HAS CHRIST’S COMING CHANGED ME?

Luke 6:13-16, Ac 4:13

Precious Father, Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit,

The Christmas season has faded from the calendar. The stores have marked all of their holiday items down to 50% and even 70% off the "before" Christmas retail price. The radio station in town that has played Christmas music for two months returned to its secular format on December 26. We are taking down the tree and putting the decorations in storage for another year.

Christmas Day has come and gone. I have thought much of Your coming to earth as God made flesh to live among us. But as I consider the first coming of the Lord, I must ask myself, "So what?" How am I different? How has Your coming changed me?

In order to answer that question I must ask it about others. "What change did Jesus make in the lives of the people who knew Him best?" You certainly turned things upside down for Mary and Joseph! The people of Bethlehem were never the same again. Their adoration and loyalty to You cost many families the lives of their infant sons. Perhaps some of the very shepherds who had adored You upon Your birth, now had empty cradles and shattered lives.  Anna and Simeon could die in peace because they had seen the Lord. The Wise Men were convinced they had met the Son of God, the King of the Jews. Each who encountered You in the Christmas narrative was forever changed.

What about those who knew You best in life and ministry? How did Your coming change them? Church tradition recites many of their deaths. James was the first martyr, thrown off the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem. Matthew was martyred in Ethiopia. Mark was dragged through the streets of Alexandria, Egypt until dead. Hanging on a Grecian hillside was Doctor Luke’s end. Peter was crucified upside down in Rome. Bartholomew, Andrew, Thomas, Jude, Matthais, Barnabas, and Paul–all died martyr’s deaths. Only John lived out his full years, dying in his nineties. But it was not for a lack of trying. John’s would be assassin had attempted to fry the preacher alive in a caldron of boiling oil, but John had escaped.

Why were they willing, even eager to die for You? Because Your coming had changed them. They had met Messiah and were compelled to follow You to their own cross of sacrifice. Tertullian said it well, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church."

So, I come back to my question. I have traded an old calendar for a new. Christmas is a fading memory, and the question is still nagging at my mind. "How has Christ’s coming changed me?"

So, I follow. I follow You. I serve You. I obey You. I refuse to return to status quo.

In the Name of the God who never leaves me the same,

Amen.

Don't be so negative!

Luke 11:24-28
24 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. 26 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.”
27 And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”
28 But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

Dear God,

Your Word is teaching me that I cannot be empty.  

You have revealed areas of my life which You have cleansed.  You have revealed other areas that You are cleansing even now.  But I dare not suppose that cleansing is enough.  Once cleansed, something must rush in and fill the clean and empty space.  William Barclay lays out Your fundamental rule: "You cannot leave a man's soul empty" (In The Gospel of Luke, 1953, p. 152).

My friend Tom taught me the value of practicing the principle of replacement.  Once God cleanses us from some sin or evil, I must be diligent to fill that void.  I must practice the Biblical principle of replacement.  "It is not enough to drive out the evil; the good must come in" (Barclay, p. 152).  So I study and memorize Your word.  I quote it back to myself.  I fill my heart and mind with Your truth. I read good books.  I listen to uplifting music. I am replacing the clutter, the noise, the profane vulgarity, the cruelty, rudeness and un-civility of a broken, sin-cursed and pervasive prevailing culture with truth, love, faith, and hope.

Many people attempt to control their dark drives and sinful desires with rules condemning wrong. We develop elaborate personal rules, entire church disciplines, and Christian conferences devoted to the negative "Thou shalt nots" of religion.  "It is always the peril of religion that it should present itself in a series of negatives.  True, the cleansing is necessary; but after the rooting out of the evil there must come the filling with the good" (Barclay, p. 153).

So much of my life is filled with doing.  It is easy to perform good actions, even working for You, until my soul becomes empty.  Through business and neglect, I can work myself into a place of spiritual dryness devoid of a dynamic awareness of Your Presence. At that point, I expose myself to the spiritual danger of emptiness. It is said that nature abhors a vacuum.  Something must rush in and fill emptiness.

So I hear Your Word reminding me, "Be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18).  You remind me that my doing must come from a full heart, filled with Your Holy Spirit by saturating myself in Your Word, in prayer, in Your sanctifying Presence.  So I am here again today.  Longing. Lingering. Loving You.

Fill my emptiness so full with Your fullness, that when life jostles me today, I will splash out perfect love on everyone who bumps me.

Amen.

Praying the Lord's Prayer

Luke 11:2-4 The Message

Father,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.”

Matthew 6:9-13 NKJV

Our Father in heaven,  Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.  Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

"Someone has said that the Lord's Prayer has two great uses in our private prayers. If we use it at the beginning of our devotions it awakens all kinds of holy desires which lead us on into the right pathways of prayer. If we use it at the end of our devotions it sums up all we ought to pray for in the presence of God."  (William Barclay in The Gospel of Luke, 1953, p. 147).

I've Just Seen Jesus!

Luke 10:23-24 23 Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; 24 for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it.”

Dear Jesus,

I long to see You, to encounter You, to know You.  Through Your Holy Spirit I can.  I do.  But I anticipate that face to face encounter in heaven, when I see You.  Throughout the centuries my longing has been felt by others.  It was especially acute in the centuries spanning the garden to the manger. 

That is what the Advent season is all about.  It is a season in the church calendar to evoke longing within us--a longing for Jesus.  Throughout the Advent season we have just concluded, I seek You in a quest to rediscover the longing of the ages.  As I ponder the brokenness of my world, I find myself longing for your soon return.  In those moments, I begin to rediscover the longing of humanity from the garden to the manger. 

WB Godbey wrote: "Jehovah preached the first gospel sermon to Adam and Eve in the garden, before their expulsion out of paradise, whose salient truth, 'The Seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head,' assured them that a Deliverer should be born in their family, whose mighty arm would defeat Satan and regain paradise for them, which they should enjoy forever. Consequently they retreated out of Eden, their broken hearts cheered with the joyous anticipation of the coming deliverance and restoration. Such was their glowing enthusiasm that Mother Eve actually hailed her own first-born Son as the promised Messiah, exclaiming 'I have brought forth the man- Jehovah.' Now, when we remember that Jehovah is the Old Testament name of Christ, we see how they actually hailed Cain as the Redeemer promised in Eden. How crushing the disappointment when he turned out to be a murderer! 

"Thus the Old Testament saints lived in constant anticipation of the Messianic advent. The trend of things growing worse instead of better, evil predominating and constraining the Divine mercy to bring on the flood, in order to give grace a great victory over sin and perpetuate the hope of the world, then the post-diluvians continued to look for the promised Deliverer down through the patriarchal age. Through all the centuries of Judaism, the Scriptures, both the law and the prophets, unanimously holding up the Incarnate God, in type, symbol, and prophecy, the saints through the intervening centuries, from Moses down to John the Baptist, and especially the prophets, lived in longing anticipation to feast their eyes on the Shiloh of prophecy, and be permitted to behold with mortal vision the Redeemer of Israel, the Christ of God, and the Savior of the world. All these had lived and died in loving and longing anticipation to behold the Lord’s Christ, and ready, like old Simeon, to take the infant Redeemer in their arms and die of joy. 

"How beautifully here Jesus adverts to those thrilling facts characteristic of the saints of the last four thousand years! The same has been true ever since He ascended into glory, having filled and thrilled the hearts of His disciples with the positive assurance of His return. One of the most cheering omens in all the world today, is the wonderfully rapid development of this universal expectancy of our coming King, illustrating the consolatory assurance that He is even now bending from the skies, and whispering to His saints, 'Wash and dress My beloved, for I am coming.'" (WB Godbey on Luke 20:23-24).

So I long for Your return!  I want to see You.  Bill Gaither's song, I've Just Seen Jesus, expressed His disciple's joy upon discovering the reality of the resurrected Christ.

I've just seen Jesus, I tell you He's alive
I've just seen Jesus, our precious Lord alive
And I knew He really saw me too
As if till now I'd never lived
All that I'd done before won't matter anymore
I've just seen Jesus, I've just seen Jesus
I've just seen Jesus
(William Gaither)

The longing of the ages is to see Jesus! To see You face to face!  The same longing of humanity from the garden to the manger, is the same longing from Your ascension to the Father until Your return. Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly!

In the Name of my Savior and soon-coming King, Jesus,

Amen.

Not Now!

Luke 9:59-60 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.”
But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”

Dear Jesus,

You impress direction on my life and demand decisive action.  

"Follow me!"

Often, I want to procrastinate.  I come up with excuses to delay obedience, but as someone said, "Delayed obedience is disobedience."  

The man had a living father.  The father was well.  Death was by no means immanent, not even close. It might be years, perhaps even decades before the father would die.  Your invitation is recorded as having been given once, with no apparent repetition.  Once extended, the invitation was met with delay and excuse-making.

"Follow me!"

Earlier, You called a man to preach the Kingdom.  He resisted, too. Perhaps he felt inadequate, unprepared.  Perhaps the calling seemed to high, the expectations too great.  Barclay wrote, "No one can ever say that he was induced to follow Jesus under false pretenses.  Jesus paid men the compliment of pitching His demands so high that they cannot be higher" (William Barclay in The Gospel of Luke, 1953, p. 133).

"Follow me!"

Why are You insistent upon immediate action?  Immediate obedience?  

"Follow me!"

Often, Your call to action in my life is in a context of a growing impression or revelation from Your Word.  I sense directive impulses in prayer, a phrase of scripture, a word of encouragement, a nudge. These directives typically snowball to the point that Your "Follow me!" becomes clear.  "... There is a crucial moment; if that moment is missed the thing most likely will never be done at all... Unless we do it on the moment, if we put it off until tomorrow, it will in all likelihood never be done at all. It is Jesus' insistence that we must act at once when our hearts are stirred within us." (ibid, p. 133-134). 

"Follow me!"

So, I follow.  I can trust You if it is You whom I follow.

"Follow me!"

Thank You for calling, leading, and directing my life.  Help me to obey.

Amen.

A GIFT FOR A KING

“In the early days eastern tradition said that there were twelve of them. But now the tradition that there were three of them is almost universal. The New Testament does not say that there were three, but the idea that there were three of them no doubt arose from the threefold gift which they brought. Later legend made them kings. And still later legend gave them names, Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar. Still later legend assigned to each a personal description, and distinguished the gift which each of them gave to Jesus. Melchior was an old man, grey haired, and with a long beard, and it was he who brought the gift of gold. Caspar was young and beardless, and ruddy in countenance, and it was he who brought the gift of frankincense. Balthasar was swarthy, with the beard newly grown upon him, and it was he who brought the gift of myrrh.” William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 1, p. 22.

Matthew 2:9-12 9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

My Loving Lord,
I want to give You a suitable gift this Christmas.  The practice of giving gifts to the Christ child began at the manger with the gift of worship.  Shepherds bowed in humble adoration before the infant King.  Perhaps they gave modest gifts of their pastoral lives to Your mother, Your father, and to You: sheep, blankets, clothing, milk, or cheese.

Then came the Magi from the East.  They came bearing elegant gifts for the Christ child: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  These Magi were seekers.  They were seeking truth.  They were seeking You. They were seeking Your revelation.  Apparently, the Magi were a tribal group of Medes within the kingdom of Persia.  They served as advisors, priests, and counselors to the king, studying science, medicine, natural science, astrology, and religion.

Seeing His star rising, the Magi sought the infant king who was born.  Expectation propelled them forward.  The trek from Babylon to Bethlehem ranged anywhere from 500 to 900 miles.  All the while, the Magi followed the star they had seen rising–perhaps Halley’s comet (11 B.C.), a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter (7 B.C.), or some other astronomical display.

Finding you in the house in Bethlehem, they presented their three-fold gift.  Gold is the premier metal fit for a king.  You are King of kings and Lord of lords!  Frankincense is a gift for a priest to use in temple incense and worship.  You are the priest who bridges the vast gap between God and man.  As incense ascends above, Your intercession ascends to the Father for all of humanity.  You make it possible for me to come to the Father.  Thank You.  Myrrh is a gift to anoint a dead body for burial. The gift of myrrh reminds me that You were born to die.  A cross shadowed Your life from birth. You came to give Your life as an atoning sacrifice, the Lamb of God, for the sins of the whole world.

The common gifts of the shepherds call me to give the ordinary, day to day, part of my life to You. The Magi’s gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh call me to surrender, worship, and sacrifice.  Lord Jesus, make my heart Your royal throne from which You rule my life with love.  I  surrender to Your Kingship--Your Lordship.  I worship You with praise and thanksgiving.  Make my life a pleasing and perpetual aroma of sacrifice to You.  From Your cradle, You call me to a cross.  You call me to lose myself in You, take up my cross, and follow You.  The looming specter of the cross overshadowed Your life, and overshadows mine.  I choose to identify with You in dying to my sin and myself, so that I may be enveloped in Your love and purpose for my life.  Thank You for the privilege of giving You a gift this Christmas season.  Thank You for accepting my simple gift of myself as inspired by gold, frankincense and myrrh.

In the Name of my loving Lord,
Amen.

A Time Line

Matthew 3

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord;

Make His paths straight.’”

4 Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him 6 and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”
15 But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.
16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Dear Jesus,

Thank You for a New Year. Thank You for the privilege of life lived another day. Thank you for a dividing line that marks time--another year.

"... John marked a dividing line in history. Since John's proclamation had been made, Jesus had come; eternity had invaded time; heaven had invaded earth; God had arrived in Jesus; life could never be the same again. We date all time as before Christ and after Christ--B.C. and A.D. Jesus is the dividing line. Therefore, all who come after him and who receive him are of necessity granted a greater blessing than all who went before. The entry of Jesus into the world divided all time into two; and it divided all life in two. 'If any man be in Christ he is a new creation' (2 Corinthians 5:17). He is created all over again." (William Barclay in The Gospel of Luke, 1953, p. 89).

So as one calendar is removed from the wall and another replaces it, I participate in Your incredible creative gift to humanity, time.  You transcend time.  Time does not confine or limit You. You are Supra-time.  Yet You create time for us to enjoy.  You create us with a need for daylight and dark, work and sleep, labor and rest.  You mark those divisions, and call it time.

Then You came to the world You created.  Transcendent Deity crossed the boundaries between timelessness and time, eternity and creation, heaven and earth... The Creator of time voluntarily took upon Himself the limitation of the time-bound. You invaded space in a manger, and nothing has been the same.  

So as dachshunds come down from the wall calendar, and mountains rise, I mark time.  I mark the end of one year and the beginning of another.  I am told that this year is worthy of a number. Not just any number.  This number is a memorial to the time when Ultimate Reality invaded the human experience.  The Holy Spirit conceived in the womb of woman.  God became man.  That changed everything!  Even my calendar.

Thank You.

In the Name of Jesus,

Amen.