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In No One Else

God made a way for sins to be forgiven through Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.  Seeking opportunities to proclaim that gospel should be what is on every Christian’s mind every day.  For Peter this was true–even when he was hauled before the very group that had condemned Jesus.

I.  Acts 3:6-26.  For Peter, every encounter was an opportunity to serve in Jesus’ name.  So, when he saw a lame beggar, he healed him.  And, every interaction was an opportunity to tell the good news.  So, when an astonished crowd gathered, Peter proclaimed Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, telling the crowd to repent!

Is this us?  Or, do we allow the petty power the world wields to stop us from serving in Jesus’ name and proclaiming that which might offend?

II.  Acts 4:1-18.  This didn’t set too well with those in worldly power, who seized him and made it sound like he had done something wrong.  Not to be shaken by how the world framed what he had done, Peter rightly describes their actions as calling him to account for showing compassion.  Then, he tells them the gospel!

Shrinking back, we even say things like “we’re not allowed …” or justify to ourselves that our audience wouldn’t be receptive to the gospel anyway.

III.  Acts 4:19-21.  Peter wasn’t motivated by the worlds threats, tactics, or persecutions.  He never reasoned that the Council couldn’t act because the people were all praising God!  Because he knew Godly power, he didn’t care what the world might do to him–only about lost souls who needed to hear the good news!

For us to adopt this perspective, we need to be transformed (Ephesians 4:20-24) and to die to sin and self (Romans 6:5-8) to know our salvation.

How frustrating it must have been to be the world in the 1st century and discover that threats and persecutions no longer worked on Christians who used everything the world had the power to do as an opportunity for the gospel and continued to serve in Jesus’ name (Acts 5:40-42)!  How can we similarly frustrate the world around us today?

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I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Meant to keep ladies cooler, crinolines over hoop skirts were a terrible fire hazard around open flame.  The poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, was burned too severely trying to extinguish the blaze that killed his wife to attend her funeral.  Two years later with one of his six children dead already and the oldest wounded terribly in the Civil War, he rode a train to DC and on Christmas 1863 wrote of the disconnect he found between life and the peace he read about from the pages of his Bible.

Perhaps we, who also struggle with life and the world we live in, can reconcile God’s Word with what we see through what became the song, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”

I.  Isaiah 9:6-7.  Longfellow found a disconnect between his grief and horrors of this life when he heard the church bells ringing and thought of all they symbolized.  If Jesus was the Prince of Peace to bring peace on earth, where was that peace?  Job too went through much anguish, but he trusted God through it all (Job 1:20-22; Job 2:9-10).  The first stanza on his mind’s journey went like this:

I heard the bells on Christmas day, Their old familiar carols play, And mild and sweet their songs repeat Of peace on Earth, good will to men.

And the bells are ringing (peace on earth), Like a choir they’re singing (peace on earth), In my heart I hear them (peace on earth), Peace on Earth, good will to men.

II.  Matthew 10:34-39.  As long as the fellow’s focus was here on earth, he found only destruction and death.  The Prince of Peace, as it turns out, came not to bring peace but a sword.  How can that be?  His eyes needed to shift higher.  It’s peace between God and man that Jesus brought by His incarnation as He was the baby born to die (Matthew 1:21).  We suffer here but have peace and hope there (Romans 5:1-5).  We see him wresting with this in the second verse:

And in despair I bowed my head, “There is no peace on earth,” I said, for hate is strong and mocks the song Of peace on Earth, good will to men.

But the bells are ringing (peace on earth), Like a choir singing (peace on earth); Does anybody hear them? (peace on earth), Peace on Earth, good will to men.

III.  1 Corinthians 15:13-19.  As this dawns on Longfellow, there’s a transition in the hymn:

Then rang the bells more loud and deep, God is not dead, nor does He sleep (peace on earth, peace on earth); the wrong shall fail, the right prevail, With peace on Earth, good will to men.

He decides that this world is not his home and puts his trust in the gospel that brought the outcome of peace between God and man as evidenced by the third stanza:

Then ringing, singing on its way, The world revolved from night to day, A voice, a chime, a chant sublime Of peace on Earth, good will to men.

And the bells, they’re ringing (peace on earth), Like a choir they’re singing (peace on earth), And with our hearts, we’ll hear them (peace on earth); Peace on Earth, good will to men.

His struggle is the same as ours and the same question posed to us as the final chorus asks:

Do you hear the bells, they’re ringing? (peace on earth), The light, the angels singing (peace on earth); Open up your heart and hear them (peace on earth); Peace on Earth, good will to men.

Peace on Earth, Peace on Earth, Peace on Earth, good will to men.

The same peace that Longfellow found that the bells proclaimed can be yours.  Do you have it?

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Made Like His Brothers

If Satan wanted to destroy the gospel, how might he do it?  Since he can’t eliminate it, he would allow the story of a baby born and laid in the manger–as long as we didn’t know that baby as our Savior.  As long as Christianity is just one plate on the buffet of world religions and as long as the Word becoming flesh and making His dwelling among us is cluttered with many layers of man-made traditions, then it can exist as a lost and irrelevant relic.  But, Jesus being both fully God to be our Savior and fully man to be sacrifice is essential for the gospel and our salvation (Hebrews 2:14-18).

I.  Luke 4:3-13.  Since God is untouchable, Satan goes after those made in God’s image as we are able to choose sin (Genesis 3:1-15).  So, when God became a man, the devil had to test just how man-like He was, but Jesus remained sinless to His death on a cross.  And because He defeated the one who held the power of death through His own death, we too who are flesh and blood can share in His immortality and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15).

II.  John 8:34-38.  In doing so, Jesus delivered us who were in slavery to the fear of death because it is “Abraham’s offspring” that He helps.  Many thought they were Abraham’s offspring because of physical descent, but Jesus explains that it is those who are obedient by faith that He sets free from the slavery of sin.  It’s those who are sons of God through faith, having been clothed with Christ through baptism, who are Abraham’s offspring and heirs (Galatians 3:26-29).

III.  Romans 3:22-25.  Because He’s fully God, Jesus can be our Savior (Isaiah 43:3-11); because He’s fully man, though, He can be our sacrifice (2 Corinthians 5:21).  He had to be made like us in every way so that He can help us in eternity and here and now (Hebrews 4:14-18).  He is our righteousness and our propitiation for sin, sympathizing with our weaknesses and providing an ever-present help in our need.  And that is indeed good news!

As Satan does his best to dilute the gospel message or clutter it up with so much that is not about Jesus becoming a man to take care of our greatest need, let us uncover the light of the gospel message and let it shine forth.

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What we want

What we want is seldom if ever your will, O God.
Your desires are specific and benevolent.
You seek the salvation of every single human being.
Salvation means restoring a person to your presence.
We think of ourselves, to satisfy our selfishness.
Turn our attention from self to others’ needs.
To your glory. To your mission in this world.
To our neighbor’s eternal destiny.
Work in us your transformation of heart and soul.
Make us like the Lord Jesus Christ.
He gave up his glory and his earthly life.
Build our muscles to pick up his cross.
Save us, O Lord, for salvation.

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O Holy Night!

Like most old hymns, the 1847 French poem that was turned into what we know as “O Holy Night!” is rich in doctrine.  The title speaks of one, but the three verses would indicate four nights and proclaim the gospel from Jesus’ incarnation through His resurrection.

I.  Luke 2:8-15.  The first stanza tells the story of “the dear Saviour’s birth” on the first holy night.  The gospel is announced as “good news of great joy” for “all the people” although only Jewish shepherds go to see what God had done in Word becoming flesh.

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining, It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth; Long lay the world in sin and error pining, ‘Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.  A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn;

Romans 8 describes the world in sin and groaning for the sons of God to be revealed (v19-22), we who are baptized into Christ groaning inwardly awaiting our adoption and redemption (v23-25), and the Spirit interceding for us with groans too deep to understand (v26-28).  So, we sing …

Fall on your knees, Oh hear the angel voices! O night divine! O night when Christ was born. O night, O holy night, O night divine.

II.  Matthew 2:1-11.  A second holy night occurs about two years later but is often confused with the events surrounding the incarnation.  Here’s where the wise men following the star appear.  In this account, Jesus is found in a house, not a manger, to these gentiles’ “great joy,” showing that indeed the gospel is open to all.

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming; With glowing hearts by his cradle we stand: So, led by light of a star sweetly gleaming, Here come the wise men from Orient land, The King of Kings thus in lowly manger, In all our trials born to be our friend;

Because He’s “King of Kings,” having died for us, we must obey the gospel and live for Him (1 Timothy 6:13-16).  He’s our high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses and help us in our need (Hebrews 4:14-16), letting us sing:

He knows our need, To our weakness no stranger! Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend! Behold your King! your King! before him bend!

III.  Matthew 27:45-50.  The third holy “night” was between 12:00 and 3:00 p.m. when Christ was crucified for our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21), and the fourth was when He was resurrected “toward dawn” so we also might walk in new life through Him (Matthew 28:1-6; Romans 6:3-8).

Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is Love and His gospel is Peace; Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother, And in his name all oppression shall cease, Sweet hymns of joy in grateful Chorus raise we; Let all within praise his Holy name!

Jesus taught us that everyone who sins is a slave to sin, and only He can set us free (John 8:31-36).  Though He Himself knew no sin, He became guilty for all of our sins at the cross.  Our response should be praise (Hebrews 13:15-16) and song:

Christ is the Lord, then ever! ever praise we! His pow’r and glory, evermore proclaim! His pow’r and glory, evermore proclaim!

Have you obeyed and are living faithfully the “good news of great joy” gained on these holy nights?

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Rest

Sometimes even a computer
needs to be turned off,
then on again.
I need it often.
The mind bubbles in thought,
constantly churning.
A body needs a reset, too.
Thank you, God Almighty,
for your infinite wisdom,
providing us hours and days
and weeks of rest.