This Christmas: Hope is Here

This post is adapted from a 4 part Advent sermon and devotional from Paul David Tripp. 
                                                                                                                                               

 2 principles of hope found in Isaiah 59

1.) The doorway to hope is hopelessness. 

It sounds contradictory, doesn’t it? But the only way you will ever find true hope is to give up on all those places where you’ve put your hope before. Our default is to find hope horizontally, in the situations, locations, and relationships of everyday life. How many times have you thought, “If only I had ______”? Or, “If only I lived _____”? That’s finding your hope horizontally.

You’re not going to meet a person who will give you life. No one can give you the peace and security you’re seeking. You’re not going to get a job that will make life worth living. You’re not going to own a possession that will give you the happiness that you seek. You’re not going to have an experience that will fulfill you. It’s all horizontal hope, and before you can find true, life-giving hope, you need to reach a point of hopelessness.

2.) To be reliable, hope needs to fix what is broken. 

Hope must address the biggest, deepest, and darkest dilemma of our life. Isaiah 59:2 tells us what is broken. “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”

Just as horizontal hope will fail us, a horizontal diagnosis will miss what is truly broken. I like to think that my biggest problem in life exists outside me, not inside me. I want to say my problems are situational, locational, or relational. But they’re not. My biggest problem is vertical and personal.

There is something that lurks inside me that is dark and dangerous – sin. It kidnaps my thoughts, diverts my desires, and distorts my words. Only Christ can fix this problem. No horizontal hope can ever fix a vertical problem. So God promises to send His son as the vertical and ultimate solution. “And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression (59:2).”

That’s the Christmas story. The Christmas story is about hope coming. That’s why the angels sing the glorious song. That’s why the wise men came to worship. That’s why the shepherds were blown away. Hope had invaded the earth in the person of the Lord Jesus. Hope had come.

This Advent season, celebrate the true, life-giving source of Hope. And remember, hope is never a situation. Hope is never a location. Hope is never an ideology. Hope is a person, and his name is Jesus Christ.

• Name some situations, locations, and relationships that our culture defines as sources of hope.
• Reflect on times when you searched for hope in the wrong places. What was the outcome?
• Reflect on times when you relied on Christ as your only source of hope. What was the outcome?
• Who in your life is in need of Hope? How can you use the Advent season to share Hope with others?

God bless

Paul David Tripp

The Christmas Story by Dave Matthews

The Christmas Story centers on the first coming of Jesus as a baby in a barn. The story shouldn't and doesn't end there as the baby grew up. He grew up to die a sinner's death on a Roman cross and rise from the dead three days later to show this baby was God with us. This is the Christmas Story: life, death, and resurrection.

Worship with Dave Matthews as he sings about the whole Christmas Story. His song beautifully illustrates that Christmas shouldn't just showcase the birth of Jesus, but the whole gospel, as the Bible teaches it. Marvel and Worship a Savior who was born to die for our sins.

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased." (Luke 2:14)

Good News of Great Joy: Hope for Newtown

26 Dead. 20 Children. Eight little boys. Twelve little girls. All between the ages of 6 and 7. Unbelievable suffering, pain, and evil, without warning, had come to the small town of Newtown, Connecticut. So many questions and no answers. Only memories, tears, and a long road ahead.

This is evil way beyond the evil we are used to. This causes hearts to hurt, tears to run dry, bodies to quake, and anger to indwell. Evil has never felt more real. So what are we to do amidst all of us this suffering, pain, and hardship? Where are we supposed to go?


The Bible never shies away from the reality that we find ourselves in: evil is real and suffering will occur. At the time of Jesus's birth, there was much suffering and hardship. At the news of the Messiah's birth, King Herod, hungry with power, set out to kill all the male children under the ages of two years old (Matthew 2:16-18). Real pain and real suffering much like we see today.

My goal of this post is not to try to put on a happy face or even speed up the grieving process. I would never claim to know or understand what the people of Newtown are going through. Their pain and suffering is unimaginable and my heart breaks at the very thought. My prayer is that in this we will see that our only hope in this horrific tragedy is to fall, weeping into the arms of our Savior who will hold us into the everlasting. May God have mercy on us and grant us the same joy now, as he did the people that endured the suffering at the time of Jesus's birth. May we all, through the deepest possible pain, hear the good news of great joy:

"And the angel said to them, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.'" (Luke 2:10)

                                                                                                                                                           
(The following 3 thoughts on joy in suffering are from Pastor Terry Lester from First Baptist Church of London from his sermon on Sunday, December 16)

Where is the joy and hope in the midst of unbelievable suffering? We have to fight to remember God: who He is and what He has done. What has he done? In Zephaniah 3, despite the severe suffering of the people of God, through many desolate years of war and famine, the prophet calls them back to joy: Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart (Zephaniah 3:14). Zephaniah doesn't just tell them what to do, but he tells them why they should by joyful. The verse that follows is an ever present light when the dark nights of the soul overcome us:

"The Lord has taken away the judgements against you; he has cleared away your enemies, The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil." (Zephaniah 3:15)

3 Unshakeable Joys we have in Christ: 

1.) The Gift of Grace: "The Lord has taken away the judgements against you"
We are sinners, who deserve judgement and condemnation. But, in Christ we have the forgiveness of sins (Col. 1:14). Oh the joy in not getting what we deserve. This gift isn't just for our good days, or when everything is going well. This gift is once and for all (Hebrews 9:12, 10:10). The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only anchor we have to hold, as the waves of this troubling world continue to toss us to and fro. 

2.) The Gift of Victory: "he has cleared away your enemies"
Our ultimate enemies in this world are not people, or circumstances, or ideologies. The ultimate enemy will always be sin that has brought us death. The devil loves death, but Christ loves life because he is life (John 10:10, 14:6). Christ has defeated both sin and the grave through his life, death, and resurrection: "the sting of death is sin, but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ"(1 Cor. 15:56-57). Whatever possible suffering and defeat this world brings, Christians will have victory in Jesus Christ. It was sealed 2,000 years ago on the hill of Calvary. 
  
3.) The Gift of Him: "The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst" 
The Lord is not like us. He is in a another league from us. He is perfect, holy, spotless in every imaginable way. And yet, He chooses to come to us, to be with His people, by becoming flesh. Jesus is Immanuel: God with us. God took our suffering so seriously that he took it upon Himself, on the cross. No matter what may happen this side of heaven, in Jesus, we have God and He promises to always be enough (2 Cor. 12:9). In a world where anything and everything can happen, and your entire life can be taken away from you in a matter of seconds, Jesus never can. He has conquered the world and is above it in every way (John 16:33). 

The "good news of great joy" that the shepherds heard in Bethlehem, can be heard today. God has come to his people and for his people in Jesus Christ. He has and will continue to come to Newtown as well. Evil is real, but its day are numbered. Everything sad will one day come untrue (Romans 16:20). Come Lord Jesus. 

Christmas Traditions: O' Christmas Tree

O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree

Thy leaves are so unchanging
O' Christmas Tree, O'Christmas Tree
Much pleasure thou can'st give me
O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree
Thy candles shine so brightly

 O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree

How richly God has decked thee!

O' Christmas Tree! O' Christmas Tree

How richly God has decked thee!

Thou bidst us true and faithful be,

And trust in God unchangingly.

O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree

How richly God has decked thee.

I am setting out to do a series of post on the different Christmas traditions that people celebrate all over world and try to discover how these traditions became traditions. I hope you thoroughly enjoy my attempts to understand why we do what we do during this time of the year. First up: The Christmas Tree. 

We have to leave America for this one, as we have to with most American traditions. The Christmas Tree, is widely credited to Germany in the 16th Century. The legend goes that Martin Luther -- the theologian, not the civil rights activist -- was walking home after preparing a sermon on a wintery night. He stumbled upon some beautiful evergreens that stirred his heart to worship amidst the twinkling stars in the night sky. Luther wanted to recapture and celebrate the scene and quickly wired a tree with lighted candles in his home for his family to enjoy. As the years passed, trees became more elaborate and decorated, but the meaning is still there. People still gather around the Christmas tree in awe and wonder of its magnificent beauty. In a world plagued with busyness, the young and the old will still come to stand in amazement at an illuminated Christmas tree. It continues to have a worship effect 400 years later.

So why, essentially, are we so fascinated and engulfed by the Christmas tree tradition that we will go through all of the trouble and annoyances of either cutting one down or retrieving it from the attic and decorating it with every ornament and ounce of tinsel that we own? Every year. And we love it. Why?

I think this is deeper than we realize. God has "set eternity into a man's heart" (Eccl. 3:11) and I believe the reason we do certain things in our lives has elements of God and eternity in them, even without us initially knowing it. Our hearts cry out for God to fill this eternal gap, even when we don't realize it. We are engulfed and amazed by a common tree at a certain time of the year. Why?

Throughout history, the hefty evergreen has been a constant symbol of hope throughout the bitterness of the long winter. Evergreens do not die, or fade, or lose any of its needles despite the cold. They gave people of all different generations hope in the promise that the spring will come and with it new life.

The Bible doesn't take long  to bring a tree into its grand narrative. Two trees actually: "The Tree of Life in the middle of the garden, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil" (Genesis 2:9). As long as Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Life they would live forever in perfect relationship with God, but he commanded them, "of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:17). They, of course, disobeyed God and sin entered the world. Ever since, as descendants of Adam, we have all been trying to get back to Eden, back to the tree, and back to life.

God didn't just bring trees into His story, but he also enters. Jesus came to bring us back: "For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous" (Romans 5:19). As Adam's disobedience by a tree brought death, Christ's obedience by a tree brought life:

"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed." (1 Peter 2:24)

Trees, especially the mighty evergreen that we use for Christmas, are a symbol for life. Jesus created the tree and then allowed his body to be slain on his creation to pay for our sins so we could enjoy life with him forever. A forever that will again include the Tree of Life that will be "the healing of the nations" (Rev. 22:2). Only through Jesus will we get back to the tree of the life.

So maybe a Christmas tree fills our hearts with wonder and awe, not because it's pretty or bright, but because there is something more. Something deeper that gives life to our soul and hope to our brokenness. Maybe there's a reason we're so drawn to Christmas trees. Maybe it's not about the Christmas tree at all. Maybe its about a person. A Creator. A Savior.

Stepping Up to Manhood: Matt Chandler & Suffering

It all started with Dennis Rainey's book, Stepping Up, which tackled head-on the call to living, breathing manhood. The men at Stepping Up Ministries are now offering a simple yet powerful vision for what it means to be the men God created them to be.

In the following video, Matt Chandler discusses how God used suffering in his life to draw him closer to Himself and how God uses suffering in order to make us into what we need to be.
(Find out more about Matt Chandler & listen to his sermons here.)

This is the second post in a series on the blog from Stepping Up Ministries on what it means to be a man.
(You can check out the first post here featuring Crawford Loritts on Becoming a Man)

Music for the Soul: Jimmy Fallon & Company

Merry Finals Week

The Innkeeper by John Piper

A message from John Piper:

"Have you ever wondered what became of the innkeeper in Bethlehem who let Mary and Joseph have their baby in his barn?

Did he have little children? When the soldiers came from Herod, did they hunt for the birth place of the dangerous baby and start the slaughter there? What did it cost the innkeeper to house the Messiah in his first hours?

In the poem called The Innkeeper, I tried to imagine what might have happened when the soldiers came. And what Jesus might have said if he showed up 30 years later to talk to the innkeeper about it. It’s fiction. But its aim is truth and hope and joy.

If you’ve ever lost a child, or ever faced a tragedy, just when you thought you were doing good, we hope The Innkeeper will bring you comfort and strength. In my experience poetry has a way of touching us sometimes when simple sentences don’t. In one sense, I hope you enjoy it. But there may be deeper emotions too. May the risen Lord Jesus turn your Advent and your Christmas into something really extraordinary this year."  

The Story of God: Spoken Word by Matt Papa

"Sixty-six books written by forty people over nearly 2,000 years, in two languages and several different genres. A worldwide bestseller published in countless sizes and bindings, translations and languages. Sworn by in court, fought over by religious people, quoted in arguments." -- Vaughn Roberts (God's Big Picture) 

The Bible is clearly no ordinary book.

And yet one story, one theme, one hero.

Is Christianity a Straightjacket?

The following post is adapted from Tim Keller's The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism  (Riverhead Books, 2008) on the question: Is belief in Jesus and Christianity the enemy of freedom?
                                                                                                                                                       

Love the Ultimate Freedom, is More Constraining Than We Might Think

In many areas of life, freedom is not so much the absence of restrictions as finding the right ones, the liberating restrictions. Those that fit with the reality of our nature and the world produce greater power and scope for our abilities and a deeper joy and fulfillment. What then is the reality we must acknowledge to thrive? What is the environment that liberates us if we confine ourselves to it, like water liberates a fish? Love. Love is the most liberating freedom-loss of all.

One of the principles of love -- either love for a friend or romantic love -- is that you have to lose independence to attain greater intimacy. If you want the "freedoms" of love --the fulfillment, security, sense of worth that it brings -- you must limit your freedom in many ways. Human beings are most free and alive in relationships of love. We only become ourselves in love.

Freedom, then, is not the absence of limitations and constraints but it is finding the right ones, those that fit our nature and liberate us. For a love relationship to be healthy there must be a mutual loss of independence. It can't be just one way. Both sides must say to each other, "I will adjust to you. I will change for you. I'll serve you even though it means a sacrifice for me."

At first sight, then, a relationship with God seems inherently dehumanizing. Surely it will have to be "one way," God's way. God, the divine being, has all the power. I must adjust to God -- there is no way that God could adjust to and serve me.

While this may be true in other forms of religion and belief in God, it is not true in Christianity. In the most radical way, God has adjusted to us -- in his incarnation and atonement. In Jesus Christ he became a limited human being, vulnerable to suffering and death. On the cross, he submitted to our condition -- as sinners -- and died in our place to forgive us. In the most profound way, God has said to us, in Christ, "I will adjust to you. I will change for you. I'll serve you though it means a sacrifice for me." If he has done this for us, we can and should say the same to God and others. St. Paul writes, "the love of Christ constrains us" (2 Cor 5:14).

A friend of C.S. Lewis's was once asked, "Is it easy to love God?" and he replied, "It is easy to those who do it." When you fall deeply in love , you want to please the beloved. You don't wait for the person to ask you to do something for her. You eagerly research and learn every little thing that brings her pleasure. Then you get it for her, even if it costs you money or great inconvenience. "Your wish is my command," you feel -- and it doesn't feel oppressive at all. From the outside, bemused friends may think, "She's leading him around by the nose," but from the inside it feels like heaven.

For a Christian, its the same with Jesus. The love of Christ constrains. Once you realize how Jesus changed for you and gave himself for you, you aren't afraid of giving up your freedom and therefore finding your freedom in him.

All I Have is Christ (Free Song Download)

One of my favorite songs is "All I have is Christ" by Sovereign Grace. Just listen to the chorus:

"But as I ran my hell-bound race
Indifferent to the cost
You looked upon my helpless state
And led me to the cross.
And I beheld God’s love displayed
You suffered in my place
You bore the wrath reserved for me
Now all I know is grace.
Hallelujah! All I have is Christ
Hallelujah! Jesus is my life"

--Desiring God is offering a free download of this song on Desiring God.
--Enjoy this animation inspired by the Song:

Thanks Beyond Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of the year because, honestly, it's just easy to be thankful. We get to be around family that we don't usually get to see, enjoy some much needed time off from the stresses of life, AND THE FOOD! I believe it was C.S. Lewis who so wisely said, "The cross comes before the crown and tomorrow is Monday morning." We're now a week removed from the holiday and thrown back into the hustle and bustle of daily life. Combine that with the stresses of Christmas and thanksgiving might as well have been decades ago. However, as Christians, thanksgiving should not be a holiday or even something we do when things go our way. Thanksgiving should be the testimony of our lives. It should be in everything we do.

 So why do we spend more time grumbling and complaining to God and less time giving thanks to Him?


We are forgetful people. Its been this way since Adam & Eve forgot what the Lord commanded, in what seemed like seconds after he told them (Gen. 3). And who could forget about those Israelites and their constant forgetfulness in the wilderness. God had just saved them from the horrors and pains of slavery and here they are grumbling and complaining saying, "you have taken us away to die in the wilderness" (Exodus 14:11). This isn't just an Old Testament theme. Don't leave out Peter in the gospels. Here is a guy who understands who Jesus is (Matthew 16:16), but then says "Jesus Who?" three straight times shortly after (Matthew 26:69-75). We are forgetful people. So what are we forgetting that keeps us from realizing how thankful we should be?

1.) We forget what we really deserve

We have an entitlement problem. We demand our rights and think we deserve to be treated with honor and praise. This ultimately stems from the fact that we think we are "good." But the bible is clear on what we truly are and thus must deserve. First of all, the bible says, "All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no does good, not even one" (Romans 3:12). We are all sinful (Romans 3:23, Ephesians 2:1) and because of that sin we are not good and deserve death (Romans 6:23). This is not just a physical death, but a spiritual death. To put it frankly & truthfully, every single person is born with a sinful nature (Ephesians 2:3) and so by nature is running headlong into hell. This is the fate of every man a part from Christ. You have to be perfect to make it to heaven (Matthew 5:48). You have to be holy to make it to heaven (Hebrews 12:14). But what do we know of holiness and perfection? We are sinners. We are not holy. If God is perfectly fair and gives us what we deserve that would be eternal separation from Him. God would be perfectly just to wipe us all out. That's hard to fathom, but it is no less true. This is what we deserve. This is what our sin has brought us.

2.) We forget what we have

We deserved to be wiped out. We deserve to be sent to eternal damnation. But if you're reading this then you're still living, which means that at this moment you're not getting what you deserve. He is showing unbelievable common grace by just allowing you to wake up for another day. Not only that, but the God whom we sinned against lets us enjoy His creation, family, friends, food, and the list goes on and on. But the good news of the Gospel is much greater than receiving some common graces. The good news is that we get what we don't deserve. In Jesus Christ, we get a relationship and life with God. We still need perfection and holiness to get to heaven, but Jesus lived a perfectly sinless life that we could never live because of our inherent sin (Heb. 4:15, 1 Peter 2:22). Not only does he live the life we couldn't live, which is needed to have a relationship with God, but he also took the death and wrath we deserve because of our sin on the Cross (Isaiah 53:5, 1 Peter 2:24). He was the perfect substitute and on the cross we see this great exchange  in that: "For our sake he (God) made him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteous of Christ" (2 Cor. 5:21). In Jesus, we not only don't get what we deserve (hell and eternal separation from God), but we also get the righteousness of Jesus that gives us the holy, blameless, and spotless standing that we need to inherit eternal life with God.
                                                                                                                                                       

What we deserve	What we have in Christ
Death (Spiritually & Physically)	Life (Spiritually & Physically)
Separation from God for Eternity	Together with God for Eternity
God’s Wrath	God’s Grace
Suffering	Comfort & Peace
Punishment	Heavenly Reward

 
This is why Paul says, "give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thess. 5:17). Thanksgiving isn't just what Christians do when they are feeling "blessed" or when the circumstances are going their way. We are always deserving of judgement, but in Christ we are always receiving grace. Thanksgiving is always there and never ceasing for someone that truly understands what they deserve and what they've been given in Jesus Christ. These truths are not based on our circumstances, but based on the unshakeable nature and character of Jesus Christ. No matter what happens in our lives and what trials we are going through, the gospel will still be there. Its the only anchor we have in this ever changing world. When the world is long gone, the gospel of Jesus Christ will be still be true and for that we are a thankful people.

Advent Devotional

I know I am a little behind, as Advent started last Sunday, but here is an Advent devotional for the holiday season that I go through every year. Its a wonderful time to get into the Word and discover the beautiful truths of Advent as we celebrate the coming of the Lord Jesus and long for his second coming. I hope this devotional will encourage you and ultimately fix your eyes on Jesus, who can and will save us. It also gives you 5 days to catch up over the next month before Christmas if you happen to miss a day, which is always good for people like me who can get behind.

Blogger is confusing about uploading a printable file of this document, but if you want a physical copy to put in your Bible or remind you of the daily reading you can highlight the text below and copy and paste to a word document and print it from there. Sorry for the inconvenience. 

Advent Devotional

“O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.”

First Sunday in Advent (Nov. 25)	Genesis 3: 1-15	The Fall of Man and the first promise of the Messiah is revealed.
Monday (Nov. 26)	Genesis 22:15-18	God promises to faithful Abraham that in his seed all nations of the earth shall be blessed.
Tuesday (Nov. 27)	Isaiah 7:14; 9:2-7	Christ’s birth and kingdom are foretold by the prophet Isaiah
Wednesday (Nov. 28)	Isaiah 11: 1-9	A rod shall come forth from the stem of Jesse.
Thursday (Nov. 29)	Micah 5:2-4	The glory of little Bethlehem is foretold by the prophet Micah
Friday (Nov. 30)	Malachi 4:1-3	The Sun of Righteousness, the Daystar, shall arise
Saturday (Dec. 1)	Isaiah 40:1-11	Comfort ye my people.
Second Sunday in Advent (Dec. 2)	Luke 1:5-25	The birth of John the Baptist is foretold to Zacharias.
Monday (Dec. 3)	Luke 1:26-38	The angel Gabriel’s annunciation to the virgin Mary of the Incarnation
Tuesday (Dec. 4)	Matthew 1:18-25	The angel of the Lord comes to Joseph in a dream.
Wednesday (Dec. 5)	Luke 1:39-56	Mary visits Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist
Thursday (Dec. 6)	Luke 1:57-66	The birth of John the Baptist
Friday (Dec. 7)	Isaiah 60:1-4	Arise, shine! For your light has come.
Saturday (Dec. 8)	Exodus 20:1-17	The Law of God that we in our own strength cannot keep
Third Sunday of Advent (Dec. 9)	Luke 2:1-7	Luke tells of the birth of Jesus
Monday (Dec. 10)	Micah 4:1-7	All nations shall find peace from the God of Jacob
Tuesday (Dec. 11)	Luke 2:8-14	The angels proclaim the birth of Christ to the shepherds
Wednesday (Dec. 12)	Psalm 98	The Lord has made known his salvation
Thursday (Dec. 13)	Luke 2:15-20	The shepherds go to the manger.
Friday (Dec. 14)	Philippians 2:5-11	The humility of Christ.
Saturday (Dec. 15)	Titus 2:11-3:7	The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.
Fourth Sunday of Advent (Dec. 16)	John 1:1-14	John unfolds the great mystery of the incarnation—the coming of the Lamb of God (part 1)
Monday (Dec. 17)	John 1:15-37	John unfolds the great mystery of the incarnation—the coming of the Lamb of God (part 2)
Tuesday (Dec. 18)	Revelation 5:1-14	John reveals the glory of the completed work of Christ—the exalted Lamb of God.
Wednesday (Dec. 19)	Luke 2:1-7	Luke tells of the birth of Jesus.
Thursday (Dec. 20)	Luke 2:15-20	The shepherds go to the manger.