December 7, 2014

"Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’”But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”  Luke 19:1-10

Christmas proved the love of God beyond any doubt when God sent His Son, Jesus to be the Savior of the world.

God proved that He is serious about sin because Jesus came to conquer the power of sin and satisfy the penalty it demands. We saw last Sunday that God hates sin because He loves people and sin destroys people.

In this Scripture text, Luke tells you that God loves you because He sent Jesus to seek those who are lost. You were once lost. God is serious about seeking

This story of Zacchaeus is perhaps the classic illustration of Jesus in the role of the seeker. Over the next several posts I want to show you four inspiring insights of the Seeking Savior.

1) Jesus knows what you hope, v. 3

2) Jesus knows where you hide, v. 4

3) Jesus knows where you hurt, vv. 2, 5, 7

4) Jesus knows when to help, v. 9

Zacchaeus was a lonely and miserable little man. So when he heard Jesus was coming to his town hope arose within him. "If this Rabbi was Who they say He is maybe I will have a chance. I need to make sure I meet Him when He comes."

In verse three you can see that once Zacchaeus arrived at the place where Jesus would be passing, he discovered that being diminutive in stature he was unable to see over the crowd. And for the moment his hopes were dashed.

Determination and desperation can inspire creativity and Zacchaeus climbed a nearby sycamore tree to get a better view of the approaching Lord. Where once he had hoped to be seen by the Messiah, now he was just hoping to be able to see Him. And from his lofty perch he was able to get a great view of Jesus.

Much to Zacchaeus' surprise, as Jesus was passing by the sycamore He stopped, looked up at Zacchaeus and calling him by name said, "Come down immediately! I need to go to your house today!"

Zacchaeus couldn't believe his good fortune! This was so much more that he could ever have hoped for! This famous Rabbi wanted to visit with him in his own home! He scurried down the tree!

God understands your hopes and dreams. You want to be a good person. You want to be happy and have significance. You want your life to matter. You want to have the peace of knowing you are right with God. You want the assurance of Heaven when you die. Those things can only be found in a relationship with God.

Whether you realize it or not, God knows that only through Christ can you have those hopes fulfilled. Only through salvation can your fondest hopes be met. That is why He sent His Son to seek and save those who are lost - and those who have lost their hope.

Christmas proves that God's love is serious!

December 6, 2014

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14

The Baby Jesus was sent from Heaven to be the voice of God to this world.

The Baby Jesus was sent from Heaven to be the vision of God to this world.

And, the Baby Jesus was sent from Heaven to bring the victory of God to this world. Jesus came "full of grace and truth". How do grace and truth bring victory?

Let me suggest four significant ways truth and grace will bring you victory. Four key words are:

Reality

Repentance

Regeneration

Relationship

Truth connects you with reality. The purpose and power of truth is to anchor your life to reality. Whatever is most real to you will determine what is true for you. The best example in support of that claim is Adam. He became susceptible to rebellion against God the moment he lost touch with the truth that God is Ultimate Reality because He came first, He created everything that is real while everything else apart from Him is unreal and temporary.

Adam believed the implied lie from the lips of the serpent, "God wants to keep you from knowing what He knows. You will not surely die."

Grace would have kept Adam from erring from the truth. 

How? 

When the serpent caused Adam that moment of doubt about God's nature, Adam should have extended God the benefit of the doubt.

God gave you the benefit of the doubt when He sent Jesus "full of grace and truth" to call you back to His truth and reconnect you to what is real and eternal.

Truth calls you to repentance. Once God's Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, convinces you of His truth it convicts you of your lies. But, at the same time His truth condemns you, His Spirit calls you to His grace so that His compassion seems more real than your condemnation! His grace leads you repentance for believing lies and reconnecting with His truth!

Repentance leads you to regeneration! When you turn from your sinfulness by believing His truth and receiving His grace, the Holy Spirit brings His life into your spirit! That "born again" experience is known as regeneration. 

Once you are alive in Christ by His Spirit, you are brought into a personal relationship with Christ. He steps in and fills that huge empty place in your heart by gracing you with His love, His peace and His presence!

God will become real to you as He speaks to you and as you hear His voice. God becomes real to you as He listens to your voice. You will become aware of an eternal spiritual reality. What you can't see with your eyes will become more real than those things you can see! What you hear from God will have the ring of truth and keep you grounded in His reality.

The old saying is true - truth hurts! That is why truth must be coupled with grace because grace helps!

Aren't you glad that Jesus came from Heaven full of "grace AND truth"?

December 5, 2014

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14

God's Word changes everything every time it is applied!

The reason God's Word is so transforming is because God was transformed into flesh when the Baby Jesus came to earth on the first Christmas!

Heaven came down at Christmas in the Person of Jesus to be the voice of God!

Heaven came down at Christmas in the Person of Jesus to bring a vision of God!

But, wait, it gets better!

Heaven came down at Christmas in the Person of Jesus to bring the victory of God!

What is the victory Jesus brought on that first Christmas Day when Heaven came down? He came full of "grace and truth"! Heaven is a place of grace and truth so that shouldn't be surprising, but it IS inspiring!

The birth of Jesus was proof of grace and truth! He was sent to provide forgiveness and salvation when we deserved judgment and wrath! God extended mercy when we had earned justice. That's grace!

If you want to get an idea of how good His grace is for us, consider how bad God's wrath and judgment was for Jesus on the Cross!

And, His birth was also confirmation of His truth! It was a product of God's truth. Over 300 prophecies over a 700 year period foretold the coming, life events, and sacrificial death of God's Messiah. 

Therefore, His birth was proof of God's truth, because every event happened just as prophesied!
  
God's grace is dependent on God's truth and His truth is expressed and extended through His grace! Without the grace of God we would have no access to God's truth because Jesus IS God's Truth!

God's grace and truth expressed in Christ Jesus made it possible for you and me to gain the victory guilt and darkness!

Heaven is filled with God's grace and truth! And because Heaven came down at Christmas through the birth of Jesus, you can be filled with His grace and truth, too!

December 4, 2014

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14 

The baby Jesus came to be the voice of God, the "logos", revealing the knowledge and wisdom of God. Heaven came down to speak the mind of God.

The baby Jesus also came to be a vision of God. 

No one has seen God, nor could they see Him. 

He is a Spirit and human eyes are blind to the spirit world. 

More over, His holiness and majesty would mean instant death to any mortal who dared to look upon Him.

Those who saw Him in visions, such as Isaiah and John, were at a loss for words trying to describe what they saw.

So, what a better way to reveal Himself than to don flesh and come as a human being?

Heaven came down at Christmas in the person of the baby Jesus so people can lay eyes on the glory of God!

What is the glory of God?

The glory of God is everything He is in His Being, His Essence and His Nature - everything He is that we aren't!

Jesus was as much of God's glory as He could pack into human flesh. When people looked at Jesus they got a glimpse of the glory of God.

Think about all that Jesus was and yet He was just a limited glance of God's glory!

Wow!

December 3, 2014

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14

The "Word" that spoke the world into existence and launched our universe and everything that's in it, that "Word" became a tiny and innocent and vulnerable baby boy!

The "Word" that commanded, "Let there be a sun!" also spoke, "Let there be THE Son!"

That "Word" that became the Son was there when the sun was spoken into existence. In fact, He was there when ALL the suns where created at His "Word"!

The "Word" became flesh to dwell among us and to dwell like us to make it possible for you to dwell with Him and become like Him!

Jesus, as the "Word", came to be the voice of God in this world! And while still a tiny baby, well before he could talk, the "Word" spoke volumes by His birth! His birth said:

1) 400 years of  Heavenly silence was now broken!

2) Hundreds of prophecies were being fulfilled and scores of others would be during His life!

3) All of God's promises where kept by the Birth of Christ and the rest would be secured by His life, death and resurrection!

4) The fulfillment of God's prophecies and His promises through the birth of Christ spoke hope for all His promises yet to be fulfilled!

Once He learned to talk, the "Word" spoke healing words and He spoke helpful words, and He spoke words of holiness!

When the "Word" in flesh spoke, lives changed! Demons fled form the voice of God spoken by the "Word". Disease ceased at the voice of God spoken by the "Word". Even death was overpowered by the voice of God spoken by the "Word".

Christmas celebrates the good news of great joy - Jesus came to be the voice of God!

Have you heard that voice?

Are you listening?

December 2, 2014

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14

No one likes the silent treatment, although it can be a fairly effective tool.

When someone you enjoy communicating with chooses to punish you by not speaking to you and not responding to your attempts to speak to them, it can hurt.

For four long centuries God had been silent toward His people. That's a long time to not hear from God! That is several generations of Chosen Ones who lived and died without hearing from God. 

If you go fours weeks or four months without hearing from God don't you find yourself becoming anxious?

You can imagine how eager they must have been to hear from Him!

The last word they had from God came from the Prophet Malachi and left them waiting and wondering:

“See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.” Malachi 4:5-6

John the Baptist, born of a barren woman and an aged priest, came to be the Elijah, the fulfillment of this prophecy. Finally, the silence was broken and God's Word was proven true! 

John's message was clear, he was not the Messiah but he was come to preach and prepare the way for the Messiah.

God spoke and now was speaking through John, but John was not the last word! God had more to say! 

On a still night in a remote village in Judea, "the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us" ! Jesus, the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity, came in human flesh, born of a virgin in a manger inside of a stable.

Jesus came to be the voice God!

He is the "logos" of God! The "logos" expressed the heart and mind of God. His "logos" is His essence revealed to us. God's "logos" is God's life and it is God's light and God's love all wrapped up in swaddling clothes and first heard in a baby's cry!

God began speaking to hurting and hungry hearts on that first night in Bethlehem and He has been speaking ever since! Those who hear and listen find healing, help, and hope.

Are you listening?

December 1, 2014

"For nothing is impossible with God." Luke 1:37

Much of the lore and legend surrounding Christmas centers around impossible things happening.

For example, the story of a benign and jolly man who lives around the North Pole with a large population of highly skilled elves and a herd of flying reindeer. This industrious bunch craft a wide variety of toys to distribute to every child in the world during the night-time hours of Christmas Eve. 

Sound impossible? Ah, but don't forget that he has the benefit of the supersonic flying reindeer to propel his sleigh!

In fact, the REAL story of Christmas featured some fairly fantastic unfolding of events.

For example, the birth of John the Baptist. Consider this account from Luke 1:11-25

"11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” 18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” 19 The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20 And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.” 21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. 22 When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak. 23 When his time of service was completed, he returned home. 24 After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 25 “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people."

When God needed a prophet to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah, He did it in an impossible way! Out of the weakness of an elderly priest and his barren wife, came John the Baptist. These good and faithful people had borne the shame of infertility their entire married life. Having a son was a sign of God's sanction and blessing upon your life and marriage. So, here is a highly spiritual couple having to live under the shadow of doubt regarding their lack of a son. It was a burden that they had suffered together through the years. I am sure they had lost count of the times they had cried out to God, apparently to no avail.

Don't you think they struggled through some faith issues? You have had enough disappointments with God that you can identify with their heartaches. But in the end, as all people of faith do, they came to grips with the will of God for their lives.

After all that, and now that conception was a physical impossibility for this aged couple, they impossible announcement comes to Zechariah from no less that Gabriel himself! Their prayers had been heard, their faith had been honored and their dreams would come true. What had been impossible to them was about to happen for them! Why? How?

Because "nothing is impossible with God"!

The good news of Christmas is that God is not limited by our weakness! He is not diminished by our humanity!

Because of Christmas - because of Christ - everything is possible! Miracles can happen! Through Christ, God can bring wins out your your weaknesses! Through Christ, God can bring fulfillment out of your futility. Because of Christmas your dreams can arise amid your doubts! Because of Christ there are no dead ends in your life!

As you gear up for your celebration of Christmas - celebrate this - Christmas proves that "nothing is impossible with God!"