Category: Pastor Tim’s Blog

There is no holiday on Earth that gets celebrated like Christmas.  Most holidays get a day…maybe two as celebration.  Christmas gets a month!  Or by one commentator’s observation this year, Halloween is now the official beginning of the Christmas shopping season!  They may be right.  How can the celebration of the simple birth of a peasant child in the Middle East…and not in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv but in Bethlehem….shut down traffic in Tokyo, Japan in 2015?  And yet each year it does.

That in itself is enough reason to ponder the “why” of Christ’s coming.  Surely we cannot convince ourselves that Christmas is about getting a great deal on an iPad on Black Friday or a two-for-one special at the local department store doorbuster?  And surely it’s not just about another chance to get the family home around the dinner table or to roast chestnuts on an open fire.

If we get this right, we have to admit that remembering the day that God invaded earth deserves a bit of celebration.  I mean, how often is it that we have an event on our calendar that we can point back to and said “This day changed the world!”  And yet it did.  You can’t even tell your age today without referencing Christmas.  I personally was born 1,954 years after Jesus was born!

But maybe the celebration is so great because of what we lack, not because of our abundance.  Maybe we sing so loudly at Christmas, even if out of key, because we need to remind ourselves that joy does exist in the world; that hope can come to the hopeless, that peace is a possibility even if it’s not presently a reality to many.

Christmas is a party!  It’s a celebration!  It is Heaven singing in harmony with earth….with sinners reconciled by their Creator….it is joy rolling over our sorrows….hope reigning over our despair….peace reigning in the chaos of our hearts and the brokenness of our world.

And the good news is:  The party never has to end!

“Do not be afraid, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy….for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior Who is Christ the Lord.”  (Luke 2:11)

REFLECTION:  As the world’s celebration of Christmas begins, how will our celebration of Christmas as a Christian stand in contrast?

Any number of things may light up that part of our brains that stores memories of Christmas past.  For some it may be the taste of a special recipe cookie.  Others may lean toward that first aroma of a special blend of coffee.  Some memories are triggered by sight.  Seeing Christmas décor, stockings, or even ugly sweaters can throw our minds into a whirlwind of remembrance.

While all of those things have ability to remind us, nothing does so for me more powefully than music.  Hearing familiar strains of Christmas songs that speak of our Savior’s coming…. “What Child is This,” or “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” ….can sometimes bring me to tears.  And listening to the opening refrain and overture of Handel’s majestic and inspired oratorio “Messiah” transports me to one of the gifts my father left me- a love for this Biblically-grounded masterpiece.

These memories are not without importance.  They connect us to a past that, while idealized, still lives within us.  We need to be able to answer two important questions in life:  Where we came from, and where we are going. We are looking for the answer to the first when we revisit the past.

Interestingly, Christmas answers both.  We find our Creator at the beginning of the Christmas story.  He was the One Who made us, and the One Who came personally to redeem and restore us…”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God!”    And we find our future on the other side of the empty tomb.  Because of the babe Who came at Christmas to reconcile God and sinner, we have a future that is secure and a past that is redeemed.

Charles Wesley has contributed much to our understanding of Christmas through the familiar words of “Hark, the Herald Angel Sings.”  The first stanza captures for us the why of Christmas:

God and sinners…. reconciled.

In another hymn found in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul wrote;

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and man,

the man Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 2:5)

Our Redeemer has come.  Our Savior is born.  And now, we can have peace with God as we are reconciled…. made one…with Him.

No wonder the angels sang!

“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.” (Luke 2:12)

REFLECTION:  Which memory of Christmas is most important to you?  Why?

With the ending of the Thanksgiving holiday and before the leftover turkey has a chance to spoil, we are off and running into Christmas 2015! Black Friday (which started last Monday), Cyber Monday (which started on Saturday), and all the other oddly-named days between tell us that commercially at least, the countdown to Christmas day has begun.

Maybe for you Christmas begins with a groan as you crawled into your attic or waded through your garage to locate boxes of decorations put away last year. Already for some the battle to untangle Christmas lights or the struggle to reassemble the artificial tree or to stabilize the fresh pine tree or the effort to locate the leak in your gigantic 12- foot- tall blowup snowman signal Christmas has begun in your house!

We all have a memory, a song, a scent, a taste that signals the onset of Christmas season. It may be a pleasant time for some, and a painful time for others. Sometimes Christmas tightens the family bonds loosened by neglect throughout the year and sometimes Christmas accentuates our loneliness or the pain of a fractured relationship.

But however it comes, and whatever it brings, Christmas is upon us. This year I hope we can walk through Christmas with purpose, and not miss the richness of what the season really represents. I know we hear cries of “Keep Christmas in Christmas” each year. We reply to store clerks who benignly wish us “Happy Holiday” with “Merry Christmas!” Already this year we’ve gone to war over Starbucks cups leaving Christmas symbols off their cups.

And yet if we’re honest, we must confess our own guilt as believers by leaving Jesus out of the celebration of His coming to the earth which is far, far worse than the world doing it. How can we truly keep Christ as the center, Christ as the reason, Christ as the purpose of Christmas in our celebrations this year?

Maybe before we go much further into the season, that thought deserves our attention.

“All this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, ‘Behold the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us.’”   (Matthew 1:22-23)

FOR REFLECTION:

Think of one way that you, as a Christ-follower, or your family, can bring Christ to your neighborhood or your workplace this year?

Does gratitude matter?  Are you a thankful person?  I’m not necessarily referring to saying grace for a meal, a mumbled prayer hurriedly spoken to get on to the first fork full.  I’m asking does gratitude characterize you as a person?  Do people who know you say, “You know, they are really a gracious, grateful person.”

Interestingly, the Apostle Paul lists characteristics of “last days” kind of people.  One of the words squeezed in a list of horrible acts and attitudes is the word “ungrateful.”  As time draws closer to an end, people become characterized by ungratefulness.  We aren’t thankful.  You know, it requires humility to be thankful.  Saying “thanks” means someone gave something to me or did something for me that put me in their debt.  Gratitude doesn’t repay the debt, but acknowledges that it exists. Being gracious means I am indebted to another for gifts given that I do not deserve or could not repay.

Are you a thankful person?  I believe God notices gratitude.  And I also believe He notices ingratitude!  Just like you do.  So what do I thank God for?  Here’s a rule of thumb and a place to begin:  Thank Him for anything you want repeated.  In reality, we thank God in everything (notice: not for everything!).  But in every circumstance, every situation, every part of life….give thanks.  For this, Paul tells us, is the will of God in Christ Jesus for us.

Give thanks.  With grateful, overflowing, indebted hearts.  Give thanks.  And then. …do it again.

A poll conducted by LifeWay Research found that many of us are very picky about who we will pray for. For instance, the poll revealed that we typically pray for …

• Family and friends 82 percent of the time
• Our own problems and difficulties 74 percent of the time
• Our enemies 37 percent of the time
• Government leaders 12 percent of the time.

Strangely enough, 36 percent of survey participants said they typically pray for financial prosperity, 21 percent pray to win the lottery, and 13 percent typically pray for their favorite sports team to win.

But I trust that, today, many around the world are praying for the people of Paris. The horrific episode of violence unleashed Friday night on the streets and in the stadiums and against the people of France forced the first curfew to be in place since World War 2. Many leaders around the world are calling this the first major battle of World War III.

Whether or not that is true, I am not prescient enough to say. I am, with the rest of the world, horrified and angered by this unprovoked attack by the ISIS organization. And with the rest of the world, I will say “It’s enough.”

Yet why are we surprised by these things? Jesus told us that there would be wars and rumors of wars before His return comes. He said “nation would rise up against nation” (literally “people group would rise up against people group”). That is what we are seeing.

And we will see more. Probably coming before we think, the headlines will shout similar attacks against America. And so, what do we do?

1) We must PRAY. As never before, we must take prayer to the next level in our churches. This battle will not be won on fields of combat. It is a spiritual conflict that must be waged with spiritual weapons. We must pray….swallow hard here….for the members of ISIS who are so deceived that they believe they will be rewarded for killing enemies of Islam. Their delusion leads them to don suicide vests and deploy them in crowds of innocent people. We must pray for their salvation as never before.

2) We must WATCH. Our Lord’s return is drawing nearer, but as it comes the world will continue to deteriorate politically, relationally, geographically, and even astronomically. And certainly, morally and spiritually. These things, again, have been predicted and promised.

3) We must WITNESS. As never before we must go and as we are going, speak the Gospel….share the Gospel…live the Gospel. The hour is getting late. The final call is coming. Jesus will return.

4) We must be READY. If you are living today in fear over what may come next then may I take this moment to tell you that, more than anything else, you need a relationship with Jesus Christ. He is the only way of salvation….there is no other name under Heaven by which we must be saved. You must believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, the sinless Son of God who went to the cross to pay the price and bear God’s wrath toward your sin and mine. You must confess with your mouth Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Christ from the dead.

And you must follow Him. Learn His ways. Follow His steps.
He will lead you into life as you have never known it.

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits and in His Word I put my hope.”  (Psalm 130:5)

We are a people who expect things to happen now.  Our TV viewing is oriented to the 22 minute sit-com.  Most story lines can be resolved in that much time, with five minutes of commercials in the middle!  We like our popcorn microwaved, our wireless signal instantaneous (and uninterrupted by that little swirly icon!), and our coffee brewed in a Keurig.  We don’t like delays… in traffic, in response to our INSTANT message, or in the grocery store checkout line.  We like short books (notice, they are being released in smaller and smaller sizes?), short sermons (well…), and short waits in ANY line.

And you may be certain that this tendency toward impatience in EVERY arena of life bleeds over into our prayer life.  Pray all night?  You have to be kidding!  Be persistent in prayer?  Wait on the Lord?  All these concepts are foreign to us in our quick-fix, microwaved, instant messaging culture.  How dare God keep ME waiting?  Doesn’t He know I have… texting to get back to??  And so, along with our shorter, simpler books and our desire for shorter sermons, and our tendency toward quicker everything… there is the need for quick-fix prayers.

Now in defense, short prayers aren’t always bad… not always a sign of impatience.  And the prayers really aren’t the problem.  It’s expecting an immediate ANSWER that is the issue.  Sometimes God has us wait… and wait… and wait…..and wait… and wait… and even then sometimes He doesn’t answer.  I guess there are times that the discipline of waiting not on but WITH the Lord is more important than you getting what you think you need.

Sometimes you just need God.  Just Him.  Not what He can give you.  Just His person, just His presence.  Just God.  And sometimes when we get prayer right… that’s exactly WHO we get.

And He’s always enough.

In this season when churches honor and appreciate their pastoral leadership, allow me to tell you some things this pastor appreciates about the privilege and calling of ministry.  I’ve listed ten.  There are many, many others.

1) Seeing lives changed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ

2) Walking with individuals and families in crisis and seeing them make it through

3) Being forced to depend on God…daily

4) Reading, studying, and getting to teach God’s changeless truth in the Bible

5) Letting the children come… and go into life with the Word of God as their firm foundation

6) Serving a church that is not afraid to let me lead as God leads me

7) Leading authentic worship

8) Working with a God-called and committed staff and support team

9) Sending people out on short term…and some even lifetime… mission work

10) Getting to be a part of a ministry of telling the truth to a culture that has lost its way

Having served alongside you now for almost 23 years, I can tell you that your commitment to Christ and your willingness to allow me to lead is not only refreshing, but unique.  Fruit Cove is an awesome church and I am privileged to serve Christ’s mission with you here.

And I hope YOU know how much this pastor appreciates YOU!

Why should we pray?  Many of us can list reasons:  Medical tests, parenting small children, work related issues, parenting adolescents, financial concerns, marriage issues, parenting adult children, concerns about the future, letting our children parent us and on and on the list could go.

But are there reasons besides times of crisis and problems (what one person calls “flare prayers?”)  Why should we be praying?  Waylon Bailey suggests the following three:

1) We should pray in order to meet with God.  Our God-times should rank as the #1 priority in our day.  It was so in the ministry and life of Jesus, and should be indispensable for us as a way to get to know God.  Jesus would rise early in the morning to pray, and slip away for times of prayer during the day.  We should do the same.

2) We should pray to learn what matters to God.  We want to know God’s will, what God’s priorities are… that “His Kingdom would come.”  How else can we know the priorities of His kingdom if we don’t pray?  We pray to learn the mind of God.

3) We should pray to ask God’s help to do what matters to Him.  We ask God to help us to act, to think, and finally to do according to His list of priorities…not our own.  We don’t ask God to bless our agenda.  We seek Him in prayer that we might know His.

While there’s nothing wrong in seeking God during times of stress and crisis, those times may come less if we seek Him every day in prayer as our first priority.  Do you want to know God better…to learn what matters to Him… to have power to do according to His will?  We will find these things as we pray.

The reality of most video games, according to Wired magazine, is that death isn’t real.  It isn’t permanent.  There’s always a reboot, a starting over button, a reset.  But not with the newest video game on PC called Upsilon Circuit.  In this game, when your player dies, they really die.  No starting over, no reboot.  You’re out.  Dead means…..dead.  It’s a novel concept for video players, who are used to taking risks with their character in the games with the realization that, while death sets you back or slows you down, it isn’t permanent.  Inconvenient, but not permanent.

I wonder how much of that thought translates into real life for us?  How many of us really think about death as “inconvenient, but not permanent.”  Those who hold to the theory of reincarnation certainly see that there’s a “reboot” after we die.  There are those who believe we will simply assume some other life form, or “reboot” onto life on another planet.  So we’ve really stopped taking death seriously.  After all, it’s not permanent…is it?  Maybe we’ll just come back as a zombie!

According to the Bible “it is appointed unto man once to die, and then judgement comes.”  In other words, no one meets you in a bright light on the other side and asks you if you want to “reboot” and play again, or come on into the light.  We do not experience the surprise of waking up as another person or another living creature to live life over… hopefully better… this time.  We just die, and then judgement comes.

For the unrighteous, that’s really bad news.  Death is permanent.  It isn’t just an inconvenience.  It is eternal.

For the righteous, death is a passage to life everlasting.  For those who have been made right through faith in the sacrifice of the Lamb of God…those who have received the Gospel of Life… life is waiting eternally.

It’s a simple choice really… life or death.   And it hinges on the answer to one simple question:

   What do you believe about Jesus?