Praise the Lord for
super Saturday which is just one week before Christmas Eve.
Overnight it was snowing with ferocity and abundant beauty. Praise the Lord
the way the snow blankets and decorated the earth as if done by a wonderworking
artist and designer. It looks like a Norman Rockwell Christmas, capturing
the just a glimpse of the Majesty and the beauty of the Lord. The
wind is gentle, the snow flakes friendly, reminding us of the true nature of
Jesus, the Bethlehem Child. Alice and I walked briskly last evening
on the snow, defying the cold temperature. We came across many Merry Christmas
Tree shoppers taking home Fresh Christmas trees from a local Christmas
tree depot. Main Street was filled with High School student Christmas
gatherings and celebrations along with Christmas decorations all over the
town. Alice I watched a Christmas movie, Deck the Halls,
filled with Christmas Spirit and redeeming factors. Alice is looking at
the long range forecast for Christmas day, being a firm believer that every
Central New York Christmas should be a white one. She is jubilant knowing
that It will be Christmas very soon.
Praise
the Lord for the Church of Jesus Christ our Lord. The Lord has used the
church despite all of its bloopers, wrinkles, and blunders to bless the world
throughout all the ages The Lord has used the church as a conduit for
blessings, healing, restoration, reconciliation, and redemption around the
corner and around the globe. During the season of Advent and Christmas
Jesus, the Lord of Christmas, puts His church on overdrive in terms of
extravagant generosity and good will. "There are many things from which I might have derived good, by
which I have not profited, I dare say,' returned the nephew. 'Christmas
among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it
has come round—apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if
anything belonging to it can be apart from that—as a good time; a kind,
forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long
calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their
shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were
fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on
other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of
gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will
do me good; and I say, God bless it!” (Dickens, A Christmas Carol)
The Church gets a special anointing to proclaim the good news of
great Joy in word and deed. The Jesus people redeemed by His blood and grace
go extra mile in becoming the instruments of greater love, his great sacrifice
and His great magnanimity. Jesus people become blessing to the least, the
last and lost.. Millions are blessed in around the corner, around the
globe, in highways and byways, in hospitals, orphanages, refugee centers, leper
colonies, children's homes, prisons, and other institutions.
In and through the local churches and denominational agencies, and many
para-church organizations, like the Salvation army, World Vision, and
others, overzealous servants for Jesus labor relentlessly and tirelessly with
much love and grace using their resources to bless others that they might have
taste the grace and gladness of Jesus. Thank you for giving to the Lord
during this season of Giving and Receiving.
I
have a dear friend, a colleague in ministry, who is in his 80's, caring for his
beloved wife, who shared that he had made a commitment to give a
particular ministry. He kept the commitment, even though he needs the
finances for his family. Despite his apparent personal need, he kept the
promise. Behold, unknown to him another faithful servant blessed
him with a very generous financial gift that outmatched what he given to the
ministry. Our Lord is a hilarious giver. The Lord blessed
us to be part of a blessing in Orissa India. The Government
of India has attempted to curb the work the Gospel in India, but in
spite of the opposition the Church in India is on the move
and growing like wild fire. The Lord blessed us to be a
minute part of the blessing in that region. We were able to
send financial gifts. Over 60 families, including several children,
pastors, seminary students, and widows were blessed. These
blessings contain the seeds of the Gospel, that will bring forth harvest
a hundredfold, sixty-fold and thirty-fold. We are privileged and
blessed to be part the blessing and gift that keeps on giving.
I wanted to share this good news, foremost and above all praising the
Lord for He is the giver of all gifts. Many of you have been part of this
blessing.
As
I was sitting this morning, two messengers of Jesus brought to our
home a humongous Christmas Basket full of grace and love. Our Lord
is extravagant in every way. One of the saints of the church, Juna
Tinkham, reminded me often, "Pastor, you can never out give Jesus.
Our Lord is nobody's debtor.
I'm
a bit of a church junkie, and I just love church, preaching, ministry, and the
like. So it is that being a pastor isn't just a profession for
me. It's a calling, an interest, and a hobby—all wrapped into one.
Christmas is deeply and profoundly personal for us because God did
something great for us: he sent Christ for each one of us. God didn't
just send Christ at Christmas for the nameless, faceless, masses of humanity.
He sent Christ at Christmas for me, and for you. To see Christ
coming is to see God—the great and ultimate ruler of the universe, the ultimate
creator and sustainer behind all that is, our very own Maker who fashioned us
in our mother's womb. It is to see him personally extend himself to us to
do great things for us
Christmas
makes a difference because God has personally extended himself to us in sending
Jesus. Jesus didn't just come as some religious figure. God
sent his own Son to install him as the rightful king of the ages. He was
not a king in the classic sense, where he uses his authority to push people
around. He came as a king who would use his authority to lay down his
life on a cross. But also by laying down his life and dying on a
cross, Jesus would be raised in power as the true King that even sin, evil, and
death couldn't resist, and whom everyone would have to reckon with one
day. Jesus will fully and completely make all things right one day.
Christ's coming at Christmas means the humble are being lifted up and will be lifted up, the
hungry are being fed and will be fed, the proud are being brought low and will be brought low, even
those who are on thrones. The rich are being emptied and will be emptied. Justice
delayed doesn't mean justice denied because Jesus knows the whole truth,
in detail, about every story and every situation. Eventually, one day,
all accounts will have to be reckoned and reconciled with him because Christ is
the true king who has come at Christmas.
Although
we are constantly reminded of all of those things that so depress us about
our world, with ISIS, the Syrian refugee crisis, the images of the poor we see
on TV that make us squirm, and the stories of the oppressed and murdered we
hear about in the news, Christ's coming at Christmas means God will sort it
out. and his justice is already initiated. Christ's coming began to reverse all
of that, and He will fully complete that reversal one day when all accounts are
reckoned and reconciled with him. Christ's coming began making all things
right that God will complete one day in perfect and complete justice.
Christmas
makes a difference because God has personally extended himself to us in sending
Jesus, and he has initiated his justice for our world. Jesus' birth
wasn't a matter of happenstance. His birth wasn't the unlikely
fulfillment of a bunch of coincidences that some random people wishfully spoke
hundreds of years prior. Jesus Christ's coming was a matter of God
fulfilling his long-standing promise to his people.
It
reminds me of a story about a particular Saturday morning in a small town
diner. On that day, in a secluded corner booth, there was a young couple
having breakfast alone. When they were done and got the check, the
husband got up and went up to the diner's register to pay. T hen he came back
to their booth, and then he did something rather odd. He picked up his
wife and carried her through the diner because she was crippled. As
he carried her through the diner, the noise level slowly went down until you
could almost hear a pin drop, and everyone's eyes were fastened on this young
guy carrying his wife through the diner and on out the door. Then everyone
watched as he somehow managed to open the door to his truck so that he could
tenderly set his wife inside. In that pregnant silence, with no one
having a sense of what to say, a waitress broke that silence and said, "I
guess he took his vows seriously."
God
is completely serious about his vows and promises, too. He is a
God who keeps his promises and vows. To see Christ's coming at
Christmas means to see God fulfilling his promises and demonstrating how he
treats all of his promises. We know God makes good on His promises because
we see Christ's coming at Christmas: that promise of forgiveness by receiving
Christ, that promise he'll never leave us or forsake us, that promise of life
with God now that extends beyond our graves into an eternity with Him,
and any other promise God has made to us that comes to our
mind. Praise God during this Advent season, because in sending
Christ, God has not only personally extended himself to you and initiated his
justice and mercy for our world, but he has also shown his promises to be
sure.
In
Christ,
Brown
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