Mary Did You Know? (Part 4) - Luke 2:1-20; 1:26-38

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                Over the past few weeks, we’ve asked the question as to whether or not Mary, Jesus’ earthly mother, had any knowledge or idea of the magnitude of the child that she had given birth to that night there in Bethlehem.  And using our most advanced powers of deduction, we’ve come up with a big fat “maybe, but probably not.”  She might have known that the miracles that he would later do were pointing to something bigger.  She might have known that he was coming to serve as a prophet of God, proclaiming God’s Word.  She might have known that he was coming to be the prophesized priest of the order of Melchizedek.  However, even though she knew something of what Jesus was coming to do, she more than likely didn’t have a full understanding of the magnitude or scope of Jesus’ ministry and work.  Much of what she understood and viewed things through was from the appearance of the angel Gabriel to her before her conception.  So, she knew full well that God most certainly was involved in everything that was taking place, but her understanding was limited.  After all, she was only human.  She was a person who was trusting in God; hence her words in Luke 1:38 “Behold I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”  These words she said to the angel after being told that she was going to have a son and that the child would be the Son of God, conceived in her by the Holy Spirit.

                If we were to turn back in our Bibles one chapter from the text that we’ve read each of the last four Sundays and read the account of Mary’s being visited by the angel Gabriel, we would see all that is recorded from what Mary was told about the child that she was to bear.  And if we look at sort of the middle of that chunk of text, in vv. 32-33, we find these words, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.  And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”  Throne, reign, kingdom; these words cause a certain picture to come to our minds.  We think of some type of royalty.  Now we’ve looked at Jesus as the eternal prophet.  We’ve looked at him as the eternal priest.  So today, we’re going to be examining the third office of his threefold role as the covenant mediator or the mediator of the relationship that exists between God and mankind, his role as the eternal king.

                In only fourteen weeks, we’re going to gather back in this sanctuary for a time of worship much like we have today.  Instead of what we’re wearing now, we’ll probably be wearing something much more springtime appropriate.  We’ll begin that service of worship with children walking down the center aisle and placing palm branches at the foot of a wooden cross here in the sanctuary.  Yes, we will be celebrating Palm Sunday.  And when we gather on Palm Sunday, our minds are always drawn back to that day when there were some 2 million+ estimated people there lining the streets as Jesus entered into Jerusalem shouting “Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”  Then, later on during that week, we will gather again, this time on Thursday evening, for our Maundy Thursday service in which we will remember the events of the Upper Room and turn our attention to the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior.  And as we leave, we will ask ourselves the same question that we ask every time we think about it, “How did the people go from cheering Jesus so robustly one day to calling so ferociously for his execution only a few days later?”  Well, in order to answer that we have to back up to what was expected of the coming Messiah.

                In the words recorded by the prophet Isaiah, we find a good bit about the coming, promised Messiah.  For example, these words from 9:6-7, “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.  Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over this kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.  The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”  When we read these words about the government being upon someone’s shoulders then we naturally think of the one who rules that particular government.  Also, like with the words from Gabriel to Mary that we mentioned earlier, when we see anything that has to do with the throne of David and his kingdom, then we know that what is being referenced is the office or position of a king; specifically the king of Israel, God’s chosen people.  The text that we brought in last Sunday, Psalm 110 (the Old Testament text most often quoted in the New Testament), even alludes to messianic kingship in the opening verses.  “The Lord says to my Lord:  ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’  The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter.  Rule in the midst of your enemies!”  And these are only a few of the Old Testament texts that we could look to and find some prophecy about the kingship of the coming Messiah.

                Now, the question that you might be asking yourself is what this has to do with Palm Sunday.  Well, let me make the connection for you if you haven’t already.  Why do you think the people were cheering that day as Jesus was entering into Jerusalem?  What were they so excited about?  They didn’t have any clue as to what was about to happen.  As a matter of fact, they thought that the exact opposite of what took place was going to happen.  You see, they had known that the coming messiah was to be a king.  The Bible that existed at that time was what we call the Old Testament today.  They knew that the messiah was coming to restore the people of Israel to their rightful place.  However, they were all thinking in an earthly sense.   They were all thinking that the time of prosperity and well-being that Israel enjoyed under the reign of David was what Jesus came into the world to accomplish.  This was going to be like David 2.0 for them.  I’ll remind you that it wasn’t as if the Jewish people were even in charge of their own government at this point in time.  They were under the ultimate authority of Rome.  So, when people started hearing that this man named Jesus had come into the world and that he was claiming to be the promised messiah sent by God, they got excited.  They couldn’t wait for the words of the prophets and the words of David to come true.  They couldn’t wait for God to use this long-awaited messiah to make the enemies of God’s chosen people a footstool.  They couldn’t wait to see their enemies and oppressors overthrown and for the people of God to be restored to their rightful place (that is, in any earthly manner of speaking of course).  However, that wasn’t exactly the plan that God had, and it wasn’t the work that Jesus came to accomplish.

                You see, God’s plan was on a much grander level.  The problem that the Jewish people had with it is a problem that we ought to relate to today.  Jesus wasn’t coming to reestablish an earthly kingdom that would run the course that all earthly kingdoms do.  No, he was coming to establish an eternal kingdom.  You would think that by definition that someone would want what is eternal and lasting over something that isn’t eternal and doesn’t last.  However, we, much like the Jewish people of that time, are far too often concerned with the immediate benefits and immediate blessings that we value those things as more important than something that we must wait for.  We don’t really care about the value of the two realities being compared, we just simply want our reward and we want it as fast as possible. 

                Very often in our house, the kids will want to go and do something that Amy and I already had planned for them to do.  However, very rarely does our timing and theirs sync up.  In an effort to not divulge our plans, Amy and I will often give them choices, but they are never really equal choices.  For example, let’s say that they want to go eat at Waffle House for dinner (which they love).  Now, we don’t mind taking them to Waffle House because we enjoy it too.  However, that particular day might not be the best time for us.  So, we will give them two choices: 1) eat at Waffle House today, or 2) eat at Waffle House tomorrow and pick up dessert on the way home.  Now, everyone in here can say that Waffle House and dessert is the obvious choice, but there is something to the draw of a desire being satisfied immediately that they choose every single time.  Invariably, we have to tell them that they only had the illusion of choosing which day we went and they end up mad at us; even though they are still going to get to eat Waffle House and maybe even still get dessert.

                So, why were the people so mad at Jesus only a short time after cheering him?  Well, it’s because their desire to have their immediate wants granted to them wasn’t met.  Jesus didn’t restore their wealth, power, influence, or way of life.  Many of them treated it as if Jesus was some miracle drug that immediately upon his entering into Jerusalem they started asking each other if they anything felt different yet.  As Jesus had been saying all along and as many of the prophets had proclaimed earlier, Jesus was coming to establish something that was lasting and eternal.  Just look again at the words spoken to Mary by the angel, “he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”  Or perhaps the words spoken by Isaiah, “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over this kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.”  You see, Jesus was and is different from all other kings, all other rulers that had ever or would ever exist.  He was different in many ways, but the most glaring is that He is God, and by definition He is eternal.  David died and his kingdom ended.  Caesar died and his kingdom ended.  All throughout history (both biblical and secular), we are told of kings building up kingdoms only to have those kingdoms begin to crumble after the death of their king.  However, Jesus is different.  There is no end to his kingdom.  There is no end to his reigning at the head of that kingdom.  Sure, it may not be a kingdom that we can imagine or that comes to mind when we first hear the word kingdom, but that doesn’t make it not a kingdom.  The absence of castles and moats and royal guards doesn’t make it not a kingdom.

                I’m going to ask you something that is going to seem really strange when I say it aloud (or at least it ought to).  Do you believe that Jesus is, right now as we speak, sitting on a throne at the right hand of God the Father?  Now, we would assume that everyone who calls themselves a Christian or at the very least considers it their obligation to attend a Christian worship service would answer in the affirmative.  However, do we live like that?  Do we live as if Jesus is the eternal king?  Do we live as if Jesus is the one who governs our very lives?  Or is it someone or something else that’s in charge?  Do you act as if you’re in charge of your life?  After all, who knows what’s best for you better than you, right?  Well, the answer, quite simply, is that Jesus knows what’s best for you and your life and your family and your friends and everyone or everything else you can think of.

                As Jesus was being examined and interviewed by Pontius Pilate prior to his being delivered over to be crucified, he made the status of his kingdom quite clear.  In the midst of Pilate’s questioning as to whether or not Jesus had called himself the King of the Jews, Pilate almost seems to reach a point of questioning whether or not Jesus understands the severity of the charges that had been leveled against him.  Jesus, looking directly at Pilate, simply says, “My kingdom is not of this world.  If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting the Jews.  But my kingdom is not of this world.”  The kingdom that Jesus came to establish isn’t of this world, and neither is our citizenship.  Philippians 3:20 (But our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ) and Hebrews 13:14 (For we have no lasting city, but we seek a city that is to come) make this clear.

                Friends, our citizenship is not of this world.  We are, in essence, strangers in a foreign land.  Do you ever wonder why it is that the more a person grows in their faith and their understanding in the gospel, the more they seem to become at odds with the world around them?  It’s not because the world is changing that fast, although that’s what we like to tell ourselves.  The truth of the matter is that evil has always existed; sin has always existed, at least since the fall.  The reality of it all is that the more that we grow in our understanding of the things of God, the more we will see that this earth is not our natural home.  Our home is with Jesus.  Our home is in the kingdom of God, with Jesus Christ as the king for all eternity.  However, that doesn’t mean that we all long for the day that we pass from this life into the next.  What it means is that we take orders from our king.  We follow the commands that he has given us.  We seek to complete the tasks that he has laid out before us.  We seek to establish his kingdom upon this earth.  We seek to build our lives and the lives of those around us upon the Word of God.  And we are to do so, while remembering that Jesus Christ reigns as our king upon his throne.  For he did not come to build an earthly kingdom, but an everlasting one that will last forever and ever. 

In the words of Dr. R.C. Sproul:  “Christ reigns now as the Lamb who is worthy to receive the kingdom of God.  That kingdom has begun and is growing, but it will not be consummated until Christ comes at the end of human history to subdue all kingdoms.  At that time, the kingdom, which is now invisible, will become visible.  But although the kingdom is now invisible, it is not unreal.  At the consummation, there will be a complete renovation of the created order as we know it, and Christ will establish His kingdom in its full glory forever.”  Amen.

Mary Did You Know (Part 3)

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During our Advent series entitled “Mary Did You Know?” we’ve asked the question as to whether or not Mary, the earthly mother of Jesus, had any clue as to her son’s true power and identity there on the night of his birth in Bethlehem.  We’ve acknowledged that she knew something since the angel Gabriel did appear to her and tell her a bit about the child that was to be born to her, but did she have any clue about the magnitude of who this child really was.  We began by looking at Jesus’ miracles, primarily focusing on the fact that the miracles themselves weren’t the important matter, but were instead pointing to what was important, the crucifixion.  Certainly Mary had some grasp of the miracles of Jesus since her conception itself was a miracle.  Last Sunday, we talked about Jesus serving eternally in the office of prophet.  Remember, we said that a prophet is one who speaks for God to His people.  Jesus continues to serve in this office even this very moment as we speak.  He is the Word of God, by which we have the commands of God revealed to us.  Mary more than likely knew that Jesus was coming to proclaim God’s word, but to what extent she didn’t know for certain.

Well, today we’re going to turn Jesus around so-to-speak and examine his role as the eternal priest.  You see, whereas a prophet spoke from God to the people, a priest spoke or acted from the people towards God.  The priest was responsible for making the sacrifices to God that were required for the cleansing and forgiving of sins prior to entering the temple and coming into the presence of a holy God.  When we think about the office of a priest in reference to Scripture, what comes to mind most often is the Aaronic priesthood of Israel (which is also referred to as the Levitical priesthood in some circles).  These were the priests who were in charge of offering proper sacrifices and worship in the tabernacle while Israel wandered in the wilderness, and eventually in the temple after it had been constructed after their entering into the Promised Land.  We don’t have the time to go through and examine all of the things that the priests were required to do because it spans a good deal of the second half of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers.  Which, as a side note, if you ever question whether we have it much easier to call ourselves worshippers of God today, just read the Pentateuch and you will see that our system of worship is much more simplistic than that of Old Testament Israel.  And all of that is because of the work of Jesus Christ.  Of course the argument could be made that because of the ease with which we are able to approach God, the awe and reverence that we ought to have for Him is sadly lost upon many Christians today.

Anyways, getting back to the examination of Jesus as our eternal priest, the Aaronic/Levitical priesthood isn’t the only priesthood mentioned in Scripture.  Psalm 110, the Old Testament text that is most frequently quoted in the New Testament, speaks of another priesthood, while also telling of the coming Messiah.  “The LORD says to my Lord:  ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’  The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter.  Rule in the midst of your enemies!   Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours.  The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.’ (110:1-4)”  Do you remember the name Melchizedek coming up anywhere else previously in the Old Testament?  That’s right, in Genesis 14 we find this priest named Melchizedek blessing Abraham.  “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine.  (He was priest of God Most High.)  And he blessed him and said, ‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!’  And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. (14:18-20)” 

So, we see that in Psalm 110, David, inspired by God, speaks of the coming Messiah as coming from the line of Melchizedek.  Well, the first question that we ask is why the Melchizedek priesthood and not the Levitical one established by God within Israel (His chosen people) there in the wilderness?  After all, we think that in this keeping of the biblical line that there would be this easy progression throughout, right?  Well, the simple answer is that the Melchizedek priesthood is greater than the Levitical one.  Let’s follow the flow of things shall we?  In order for Melchizedek to bless Abraham (Abram) as he did in Genesis 14, he would have had to be considered greater than Abraham.  Well, ultimately, Moses and his brother Aaron are descendants of Abraham, as is David.  Now we know that Jesus comes from the line of David, but he is “a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” as the writer of Hebrews tells us in 7:17.  However, I want to back up a bit to earlier in the chapter when the writer of this epistle “compares” these two priesthoods.  “For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham … and blessed him, and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything.  He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace.  He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.  See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils!  And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham.  But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises.  It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior.  In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives.  One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him. (7:1-10)”.  So you see, we’re not breaking any covenantal lines here.  If anything, we are actually seeing the covenantal line strengthened and an even greater foreshadowing of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ.  We’re seeing an even greater foreshadowing coming even earlier in the unfolding of redemptive history.

The writer of Hebrews then goes on to spend the rest of the seventh chapter of this epistle comparing Jesus to Melchizedek, but he also begins to turn his focus to Jesus’ serving as our eternal priest.  “The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he (Jesus) holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.  Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.  For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.  He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.  For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. (7:23-28)”.  Do you see the words here from the writer of Hebrews telling us of the greatness of Christ?  We often times in today’s world when hearing people speak about pastors say that “they’re people too.”  Yes, that’s very much the case.  We’re just as prone to disobedience and sin as anyone else…maybe even more so than some.  Well, the priests of the old covenant were people too.  I’m just as in need of the saving blood of Jesus as anyone else today.  They were just as much in need of those sacrifices to cleanse themselves as the people were then. 

However, when it comes to Jesus, there is no need for Jesus to make atonement for his sin because he never sinned.  He is completely, totally, and eternally without sin.  He also offered a sacrifice that was much greater than anything offered by the Levitical priests.  Even though they followed all of those laws about sacrifices that are contained in the Pentateuch to the finest detail, their sacrifices weren’t sufficient.  Hebrews 10:4 says, “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin.”  Well, that’s what the priests were sacrificing; that’s what they were commanded to sacrifice.  However, it wasn’t enough.  But Jesus; Jesus’ sacrifice was different.  His sacrifice was much great than an animal and instead of a sacrifice that needed repeating it was a once for all sacrifice.  Now, don’t mistakenly think that I’m saying that Jesus continuously keeps repeating this sacrifice as a means of satisfying the wrath and justice of God.  Christ continues in this role as priest by his continuous intercession for us as he resides with the Father.  However, his sacrifice was a once for all time event.  The event that we remember in greater earnest through our partaking of the elements on the table that stands before us today; we remember the one-time sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

The eternality of his priesthood isn’t merely his sacrifice lasting for all time, but also in his active role as our advocate with the Father.  We said last Sunday that Jesus still serves in his role as prophet even at this very moment, and that he will continue to serve in that role until such time as the new heaven and new earth are fully established.  Well, the same is true of his role as the eternal priest.  The sacrifice has already been made, but the accounting it to our behalf and bestowing upon us the blessings that come from it are a continuous work.  Jesus Christ is at this very moment making intercession for us wretched sinners before a just God.  Doesn’t that fact just astound and astonish you?

Last Sunday, I closed by asking you the question of whether or not your life was governed by Christ; whether you followed the commands of God (conveyed through Jesus as the eternal prophet and Word of God) or something of this world?  Well, I want to ask another question about how you live your life.  Do you live your life as if Jesus is the eternal priest; your eternal priest?  Do you live as if the only reason or means that you have any hope of salvation is because Jesus is actively working for it at this very moment?  Or do you live as if your being nice to someone, your giving of your money or time, or your being a decent person are your hopes for salvation.  I’m not diminishing those things.  As we’ve said before, those are good works that ought to flow naturally from our faith.  What I’m asking is if you can honestly look yourself in the mirror and say that you’re nothing without Jesus.  Can you stare at your reflection, thinking about all the things that you’ve done in this life and all the things that you consider yours and acknowledge that you’re nothing without Jesus?  Nothing that we do or have done means a thing without Jesus.  That is his role as the eternal priest.  Through his sacrifice and his atoning work, we are made righteous and forgiven, so that we may come into the presence of our Heavenly Father.

Mary Did You Know (Part 2) - Luke 2:1-20; Deuteronomy 18:15

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                Now, I know that many of us in this room have read and/or heard the different accounts of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus and the state of affairs in that region at that point in history so many times that we feel like we pretty much know all that can realistically be known about that night in Bethlehem.  However, simply because something can’t be known fully doesn’t (nor should it) stop us from asking various questions about it.  One of the questions that commonly gets asked of these events is if they were expected; was the birth of Jesus expected?  Now, this may seem like a bit of an odd question.  After all, we have all of the numerous prophecies of the Old Testament about how the Messiah would come into the world and what he would do once he was here.  We know that Jesus is referred to at various points as the long-awaited Messiah.   So, the short answer to whether or not these events were expected is yes.  Maybe not every detail, but these events were anticipated in a general sense.  Well, do you know where most of these expectations came from?  As I mentioned a moment ago, they came from those prophecies that we find in the Old Testament.  They, of course, all have God as their source of origin, but they were delivered to His people through prophets.  A prophet was someone who spoke for God to His people.  God’s will for His people was revealed through the speaking of a prophet, who himself had received God’s instructions via dreams, direct hearings, or some other theophany.  God would also from time-to-time reveal future events that were to come in the life of His people; these were called prophecies.  Well, God had spoken through various prophets for some time revealing little pieces about who the coming Messiah was to be.  We refer to these specific prophecies as Messianic prophecies.

                One of the earliest revelations about the coming Messiah comes to us from Moses’ words to the nation of Israel just before they were to enter into the Promised Land.  In Deuteronomy 18, Moses tells the Israelites, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen.”  Moses then goes on to remind the people of the events that happened previously, during their wanderings in the wilderness, when the people fully acknowledged that they needed someone to stand between themselves and God because of their sinfulness.  They not only acknowledged their need for someone to stand in such a place, but begged God to provide them with that person.  “Don’t just let us pick someone, but you choose who should stand between yourself and us.”  And God tells them that He will do just that in his words to Moses, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers.  And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.”  So, the question that we’re going to ask and somewhat answer is whether or not Mary, Jesus’ mother who was looking into his newborn eyes that night, had any idea that her son was the eternal prophet promised by Moses some roughly 1500 years prior to Jesus’ birth.

                Now, as we said last week, it would be pretty unlikely for Mary to have a completely accurate idea of the magnitude of who Jesus really was there in that moment.  The truth of the matter is that she was probably still dealing with a little bit of the euphoria of delivering this child into the world.  The reality that she was now a mother was still setting in.  All of the emotions that come with this life-changing event were more than likely raging inside of her then just as they do within most women who give birth today.  However, because of the visit from the angel Gabriel telling her that she was to give birth to the Son of God and because of Joseph’s being visited by the Lord during a dream, they both knew full-well that there was something different about this child that wasn’t like anyone before.  I mean, it’s not as if there hadn’t been some pretty amazing births already recorded in Scripture.  Think back to the births of Isaac or Moses or Samuel.  In a few of these cases we’re told of either barrenness or age or a combination of the two on the part of their mothers leading to it being highly unlikely that these children would be born.  Yet, they were born in God’s unfolding of His eternal plan.  In the case of Moses, the situation that existed with the slaying of all Hebrew boys was even more bleak-looking than Herod’s vendetta to kill Jesus.  I mean, we need only look at John the Baptist’s birth to see God’s overcoming of Elizabeth’s (a relative of Mary’s) barrenness to bring John into the world.  However, none of these miraculous births and survivals are as amazing or incredible as the virgin birth.  So, Mary (and Joseph as well) had to know that there was something much greater about this particular child, something much greater than the world had ever known.  They know that this child isn’t just some man of God like the world has seen come and go, but something entirely different.

                Now, I don’t want to get off on too much of a tangent here, but there are those who will fully acknowledge that Jesus was a prophet.  However, they won’t acknowledge that he is the eternal prophet who serves this very day as our advocate with the Father.  That’s an important distinction to be aware of.  For example, those in the Muslim tradition will point out that Jesus speaks numerous times about his being sent by the Father and they take these references to mean that he is merely referring to himself as just a prophet.  They point to texts like Matthew 13:57 and Jesus’ words to the people of Nazareth when he told them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household” as proof that even Jesus acknowledged himself to be merely a prophet.  Well, there are two things there that need to be cleared up.  First, Jesus’ acknowledgment of himself as a prophet doesn’t mean that he isn’t something else in addition to being a prophet.  I would acknowledge that I’m a pastor, that doesn’t mean that I can’t be a judge or a doctor or some other profession as well.  Now, I’m not, but I know of several ministers who have other professions in addition to the pastorate.  The second thing of note in this misinterpretation of Jesus as merely a prophet is that it is incorrect exegesis of the original Greek.  The word that is translated “prophet” has no other possible meaning.  The word that is translated “angel” can also be translated as “messenger” or “one who is sent out for the purpose of proclamation.”  So, we can’t mistake Jesus’ words about being sent by the Father and make him merely a messenger for God.  After all, part of the job of a prophet was proclamation, so there is going to be some overlap.  To view Jesus as merely a prophet is to incorrectly reduce the significance of who Jesus is and what he came to accomplish.

                If we were to turn our attention to John 4 and read the account of Jesus at the well with the woman of Samaria, we would find that after a moment of conversation that the woman said to Jesus, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.”  However, only a mere 10 verses later, her understanding of Jesus grows and she recognizes him as the Messiah.  “Can this be the Christ?” she says in verse 29.  She sees that Jesus was much more than a mere prophet.  Another example in John’s gospel of Jesus being much more than what we may think at first is found in the very first words of this account.  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God” (1:1-2).  You see, Jesus didn’t only proclaim the Word of God; He is the Word of God.  Perhaps the clearest statement on the superiority of Jesus comes to us from the opening words of the epistle to the Hebrews (1:1-2).  “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”  Are you starting to see how all of this adds up?  When we take the prophecies of the Old Testament and the revelations that God gave to Joseph and Mary and we put those with Jesus’ own words about himself (words like “For I have not spoken of my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak” John 12:49), then the picture of Jesus being the faithful prophet of the New Testament becomes even clearer.  Jesus is the fuller and more perfect prophet than all those who have proceeded him.  All of the prophets that had come before Jesus have one thing in common; their time of God speaking through them came to an end.  However, that isn’t the case with Jesus.  There is an eternality to his serving in the role of prophet.  Also, it isn’t as if his speaking to God’s people about God is something that he knows little about.  In fact, he knows all there is to know because he is God himself.  As R.C. Sproul says, “Jesus is not just the subject of prophecy; He is the chief object of prophecy.  He did not just teach about the future or declare the Word of God; He is the Word of God, and He is the focal point of all the prophetic teaching of the Old Testament.”

                So, we may not be able to come to a definitive conclusion on whether or not Mary knew that the baby boy that she was looking at was the eternal prophet, the promised Messiah.  She might have.  At the very least, we could assume that she had a good idea about some aspects of Jesus being the One whom God would speak through to His people.  However, we can come to a conclusion on whether or not we know that Jesus is the once for all prophet of God.  Do you live your life as if Jesus still serves as the eternal prophet?  I know that that sounds like a bit of an odd question at first.  Let me clarify, do you live as if the only rule for your life is that which is given to us through Jesus?  Is your life governed by the Word of God?  Or is your life governed or commanded by something else?  Do you take orders from the things of this world (your desires, earthly governments, society in general)?  If your identity as a Christian, as one who is obedient only to the commands of God, came in direct conflict with your personal security, the security of your family, your financial security, or your health, which one wins out?  I know that’s a tough question to answer.  I also know that many of you are saying to yourselves, “Well, God would never ask me to choose between Him and my family.”  No, God wouldn’t make us choose, we’re the ones who choose without even being asked.  We’re the ones who seek personal desires over the kingdom of God.  We’re the ones who take care of ourselves first and then worry about everyone else. 

                The reality of the matter is that for many, life is lived as if Jesus isn’t the eternal prophet.  For many, we take as much guidance and leadership from our own experiences and understanding as we do from Christ’s commands for us.  “My previous experience in this situation dictates how I’m going to approach this more than my following Christ.”  As we’ve said already, Mary may not have known the full extent of Jesus’ serving as the eternal prophet, but we do…at least to some extent.  Maybe we should take the advice that Mary gave to the servants in the text that we looked at last Sunday at the wedding in Cana, “Do whatever he tells you.”  In other words, live as if Jesus is in charge of your life and not as if you are the one in charge.

Mary Did You Know (Part 1) - Luke 2:1-20; John 2:1-10

For audio click here.

                I realize that it seems a little early in the Advent season to go ahead and read the account of Jesus’ birth.  Well, the truth of the matter is that we are going to read this exact same text each time we gather leading up to the celebration of Christmas and we’re going to ask ourselves the very same question each time:  Mary, did you know?  Yes, the very same question as the title to the very popular Christmas song written by Mary Lowry back in the mid-1980’s and rerecorded many times since then.  Each Sunday, we’re going to ask if Mary had any idea about a particular aspect of what her son Jesus was actually going to do during his earthly ministry (and even beyond to some extent).  We’re going to ask if she had any idea who he really was.  This Sunday we’re going to ask ourselves if Mary had any idea about the signs and miracles that her son would perform and what they meant.

                I’ve often said that having a child becomes real for a mother long before it becomes real for a father.  Whether it’s the moment that the test comes back positive or someone buys that first present, the woman feels like a mother.  Maybe it’s that first battle with heartburn or the first sleepless night or even the joy (that quickly turns to pain) of the baby kicking in her stomach, the woman feels like a mother.  Do you want to know when a man feels like a father?  For some, it’s that moment when they hand your baby to you after delivery.  However, for most men it’s that first moment when all of the hustle and bustle quiets down and we are left holding our precious gift from God in our arms.  Now, I’ve been blessed to experience this three times in my life, but there was something different about when Ashby was born that the boys didn’t have (something more than just the fear of being a parent and realizing that someone else’s life was my responsibility).  I can remember looking into her bluish/grey eyes and wondering who she was going to be.  It was something that I had never known with any person in my life.  The possibilities were (and are) literally endless for who that little girl might become and what she could do with her life.

                Over the last almost seven years, I remember that moment every time I read this passage and the same question roams through my mind each time:  I wonder what Mary was thinking when she looked into Jesus’ eyes.  Obviously, she knew from the fact that the angel Gabriel had revealed to her who Jesus really was that her son was someone unlike any the world had known before.  We know that she understood that Immanuel (the name that the Lord revealed to Joseph in a dream) literally means God with us.  However, I’ve often wondered if even she had any clue who Jesus really was and what he came to do.  Did she fully know and believe that her son was the long awaited Messiah of God’s people?  For example, what did she think each time that her son performed a miracle?  If we look at the second chapter of John’s gospel, we find one of Jesus’ most famous miracles, his turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana.  One thing that is different about this miracle that isn’t necessarily present with all the other miracles is that Jesus’ mother was actually present while this miracle was performed.  Also, keep in mind that this was his first miracle to perform.  So, it’s not like Mary had heard of all of the wondrous things that Jesus had done elsewhere prior to this.  John 2 reads, “On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.  When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’  And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.’  His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’”

                Now, we know that Jesus goes on to turn the water from six large stone purification pots into not just wine, but the best wine of the evening.  We’re not going to dissect this miracle for the specific details that are contained within it.  We did that only a few years ago when we walked through John’s gospel.  However, I will remind you of what a miracle really was; Jesus’ miracles where much more significant than the physical action that is recorded in Scripture.  When Jesus performed a miracle, what he was ultimately doing was pointing to the greatest miracle that was to come, his work upon the cross and his glorious resurrection.  In fact, the Greek word that is translated miracle can also be translated as sign (something pointing to something else).  His reference here to his hour having not yet come is a reference to the hour of his crucifixion not being at hand.  Sure, he turned water into wine, but the ultimate purpose behind this miracle or sign was to point to himself as the promised Messiah.  We can’t make the mistake of separating the miracles that he performed during his earthly ministry from his work upon the cross.  It’s just like how we can’t separate Jesus’ calls for compassion, mercy, and love from his call to leave all the things of this world and follow him.  It’s foolish to appeal to any one aspect of Jesus’ mission and not all of the call to be a follower of Christ, especially when the aspects that we want to appeal to are merely signs that are pointing towards his primary purpose.  I’ve heard folks say recently that certain works of compassion and caring are the most Jesus-like things they’ve ever seen.  My response has continuously been, “No, the most Jesus thing to do is to die upon the cross so that mankind might find forgiveness of sins.”  You see it’s simple:  you can’t have Jesus without the crucifixion and resurrection.  Without these aspects of Christ’s work, we’re simply being moralists and not followers or disciples of Jesus.

                Now, as far as this particular miracle goes and it’s pertaining to our specific look at Mary’s understanding of who her son was, did you notice what she told the servants at the wedding after Jesus reminded her that his time had not yet come?  Mary told the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do.  I’ve often found it interesting that Mary would even go to her son in the first place when it came to the issue of having no wine at this wedding.  After all, Jesus wasn’t in charge of this event, but an invited guest just like everyone else.  Also, we know that Jesus’ trade was in carpentry and not wine-making.  Why would she go to him with this problem unless she knew that he had the power to do something about it?  John Calvin suggests that Mary had no expectation of Jesus producing more wine but instead was looking to him to give some pious exhortation that would relieve the guests of their uneasiness.  After all, it was seen as an insult to them for there not to be enough wine.  However, because of his having done no prior signs, it’s highly unlikely that Mary expected anything along the lines of the events that took place.

                Regardless of her expectations, she knows that whatever Jesus is about to do is for the good of everyone.  Imagine how much better the world would be if we just took Mary’s words to the servants in a general sense.  “Do whatever [Jesus] tells you.”  Mary realizes that Jesus, even though he is only a guest, is in control of this situation.  We see an understanding on her part that there is no authority other than Jesus.  We’re not told of her going to the host of the party, the father of the bride, or any of the servants.  We’re told of her seeing a need and running directly to Jesus and laying the matter at his feet.  We see from this example that if we desire anything from Christ, we will not obtain our wishes, unless we depend on him alone, look to him alone, and do whatever he commands of us.

                Now, as I’ve said already, this was much more than a mere transformation of one substance to another.  This was much more than a taking of something natural and common and making it into something that was synonymous with joy.  This was something to point the way to Jesus as Messiah and Lord.  If we look at the closing words of this account in John’s gospel, we read, “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.”  The works of Jesus are great and wonderful.  We love reading about his healing people of their infirmities, his driving out demons, and things like that.  However, we cannot miss the ultimate reality that they are much bigger than the actions themselves.  They are signs that are pointing the way to the cross, to the Messiah, and to God.

                So, did Mary have any idea about the miracles that her son would perform?  Well, we can assume from the text in John 2 that she didn’t know on that starry night there in the manger in Bethlehem.  However, she did come to see the power of Jesus’ works and the sign in which they were pointing to.  She grew in her understanding of who her son was just as we must grow in our understanding of who he is.  We can’t reduce Jesus down to his miracles or his teaching or his good works, but we must come to know him for the totality of who he is.  He is our One True Hope, the promised Messiah, the Prince of Peace, the eternal prophet, priest, and king.  Jesus Christ is the Son of Man, the Lion of Judah, and the Good Shepherd.  Jesus Christ is everything to us.

Ephesians 2:8-10 "Given By Grace"

                Every Christmas season, we get reminded of something from a Christmas gone by.  This year, as Amy and I are really for the first time doing much in terms of getting our kids gifts and as we’ve been working through an Advent series about the ultimate gift, I have done a lot of thinking about past gifts that I have received at Christmas.  One of them that comes to mind is a gift that I never actually got, but that I have heard a great deal about.  My parents got me what were called “Rock’em Sock’em Robots” when I was a little.  They were these little robots that fought and punched until one of them lost and their head sprung upward.  It was the “it” toy of that year apparently.  However, upon trying to assemble this particular toy late at night, my father broke the thing and it never made it to Christmas morning.  Apparently it wasn’t that big of a deal because I don’t ever remember being disappointed that I didn’t get that particular toy.  I’ve always tried to be (sometimes more successful than others) focused upon what I do have than what I don’t have.  I’ve been very fortunate to receive so much in my life as I’m sure that many of you have as well.  However, there is one Christmas gift that stands out to me over all other gifts that I have ever gotten.  Several years ago, my sweet wife bought me tickets to a country music concert that was coming to MS during the state rodeo competition.  Now, the tickets weren’t expensive and the band (although one that I liked and still do like) wasn’t someone that you would find on my bucket list of folks to see in concert.  So, what made that gift so special?  Well, the truth of it is that this was during a season of financial strain for our family.  It was a time in which we were waiting to hear God tell us where to go, but at that moment we were feeling directionless in the silence.  It was a time in which Amy and I had seemingly completely shifted from being husband and wife to mom and dad (a dangerous transition for many couples).  And despite all the reasons to find dissatisfaction and unhappiness in our marriage and our situation in life, my wife was telling me that all she wanted was to spend one evening with no one else but me.  You see, many times we forget the magnitude of a gift.  We easily forget how much a gift really means to us or to someone else.  Until now, Amy had no clue what her gift meant to me. 

Think about how God created the world.  He created it completely perfect and without any flaws.  However, our first parents, Adam and Eve, sinned and shattered that perfection and flawlessness.  Once that perfection was gone, we no longer deserved anything from God nor could we ever work to being worthy of anything from Him either.  Like a shattered mirror, we could never restore things to where there was no evidence of the damage that had been done.  Much like what we saw last Sunday, that’s where we stood hopelessly desperate and in need of something much greater than ourselves.  We needed a Savior; we needed Jesus, and he came.  Christ came into this world as James Boice says, “which was weeping in its failure and sin.”  And when he came, he changed everything.  Jesus didn’t attempt to simply put the shattered pieces of perfection that we call humanity back together.  He didn’t come and try to help us put the broken mirror back together, but he came to recreate us.  He came so that we could be regenerated and reborn.  Look at some of the words that Jesus spoke as to how we are in him.  John 3:7, “You must be born again.”  Paul, in 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.”  Friends, that is the grace of God.  We’re not something that is old polished up to give the appearance that we are new.  No, we are entirely new creations in Jesus Christ.  Charles Spurgeon once wrote of God’s grace saying, “Because God is gracious, therefore sinful men are forgiven, converted, purified and saved.  It is not because of anything in them, or that ever can be in them, that they are saved; but because of the boundless love, goodness, pity, compassion, mercy and grace of God.”

                “For by grace [we] have been saved through faith” says our text.  “And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” Now, we talked a great deal last Sunday about the fact that this gift of eternal life in Christ was a gift that was free to us but not God.  We talked about how it cost God a great deal to pay the debt that we owed and to achieve for us salvation.  It cost Him dearly to restore the sort of balance of perfection and flawlessness that once existed.  Now, obviously we are not made perfect and flawless.  All of us have flaws, all of us have imperfections, just because we don’t notice them or acknowledge them doesn’t mean that they aren’t there.  If you’re married, go ask your spouse; they will help to identify your flaws and help you find new ones that you never knew you had.  No, we’re not flawless, but because of God’s grace, we can receive the flawlessness and the perfection of Jesus Christ.  It is not our own, but Christ’s.  Our text concludes, “It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” 

                One of the most infuriating things for those who do not believe Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior is the notion of faith.  Faith, as the writer of Hebrews states in Hebrews 11, “is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  They’ll ask, “How can you believe this stuff?  Even you have to admit that it doesn’t make any kind of logical sense.  One minute God’s giving Moses the Ten Commandments and says that we shouldn’t murder and then He turns around and tells Joshua and the rest of Israel to go kill this group and the next minute Jesus is condemning murder and telling us that it’s wrong.”  Well, that’s setting aside that there is a stark difference between killing and murder, but I don’t want to go down that road today.  What I want all of you to do is to think of why in the world it is that you believe that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior.  Despite all the flaws that we find in ourselves and all of the reservations that we may have with Scripture or the way that we read the Bible and quite honestly have whole entire sections (even books) of it that just don’t make sense to us; despite all of that we still believe in God and we believe in Jesus Christ.  Why is that?  Well, it’s faith.  You can’t explain it in a way that makes sense to someone that doesn’t have it and some of us probably can’t even tell others when exactly we got it but that one day we just sort of realized that it was there.

                I said a moment ago that Amy didn’t know that that gift had meant so much to me until today.  The truth of the matter is that I didn’t realize how much that simple gift of concert tickets meant to me until just recently as well.  All throughout the days and weeks leading up to that concert I didn’t really know what it meant to me.  During the concert, after the concert, and even a couple of years after it I still didn’t see the ultimate meaning behind the gift until, one day, it just sort of dawned on me what she had really given me all that time ago.  You see, our faith is like that many times as well.  We don’t really realize what a wonderful and precious gift it is that we’ve been given, until one day we are just sort of thinking about all that God has done for us and we are astounded.

                I think that this text is a beautiful summation of sorts of the entirety of our Advent series on the True Gift of Christmas.  We’ve talked about the fact that Jesus is the one true gift of Christmas when we looked at James 1.  Well, here it is again.  We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.  If we were to rewrite this verse in its fuller sense (and no I don’t really like getting into the business of rewriting Scripture), then it would read something like, “For you have been saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone who is the gift of God.”  Notice that article “the.”  Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, doesn’t right a gift, one of the gifts, or even the most important gift, but the gift.  Jesus Christ, the Son, the Savior, the Messiah…is the gift of the Father.

                The second text that we looked in our series was that of 1 Peter 4 and we saw how we are to be faithful stewards of this good and perfect gift from God.  Well, we need only look at the final verse of our text to see that displayed.  “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”  We are reborn, recreated in Jesus for good works.  We’re created to do the things that God calls us to do.  What are good works?  Well, they’re those things that we were made to do in service of God.  We talked about that feeling that we get when we help someone in need or when we do something to aide those less fortunate.  We talked about how it just warmed our hearts for reasons that we can’t explain other than we were just created that way.  Well, God made us that way.  He made us for the purposes of (as WSC 1 says) glorifying Him and enjoying Him always.  In other words, we were created to proclaim God’s name in service, speaking, and worship while rejoicing in the fact that we find ourselves in Christ.  We share the gift of Christ by proclaiming the gospel, whether it is with our mouths or with our actions and the way we live our lives.

                Finally, we saw last Sunday the magnitude of the gift.  We’ve already mentioned that we talked about the cost of the gift of God that is Jesus Christ; a cost that God paid and then gifted to us.  “And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  Like we said last Sunday, we are saved not because of anything good that we have done or anything good within us, but because of God’s love for us.  We’re not saved because of who we are but because of who God is.  We talked about how while we can outwardly say that it cost Him his one and only Son, inwardly we really have no clue how great that cost really is.  Y’all I am a fairly confident person, especially when it comes to my faith.  I’m not one of those folks who get swayed back and forth questioning God’s love for me.  I know some who do and really there’s nothing wrong with it per-say, it’s just one of those things that some people experience that others don’t.  Now, do I question the methodology of God at times?  Do I question God’s sovereignty and timing and provision for me?  Well, sure I do.  I’m not proud of that fact, but I will openly and honestly acknowledge that it does happen.  However, I never for one second think that God doesn’t love me.  I never for one second think that God doesn’t love all of His children.  After all, He sent His one and only Son to die in our place.  There is no greater act of love that God could perform to display how great His love is for us.  Now, love doesn’t mean no discipline.  Love doesn’t mean no accountability or no hardships whatsoever (at least real love doesn’t).  I love my children very much, but I’m sure that there are times when they would tell you that my sole purpose upon this earth is to discipline them.  You know what?  Sometimes, that discipline or punishment or hardship or whatever you want to call it is an expression of my love for them.  I love them; so I help guide them to where they ought to be, and sometimes it isn’t always pleasant for them (or me either for that matter).  However, my love for them never diminishes, and only grows stronger over time.

                So, as we bring this series to somewhat of a close today (with only a few remarks to come on Christmas Eve), we know that by God’s grace alone through faith alone in the good and perfect gift of God that is Jesus Christ we find our salvation.  We find it not because of anything that we have done but because of who God is, since He is the only one with the ability to pay the price for the debt that we owe.  And He paid it by willfully sending His Son to this earth to die in our place and achieve the forgiveness of our sins.  Friends, we’re only a few days away from celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.  We’ve all got those little nativity scenes placed around our homes or offices or yards that depict what truly is an amazing scene.  We know how precious a moment it is when a mother gives birth to her child and the child is surrounded by family for the first time.  We know that it must have been an even more precious moment that night some 2000+ years ago.  There wasn’t just family there, but magi, shepherds, livestock, and a beautiful starry night celebrating the fulfillment of at least 4000 years of prophecy.  It truly must have been an amazing scene and an emotional moment.

                Now, I want to end by asking you this, and it’s going to hit really close to home if you have had kids before.  Imagine Mary looking in the eyes of her newborn child for the first time (mind you this is her firstborn).  Think about all of the emotions that flowed through her in that moment.  Think about how you felt when you first looked into the eyes of your first child if you’ve had kids.  Y’all it almost brings me to tears to think back to the thoughts I had when I looked into Ashby’s eyes for the first time.  Now, imagine that the purpose of that baby born all those years ago was to die.  Imagine as God looked down upon the scene that night and saw the joy and the celebration and felt the love that He had for His Son.  However, God loves us so much that He was willing to send His Son to this earth to die for us.  He sent him to die for you and for me.  Friends, there truly is no other gift that can ever compare to the gift that we have been given in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Romans 6:23 "Free Doesn't Mean No Cost"

                As I sat down in my office this past week and began to compile of all the various things that I had read about our verse for today, it dawned on me that I had missed a very important piece of information.  A few weeks ago we talked about the gift of Jesus that we have received.  Last week we talked about how we are to share that gift with others.  However, there’s something very crucial to our study of the True Gift of Christmas that I have completely overlooked.  I’ve overlooked the concept of what a gift is; what is a gift?  A gift is something given to someone without payment.  It’s a present.  Another definition of a gift is a natural ability or talent.  In other words, it’s something that you’re not owed, but you’re given anyway.  It’s something that you didn’t earn, but you still received.  Y’all, I had a hard time when we first moved down here because I have always referred to someone getting older as them turning a certain age.  For example, here in about a month and a few days my daughter will turn six.  However, down here, y’all (and unfortunately some in my house have started to say this too) will say that she made six.  I have to admit that that always throws me off, because saying that someone made a certain age almost sounds like they did it themselves.  To make something implies that you create something or that you cause something to exist that didn’t previously exist.  Well, Ashby didn’t have a thing to do with her coming into existence.  The only thing she has really contributed is staying alive (and she constantly tests that reality every day).  I guess it’s one way of phrasing it so that receiving and giving presents at birthdays seems to be in celebration of some accomplishment.

                Now, obviously, I’m just having a little fun with y’all about the language barrier exists, which the longer I’m here the wider I find it to be.  But I want us to turn back to the concept of a gift being something that we are given and not something we earn; a gift being something that we receive or have received without any payment on our behalf.  “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  In other words, what we should get because of our sin is death, but what God chooses to give us as a present, something that we don’t pay for, is eternal life.  Just let that sink in for a second.  Let that one float around in your mind as you try and comprehend the magnitude of that verse.  What we deserve is death, but God gives to us, free of charge, eternal life.  However, it’s not really free of charge is it?

                Well, to us the gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ is free, but to God it most certainly wasn’t free.  You see, there was a debt that was owed because of the sin of mankind, and that debt had to be paid somehow.  The biggest problem for us is that we, as fallen human beings, stood totally incapable of repaying that debt.  Only God could pay the debt, and that’s exactly what He did in the death of Jesus, in the death of His Son.  In other words, God paid God for a debt that was owed to Himself.  Notice that I didn’t say that He absolved that debt, but that He paid it.  Tim Keller in his book King’s Cross, which is a wonderful look at the gospel of Mark, does a beautiful job explaining the substitutionary atonement in the death of Jesus upon the cross.  Keller uses an analogy of someone breaking your lamp.  The breaking of the lamp creates a need for a replacement so that light can be restored to an otherwise dark room.  Now, there are two options for how that lamp is to be replaced.  Either the person who broke the lamp replaces it, thus costing them something, or you replace your own lamp, which costs you something.  Now, even if you were to replace your own lamp, there is still a cost.  The person who broke the lamp doesn’t pay anything, but the restoration of light to the room isn’t free.  It cost the offended party instead of the offending party, but there’s still a cost.  Friends, that is exactly what God did for us in Jesus Christ, the good and perfect gift that we looked at in James 1 a few weeks ago.  God provided the means by which light could be restored to the dark room that was our standing with Him.  It costs us nothing to have that relationship restored; it was a free gift from God.  The wonderful relatively new Christian hymn In Christ Alone points out this substitutionary nature of Christ’s death upon the cross perfectly:  Til on that cross as Jesus died; The wrath of God was satisfied; For every sin on Him was laid; Here in the death of Christ I live.

                Now, I want to take a second and clear up what I mean by the word free for just a moment.  German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book The Cost of Discipleship, makes the distinction between what he refers to as cheap grace and costly grace.  Now, I don’t have enough time to read you the entirety of what he says on this distinction, but I want to give you a few bullet points on this.  Bonhoeffer says that cheap grace is the enemy of the Church.  Cheap grace is grace without price, without cost.  Cheap grace is the notion that because Christ has paid the price, that we are left to run up as big of a tab as we would like knowing that our sins are forgiven.  Cheap grace means “the justification of sin without the justification of the repentant sinner who departs from sin and from whom sin departs….Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”  In other words, cheap grace is that view of this gift of eternal life in Christ in which our debt was simply absolved and not paid, and paid in full.

                Bonhoeffer goes on to describe costly grace by saying, “Costly grace is the gospel…the gift that must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.  Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ.  It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.  It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner.  Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son…and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us.  Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us.  Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.”

                Far too often, we use the concept of grace and sayings like “justified by grace alone” as excuses to do whatever it is that we want to do.  We very casually throw out the notion that we’re all sinners and so it’s okay to sin.  Now I’m not denying that we’re all sinners, but our response to this gift of eternal life in Christ cannot simply be to go about our lives as if it is some trivial matter.  There has to be some change, some transformation, some acknowledgement of that gift on the part of the recipients.  Imagine if you would, that you had the ability to give someone who was completely broke a life-changing amount of money.  You were able to give them so much money that it was virtually impossible for them to spend it all in their lifetime.  Imagine if after giving them that money, that person went out and spent it on frivolous things without any recognition of what they had been given.  Imagine them acting as if it was their right to have that money without so much as a thank you to the one who had given them that gift.  Imagine them spending their money the same way in which they did before being given this life-changing gift, buying everything they wanted and have no self-control when it came to their spending.  Why, we would find this absolutely apprehensive and appalling.  So, why is it that we live this way when it comes to God’s grace?  Why is it that we use the gift of grace as an excuse to sin instead of responding to it by trying to imitate Christ?

                Several years ago, when I was in seminary, this verse became the center of a disagreement between myself and the church that I grew up in.  The pastor of my parents’ church, who came well after I had moved away, wrote me a letter with this verse as the theme.  Without going into too much of the details of the disagreement, I was supposed to preach at the church of my youth one Sunday, but because of some circumstances that existed between that church and the church that I worked for at the time, I was unable to fulfill my agreement to preach.  In the letter the pastor of that church wrote to me he stated that he found my backing out of preaching to be a poor reflection of my character and he quoted to me that “the wages of sin is death.”  Now, y’all know me.  I don’t typically do things without good reason, and there was a very pointed reason why I couldn’t preach at the church of my youth.  Y’all also know that I don’t tend to take kindly to attacks at my character, especially when they are unfounded.  In a moment of weakness, I wrote a response to that pastor which read:  “First off, I’m sorry that I cannot preach on the agreed upon Sunday, but the denominational strife between our two churches might place my current church’s status of moving from the PC(USA) to the EPC in jeopardy.  Secondly, just so you know, while the wages of sin is death, the gift of God’s free grace is eternal life in Jesus Christ.  While I do not see my actions as being sinful, I’m thankful that even if I cannot recognize my own sin that the death of my Savior is great enough to cover the price that is owed for my indiscretions.  If your copy of God’s Word does not contain the second part of Romans 6:23, I suggest that you rush out and buy yourself a newer Bible.  If you don’t have the money for it, I will be happy to take care of it for you.”  Like I said, it was a moment of weakness, but I felt it important to point out that this verse cannot be divided in half.  Yes the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ.

                Now, really quickly, I want to point out one more really amazing thing about this verse as it pertains to our relationship with God.  We’ve well established that while this eternal life in Christ is a free gift of God as far as we are concerned, that it cost God dearly.  It cost God His one and only begotten Son.  Now, we can relate to sacrifice.  We maybe can’t relate to a sacrifice of the same magnitude as we’re talking about here, but we understand sacrifice.  However, we tend to hold on to the cost a little bit more than God does.  Let me explain what I mean by that.  You see, we tend to remember exactly how much any gift cost us.  Y’all I can go down the list of things that I have bought for people over the years and I can almost tell you within a few cents how much it cost us.  I’m not bitter about it, I just have a mind for numbers and it’s one of those weird things (one of many) about me.  My kids are going to get Christmas presents from Amy and I and I’m going to watch them play with them and be excited that they love them so much.  However, when the first one of them (probably Thomas) turns something into a sword that wasn’t made to withstand collisions, I’m going to remember how much it cost us as parents and I’m going to have that moment (all be it brief) of thinking of my son as an ingrate.  “Don’t you know how much that cost me and you’re just going to break and destroy it by using it how it’s not meant to be used?”  Well, actually, no; he doesn’t know how much it cost us, because he doesn’t really have an accurate concept of money at four years old.

                The funny thing is that we’re like kids in that regard when it comes to the free gift of God that is eternal life in Christ.  God could look down upon us and say to us, “Don’t you know how much that cost me?  You’re just going to destroy it and use that gift how it’s not meant to be used?”  And you know what?  Our response would be that of a child.  No, we have no clue what it really cost you.  We can say that it cost God His Son the same as my own son could tell me that something cost me $20, but do either of us really know the extent of that price?  But here’s the amazing thing.  I’m sinful; I’m fallen.  There’s a chance (and pretty good one) that I’m going to hold my son’s breaking of his new toy against him.  I’ll think twice before I buy him something else.  I won’t forget it.  However, when it comes to our sin and our deserving death, God forgives.  God won’t withhold that gift of eternal life in Christ from us because of our misusing it.  Once He grants to us that gift, then it is everlasting.  Once we have truly been claimed by God then nothing can separate us from Him.  Once we are found in Him, He does not hold over our heads what we deserve.  “If you don’t start acting right then I’m going to give you death and not the free gift of eternal life.”  This isn’t some simple punishment or threat that we use to get children to act appropriately.  This is the gift of eternal life in Christ, a gift that cost God dearly. 

                So, as we get ready go out into the world, how should we respond?  Well, walking back through our Advent series, we know that Jesus is the gift, that we are to share that gift, and that we have received that gift not because of who we are but because of who God is.  We’ve been given the gift of Jesus to both cherish and share with others by God at a great cost to Himself, yet it cost us nothing.  Friends, when you think about the gift of Christmas this year and you think about all of the wonderful things that you enjoy, think about the cost.  Think about the price that God paid.  Think about what this table represents before us.  Think about the fact that you have been given this gift not because of anything good within you but because God has chosen you as His own possession.  Think about what a wonderful gift we have in Christ.  And think about the fact that we have a God who loves us so much that He willingly sacrificed His one and only Son on our behalf.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

1 Peter 4:10 "Faithful Stewards of the True Gift"

                Last Saturday as I was driving back from Mississippi, I was listening to the radio and had on the pregame show prior to Mississippi State’s annual game against Ole Miss (which I am still trying to repress from my memory).  During the pregame show, they would play little commercials of local sponsors for MSU’s football team.  One of the sponsor commercials was from a big car dealership out of Brandon, MS, Gray-Daniels.  Their ad started off by saying, “At Gray-Daniel Ford we know that it’s better to give than to receive, and that’s why we’re giving away a $100 dollar gas card for every new Ford truck bought during the month of December.”  Now, I remember thinking to myself, “How does that equation make sense?  So someone comes and gives you a whole lot of money for a new truck and you give them a $100 in return.  Well, that doesn’t really sound like complete giving does it?  It sounds like Gray-Daniels is receiving a pretty good bit in this equation to me.”

                We’ve all been taught that little saying of it’s better to give than to receive.  We didn’t believe it as children, but as we’ve grown older we’ve seen that there’s a lot of truth to those words.  Like anyone else, I enjoy getting things.  I love it when my wife or kids surprise me with some little gift or experience.  However, I get an even greater sense of joy being able to do the same for them.  I don’t know why it is, but I get much more concerned about not giving them enough than I do about me not getting enough.  You see, there’s something in us that longs to give to others.  Now, some of us keep it well hidden.  It’s buried amongst the earthly, selfish desires.  Some of us have a tough time remembering the needs of others because the world teaches us that we are to be so focused on ourselves that many times we start to hear only that message.  However, after those moments when we do give to someone there’s a certain feeling that we get that’s hard to explain.  It’s a good feeling, but it’s hard to put into words why it’s a good feeling.  You know that sense of euphoria of sorts that you get after serving at a soup kitchen, making a donation, or helping someone in need.  There is something in our DNA, I believe, that longs to give to others, and especially those in need.

This text that we’re looking at today is about being good stewards of what God has given to us.  Now, this text is more commonly interpreted and applied in a different manner.  Most often, it’s used when teaching on the concept of Christian giving.  I know that several years ago when I preached a series on being faithful Christian stewards, this was one of the texts that I used.  I talked about investing the things that God has blessed us with in service of His kingdom.  However, I want to take a little bit different approach this morning as we look at this text as part of our True Gift of Christmas series.  I want us to not focus so much upon the monetary side of things, but on the being faithful stewards of that gift that we talked about last Sunday, the gift of Jesus Christ.

                “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”  This is where typically I would go into talking about the gifts that God has given to us and how we are to use them in service of His kingdom.  Now, all that is completely true and I don’t want to give the impression that it isn’t.  If you have certain gifts, it’s because God has given them to you and the right response is to use those gifts for the building up of His kingdom and the spread of the gospel.   However, last Sunday we said that the good and perfect gift that God has given to all of us is the gift of the Son, Jesus Christ.  So, the question that I’m going to ask and then hopefully answer today is, “How can we use the gift of Jesus to serve one another and be faithful stewards of God’s grace?”

                Now, I’m going to admit here at the onset that this approach to this verse and this questioning of this text is a bit odd and I’ve gone back and forth on whether or not I’m reaching a little too far here, but I think I’m in the clear.  I don’t think that I’m reading something into the text or pulling something out of it that isn’t there; so let me make that clear.  First off, how can we serve others using the gift of Jesus?  Have you ever stopped to think about when it is that we live?  Think about all the wonderful technologies, medicines, and inventions that we enjoy; why is it that we get to enjoy them? Well, the short answer is because we’re living during a time of their discovery.  Many of the things that we enjoy (and in some cases rely upon) weren’t in use in the past simply because they hadn’t been invented yet.  We could even say that their existence hadn’t been revealed yet (see where I’m going?).  I know that my father who grew up working for his dad in the construction business sees some of the tools of today and just marvels at the amount of time that it would have saved him years ago.  Things that once took hours of precise work now take only minutes and the finished product is just as good if not better.

                Several years ago I was walking around our old church in Madison, MS when one of the kids in Amy’s children’s program stopped me and asked if I would answer a question that they didn’t want to ask in front of everyone else.  Well, since I was kind of seen as second-in-command when it came to theological matters, this was nothing new.  However, this was the first time a little child had wanted to ask me a question so I was a little nervous because you never know what kids will say or ask.  He asked me, “Did Moses know about Jesus?”  In an effort to stall for time so that I could craft an answer that he could understand, I responded with, “Why do you ask that?”  The little boy said, “Well, if Jesus came after Moses then wouldn’t it be impossible for Moses to know who Jesus was?”  Now, to fully answer that question takes much more time than I have today, but I want you to think about it for a second.  Obviously, something of the Son was known by Moses; how much we can’t be sure.  We can look to texts like Deuteronomy 18:15, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen” for evidence that Moses knew of the coming Messiah.  But the reason that I tell you about this little boy’s question is that it is very likely that you and I know more about Jesus than Moses did.  You and I know more about Jesus than really any of the Old Testament figures (at least during their earthly lives).  Isn’t that astounding?  Now, why is it that we are able to know so much about Jesus?  Quite simply, it’s because of the time in which we are living.  We know so much about him because we live in a time after his earthly ministry was completed.  We live in a time after the Apostle Paul and others explained his work so thoroughly.  We live in a time in which God’s Word has been translated to nearly every common vernacular.  We live in a time in which the Bible is so readily available due to the invention of the printing press and digital media that many of us can’t even begin to guess how many copies of Scripture we own or have access to.

                Getting back to my original question, “how can we serve others and be good stewards of God’s grace using the gift of Jesus?”  Well, the answer is really simple when we think about it.  It is better to give than to receive.  In other words, we share the gift of Jesus.  Friends, make no mistake, we have been given the ultimate gift in Jesus Christ.  We talked last Sunday about how we have been given the gift of the only thing in this world that is worthy of our lives being built upon it.  However, we are not to simply take that gift and root ourselves in it and build our lives upon it, but to help others to root their lives in him and built their lives upon him.  You see, everyone is out there looking for the meaning of life and it’s as if we have the answer already.  What’s the meaning of life?  Jesus is the meaning of life.

                A couple of weeks I shared a story with the worship team about my freshman semester at Mississippi State.  It was the week before the final exams, and somehow copies of the final exam for the freshmen algebra class got leaked out across campus.  The longer they were floating around, the more people ended up with a copy of the exam in their hands.  Someone would get a copy and want to share it with a friend and then they would share it and so on and so on.  Now, I will confess that I too (mainly in an effort of self-preservation) got my hands on a copy of the exam and fell into the temptation of going ahead and working the entire thing ahead of time so that I knew that I could solve all the equations.  I’ve long since owned up to that little episode and I don’t want the main thing that you take away from this sermon to be that your pastor cheated on a college math exam when he was a freshman.  What I want you to see is that when we have something that can be of life-saving news to us (and when you’re in college a copy of an exam is life-saving), then we would never just want to keep it for ourselves.  So, why in the world are we so reluctant to share the gift of Jesus with those around us?

                “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”  The Apostle Peter went on to write, “whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”  This is where that notion of using whatever gift you have in Christian service comes from.  If you can speak, then speak about God.  If you can serve, then serve for God.  If you can play an instrument, then play for God.  If you have a platform, use it for God.  One of the Tight Ends for the Saints, Ben Watson, made national news recently for his comments in the wake of the chaos in Ferguson, MO.  He took to social media and started talking about how it isn’t a race issue or society issue or a class issue, at least not at its core.  Watson said that at its heart, it’s a sin issue.  Watson’s statement made national news and he was invited to appear on CNN and talk about his statement.  And I want to read just a portion of what Watson had to say.  He said, “It’s not the skin, the issue is sin, and I firmly believe that the issue is that internally, we are flawed.  Internally, we need salvation from our sin.  Internally, our sin makes us prideful.  It makes us judgmental.  It makes us prejudiced, which leads to racism.  It makes us lash out at people that don’t look like us.  It makes us look past evidence to protect people that look like us.  It makes us do all those things.  It makes us lash out in anger.  It makes us point fingers.”  The anchor tried to interrupt him, but to no avail.  He continued on, “Our sin that’s in us makes us do those things and the only salvation for this sin is the gospel.  The only way to really cure what’s on the inside is understanding that Jesus Christ died for our sins.  And so for me, on a micro-level, it’s under –” and the feed went dead.

                Friends, that is using the gift of Jesus Christ.  That is using the power of the gospel to try and shine a light on sin in the midst of such a horrific tragedy.  We all may have our thoughts about what happened, but are we looking at it through the lens of the gospel or the eyes of the world.  The true gift of Christmas is Jesus, we’ve well established that.  The question at hand now is:  are we using that gift?  Hardly any of you would fathom the thought of taking one of those presents that you’re going to get for Christmas and leaving it in the packaging and just letting it sit there unused.  No, you want to use it and enjoy it and share it with others.  So, why in the world don’t we do that with the gift of Jesus?  Why?  Sure, maybe you use it and enjoy it yourself (whatever that means), but why don’t you share it with others?  Being a faithful steward of the Father’s gift of the Son is all about sharing the gospel. 

                Folks, I can promise you that you’re going to be presented with more opportunities to share the gift of Jesus this Christmas than you can imagine.  Maybe it’s just asking someone if they know the true meaning of Christmas.  Maybe it’s comforting the brokenhearted and suffering.  Maybe it’s reminding someone who has become so overwhelmed with the concept of giving presents that it’s really about the gift that we received.  That gift, born 2000+ years ago in a manger to a family that was traveling and no room to sleep in; that’s the gift that we are called to share this Christmas, and every other day that we have upon this earth.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.