Dreaming of a White Christmas

Today we will look at the Angel’s message to Joseph before the birth of Jesus in Matthew 1:18-25.  He faced a difficulty that in many ways he probably wasn’t prepared for. 

We often face difficulties, but it is very different when we have the tools to deal with them.  So the person who has to go to work in the snow can be more confident if they have snow tires and 4-wheel drive.  The person who is lost in Seattle can be more confident if they have a 4-G cell phone with a data plan. 

But, Joseph wasn’t the only one with a tough problem.  We will see that all mankind had a problem, in fact still has a problem, and that problem is sin.  No matter how many tools we create and assemble we won’t be able to remove that stubborn bane of mankind—sin.  It is not just the sin in others, but even the sin within us personally that mankind cannot remove.  Christmas is the celebration of the truth that we have not been left alone in this impossible battle.  God is with us.

Jesus Comes

The central point of this passage is that Jesus, who is the long-awaited messiah, has come.  This is the moment that Israel had been waiting for since its inception.  In fact, we could say that even the Gentile nations with their twisted theologies and religions had longed for “the gods to come down.”  Thus Jesus who is God comes down in a miraculous way: He is born of a woman who had never been with a man.  Though we might be quick in this modern era to scoff at such an idea, we must recognize that if God can create man in the first place, then surely he can cause a egg to be fertilized in the womb.  In fact what is the insertion of the sperm but an insertion of information?  God did not even need a sperm.  The Holy Spirit was able to activate the egg by the same creative power he had at the beginning.  You either believe in God or not.  But don’t pretend that the reason you don’t believe in him is because of such miracles.

Jesus came in a way that looked shameful.  Though Joseph and Mary were betrothed, they had not tied the knot, so to speak, yet.  For Joseph to go ahead with the marriage would be to confess simultaneously that he is the father and that he was not a righteous man.  His only option seemed to be calling off the wedding in as discrete a way as possible.  Thus Jesus would be born with the social stigma of a shameful conception to unrighteous parents.  Of course this is nothing in our society today.  However that is not to our honor.

Jesus comes to earth accompanied by angels.  We see much activity of angels with Mary, Zechariah, the shepherds, and here, Joseph.  Didn’t Joseph believe Mary?  We are not told.  However as he is determining his response to the news of Mary’s pregnancy, Joseph has a dream.  The angel tells him that Mary’s story is true.  As wonderful as that news may have been to Joseph, he still has a tough decision because no one else will believe the story.  However, Joseph becomes a picture of God.  He is innocent, yet marries a bride that the world sees as unfaithful.  In fact, unlike Mary we have been unfaithful.  We are more like Gomer in the story of Hosea.

Jesus also comes as an answer to prophecy.  In verses 22-23 Matthew points out that the virgin birth had been spoken of in Isaiah chapter 7.  The messiah would be recognized as God with us, Immanuel.  But his “name” would be Jesus.

Jesus Saves Us From Our Sins

Jesus is an English version of a word that begins in the Hebrew or Aramaic tongue.  It was some form of Yeshua or Yahshua.  This was transliterated into the Greek language as Iesous.  The name literally means Yahweh is Salvation or Yahweh Saves.  This is the central point of who Jesus is: He is the salvation of God. 

The problem of mankind had been fully explored by mankind.  The Gentiles had continued down the road of creating their own path of salvation.  The Jews had proven that even if God gave us His perfect laws it would not make us righteous.  We all needed a miracle.  We needed God with us in this battle.  In fact we needed him to fight for us.  We were not just bound in slavery to sin.  But this slavery had even infiltrated our mind.  We self-justified those pet sins that we liked and thundered against those we didn’t.  This ever evolving, ever-changing definition of righteousness only protected sin.  This same problem is just as bad today.  We may shrink in horror at a gunman in Conneticut who shoots 20 kids in cold blood.  But then turn around and angrily defend a woman’s right to have a cold-blooded doctor rip apart the life within her.  Over 1 million babies a year are aborted in America.  But few choke up over such infanticide.

In Isaiah 1:18-20, God called to Israel to reason with him.  Though their sins were as scarlet and crimson, he would make them white as snow.  The picture is one of blood.  Sin causes our life to be stained with a stain as difficult as blood.  No matter how hard we try our white righteousness will never look the same.  It will only become more and more stained.  But, God promises to help us.  He says to those who are willing and obedient, rather than rebellious and refusing, that He will make them white.  This is precisely what Jesus was coming to do: to save us from our sins.

“He will save His people from their sins.”  Does this just mean Israel only?  In Matthew 12:50 Jesus had revealed to his disciples that, “whoever does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”  Thus Jesus was stating that his people were not identified by biology, or what town they lived in, or what culture they shared.  Rather, they are identified by their desire to God’s will.  What is God’s will?  John 6:29, “This is the work of God; that you believe in him whom he sent.”  That one is Jesus.  Our faith in Jesus makes us a part of the people of Jesus.  He promises to save each one.

Final Thoughts

Without Jesus we have no hope against our sins, much less those of mankind.  We can continue to lie to ourselves.  But the stakes only continue to go higher and we have more and more to lose.  We cannot create enough rules or technology to protect ourselves from the effects of sin.  Only Jesus can.

Jesus is God’s proof that he has not abandoned us.  He will cleanse those who trust him and his ways.  But, how can an innocent baby save us?  Only because he is Immanuel; God with us.  With God on our side we cannot fail.

This Christmas make it a truly white Christmas by putting your trust in Jesus alone as the one who covers your sin and makes you white as snow.

dreaming white Christmas audio

Our Present Joy

We are continuing our walk through the letter of 1^st Peter.  As Peter laid out the truth of the believer’s new birth and secure inheritance, he then turns to recognize the affect that has had upon them.  The section we will look at today is 1 Peter 1:6-12.  The thrust of this section is this: Believers rejoice in their New Birth and Secure, Heavenly Inheritance.  It was a wonder-filled thing that they could claim to have been adopted by God and given a portion in his inheritance.  In truth, it would be considered hogwash if it wasn’t for the greatness of what Jesus taught and did.

We Rejoice Even Though We Have Various Trials

In verses 6 and 7 Peter recognizes that their great joy is despite various trials that they had gone through.  Whether it was the persecution back in Jerusalem that led to their scattering, or it was trials they went through in the new areas to which they had immigrated.  He recognizes that trials cause us to grieve.  Notice they are not berated.  They are not grieving as if they had no hope.  However, it is wrong-headed to berate people for grieving over trials and difficulties.  There is a process of feeling the weight of a trial, grieving over it, and finding peace in Christ through it.  This cannot be short-circuited by our knowledge of it.  Christians grieve and there is nothing wrong with that if we are looking to Christ for comfort and encouragement. 

Part of our comfort is to recognize that these trials are temporary.  Peter’s phrase is “for a little while.”  Peter is not an inexperienced kid telling them this.  He has been through the wringer himself.  Peter has been grieved by the treatment of his own people and further crushed by his personal failures at the cross.  Peter knows what it is to grieve.  However, he reminds them that it will not last forever.  In fact, in light of eternity this present heavy thing will not only seem quick, but also light.  This is not intended to object to their grief but rather to soothe it.  We need to find the grace to look past our present grief to the coming inheritance that God has secured for us.  However, this is a process that will occur many times throughout our life.

Peter also reminds them of why God allows trials in our lives.  They serve to “prove” that our faith is genuine.  The picture here is one of a metal that has been melted down and had the impurities removed to demonstrate its purity.  The “heat” of the trials in our life makes our faith stronger by causing weaknesses to rise to the surface so we can deal with them by the help of the Holy Spirit.  This kind of faith is what will be praised, honored and glorified at the return of Jesus.  Yes, only Jesus deserves these things.  But don’t discount the fact that we have been given the grace of sharing in the praise, honor and glory of Jesus Christ.  God’s plan of salvation was precisely a choosing of believing faith.  In fact Peter says that this kind of believing faith is more precious than gold.  God is not looking for the wisest, strongest, most beautiful, etc.  He is looking for those who will simply believe even in the midst of heated times.

We Rejoice Because Faith Enables Us

In verse 8 Peter ties their joy to their believing in Jesus.  How does faith lead to joy?  Well first he mentions Jesus.  Jesus is the Foundation of their faith.  They are looking forward to something, but the thing that holds up those expectations is Jesus himself.  If it wasn’t for Jesus we would have no hope before us.  Thus they have received the testimony regarding Jesus and have trusted it.  To the degree we trust, we have an internal confidence that we are going to receive our hope.  Thus, faith in Jesus yields confidence in our future hope.  This enables us to rejoice even when temporary difficulties afflict us. 

Notice that Peter refers to it as an “inexpressible” joy.  First of all, it is inexpressible because we just don’t know the full reality of what God has in mind for us.  1 Corinthians 2:9 quotes the Old Testament, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him.”  Our joy is expanded by the knowledge that God has only given us a sneak peek at the joys ahead.  It is also indescribable in that we would not have enough time (or enough tongues) to express all the goodness of God.  2 Corinthians 3:18 points out that God is transforming us from one level of his glory to another level.  Little by little we are transformed into the image of Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit of Jesus.  This ever expanding blessing of God give us an ever increasing joy at his goodness that is present and future.

We Rejoice Because We Have Obtained Salvation

In verses 9-12 Peter reminds them that they have obtained the goal of their faith: salvation.  Yes, there are aspects to salvation that haven’t happened yet: Total Sanctification, Eradication of Sin, Resurrection, etc.  Yet, those who have trusted in Jesus and followed him do have salvation in hand.  It is a present possession.  We are no longer under the doom of the judgment of this world and our personal sin. 

This is the salvation that was promised by God through the prophets.  Now, Peter gives us an interesting look into the lives of the Old Testament prophets.  They spoke of the grace that was going to come to the believing remnant because of a process that led to God revealing to them his plan.

It starts with “indications of the Spirit.”  As they looked around them and saw the corruption of their society and the difficulty of weeding sin out of their own nature, the prophets began to sense indications from the Spirit that if the messiah came he would suffer.  If they had suffered for being faithful to God’s word then how much more would the messiah suffer who would be perfect in righteousness and faithfulness?  Yet, because they knew that no man could stop God’s plan to save mankind they recognized that he would overcome even this and bring mankind to the glories of salvation, but not because we deserve it.  These indications in their hearts drove them to prayer and searching the Scriptures.  It was in this environment of fervent and prayerful Bible study that God spoke of the things he would do.

It was also revealed to them that all the suffering, studying, searching, hearing and writing was not for their own benefit.  But, rather, it was for the benefit of those who would believe in the messiah because of their words.

The Apostles of Jesus not only had these words of the prophets, but they also listened to the One whom all prophecy points, Jesus.  They witnessed his teaching, love, death and resurrection.  Thus they passed on to us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the truth about God’s messiah.  Yes, he suffered and died for us.  However, he has obtained the grace of salvation for us.  What joy we not only have ahead of us, but also can have right now as we recognize the truth of what we have been given.

I love how Peter ends this with the quip that these are things that the angels strongly desire to look into.  Just as you and I may search Scripture to understand the end times, so angels are strongly curious about this work that God is doing among mankind, salvation.  Praise God!

Present Joy Audio

Our Heavenly Inheritance

We are going to start a series where we walk through the New Testament book of 1 Peter.  It is clear that Peter’s main concern is persecution because each chapter deals with it and many of the other subjects are an encouragement to those enduring it.  However, today we are going to be dealing with the inheritance that we have in Christ.

Who Is Writing

In order to set the stage, we want to recognize that this is a letter from the apostle Peter.  Peter was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus that lived with him wherever he went.  Within this group Peter was one of three who were closest to Jesus.  In fact, Peter is actually a nickname that Jesus gave to him.  Some try to make Peter out to be the head Apostle and first Pope, however, it is clear from Scripture that this is simply not true.  In Acts 15 we do not see Peter presiding over the council and decreeing God’s will ex cathedra.  Rather we see all the apostles speaking what God has been saying to them and coming to a consensus about what the Holy Spirit wanted them to do.  Also, though Peter eventually ended up in Rome and was put to death there, he does not appear as the first Bishop of Rome, nor was he the instrument to raise up a church in Rome.  This is not to diminish Peter, but rather to clarify who it is who is writing.  He is an apostle of Jesus; one who was sent by Jesus to proclaim the Gospel to the world alongside of the work of other apostles.

Who Received the Letter

This letter was written specifically to believers who had been spread out from Jerusalem due to persecution.  Believers went many directions to many places.  Here Peter describes areas that are in what we would call central and northern Turkey today.  Though some try to say these are Jewish believers, I don’t believe that is Peter’s point in speaking of the “dispersion.”  Most early Christians were Jewish by the fact that it started in Jerusalem.  So clearly there are many Jews in this group if not most of them.  The dispersion is not a reference to the overall Jewish Diaspora that had been going on, but rather to the issues of Acts 8:4 when persecution of Christians by fellow Jews caused them to disperse and scatter into the surrounding nations.  What Satan meant for evil God meant for good.  Thus the Gospel was spread beyond Jerusalem at a faster rate than would have occurred under the believer’s own direction.

Peter reminds them that they are “elect” (literally chosen) by God.  God chose them according to his foreknowledge.  God knows in advance what men will chose and how they will respond and He made a choice.  He did not choose to save the strongest or the wisest, but rather to save the humble.  Thus even the strongest and wisest can be saved, if they will humble themselves.  God did not choose our works of righteousness but rather chose a path of salvation that required men to confess their sin, humble themselves before God and put their trust in His righteousness, specifically in Jesus Christ.  Remember that God  has chosen you to salvation and to an inheritance not because of your great works, but because of simple trust in Him. 

They are chosen by God “in sanctification of the Holy Spirit.”  Sanctification is when we are set apart by God for his purposes.  That sanctification has aspects that are immediate and some that are ongoing.  When we believe in Jesus we are separated from the world as God’s children and recipients of his favor.  However, as we follow Him, the Holy Spirit enables us to be separated from the ways of this world and the image of this world.

Next they are chosen by God for Obedience and for Service.  Part of Obeying God is to first believe on Jesus and then to pick up our cross and follow him.  In other words we enter into a life of dying to things that Jesus may live in us.  Just as Jesus was obedient to go to the literal cross, so God will call us to do many things that are like a cross to our soul.  We won’t want to die to certain desires and fears, but to obey God we will eventually have to learn.  We may be disciplined at times, but as a loving Father, we need not worry that he seeks to disqualify us.  On the contrary, he died that we might be his children.  Trust him!  The reason I said we are chosen for Service is because of the imagery behind the “sprinkling of the blood of Jesus.”  It is pointing back to the Old Testament sacrifices.  Anything that was going to be used for holy purposes, whether it was an altar, clothing, or a person like the priests, had to be sprinkled with blood from a sacrifice.  It represented that it had been cleansed and set apart for God’s work.  That physical lamb that was slain and the blood that was literally sprinkled on things point to the death of Jesus.  So, how are we metaphorically sprinkled with the blood of Jesus?  This is done by the Holy Spirit when we believe on Jesus as our substitute.  He died for me that my sins could be covered.   I believe an then God applies the blood to cover my account.

Peter’s Desire For Them

Peter ends verse 2 by praying Grace and Peace for them and that it be multiplied.  Clearly our greatest need is God’s grace, peace with Him, and peace from Him.  Though God’s grace and peace are already potentially multiplied towards us all the time, we do need to rest in that grace and peace.  If we allow our confidence to be undermined then we can lose our grip on His blessings.  Thus Peter prays that it will be in constant renewal and supply.

Peter’s Praise of God

God’s plan for mankind is truly magnificent.  It is not the plan we would have made for ourselves, but it is amazing.  Thus Peter blesses the Father because of His abundant mercy, which is a mercy that is inexhaustible.  If every soul on the planet repented today, God would have enough mercy to draw them all in and more.  However his mercy is not just abundant in quantity.  It is also abundant in quality.  Thus the next phrase, “begotten us again,” is a reference to the new birth or spiritual birth of John 3:3.  Simple mercy would be allowing us to be His slaves.  As you increase that mercy we can rise from slaves to friends.  But God’s mercy is so great that he adopts us into his family and makes us his children.  He spiritually births us into his family.  No, we do not become gods as some may claim.  But our Father is God and His Spirit does live within us, which is an abundant mercy.  We also have a “living Hope.”  It is living because Jesus who was dead is now alive.  However, it is also living in the sense that the Hope is lively.  It can’t be put down or quenched.  When satan tries to convince us that there is no hope, the hope we have in Jesus jumps up and sends him fleeing.  In Christ our hope cannot be touched by satan.  Even his death words can’t destroy the living hope we have in Jesus.  Lastly it is a living hope because it is the hope of eternal life that we have in our own personal resurrection by Jesus.  Thus the resurrection of Jesus becomes the assurance or proof that the Father will do all he has said he will do.  Our hope is a hope of life eternal.

But notice the reason God has given us spiritual birth.  In verse 4 we are born for an inheritance.  A divine inheritance has been created for those who are God’s children.  This inheritance is “incorruptible.”  That means it can’t diminish or be lost in the stock market.  It can’t grow old and die.  It is imperishable.  The next word to describe the inheritance is “undefiled.”  It is a clean and pure inheritance.  God didn’t steal it from anybody and it is not ill-gotten gain.  It is a righteous and pure inheritance that does not “fade away.”  How?  It doesn’t fade because it is kept in heaven for you.  Here things fade and luster is lost.  But our inheritance is just as shiny as the first day God made it.  Nothing, not even satan himself, can get near it to tarnish it.  In fact in verse 5 Peter says that even we ourselves are “kept by the power of God.”  This is a military picture of a spiritual guard that is placed upon us as his children.  This doesn’t mean Satan can’t attack.  It just means that his attacks are only as successful as we let them be.  That is why he couples the guarding power to our faith.  When we simply believe God in the face of every lying demon of hell then Satan can’t touch us.  Like Job of old we can lose everything and yet not, because our faith is in God.  “Though God slay me yet I will trust him.”

God has revealed the plan of his salvation.  But the day is coming when the heavens will open and Jesus will return.  And , in that day, his salvation will be revealed in all its power and glory!  This is our heavenly inheritance that we have in Jesus.  Amen.

On The Journey

On this Sunday we celebrate the time that we have had with Dr. Caleb Tindano of Burkina Faso.  He will be going home on June 12 and we are going to miss him.  This brother has been on a journey both literally and metaphorically.  Similarly we are all on a journey through this life.  The Bible uses this same imagery in Hebrews 11 to teach us how to walk in this journey of life and how to do it well.

Believers Live By Faith

In Hebrews 11:8-12, the Holy Spirit reminds us of the life of Abraham and Sarah.  They were called to leave their home country and to travel to an unknown place.  There they would live in tents with a nomadic lifestyle.  They would also have kids at an extreme age (90 and 100).  Lastly they would be the source of multitudes.  These descendants are more than just the biological, but more importantly, include those who are children of Abraham by their faith in Jesus Christ.

Over and over again the passage states that they did all this by faith.  Now this is important because in Hebrews 10:38 it says that “the just shall live by faith.”  This is a quote from the Old Testament passage of Habakkuk 2:4.  It is similar to Paul’s statement in 2 Corinthians 5:7, “we walk by faith, not by sight.”  Now what did they do by faith?  Several verbs are given to explain their actions of faith.  First is “obeyed.”  Obedience is something we naturally resist.  However, faith enabled them to go to a country that they didn’t necessarily want.  They also, “dwelt,” “waited,” and “bore.”  Each of these were things that were not easy to do.  They dwelt in a land in tents, as nomads, and among hostiles.  They waited when all of us would vote or now.  And, Sarah gave birth at 90 years old.  When do you say, “no thanks, but I changed my mind.”

Faith is that inner knowing and trust that God will do what he has said he will.  But far simpler than that, faith knows this: at the end of the day God is good.  The strange thing about believers is that they could look at all the stuff going on around them and quit trusting God.  But instead they continue to trust that God is what he says he is, he is good.

Believers Die in Faith

In Hebrews 11:13-15 we are reminded that Abraham, Sarah, and all other righteous people died while having faith in God.  To those who don’t believe in God this would probably be the strongest argument for walking away from this “God.”  The Spirit reminds us that though Abraham didn’t see all that was promised to him, it wasn’t because God wasn’t good or that he doesn’t really exist.  It does mean that the scope of his promises is far greater than our life.

There is a modern phenomenon that psychiatrists increasingly encounter called “Truman Show Delusion.”  The Truman Show was a movie in which a man’s whole life was secretly filmed and he eventually discovers that everyone in his life, even his wife, is an actor in a show in which he was the only real thing.  However absurd this may seem we sometimes act like this in regard to life.  God’s promises are greater than you and your life on this earth.  They encompass all believers of all time and all life, both this temporary life and the eternal life we have begun to enter.

Abraham didn’t see all the promises.  But he did see them by faith, “afar off.”  He was also assured of them.  This assurance can only really come from God himself.  When we assure ourselves it only works so long.  This is a supernatural assurance that is in the face of even death itself.  They “embraced” those promises as well.  They changed their lives and raised their kids in the environment of a full embrace of God’s promises.  “We want them and we will see them someday.”  By doing this they were confessing their true identity as nomads in this world.  God’s promises are about things that are beyond this life, which makes us nomads among those in this world who see this life as all there is.

By faith, believers are citizens of a heavenly kingdom (vs14).  Just like people who go to another culture experience a cultural dissonance, so believers feel that dissonance everywhere they go, even in their home town.  This world does not value true faith in the One True God.  Spiritually it is not our home and this makes us homesick for that place we have never been.  We know it by faith.  It is a country and a capital city that will be supplied by God himself.  No civilization or world of man will create them.

The reason I entitled this section, Believers Die in Faith, is because of the words of verse 13.  Believers not only live by faith, but when they come to the end of their life, that same faith continues.  It looks forward with the trust that God is good and it is not over yet.

God Rewards Our Faith

Ultimately our very salvation and eternal destiny is tied to our faith in God, specifically the Lord Jesus.  Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.”

But another aspect of this in Hebrews 11:16, is that God is not ashamed to be called their God.  More than that, he is not ashamed to claim us in the life to come.  He walks into a room of the world’s rich and powerful, beautiful and strong, and picks up those whom the world looks upon as weak, poor, ugly, undesirable.  They are beautiful to God simply because of their faith in him; faith that endures through death.  You are beautiful to God to the degree you trust him.

Thus God has prepared this place for those who have trusted him in life and in death.  God’s kingdom will come down and not just be in our hearts.  Jesus will literally come through those clouds and establish a world of peace that operates on the basis of trust in God.

No matter where you are on this journey, your faith will be tried.  You are a stranger in a strange land and that is an uncomfortable feeling.  May you remain faithful to Him who is always faithful and in the end will be found to have been completely good.

On The Journey Audio