The Wonder of Christmas

I love those Sports Sciences videos that break down the athletic marvels like this block by Lebron James into incredible science nuggets.

 

For example, in this video it talks about the reaction time of the block being .20 of a second, about the same amount of time to pop a champagne cork (not sure why they picked that one).

Do you ever marvel at the wonder of Christmas? If I were going to script it out, I would not script out the way God did. God, the infinite creator of the heavens and earth enters our finite time and space,  He enters the birth canal of the same woman He created. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords comes into a completely impoverished family and born in abject poverty in a non-descript town (Bethlehem). He is raised in a town that is not known for much of anything (Nazareth). He takes on a trade that is reserved for the common man (carpenter). He is obedient to fallible parents. He is an itinerant, homeless preacher for three years. He suffers tribulation and trial just like we do. He suffers a ghastly execution reserved for the worst of criminals. He endures hell for three days.  That is just a sampling. The highest of the high becomes the lowest of the low.

I can't get my head around this. And that is a good thing. If I got it, it would lose its amazement. But what I love is, I can't say I am deserving. I marvel, I wonder at the perfect sacrifice of Christ. And that is worth celebrating.

Christmas and Wonder

In business, companies do an analysis where they imagine where they want to be and then determine where they are. The difference between the two is the gap and documenting that is called a gap analysis. Harvard professor and innovation expert Clayton Christensen terms this gap under the banner "Jobs to be Done". This time of year, I frequently contemplate a gap analysis between the creator God and the Christ child born.

We were at a party last night and the daughter of one of our friends had a brand new 10 day old baby there. I found myself watching this baby and even trying to remotely contemplate what it took for Christ to enter our world. We had this conversation about whether the Christ child cried. In the hymn "What Child is This" it says the baby "no crying He makes". Sounds cute but I do believe the Christ child cried because a baby's only means of communicating basic need (not sin at that point) is through crying. Someone actually made a ringtone out of a crying baby - are you kidding me, but I digress. I am thirty years from this stage of my life but it still makes my blood pressure go up (wait till grandparenting).



Christmas should exacerbate our sense of wonder. I finished journaling through the book of Matthew this year As I finished up in chapters 26 and 27, I found myself in wonder as Christ stood before in succession Annas, Caiaphas, Herod, and Pilate marveling at the thought of King Jesus standing before puny man in judgment. Then to end up on a Roman cross in a form of punishment designed for the lowest of the low. Paul says it succinctly in Philippians that Christ "humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross". God who spoke the world into being becomes a baby born into the messiness of a stable, is a totally dependent child, walks among us for 33 years, and dies a slave's death.

Don't get caught up with going through the motions. Stop and and wonder. Let your mind fill with wonder this Christmas.

Really Good or Really Bad

This time of year is a conundrum to me. People can be so good. For example, we have this tradition in our church called "You've Been Gifted" where we blanket the area with what we call random acts of kindness. There are stories galore of people that have been touched by this. Then we have just the sheer joy of being with friends and family this time of year. I just came from a brunch with about 16 or our closest friends that we have every year.

At the same time, people are really stressed and just seem to act in the most negative way. Debsue and I were commenting how we almost fear going out this time of year. Stress and depression reign. Today in the church parking lot before the service, I was almost side-swiped by someone so "holy" people are not immune.

But as I was thinking about this, the conundrum is that there is a very fine line in the sin-stained world between the potential for good and the potential for evil. I once was told that the difference between scalding hot water and soothing warm water is only a few degrees. Thus is how it is for human beings tainted by sin. We have the potential to so impact our society in a positive way and yet the potential to be so harmful.

Paul wrestled with this seeming inward fight going on within each of us that is a daily fight. He says in Romans 7 - "I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against he law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members."  But then Paul gives us the answer in v.25 - Thanks be to God through our Jesus Christ our Lord.

In this time of year where we see the dichotomy of sin and grace in its most polar way, let us thank the celebrated Lord Jesus Christ who broke down the power of sin to show us holiness in the fullest.

Joy to the World - But Not Yet

During Christmas season, we sing familiar hymns and I think we become guilty of not really even looking at the lyrics. I don't know how many times I have sang "Joy to the World" and realized most of it isn't even about Christmas or the virgin birth at all.

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

The first verse could apply to the virgin birth, but the last three verses clearly refer to the reign of Christ which is still to come. I think of what Paul says in Romans that "the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God"  (Rom. 8:19). Christ came into a broken world, but there will be a time when this broken world will be transformed, when "He comes to make His blessings flow". And that is worth singing about all year round.

The City of Hope

Christmas brings to mind lots of things.  Family, friends, gifts, saying thank you, rest and relaxation (unless you are like me and do lots of last minute shopping and I only really have to shop for one person).  All of our girls and our son-in-law are visiting and it has been a very enjoyable few days at our house.  It is always nice to have the girls home. 

On Thanksgivings when I was growing up, we would go to Newtown, Connecticut where my Dad's sister lived.  So the tragedy there this past week was brought closer to home.  What would cause a young man to take such innocent lives?  What would give someone so little hope and to inflict his hopelessness on others? 

I have been going through the Old Testament a chapter at a time and just finished up my first year.  This has been an incredible blessing, much more than I thought.  I have been looking for Jesus in the Old Testament and it has not been hard to find Him there.  A number of my friends avoid reading the Old Testament and think Jesus isn't in the Old Testament, but nothing can be further from the truth. 

The last book I am reading this year is the Book of Ruth.  This book starts with hopelessness.  Naomi, the central character in the early chapters comes from Bethlehem during some of the darkest period in Israel's history.  She leaves her country during a period of famine and goes to the pagan country of Moab.  There, her two sons marry two Moabite women.  It is interesting to note that the names of her sons of are "sick" and "puny" which describes their likely physical condition.  Her husband and two sons die in the land of Moab.  She decides to return to Bethlehem.  But her return is fraught with doubt and in fact, she encourages her widow children to stay in Moab because she believes the pagan Gentile country offers more hope for them than Israel does.  Her daughter Orpah stays in Moab, but Ruth accompanies Naomi back to Bethlehem.  Naomi which means "pleasant" is so embittered that she says on her return to change her name to "bitter" or "empty". 

If you know the story of Ruth, you know that there is a relative, a "kinsman-redeemer" named Boaz who lives in Bethlehem and marries the widow Ruth.  Boaz is what is called a "type" of Christ.  He is a shadow of another redeemer born in Bethlehem who will redeem us from sin by paying the penalty Himself upon the cross.  Bethlehem is not the city of hopelessness but the city of hope.  Further, this hope is extended to Ruth, the pagan Gentile to marry into an Israelite line that ultimately becomes part of the lineage of Jesus Christ.  Bethlehem is not just the story of a baby born in a manger, but a story of hope for those of lost and looking for redemption, even when hope seems at its bleakest. 

The Book of Ruth is a glimmer of hope and comes during one of the darkest times in Israel's history.  Judges closes with the horrendous story of a decapitated rape victim and civil war and Ruth provides the glimmer of grace and hope.  Even on the heels of one of the worst horror's we have ever seen, come to Bethlehem, the city of hope and find redemption, and grace.

The Expected Gift

Hope you all out there in the blogosphere had a wonderful Christmas day and weekend.  We got to spend it with two of our daughters live plus one via Skype (ah the wonders of technology – we put the video cam up and it was almost like she was with us) and our son-in-law.  I have noticed as we get older, the wonder and importance of actual gift giving is less in importance.  In fact, our kids tell each other what they want (not so unusual), but then tell each other what they got the other (very unusual).  Strange if you ask me. 

I have wondered what the scene was at the first Christmas as the long awaited Messiah was born.  Israel had been in darkness for over 400 years – the 400 silent years eagerly anticipating the Messiah, the “expected one”.  At the birth of Jesus, a heavenly throng appeared to shepherds praising God (Luke 2:14).  Yet Jesus was born into relative obscurity.  Yes, even the historians don’t give much lip service to King Herod’s view of the kingly threat.  The slaughter of a few infants and babies in a small town of Bethlehem hardly draws any attention.  Jesus was expected, but not expected.  People had their own notion of what the Messiah can or should be.  Who is this Christ?  More importantly – who is He to me?  The Light shone in the darkness, but the darkness did not comprehend it (John 1:5).  Pat Morley says “there is a God we want and there is a God who is and they are not usually the same God”. 

The obscurity of Jesus eventually transferred to the hostility towards Jesus. You see now expectations were high for a certain type of Messiah and Jesus did not fill the bill.  The Roman conquering, nation building Jesus was not on the radar.  Jesus did not even come close to that perception – in fact, he preached obedience toward government.  Ignorance transferred into outright hostility.  No one wants to admit that the issue is with me, myself, and I.  I need a gift and the gift I need is a paid debt.  It is hard to get your head around a gift that is a paid debt.  Totally unexpected I think.  It doesn’t make for a very nice gift.  I can imagine someone putting a mortgage under the tree with the stamp on it “PAID”. Would I look at it as a gift?  Kind of like receiving warm clothes when you are a kid.  You know you need them, but it doesn’t meet the pleasure factor.  Not expected, not valued. 

I think I would look at it any differently if someone gave me the money and then I paid back the debt?  I probably would because I would somehow rationalize it that I earned that money to pay off the debt.  God sees our sin debt as insurmountable, something that simply cannot be paid off.  He also sees us as incredibly valuable something deserving of the highest value He can give.  Those two are mutually exclusive but God makes it possible.  A gift of incomparable value to pay off an insurmountable debt.  Not a bad gift after all.

A very blessed belated Christmas to you all!

The Rejected Gift

Continuing on this gift theme for the holidays - a gift is not a gift unless it is accepted. We learned last few weeks that a gift is eagerly anticipated and a gift must be valued. Why would a gift not be accepted?

A friend of ours related a story of the "you've been gifted" cards. As many in this area know, we have these cards that our church uses to blanket the area with 10,000 seemingly random acts of generosity. The stories are incredible. So our friend was at a gas station and he happened to have a free tank of gas to give away. He purposes in his heart to give that tank of gas to the next person he saw filling up his/her tank. A woman pulled up (in a mini-van no less) and he approached her and offered to pay for her gas. She gave a curt reply of "NO".  Our friend reiterated to her that there are no strings attached, it was totally free.  This went on for three or four times with no explanation as to why she was turning down this gift. He finally gave up. 

A gift cannot be a gift unless it is accepted. People sometimes grudgingly accept gifts, but deep down they may resent the giver. I remember my parents and in-laws as very generous people whom were always giving us things particularly when we were first married. I accepted the gifts but in some weird way I harbored bitterness. There were no strings, no expectation of return. Just pure and simple gift because they loved us. Our sinful nature wants no part of that which is freely given. Second, gifts are hard because in the flesh, we want to earn something. Maybe the woman at the gas station felt that way. Why is this guy gifting me gas - I can afford to pay for it myself?

God's gift of indescribable value is rejected by many because it is not earned and therefore is hard to accept. God paid an incredible price for it and to reject it is the ultimate slap in the face. Our friend was hurt that the woman rejected his gift, but it didn't cost him anything.  Our rejection of God's gift grieves him. What is God's gift?  It is His only Son, Jesus Christ judged and abandoned at the cross. It fully paid for a debt we could not pay - the price of our sins. 

This Christmas, will you reject a gift that is so costly yet so freely given?  I pray you will accept this gift from God with a fully appreciative heart. 

Eagerly Awaiting Special Gifts

In the morning, O Lord you hear my voice.  In the morning, I order my prayer to you and eagerly watch.  Psalm 5:3

This is one of my favorite pictures.  It is a picture of our oldest daughter at age 5 who was asleep at the top of the stairs while eagerly awaiting the start of Christmas morning.  Note the clock sitting next to her at the top of the stairs.  When we were young, the anticipation of opening gifts on Christmas morning was overwhelming.  Our kids were never taught about Santa Claus.  The meaning of Christmas was to celebrate the birth of our Savior who gives the greatest gift of all.  Nevertheless, it would be wrong for me to say that they didn’t make a special deal out of all of the opening of the gifts and our kids were no different in that heightened anticipation.  I am sure along the way, our kids may have been disappointed in some of their gifts, they sure didn’t let on. 

So why is it that we don’t look at a heavenly Father who loves to lavish gifts on His children in the same way?  We think of God as a cosmic killjoy who wants to disappoint us.  Sometimes we want to use reverse psychology on God and say “Well God really didn’t want me to have this” and secretly hope we get it anyway.  God says He will give us the “desires of our heart” (Psalm 37:4).  I am sure not all gifts requested by my children were received.  For example, a pony would probably be out of bounds.  We know other gifts may not be completely right for our children.  We never gave our kids video games because rightly or wrongly we didn’t think it was something they should have (I am not bemoaning other parents who give video games).  God has perfect knowledge of what is right or wrong for us.

Can we trust a heavenly Father who gave his only Son as a perfect gift to smother us with love and gifts?  Can we wait in eager anticipation as to what He is going to do?  As I get older, I find myself eagerly awaiting what God is going to do in my life.  That “He who began a good work in me will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6).  

The Ultimate Gift

Our family Christmases have evolved over the years.  When our kids were young, our Christmas was packed with toys.  There were so many toys that it took it seemed like three days to open up all of the gifts.  Parents and grandparents showered the kids with gifts.

Now that our kids are all adults, the number of presents have gotten much fewer and they have become much more meaningful.  But the most important thing is the sheer treasure of having everyone together.  We live most of the year as empty-nesters so it is a real treat to have all the girls with us.  We have had that pleasure twice now in the last month.  God has wired us for relationship and the greatest gift are those relationships.  In the Christmas Eve service, they showed the following video. 

I would venture to say that the kids could have cared less about the presents they received.  The true gift was their father.  Is it any wonder that the true gift of Christmas is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ?  He is offered as a free gift to all who believe (Rom 6:23).  But like all gifts, you must accept and open the gift. Imagine if the kids never opened the box.  They would never have appropriated the gift of relationship.  Likewise, if they had offered to pay for the gift, it would not have been a gift.  The kids had no ability to pay for the relationship gift.  It was free and unconditional.  God has offered an unsurpassable gift, Himself.