Gifts Received

In this season of gift giving we remember the greatest gift given, our Savior Jesus Christ. This led me to search the Scriptures for what other gifts we have received because of Jesus. The following is a partial list, but should stir our hearts in praise and thanksgiving this Christmas. 

James 1:17 (ESV)- "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."

Ephesians 1:3- "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places."

Ephesians 2:8- "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God."

Romans 6:23- "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

John 1:12,16- "But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God... And from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace."

Mark 9:37- "Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me."

Romans 5:11,17- "More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation... For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ."

Romans 8:15- "For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba! Father!'"

1 Corinthians 1:7- "...so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ."

1 Corinthians 2:12- "Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God."

Galatians 4:4-5- "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons."

Colossians 2:6-7- "Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving."

1 Peter 2:10- "Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

1 Corinthians 4:7- "...What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?"

Romans 12:6- "Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith."

Hebrews 4:16- "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Colossians 3:23-24- "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ."

Hebrews 12:28- "Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe."

2 Corinthians 9:15- "Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!"

Have a blessed Christmas!

The Dark Side of Christmas

The Gospel of Matthew 2:18 quotes the prophecy of Jeremiah 31:15 (ESV), “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.” Matthew indicates that this prophecy was fulfilled by Herod killing all the male children in Bethlehem in an effort to kill the infant Jesus.

As I’ve commented here before, the plans of God don’t always make sense to us. In God’s sovereign will, it was important that prophecies be recorded and fulfilled in order to prove who Jesus was. Matthew points out this prophecy from Jeremiah as well as Hosea 11:1, “Out of Egypt I called my son,” (among others) as evidence for Jesus being the Messiah. Herod turned out to be the mechanism by which the prophecies were fulfilled, and because of him many families were left brokenhearted in the death of their sons. Estimates of the number of children killed vary widely, from 6 or 7 to 64,000. No matter how many boys were killed, this was a tragic event in the small town of Bethlehem.

It would be nice to think that all God’s plans would be accomplished without any suffering. But the narrative of the Bible says that is not often the case. Just think of the lives of Moses, Joseph, David, Ruth, Esther, Paul, etc. or read Hebrews 11. They were used by God in the midst of trying circumstances. “And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised” (Hebrews 11:29 ESV). They had faith in God and hope for “things not seen,” which allowed them to keep following God no matter what.

Because we live in a fallen world, wrecked by our own sin and the sin of others, God’s path often leads through dark valleys. On the positive side, as we read through Scripture and see the lengths to which God went to fulfill His purposes and promises, we can have greater hope that He will do the same for us. Here are a few of the promises that I need to be reminded of frequently (just a few of the ones I have highlighted in my Bible app):

• “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:21-23).
• “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1).
• “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:18-19).
• “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never permit the righteous to be moved” (Psalm 55:22).
• “I Myself will be the shepherd of My sheep, and I Myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice” (Ezekiel 34:15-16).
• “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten… You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And My people shall never again be put to shame” (Joel 2:25-26).
• “Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me” (Micah 7:8).
• “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing” (Zephaniah 3:17).
• “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

I think it’s safe to say that we wouldn’t recognize Jesus as the Light of the World if the world weren’t so full of darkness, and that is reflected in the circumstances of His birth. So this Christmas, no matter what else is going on, may we find the light in God’s faithfulness to keep His promises and may we cling to the hope that provides.

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.” –Isaiah 9:2

Hope Not Yet Fulfilled

As our choir was practicing one of our songs for Christmas, I was thinking about the seemingly conflicting messages we hear. One verse of “Tell the World” says “Tell the hopeless He’s the Promise now fulfilled before their eyes. Tell the restless in His presence ev’ry need is satisfied.”

But historically, the birth of Jesus didn’t exactly fulfill these promises, at least not on its own. The angels proclaimed to the shepherds, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people... ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased’” (Luke 2:10,14 ESV). Although the Baby Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies of a child born of a virgin in Bethlehem, it wasn’t until roughly three decades later that Jesus Himself said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).

While Jesus’ birth was a step closer to the completion of the good news, it would be more than 30 years before He would fulfill the requirements of being a Savior through His death and resurrection. But even that is not the end of the story. We still live in the between times—knowing that salvation has been made possible and sanctification has begun, but still awaiting the perfecting of the world and our bodies. It is good news that Jesus was born, but it’s not the best news. It’s good news that Jesus died on our behalf, but that’s an inadequate message. And it’s good news that Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to the Father. But if the story ended there we would still be without hope in this world. The good news won’t be completed until that day when Jesus returns. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:3).

In the meantime we continue to live with brokenness, mourning, poverty, blindness, and captivity. “And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved” (Romans 8:23-24).

We tend to approach Christmas as if the birth of Jesus is the whole story, the only good news needed in a fallen world. It’s often implied that if you just believe that God was born as a baby in a manger then all your problems will go away and you’ll be filled with peace and joy. It’s little wonder that this can be an overwhelmingly depressing time of year. Not only are there cultural expectations that can be hard to live up to, but the message proclaimed by the church can sometimes add to the burden. If the Baby Jesus is the answer to all our problems, why is there still so much suffering in the world?

We can’t leave Jesus in the manger as a baby, nor can we leave Him on the cross as a Savior. Neither is He still in the grave. He’s in heaven for now, but one day He will return and make everything right. All the suffering will be ended and the world will be made new. Then the good news will be finished. Then we will rejoice wholeheartedly. Till then we hold on and endure by faith, awaiting with hope the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Until then:

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” -Romans 15:13

© 2014 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Seeking the King

There has been much speculation about who the wise men were who came to find the baby Jesus. Where did they come from? How did they read the stars? Were they Zoroastrians? The Bible doesn’t give much detail in Matthew 2 aside from the fact that they were from the East. Plenty of stories have been written imagining how this all came about.

What impresses me is the amount of effort they put in to traveling to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem to find the newborn King and worship Him. It may have taken them months or perhaps even years to reach their destination. Whatever they discerned in their study of the stars was important enough for them to leave everything else behind and seek the King. Although they referred to Jesus as King of the Jews, it seems that they recognized that He would have an impact far beyond the nation of Israel. They were moved to worship Christ long before most people were aware that He existed. Out of an estimated 170-400 million people on earth at that time, only a few wise men and shepherds got the message and found the baby.

Although the statistics are better today, I’m sure that most of us haven’t exerted that much effort to find Jesus and worship Him. At least in America, a large segment of those who are Christians were raised in Christian homes and may have never wrestled with the hard questions of faith. As a result, Christianity has become a faith of convenience and tradition. When it becomes inconvenient or requires too much effort, people are likely to stop participating, though they often still consider themselves Christian.

While we aren’t saved by our efforts and we can never do enough to earn even the smallest portion of God’s grace, there are some ways in which it is true that “You get out of it what you put into it.” If all you know of Scripture is what you hear on Sunday morning, you’re missing out on many of the benefits of knowing God fully, knowing His will, knowing how He works, and trusting all the promises He has made. If you’ve never had to defend what you believe, you don’t really know if you have something worth defending, something that will hold you up when the storms come. If you’ve never had to discipline yourself to read the Bible or go to church when you don’t feel like it, you’ve missed out on the joy that comes when God shows up in spite of your low expectations.

I imagine what it was like for the wise men to finally see Jesus. All their studying had told them that something amazing was happening, and their travels gave them time to ponder and discuss what this might mean for the world. But finally they were there and “they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house they saw the child with Mary His mother, and they fell down and worshiped Him” (Matthew 2:10-11 ESV). After all they’d gone through, I doubt this was just a brief greeting, presenting their gifts, and departing five minutes later. When their hopes were fulfilled, I don’t think they quickly left to go follow some other star. They probably lingered as long as propriety allowed.

I would challenge us all to be more diligent in seeking the King of kings and Lord of lords at Christmas and through the coming year. Don’t settle for secondhand faith. And when you find Him, don’t be afraid to linger in worship and wonder of the Savior who first sought you.

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” –Luke 19:10

Blessed Belief

I wonder what it was that enabled Mary to say to the angel “Let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38 ESV)? How did she develop such a faith in God that allowed her to accept the news, apparently with a glad and sincere heart? It’s not clear how much time passed before verses 46-55 when she praises God in the “Magnificat,” but her words reflect a deep knowledge of the Scriptures. The angel said Mary had “found favor with God.” It seems likely that her knowledge of Scripture had grown into a familiarity with who God is and how He works, so trusting Him was not a big challenge for her. Elizabeth said of Mary, “Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished” (1:45). Mary believed and trusted God.

Would I respond in faith to an angelic messenger like that? I think I’d more likely remain silent while wondering whether I was hallucinating or where the hidden camera was. In many ways our media-crazed culture has made us more skeptical. We don’t believe most of what we can see, much less what we can’t see. An angelic visitation might have a greater impact in a third world country. But at the same time, we have one advantage over Mary. We have two millennia of history beyond what Mary knew. We have the evidence of Jesus’s birth, ministry, death, and resurrection, and the subsequent growth of the church to point to God’s power, love, and faithfulness.

Jesus said, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). The author of Hebrews wrote, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).

I wish I had the kind of faith that said “Whatever You wish, Lord, no matter what.” Some days I do, but other days I’m inclined to tell God what He should be doing differently. Sometimes it’s easier to believe God for the general idea of salvation than it is to believe for the forgiveness of a particular sin. It’s easier to believe in the concept of sanctification than for the daily power over temptation. It’s easier to believe in God’s provision than to entrust an immediate need to His care. We often believe in theory but not in practice.

When Jesus was presented in the temple Simeon prophesied, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel… and a sword will pierce through your own soul also” (Luke 2:34-35). We aren’t told Mary’s immediate response, but she may have been wondering what she’d gotten herself into. That would certainly stir worry and fear in most of us. But somehow Mary kept believing and treasured up all these unusual events in her heart.

This Christmas as we remember that He is Immanuel, God with us, may we learn to believe Him more fully and trust Him more deeply. 

Mystery Incarnate

In preparation for Christmas I’ve been reading the first few chapters of Luke, and I noticed something I hadn’t seen before. When the angel appears to Zechariah announcing his coming son, Zechariah asks, “How shall I know this?” (I imagine the angel saying “How many angelic messages does it take to convince you?!”) Then after John is born and Zechariah can speak again, part of his prophetic praise includes, “You will go before the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of their sins” (vv. 76-77 ESV). It seems that he learned something about knowing and trusting God during that nine months of silence.

There are plenty of things about God that we’ll never understand in this lifetime, and perhaps not even in eternity. As many have said, if we fully understood God He would not be God. Paul wrote, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways!” (Romans 11:33). He often mentioned the mysteries of God. And in Ephesians 3:18-19 he prays that we “may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” I take that to mean that we can simply grasp the fact that it’s far beyond our human knowledge and experience, and we accept that by faith.

The mysteries of God are not things that we can logically conclude if we just have enough evidence. It’s not a matter of further research that will reveal the key that unlocks it all. God is so far beyond our realm of understanding that we cannot hope to unravel the mysteries. As C.S. Lewis said, it’s like trying to explain the three dimensions to a two dimensional object. Recently I was imagining how one would try to explain darkness to an atom residing in the center of the sun. (Yes, I have a strange imagination.) While that might be possible, assuming you can find an intelligent atom, God is infinitely further from explanation.

Paul summarizes some of the mystery in 1 Timothy 3:16:

“Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.”

As we celebrate the historical event of Jesus’ birth, we shouldn’t forget that the incarnation is a great mystery. “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

While a baby in a manger is something we can wrap our minds around, God becoming flesh and then dying for our sins is beyond our full comprehension. Perhaps the most incomprehensible part is that “God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Why God would love a bunch of sinners enough to send His Son to die for them is beyond me.

Let’s hold onto that mystery this Christmas and throughout the year. May the wonder of it all lead us into true worship!

Daily Revival

I recall a time in college when another Christian college was experiencing a time of revival on their campus. Some of our students organized prayer meetings in hopes that something similar would happen for us. The results were less than stellar and actually created some disturbing scenes due to misguided beliefs and expectations.

Recently I’ve been reading the challenging little book The Calvary Road by Roy Hession. The introduction by Norman Grubb summarizes it well:

“I had regarded revival only from the angle of some longed for, but very rare, sudden outpouring of the Spirit on a company of people… I learned and saw that revival is first personal and immediate. It is the constant experience of any simplest Christian who ‘walks in the light,’ but I saw that walking in the light means an altogether new sensitiveness to sin, a calling things by their proper name of sin, such as pride, hardness, doubt, fear, self-pity, which are often passed over as merely human reaction.”

He also points out that revival is not really the conversion of non-believers, because one must already have the new life before that life can be revived in them. So events that we might be inclined to call revivals are more often crusades. Churches holding “revival” services need to be clear as to what their expectations really are.

In one way, it takes some of the pressure off of an event if we realize that revival is not often a “sudden outpouring” and major change in the lives of a group. But that pressure instead is found in a constant nudging of the Holy Spirit redirecting lives day after day. The weekly routine of preaching, teaching, Bible study, worship, and prayer is most often the method by which the Holy Spirit revives the people of God. Those are the tools through which sin is revealed and confessed. If a person gets to the point of needing a sudden outpouring of the Spirit to cause them to change, they have probably been ignoring the Spirit and allowing sin to build up for quite some time. Thankfully God can still work and change lives in any condition, but how much better would it be to cultivate this daily sensitivity to sin and responsiveness to the Spirit?

Hession makes a couple comments that are particularly convicting:

“Anything that springs from self, however small it may be, is sin. Self-energy or self-complacency in service is sin. Self-pity in trials or difficulties, self-seeking in business or Christian work, self-indulgence in one’s spare time, sensitiveness, touchiness, resentment and self-defence when we are hurt or injured by others, self-consciousness, reserve, worry, fear, all spring from self and all are sin and make our cups unclean.” (13)

“Such a walk in the light cannot but discover sin increasingly in our lives, and we shall see things to be sin which we never through to be such before.” (19)

Most church members probably don’t have a problem with the “big” sins like murder or adultery, but we all have issues with pride and self-seeking. I’ve become increasingly aware of the selfish motivations in my life and how that hinders me from truly loving others as I should. Hession presses the point a little further when he writes:

“That means we are not going to hide our inner selves from those with whom we ought to be in fellowship; we are not going to window dress and put on appearances; nor are we going to whitewash and excuse ourselves. We are going to be honest about ourselves with them. We are willing to give up our spiritual privacy, pocket our pride and risk our reputations for the sake of being open and transparent with our brethren in Christ.” (20)

Fear of vulnerability is probably the greatest hindrance to spiritual growth for a lot of Christians. By keeping ourselves at a safe distance we not only lose fellowship, we also refuse to let anyone speak into our lives with correction or encouragement, and we miss the opportunity to do the same for others. “There is no doubt that we need each other desperately. There are blind spots in all our lives that we shall never see, unless we are prepared for another to be God’s channel to us” (50).

I want to have this experience of daily revival—walking in “newness of life” as Paul said in Romans 6:4, being aware that His mercies are “new every morning” (Lamentation 3:22-23), and having fellowship with one another as with Jesus Christ (1 John 1:7). No one needs to wait for once a year revival services, or even once a week revivifying, because we have daily access to God, His Word, and one another.

“Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His presence continually!” –Psalm 105:4 ESV