Monday's follow-up to Sunday's message: The Lord will give you a sign

Ahaz learned the hard way that when God wants to point you to Jesus Christ it's best to let Him do it.

Ahaz learned the hard way that when you make up your mind beforehand to ignore God, He's not likely to make that easy.

Ahaz missed out on a lot that God had to give.  He could have had God's deliverance.  His protection.  His favor.  His Son.

Ahaz could have had a part in God's salvation story instead of being a footnote.  He could have had a story of repentance and reconciliation and restoration.  He could have been the one to lead God's people back into faithful worship of their covenant God.  He could have had a sign of God's favor . . . but instead he chose a sign of God's judgment.

God's sign to you is Jesus Christ.  The One born of the virgin still comes to you, bringing God close enough to touch . . . to see . . . to be Immanuel, "God with us."  And in Him you can have all the peace, the comfort, the forgiveness you've been longing for this Christmas season.

Look to Jesus Christ as God's sign for you this Christmas season.  Believe upon Him as the One who comes to bring you God's favor.  Do not ignore Him, do not turn away in disbelief or test him by preferring your sin to His forgiveness.  Do not reject the sign, but in faith receive the gracious gift of God.

Jesus Christ, Immanuel.  God with us!

Merry Christmas!

Monday's follow-up to Sunday's message: On Snow Days and Sufficient Words

It's a snow day here in Hudson, and I wonder if children all over town needed to have access to every bit of information that went into the deciding of a snow day?  Did they agonize over not knowing whether or not there would be school tomorrow?  Did they demand more evidence that it was actually an official snow day before they went outside to play?

Or were the mere spoken words "snow day" enough to be a source of joy for them?

In God's Word, He speaks promises to us.  Promises of release from captivity, of deliverance from bondage.  He speaks words of freedom and undeserved love freely given.  He speaks promises of providing and promises of staying by our side.  He speaks words of forgiveness and eternal adoption.

These words of God are far, far better than the words "snow day".

Maybe it's time we started to have the faith of a child once again.  The faith that doesn't demand more signs and wonders and information from God.  The faith that doesn't question His goodness and is not disappointed in Him.  But the faith that hears the simple words of God and finds in them sufficient reason to be joyful in today.

God's Word is sufficient.  He has not chosen all to speak to us all we want to know, but in His Word He tells us all we need to know:  In Jesus Christ we have forgiveness, life, and salvation.

And in that, there is profound joy.

Monday's follow-up to Sunday's message: Preparation leads to expectation

The second coming of Jesus Christ—His Second Advent, if you will—will be a cause for celebration like no other.

He will come with shouts of triumph, with the blasts of trumpets.  He will come with angel armies and a sword in His mouth.  He will come to resurrect the dead to life, and bring His Father’s children into eternal life with Him. 

He will come for you.

Will you be prepared? 

The Scriptures tell us two specific things in regards to Christ’s coming: 1) No one knows when it will come.  2) Watch and wait for it in expectation.

Nothing quite builds expectation like preparation.  The bride picks out her wedding dress and longs for the time when she will be united with her bridegroom.  A family cuts down a Christmas tree and the children dance with gleeful expectation of December 25^th.  But how do you prepare for something like Christ’s coming?

You prepare for it by focusing upon what Christ has done for you and what He will yet do.  Not by working or giving or sacrificing for Christ, but by acknowledging that you have received good gifts from Christ.  And as you focus upon what Christ has done for you, you will be all the more eager to see Him when He returns.

1 Peter 1:3-5   ³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-- kept in heaven for you,  ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

Prepare for Christ’s coming, and you’ll life your life in joyful expectation of it.

Monday's follow-up (on Tuesday) to Sunday's message: The treasure of the church

“The true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel of the glory and grace of God.”—Martin Luther

What’s the true treasure of the church?  What is the thing that makes church truly special?  Is it the fellowship we enjoy with one another?  Is it the sense of unity, of belonging?  Is it the treasure of shared memories of good times and happy days gone by?

Those things are good, to be sure.  But they are not the true treasure of the church.  They are not the thing that binds us together, that causes us to gather every week.  They are a gift from God, but not THE gift from God to His church.

The true treasure of the church is God’s Gospel.  His message of the enduring, faithful love He has for you.  The love that endures despite your sin.  The love that endures despite the sin of your fellow church members. 

But that Gospel treasure demands we take our sin very seriously.  It demands that we admit it, that we own up to it, that we confess it.  We are not an almost-perfect people who gather together every week to get some advice on how to be just a little bit better . . . we are sinners who come to agree with God once again that we deserve nothing from Him but punishment, but instead through Jesus Christ we receive nothing from God but forgiveness.

It’s a hard thing to admit, this thing called sin.  We’d rather play at being holy.  We’d rather listen to the advice of some spiritual-sounding teacher who tells us how to get holy.  But when we simply stand and agree with God that sin is sin, that sin is ours, and that only His Son—and not us!—can pay for sin . . . that is when we realize what a treasure we have in His church.

So enjoy your church friends.  Enjoy the memories you share.  Enjoy the fellowship you have with one another.  But treasure the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for only it can make you right with God.  Only the Gospel can truly make a church.

Monday's follow-up to Sunday's message: The Lord gives, the Lord takes away. What the heck was He thinking?

The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away.

Trite saying.  Something we quote every so often when it seems appropriate.  But nothing that we really mean.

What we really mean is that if God decides to take something away from you, then you should just learn to accept it.  When He decides to take something away from me, however, then The Almighty owes me an explanation.  A reason.  An answer.  And make it snappy, God!

Have you ever thought about how weak your faith must be if you demand answers from God before you can be satisfied with Him first giving and then taking away a gift?  How you must have sincere doubts as to whether or not God is truly good?  Have you thought that behind your pious words about faith and trust there lies a sneaking suspicion that God is really just out to mess with you after all?

Do we believe God is truly good?

Do we believe that when He gives it is good? 

Do we believe that when He takes away, it is also good?

No . . . no . . . if we’re going to be honest, we must admit that we don’t always believe that.  But when we have doubts about God playing a cosmic game of Candid Camera with our lives, we must remember that we have God’s own promise in Romans 8:28 that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

I don’t suppose that anyone standing on Mount Calvary around 2000 years ago looked upon the cross and said, “Oh yes . . . this is good.”  God’s good design and plan was hidden beneath a mask of suffering and confusion.  The goodness of His plan wasn’t immediately apparent.  And yet we can look back today and with bold faith declare the cross of Jesus Christ as the pinnacle of God’s goodness: the day He delivered you and I from sin, from death, from the devil.  The good gift of God was delivered wrapped in an ugly package that none of us would have chosen, and yet we thank and praise Him for choosing to give us such a priceless gift. 

It’s curious, isn’t it?  It’s almost like God perhaps knows what is good for us better than we do ourselves.

When God works, it is always good.  Period.  End of story.  God is good.  He only works in good ways, He only gives the good kind of gifts, He only has good plans for us.  So when He gives a gift, we thank Him for the good gift He has given.  When He chooses to take it away, we thank Him for the time we had the gift and also thank Him for the good gift He is preparing to give us to replace the one He had taken.

We thank Him because He is much better than the gift.  Because we love Him much more than the gift.  And because we trust His understanding of what is “good” much more than we trust our own.

Monday's follow-up to Sunday's message: It's not your fault

It’s not your fault.

You hear that all the time.  Sometimes it’s a legitimate circumstance.  Sometimes it seems like someone’s making an excuse for their bad choices.  And whether it’s said in a good way or bad, it’s almost always overused.  We can get calloused to the “it’s not your fault” claim, because we know there are simply lots of things that are our fault.

But what about your friends who don’t know Christ?  You’ve told them about Christ, about His forgiveness.  You’ve offered Godly advice to them for their life’s struggles.  You’ve even comforted them from God’s Word when they needed.  And while it seems like they’ve come close to faith so many times, they still have not made that final step. 

Is that your fault?

For some reason, God places limits on what His limitless Word can do.  It’s true that the Word has converted the hardest of hearts.  It has made alive the most spiritually dead of sinners.  We know that because that’s what it’s done for us. 

But at the same time, the enormous, life-giving power of God’s Word cannot revive the cold hearts of those who will not heed its warnings nor take comfort from its promises.  God would rather go the trouble of adopting children than forcibly converting robots. 

That’s why your friend won’t believe; because God won’t force them to.  He will call, He will gather, He will enlighten.  Through His Word, He will continue to daily extend His gracious offer of life and salvation, always willing to forgive the deepest sins and the greatest heresies of those who hear His Word and believe.  But he will not force belief upon them.

So you, Christian, continue to offer God’s Word.  Life it out in your life for your friend to see.  Drop Jesus’ name into your conversations.  Give advice based upon God’s Word and let them know that’s where it came from.  Don’t blame yourself and grow weary even if they don’t believe:  You are giving them God’s Word.  Offering them His promises.  Offering them His life.  

Monday's follow-up to Sunday's message: You can't take it with you, but you can sure send it on ahead!

I mentioned something almost in passing during yesterday’s message.  Today I want to focus on it.

Our money should tell a story.

It should.  It should say something.  Our money should be used to proclaim that we do still trust in God, that His Son is our redeemer, that money is something we spend, but eternity is something we invest in. 

There are ways to use money to benefit this earthly life.  Some of those are good, some are appropriate.  After all, one of the ways God provides for you is by giving you money to purchase the things you and your family need.  You can’t fill your family’s bellies by looking at a pile of $1 bills, but you can if you spend them.   God gives you money to spend, not hoard.  Frankly, it is a sin to sit on stacks of money while your family goes without food, shelther, or clothing, but spending it wisely proclaims that you trust God as a gracious giver.

So yes, it is true that money is to be used for this earthly life.  But is that the only life it is good for?  Certainly not!  No, there’s no way you can take money with you into eternity, but you can certainly send it on ahead!

Jesus counsels us to use money in a way that builds an eternal dwelling.  He says that we can make an investment in eternity.  Eternity for ourselves.  Eternity for others.  How can we do that?  By investing it into the proclamation of His Gospel.

A bit of money towards missions, and a missionary buys 50 Bibles for his students.  A bit of money towards a seminary student, and he goes on to be a Gospel-preaching pastor.  A bit of money on a roof and the church building stands for four more generations as a place where Christ’s Gospel is proclaimed weekly.  A bit of money, and people hear how Jesus Christ died for them, how He rose again to conquer death, how He lives today to intercede for them.

Just the way He did for you.  You heard, you believed, and now you trust God to do as He promised: to forgive you through Christ’s shed blood, to raise you to new life.  To bring you to your eternal home.

Money spent as an investment in eternity.  That’s money that tells a story: The story of Christ’s redemption for all who would hear and believe.