Christmas 2010

This Christmas has been a wonderful season! It was my first Christmas with a family of my own. My wife, Sarah, and I spent our first Christmas as a married couple in South Carolina with her parents. Not only was it our first as a married couple, but it was also my wife's first "white Christmas." Yes, South Carolina had a white Christmas. The first one since 1964. It was a wonderful time with family and friends celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Throughout this Christmas season, I have constantly been reminded of what really makes Christmas so special. Over the past month I have asked various people what makes Christmas special to them. Far too often I heard the response of, "It's the time spent with family and friends," or "It's the rest and relaxation of time off of work." These are both good things, but neither of these come anywhere close to the real reason that Christmas is so special. Christmas is the celebration of a birth. Not an ordinary birth, but the birth of the God-man, Jesus Christ. The simple fact that God was born in human form makes the occasion extraordinary, but the most extraordinary part of it is what he came to do. He came to die. What makes Christmas special to the believer? In a word...the cross. The cross is what adds significance to Christ's birth. Christ was born in order that he would live a perfect life as a man, suffer and die for the sins of man, and then resurrect from the dead to give man victory over sin. There is little significance in celebrating the birth of Christ apart from the cross of Christ. The two are inseparable.

So when asked, "What makes Christmas special to you?" my answer will be "The cross."

Zealous for Good Works

Recently, my wife and I have been reading through John Piper’s book Fifty Reasons Jesus Came to Die. It goes through Scripture and highlights what the death of Christ on the cross accomplished for us. So far it has been very beneficial to both of us in reminding us of a lot of the meaning behind the cross that we sometimes skim over without realizing it.

Since beginning this book it has changed my personal Bible reading. It seems now that as I read my mind is naturally drawn to those different reasons that Christ came to die. Today, while sitting in the morning service at my church, was no different. Our pastor was preaching from Titus 2:11-14, highlighting for us the work of grace as it came to earth from God. The sermon was used to direct our minds toward the cross as we would later be partaking in the Lord’s Supper, but as he read through the passage, verse 14 stuck out to me. Speaking of Jesus Christ, verse 14 reads, “who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”

In this verse we see two specific reasons that Jesus came to die. Those reasons were (1) “to redeem us from all lawlessness and (2) to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”

The book of Titus as a whole is essentially a call to holiness based on the work and authority of Christ. Paul in verses 11-14 outlines the gospel basis for this call to holiness and provides for his readers one of the purposes for which Christ died (“gave himself”). The first of these two reasons closely parallels Ephesians 1:4 where Paul says, “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” That is to say that God chose us in Christ before creation and the purpose of that choosing was that we should be holy and blameless before him. It was this purpose that the death of Christ was to fulfill by redeeming us from lawlessness (or sinfulness). I find it necessary to note that it does not say that it was to redeem us from the punishment of lawlessness but to redeem us from lawlessness itself. Some claim that one can be saved from the punishment of sin by believing in Christ, but that there does not necessarily need to be a change in behavior. I believe that to be a false claim and I believe that this passage clearly indicates the opposite. If Christ died to save us from lawlessness itself then it does not make sense that we, being saved from it, should remain in a state of continual lawlessness. If we have truly been saved then we have been saved from it and saved to the opposite of it. The opposite, in this case, is godliness (2:12).

The second of the purposes of the cross listed in verse 14 is “to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” This was part of the purpose of the cross and as such it was fulfilled on the cross. In the translation from Greek into English, the first part of that phrase loses some of its emphasis.  The phrase “a people for his own possession” indicates that this people were to be his (God’s) treasured possession. This idea goes back to OT times when God told Israel that they would be a peculiar or special people. Now, the same idea is made in reference to the Church. Those who are in Christ are being purified as a special, treasured people set apart for God himself. This setting apart is accompanied by a descriptive phrase referring to those who are set apart. Paul says that they are a people “who are zealous for good works.” The ESV Study Bible adds this note; “[S]o again redemption is tied specifically to living in a godly manner. There is no room for claiming to be redeemed while providing no evidence of practical transformation.” Some would take offense to this saying that it is adding works to salvation. Can I say that this objection is the farthest thing from the truth? It is not that works are done in order to gain salvation, but that works are done as evidence of true salvation. Let me ask a question. Can the purpose of God be frustrated? If the almighty God designs something to be a certain way, can finite man thwart his plan? Absolutely not! If God says, as he does here in Titus, that Christ died (gave himself) to “purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” does it not necessarily follow that he will accomplish that? Some try to separate the “people for his own possession” from the “zealous for good works”, but it is impossible to do so without compromising the integrity of Scripture. God’s purpose in the death of Christ will be fulfilled in those who are in Christ.

Can I exhort you with the words of Paul as he writes to Titus in chapter 3 verse 8? “The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.”

Because of the death of Christ, seek to live in a godly manner being zealous for good works!

Pray, Meet People, Tell Them About Christ

I just heard a sermon today from a man who is passionate about missions. He has been in Albania since the country rid itself of communist rule and has been faithfully and prayerfully spreading the gospel of the grace of God. He preached from John 4 encouraging us as believers to be passionate about missions. John 4 is a passage that is used a lot in missions conferences across America. It is the story of the meeting that Christ had with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. The portion we all know so well is at the close of that account when Christ tells his disciples that "the fields are white for harvest" (vs. 35) indicating that the time was upon them that they should be fervently sharing the gospel. However, this was not the focus of the sermon we heard today. The speaker chose to focus on vs.31-34. When Christ, passing through Samaria with his disciples, chose to sit and rest by Jacob's well his disciples went down into the city to buy food. While they were gone, Christ had his encounter with the Samaritan woman. It was just as the disciples were returning that Christ had ended his conversation with the woman and she went back to the city. The disciples then brought the food that they had purchased to Christ and entreated him to eat. At that point Christ told them that he had food that they did not know of and that food was "to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work." The main point of the message today was focussed on this phrase. Is our passion to do the will of God? Is our passion to accomplish his work? This was the attitude of Christ. He was so passionate about doing the will of his father that he considered it to be his food. The preacher today encouraged us to build that passion within us so that we are not dutifully driven into missions, but rather passionately driven into missions.

This is not at all to imply that everyone is called into foreign missions. The speaker defined missions as "doing globally what all Christians should be doing locally." Simply put, it is praying, meeting people, and telling them about Christ (the title of the post). May we all have the same passion that Christ had in doing the will of the father.

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Simply saying "Merry Christmas" is NOT Evangelism

First I would like to point out what evangelism is not. (1) It is NOT merely putting a sign on the front of your yard that reads “Jesus is the Reason for the Season.”  (2) It is NOT responding to the cashier at the store with “Merry Christmas” when she greets you with “Happy Holidays.” (3) It is NOT putting on a campaign to remove the “X-mas” signs from Main Street.

                While each of these activities has their own purpose and may do some good in getting the message of Christ across, we cannot stop at this point. Concerning the first point above, there are many people who display a sign saying “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” with no knowledge of what Christmas is all about. They like the slogan because they are slightly convicted by the greed and obsession with presents that is so prevalent during the Christmas season and feel that it is more pious to think of a cute little baby rather than Santa. But while they promote the babe in the manger they have no real understanding about who that baby is. Yes, Jesus is the reason for the season, but we cannot stop at simply reminding people of that fact.  Concerning the second point, there are still many unregenerate people who use the term “Merry Christmas.” There are many reasons for using it, not the least of which is simply tradition. “That’s the way we said it when I was a kid,” the old-timer would say. Yes, it is good to keep the word “Christ” in our greeting, but going around saying “Merry Christmas” is not a statement that we are a Christian. The same thing applies to the third point. Simply because you seek to keep Christ in Christmas does not give the world around you the complete message of what the birth of Christ really means.

                So, how do we evangelize this Christmas season? Quite honestly, the methods don’t change from any other time of year. We are still supposed to live a life that is worthy of the calling to which we have been called (Eph. 4:1) which is to be “holy and blameless before him (God)” (Eph. 1:4). We are also to continue to verbally share the love of Christ (Matt. 28:19).

                My point is, don’t stop at saying “Merry Christmas.” That is not evangelism. It may be making a statement of some sort, but it is not evangelism. By all means say “Merry Christmas,” but follow through with that and tell people what Christmas is really all about.  That is, tell them about the Christ-child that was born in Bethlehem and tell them why he was born. He was born to take away the sins of the world.

How to Spend the Day with God - Richard Baxter (Puritan writer)

http://www.theologynetwork.org/theology-of-everything/starting-out/how-to-spend-the-day-with-god.htm

These are some good thoughts on how to practically spend your day with God.

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You can sign up for a free trial of this magazine offered by Ligonier Ministries. It's a devotional magazine with articles that cover a wide range of topics related to Christian Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy.

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Let No One Deceive You - I John 3:7-10

"Little Children, let no one deceive you! The one who does what is right is righteous, just as He is righteous. The one who commits sin is of the Devil, for the Devil has sinned from the beginning....Everyone who has been born of God does not sin, because His seed remains in him; he is not able to sin, because he has been born of God. This is how God's children - and the Devil's children - are made evident." I John 3: 7-10

This passage of Scripture is crucial for the believer to understand. There are some within the realm of "Fundamentalism" who disregard this passage as having nothing to do with the believer or how the believer can have assurance of his salvation. I John 5:13 tells us that these words were written "so that you (believers) may know that you have eternal life." Could it be more clear?

The point is that the life of the true believer will not be characterized by a life that lives out practical atheism. One can profess to have accepted Christ and then go out and live their life as if nothing ever happened to them, but their life lived in sin only indicates that there was never a true conversion. One cannot be truely saved and live as if God had no control of their lives. When God saves a person He radically changes them so that they live a righteous life. That is not to say that they will never sin, but that their lives will not be characterized by sin. The true Christian will grow in Christ and God will complete the work that was begun.

The truth we must remember is that if our life has not been changed by the Gospel, then we need to go back and reevaluate our conversion. Do not be deceived; if we have not been transformed by the Word to live a righteous life then we have not truly been regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

The Wrath of God

Isaiah 53:10, "Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief;"


An aspect of the death of Christ that I do not consider quite enough is the fact that the wrath of God was displayed throughout the crucifiction. Often when I think of Christ's death I think of the love of God, the mercy of God, and the grace of God. All of these are great and awesome aspects of Christ's death, but that is not the complete picture. God is a holy God and any sin, no matter how small, is an offense to him. As a holy God he must judge sin appropriately. Therefore, when man sinned the wrath of God had to be poured out on sinful beings. His wrath had to be satisfied. That was the purpose of Christ's death. To stand in our place and to take the punishment of our sin while the wrath of God was poured out on Christ. Christ absorbed the wrath of God that was owed to you and to me. Through the death of Christ God's wrath has been justly satisfied. It is because of this truth of God's wrath that causes his love, mercy and grace to be all the more special and meaningful to me. That wrath was to be mine, but it was the will of God the Father to pour out his wrath on his own son, sparing me of that punishment that would have brought me death.

Philippians 3:7-10

"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith--that I may know him (God) and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death." (ESV, itallics added)