The good news of Christ
2 Chronicles 16.9
In cutting grief, you give me comfort;
In weakness, I have wonderful strength.
When troubles assault me, you bring salvation;
For hurt, you offer hope of heaven.
O Sovereign Lord, I lack for nothing—
When I look up, your hand is full.
Your eyes on earth are eager to help
Those saints whose hearts are wholly devout.
But foolish men refuse your power—
They seek their own success at war.
When armies attack, on you I call;
When trials befall, in you I trust.
Inside my mind a constant prayer runs,
That drowns the violent voices and beating drums
Of self-destruction and Satan’s half-truth lies.
The prayer’s a plea — my desperate plea —
To not look right or left or down or behind,
But straight ahead in Jesus’ shining path.
The prayer’s a fervent plea for his return,
For the end of trials and time and pain and death,
For the new creation promised by the Lord.
The prayer’s a cry that God will save us all:
Both friend and foe, my house and every house,
The ignorant man in Amazonia’s hut.
The prayer’s a hope — and not the vaguest wish —
To be secure in what the Cross has wrought,
That mine is not the hand in Jesus’ dish.
My Lord and my God,
The kingdoms of this world cause turmoil.
Man destroys everything he touches.
Corruption produces more corruption.
The poor suffer, the commoners die.
Our hope wavers not.
Our faith still shines brightly.
The power of Christ works mightily.
Save us, Lord, we plead.
We thank you for our peace of heart.
We praise you, Lord Almighty.
Your love is undiminished.
Come for your people, Lord Jesus!
We pray in the Lord. Amen!
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?
When you see a house falling down, chances are there’s a foundation issue. If it’s a life that’s collapsing, you need to repent or jack that house up and pour a new foundation. Only a life built on the Rock will stand firm (Matthew 7:24-27). We’ve sing a few songs that remind us of this:
My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
and …
The wise man built his house upon the rock. (x3) The rains came down and the floods came up. (x3) And the house on the rock stood firm.
The foolish man built his house upon the sand. (x3) The rains came down and the floods came up. (x3) And the house on the sand went smash.
and …
Jesus, You’re My Firm Foundation, I Know I Can Stand Secure; Jesus, You’re My Firm Foundation, I Put My Hope In Your Holy Word, I Put My Hope In Your Holy Word.
I. Hebrews 6:17-20. God tells us that it’s not if but when the storms of life come. If we are resting on His unchanging grace, then we are able to hold onto the hope that God offers us, this hope that is an anchor for the soul, where Jesus has gone before us beyond the veil into heaven itself. Or as this song says:
When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace; In ev’ry high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the veil.
II. 1 Corinthians 3:10-15. Since the wise build their lives on the Rock, how should we build? Walking with Christ, we avoid the building materials that the world offers and begin our new life by being baptized (Colossians 2:6-12). Then, taking care how we build, our lives are tested with a refiner’s fire, and we sing:
His oath, His covenant, His blood, Support me in the whelming flood; When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay.
III. 1 Corinthians 15:50-58. We stand firm when our lives found in Him. We must let Christ replace the perishable with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality. Because He conquered death, we, baptized into Him can be clothed with His righteousness and stand blameless before the throne, singing …
When He shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in Him be found, Dressed in His righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne.
If we are truly being wise and not foolish builders of our lives upon Jesus, we can sing these choruses:
On Christ, the Solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand.
and …
So, build your life on the Lord, Jesus Christ. (x3) And the blessings come tumbling down. The blessings come down as the prayers go up. (x3) When you build your life on the Lord, Jesus Christ.
and …
I Have A Living Hope,
(I Have A Living Hope, )
I Have A Future;
(I Have A Future;)
God Has A Plan For Me,
(God Has A Plan For Me,)
Of This I’m Sure,
(Of This I’m Sure.)
Our Father who is in Heaven,
We know so little. Our hands are weak. Our eyes see only what is near. Come help us. Be present in our midst.
Thank you for another day to enjoy. We decide to live with your peace in our hearts. Help us to act today with kindness and contentment.
We decide to do your will. We want what you want. Help us to say only words that you approve. Give us strength to act like Jesus. Continue reading “We do so many things wrong”
Psalm 43.3-5 NIV (1984)
Send forth and guide me your truth and light
To your holy mountain where you dwell;
I then will worship in joyful delight,
With praise, O God, my heart will swell.
Why, my soul, be so downcast?
Why in your heart be so distraught?
Put hope in God, to faith hold fast;
Yet will I praise him for all he’s wrought.
Kind Lord of the Eternal Kingdom:
Hear us, Sovereign of our lives,
We plead for mercy, make for safety;
You know our needs at every turn,
Before ourselves perceive or feel. Continue reading “Crawling Toward Your Fullest Glory”
Whatever gifts I may have received from your generous hand,
Let me seek the good of others, to encourage and uplift.
Father, I do not know if I have the gift of encouragement,
But Barnabas seems to be a wonderful example for me to follow.
Let me consider how others hear the words I say,
And let me say the words that build others up.
Make me a positive spirit to see what others may become,
And paint for them a powerful picture of a shining future.
Above all, let me draw attention always to your love and power,
To inspire in others the hope of better things.
Beyond the trials of today, help me speak about eternity,
And Jesus’ coming, and living in heaven with you.
Remind us all of sin’s seductions and of Satan’s wiles,
The powers of the world and the destruction of the flesh.
And more, draw us to yourself into your finest gifts:
The Word, the church, and prayer, and life in the beloved Son.
Dear God in heaven,
You give us many joys
There’s much to enjoy on earth.
For this we give you thanks.
We also work under stress,
routines day in, day out.
Life is hard so often.
We suffer from our sins,
and others’ wrong choices.
Sickness drags us down.
Old age comes quickly upon us,
and death is never far.
It causes pain and fear.
So Christ is peace and love.
In him we find our all.
No one can take him from us.
Eternal hope is ours.
All glory alone is yours.
We pray in Christ, Amen!