Salvation

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  CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS

With the advent of Christmas, we celebrate the greatest event that ever happened on the earth:  God entering time and taking on human flesh.  He spent time as one of us.  He walked beside us, and with his eventual death and resurrection, brought new and eternal life for all who would receive him.  This is worthy of celebration.  No other event on earth has stirred the hearts of men to such joyous celebration.  People all-over the earth celebrate this wondrous occasion.

Our Joining in celebration helps us to focus on something bigger than our individual lives; something more real than the temporal.  Celebration sets a mood of happiness and oneness.  I remember singing in a community choir.  The usual human difficulties were present during rehearsals, but when the performance came, we were a unit of celebration.  Our hearts were lifted.  We experienced a oneness of joy and delight.

God delights when we enter into celebration.  The angels celebrated that first night when Jesus was born, and we have ever since celebrated with them.  Let us continue the celebration of Jesus’ birth and the wonder of God’s plan for our salvation begun that glorious night.

                   A promise has been fulfilled.

                   A reclamation for all the earth

                   A virgin has brought forth child.

                   A most miraculous birth

                   A prophesy from ancient times

                   A hope that’s now achieved.

                   A salvation to be realized

                   A redemption for Adam’s seed.

God bless you and have a Merry Christmas celebration!

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THE SOLUTION FOR OUR SINS

(1 John 1:8-10 and 2:1-2) If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.  My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin.  But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.  He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

As one who has been walking with the Lord for some time, I find myself often falling short of the glory of God, which is sin.  I also find myself much more aware of my short comings as I get closer to the Lord.  Any actions which are not loving, patient, or kind are sins, since they fall short of the Glory of God.  Unfortunately, these are actions which often occur in my daily life.  What hope would I have if not for Jesus and the grace he paid such a dear price to provide for me?

In The Lord’s Prayer Jesus instructs us to ask Our Father to forgive us of our sins (see Mathew 6:8-13).  I need to pray this prayer daily.  There are times when my sin is more willful and obvious.  Then my prayer is more specific, and my heart more deeply repentant.

 I love my Father, and he loves me.  He has, through his grace, provided me with this relationship, and it is in the context of this relationship that I can deal with sin.

In this life, sin is something with which we must constantly contend.  As God’s children we have been forgiven for our past sins, and we are being continually forgiven for our present and future sins because God is faithful.  All we have to do is ask.

We needed a way to overcome our sins.  Jesus came, and he gave us the solution for our sins by becoming the ransom for our sins.  He covered all the sins that have been and will be committed by all people from the beginning of the world to the end.   Those who receive him are granted his gift of forgiveness, and they will be set free from their debt of sin, declared righteous, and granted eternal life.  God’s love for us is amazingly wonderful.

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PSALM 117 – PRAISE THE LORD

(Psalm 117:1&2) Praise the Lord all you nations; extol him, all you peoples.  For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.  Praise the Lord.

In this basic exaltation from the psalmist, we find the answer to all the difficulties of this world including world peace.  He wants us all to praise the Lord.  Why should we do this?  The simple answer is because of God’s great love toward us and his faithfulness that endures forever. 

Who is this God that we should praise him?  Well, let’s see.  He created the earth and us.  Now there’s a good start.  Life itself is from him, and it only exists through him.  When we rejected his love, rebelled against him, and brought sin into his creation, he went to great extremes to offer us forgiveness even to the point of sacrificing his Son.  In return for all the sin, death, and destruction his created ones have brought into his creation, God has loved us and has been faithful to redeem us.

We know that we live in a world filled with sin, death, and all kinds of misery for which we the people of the earth are at fault.  The solution according to the writer of Psalm 117 is to: “Praise the Lord all you nations; extol him, all you peoples.”    And the psalmist gave us the reasons why we should praise him.

Think about what it would be like if all the inhabitants of the earth began praising the Lord. It would put God at the center of our focus, and joining together in praise would open the door for us to perhaps love one another.

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JESUS – HUMBLE SAVIOR, MIGHTY WARRIOR

 (Matthew 28:18) Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

In Revelations chapter 5, Jesus is called the Lamb of God, and he is also called the Lion of the tribe of Judah.  Now a lamb is a humble defenseless animal, whereas the lion is a ferocious king of the beasts. We have these two examples because God created them that we might understand the various aspects of his Son. 

When Jesus came to earth some two thousand years ago, he healed the sick, raised the dead, walked on water, casted out demons, and gave many other supernatural signs.  He taught the people and cared for them.  He did not wipe out all evil with a mighty hand.  He came as the Lamb of God and humbled himself allowing men to take his life on the cross.  Then God raised him from the dead.  His death and resurrection fulfilled his purpose for coming.  He paid the debt we all owed for our sins and set us free from the law of sin and death.

Jesus is coming back. This time he will come with a different purpose.  At his second coming, he will come as the Lion.  In Revelations chapter 19, we can read what that will be like.  Jesus will bring the long awaited for and patiently withheld judgement of God.  Those who have put their trust in Jesus and received his redemption will go on to eternal life. Those who have continued to indulge evil will be judged for their sins.  At that time Satin and his followers will be handed their final defeat.

Jesus the Lamb of God and Humble Savior came to spread God’s love and mercy to his created ones.  Jesus the Lion of the tribe of Judah and Mighty Warrior will come to bring God’s judgement to those who have rejected his love and mercy.  We shouldn’t take Jesus too lightly.  He has been given all authority in heaven and on earth.  It’s not too late to accept the offer of salvation he brought to us as our Humble Savior.  For those who have chosen to reject his offer, they will face him as the Mighty Warrior.  

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LEAVING THE MISERY AND FINDING NEW LIFE

(Psalm 116: 1-9)  I love the Lord because he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.  Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.  The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow.  Then I called on the name of the Lord: “Lord, save me!”  The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.  The Lord protects the unwary; when I was brought low, He saved me.  Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.  For you, Lord, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

Anyone who has received Jesus, and the work he did for us on the cross, is familiar with the process that these verses convey.  It begins when we come to the end of ourselves and cry out to the Lord.  And, often to our amazement, he answers us.  Thus begins the new life we didn’t even know existed.

This new life affords us rest for our souls, and we begin to recognize God’s goodness.  We see his provision in our lives, his protection, and his peace and comfort.  We begin to rely on him which is what he wants for us.  A loving relationship begins to develop between us and our creator.  The new life has its trials and troubles, but we never again have to face them alone.  The new life runs amazingly better than the old life, and the real advantage is that it lasts forever.

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WHY DO WE EXIST?

As we explore our existence the question often comes to mind, “why do I exist?”  What is the purpose of my existence?  Rene Descartes, a 17th century philosopher known as the father of modern philosophy, went even further to ask the question, how do I know that I exist?  His conclusion, “I think, Therefore I am.”  So in our conscious awareness of our existence, we contemplate our purpose for existing.

The Apostle Paul stood before the philosophers of his time and gave this clarifying discourse: 

(Acts 17:24-28) “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.  And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.  From one man he made all the nations that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.  God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.  For in him we live and move and have our being.  As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’”

Why do we exist?  I believe we exist at God’s good pleasure.  Paul says that God created us so that we would seek him, reach out for him, and find him.  Our purpose, why we exist, is to seek and find God.  Upon finding him, we then build a relationship with him, which is his desire and purpose for us all.

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RECONCILIATION

[The restoration of friendship and fellowship after estrangement]

(Luke 15:6&7) “…..Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says. ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’  I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”

A couple of days ago, I was sitting with my wife in the afternoon watching a Hallmark movie.  The story was about a young lady who had obsessively followed after her career forsaking her high school best friend and high school boy friend.  Years after high school, she returned to her home town.  As the story progressed, she came to recognize her failures regarding her friends. Through repentance and apologies her high school friends forgave her.  So the story ended with the restoration of friendship and fellowship after a period of estrangement.

Why am I sharing my reaction to this story?  At the end of the story, I was quite emotional.  Sometimes this is attributed to me being a male over fifty; however, the emotions were real even though I was watching actors in a movie.  It seems to me that humans love to see an act of reconciliation.  I certainly do.  I experience joy and gladness when people overcome their differences and are reunited.

Take for example the feelings you experience when you lead someone in a sinners prayer.  The few times I have had the opportunity to lead someone to the Lord, I experienced joy, gladness, and even elation when they received Jesus.  I was sharing in a person’s reconciliation with their creator.  An amazing and wonderful event was taking place.

Our scripture from Luke is part of Jesus’ parable about the Lost Sheep. He points out that in heaven there is an emotional, joyful response to a person’s reconciliation with the Father.  God loves his children, and for each of us isn’t it wonderful to know that on our day of salvation all heaven rejoiced at our reconciliation.

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GOD’S HEART FOR EVERYONE

(1 Timothy 2:3-6 NLT)  This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.  For, there is one God and one mediator who can reconcile God and humanity – the man Christ Jesus.  He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.

God wants everyone to be saved – everyone to have the freedom Christ Jesus purchased for them.  Everyone is an all-inclusive term.  All of humanity has been covered. This is God’s heart for everyone.  We have an open invitation to turn to our creator and to enter his loving embrace as he welcomes us into his eternal kingdom.  Mankind has been given a choice, shall we continue to walk blindly into our future or turn to God?

My wife and I have a new puppy that is just about to turn ten weeks old.  She is delightful and fluffy, and she keeps us entertained with her antics.   Her name is Pearl, and she is what they call a golden doodle, a mix of golden retriever and standard poodle. In the two weeks she has been with us, we have fallen quite in love with this little creature.  Of course, she is a puppy.  Training, cleaning up messes and loud noises in the middle of the night are challenges we face with this lovely addition to our daily lives.  When I say training, I refer to her training us as well as us training her.

The other evening, while my wife was gone to a women’s meeting, Pearl and I were lounging on the back patio.  I was reading and she was chewing.  She came over to me for some pets, and I decided to bring her up to my lap.  To my surprise, she jumped out of my lap onto the concrete floor and landed awkwardly banging her head.  I was very concerned that she might be seriously hurt, but she was okay. 

Since I was in the groove of studying for what to write this week, it dawned on me that this incident had parallels to what I was planning to write about.  God’s desire is for us to come to him, and receive his peace and comfort, but often we go our own way.  We jump right out of his arms and wind up hurting ourselves.  Pearl looked up at me from her fall with an accusatory look, like it was my fault that she got hurt jumping out of my lap.  It’s amazing how often we look back and blame God for our self-imposed hurts.

God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, has offered us the opportunity to put our trust in him and walk in his way.  Everyone has this offer before them.  Should we receive his gift and stay in the comfort of his lap, or should we jump off and go our own way?  It’s our choice.

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BEING HONEST WITH GOD

(1 John 1:8-10)If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

Being truthful before God should be the easiest communication of all.  As I wrote about last week, God knows every detail of what happens on the earth.  So we can’t hide anything from God, for he already knows the truth about what we have done.  But when we go before him, he wants to hear the truth from us.  The above scripture points out the results of truthfulness before God.  “He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins.”   And then he will, “purify us from all unrighteousness.”

God is faithful, just, and he loves his children.  Our Easter celebration was for celebrating what he was willing to do to make our forgiveness possible.  His only begotten son was crucified on the cross to pay the price for our sins showing God’s love for us.  Now the door is opened for our return to fellowship with God our father.  Not only are our sins forgiven, but Jesus rose from the dead – demonstrating the eternal life that he bought for us. 

Our relationship with God is safe.  We can trust him with our deepest secrets.  He is merciful, forgiving, and kind.  His love for us is undeniable.  Can we be honest with God?  No one else deserves our honesty more. 

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THE NARROW WAY

(Matthew 7:14) But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

I was standing on the trail watching the approaching hikers coming from the direction I planned to travel.  As they approached, I asked them how the trail looked back in the direction from which they’d come.  Each one looked weary and haggard, and most of them didn’t give me any useful information.  Finally, an older gentleman stopped and smiled at me.

“Are you looking for information?” He asked.

“Yes, I replied.  I’d like to know what’s ahead.”

 He invited me to sit down on a nearby rock.  Compared to the other travelers he looked surprisingly fresh.  We sat down, and he began to share his knowledge of the trail.

“I’ve traveled this way many times.  In the beginning, I just relied on my own abilities.  It was always grueling.  I made it through, but I always had some type of injury.  The difference came when I met a man who changed my way of thinking.  He actually changed my whole life.  He showed me a better way.  I was amazed when he showed me an alternate trail.  It seemed so obvious.  I was embarrassed that I’d missed it. The alternate trail was narrow, but it was much easier to traverse.  Every time I came to a fork in the trail, he was right there to direct me.”

He paused to see my reaction.  I must admit I was excited by the thought of an alternate trail.  The one I was traveling on seem to lead to nowhere.

“Would you like to meet this man?” He asked me.

“Yes! I would.  I’d like to discover this narrow way.  Where can I find him?”

The older gentleman smiled, “He’s right here; let me introduce him to you.”