Behind and Beyond The Manger

For me, there's a problem surrounding our picturesque Nativity scene.
Coming to us each December, framed with warm and gentle hymns, and quiet lights, we are lulled peacefully by the image of the stable with lots of warm hay, and a family huddle there as the baby Jesus is born. Animals kneel in reverence, we want to believe. Shepherds and wise men approach in order from poor to rich (the least shall be first). Some, honestly, believe there was even a drummer boy, i.e. the Rankin-Bass cartoon. The brilliant star shines on it all. Silent Night, peaceful night, Holy Night.

This Christmas-card scene leads us to quiet, candlelit Christmas Eve services, where we turn down the lights and turn up the candlelight. Peace on Earth, goodwill to men.

I'm pretty sure the birth of Jesus wasn't very peaceful or silent. It was real life. It was messy. Jesus was born into chaos. The birth of Jesus was also unlike any event before or since or ever to be again. And, there is an incredible back-story that we ought to understand in order to fully understand Christmas.

Vicki’s daddy was a brilliant man – an engineer – who ridiculously loved problem-solving, mechanics, and math and science. One weekend, as I visited, I found him on a Sunday morning, removing the engine from the family car. That entire day, he spent removing the engine, cleaning it, eye-balling it, and then replacing it in time for everyone to go to dinner. It was a hobby. I would shake my head and he would say, “You look at it, you think it’s just a car. You open the hood and explore, and you find it’s so much more than that. It’s a machine.”

Let's go under the hood of a conversation within the Christmas story - before the manager scene.

First, a disclaimer. Most Americans are illiterate when it comes to Scripture. We revere the Bible, but we don't read it. We don't study it. Only about 50 percent of Americans can name the four gospel writers; more than 60 percent can't name the Ten Commandments. It's pretty tough to follow God's law when we don't know it. Within the Bible, there's so much teaching that can bring peace, hope, joy and love to our lives and  yet we don't seem to care. Within the Bible, there's so much teaching about what we should be doing, how we should be living, and what we should not be doing. Yet, we would rather plead ignorant, as in, "I can't be held accountable for what I don't know." Unfortunately, that's not true. We will be held accountable according to all that's in Scripture.

I should study the Bible more - every time I do, I am blessed and convicted, encouraged and corrected. Even the correction somehow feels good - like having my hamstrings stretched. It's painful, but feels great. I believe the Bible. I believe every word of it is true. Certainly, I believe it's written by men, but I believe those men were divinely set apart and were writing as inspired by God. I believe that it's dangerous to pick and choose what we want to believe and not believe within the Bible. When that pick and choose subjectivity happens, Scripture begins to unravel, faith can be compromised, and fellowship with God jeopardized. So, for me, it's all or nothing with Scripture, and I choose to believe it all.

And, believing it all requires a lot of faith because there's so much in the Bible that is supernatural and beyond my feeble ability to comprehend: The virgin birth, the Resurrection, David and Goliath, the flood, Lazarus brought back from the dead, the temptation in the wilderness, the strength of Samson, the hand-writing on the wall . . . it goes on and on. Supernatural stuff. I choose to believe all of it for fear that hedging on even a little is dangerous territory for those who love Jesus.

And, that brings us to angels.

Scripture does not tell us much about angels. But, the angel - coming to Mary in full person - is a significant part of the Christmas story. Inexplicable as it is, it happened. A living, breathing angel showed up on planet Earth and this young girl saw him. It happened. Truth.

Humans and angels are the only two-self conscious beings in the universe. The Bible tells us that humans and angels can both have intelligent conversations with God. Humans never become angels - there's no Scriptural  basis for that. It's a cartoon myth.

On the first day of creation, Genesis 1:1 says, "God created the heavens and the earth." Some argue that on the first day, God created both humans and angels. "The earth was empty, a formless mass covered in darkness," Scripture tells us. Humans were created to procreate. Hebrews 12:22 refers to "thousands of angels" without reference to that number being the total of angels. There could be millions. We don't know. But, on that first day of creation, they were probably created first, as part of the heavens, and then watched as the Earth was created. Job 38:4-7 reads, "Where were you (Job) when I laid the foundations of the earth? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone, as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?"

It must have been, in simplistic terms, like hitting a walk-off grand slam to win the seventh game of the World Series. Heaven erupted at the creation of Earth. Genesis 1:31 reads, "Then God looked over all He had made, and He saw that it was excellent in every way. This all happened on the sixth day." Sin - the love of anything over God; the love of self over God - was not present.

In Genesis 2, Adam and Eve first populated the world, and were tempted, in Genesis 3, by Satan. So, between heaven erupting over a perfect Earth, and Satan tempting Adam and Eve, something happened. Something supernatural happened beyond the realm of human understanding.

Some of the angels sinned, challenging God. They were led by what Isaiah infers was the wisest and most beautiful of the angels, Satan, who challenged God in heaven. 2 Peter 2:4 reads, "For God did not spare even the angels when they sinned; He threw them into hell, in gloomy caves and darkness until the judgement day." (There's a message here, friend: Challenge and mock God with unrepentant behavior will not end well.)

Satan was cast to Earth and many followed him and became demons. A spiritual war began between Satan's armies of darkness and God's angelic armies of light. Satan went after what God loved (John 3:16) - me and you. That's why he tempted Adam and Eve, and introduced sin into the world. Satan went on to tempt Jesus, and in Revelation we know that Jesus leads a powerful army at Armageddon - the final battle - and destroys Satan once and for all. Satan is then cast into the lake of fire. Until then, however, the supernatural war between good and evil, right and wrong, holy and unholy rages all around us. It rages today.

Satan is one of three angels introduced to us, by God, through Scripture. The other two angels are Michael and Gabriel. It's very dangerous to go looking for other angels and studying too deeply about angels. A casual study beyond Scripture can quickly lead us away from the 66 books of our Bible into resources that feel and look like Scripture, but are not. It's easy, especially with web searches, to end up in seemingly fun websites with direct ties to the occult. Remember, Satan is a demon - a dark angel - and you can't study angels without bumping into him. It's also easy to begin worshiping angels. Angels exist, and God certainly uses them to intersect with us. We know that from Scripture. But, there is no Scriptural need for a personal, guardian angel. We have Jesus. I know people - you do, too - who talk more about their guardian angels than they do about their Savior. That's dangerous theology. My opinion.

We know that there is a hierarchy among angels. Jude 1:9 refers to Michael as one of the mightiest of angels - an archangel. Daniel 10:13 refers to Daniel's help coming from Michael, one of the chief princes.

Revelation 12:7-8 reads, "Now, war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon (Satan), and the dragon and his angels fought but were defeated." Clear evidence of Michael, an angel, leading spiritual warfare against the forces of darkness, led by Satan.

And, now we come to Gabriel.
In Daniel 8:15, the prophet writes about Gabriel - "the man" - coming to him. Angels, apparently do or can look like us. There's no mention of wings though lesser angels - seraphs and cherubs - inexplicably have wings. In verse 17, Daniel writes, "As he came near the place where I was standing, I was terrified and fell prostrate." While Daniel fell into a deep sleep, Gabriel brought a message from God about "the time of the end." It all left Daniel exhausted and ill for several days (v.27).

Here's the man who survived the lion's den and who saw God's hand write on the wall, and yet this "man" appearing to Gabriel was terrifying. Clearly, Daniel was in the presence of something unworldly; something crystal clear from God himself; something with a message directly from God.

This is the same Gabriel, sent directly from God, during a heavenly war with Satan's forces, to Mary (Luke 1:26). This ancient messenger of God, who scared the pee out of Daniel 600 years earlier, comes to Mary and says, "You are highly favored! the Lord is with you."

Scripture says that Mary was troubled "at his words" (not his presence). Gabriel comforts her and says (v.31), "You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name of Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will given him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

Mary doesn't question the assignment, but she's concerned - how can a virgin have a baby?

Gabriel says (Luke 1:35-37), "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God."

This may be one of the most hopeful testimonials in all of Scripture. Here's an ancient being, Gabriel, who is in the presence of God all the time. Gabriel is at the top of the angelic heirarchy, presumably with Michael (Daniel 10) and at one time Satan. Gabriel has directly heard the voice of God. He is a messenger of God. God pulls him from battle with Satan to go to Mary with news that God loves the world so much that He is coming - as Jesus - to deliver those who believe from sin and Satan. Gabriel has heard and seen things in the supernatural - things foreign and strange to us as humans. And, I can almost imagine him grinning to himself as he encourages Mary by saying, 'Trust me, Mary. I know, I KNOW,' that "nothing is impossible with God." Gabriel saw the Earth breathed into existence. He knows that nothing is impossible with God.

The Christmas story is not warm and cuddly. It is a wartime event that comes quietly to us, but is actually an eternal event. How I wish I could see Christmas from God's perspective . . . of even Gabriel's. I'm not sure we can fully wrap our minds around it. That's why we anchor ourselves with faith in Scripture.

Christmas is the turning point in the great battle for the soul of men and women, and boys and girls.
John 3:16, "For God so loved (insert your name) the world that He gave his only son so that whoever believes (trusts) in Him can have eternal life." That includes a peace-filled, joy-filled, hope-filled, love-filled life today, too. Those who believe this join God's family; those who do not will be on the losing end for all eternity.

I believe that one of Satan's deceptions is to lull believers into lethargy and complacency. Many point and complain about commercialism at Christmas or the media's sensationalism at Christmas, but the problem is not "them" as we like to say; the problem is with us - believers who have dumbed-down Christmas into a Christmas card cliche that makes Christmas easy to swallow. We've heard the Christmas story so much that we gloss over it each year and move on to our worldly agendas, which come back to self-gratification. I know believers - you do, too - who give to charity at Christmas to ease the guilt of spending more extravagantly on themselves throughout the year. Gee whiz.

Being reminded of Gabriel at Christmas, reminds me people all around us are living and dying without hope or an eternal future, and most all of us - as believers - seem lethargic about it. We rarely talk about the unsaved. We rarely lift prayer requests for them. (Most of our prayer requests are for self). We don't explore opportunities to share faith. We don't invite people to churches. We don't give Bibles, with notes inside, as Christmas gifts. We don't have luncheons with single-agendas - "may I tell you why I love and follow Jesus?" At some point, we must get serious about what we believe because what we say we believe at Christmas is serious business.

Most believers approach faith with the same casual attitude as going to the grocery store. When that happens, Satan wins and the brilliance of the Christmas story is dulled.

As believers, we are Christian soldiers - much like Mary - and we have a responsibility, as commanded by Jesus (the one born in that manger) to make disciples and teach Scripture. Look what Mary said when Gabriel gave God's orders to her: She said, "I am the Lord's servant. May everything you have said about me come true." (Luke 1:38). Jesus commands us to go make disciples. Do we respond with, "I am your servant. May it come true"? This Christmas, I pray we are each convicted - and encouraged - about how we will approach 2013 toward helping people discover Jesus as Savior through our words, actions and lives.

Birth Announcements

Job is coming out of a dark and deep valley, and he says to God, humbly and exhausted and broken, "I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you."

When searching for something to fully describe the power of Almighty God, Job's words just stop me in my tracks: God, I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. No one can stop you. Not all the armies and all the kingdoms and all the rulers together can stop you. The forces of evil and darkness can't stop you. You can do anything, God. And, by contrast and comparison, we can do nothing.

And, yet, this powerful, Almighty, sovereign God chooses to love each one of us. For those who love Him, through faith in Jesus, He says that He will keep us from harm, watch over our days, and all things in our lives will work to bring Him glory. He says that He has plans for us, and had those plans before we were even born.

God is all powerful and all loving.

This season of Christmas, we celebrate birth. We celebrate God coming to Earth as Jesus to provide a way for restoration with God. This past week, I've been a spectator of two powerful examples of birth and rebirth. I've been a spectator of what Job says when he says, "I know that you can do anything."

Jeff

Jeff and my oldest son, Andrew, were on the University of South Carolina track team together for three years. They became friends. For the past five years, we have prayed for Jeff - not in pitiful ways, but in expectant ways that God would make Himself known to Jeff, and through Jesus, launch a new chapter in Jeff's life.

For the past few Easters, we have opened our home for the boys to invite their college friends to our church, and then to our home for Easter lunch and an egg hunt. This year, Andrew called to say that Jeff was coming with him. We had a great time, and enjoyed getting to know Jeff. Afterwards, we didn't think much more of it. Yet, prayers continued. (Pictured is this year's group of egg-hunters; Jeff is in the top row, left; Andrew is in the center (blue shirt).

At Thanksgiving, I asked Andrew if Jeff ever attended church with him near campus, and Andrew said that Jeff did not and probably would not attend church with him. And, we just sort of dropped the conversation. Yet, prayers continued.

Last Monday, Dec. 3, at 9:46 p.m., I received this text from my oldest son, "Jeff gave his life to Christ tonight."

And, putting on my "Reverend" hat, I responded in the most call-worthy way I could at the moment: "Holy Crap!!" I texted. And, here's the ensuing text conversation.

Me: I need details.

Andrew: We went to get wings. And, then Jeff asked me to get ice cream. He said he's been thinking about Jesus a lot and what that means. He talked to me about coming to church with me over Easter, and then he just asked questions. I shared the gospel with him as best I could and then asked him, "Why not (give your life to Jesus) right now." And, Jeff said, "Yeah, I want to." So, he asked me what to pray and I told him. It was huge.

Me: Did he pray?

Andrew: Out loud (in the Sandy's parking lot).

Me: Wow, son, you watched someone be born again!

Andrew: I can't stop laughing when I think about it. God can do anything. It is so exciting. God is going to do great things with Jeff.
Since that conversation, I've had opportunity to meet with Jeff and begin discussions about believer's baptism, joining with a fellowship of believers, Bible Study and prayer. I've reminded Jeff that this is not the end of a story or a mile-marker, but the beginning of a new life - a new story in Jesus and following Jesus. In his own genuine way, he's all over it, and I'm confident Andrew will continue to mentor his friend. I will pray for both of them.

Born again. This story has some messages for me and you:

• Never give up praying for people.
• Never doubt that God can do anything, and that His timing often does match our timing.
• Simple hospitality with no agenda can make a difference to people.
• Be ready to share the gospel "as best you can" when you have the opportunity to do it. Don't walk away from the chance to introduce someone to Jesus.

Kelly & Leigh Ann
Kelly and Leigh Ann Roberts are near and dear to my heart. Leigh Ann is my baby sister. I was months shy of 15 when she was born in 1974. She and Kelly have been married 15 years, and have been unable to have children of their own. A few years ago, at Christmas, Kelly and Leigh Ann gave out gift cards to my family and to the families of my brothers. This was unusual because we siblings don't exchange Christmas gifts. When I acted surprised at their kind gesture, my sister said, "Well, we don't have anyone to buy gifts for and this is something we want to do."

In my heart of hearts, I ached for her. It was as if that Christmas gift was her way of saying, "We give up, and surrender the desires of our heart to Almighty God."

My former sister-in-law, Cindy, is a labor and delivery nurse at a south Georgia hospital. Because Cindy will always be the mother of "cousin Paul," we've kept the doors of communication open with her and still love her. Off the family radar - and a few hundred miles away - Cindy has always been on the lookout for a baby in need of adoption.

Last Friday morning, I was visiting my parents in Atlanta. When I came downstairs, about 8 a.m., my mama said, "Cindy has found a baby for Kelly and Leigh Ann." I was two cups short of coffee, but was still able to grasp the reality. A baby had been born in the pre-dawn hours of that Friday, and its parents wanted to place it for adoption. Cindy called my mother, who found my sister. Leigh Ann, a nurse, called Kelly, a school teacher, and told him the news by telephone. It went sort of like this:

God has provided us with a baby. We need to make a decision right now.
The decision was easy.

As long as I live, I will never forget my sister's words when she called me about mid-morning.

"You have no idea how long we have prayed for this, and I know this is a gift from God," she said. "This is how God works in my life - He comes quickly and in big ways."

On Saturday morning, without nine months to plan and prepare a nursey, these two took off for south Georgia, where they adopted this little girl and named her - Emilee Joy Roberts. (Pictured, right, with her mommy) Her middle name is so very appropriate for this Christmas gift from God. How blessed we are that the birth parents chose to have the baby and not pursue abortion; how blessed we are that they loved this girl enough to ensure she has a home dedicated to loving and serving a Holy God; and how blessed we are that God preserved our relationship with Cindy for all these years.

A life born to one day be born again. This story, too, has messages for me and you:

• Never give up pouring out the desires of your heart. God hears them; He absolutely hears them. And, in His time - not ours - He will answer those prayers even if it's not how we might expect them to be answered.
• Never doubt that God can do anything.
• Preserve the relationships that come in and through your life. Finish well this life with no ill will toward anyone. You never know how that person might be used, by God, to love and serve the ones you love down the road.

This Christmas, be reminded. Please be reminded, "Oh God, I know you can do anything, and no one can stop you." Amen.

Christmas Warmth

No one will ever convince me, ever, not ever, that you can go to a building each week, sit as a spectator for one hour, never be introduced to another person, and then claim you were in church. Being with the church is about being in a meaningful group, surrounded by people you can join in fellowship, love and service together, and be warmed by the family of faith. Being with the church is not about being a consumer; it's about investing your entire life into other people.

In Ecclesiastes 4:7-11, the great King Solomon is reflecting on his life, which he largely lived apart from God. He's lamenting in this look back, and he's offering wise counsel for all of us: "Don't live like me." In these verses, Solomon equates going at life "alone" as meaningless. His words also remind us that:

• We should avoid working so hard and long that relationships are compromised.
• Two people working together can get twice the work accomplished.
• When trouble comes, one can help the other.
• In the coldness of the night, two can keep each other warm.
• Two - and even more - can protect one another from harm.

The reason we have Christmas parties is to celebrate the value of relationship that Solomon writes about. And, when those parties and celebrations are framed in faith - by families of faith (churches, Sunday School classes and small groups) - we are reminded of the warmth that comes from being a part of a family of faith. Christmas gives us that gift.

My dad was very involved in our community’s Empty Stocking drive at Christmas each year. The community came together, donating toys and coats and food items, packaged it all together in church basements.and warehouses. Families would join together to sort and package the items from lists provided by the community's social services. And, then on Christmas Eve, men - mostly through the community's Jaycee organization - would take the lists and deliver the toys, clothing and food.

Late one Christmas Eve, my dad had one final delivery. He took me with him because we were headed home to a family Christmas celebration afterward. The delivery was to a “neighborhood” of dilapidated mobile homes arranged in a neighborhood along a red clay hill with a ragged dirt road connecting the housing units. By the time we got to this small, shabby community, it was almost dusk. My dad parked his panel van and went house-to-house delivering boxes. I won’t ever get over the images of that evening. I was surrounded by poverty.

Poverty is ugly because it reveals the hardest reality of life. In describing the poverty (my word) of life, Dickens wrote in A Christmas Carol, about man's condition at the crossroads of "Ignorance and Want." Poverty, for me, is that place where people want xyz, but don't care enough about themselves or others to even try and achieve it. It's a horror. And, that's what my boyish eyes saw that evening delivering toys to the neighborhood. I saw a generational cycle of poverty - "wanting" but no desire to improve.

Before you and I thumb our collective nose at those living in cycles of economic poverty, let me add a dimension to it. As King Solomon reminds us - we need each other. We need each other for warmth, security, defense and support. Going at life alone is foolish. Going at life alone is another form of poverty - the absence of the warmth of other believers is a horrible place of poverty. Human Nature craves relationships - poverty is not caring about or ignoring that impulse. The Holy Spirit, I believe, craves relationships with other believers - poverty is not caring about or ignoring that conviction.

I know a lot of affluent people living in poverty. They are surrounded by friends, and yet don't have a single friend in faith. They don't have one person in whom they can confess life's pain for fear their social friends will quickly turn to whisperers. They don't have one person who will hold their hand and pray over them; not a flippant "I will pray for you" that never results in prayer. They don't have one person who will "drop everything" and come running to provide Christian warmth in this cold world.

This is a form of poverty: Being surrounded by "friends" and yet not having a single one in faith.

On occasion, my church youth group would have bonfires. We would gather for food, music, devotion and, yes, flirting. Just before one of those bonfires, our beloved youth director, Ron McClure, called a few of us together for an object lesson. On a blackboard, he drew a bonfire with several rings around it. The fire represented the faith family with its light and its warmth. Each circle around the fire represented where people stood in relationship to the fire. The further people stood from the fire the more they stood in the cold and dark. He told us to be attentive to where people stood at the upcoming bonfire. Who would be nearest the fire, fully enjoying the bonfire? Who would be standing further removed? Who would be standing in the shadows? Who would not even be there? He reminded us:

• Believers will always want to be as close to the fire as possible, but many don't know how to break through the crowd to get there. How can we keep the inner circle open?
• Sometimes the fire can be too hot for people, and we have to let them be content to stand a few steps behind, but always inviting them to be closer.
• Many in the shadows choose to be there because, sadly, it's gotten comfortable to be in the dark and the cold. There's no risk in the shadows, it's easy to be invisible, and it's easy to walk away. But, these good people will never fully know the joy, peace, love and hope that comes from the warmth of being arm-in-arm with other believers. Friends, I've been there. Scott Vaughan has been in the shadows while being at the church property every single Sunday.
• How do we invite more people to the bonfire? We are surrounded by people who want to be with us, who need to be with us, but don't know it's available or the benefits of it. Keep in mind, some of these are regularly sitting in worship services - never fully experiencing the benefits of faith community.

Where are you? Are you as close to the fire of faith as possible? Are you out there in the shadows, engaged in the exercise of casual faith? Are you showing up here and there, sitting back, perhaps waiting on your spouse to endorse taking faith to the next level, wanting to get more involved in the exercise of faith but just not able to pull the trigger . . . afraid of what they might expect or ask you to do?

If you are warm and cozy beside the fire, are you turning around and making room for others to join you at the fire? Or, have you slipped into ugly "faithful sin" - claiming the warmth and forgetting about those not at the fire? I'm guilty. So are you.

Solomon reminds us that there is power, protection, service, love, warmth, and defense when we are joined with one another in the family of faith. It's time for some of us to step up to the fire, and for others to make room. Jesus came for such a reason as this one - that the gospel comes alive through the warmth of faith relationships.

              

              
                

Joy at Christmas

I begin this Christmas season by proclaiming, "Joy To The World" as in Jesus, our Savior, has come to the world. Believing in Jesus as the only true and pure Joy, and knowing the Holy Spirit resides in each believer, it is inexcusable for a believer to whine, "I can't catch the Christmas spirit." 

Here's how to find the Joy at Christmas; here's how the believer can catch the Christmas Spirit today and every single day.

I was so happy on that Christmas morning when I received the green bicycle. It had high handle bars and a banana seat. It was dark green with a black center bar. I was happy because it meant freedom on a lot of levels. I now had wheels. I could get to my grandparents’ house, Herschel Harrison’s country store, and the pond in half the time. I could also explore. We could load the bike in our station wagon, and now I could ride it to see all of my friends when I went to town, where my mother worked.

If I made a list of the top five Christmas presents presented on the top five Christmases of my past – the green bicycle would be at the top of all lists. That bike made me so happy I’m not even sure I could list a No. 2 all-time without a space between it and bicycle.

And, yet, that bicycle was in the trash heap in about five years – replaced with a larger 10-speed that I never quite loved as much. The treasures of today will surely be the dust of tomorrow. That bike was incapable of bring me Joy; it could only bring me temporary happiness.

You have no idea how much my mama wanted a daughter. She and my dad had three boys, 15, 13 and 10. A run at adoption of a little girl had failed. Attempting a fourth pregnancy had ended in miscarriage. All of my mama’s best friends had a daughter. My grandmother, my mom’s mama, had six grandsons and no granddaughters.

And, in late 1973, my mama found out she was pregnant. We all began praying for a healthy baby, but one that would also be female. Everyone was watching this pregnancy – boy or girl? Would my mama be able to contain her disappointment? It would surely be yet another Vaughan boy.

On March 7, 1974, my dad came by the high school and got me out. He went around to the other schools and got all my brothers. He called my grandmother and told her – it’s time – the baby is coming.

At the hospital, there were about 30 people in the waiting room. Boy or girl? Boy or girl? Probably a boy. The doctor came out and said, “It’s a girl.” It was like winning the lottery – people cheering and nurses crying. It was a community event. I worked at a local pizza restaurant and that night at work - the manager gave me a free dessert by way of celebration. When my grandmother came into the hospital, I shouted down the hallway, “Mema! It’s a girl.” And, she passed out.

People described it as a joyous day, but for those without a faith in Jesus, that was not true. For those, it was only heightened happiness and Earthly celebration. For those of us who were believers, having prayed and heard those prayers answered, it was a Joyful day. Joy only exists when Jesus exists. Joy, for me, and in my opinion, is that sweet spot of worship when my life and its events are in concert with Almighty God, through faith in Jesus.

Read the words of Psalm 98 and reflect on the Joy mentioned in it.

• Joy is a reflection of a deep and personal relationship with God through Jesus. It is impossible for people to now Joy apart from a faith in Jesus. What the unsaved will know is a heightened measure of happiness. The reason we sing “Joy To The World” each Christmas is because apart from the gift of Jesus, there is no joy.
•  Joy is found in authentic worship, pouring out the pain and sorrow of life to an Almighty God – praising and thanking God for all his blessings even in the midst of pain.
• And, while Joy is provided by God, we must pursue Joy, too. It’s an inward disposition. You can be a believer and not be joyful, and that’s a sad and pitiful way to live. It’s like being given a wonderful gift and never opening it.

How can we experience Joy? How can we experience the fullness of faith in Jesus? And, in experiencing that sweet spot with God, how can we fully celebrate His son's birth each December? How, then, can we capture the Christmas Spirit?

First, and foremost, the individual must be a confessing follower of Jesus Christ - not with head, but with heart; not with the right words or the right cadence before each meal, but with disposition and attitude and decorum. And, then, these considerations:

• Make God’s words personal – Jeremiah 15:16 – "Your words are what sustain me. They bring me great joy and are my heart’s delight. For I hear your name, O Lord God Almighty." Would you believe that an estimated 80 percent of all believers are Biblically illiterate; more than 60 percent of believers never even read the Bible. What does that say about the state of Joy in today's believers and then collectively within the church? Go to Scripture.
•  Whole-hearted service – 1 Chronicles 29:9 – "Then the people rejoiced for that they offered willingly because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord." Service without disclaimer; service without expectation – not even with the expectation of a thank you. Understand that your money is not yours; your time is borrowed – give it all away to bless the lives of others.
• Faithful service – Matthew 25:23 – Recognizing the source of all things in our lives, and plowing those things into service. It's not just about time and money. It's about the greatest gift many of us have - our children. 3 John 1:4 reads, "I have no greater joy than to hear my children walk in truth." I look at the trophy shelves containing all the trophies and awards that my boys have gathered, and yet Joy comes to me when I know Andrew is driving college students to worship services on Sunday mornings. See the difference between the Earthly and the Eternal? Happiness is in the Earthly; Joy is in the Eternal.
•  Knowing your heart is right with God – Psalm 3:22 – "Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice all who are upright in heart." My heart is not always right with God. I get frustrated, I lose my temper, I slink into negativity and cynicism, I say and do things that I regret, and I then I feel ashamed in front of Almighty God. But, what Joy comes when I recognize the sinfulness of my heart, cry out to the Lord, and feel Him wash through me. There is no Joy like the sweet spot of being right with God.
• Winning souls – Psalm 126:5 – "Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy." Have you ever watched as someone came to know Jesus – broken and then redeemed? Can you remember that feeling in yourself? Only in the last five years have I introduced anyone to Jesus, and I can tell you that there’s nothing like it. Once you have experienced the joy of seeing someone come to Jesus, you will want to live the rest of your days – you will cry out for those days – for that pure joy found in soul-winning.
• Answered prayers – John 16:24 – Jesus says, “Ask, in my name, and you will receive and you will have abundant joy.” Are you praying? Are you thinking about prayer? Have you experienced the abundant joy of answered prayers. There is Joy in the knowledge and affirmation of a loving, Almighty God through answered prayer.

Joy, to the world!

When Jesus was born, Joy entered our bleak and empty world. When the Holy Spirit comes alive in each believer, the opportunity for Joy enters that human life. Christmas should be a season of worship; Christmas should be a season of the focused pursuit of Joy. Don’t let it slip away from you – Serve, Pray, Dive into Scripture, Confess Sinful Attitudes, and look for the opportunity to hit your sweet spot with Almighty God.

Christmas Love

I had lunch today with three good friends of mine – all in vocational ministry.

One them is preaching regularly at a smaller membership church in rural South Carolina. Yesterday, he said, he preached on the topic of Christmas.

He said, “I told them that Jesus is not the reason for the season,” telling us that as he said those words the sanctuary got extremely quiet. What? You mean you don’t believe all those little stickers, signs and posters we Christians champion this time of year? Certainly, Jesus is the reason for the season!
My friend continued, “I told them that Jesus is not the reason for the season. You and I are the reason for the season; Jesus came for us.”

I like that.

You and I are the reasons for the season. Jesus came for us. He was and is the greatest Christmas gift there will ever be.

It’s like this:
Every man, woman and child is born separated from God and ticketed to a life and eternity apart from Him.

But, the Apostle John reminds us (directly quoting Jesus) in John 3:16-17 that “For God loved the world so much that He gave his one and only son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him.” (NLT)

I like to call this Christmas Love.

God loved us so much that He . . . gave his son. He loved and He gave out of that love.

Doesn’t that just drip with what we long for at Christmas – to love someone so deeply that we just give to them sacrificially?
We always ask our boys for their Christmas wish list, but the gifts that provide Vicki and me with the most blessing are those not on the list. Those are the ones given out of love rather than want.

God’s gift to us – his son Jesus – was indeed a gift.

We don’t earn it.

We don’t deserve it.

We can’t steal it.

All that we do is believe in the gift – Jesus - and that guarantees a peaceful journey on this Earth and an eternity with our God.

But, it’s that believing that often gets us in trouble.

You see many will say they “believe” in Jesus, but what they are saying is that they believe He existed. That level of belief is not what John 3:16-17 is asking of us.

No, many will believe Jesus existed, but will not spend eternity with Him.

Believing goes deeper than acknowledging existence. Believing means that we trust Him, love Him, serve Him, seek Him, cry out to Him, talk to Him, and have relationship with Him.

Here’s a way to look at it. I believe that my son Richard exists. I see Him. He exists. But, this past weekend I believed in Him. I gave him a list of errands to run, and trusted him to be on task and not waste time, to manage my money responsibly, to drive responsibly, and make good decisions. I believed in Richard’s character and I believed in my relationship with him. I didn’t just believe he actually existed.

God’s gift us to requires that we don’t just believe – we believe.

Make the most of this Christmas week.

Begin or renew your relationship with our Lord, Jesus.

Live out faith by loving and serving others without condition. Be kind. Be encouraging. Be supportive. Be forgiving.

Be prepared to tell someone, anyone and everyone about your faith.

Experience Christmas Love.

Hope is not a cliche

The three of us were actually talking football when she approached us with the dew of tears in her eyes.

On cue, we paused our trivial conversation and turned to her with concern.

She asked for prayer, especially for her family and most importantly for the redemption of her marriage.

Right there we prayed over her, asking the Lord to bring His will to her marriage and to fill her with peace, surrounding her with friends to lift her up.

And, then one of my friends offered this innocent cliché : “It will all work out.”

All who know me, and have known me, know that I have a problem with cliché. It drives me crazy – empty expressions we toss around without even thinking about the meaning the words might have.

While it is true, for believers, things do work out . . . ultimately, we get to heaven and live eternally with our Lord . . . things don’t always work out the way we want them to here on Earth, but they always work out according to God’s will for our lives and to bring glory and worship to Him. After all, at the point of salvation, we step from living for self to living for Jesus – we are born again to a new way of living and thinking. And, in that, we can know and expect that all things, according to His will for us, are possible for God. And, that lifting our prayers to Him, expectantly, and wholly trusting His plan for our lives will bring immeasurable peace and joy to our lives.

For me, that is Hope: The wiggling of my life deep into the palms of God to a place that I just know and expect Him to take complete care of my present and future while I put my life’s compass on loving and serving Him and others.

Hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus, the Jewish people expected a Savior. The prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 9:6-7: For a child is born to us, a son is given. The government will rest on his shoulders and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace . . . the passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!” Do you see the confidence and the expectancy in those words? Think about it. The people who wrote and prayed that never saw Jesus, but they remained expectant and hopeful that God would hear them and answer them in His own good time and way.

Look what Jesus’ disciple, Matthew, later wrote in Matthew 11:3:  “John the Baptist, who was in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah (Savior) was doing. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “’Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting or should we keep looking for someone else.” You see, the Jewish people were hopeful – a Messiah had been promised, they expected it to come true, and it did.

Hope for believers is not simply that, ho-hum, “everything will work out” cliché but that as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:13, “Three things will last forever – faith, hope and love – and the greatest of these is love.” In describing spiritual growth, Paul builds it around faith, hope and love. Hope is an attitude of faith and focus. Things don’t just “work out for me” – no – I KNOW they will work out for me. I KNOW that if I stay the course of faithfulness to the life God has planned for me – everything WILL work out. But, how I do know? Well, it’s about trust and faith, and I have that through my relationship with Jesus.

I know God does not want me to be lonely the rest of my life.
I know God will protect my children and point them back to the Godly home in which they were raised.
I know, if I am unemployed, that God has a plan to care for my family, to surround me with life preservers, and to call me closer to Him.
I know God has the power to restore relationships.
I know God has the power to restore and redeem my marriage.
I know God will bring me a peace as I minister to my aging parents, and protect relationships with my siblings.
I know God will get me through these painful holidays, which remind me of my loss column rather than my gain column.
I know God will point me to the best friend that I’ve ever had.
I know God can bind back Satan as He works to destroy my life through addictions.
I know God has the power to bring peace and relief to my physical problems, and to teach me about patience and kindness through them.
I know God has the power to mend my broken heart.
I know God has the power to bring a white, hot light to the darkness of my life, and cleanse me through a faith in Jesus.
I know God hears all of my prayers, and I know He will answer them in the way that is best for me.
I know God wants my lost family and friends to know Jesus, and I know that He is in the life-changing and life-saving business, and I know that He has the power to break and mend even the most lost heart.

Hope, for the believer, regardless of age or circumstance, race or pocket book, white collar or blue collar, GED or doctorate – Hope for the believer has, does and will always come down to this: An expectation that according to God’s will specific events can and will happen in my life. And, I can put my head on my pillow at night and put my feet on the floor in the morning, and KNOW, that God has control of my day – my relationships, my health, my finances, my spouse, my children, my parents and my siblings – every cell and fiber of my existence. God is in control. I can walk boldly and upright in this day with the Scriptural HOPE that God is in control of me.

In Mark 9:14-24, a man brings Jesus his demon-possessed son.

The boy’s father says, If you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us.”
Jesus exclaims, “If you are able! – All things can be done for the one who believes.” (Jesus is saying that for those who believe in Him, they will have everything they need to serve Christ. God can do anything, and will do all things according to His will for us. But, even when He can’t or won’t magically give us what we desire, we will have peace over his response.”

Confusing Joy and Happiness?

Joy is one of those words that has a different meaning for those who follow Jesus.
In the context of the dictionary, Joy is synonymous with happy, or even “happy-plus.”

But, happiness is short-term, happiness is dependent on circumstance, and happiness is rooted in temporary things of Earth. World Class Chocolate ice cream from Baskin Robbins makes me happy, but then the ice cream is gone. Happiness is gone with it. At Christmas, how many times have parents worked to find just the right gifts for their children, making them happy for a few hours on Christmas morning, and then watching as toys are never touched again? I know lots of people who are happy because it’s Friday, but then slip into dread as Monday approaches. Happiness is temporary.

When we sing of “Joy To The World” at Christmas, we aren’t singing about temporary happiness.
We are singing about an eternal Joy that comes from knowing Jesus as personal Savior. Romans 8:9 – and many other places in Scripture – reminds us that when we accept Jesus as Savior, we are “controlled by the Holy Spirit if you have the Spirit living in you (as believers do).” One of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, as defined in Galatians 5:22-23, is Joy. So, for believers, Joy is not some fleeting emotion like happiness. No, Joy is a permanent seed of our new character brought about by a relationship with Jesus.

Just like fruit on the vine or the tree, the Joy within us must grow and flourish. How do we let the Joy in our hearts grow so that we experience it more and more and with greater consistency? We do what God wants us to do. The Holy Spirit is constantly whispering “do this, go there, say this, press forward, fall back, say nothing, encourage, love, be kind” and many of us ignore it or we are just too busy – too self-absorbed – to hear it. But, if we would hear God speaking to us, telling us to act in love and service toward others, the byproduct is that we are blessed and experience a growing Joy as we become more Christ-like. Joy comes from drawing closer to Jesus by putting feet to our prayers and action to our words, sacrificing self for others.

Yesterday, I had opportunity to visit someone in the hospital. I love my friends, but I found myself stalling. “Wait on the end of the Panthers game.” And then, “People don’t want to be bothered in the hospital.” And, then, “I’ll check in with them tomorrow when I’m near that part of town.” But, within my core, I knew. I heard. “Go.” And, so I went, and I was so very glad that I did. In fact, I was blessed by going because I did what God wanted me to do. I experienced Joy by going, and then I experienced happiness by getting World Class Chocolate ice cream afterwards.

This Christmas, experience Joy by listening to the Holy Spirit’s call to love and serve sacrificially as God sacrificed His son for us.
What is the Holy Spirit calling you to give away or give up this Christmas for the sake of serving others? Will you experience Joy this Christmas or just fleeting happiness?
When Christmas is over, will  you be sad that it’s over or will you be filled with a growing Joy that takes you into 2012 and beyond?
Will I really sing, “Joy To The World” as an expectant anthem that because of Jesus’ birth every man, woman and child can have the ability to experience Joy?