Bowling Green Covenant Church

Friday 16 December 2005

“For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon
grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth
were realized through Jesus Christ.”-John 1.16-17 [NASB]

One of my favorite stories to tell at Christmas is about a
man jockeying his way through holiday traffic in New York
City. As he weaved his way through the city’s streets, he
could not shake the feeling that he’d forgotten something at
home.

Once past the city limits he pulled to side of the highway.
He checked to see if he had his wallet. He did. He checked
the trunk. Yes, he remembered to pack the presents. He
resumed the drive home, but he just could not shake the
feeling he had forgotten something. Whatever it was he had
forgotten was right on the tip of his tongue, like when you
see a familiar face but cannot find the name to go with it.
Try as he might, he just couldn’t remember. So he drove on.

Two hours later he was still trying to remember when he
pulled into the driveway of his son’s home. Only when his
grandson greeted him did the man remember what he’d left at
home. “Hi, Grandpa!” said the young lad, “Hey! Where’s
Grandma?”

As you careen from store to store during the Christmas
season are you nagged by the sense you have forgotten
something? You have made your list. You have checked it
twice. And yet you are hounded by a foreboding awareness
that you have left something behind. Well, before you drag
yourself into the Mall for “one more thing” let me ask you,
“Where’s Jesus?”

Sometimes we can focus so much on task completion and gift
selection, holiday preparation and home presentation we
forget Who is at the center of the holiday. Okay, so maybe
we do not totally forget Jesus, but you have to admit that
He does tend to get buried beneath the tinsel, twinkle
lights and lighted animated reindeer!

If you have stopped long enough to read this, the apostle
John tells us what, make that Who, Christmas is about.
Christmas is about Jesus being born to give us grace upon
grace. Christmas is Jesus born to save us from God’s wrath
against our sins. Christmas is Jesus born to give those who
believe in Him the right to become children of God.
Christmas is Jesus born to give us grace and truth so that
we might be adopted as God’s sons and daughters. Christmas
is Jesus born to teach us all there is to know about getting
into heaven. Christmas is Jesus born to show us the way of
salvation. Christmas is Jesus born to tell us how we can
have eternal life. Christmas is Jesus born to teach us all
there is to know about getting into heaven.

When Jesus the Word, put on human flesh that was an act of
grace. When Jesus the Son was born to take our place on the
cross that was an act of grace. When Jesus the Savior calls
us to follow Him that is an act of grace. The Law reminds we
are weak. Jesus fulfilled the Law by absorbing our weakness,
taking it to the cross and in its place He gives us grace
and truth that lead to eternal life.

Think about that the next time you are dodging through
traffic to find that perfect gift and, oh, do not forget
Grandma.

Merry Christmas.

MM

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the
government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be
called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.”
-Isaiah 9.6 [ESV]

Seven hundred years before Jesus was born, the prophet
Isaiah said that Jesus the Messiah would be called by
certain names. He wanted us to know that these names would
belong to Jesus and Him alone. He wanted us to know that
there is a lot more to the name of Jesus than the name of
Jesus.
From eternity Jesus is Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. He did not earn
these names because He is, was, and always will be Wonderful
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of
Peace.
Jesus is Wonderful Counselor (literally, a wonder of a
counselor)-Jesus is a wonder by virtue of His virgin birth.
He surpasses all human thought and power. Jesus is a wonder
because He is God in human flesh. As Counselor Jesus is
anointed by the Holy Spirit with all the wisdom and
knowledge necessary to establish and command His kingdom as
well as the power, authority, and skill to direct our lives
because He possesses the same nature as the Lord Almighty.
As Wonderful Counselor, Jesus is the wisdom of God come down
from heaven to earth. According to James 3.17: “the wisdom
that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then
peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and
good fruit, impartial, and sincere. ”
Jesus is Mighty God-As the Mighty God, Jesus is a hero whose
chief characteristic is that He is God. A Hero gives his
life for another. A Hero is not afraid to lay down his or
her life to save someone else. Jesus is that kind of Hero.
He volunteered to step into our time in order to die in our
place so that we could live forever with Him in God’s
eternal presence.
As the Mighty God Jesus lived the sinless life that we are
not capable of living to please God. The writer of the
letter to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus was “tempted in
every way, just as we are-yet was without sin.” Since this
is true, the writer of Hebrews encourages us “to approach
the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive
mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need,”
(Hebrews 4.16).
If Jesus had not lived a sinless life we would have no hope
of receiving mercy or finding grace from God in our time of
need. But the Mighty God, the Hero of our salvation did live
the life we could not live so that we could have hope,
receive mercy and find grace to help us.
Jesus is Everlasting Father-Everlasting Father describes
Jesus’ ministry as the pioneer of our salvation. Like a
father, Jesus protects us against the attacks by the enemy.
He comforts us with the assurance of our salvation. He
counsels us with His holy wisdom. He forgives our mistakes.
He disciplines us when we disobey. He loves us without
condition. He covets our prayers. He enjoys our company.
Sometimes God allows circumstances to cast a shadow on the
truth of His mercy and grace. Sometimes our circumstances
test our faith in His love. It is during this dark moments
when we must trust in Jesus’ character as Everlasting
Father. He loves us. He loves you, too.
Jesus is Prince of Peace-Jesus came to establish peace
between God and us. He died as our substitute to suffer the
full punishment of God’s wrath against us “so that we may
receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of
need.” It may seem inappropriate to speak about Jesus’ death
in a season when we celebrate His birth, but the fact is
Jesus was born to die. His death is our peace.
The peace Jesus gives is the Hebrew word shalom (a state of
wholeness and well-being usually brought about through a
restored relationship). Shalom is the feeling a mother gets
when her son pulls into the driveway after a night out with
his friends. Shalom is the feeling a father has when all his
children are safely home for Christmas. Shalom is the
knowledge that a loved one is going home to be with Jesus.
Shalom is the joy of knowing that God is not angry with us
because we know Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
This Christmas let us once again worship Jesus for who He
is-Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and
Prince of Peace. Let us praise Him who gives us access to
receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need.
Let us bow down before the One to whom all authority is
given: Jesus of Nazareth who is Christ the Lord, the Son of
God, Savior.
You think about that.
MM

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of
the LORD has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall
cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples, but the
LORD will arise upon you, and His glory will be seen upon
you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the
brightness of your rising.” -Isaiah 60.1-3 [NIV]

When our daughter was three-years-old every sunset brought a
crisis of faith. Each evening Liz would fearfully announce,
“The sun is going away! The sun is going away!” And every
evening at sunset, Jill and I would reassure her, “It’s all
right. The sun is going away, but it will come back. You’ll
see. When you wake up tomorrow morning the sun will be right
here to say ‘Hello!’ You’ll see tomorrow the sun will come
back.” This conversation was repeated many times until Liz
learned that every sunset is followed by a sunrise.

There are sunsets that you can see. They take place in the
sky every night. Some sunsets take place in the human heart.
You don’t see those sunsets. You feel them. When my
grandmother passed away in July 1984 that was a sunset. The
darkness grew deeper three weeks later when my dad died
after a ten-year battle with cancer. The sun rose when
Matthew was born a year later. It rose higher when I
graduated from seminary with my mother there to see it. In
June 1987 the sun set again when my mother died from
pancreatic cancer. Six months later the sun rose again when
Liz was born. The sun set again in 1989 when Jill’s dad
passed away only to rise again when Jeffrey was born later
that year. Since then the sun has risen and set many more
times, but through it all God has been faithful. He has seen
to it that for every sunset there has been a sunrise.
.
For some people, Christmas is more about the sunset than the
sunrise. Some of us struggle with loneliness even as we are
surrounded by friends and family. Some of us nervously
scribble figures on the bottom line wondering if the flow of
red ink will ever stop. Parents struggle to balance the
desire to buy gifts for their children against the need to
watch every penny. Unmarried people awkwardly celebrate the
holiday amid questions from well-meaning relatives and
friends who ask when they will settle down. For a lot of
people, Christmas is not about the sunrise. It’s about the
sunset.

If that describes you then Isaiah the prophet has good news
for you; “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the
glory of the LORD has risen upon you.” Christmas is the time
when God reminds us that for every sunset there is a
sunrise. The birth of Jesus is the celebration of our hope
that the darkness is always broken by the dawn. At Christmas
God we rejoice in the truth that weeping may last for a
night, but joy comes in the morning. Christmas is the time
when God reminds us that for every sunset there is a
sunrise.

At Christmas God commands us to arise. Since we cannot arise
by our own power, God must help us to obey. His help comes
to us through Jesus Christ, the Word of God. At Christmas,
Jesus put on our flesh and lived among us. At Christmas God
became Man in Jesus Christ. This same Jesus is also the
Light of the world. As the light of the world Jesus breaks
into our darkness like the sunrise. Where His light touches
He draws us out of the darkness to arise and follow Him.

You think about that.
MM