Christmas Checklist

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

What does your Christmas checklist look like?

This time of year we all seem to have checklists - things we still have to do before Christmas, items you may need to purchase, or places you have to be at a certain time.  Our checklists help us stay on top of all the demands of this busy season.

The apostle Paul gives us another list.  His list, though, are things we do not do to prepare for Christmas, but because Christmas has already happened.  We make our lists based on the perception of our current state or position.  Jesus Christ, who was born, lived, suffered, died, and rose from the grave brings peace to the sinner, brings forgiveness to the convicted, brings healing to the hurting and life to the dead.  These are accomplished truths found in the Christ Child who was Christ crucified and risen for us.

The list that Paul makes is not for people experiencing Christmas season busyness, but the Thessalonians who were being mocked, threatened, and even thrown into prison for their faith.  But what they were facing was not going to change who they were in Christ, Immanuel, God with them.

The first thing on Paul's list is - Rejoice always!  In the midst of the hectic pace of Christmas and with the pandemic on top of that for good measure - rejoicing always seems a lot easier said than done!  So how do we keep the joy that Paul speaks of?  Well, Christ prayed in His High Priestly Prayer for us to have His full measure of joy within us.  Jesus prayed that God would protect us from losing our joy to anything that can happen to us in this world.  Our joy begins and continues with Christ living in us - as He promises in His Word.

Second on Paul's list is - Pray without ceasing.  Jeremiah 33:3 says, "You call to Me and I will answer."  We call this prayer.  God speaks to us in His Word and we speak to God in prayer.  John Bunyan once said, "You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed."  Jesus Himself tells us, "Apart from Me you can do nothing".  Ceaseless prayer says, "I wouldn't do anything without speaking with You first."

Give thanks - that's what's next on Paul's Christmas checklist.  Give thanks in all circumstances.  Our enemy, the devil, seeks to destroy our relationship with God.  Satan will send terrors, dangers, plagues, and disaster to crush our relationship with God through prayer and His Word.  Satan is adamant about destroying faith and the faithful of God.  

There are eight Hebrew words for praise or giving thanks.  My favorite is "Towdah" which means to thank God for things that haven't happened yet.  It means to thank God in advance knowing that all things will work out for our best.  We can say, "Towdah" because God is faithful - He will surely do it!

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances?!  No wonder Paul's Christmas checklist is so different than the worlds.  I encourage you to make Paul's checklist your Christmas checklist.  As long as we live in this world full of sin, there will be setbacks, pain, and struggle.  But because Christ is mangered in our lives - we rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances!

Faithful for Us

 “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

Revelation 2:10

 

In Revelation 2, Jesus is promising the crown of life to the Church at Smyrna if it would faithfully endure the persecution that it was undergoing.  It is quite easy to see the same kind of persecution facing the church yet today in all different parts of the world.  Yet, despite the sufferings and persecution of the church – there is nothing of more importance than the crown of life that is placed upon those who remain faithful and true!

Remaining faithful and true to God and His will is a difficult task.  In fact, left alone with this task we would all fail miserably!  So how do we receive the crown of life?  How do we remain faithful unto death?  Thanks be to God, for we are not left up to ourselves.  We remain faithful by faith in the One who was faithful for us – Jesus Christ!

 

Jesus was faithful and true to God the Father’s perfect will – for us!  Jesus lived the perfect life required by God’s Law.  Jesus died as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.  And Christ rose again victoriously to overcome sin, death, and the devil.  Christ’s faithfulness is credited to us!

 

That good news helps us to treasure these words from Revelation 2:10 because we have the promise of the crown of life – not by what we do – but because Jesus was and is perfectly faithful for us!

Equipped with Strength

For You equipped me with strength for the battle; you made those who rise against me sink under me.  Psalm 18:39

 

C.F.W. Walther once wrote these words, “O take heart and be joyful!  The Lord, who is a God of truth, is with us!  By that sign we shall conquer, though all powers of darkness in midnight hour plot against us and rise against us on the battlefield.  The battle will rage hot and ever hotter!  Finally, we, persistent to the end – and grant this to us Jesus Christ, Thou Leader in the fight – we will be taken in triumph into the congregation above, to the eternal festival of jubilation.  Amen.”

 

The battles the church faced in Walther’s day are still some of the battles the church continues to face.  Our foes - sin, death, and the devil – will fight against us tirelessly.  As Walther said, “The battle will rage hot and ever hotter!”  But thanks be to God – for as Psalm 18:39 tell us – God has equipped us with strength for the battle.

 

God has given us all that we need to withstand the daily attacks of the devil and our sinful flesh.  Even when our foes seem to have us on the ropes and defeated – we can be sure we have the victory because of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Through His death and resurrection, He has won for us – forgiveness, life, and salvation!  We are equipped for battle because we know that when we are weak and fail, we can turn to the Lord in repentance and receive the forgiveness won for us by Christ!

 

May the Good News of the forgiveness, life, and salvation won for us by Jesus Christ give us the strength we need each and every day!

The Great Joy of Jesus' Ascension

Forty days. That’s how long Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection. And they needed every one of them. The horror and grief of those three days, when Jesus was crucified and sealed in the tomb left a mark in their heads and in their hearts. And then to see Him resurrected! It’s not so easy to believe.

And so Jesus comes to them. He appears to not only the twelve, but also to James, His brother, to Paul, and to more than 500 brothers at one time (1 Cor 15:5-8).  And they not only see Him and hear His voice, they touch His body and watch Him eat with them. This is no ghost. Jesus is with them. He is risen, just as He said.  These are the eye witnesses - over 514 of them! And they would give their eye witness testimony to the truth of the resurrection. And as any attorney would tell you, if you have 514 eye witnesses testifying to the truth of something, you pretty much have a slam dunk case. But now the forty days are up, and it is time for Jesus to ascend to the right hand of His Father.

Forty days: the same number of days it rained on Noah’s ark. Forty days: the same number of days Moses spent on Mt. Sinai. Forty days: the same number of days Jesus fasted in the wilderness being tempted by satan. Forty days: God’s number of days. So Jesus is taken up from them. A cloud hides Him from their sight. They will not see Him again until He returns in glory.

They lingered a moment, though. They stood there, staring up into the sky, taking it all in. Two men in white robes - angels - ask them why. We’re not told what their answer was - or maybe we were. For Luke tells us that they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.

They were not sad that Jesus had left. They were filled with great joy. Do you remember the only other time Luke used that phrase "great joy?" He speaks of joy many times, but of great joy only one other time - when the angel told the shepherds that Jesus was born. When Jesus came down from heaven in His incarnation. Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people (Luke 2:10). Now Luke uses it again, for now those words have been fulfilled. Now there is great joy for all people. For Jesus’ victory is for all people. Jesus has triumphed over sin, death, and condemnation for all people. Jesus has paved the way to heaven for all people. For you. So how could the twelve not be filled with great joy?

Jesus came down from His throne as the Son of God, but now He returns as both God and man.  It is not only His divinity that ascends but also our humanity.  And with that, the honor and dominion of man, forfeited by Adam, has been restored by Jesus. Man is back where he belongs. With God. No longer divided from God by sin and death. For now sin is forgiven and death is defeated. And as Jesus ascended, so will we ascend. We will not be reincarnated to another life on earth, as some would have us believe.  No, as Jesus is risen from the dead and ascends into heaven, so will we. In Him. By our mighty Lord’s ascension We by faith behold our own.

And so filled with that great joy, the disciples are continually in the temple blessing God. No private, mumbled prayers are these! They are proclaiming for all to hear. These are trumpeted prayers. That there is forgiveness in Jesus. That there is hope in Jesus. That we have a Savior in Jesus. And when the Holy Spirit came upon them on that first New Testament Pentecost, ten days later, this was the message they carried, they shouted out loud into all the world, to the end of the earth. The message that has now come to us. The message that now gives us great joy.  Which we need!! For how often does the toil, tribulation, and tumult of this world rob us of our joy? This pandemic has taken its toll on everyone – on top of everything else going on!  This world seems to be coming apart at the seams, it seems to be plunging deeper and deeper into sin.

And the sin that we can’t seem to shake, that keeps erupting out of us no matter how we try to stop it. Where is our Lord’s great joy for us?  It is still in our Lord’s ascension. That’s what Paul explains to the Ephesians. Seated at the right hand of the Father, Jesus is far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. Our Jesus is in control.  The rulers of this world may think they are, but our Lord has been setting up and taking down rulers and kingdoms, powers and dominions, longer than any of us have been alive. And all for the sake of His Church. For all things are under Jesus’ feet for the sake of His Bride.

And you can be sure Jesus is still taking care of His Bride, His Church, you, that the Gospel may be proclaimed to the ends of the earth and to the end of the earth. From our limited point of view it may not always seem like it, but we believe it.  We confess it. Just as Jesus’ Cross did not seem good at the time, but evil, yet turned out to be the greatest good of all, so it is with the crosses we must bear in our day. For while a cloud hid Jesus from the disciples’ sight, it has not hid us from His sight.  In fact, Jesus’ ascension means that He is more present with us now than He was before. Jesus is not ruling from some far away and unknown place named heaven, but is the one who now as both God and man fills all in all.  He is no longer present only in Zacchaeus’ house, or at the table of Simon, or in the home of Mary and Martha, but now is present in fonts, pulpits, and altars all over the world.  Speaking to us, washing us, feeding us, sustaining us, and forgiving us. The disciples go out to the ends of the earth not only to speak Jesus but to bring Jesus, to give Jesus. To bring that message of great joy that is for all people: that God is here for you.

Yet even here and with us still, so too has Jesus gone to prepare a place for you, and will come back to take you to be there too (John 14:2-3). When that day will come when Jesus returns, all flesh is raised, and we will be taken - body and soul - to that kingdom, is not for us to know. But to know that He will is enough.

So today is a day of great joy. The disciples had it right. Jesus had given them today and tomorrow. In this chaotic culture, when everything seems to be out of control, Jesus has answered our prayers of Hosanna, save us now, with a message of great joy. He has ascended into heaven to be present with us always. And our response? To live with great joy! For we have Christ and we have today and tomorrow!  For Christ is ascended!

Fashioned for Faith

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.  Matthew 6:34

The story is told of a husband and wife named Bill and Mary.  Bill was literally “killing himself” with his daily worries, anxieties and stress.  So Bill and Mary visited the doctor’s office.  The doctor examined Bill carefully but then called Mary into his office for a private consultation.  He said with a very direct voice:  “Mary, if Bill is going to live, you’re going to have to create a stress-free environment for him at home.  Here’s what I suggest:  before breakfast every morning, you shower and put on your best perfume, and then prepare a healthy breakfast for Bill complete with the morning’s newspaper with all the bad news cut out of it.  While he’s eating, set out his clothes for the day and let him know that he doesn’t need to bother picking up after himself because you will do it.  Then send him off to work with a kiss and a specially prepared coffee.  When he leaves, change into your work clothes and clean up the house, do all the chores you can before showering again, putting on that great smelling perfume and preparing a delicious supper..  When Bill arrives home, have everything ready for him, greet him with a kiss, show him that his meal is ready before the television, the channel is set to his favorite ball game and his Lutheran beverage is there for him as well.  When Bill goes to bed, take a few moments to get everything ready for the next day and then you can go to bed.  You’ll need to do this every single day if Bill is going to live.” 

While driving home, Bill asked, “So what did the doctor talk to you so long about?”  Mary turned to him and said - matter of factly - “The doctor told me you’re going to die!”

This humorous example points to a serious fact – stress kills.  Stress distorts our vision of what God is doing in our lives.  Our eyes of faith, though, allow us to see God providing for us – even through stressful times.  The world tells us that one can do the right things to remove stress and anxiety; Jesus says in John 16:  “Take heart, I have overcome the world.”  The world is full of fear-causing events, but Jesus says, “Fear not.”  In fact, God’s Word tells us 365 times not to fear.  We literally kill ourselves with anxiety, but God says in 1 Peter to cast all our anxieties on Him, for He cares for us.  The world thinks it can earn the kingdom of God, but Jesus says that the Father takes pleasure in GIVING us the Kingdom. 

Our daily lives are full of all kinds of burdens, concerns, and worries – so much that we can even worry ourselves to death.  So to what are we going to listen – God’s Word or the world?  God’s Word allows us to see that He is indeed at work – even when we’re faced with burdens, concerns, and worries.  That is especially comforting now as we deal with the pandemic and the effects that it has had on our lives in so many different ways.  Our eyes of faith see God's hand at work even in the midst of the most stressful times in life.

Satan though would love for us to see otherwise.  Satan wants us to look at the world only to see destruction and turmoil.  Satan will show us tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, oil leaks, and other natural disasters and say – “Isn’t this proof against God’s care in creation?”  Satan loves to call attention to our failures, hardships, and trials.  These things weigh us down and lead us to worry.  The word for worry in the Greek actually means to be choked – and that’s exactly what worry does – it chokes us.  Worry actually shortens our lives. 

Dr. E Stanley Jones said this about worry, “I am inwardly fashioned for faith, not for fear. Fear is not my native land; faith is.  I am so made that worry and anxiety are sand in the machinery of life; faith is the oil.  I live better by faith and confidence than by fear, doubt and anxiety.  In anxiety and worry, my being is gasping for breath--these are not my native air. But in faith and confidence, I breathe freely--these are my native air.” 

Thanks be to God for He provides everything we need each and every day!  We have no need for fear or worry because God is for us!  God desires for us to turn our worries over to Him and to receive from Him peace, hope, comfort, and grace!

Children of Light

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.  But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

John 3:20-21

John 3:20-21, speaks of the contrasting difference between light and dark, and how ultimately through our baptism Christ’s light shines through us.

It is clear that we live in a world full of sin, and as John writes in chapter three, darkness.  To put it simply, darkness is a metaphor for death and evil.  There are not many things that scare people more than darkness.  One of the reasons for this fear of the dark is the evil things that are done under the cover of darkness. 

Something that may even be scarier than the murders and robberies that go on under the cover of darkness are the sins in our own lives that we try to cover in darkness.  There are things in all of our lives that we try to keep in the dark, things we don’t want anyone else to see about us.  Addictions to drugs and alcohol, gossip about friends and co-workers, unfaithfulness in our relationships, stealing from work, and cheating at school are just some of the sins in our lives that we try to keep in the dark. 

What are some of the sins in your lives that you try to keep in the dark?  Though we may think that we can keep some of our sins a secret and that no one will find out, that is not the case.  No amount of darkness can keep God from knowing the secret sins of our lives.  God knows all of our sins of thought, word, and deed.

The dark news is that we are dead to our sins.  Because of the evil that we continue to do in our lives, we deserve nothing more than eternal damnation.  The Good News is that Christ has come to be the light in our lives.  Earlier in John 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus that unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Through our baptism we are called sons of God.  We are brought into his good and perfect light.  God did not give us His light by taking us out of the darkness of this world, but by sending His one and only son, Jesus Christ, into the world to save us all from our sins.  Christ came into our dark world and paid the ultimate price for our sins. 

John 3:21 says, “But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God.”  Those deeds that have been carried out in God are the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Through His death and resurrection we are saved from our sins and the eternal death that we deserve from our sins.  Because of Christ’s death and resurrection we are now called Children of the light.  Ephesians 5:8 says, “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Walk as children of light.”

It is important for all of us to know that all of our sins, even the ones that we try to keep hidden in darkness were taken up to the cross for us through Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection.  It is with this knowledge that we can face the dark things in our lives like death, relationship problems, and financial problems, knowing that through our baptism we are brought into fellowship with Jesus Christ who died and rose again for all of our sins that we may live in his light forever.  We know that through Christ, this dark world is not all there is for us.  We have the promise of eternal life in a place where as it says in Revelation 22:5, we will not need a lamp or the sun because the Lord God will give us light. 

Live as children of light because through Christ we know that all of the sins and darkness of this world will eventually fade away, but the light of Christ is for all eternity.

Not Alone

“Be strong and courageous.  Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”  Joshua 1:9

Elijah couldn’t do it alone.  Even though he was a great prophet of God.  Even though through him, God worked many miracles and spoke to His people, urging them to repentance and faith. At Elijah’s word, it did not rain in Israel for over three years.  And through those three years, while there was famine and drought in the land, God provided food and drink for Elijah, using ravens to deliver food to him, and making sure a widow’s jar of oil never ran dry.  When the widow’s son died, God raised him back to life through Elijah. And then there was the great victory of God’s power on Mt. Carmel, when Elijah defeated the 450 prophets of Baal in a contest to see whose god was the true God, once and for all.  So of all people, after all that, one would think Elijah to be a perfect example of faith and steadfastness and stick-to-it-ness.

But Elijah couldn’t do it alone.  When Queen Jezebel learned that her prophets and her god had lost the public contest to Elijah and his God, she threatened his life – and fear, despair and discouragement got the better of Elijah. For what good is miraculous food and even victory when you’re going to die?  Who would there be left in Israel to raise him back to life?  And so he journeys out into the wilderness, lies down under a broom tree, and tells God: Take my life and let me be.  The challenges of life are just too much to handle.  But God does neither. He doesn’t take his life or leave him alone – He feeds him. Not once, but twice. And with no mere bread, but with bread that supplies strength for Elijah’s entire journey, 40 days and nights.  Bread that sees him through the wilderness, until he arrives at the mountain of God.

Elijah couldn’t do it alone. But he was not alone.  The false gods, false prophets, and evil kings and queens were no match for the One who accompanied Elijah. The One who gives strength for the journey. The One who gives no mere bread, but bread of life.

           

Elijah couldn’t do it alone . . . and neither can we. No matter how strong a Christian you are, no matter how strong your faith.  How easy it is for fear and despair and discouragement to get the better of us.  How easy to feel abandoned and all alone.  How easy to lie down in our own little corners and, like Elijah, tell God: Take my life and let me be.  Life and all its burdens are just too much to handle.  But such words show that WE are trying to do it on our own, and relying on our own strength, our own intellect, our own words, our own ingenuity, our own wisdom and might. For if life is too much for us, it is not God’s strength that has let us down . . . it’s because we’ve (once again!) struck out on our own, through the wilderness, only to find out that the journey is too great for us. We can’t do it alone.

Elijah couldn’t do it alone, and neither can we.  But you are not alone.  So if you’re going to curl up and hide under a tree, don’t look for a broom tree!  Curl up and hide under the tree of the Cross, where God gave His life for you.  His life for your life.  The journey is too great for you, but it is not too great for your Savior. “I am the Bread of life,” Jesus said.  “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed are all who take refuge in Him.  God’s answer for our discouragement is Christ.  He is our Living Bread for the journey of life that leads to our eternal home.  And Christ alone will raise us up on the Last Day.