Hope this Christmas (12)

Jesus Christ is the promised hope. The most significant person ever, Jesus Christ, came come from the most insignificant place, Bethlehem.

About six miles south of Jerusalem in the hill country of Judea is Bethlehem, the city where Jesus was born. Bethlehem means “the house of bread.” It was first called Ephrath (“fruitful). It was the burial place of Rachel (Gen 35:16) the home to Ruth and Boaz- “May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem” (Ruth 4:11). In Bethlehem David was anointed king over Israel by the prophet Samuel (1 Sam 16:1-13). Bethlehem became known as the “city of David” (Luke 2:4, 11).

Micah prophesied that from Bethlehem shall come forth “one who is to be ruler in Israel” (Mic 5:2). It connected the promised Messiah with the house and line of David. In the New Testament, King Herod attempted to squelch this threat to his rule (Matt. 2:1-4). Matthew quotes Micah 5:2, “For from [Bethlehem] shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel” (2:6) alluding to 2 Samuel 5:2, which describes David’s rightful kinship over that of Saul. By implication, Jesus is set over Herod as the true king.

The Gospel of Luke explains that Joseph and Mary journeyed to Bethlehem to register for a census decreed by Caesar Augustus (Luke 2:1-5). Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1; Luke 2:4) and returned later to Nazareth where he was raised (Matt 2:23; Luke 2:39). After Jesus’ birth, Matthew tells us that “wise men from the east” came to Jerusalem to worship the one born as the king of the Jews (Matt 2:2-11).

The prediction of the location of the Messiah’s birth in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) is a clear pointer to the significance of the Messiah’s entry into this world. How will we respond to the news of Jesus’ birth? To busy? Is this just for kids? Does his authority alarm you? Don’t overlook the obvious. Jesus is the promised Davidic king AND the promised hope of blessing to all the nations.

Let’s miss the opportunity to learn about Jesus. Take the time. Jesus is the hope to all the nation.

Hope this Christmas (11)

December 11

Hope does not spring from a person’s mind; it is not snatched out of mid-air. Hope is grounded in God and his promises. The Christian finds hope on the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus that Christian.

The eternal Son of God became a human being (John 1:14). He is fully God and Man, a full human being. The virginal conception is necessary to obtain both a true human nature and a completely divine nature. Therefore, His death is superior and sufficient to forgive anyone who believes specifically in Christ and his death and resurrection for sin. Why? Because he died as a substitute for our sins and rose again (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

Jesus was a human being. He was made like us in every way except for one: Jesus is perfectly Holy. This means he is like us in every way excerpt for sin. Hebrews 4:15 helps us understand: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” Hebrews 7:26-27 also clarifies: “such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.”

Since the fall of man in Genesis 3, every human father produces a son or daughter with his sin nature. The Lord Jesus Christ does not have a sin nature. Because of the virginal conception, he did not inherit the curse of depravity of Adam’s race. The virginal conception is essential!

In the person of Jesus Christ, Christians have a mediator AND because Jesus is righteous and Holy, his righteousness is imputed to the believer when they believe in Jesus Christ. The simple but profound truth is that believers in Jesus have salvation: the forgiveness of sin. He is our hope!

Hope this Christmas (10)

Today, few words desperately need a clear definition than the word hope. Hope is reduced to wishful thinking, a positive attitude, or an optimistic outlook. But hope is an expectation and anticipation that relies on God and his promises. Paul writes, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13). With God as the foundation, we can have expectant hope in a confusing world.
When Joseph was pledged to be married, he discovered that Mary was pregnant (Matthew 1:18). How did Joseph discover Mary was pregnant? Matthew doesn’t tell us but it is likely that Mary told him. Joseph knew the child was not his. What should he do? While he could have exposed Mary to disgrace, and even to death (Deuteronomy 22:20–21), he chose the merciful option of a quiet divorce (Matthew 1:19). However, as her pregnancy progressed, her condition would have been obvious, and probably his own reputation would be negatively affected because of their relationship.
Then God sent an angel who told Joseph that the child he and Mary would raise together was conceived by the Holy Spirit and would be the Savior of the world; He would be Immanuel, God with us.
Joseph chose to fear God and despite the social shame, married Mary. Joseph gave the child the name, Jesus and embraced responsibility being a fathering to him (v. 25). God used Joseph’s actions to save the life of the Savior of the world. Joseph and Mary did not consummate their marriage until after Jesus was born, thus preserving her virginity. Mary conceived her Son as a virgin and gave birth to Him as a virgin (Matthew 1:23). When the child was born, Joseph named Him Jesus. He continued to obey God and went where God commanded to protect the child.
Joseph believed God’s explanation of Mary’s pregnancy. Joseph valued obedience to God, which cost him the right to value his own reputation. God is our expectant hope in a confusing world.

Hope this Christmas (9)

The Hope of Christmas springs forth from the virginal conception. The virginal conception (virgin birth) explains how God the Son adds to Himself a human nature, how the word became flesh. Simply stated, Mary conceived Jesus by the Holy Spirit apart from the cooperation of man. It means that Mary was a virgin when Jesus was born.

How the virgin conception, resulting in the virgin birth, came about is found in Matthew and Luke: “before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 1:19); “for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 1:20); “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”’ (Matt. 1:22-23); “he kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son” (Matt. 1:25); in Luke 1:27, Mary is called a “virgin” twice; and in Mary’s own question in Luke 1:34, “How can this be since I am a virgin?” Mary receives her answer in the next verse: “The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

The virginal conception was the triune God’s supernatural means by which God the Son added to himself a human nature. The result is that in Jesus we truly meet God in full glory. It is essential because through it, God purposed to accomplish in Jesus Christ the nature, purpose, and significance of His work of salvation. “The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.” At the heart of Christianity and the gospel is the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Apart from the “Word becoming flesh” (John 1:14) and the incarnate Son of God living and dying in our place as our Savior, there is no salvation. Here is no hope for the world.

Jesus had to be fully human and truly sinless to be our perfect substitute and accomplish God’s work of salvation. Without the incarnation there is no death and resurrection for sin. Without Christmas there is no Easter! When the sinner puts his faith in Christ’s death and resurrection alone, he can be assured that God has accomplished in Christ, exclusively and sufficiently, all that the sinner needs for forgiveness. This is what God purposed (but not all!) through the incarnation which took place by the glorious and supernatural means of the virginal conception. This is the hope from Christmas

Hope this Christmas (8)

For many, this time of year is only a magnification of the hopelessness and despair that they feel inside. Whether this hopelessness comes from a loss of a loved one or a commercialized view of Christmas, the Scripture has the truth about this matter. God sent hope to rescue and reconcile us to himself.

Every year at this time when we celebrate the birth of baby Jesus to the virgin Mary we are really celebrating the incarnation. God became man. And through virginal conception, the man Jesus did not cease to be God. He came not just to serve but “to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Philippians 2:8 tells us that “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

God himself came to die and live again. “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The great extent of his people’s rebellion was met and surpassed by the sufficiency of his substitutionary death.

The meaning of Christmas is not just that God himself came from heaven as man. The meaning is that he came down to rescue us. Such was the promise of God’s messenger from the time of his announcement: “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). He came down to rescue us from sin and reconcile sinners “to himself” (Colossians 1:20). He “suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

This Christmas let’s marvel at the wonder of the incarnation of the Son and his death and resurrection. Is it time for you to transfer your faith to Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection for your sins? He came down to rescue us from sin and reconcile us to himself. Trust him! Christmas comes each year always with the message of hope that is found in Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world!

Hope this Christmas (7)

The Gospel of John describes this world as "dark". It is a spiritual darkness. Many have tried to conquer the darkness. Many try to light their own way or try to see through the darkness.

Hope begins with the eternal existence of the Son of God. John begins his Gospel not with the birth of Jesus or with his mission, but with his eternal existence. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and was God” (John 1:1). In the beginning, the Son already was there. When he was born as a man, he always has been. He has always been with the Father. He has always been God. Everyone and everything has a beginning, but not the Son. When he was born as a man, he always has been God from eternity. And from before the beginning of time Jesus had always been the Light. John records that he came and shone in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome the Light (John 1:1-14).

Hope is embraced with the pivotal confession that Jesus is the Christ or Messiah, God’s promised one (John 6:66-71). The word messiah comes from Hebrew/Aramaic mashiach, meaning “anointed one.” The Greek equivalent is christos, which derives from the word “to anoint,” chri. In the first century, “Messiah” and “Christ” were virtually synonymous (John 1:41).

Hope is available to people through Jesus’s mission to rescue sinners (John 1:29, 36). This is for all people (John 3:16; 10:16; 11:51-52).

Jesus, the Light, came into the darkness, into our darkness. He conquered sin and death by his death and resurrection. May God grant us eyes to see and hearts to receive the Light that shines forth from before the beginning.

“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,” (John 3:16).

Hope this Christmas (6)

There is hope for everyone. On that first Christmas night, hope eclipsed despair. Christians celebrate a gift far more precious than all the things money can buy.

In Matthew, Joseph is given two names for Mary’s baby. The first name for the boy is Jesus, which means God saves, “for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). The second name is in reference to Isaiah 7:14, “they shall call his name Immanuel.” Immanuel means “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). God kept a promise. God took on human flesh so that he might become one of us-a human being. Jesus is God with us.

Paul describes Jesus Christ as “our hope” (1 Timothy 1:1) and “the blessed hope” (Titus 2:13). Jesus is our hope. He is the hope of the world. We have hope because Jesus forgives us and transforms us into his likeness.

Jesus is God and man. He came to save or rescue people from their sins through his death and resurrection. Anyone who turns to Christ and trusts in his cross work will be forgiven.

The reason we celebrate Christmas is Jesus. Jesus is our hope.

Hope this Christmas (5)

“I have no hope! I see no hope for myself or the world” Life is filled with setbacks, personal losses, and unanswered prayers. We need Hope this Christmas.

In Matthew 1:18-25, Mary was found to be pregnant through a miracle by the Holy Spirit while she was betrothed to Joseph. Betrothal in ancient Israel was much different than “engagement” in our culture. The Jewish betrothal involved a legal contract. It could be broken only by an official divorce. Any sexual activity during this period was viewed as adultery and could carry the death penalty. Matthew, however, is not reporting a scandal but God’s intervention into human history. This was no ordinary human conception. God was at work!

His description of the Holy Spirit’s role in the virginal conception is quite different from Greco-Roman parallels. These so-called parallels all depend upon a god having sexual intercourse with a human. There is no hint of this in Matthew.

Further, the perception of those is that Mary knew that she was in a shameful and potentially dangerous position. How would one know that this pregnancy was the result of divine intervention and not of sexual promiscuity, immorality, or rape? Joseph, a man who was just and righteous, likely doubted that Mary was innocent. Matthew records Joseph acting in a way that would reduce her shame and shield her from perhaps deadly consequences of adultery. Joseph planned to divorce her quietly.

But God was at work! He revealed to Joseph His plans. As a result, Joseph should not fear because the child was a miracle of the Holy Spirit. After the child was born, Joseph did what the angel had commanded and gave him the name Jesus. Joseph trusted in God. There was hope.

We can have real hope today by connecting to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. Everyone that trusts in Jesus and his death for our sins is forgiven. Everyone! Biblical hope is disconnected from circumstances and looks beyond this world and this life to Jesus Christ. It looks to him to rest, to trust, and to hope. There is real hope this Christmas.

Hope this Christmas: (4)

Christmas is a monumental event. It is almost too big to define. It is commemorated with parties, gifts, and lighted drive-through displays with thousands of lights. But is Christmas about those things? Why do people do all these things? Is it for entertainment? Is it for commerce? Is it for family? Slogans like “the reason for the season” and “it’s about the baby Jesus” attempt to simply the season we commemorate, but there is so much more.

Instead of bending Christmas to us for the answer, lets bend our mind and hearts to Scripture’s teaching to discover what Christmas is about. We can find the clear answer in the genealogy and birth of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:1-17 and 18-21). Notice three verses in this section:

“This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matt. 1:1)

“and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.” (Matt. 1:16)

“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.” (Matt. 1:21)

The genealogy in Matthew (Matt. 1:1-17) boldly establishes Jesus’s identity through David. David is a descendent of Judah. Judah is descended from of Abraham, whom we know from the Old Testament to be descended from Eve.

Notice that the words of Matthew mirror the language used to introduce creation itself and the genealogy connected to Adam (for example Gen 2:4 and 5:1).

Next, the inclusion of four women in the genealogy is unusual because each of the women was an outsider to Israel with a questionable background. Tamar was a Canaanite who disguised herself as a prostitute to seduce Judah (Gen. 38). Rahab was a Canaanite prostitute who lied to protect the Israelite spies and helped overthrow Jericho (Joshua 2; 6:25). Ruth was a Moabite woman who moved to Israel upon the death of her husband. Finally, Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah the Hittite; King David married Bathsheba after fathering a child by her and killing her husband (2 Sam 11-12). The inclusion of these of women shows that God actively seeks to forgive, restore sinners, and to reach out to those who are marginalized, unnoticed, and outsiders.

Finally, Mary falls in line with these other women by conceiving a child through virginal conception. The Greek text and English translation clearly show that Jesus is the biological son of Mary but not of Joseph (the Greek relative pronoun is feminine). Joseph was Jesus’s legal adoptive parent. He was not his biological father. Matthew intended his genealogy to show Jesus’s concrete historical and legal connection to David and beyond that to God.

Jesus is the unique Son of God. He is the Savior and King. Later he died as a substitute for sinners to provide the hope of forgiveness for all who come to him in faith. Through Jesus Christ, God forgives, restores, and reaches out to those who are marginalized, unnoticed, and outsiders. He came to save his people from their sins (1:21).

Christmas is all about Jesus and his purpose is to bring hope, the only hope. Celebrate Jesus Christ, our hope, this Christmas.

Hope this Christmas: (3)

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is for people who live in the gray days of discouragement. He is for people who live in a dark world. He is where forgiveness is found. He is where completion and purpose can be found. He was promised by God for this. He is the hope of Christmas.

When Adam and Eve rejected God’s rule through sin and rebellion, God made a promise (Genesis 3:15). In this promise, Satan (who had previously rebelled) was judged, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” This promise declares that one day a descendant of the woman (that is, a human being) will crush the head of the serpent, Satan. But which descendent would be the promised one?

God narrows the promise of a descendant to the family of Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3). Here God told Abraham that he will make his descendants a great nation and that through Abraham’s offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Is Abraham the one? It becomes clear to the reader that he is not the promised one. The search for the promise one continued.

But which person of all Abraham’s descendants would be the promised one? As the storyline of the Bible continues, the promise is narrowed down again to Judah and a ruler (Gen. 49:10), “the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”

The ruler, (symbolized by the scepter), will receive tribute and obedience from the peoples of the earth. Hundreds of years later this promise narrows to a descendant of Judah named David. God chose David to be king. Is David the one? Soon it becomes clear that David will not fulfill the original messianic promise. Like Abraham, Jacob, and Judah before him, David’s life is marked by sin.

During David’s kingly reign God sends the prophet Nathan to give David the following promise: “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Sam. 7:16). A descendent of David will rule on his throne and over his kingdom forever. Hundreds of years then go by and still no promised one. The Old Testament ends looking for the coming of the Messiah.

The wait continued until we read the opening words of Matthew’s Gospel with informed eyes: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matt. 1:1). Matthew begins by declaring Jesus to be the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, the long-awaited Messiah! He came to save his people from their sins (1:21). We find hope this Christmas, bound up in the person of Jesus the Messiah. He is the promised one.

Hope this Christmas (2)

The Son of God entered into our mess of darkness and hopelessness to rescue sinners. If we miss this point, we miss the significance of the cross and the meaning of Christmas. The Bible’s entire storyline unveils the hope of the Savior’s birth. Flowing from the storyline is the historical fall of humankind in Genesis 3:1-7. Eve gave the fruit, breaking God’s restriction, to her husband. While Eve had been deceived, Adam’s sin was clear disobedience and rebellion against God. Adam’s sin had serious consequences for all his decedents. That includes you and me. It is separation from God (Gen. 3:8-10), death (Genesis 2:16-17; 3:19, Romans 5:12, 14), and personal sin (Psalms 51:5, 55:3, Romans 5:12, 5:18-19, 1 Cor. 15:22, Eph. 2:3). What is sin? Sin is breaking the law of God. It is anything that is contrary to God’s the holy character. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The truth is that all people stand condemned before a Holy God. Left to ourselves, we are unable to change this reality. This is real hopelessness.  

However, God brought hope through the promised unique descendent of Adam, who would bruise the heel of the serpent (Genesis 3:15). As the storyline moves on, God chose Abraham to serve as a channel of blessing for all the nations through his son Isaac and his descendants (including Jacob). The storyline continues to march on as God chose David to be king over Israel. Not only would the Messiah be a descendant of Abraham, but he would also be a descendant of King David.

The storyline’s movement to the Messiah marches through dark times. After Solomon’s death, his kingdom is divided into the northern and southern kingdoms. Then both the northern (Israel) and the south (Judah) are conquered, and the people are taken into exile. After seventy years in exile, some return to the Holy Land, but the glory days of David’s kingdom have passed. The stage is set for the Messiah.

Matthew opens his Gospel by introducing Jesus as the son of Abraham and son of David. He organizes Jesus’s genealogy in three sets of fourteen generations. It begins from Abraham to David, from David to the exile, and from the exile to Jesus. Luke shows a great number of promises have their fulfillment in Jesus, the son of Adam, the Son of God

God was moving human history to the climax of His Son entering into our mess:

“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship” (Galatians 4:4–5).

The Son became a human being through the incarnation, “God sent his Son.” God’s plan to rescue sinners is found in the truth that the “Word became flesh” (John 1:14). Christ took “the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Phil 2:7). He was called Immanuel—which means “God with us” (Matt 1:23).

Jesus is no ordinary child. He had no ordinary birth. Jesus Christ is the virgin-born restorer of Israel and Savior of the world.  This is the most important arrival in the history of the world. God has provided a rescue plan for his people from separation, death, and personal sin. Jesus died for our sins and rose again (1 Cor. 15:3-4).

Make this a special Christmas by trusting the Lord Jesus Christ alone for forgiveness for sin and guilt before a Holy God. God will forgive and restore. He is faithful to his promises. You can believe him. You can have confidence in him. This is real hope. What is keeping you from trusting Jesus Christ?

Hope this Christmas (1)

When we look back at Christmas over the years, treasured memories flood our minds. But in the glitter and busyness of the season, let’s not lose sight of something deeper than our memories. Let’s look to the hope found in the meaning of Christmas. Over two thousand years ago, a young Jewish girl gave birth to a son. But this was no ordinary child. He was the unique Son of God. Matthew writes “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.” (Matthew 1:21).

Hope comes from the eternal Son of God who took to himself full humanity. The Son became a man without ceasing to be God. John 1:14 explains and clarifies what this means, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The Son of God did not fake it. He became a human being. The Son is uniquely the God-man. Moving the Biblical story along to Easter, Paul clarifies what the meaning of the cross is and why hope is found in Jesus Christ, “Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

Hope is precisely bound up with the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ and his work on the cross. The unique Son of God is the heart and the hope of Christmas for every person. Forgiveness is received by everyone who responds in faith. No one who responds in faith will be stranded in their sins. He rescues every single believer. No one will be left alone, no one will be undefended, no one will be forgotten, and no one left hopeless. No one!

GIVING THANKS TO GOD FOR SIGNS OF GRACE (PART 3).

Paul Thanks God because the Thessalonians are persevering under trial. 

The first blog post in this series encouraged giving thanks to God for spiritual growth. The second post encouraged giving thanks to God for increasing love. In this last post of the series Paul thanks God because the Thessalonians are persevering under trial. Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 1:3-4:

We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.

Thanksgiving Day may be over, but thanking God never is because God is at work. The steady perseverance of the Thessalonian’s was so noteworthy that Paul boasts about it ‘among God’s churches’ (v. 4). Since their faith and love had increased, they were spiritually strong enough to persevere under the persecutions and trials they were enduring.

Paul notes how powerfully the grace of God was operating in the lives of the Thessalonian believers in that they continue to follow Christ through the pressures of persecution and various trials. This is a result of the grace of God. They press on encouraged by their growing faith and love. So as a result, this testimony is an encouragement for other churches and brings more praise and thanksgiving to God.

The content of Paul’s thanksgiving shows his Biblical understanding of God’s pattern of truth he brings to his intercession—and we urgently need to develop the Biblical pattern.

Let us pray for the individual members of our church family and thank God for signs of grace in their lives.

GIVING THANKS TO GOD FOR SIGNS OF GRACE (PART 2)

Giving thanks to God for signs of Grace (part 2): Increasing love.

The previous blog post encouraged the Thessalonians to give thanks to God for their spiritual growth. Next Paul mentions their growing love for one another. Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 1:3-4:

We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.

The Thessalonian’s love for one another was growing. Stemming from God’s indescribable love for them, their shared devotion to Jesus Christ was holding God’s people together.

What is amazing about God’s love is that it pulls together people in a church family that come from varied groups. It is terribly difficult when a church becomes full of resentments and nurtures bitterness. This pitiful reality arises when Christians lose sight of their first and primary allegiance to Christ. Outside of devotion to Christ, there is simply very little in the social, economic, educational, culture, etc., that can change attitudes and hold people together to continue the churches mission.  

What’s more when anything trumps God’s love in Christ then another ugly reality raises its blasphemous head: idolatry. When love is professed for Jesus Christ but not mirrored or shown to others who also profess to love the same Jesus Christ, we may legitimately ask how seriously we should take these professions of love for Jesus Christ.

Christians grow in their love for each other because they are loved by Jesus Christ and love him, that growing love is an infallible sign of grace in their lives. As Paul hears reports of the Thessalonians, he is struck by their growing love and he thanks God.

Giving Thanks to God for Signs of Grace (Part 1)

Giving Thanks to God for Signs of Grace (Part 1): Stretching Upward Spiritually

The previous blog post encouraged giving thanks to God. Scripture reveals that God is at work in the spiritual lives of his people. Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 1:3-4:

We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.

The first sign of is stretching upward spiritually or growing towards spiritual maturity. This sign is without a question, a cause to give God thanks. When the apostle writes, “‘We… thank God for you,’ he says, ‘…because your faith is growing more and more’ (v. 3), he is speaking of their growing faith and not to the time they were saved or converted. They are growing in reliance upon the Lord. Growing fidelity to the Lord and his gospel is inevitably stamped by increasing trust in the Lord and his gospel. Increasing trust results in reliability. The Thessalonians are not satisfied by their attainments to this point spiritually, they are growing in their faith and stretching upward in spiritual maturity. It is for this that Paul gives thanks.

Increasing spiritual growth in a church family results in reliability. Like the example of the Thessalonians, we must not be satisfied by our spiritual growth attained at this point of our spiritual walk in the Word. Rather, we are to push on in our faith toward spiritual maturity. Stretching upward spiritually is the result of the grace of God and for that we give God thanks.

Growing spiritually is the first sign of grace in this passage for which we are to giving thanks to God for the growth in our faith. 

Tie Thanksgiving to God and Tie it Tight

Soon both Thanksgiving and Christmas will be upon us. Does Thanksgiving seem to get the “short end of the stick”? Perhaps this is because our values are being revealed. Let’s think about the things that we commonly give thanks. We give a quick thanks to God for our food. We thank God for someone we know who has left the hospital feeling better. We may thank God when someone has become a child of God through the Gospel. But have you also noticed “giving thanks” is often tied to material things in our life, to possessions, rather than to the source: God.

In regards to possessions, I ran across this quote from the book, Discipline, the Glad Surrender: Here Elisabeth Elliot reveals four meaningful lessons to be learned from the discipline of our possessions: 'the first lesson is that all things are given by God...Because God gives us things indirectly by enabling us to make them with our own hands (out of things He has made, of course) or to earn the money to buy them...we are prone to forget that He gave them to us. We should be thankful. Thanksgiving requires the recognition of the Source. It implies contentment with what is given, not complaint...it excludes covetousness. The third lesson is that things can be material for sacrifice. The Father pours out His blessings on us; we, His creatures, receive them with open hands, give thanks, and lift them up as an offering back to Him...This lesson leads naturally to the fourth which is that things are given to us to enjoy for awhile...What is not at all fitting or proper is that we should set our hearts on them. Temporal things must be treated as temporal things' received, given thanks for, offered back but enjoyed.

Do we thank the Source? Do we express our thanks to God? Are we a thankful people? Are we thankful individuals? Explore these diagnostic questions to help probe the issue:

Am I prone to complaining? 

Am I a bitter person? 

Am I characterized by failing to recognize God’s good gifts in my life?

Am I anxious about the future? 

Am I the center of the universe?

Do I look for signs of God’s grace in the lives of others and give thanks for them?

What we give thanks for and who we give thanks to reveals the values we bring to intercession and thanksgiving. Paul writes In Colossians 3:16, “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. Doug Moo makes the following observations from this verse:

“Gratitude in the heart must come to expression in actual, verbal giving thanks to the Father “through” Christ. Some interpreters think that Christ is the basis for the giving of thanks. But Paul’s choice of construction should be honored: the giving of thanks is not “because of” Christ (dia with accusative) but “through” Christ (dia with genitive). In keeping with the way in which Colossians persistently presents Christ as the Mediator of all that God is to the world and to the believer, so Christ mediates our thanksgiving to the Father.” (Douglas Moo in The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon (PNTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008) 291

With God as the source, let us expand our framework of the values we bring to thanksgiving based on Scripture’s teaching. Let the message of Christ dwell deeply among us. Let’s us not be characterized by ingratitude. Let us tie thanksgiving to God and tie it tight. 

Paid in Full!

Paid in Full! A Note on “It is finished” in John 19:30.

By Kurt Seboe

Hanging on a Roman Cross 2000 years ago, Jesus, “knowing that all things had already been accomplished,” declared, “I am thirsty” (John 19:28). And after drinking the sour wine, he declared, “It is finished!” (19:30).

The expression “It is finished,” is translated from the Greek verb τετέλεσται. Earlier in the context, in 19:28, this word was used to highlight that “all things had already been accomplished.” The verb is a perfect form. When the author is building to the climax of his point in the argument, he will employ a perfect form. When an author/writer is portraying background information to carry the storyline, he will use an aorist or present form.

Secondly, the verb itself (τελέω) carries three basic uses that are similar in meaning. First, it has the force, “to complete an activity or process,” hence bring to an end, finish or complete. Second, it means “to carry out an obligation or demand,” hence carry out, accomplish, perform, fulfill, keep. And third, “to pay what is due,” hence pay (BDAG). Which of these three usage categories is always a matter of what is the best fit contextually? D. A. Carson notes,

As an English translation, It is finished captures only part of the meaning, the part that focuses on completion. Jesus’ work was done. But this is no cry of defeat; nor is it merely an announcement of imminent death (though it is not less than that). The verb teleō from which this form derives denotes the carrying out of a task, and in religious contexts bears the overtone of fulfilling one’s religious obligations. Accordingly, in the light of the impending cross, Jesus could earlier cry, ‘I have brought you glory on earth by completing (teleiōsas; i.e. by accomplishing) the work you gave me to do’ (17:4). ‘Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them eis telos—not only ‘to the end’ but to the full extent mandated by his mission. And so, on the brink of death, Jesus cries out, It is accomplished! (John, PNTC, 621).

So take comfort and and rest in confidence, believer in Christ. For in the purpose of his crucifixion, namely, to die for the sins of the world, Jesus is declaring the debt has been paid in full.

Jesus our High Priest

When the writer of Hebrews penned a “word of exhortation” (13:17") to believers about to face persecution, one aspect of the glories of the Son to be encouraged with is that we have a superior high priest. In becoming man, the son took on our frailty and faced weakness and temptation like us. And He, as our High Priest, by one sacrifice of His own body, makes perfect forever those who come to Him by faith. What’s more, he always lives to make intercession for us.

The writer of Hebrews pens this seventh statement about the glories of the Son in 1:2-3.

“(He) sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb 1:3).

Clearly, the finished character of the Son’s once-for-all sacrifice for sin (10:10, 12) is established. The right hand indicates the plan of honor that he occupies. It introduces the first of many quotations from and allusions to Psalm 110. It is the main text and basis for the book of Hebrews, which is a “word of exhortation” (13:17). The author says as much in his appeal in 8:1: “Now the main point in what is being said is this: we have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.” Read 10:12 and 12:2 for other references to the Messiah’s when “He entered the holy places once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” (9:12).

“Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession—Jesus” (3:1). Let us appropriate the truth Jesus’ role as our High Priest which fulfills Psalm 110:1-4.

Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope – and boldly approach God the Father, knowing that because of our High Priest, He will receive us with mercy and grace.

Pastor Kurt Seboe

Imitators of the Lord

When Paul came to Thessalonica to establish a church there, he was faced with severe persecution. So great was the opposition that he had to cut his time there short after a few weeks and leave town by night (read about this in Acts 17:1-10). What happened to the believers remaining? They imitated Paul’s attitude in persecution! Even more, they became examples to others in their entire region. We can read about this example in in 1 Thess 5b-9. This is a description of their example:  

-you became imitators of us and of the Lord

-you welcomed the message with the joy from the Holy Spirit.

As a result:

-you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

-the Lord’s message rang out from you,

-every place that your faith in God has gone out, so we don’t need to say anything

The results of the power of the gospel are seen in the fact that the faith of these new believers caught fire. The entire church family’s faith caught fire resulting in evangelism. Evangelism is a church family affair.

Has our faith caught fire? Do we have faith that radiates beyond our local church to the world around us? Do we have the faith that inspires and motivates others to “love and good works” Heb 10:24?

In love and unity, the body of Christ represents Christ to the world. The believers at Thessalonica imitated the Lord wonderfully and powerfully. Could that be said about us?

Pastor Kurt Seboe

I'm Sticking with Preaching the WorD!

Paul wrote with urgency, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Timothy 4:1-2).

I’m going to stick with what God has promised to use: the preaching of the Word of God. This exhortation is not addressed to the hearer; it is for Timothy. The one who is to obey this command is the one proclaiming the message. It is for the pastor.

Paul urged Timothy to proclaim the truth in his public ministry and adhere to it in his personal life. God was watching him, as was Jesus Christ who will judge all people. Jesus Christ will judge Christians at the judgment seat of Christ and then appear again at the Second Coming (cf. 1:10) and set up His millennial kingdom on the earth. Consequently Timothy needed to herald the Word of God (v. 2) and faithfully carry out the ministry that God had given him (v. 5).

Preach or proclaim the Word of God! That is the primary responsibility of every leader of God’s people (cf. 1:14; 1 Tim. 6:20).

The Word of God must be proclaimed in season and out of season. There is no need for meaningless and silly substitutes for God’s Word. The substitutes may entertain but will definitely distract the lost and the saved from needed conviction or edification. The truth is needed!

Sadly, but not surprisingly, trending in an alarming number of churches, God’s people are being told what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear. The urgency and the task of ministry is to deliver truth. I intend to continue doing just that, by God’s grace, until the day He calls me home.

I’m sticking with the charge. I’m sticking with preaching the word!

-Pastor Kurt Seboe