Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Of the Father's Love Begotten

(HT to Kevin DeYoung Of the Father's Love Begotten)
Of the Father’s love begotten,
Ere the worlds began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega,
He the source, the ending He,
Of the things that are, that have been,
And that future years shall see,
Evermore and evermore!
At His Word the worlds were framèd;
He commanded; it was done:
Heaven and earth and depths of ocean
In their threefold order one;
All that grows beneath the shining
Of the moon and burning sun,
Evermore and evermore!
He is found in human fashion,
Death and sorrow here to know,
That the race of Adam’s children
Doomed by law to endless woe,
May not henceforth die and perish
In the dreadful gulf below,
Evermore and evermore!
O that birth forever blessed,
When the virgin, full of grace,
By the Holy Ghost conceiving,
Bare the Saviour of our race;
And the Babe, the world’s Redeemer,
First revealed His sacred face,
evermore and evermore!
This is He Whom seers in old time
Chanted of with one accord;
Whom the voices of the prophets
Promised in their faithful word;
Now He shines, the long expected,
Let creation praise its Lord,
Evermore and evermore!
O ye heights of heaven adore Him;
Angel hosts, His praises sing;
Powers, dominions, bow before Him,
and extol our God and King!
Let no tongue on earth be silent,
Every voice in concert sing,
Evermore and evermore!
Righteous judge of souls departed,
Righteous King of them that live,
On the Father’s throne exalted
None in might with Thee may strive;
Who at last in vengeance coming
Sinners from Thy face shalt drive,
Evermore and evermore!
Thee let old men, thee let young men,
Thee let boys in chorus sing;
Matrons, virgins, little maidens,
With glad voices answering:
Let their guileless songs re-echo,
And the heart its music bring,
Evermore and evermore!
Christ, to Thee with God the Father,
And, O Holy Ghost, to Thee,
Hymn and chant with high thanksgiving,
And unwearied praises be:
Honour, glory, and dominion,
And eternal victory,
Evermore and evermore!

Monday, December 29, 2014

New Year, New Blog.

Well, maybe not so much a new blog as a refocused effort to post content on to the existing blog. My list of excuses for not posting could stretch for a mile, but the reality is that it all comes down to priorities. And, if the truth be told, that is the same for all of life. Not enough time for this. Too tired for that. Can't concentrate. Not interested. The list grows, but the underlying foundation is the same. We will prioritize what is important and can easily discard what is not.

So, when I look back over a sparse year or two of blog posts I can see that same thing. I could blame busyness or an inability to focus on topics, but the simple truth is that other things took precedence. Now, they may have been good things, even necessary things. However, as I sit here today, on the edge of the calendar flip into 2015, I sense the need to return to blogging with more regularity. The other stuff is still there. The excuses are still hiding in the weeds. But, by God's grace, my priorities toward this blog and how He might use it are changing.

One final thing. I know blogs can feel like a one way street. However for those who have a Google login, I have always allowed comments to my blog posts. I am notified of each one and read them all. So, if God uses some post down the line to inspire you or provoke you, feel free to let me know. Also, any one who reads this blog is free to share it or repost it or whatever the newest thing is. The more we can spread the truth about the grace and mercy and love of God as it is found in Jesus the better.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

The Glory of God in the Mess

(preached Christmas Eve 2014)

Luke 4:16-21

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”


It has been said that other than funerals, sermons during the Christmas season are the hardest to preach. The expectations are high. The common texts are limited. The breadth of the audience is large. Add to this the reality that on Christmas Eve the focus of most of us is on what's coming next. Presents. An evening with family. Presents. Christmas lunch or dinner. Presents. Traveling. Presents.

So here I am, standing between you and...yes, presents. And yet I believe there is something that God would say to us tonight if we are willing to slow down just enough to listen. He may not proclaim it to us by angels. He may not testify to us by royalty. He may not reveal it to us through dreams. However as our value statement reminds us, God speaks to us through his holy, inerrant, unchanging Word.

To make this simple, because I know presents and parties are calling and that all of our attention spans are short, I will give you my single point right out of the gate. In reading through the Christmas narratives and considering how they tie to the rest of the accounts of Jesus' life, death and resurrection, I've become convinced that one of the reasons Jesus was born the way he was and why he lived the lifestyle he did was to demonstrate and declare that God is glorified in the mess. Let me say that again: The manner of Jesus' birth and the way Jesus lived his life was in part to show us that God is glorified in the mess.

Consider with me the events from the Christmas story. The first thing we see in Matthew's account is Joseph's relational turmoil over Mary's pregnancy. Say what you will about Joseph being a righteous man, what emotions did he have to face when he discovered Mary had apparently been unfaithful? Undoubtedly, many of us can relate to what I'm sure Joseph thought of as betrayal. But even in the depths of Joseph's emotional struggles, we see God at work. Joseph shows compassion and kindness where none was required. He shows a heart for the spirit of the Law rather than using the letter of Law to eliminate all pain from his life. And perhaps most God glorifying of all is Joseph's willingness to listen to God when he is told the most unbelievable thing. Here, in the midst of relational chaos, true fatherhood is displayed and God's glory shines all the brighter.

Next, consider the journey described by Luke from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Either walking or riding on a donkey some sixty miles with Mary nine months pregnant, this was not an easy journey by anyone's standards. Luke doesn't mention it, but what did they do about food, water, sleeping, and dare I ask, potty stops? Yet, here is a young couple being obedient to the civil authorities over them. Here are two Jews with complete trust in God, despite all the inconveniences he is allowing to pour into their lives. But, God used them and this less than desirable journey both to fulfill the prophecy from Micah 5, but also to establish Jesus' credentials as God's chosen messiah.

And of course Luke also gives us the whole stable, manger, no place for a nine month pregnant woman adventure. The entire scenario simply begs for "are you kidding me?" The lack of hospitality, risk to both Mary & Jesus' health and the shear humiliation of being put out with the cows or sheep is almost too much to handle. Yet, despite all of this, God is massively at work. In the stable, perhaps better than any place in the gospel accounts except for the cross, God is showing us just how humiliating it was to become human. Ever wonder how broad and wide and deep and high is the love of Christ? First look at the blood soaked instrument of torture then look at the manure filled stable.

We can't forget about the shepherds. What you may not know about shepherds is that despite the Bible's high view of the role and task of shepherding, the 1st century cultural view was much different. Shepherds were viewed as a disreputable lot. They were not able to hold any kind of public office nor could they testify in court. They were often accused of stealing from the flocks they tended, so when they were paid in sheep, they had difficulty in selling those sheep to feed their families. So when God chooses to disclose what he has just accomplished in the birth of Jesus, he does so to the most unlikely, disreputable, untrustworthy, unsophisticated people around. God is glorified by using these outcasts to proclaim what he has done. And he is glorified by showing the value of all people despite what society might say about them.

Back in Matthew's account, when the magi come through Jerusalem on their way to worship Jesus in Bethlehem, Herod's wicked mind kicks into gear. His slaughter of the innocents sets off a pair of situations that were so much less than ideal.  First, Joseph, Mary and Jesus need to pack up quickly and flee to Egypt. While maybe somewhat less difficult than the journey when Mary was pregnant, relocating on the spur of the moment and moving to a foreign country with a less than two year old child is definitely something most people would avoid. Add to this the innumerable families that lost a child for no purpose other than Herod's insatiable quest for power and we have a mess that is both personal and societal. But even here God is glorified.  He is glorified as Jesus is protected and sustained by an attentive and obedient guardian. He is glorified as sin and sinner are shown in their true colors and we are given a glimpse of where we might have gone without God's intervening grace. And, he is glorified in the demonstration that no opposition can thwart the sovereign plans and purposes of God.

Do you see that God, in orchestrating everything around Jesus birth, did not choose the easiest path. All the struggle, all the turmoil, all the mess was to show that God knows and cares about our mess as well. And not only does he care but he can be glorified in it as well.

And what about us? Can we find our own mess in the messes of the Christmas accounts? Are there any broken or strained relationships in the room? Any lives that are just plain hard, with no relief in sight? Do we know rejection or humiliation for no real reason? Have our lives turned out so much less than we've expected that we doubt God's ability to use us for any noble purpose? What do we do with unplanned, inconvenient disruptions in our lives? And how do we process the chaos resulting from Furgeson MO or New York City or the Middle East? All of these situations are here, in the Christmas narratives. And all of them can be used by God for his glory and the ultimate good of his people.

As interesting and relevant as all of this is, what I really want to consider tonight is Jesus' ministry beyond the early days of this life. Luke records Jesus inaugurating his ministry by reading from Isaiah 61. From the very beginning Jesus was declaring that the messiah would be different than what the religious leaders expected. His mission would have a scope and a breadth that no one would have anticipated. He came for people that society had no use for. He came to rescue and redeem people that had rejected God. And he came to give people the one thing they couldn't give to themselves.

Look with me briefly at Luke 4. Here is what Jesus read from Isaiah at the beginning of his ministry: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”

Certainly Jesus worked all these things out through the physical miracles he performed. But beyond the physical, which is here today and gone tomorrow, I think Jesus and Isaiah both knew that the messiah would do more than treat a few physical issues; he came to live and glorify God in the mess.

Good news to the poor? What good news? That God had come. The angels proclaimed there was a savior, a deliverer, a redeemer born in Bethlehem.  The people were not abandoned. We are not abandoned. That neither physical nor spiritual poverty could keep the love of God at bay. There is light in the darkness. There is hope in the hopelessness. There is mercy and grace in the face of hatred and despair. In fact there is no situation too dark, no sin so bad, no relationship too toxic for God's grace to overcome and overwhelm. God is glorified in the mess.

Liberty to the captives and those who are oppressed? Think about what sin does to us. Even if you don't call it sin, everything we do has its effect. We may feel good for a moment, but then we are under its weight for a lifetime. Slavery, bondage, guilt. And it doesn't have to be the big sins either. Even our respectable sins like anxiety, pride, envy and impatience will eventually ruin our lives. These are just some of the ways sin controls and captivates us. But Jesus declared that he is here to free us from this bondage. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free and if Jesus sets us free, we are free indeed. And God is glorified in the mess.

Sight to the blind? So much of this life, both the good and the bad take our eyes off of God. We become blind to what is right and true. We make up religious rules to keep us safe and comfortable. We get swallowed up in our despair and can't see what God is calling us to or what he is doing all around us. But Jesus steps into this mess to remove the scales from our eyes so that we can see both God's love and his mercy. Jesus allows us to see that every good gift is from God and that even the broken dreams around us serve as stepping stones back to him. He is glorified in the mess.

The year of God's favor? We often think of ourselves as blessed by God and rightly so. But when Isaiah first wrote and when Jesus claimed his fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy, God's favor was not upon his people. Think of the pharisees. Their focus was not on God, but upon their own religious system. The Romans, they had their pantheon and couldn't care less about the one true God. And everybody else? They were perfectly content in their own spiritual bubble. They were all lost, wretched, poor, pitiable, blind and naked. But this mess too serves as the stage for Jesus to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. And it allows God to be glorified in the mess.

The reality is that Jesus' life continued to be one of bringing God glory in the mess. Over the course of his ministry he really had no home. He was often low on resources, depending on the generosity of others. He was quite often misunderstood, even by the guys he was training. People were following him not because he was the messiah or even a good moral teacher. They simply wanted food to eat and their diseases cured. Most of the religious leaders wanted him shutdown and even killed. And even his birth family thought he was insane.

That is the mess Jesus lived in. That is the mess Jesus glorified God in. He hung out with the outcasts and brought glory to God. He touched the untouchables and brought glory to God. On Good Friday he stood unjustly accused and died on a bloody cross and brought God glory. Mess at the beginning, mess in the middle and mess at the end. And God was glorified in it all.

So, the presents are waiting. The food is calling. Many of us will leave here and have a truly joyous Christmas season. But some of us won't. Some of us are neck deep in the mess. To the joyous, Jesus says "I am the source of God's favor. Rejoice in me and declare my goodness to those around you" To those in the mess, Jesus says "I have walked where you are walking. I have been rejected. I have lost all things. I have been tested to the extreme. I came in the mess. I lived in the mess. I died in the mess. And because of all this, even now, even if you don't see it, I am bringing God glory and I'm working for your ultimate good in the midst of the mess."

Merry Christmas