What Christmas Is All About

After watching the movie,The Man Who Invented Christmas, I was reminded that until relatively recently Christmas was a “minor holiday,” and that many, if not most, of the current trappings and expressions now attached to it were classical or modern inventions. Most Christians have long had a sense that red flags were accumulating on pace with the many traditions of Christmas. We are right to sense a danger, but I wonder if we perceive the different nuances in which it is expressed.

More than 50 years ago, Charles Schultz was apparently already feeling the need to offset the commercialism and secularization of Christmas, and so he did in a beloved animated television special most of us know well. In A Charlie Brown Christmas, one of his characters, Linus, reads a portion of Luke’s birth narrative in chapter two, and then declares, “That’s what Christmas is all about.”

That statement certainly plays today as too exclusive. Well into the next century, our culture would now require a pull-back to something like, “That’s what Christmas is essentially about,” or, “That’s what Christmas is traditionally about.” Or it should be qualified, “…for many Christians,” or, “…in the perspective of classic Christianity.”

I like Schultz’s choice of the Luke narrative over Matthew’s, because it does more than offset the commercialization of gift-giving (and competitive buying). In Luke – especially the portion read by Linus – there are no Magi, no gifts. Yes, there are Shepherds and angels, but they are not the focus. The focus is a proclamation, the birth of a Savior. Then there is worship. Linus stops there, but what follows is verification – real shepherds become witnesses of this real historical event – and the movement of worship from heavenly beings to earthly ones, as the shepherds glorify and praise God.

If Linus is right, and the birth of the Savior and the resulting glory of God is “what Christmas is all about,” (emphasis mine), then Scripture offers a corrective not only for the commercialization and secularization of Christmas. It also leaves no room for syncretization.

Christmas is not some highly evolved culture’s expression of goodwill that Christians would hijack. It is not some blending of ancient paganism, Nordic tradition, or the like with Judeo-Christian myth. Christmas is by definition the worship of God, centered around the joyful event of his incarnation. That is what it is ALL about.

That worship appropriately promotes the values of community and giving that even our secular culture also promotes. It may well find expression through symbols like trees and light and angels (though Luke doesn’t indicate they were the ones with wings). Santa Clause and fireplaces and magical toy distribution…those are much farther removed from worship of the Savior, but I’m not promoting legalism here, only caution. The point is to sift out what is inherent to Christmas from what is not, for what is not may well overtake and even replace what is.

Have your traditions and your fun. Maybe even light up your reindeer and plug in your inflatable snowmen. Compete with your ugly sweaters and white elephants. But let us be sure to bring it down at some point, like Linus, to what Christmas is all about. The world needs to understand clearly that we worship with joy the God who entered humanity to save it. We celebrate his humble birth because he is the Savior, and the Lord of all glory!

God, or Google Maps?

We trust our devices. I mean we REALLY trust our devices. Think about it. When you get in your vehicle to head somewhere new, what do you do? If you’re like most people I know, you put the address in your phone or other device and wait for it to tell you where to go.

Now, you might be like me, and want to quickly scan the whole route, but once you are driving you are simply executing one step at a time.

“Turn north on such-and-such street.” (The virtual person’s pronunciations are often pretty amusing).

“Continue for five miles.”

“Take the left two lanes to exit onto so-and-so highway.” (This is technically not a good idea, since your car should occupy only ONE of those lanes, but you understand and comply.)

“Make a U-turn at the light.” (Yeah, you missed the turn because of signal loss, and now you have to go back to where you should have turned. But you are STILL following the newly recalibrated orders, because you have no clue, and this device knows all.)

Why are we willing to blindly take directions from a collection of micro-circuits and solder connections controlled by a magical binary language that no one understood even at Pentecost?

Because our navigational device knows what we don’t. It has all the mapping information about every road and intersection, every on and off ramp between here and there. It even knows where calamity awaits, where a wreck is clogging a major artery and causing huge delays, and knows exactly how to re-route us to the most efficient path to our destination.

Until the announcement, “You have arrived at your destination,” comes. And this could NOT POSSIBLY be your destination. No, no, no, what happened? Did I punch in a typo? Was it “lane” and not “street” or “avenue”?

We figure out the problem. We correct the input, and…start blindly following directions once again. Why? Because it works. Eventually. Nearly always. Well, once we take out human error.

Amazing.

Not that we blindly follow directions from a simulated person speaking from a device. That’s not amazing, because it does indeed generally work, and it is commonplace nowadays.

What IS amazing is that a REAL person who is NEVER wrong is personally WITH US and speaks to us through a LIVING communication. This Person knows EVERYTHING about the current map, all the previous versions of the map, and every map that ever will be. More than just streets and on and off ramps, he knows every person, every thought, every motive and action. He knows perfectly how every potential and actual event will interact as we travel from here to there, how it will impact us in the near future and ultimately. He himself is both here and there – EVERY here and there. And he doesn’t offer the most efficient route, but rather always perfectly directs to the BEST route, always pointing us to what is GOOD and what is good for us. He knows the right destination, even when we had it wrong.

The amazing thing is that we won’t trust God like we trust Google Maps.

In life, we want more than a glance at the whole map. We want GUARANTEES that we will find security, comfort, and easy going at every turn. God knows about every wreck waiting to happen, every construction zone, even every pothole. But for some reason when the neighborhood doesn’t look right, we bail on God’s navigation and go back to winging it based on our own sense of direction.

You know why we trust Google Maps more? Because WE MADE IT.

Turns out the first command in God’s navigation is “Make a U-turn.”

And all God offers us after that is the same thing our device offers: the next step. Be comforted with his presence and obey his voice.

Will we trust God enough to follow his directions?

Psalm 119:97–104 (CSB) 

מ‎ Mem

⁹⁷ How I love your instruction! 

It is my meditation all day long. 

⁹⁸ Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, 

for they are always with me. 

⁹⁹ I have more insight than all my teachers 

because your decrees are my meditation. 

¹⁰⁰ I understand more than the elders 

because I obey your precepts. 

¹⁰¹ I have kept my feet from every evil path 

to follow your word. 

¹⁰² I have not turned from your judgments, 

for you yourself have instructed me. 

¹⁰³ How sweet your word is to my taste— 

sweeter than honey in my mouth. 

¹⁰⁴ I gain understanding from your precepts; 

therefore I hate every false way. 

Candlelight

So, here is a question you may actually hear asked in our home now:

“Honey, did you turn off the candles?”

And the response may be, “No, they turned off automatically a while ago.”

Yep. We have battery operated fake candles now. We already had a fireplace that turned on or off with a switch – in fact TWO options, electric and gas – and now we have expanded the pseudo-incendiary arsenal to smaller, more versatile units.

I have to say, they ARE pretty cool. And that is a double entendre that really got me thinking.

First, I mean that the ascetic effect is nice. The candles (or the fireplaces) make you feel good just by looking at them. I suppose some subconscious association with ACTUAL candles produces this effect. Add to that the fact that these candles even simulate flickering, especially as the light bounces off nearby objects in the dark. Ah! Such a cozy look!

But in the more literal sense of cool, these candles are more like fake news – looks like the real thing at a quick glance, or out of the corner of the eye, especially across a room, but up close the substance is not all there. They throw light, yes. But where is the heat? In this sense, one might argue the electric fireplace is almost a real fireplace (you know, except for the – well, fire). But the battery operated candle, not so much.

We know candles are about LIGHT (we even use "candle" as term for measuring light), but they are also about HEAT. Before electricity, houses were lit by candles and oil lamps. But did you know that an oil lamp could also heat a room? In cold winters back then, a family might huddle around an oil lamp to avoid freezing!

Now, a single candle wouldn’t be as effective as a lamp, but the principle is there. In a cold, dark world, a real flame is a source of light, and warmth, and to some extent, life. It can also be dangerous. An open flame burns up dry things like old dead sticks or old clothing.

Well, there are great spiritual analogies here. Jesus, the Son of God, is the Light that came into the world. Further, his coming, and his life, were a demonstration of perpetual and perfect love (warmth). More yet, for those who trust him, this Light is also Life. Jesus is salvation from a cold, dark, death. But this Light is also dangerous, for his judging fire burns up wood, hay, and stubble. It burns up old clothes – the things from a Christian’s old life that tend to still cling to him. For those who reject Jesus, this burning becomes eternal judgment.

And we Christians are children of the light.

But are we like Jesus, reflecting the true Light in all his properties (light, warmth, life)? Or are we like the battery-operated candles? Do we turn on our light at desired moments? Is it set on a timer to come on Sunday mornings around, say, 10am? Are we completely lacking warmth and life for those who come close? Are we running on short-lived batteries, or burning an endless supply of oil from Christ’s Spirit? Do we offer a feel-good light that is artificial and safe?

Matthew 5:14–16 (ESV) 

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

More Than Mere Messengers

We understand that the Word of God is itself living and active (Heb 4:12), and that it is life to us (Dt 32:47; Mt 4:4). We also understand that life-giving faith comes by hearing this word, and that the dead cannot come to life unless we who are alive in Christ proclaim this word (Rm 10:14-17). But I’m not sure we are always aware of how important is how we deliver the word.

I do not refer to technique or skill. We evangelicals have worked hard and long at crafting these things and training people in them, and these may be helpful to a point. And we are not wrong when we acknowledge that the power that brings salvation is not in the proclaimer but rather in the gospel being proclaimed (Rm 1:16). But we are the agents of proclamation, and it is important that we understand we are more than messengers. We are even more than heralds, though the NT clearly teaches we are that. But the fullest expression of how we deliver the gospel is that we are witnesses.

We know from Jesus himself that the biblical text alone does not bring life to those who reject the Word personified (Jn 5:39). But when Jesus proclaimed the word there were indeed many who believed and came to life, because he spoke with authority (Mt 7:28-9). When we carry this same gospel message we too speak with authority. But we do more than that.

We know from careful study of the NT word kerysso that we proclaim the word as a herald. As such we are called to not only deliver the King’s message but to do so with the proper tone and demeanor. We herald the gospel. But we do still more than that.

The height of our calling is beautifully pictured in Luke’s account of what happened on the road to Emmaus (Lk 24:13-35). Cleopas and another disciple were discussing Scripture about the Messiah. While it doesn’t start out looking like an evangelistic enterprise, when Jesus inserts himself into their discussion they essentially declare the gospel to him, notably including even their own amazement at the claims of their friends that they had seen the resurrected Lord (vv.19b-24). They quote Scripture and declare their hope, but they are deflated and impotent as heralds even in the presence of their Savior.

But something happens that completely changes their demeanor and their presentation. When Jesus breaks bread with them and they finally SEE him, something clicks. They are no longer mere messengers. They are no longer poor heralds, “slow to believe” their own message (v.25). They are witnesses! See how different is their testimony now! “Weren’t our hearts burning within us while he was talking with us on the road and explaining the Scriptures to us?” (v.32).

And so it is with us, whether in the pulpit, or in line at the DMV, at the coffee shop, or at our dinner table. We are called to do more than quote Scripture, and more even than to try to herald the good news with an appropriate amount of hutzpah. We are called to see Jesus, and to so delight in him that we can’t help but run to declare, “The Lord has truly been raised!”

Yes, the Lord will work through his Spirit and his Word to bring souls to life. But how much more fitting if we are first overflowing with his life before we carry the good news to others! We must walk with him, commune with him, and see him for who he is, and then we can be more than mere messengers – we can be witnesses!

Breathe on me, O Life of Heaven

Let your breezes blow afresh

Stir my soul back into motion

Come awake my lifelessness

Come awake my lifelessness!

Move me

Jesus, flow through me

Move me

Jesus, flow through me!

(lyric from the song Still Waters)

Own It?

Do you own a home, or are you renting? Own your car? Making payments? Leasing? Questions of ownership are becoming even more nuanced in our tech-driven, global society. Even the laws are changing. But even in the most idealistic sense of capitalism you might have experienced in the good old USA, how much do you really own? Want to find out? Stop paying your taxes on your house. Stop paying taxes and registration on your car.

We understand this now moves into the software/hardware arena. Good luck using that phone you own, if you don’t have updated software, and pay for a service provider. I don’t even own the processing app in which I am typing right now. I pay an annual fee, because the product I once bought and owned was made obsolete when support was discontinued, and it was replaced with a perpetual product.

These realities teach some pretty good theology. You are not your own. You never were, and never will be. The serpent’s lie to the original couple (Gn 3) was the illusion of autonomy: God can’t tell you not to eat that fruit. He told you you’ll die because he knows that if you do what you want with it, you’ll demonstrate that you can keep on deciding for yourself what is good or evil. In a sense, the lie was about ownership: You can do what you want with that fruit – it’s yours.

Satan apparently believed his own lie, or at least wanted Jesus to believe it. He told Jesus that all the kingdoms of this world were his (Satan’s) to do with whatever he wanted. He even offered to give them to Jesus to own in the same way (Mt 4:8-9; Lk 4:5-6): All this can be YOURS!  But Jesus understood something the first Adam didn’t. The very condition for "ownership" that would have qualified it for Jesus, also qualified it for Satan: worship. Satan said, “If, then, you will worship me, it will all be yours” (Lk 4:7). Jesus understood that is not ownership, but stewardship. The act of worship declares the one being worshiped as the owner, the ultimate authority. Jesus would not do this, because there is only one worthy of worship, and Satan is not that One. God alone deserves worship because of his de facto and rightful ownership. Satan acknowledged the limited terms of his ownership of worldly authority and glory: “for it has been delivered to me.” His ownership was limited and temporal. That is not ownership – it is stewardship. Satan is a lousy steward, because he is trying to act like an owner, twisting and abusing his reign in this world for his own evil desires.

Jesus, on the other hand, performs his stewardship perfectly. As the God-man, he is both steward and true owner. He is steward in his humanity, for because of his perfect obedience to the Father’s will in his humiliation as the Suffering Servant, he is now exalted as the Lord over the kingdom of this world forever (Rv 11:15). He is owner in his deity, as he is the Eternal Word of God, who spoke the world into existence, and is rightful Lord over all heaven and earth as Creator. The Second Adam did what the first did not, acted as steward in perfect agreement with the will of the owner.

So, back to us. Scripture reminds us that we are not owners, but stewards, for we ourselves are not only owing worship to our Creator, but we have been bought with a price, redeemed to him (1 Cor 6:19-20; 7:23). Freedom in the sense of absolute autonomy and ownership is an illusion. No, more than that – a lie. Freedom is reality when our will as a steward comes into agreement with the rightful owner. We are slaves to someone. Either we are slaves to sin (Jn 8:34; Rm 6:1-14), under the dominion of Satan and this world, which is death (Eph 2:1-2), or we are slaves of obedience, of righteousness, of God, which is life (Rm 6:15-23; Eph 2:4-10). The latter is true freedom that elevates the slave to a position of child and heir, and life forever in the presence of God (Jn 8:36).

The perspective of stewardship is crucial for the Christ-follower, for Satan’s lie takes more than one form. The non-Christian is a slave, to be sure. But freedom for the Christian is not ownership. If we think trusting Christ is our gateway to autonomy we have bought a nuanced version of the same old lie. It is capitalist, or American, or prosperity theology, or something else, but it is not biblical. You are not yours any more than your house and car are yours. And it is more than taxes you owe. It is worship. Our stewardship is contingent upon, and has as its aim, the will of our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Lord. When God judges mankind, those who were poor stewards in this life will no longer be stewards. They will be alone with nothing but torment (Mt 24; Lk 12:41-48). But those who worship the Giver of all good gifts through faithful stewardship will reign under him in His presence forever (Rv 20:6; 22:5).

Of course, we cannot be perfectly faithful stewards, and that is why Christ had to accomplish this for us. This is the gospel. Trusting His faithful stewardship is what gives us life and freedom to follow in obedience. When we turn back and start acting like owners, we have quit being worshipers, and quit being faithful stewards. So, let us confess our failures, and walk on as faithful stewards in Christ.

Rest

It only took 15 minutes of commercial drive-time talk radio to remind me that the world needs rest. Ads for “My Pillow,” “Sleep-number beds,” sleep apnea treatments, and the list goes on. I get it. I had some aches and pains getting seriously in the way of my rest last night. While it is amazing how we can muddle through with poor rest, not enough rest, and even some extended periods of little or no rest, the truth remains that we all need rest to thrive. Ultimately, without rest you die.

And God, in his wisdom, made us in this way so that we would understand our need for REAL rest. Eternal rest, spiritual rest. How important is it, that the all-powerful God, who doesn’t need rest (cf. Ps 121), established a day of rest, the Sabbath, at the end of his creative week? The writer of Hebrews points us to the ultimate rest we all need, a rest that only comes from the living God (3:12), and is only found in Christ (v.14), and only by those who trust in his obedience to the Father by following him (4:1-10).

Our problem is that we cannot perfectly obey like Christ, and so we are given the ironic challenge to “strive to enter that rest” (v.11). How can that work? Our striving is different because of Christ, and Hebrews eventually boils it down to faith. We no longer strive to acquire rest for ourselves, because we can’t – Israel’s failures to keep the Law showed us that. We humble ourselves and come to God’s throne seeking mercy and grace, and find it through Jesus, our perfect, eternal High Priest. He more than perfectly understands our human frailty, but unlike the earthly priests who could never fix that problem, Christ himself “became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (5:9).

By the way, since the clues indicate Hebrews was written to (Jewish) Christians, we are reminded that rest is not a need exclusively for the lost, one that is suddenly fully met upon conversion. Believers have an ongoing, daily need for rest.

Do you need rest today? Walk in faith, turning away from deliberate sin (10:26), and a heart hardened by rebellion (3:7,15, cf.4:7), drawing near with a true heart (10:22), humbly but confidently looking to Jesus, our Mediator (9:15), the founder and perfecter of our faith (12:2).

(Deep breath) Ahh!

Paying the Bill

It's been busy - a downsizing move, multiple garage sales, prepping our 20-year-old home for sale, and a trip to WA - but it's time to post again.

I heard this morning that a petition is circulating in protest of what some believe are unreasonably high rates from our local power company, KCPL (Kansas City Power and Light). I don't know whether the complaints are well-founded, but my ears perked up at the story because we have parodied the company brand (perfectly legal for non-profits to do) for our new children's midweek ministry, JCPL (Jesus Christ Power and Light). The claim in the petition reminds me of the foundational doctrine at the core of what we will be teaching our kids.

God created mankind for his own glory, and his good plan was for us to be in close fellowship with him, resembling him and representing him (the imago dei - the "image of God") as we rule this good planet he created and filled with life (Gn 1-2). But God's perfect holiness requires the same of those made in his image. Because of mankind's rebellion in Gn 3, we had a price on our heads. Like any restoration project has a cost, our reconciliation to God, a return to a righteous standing, also has a cost. And here was our problem: the amount due is way beyond what any of us could ever pay. It would be like getting a bill from KCPL for 20 trillion dollars - the current national debt - as an individual. In reality, it is worse, for the debt of our sin is beyond our calculation.

Who could possibly have the resources to take care of this debt? For an electric bill, only the full authority of KCPL - those who possessed all its identity and resources - could cover this debt. For sin, only God's full identity and resources could cover that debt. That is what Christ offers, since he is fully God, and possesses all resources as our Creator and the Founder of our salvation. And as such, he has canceled our debt at the cross, stamping "paid in full" on the heart of everyone who believes and follows him (Col 2:8-15).

So, before Jesus Christ is our Source for Power and Light, he is our divine bill-payer. And once the bill is paid - wow! If the debt for our sin was mind-blowing, the spiritual "juice" that hits our life circuits when Jesus turns on the lights is even greater (Rm 5:20)! Now that he paid the bill, Christ floods every one of his homes (every believer, cf. 2 Cor 6:16) with his infinite power and light (Acts 1:8, Mt 5:14-16).

I don't know enough to conclude whether this petition is well founded, whether KCPL's rates are too high. But I do understand that many people are bumbling around in the dark, frustrated and bruised. Unless someone comes around with a little light (namely, the Holy Spirit and us Christians), they can't even read their mail (namely, the Scriptures). Even when they do, many will prefer to blow off the bill, and Christ's payment, and just try to make the best of it. In effect, they sign the petition that says the cost of belief - submitting to the authority of Christ - is too high. How sad!

But these accounts are personal, and so are the choices. And we who are Christians are called to carry Christ's power and light to as many individuals as we can. We never know when we may get to watch the lights come on for a new follower of Christ!