long list of sins he did not committed. What constrained Job was his relationship with God.
These words and my thoughts about these words sent me into self-evaluation. I asked myself, “what constrains me.” After much contemplation my final answer to the question of what constrains me is I love God. How could I ever face him if I indulged in things that would displease him? Well, unfortunately, I have indulged in many things that would displease him. I find that I am unable to please God on my own. What a dilemma, I love God and want to please him, but I can’t seem to restrain myself.
The Apostle Paul describes this dilemma and then says, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Christ Jesus our Lord!” I need a savior. I can’t do it on my own. Jesus has not only saved me from sin, but he has sent me a helper, his Holy Spirit. God has done everything to help me in my desire to please him. When I fail; He forgives me. How amazing is that!
Romans 3:21-24 (The Message), But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift.
Verse 25, God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear.
We have new life in Christ Jesus. That new life begins the moment we believe, and it last forever. Our sins are forgiven and forgotten. We have entered the Kingdom of God. His will guides us and protects us. He is with us no matter what we encounter in our remaining years here on earth.
When we leave the earth we will live in righteousness. We will be together forever. I’d like to add we’ll all be nice, since the sinful nature will be gone. Jesus did all this for us. So let us celebrate what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. I’m looking forward to that time when we’re all together in Heaven. Imagine the celebration.
Since the beginning man has been fascinated by the universe. We have studied the stars for patterns and worshipped the sun and moon. Astronomers find that the universe is increasingly more vast than they had imagined. The Bible tells us that God spoke it into existence.
I had this contrasting thought this morning, I thought of the magnificence of God. The one who spoke the universe into existence, and then there’s me. So what is my place when I go before God, mouse before a lion, krill in the mouth of a whale? The humblest place I can find is not adequate. Jesus came to help with this dilemma.
He first referred to God as our Father. Father is a perception we can easily relate to. God, being perfect, would represent the ideal father. One who will love us, protect us, teach us, and provide for us.
Jesus went even further when he addressed his disciples. In John Chapter 14 when Philip asked Jesus to show him the Father he replied, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.
Obviously, Jesus didn’t come as the whole manifest presence of God, but he represented the heart and character of God our Father. Jesus was all that an ideal father would be, and then he humbly gave his life for us.
My conclusion, I am on the receiving end of my relationship with God. My fate is entirely in his hands. I can never repay him for his love, kindness, and mercy. I can never match his humbleness. My place before God is one of gratitude. I will praise him and thank him the best I can for as long as I have breath.
One of my favorite passages of scripture is Colossians 1: 15-17. In this passage Paul gives us an insight into who Jesus really is. He writes:
He is the image of the invisible God, the first born over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
The last statement, “in him all things hold together,” always intrigues me. When considering atoms, the invisible building blocks of the whole universe, the question has always been what holds an atom together? Perhaps the answer is Jesus. And, of course, I have had to ask myself, what would happen if he let go? Well, the reality is that Jesus holds all things together, whatever that actually means, and this points to the ultimate power of our savior. The one who humbled himself and came to earth in human form is the all-powerful Creator God.
Jesus is God in the fullest sense. He has been given complete authority over all things. He is the supreme ruler over all of creation. What he did for us shows his amazing character, and warrants him eternal praise and gratitude.
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