Merry Christmas!
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Were Shepherds Supposed to be Invited?
By Allen White
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby,
keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to
them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But
the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will
cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has
been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You
will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with
the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the
highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the
shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that
has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby,
who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word
concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were
amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these
things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and
praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as
they had been told. Luke 2:8-20
Why did the angels proclaim Jesus’
birth to shepherds? The kings from the East, the Magi, were prophesied about (Isaiah
60:3). Shepherds were not foretold. But, the shepherds were symbolic.
Jesus is known as both the Good
Shepherd (John 10:11) as well as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world” (John 1:29). As Shepherd, Jesus led God’s people to places they had
never been. While God’s written Word gave the road map, and God’s prophets
proclaimed warnings, Jesus, the Shepherd, took them on the journey Himself. He
showed us what to do. He showed us how to respond. He showed us how to live.
What the cognitive and auditory couldn’t accomplish, the kinesthetic “Word made
flesh” (John 1:14) demonstrated brilliantly.
The shepherds weren’t drawn to the
manger by a flashy announcement. The shepherds were drawn to the Savior through
worship. The angels came praising and proclaiming. Worship points people to the
Messiah.
We all worship in different ways. Most
obvious is worship through singing. But, people also worship through being in
nature, serving, studying and many other ways. If you haven’t identified the
way that you worship best, check out Sacred Pathways by my friend, Gary Thomas.
Some things we discover through words.
Some things we discover through work. But, we are completely alive and more
fully discover through worship.
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Tuesday, December 22, 2015
The Quiet Strength of Joseph
By Allen White
This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His
mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together,
she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her
husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public
disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to
take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy
Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said
through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and
they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had
commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their
marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. Matthew
1:18-25
The Bible doesn’t have a whole lot to
say about Joseph. In fact, Joseph is one of the few people mentioned in the
Bible who is never quoted saying anything. He’s sort of an ancillary figure in
our nativity scene. But, that’s not really true. This passage reveals two
significant decisions Joseph made that led to the credibility of the Messiah.
When Joseph heard of Mary’s pregnancy,
his first impulse was to divorce her. The terms of engagement then were much
more stringent than today. It was more like the first year of marriage than
planning a wedding. Infidelity during an engagement would have brought a great
deal of dishonor to Joseph. None of us would want that. He reasoned that his
only choice was to divorce Mary quietly. What else could he do? What would we
do?
Can you imagine the problems that would
have been caused if the parents of the Savior of the world were divorced? Even
the Son of God needed an earthly mother and father to give him credibility.
Illegitimacy might have voided the message Jesus came to proclaim. Who would
have listened to Him? No one would have given Jesus any attention back then.
The angel appeared to Joseph and
explained the situation. Divine revelation was the only way that this pregnancy
could be understood or accepted. Joseph chose to man-up, take Mary as his wife,
and claim Jesus as his own son.
Then Joseph made another remarkable
decision. He chose to wed Mary and delay the honeymoon. “But he did not
consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son” (Matthew 1:25). While
every bride dreams of the wedding day, every groom dreams of the wedding night.
Joseph chose to marry his pregnant fiancé, and then he chose to put off the
pleasures of marriage that were rightfully his (1 Corinthians 7:4) in order to
guarantee that no one could ever say that Joseph had anything to do with Jesus’
human birth. For a man that didn’t get any words in the Bible, Joseph silently
obeyed.
Following God would be easier if we knew that God’s
direction would always lead us down an easy path. But, when following God makes
things worse rather than better, it takes more than our willfulness to obey. It
requires faith.
Regardless of how Joseph felt about Mary, regardless of what
Joseph knew he was entitled to, regardless of receiving a life that he had
never signed up for, Joseph chose to obey God. He didn’t receive any earthly
honor for his obedience. In fact, after the incident of leaving Jesus behind at
the temple in Jerusalem (Luke 2:43), we don’t hear anything else about Joseph.
How did he influence Jesus? What did he do with his life? When did he die? We
don’t know.
Joseph’s reward was investing in the life of someone else.
His honor came from putting his own will and feelings aside for someone
greater. Like all of us, Joseph’s ultimate reward is in Heaven.
What seems impossible for you these days? Regardless of what
you deserve and how you feel, how is God directing you to obey? Are you
willing?
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Monday, December 21, 2015
If We Can Do for Ourselves, then Why Do We Need God?
By Allen White
Sing, Daughter Zion; shout aloud, Israel! Be glad and
rejoice with all your heart, Daughter Jerusalem! The LORD has taken away your
punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The LORD, the King of Israel, is
with you; never again will you fear any harm. On that day they will say to
Jerusalem,
“Do not fear, Zion; do not let your hands hang limp.
The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but
will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:14-17
No one wants to be perceived as weak.
We would rather put our weaknesses aside and attempt to be strong for others.
It seems that as long as we can keep busy and look strong, then we don’t feel
as weak. After all, no one throws a parade for the weak. Parades are for heroes.
Yet, in God’s economy our perceived
strengths often get in the way. If we can do for ourselves, then why do we need
God?
Many people have heard of David Ring.
He’s been preaching for 37 years in over 6,000 churches and speaks to over
100,000 people every year.
He starts with his classic line, “I
have cerebral palsy. What’s your problem?” David asked our audience if they had
noticed that he had a speech impediment. Then, in his wry humor, he says, “Oh,
I’m in South Carolina. Everyone has a speech impediment in South Carolina.”
He’s a character.
David lost his father when he was very
young. Then, his mother died when he was 14-years-old. He spent the rest of his
growing up years in foster care.
I was struck by David’s attitude about
his mother’s death. He said that if his mother hadn’t died, he wouldn’t have
been married. He wouldn’t have four children. He wouldn’t be in the ministry.
He would be at home tugging on his momma’s apron strings.
David went on to say that if he had the
choice of having cerebral palsy or being completely healthy, he would choose
cerebral palsy. His reason: “When I am weak, God is strong.” It was a little
difficult for any of us to have a pity party that day.
The Apostle Paul said, “But [God] said
to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so
that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight
in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For
when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
How do you feel weak today? How can
your weakness reveal God’s strength? God doesn’t want to keep you down through
weakness. He wants you to see how helpless and limited you really are, so then
you can see how He can give you His strength.
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Sunday, December 20, 2015
Better Than Cash for Gold: Peace for Problems
By Allen White
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots
a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit
of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD—
and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not
judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears;
but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give
decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of
his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash
around his waist.
The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down
with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down
together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near
the cobra’s den, the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover
the sea.
In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the
peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.
Isaiah 11:1-10
In these early prophecies of Isaiah,
the prophet pronounced judgment on the people of Judah. They had forsaken God.
They had turned to false gods. Their country was on the verge of collapse. Yet,
in the middle of some very strong words, God gives Isaiah this beautiful
vignette of peace and tranquility beyond their imagination.
As you drink in these words from Isaiah
11, think about the turmoil in your own life. Isaiah wasn’t speaking about
peace in a peaceful time. Isaiah’s words were meant for people who were
confused. These were people who had tried everything that they knew to do, yet
couldn’t make things any better. I can relate to those people at times.
Rather than scolding them one more
time, God casts a vision for their future (and ours). Life on this earth is not
all that there is to life. The problems that we face today are not problems
that will last forever. Ultimately, Jesus will usher in an unprecedented time
of tranquility. There will be no diplomatic cables appearing on Wikileaks then.
There will be no negotiations. The Savior will merely declare it so. Enemies
will be vanquished. Tensions will be released. Natural rivalries will be turned
into unnatural friendships.
While we haven’t seen these times,
those of us who belong to Christ have tasted them. The outward workings of
redemption are yet to come. Humanity and all creation long for that day. But,
today those who belong to Christ can experience this kind of peace in our
hearts.
The Bible tells us “Do not be anxious
about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with
thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which
transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ
Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). We can possess peace that is not rightfully ours,
by giving our problems and turmoil over to God.
God knows what we will experience in
Heaven. He also knows what we will experience when our problems are resolved.
God, in His grace, gives us the peace of a resolved problem, even while He’s
still working to resolve things.
What turmoil are you experiencing
today? What chaos needs to be brought into order? God is waiting to give you
His peace. You just need to give Him your problem.
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Thursday, December 17, 2015
Christmas Shadows
By Allen White
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has
been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her
sins.
A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way
for the LORD; make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.Every valley shall be raised up, every
mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged
places a plain. And the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the
LORD has spoken.”
A voice says, “Cry out.”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
“All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is
like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because
the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass
withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”
You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice
with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!”
See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and he rules with
a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him,
and his recompense accompanies him. He tends his flock like
a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his
heart; he gently leads those that have young. Isaiah 40:1-11
The prophecies given in the first 39 chapters of the book of
Isaiah are words of judgment. This prophecy from chapter 40 begins words of comfort
for the last one third of the book. But, the comfort for Judah was a long way
off.
Jerusalem wouldn’t fall for another 100 years, and then
God’s people would be exiled for another 70 years. God instructed Isaiah to
begin planting seeds of encouragement. The hard, rocky soils of their lives
were being tilled through one-coming adversity. As I mentioned a few days ago,
the people of Judah were completely surrounded by the Assyrian Empire (LINK).
More consequences and punishments were heading their way. But, in the midst of
judgment, God directed Isaiah to tell about the comfort ahead.
God’s work in our lives doesn’t culminate in a dead
end. Some of our struggles seem so dark,
it’s hard to believe that it’s part of God’s plan. It’s hard to believe that
God has anything to do with it. It’s hard to believe that anything will turn
out very well. Yet, 170 years before God’s people are released from captivity,
God promises His comfort, even though they don’t seem to have a clue about what
they are about to face.
What dark thing are you facing today? Whether it was caused
by your actions or someone else’s, God can use it to refine your character and
demonstrate His comfort and grace in your life.
Joni Erickson Tada has been paralyzed from the neck down for
over thirty years. She writes, “The cross is the center of our relationship
with Jesus. The cross is where we die. We go there daily. It isn’t easy.
“Normally, we follow Christ anywhere – to a party, as it
were, where he changes water into wine, to a sunlit beach where he preaches
from a boat. But to the cross? We dig in our heels. The invitation is so
frighteningly individual. It’s an invitation to go alone.
“Suffering reduces us to nothing and as Soren Kierkegaard
noted, ‘God creates everything out of nothing. And everything which God is to
use, he first reduces to nothing.’ To be reduced to nothing is to be dragged to
the foot of the cross. It’s a severe mercy.
“When suffering forces us to our knees at the foot of
Calvary, we die to self. We cannot kneel there for long without releasing our
pride and anger, unclasping our dreams and desires…In exchange, God imparts
power and implants new and lasting hope.” From When God Weeps: Why Our Sufferings Matter to the Almighty.
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Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Merry Madness
By Allen White
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only
Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For
God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the
world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does
not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name
of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world,
but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for
fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes
into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has
been done in the sight of God. John 3:16-21
The wisemen gave gold, frankincense and
myrrh (Matthew 2:11). And, boy, has capitalism capitalized on that. Could it be
possible that the holiday shopping season starts after Halloween now? At this
rate, we could start seeing “After Christmas Sales” before Thanksgiving.
During the week of Thanksgiving,
commercial after commercial announced that stores would open at 3 am on Friday.
I thought, “And, the store is also open, right now.” But, I guess it’s not
really Christmas unless you are a cold, sleep-deprived Black Friday gladiator
fighting for the best deals. Ah, how it warms the heart.
I’m not opposed to gift giving. I enjoy
giving gifts and receiving them. I even like fruitcake. Gifts are great. Gift
receipts might be even better. Read my lips: I am not anti-presents. I am
pro-presents. But, why do we give?
We give some gifts because we should
give. These would be gifts for people who share our DNA, people we work with,
people we live near, and people who serve us. We like some of these people.
But, if we only gave to those we liked, it might be a much shorter list.
We give some gifts because people
expect it. If we didn’t give them something, they would be disappointed. They
might even retaliate.
We give some gifts because someone gave
us something. To not give them something would be like saying “I love you,” but
having no “I love you” return. They expect something of equal or greater value
in return. So, if I give you a $15 gift, then you give me a $16 gift. We work
this back and forth until one of us eventually dies owing someone hundreds of
thousands of dollars somehow (or did we just pay ourselves back?).
We give some gifts completely in the
dark. A truly thoughtful gift is giving exactly what they wanted without being
told what they wanted. This requires some sort of gift giving ESP that most men
lack. Ladies: to get what you want for Christmas, your man must be told. If he
is left to himself, then don’t be disappointed with a universal remote control
and beef jerky in your stocking. It’s his love language.
While Christmas giving has morphed into
something surreal compared to the simple scene in the manger, giving is still
at the center of Christmas. “God so loved the world that He gave…” We know
those words well. Hopefully, they haven’t become “yada, yada, yada” to us. God
didn’t give because we deserved it. God didn’t give because we expected Him to.
God didn’t give because He needed to reciprocate somehow. God gave because He
loves us. No matter who we are or what we’ve done or what we continue to do,
God loves us and desires to have a relationship with us. God doesn’t give
because it makes Him feel good. He gives because it’s His nature.
You and I are most like God when we are
generous. When we faithfully give to God’s work either in the offering plate or
online, we are reflecting God’s character and nature. In fact, the antidote to
materialism is generosity. Rather than allowing money and things to control our
lives, we can enjoy the freedom of giving it away.
Giving also demonstrates our trust in
God. If I commit a portion of my income to Kingdom causes, I trust that God
will provide for all of my needs. That provision might be increased income or shoes
that last for 40 years (Deuteronomy 29:5).
How do you trust God through your
giving this Christmas? How are you celebrating this year and remembering why we
celebrate?
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