Advent Shows Us How to Wait with Expectancy

Sunday, December 3rd, marks week one of Advent, which is all about hope. Hope often looks like expectation, anticipation—while waiting. Waiting is central to hope. It’s easy to see this theme around Christmas time. Children everywhere wait with expectant anticipation for December 25th, for Santa, for presents. Every year, I recall a fond memory of my four-year-old daughter Scout yelling, “Christmas is my favorite Halloween!” Kids love (and hate) waiting, but they do so because they have hope.

Advent’s hope is woven throughout our Christmas hymns. In “O Come O Come Emmanuel,” we sing from the perspective of the Old Covenant Israelites, impersonating their hope for the long-expected king who the prophets said would come—soon. This theme is in the Scriptures’ telling of Jesus’ coming. When the Messiah finally came, Philip went to Nathanael and exclaimed, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote!” (John 1:45).

Perhaps the best example is Symeon, who lived his entire life with the hope that he would see the Messiah. We’re told that he was “waiting for the consolation of Israel,” having been told by the Holy Spirit that he wouldn’t die until the Messiah came. Holding the infant Jesus in his arms, Symeon declared his willingness to die, for finally, “my eyes have seen your salvation” (Luke 2:25-32). Symeon had waited for this moment his entire life, able to endure the “in-between” because he had hope.

Advent is a season where we learn to wait. Perhaps you’re waiting for something today. You’re between jobs, between decisions, between seasons of growth, between relationships—waiting for joy, waiting for success, waiting for salvation. How can we hold on to hope in the in-between?

A Little While

Jesus’ language for that in-between is the phrase “a little while.” In John 16, he tells his disciples that for “a little while, you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me” (John 16:16). He’s perhaps referring to the few days when he goes to the cross, dies, and is buried (scholars disagree on what “little while” Jesus is talking about). In any case, it’ll be a time of grief, sorrow, and painful waiting. That’s the in-between: the difficult, perilous, frustrating seasons of waiting. But afterward, they will see him again. The dead will rise. Hope will be fulfilled as “your sorrow will turn into joy” (v20). Here, Jesus offers hope to his disciples at their darkest hour. How will they get through the trauma of the next few days? Only by holding on to hope.

Fleming Rutledge explains that this pattern of hope in the in-between is what Advent is all about:

“Advent contains within itself the crucial balance of the now and the not-yet that our faith requires… [Between] the yearly frenzy of “holiday” time in which the commercial Christmas music insists that “it’s the most wonderful time of the year” and Starbucks invites everyone to “feel the merry.” The disappointment, brokenness, suffering, and pain that characterize life in this present world is held in dynamic tension with the promise of future glory that is yet to come. In that Advent tension, the church lives its life.“ (Fleming Rutledge, Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ).

The “Advent tension” that Rutledge mentions is what so many of us experience on a daily basis. It’s what our songs are about and the air Israel breathed for centuries. Waiting is an everyday reality on this side of resurrection. In order to hold on to hope, we must remember three things.

The In-Between is Necessary

The “little while” was necessary if Jesus was going to make a way to God. “Until now you have asked nothing in my name,” he explains. “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (v. 24). Before the cross, “until now,” our relationship with God was based on nothing but promises and hope. By going to the cross, Jesus changed the relationship. Now, we approach God “in his name.” Jesus is helping his disciples understand that he had to leave them for a little while because by doing so, he secured our relationship with God.

Sometimes we don’t understand why God tarries or why promises take a long time to fulfill. We ask, “Why?” and wonder if we’re not wasting our time. But we can hold on to hope if we remember that these seasons of waiting are necessary. God is using them for our good. Peter relayed this lesson later in his letter:

“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6-7).

Frodo Baggins didn’t understand why he was tasked with the season of life he found himself in. “I wish it need not have happened in my time,” he tells Gandalf. Gandalf explains to Frodo that none of us understands the times we’ve been given, nor can we control the seasons we’re in. But, knowing these seasons are necessary, one thing we can do: “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” The in-between seasons of life are something God is using. But what is he using it for?

The In-Between is Formative

God uses the in-between seasons to form something beautiful in us. Notice the verb in Jesus’ promise: “You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy” (John 16:20). That turning is the process of spiritual formation. It’s the process of becoming like Christ as we learn to trust in him, believe his promises, and hold on to hope.

Admittedly, this process is a difficult one. Pain seems bad. We might try to ease the pain of migraine with Ibuprofen or endure the heartache of a breakup with a tub of ice cream and a night of Netflix. But have you noticed that not all pain is bad? The pain of grad school—that’s a good kind of pain, the kind that promises a career at the end of it. There’s the pain of practice that promises proficiency. The pain of physical labor brings with it the promise of a remodeled bathroom. Growing pains bring growth. Exercise brings health. Labor brings a child. As we sometimes say, “No pain, no gain.” The Gospel of Jesus extends that promise to the pain of suffering:

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4).

God uses painful trials, James says, to form something in us. This answers the common question, “What purpose could ever come from my sorrow? What blessing could ever come from my pain?” The answer is that God is forming you into someone who is patient, joyful, and full of hope. To be sure, this is a difficult process, one filled with mystery and unanswered questions. But equally sure is this: one day, “your sorrow will turn into joy.”

The In-Between is Worth It

The beautiful promise of the Gospel is that, soon and very soon, he will bring the in-between time to a swift end. We won’t even remember the pain. We will only see what God has done and rejoice. As Jesus explains, “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (John 16:22). One day, the sorrow of the in-between will give way to the permanent joy of eternal life in the kingdom of God.

I remember going on vacation with our family to my father-in-law’s timeshare in Mexico. The kids were so excited. “We’re going to Mexico!” they screamed as we piled in the car, drove down I-5, and eventually arrived … at the airport. My kids were incensed. “Dad this is the airport, not Mexico! You lied to us!” I tried to explain that sometimes, getting to your destination includes a bunch of stops along the way. In order to get to Mexico, we had first to board a plane at the airport. Getting to where you’re going involves some amount of waiting in the in-between.

It’s those little stops, fits, and starts that make a trip feel like it’s taking forever. That’s the “in-between.” God promises to deliver on his promises to us, but sometimes, we have to stop at the airport first. In those times, we’re tempted to say, “God, you lied to us! This is the airport; I want to go to Mexico!” Instead, we need to remember that it’s just a little while.

Sit tight. Hold on.

Listen to God’s voice. Trust him.

We’ll be there soon.

Josephine Butler was considered an activist and a liberal during her lifetime. She grew up in England in the 19th century and campaigned against discriminatory laws against women. She also evangelized prostitutes and worked closely with the Salvation Army. She credited all she accomplished to the power she received daily from her active prayer life with the Lord.

Websites

• “Josephine Butler (1828-1906)” (https://hist259.web.unc.edu/josephinebutler/)
• “Josephine Butler” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephine_Butler)
• “International Abolitionist Federation” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Abolitionist_Federation)
• “Josephine Butler (1828 – 1906)” (https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/butler_josephine.shtml)
• “Josephine Butler: The Victorian feminist who campaigned for the rights of prostitutes” (https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/josephine-butler-the-victorian-feminist-who-campaigned-for-the-rights-of-prostitutes/)

Videos

• “Josephine Butler and the Contagious Diseases Acts | Pioneering Women” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ActdEdujUdk)
• “Who was Josephine Butler?” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vnZyjiTlBQ)

“So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9:28, ESV)

Let’s talk about “Next Christmas”—but not the one 364 days from now. I want to talk to you about the next Advent, the second coming of Christ. Christmas, as we know, is a celebration of the first coming of Jesus. Humanity had waited a very long time for him to come, but come he did, and his life, death, and resurrection changed everything for us. And then he left—he ascended to the Father’s right hand in heaven, promising to come again!

And though I’m being a bit cute when I say “Next Christmas” (I know we don’t think of the second coming of Christ as a new version of Christmastime) on this day after Christmas, I think it would be good for us to consider the next time Jesus will come. Not everyone loves Christmastime. For some, it dredges up terrible memories of childhood abuses or hardships. For others, it reminds them of better times in their past. I don’t mean to bring up those memories, but I want to be a defender of those for whom Christmas is not all joy, cheer, and Christmas spirit. For some, it’s a season intermixed with hurts and sorrows.

But “Next Christmas”—the next coming of Christ—will be a joyful event for all of Jesus’ people. Young and old alike will rejoice at the coming of their King, the final and total end of sin and death, and the full dominance of Christ’s kingdom. If Christmas day is a happy occasion for you, you’ve had a glimpse of every day in Christ’s kingdom. It will be Christmastime all the time—the unfading joy of God’s presence.

“Next Christmas” Will Be Different

The above Bible verse (Hebrews 9:28) tells us that this “Next Christmas,” though there will be similarities, will be much different from Christmas as we know it. In both, Christ came and the kingdom of God advanced, but there will be differences.

A Different Purpose

One difference is the shift in purpose. Our text tells us that when Jesus came on the First Christmas, he came to bear the sins of many, to deal with sin (28). As we know, Jesus came the first time not to institute a warm holiday with beautiful traditions but to vanquish our great foe and obstacle to God. He came to deal with sin.

But when Jesus comes again, he will not come to deal with sin in that way. His second coming will be to save those who are eagerly waiting for him (28).

This terminology might be unsettling to some of you. We talk about trusting Christ, placing our faith in him and his gospel, and “being saved.” We might even ask, “Are you saved? Are they saved? Am I saved?” And the expectation is that those who have believed, those who are born again, are indeed saved. So how is it that Jesus’ second advent will be the moment he brings salvation? Hasn’t he already brought salvation?

The answer is that at his second coming, our salvation will be complete, come to fruition, and be our lived experience. Our salvation, like the kingdom of God, is already here, but not yet our full reality. As Paul said:

“From (heaven) we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 3:20)

Yes, in his first coming, Jesus bore the sins of many, but in his second coming, he will arrive to save his own.

A Different Connection

And the connection he will make with his people will be different at this “Next Christmas.” What I mean is that Christmas is a time to remember the incarnation, that God became one of us, like us. But if Jesus made himself like us in his first coming, in his second coming, he will make us like himself. As John wrote:

“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2)

One of the glories of Christmastime is the truth that God knows our pain. He stepped into this mess and experienced our hurt for us and with us. His first coming didn’t automatically delete humanity’s pain—it still very much exists—but made a way to eventually escape our pain, to find a renewed world and creation. And at his next coming, Christ will put off all the terrible ramifications of sin and death.

“When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?'” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55)

So this “Next Christmas” will be entirely different in many ways from the first.

Eagerly Wait For “Next Christmas”

This Next Christmas is worth eagerly waiting for; we should greatly anticipate the Second Advent of Christ. And our text tells us that Jesus will save those who are eagerly waiting for him (28). This statement is not a condition—Jesus isn’t going to bring salvation to everyone whose personal excitement for him is at a specific level. This statement is a description—the author of Hebrews expects all legitimate Christians to crave his return and the full dominance of his kingdom that will come with him.

Waiting

This eager waiting is a common attribute of New Testament Christianity. Paul said we await our Savior from heaven (Philippians 3:20). He also said we “wait for God’s Son from heaven” (1 Thessalonians 1:10). He spoke about those who have loved Christ’s appearing and are waiting for their blessed hope (2 Timothy 4:8, Titus 2:13). Peter said we are “waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God” (2 Peter 3:12). Romans tells us that we who have the Spirit living in us are groaning with creating for our full adoption as God’s children, the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23). These are a small sampling of New Testament descriptions of our eager desire for Christ’s Next Christmas.

It’s not that we can’t enjoy life today—we can! You don’t have to be disgusted and tired of everything about life right now. It’s that all the things believers like about life today will be better and magnified in Christ’s kingdom. We like the beauty of relationships, creativity, and culture. We like love and joy and peace. We like goodness and kindness and friendship. We like ingenuity and righteous leadership and justice. All these elements will be found in perfection in Christ’s kingdom. So even if you aren’t looking to the sky for Christ’s arrival, if you are born again, you likely crave his coming, even if you don’t express it in so many words.

How To Wait For Next Christmas

But I do want to encourage you to set your hope on the next coming of Christ. We do not know which earthly Christmas will be our last. What if all of us knew we had just celebrated our last traditional Christmas and that Christ was about to return for us? How would you live this next year of your life? What changes would you make?

Those changes are part of eagerly waiting for him. We are to do more than emotionally anticipate this Next Christmas. We are to prepare for it.

I cannot imagine what yesterday would have been like had I not prepared for it. It took planning and work to get a Christmas tree, light up the house, and purchase gifts. If I had woken up yesterday morning without gifts wrapped and under the tree, the day would not have been all that great for me. Instead, because I prepared, I was ready to experience the day to the fullest.

And I hope we can carry this attitude into the second coming of Christ. I hope it isn’t a day that catches us empty-handed, but one where we’re satisfied with the way we spent our lives in preparation for Christ’s kingdom. Perhaps there are rhythms and routines we should change in anticipation of his coming kingdom. Just as we prepared for yesterday, so we should prepare for his return.

So what are some ways to wait well for this Next Christmas? Perhaps we can derive some ways to prepare for his coming by thinking about the ways we often prepare for Christmas:

1. Plan For It

One way we prepare for Christmastime is by planning. Many of us set aside money we will use to purchase gifts and decorations and ugly Christmas sweaters. Many of us create space in our garages for Christmas lights and ornaments for the tree. And many of us get out our calendars to plan various Christmas parties and traditions attached to the season.

We can do the same for Christ’s coming. We can plan lives that align with him and his values. We can strategically use our time and energy and resources for the things of God. Disciple-making takes discipline and planning, strategy and thought.

2. Share Christ

Another way we prepare for Christmastime is by saying “Merry Christmas” to people. Can you imagine saying “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” to someone in June? It’s only because we are nearing Christmas that we begin saying such things.

So we should prepare for Christ’s coming by alerting people to the gospel. Look for strategic relationships whereby you can introduce Christ. Tell people what Jesus has done for and meant to you. See your work as a way to witness to his faithfulness. Be so thoroughly submitted to your King today that someone might wonder about your kingdom.

3. Worship And Prayer

Another way we prepare for Christmastime is by singing and listening to songs that are connected to this important season. If I never heard another rendition of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” I would be a happy man, but I’m going to miss our true Christmas carols all year long. “Silent Night,” “Away in a Manger,” “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”—all these songs refresh us in the glory of Christmas and connect us to Christ’s beauty and majesty.

And we can prepare for this Next Christmas by singing and praying to our Lord. He is worthy, and we will realize his worth for all eternity. Singing to him with our whole mind, soul, and body will be part of our heavenly reality. So when we take time to energetically and passionately praise him today, we are tuning our hearts to his kingdom. Times of worship are important, and we must invest ourselves in this important activity.

4. Christian Community

Another way we prepare for Christmastime is by celebrating Christmas traditions with those we love. Our family takes a night to go to a local neighborhood called Candy Cane Lane together every Christmas season. We are far removed from the days when we were blown away by the decorations there—we’ve seen them all plenty. But it’s a great excuse for us to be with those who are important to us.

And in preparing for this Next Christmas, we should develop Christian community. I didn’t say “community with Christians.” Community with Christians looks very similar to community with anyone—the only difference is that the people present all tick the “Christian” box. But Christian community centers itself upon the gospel, engages in Christian practices like prayer or exhortation, and urges everyone in the community towards growth in Christ. I think too many of us have settled for versions of community where everyone shares the same views, but without any action. True Christian community, however, will change you.

5. With Patience

Another way we prepare for Christmas is with patience. You must wait to give and receive your presents. No one can make December 25th come any quicker. It comes when it comes.

So it is with our preparation for Christ’s return. We must patiently wait for his kingdom. Many of the things we want—peace, justice, righteousness—are coming with Christ. We get snippets of them today, but we must patiently wait for his kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Merry Christmas.

Part 3 of 3

* This article is adapted from a series of papers written for Western Seminary.

To recap the previous articles in this series, while acknowledging that the primary focus of the incarnation is upon the Son of God putting on flesh, being born in Bethlehem, and being given the name foretold by the angel Gabriel as Yeshua, the rescuer of Israel, this three-part Advent series seeks to also acknowledge that this act of Jesus’ incarnation is a harmonious activity with implementations involving all three Persons of the Godhead.

My intention is to present the Advent by focusing on the Holy Spirit’s activity in the nativity story. It is important to recognize that the Holy Spirit is present in the incarnation, ministry, and resurrection of the Son. In each implement of the Father’s plan of redemption, it is the Spirit that empowers and reveals what the Son is accomplishing. It is through the eternal Spirit that Christ offered Himself without blemish to God (Heb. 9:14 CSB). Therefore, it is fitting to see how the Spirit operates also in the complete nativity story. My goal is to do just that by focusing on the Spirit’s activity in terms of prophetic pronouncement, conception, announcement and reception, and finally, illumination.

Prophetic Pronouncement

The Holy Spirit’s involvement in the incarnation was not one of unique character to Himself nor was it an act that went against His characteristics. The Holy Spirit’s first revelatory illumination to us concerning Himself is His participation with Father and Son in the creation of all things. The same Spirit that hovered over the chaotic waters during creation’s coming into existence through the Word of God is the same Spirit that gives life to flesh and anoints the Son of God in the flesh for His particular office as Messiah. As Christopher J.H. Wright explains, “He is the Spirit who anointed the kings, and ultimately anointed Christ the Servant-King. And he is the Spirit through whom the whole creation will finally be renewed in, through and for Christ.”^[1] Therefore this act of prophetic pronouncement of what He will do in the conception of Jesus in Mary’s womb throughout the centuries through the prophets is consistent with His creative and life-sustaining character. Isaiah 61:1 is an example of this consistency. The Spirit of YHWH is upon Isaiah and has anointed him to prophetically declare the Gospel coming. The broken will be healed, the captives will be liberated, and the prisoners will receive their freedom.

This consistency of the Spirit’s character to not only pronounce this but to fulfill it through the Messiah Jesus is a powerful one. Therefore, it is simple consistency that Jesus returns from His temptation in the wilderness full of the power of the Spirit to then preach the prophecy of Isaiah’s words in Isaiah 61, as fulfilled in His Personhood. Jesus taught us that one of the primary characteristics of the Spirit is that He comes to convict the world about sin and righteousness. Sin and righteousness are in a way the example of humanity, sin representative of the first Adam, and righteousness representative of the second Adam: Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit knows perfectly both sides. Christ and His righteousness being the answer to our loss in sin.

The prophets understood this as well. During the time of the prophet Micah, false prophets were proclaiming an ease of sin and a false righteousness. The answer from Micah was the filling of the Spirit to bring cleansing truth: “As for me, however, I am filled with power by the Spirit of the LORD, with justice and courage, to proclaim to Jacob his rebellion and to Israel his sin.” (Mic. 3:8). However, the prophetic word finalizes in the promise of compassion and that one day the iniquities of the nations will be vanquished and all of our sins will be cast into the depths of the sea. Who will do this? The incarnate Son of God.

Conception

The life-giving Spirit is given the privilege of harmoniously and supernaturally conceiving Jesus in the womb of Mary. There are two facets understood in Scripture that occur that are not mutually exclusive but are both expressions of the Trinity. First, the Holy Spirit will come upon you. Second, the Most High will overshadow you. There is mystery in the execution of this act that Scripture simply does not reveal. However, the term “overshadow” has connection to the presence of God over the Tabernacle and the Temple. I. Howard Marshall, in the New Bible Commentary, explains “The description is reminiscent of the glory of God coming to rest upon the Tabernacle (Ex. 40:35). Overshadow is not a euphemism for ‘beget’: the language does not indicate any kind of sexual intercourse between God and Mary.”^[2]Once this occurs, it seems as if the Holy Spirit is directly connected to the narrative of Jesus all the way to Pentecost with the continuation of His ministry.

Matthew records it this way: “What has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” (Matt. 1:20). Frederick Dale Bruner reflects that this work involves two major acts, stating, “The Spirit brings Christ down to earth and makes Him human (as here and in 1 John 4); second, the Spirit lifts Christ up and shows Jesus’ divinity. In other words, the Holy Spirit is a good theologian and gives two main courses: The True Humanity of Jesus Christ the first semester, and the The True Divinity of Jesus Christ the second. It is the work of the Holy Spirit, in either course, to bring Jesus Christ into human lives. ‘Into’ is the key preposition for the work of the Spirit.”^[3]

Announcing and Receiving

The next occurrence of the Holy Spirit in the incarnation story is the presence of the Spirit in announcing the coming birth of the Messiah through the leaping of John the Baptist in his mother’s (Elizabeth’s) womb. According to Luke 1:41, Elizabeth hears the voice of Mary, and immediately the Holy Spirit fills her. Through that filling, Elizabeth receives the word of knowledge through the Spirit that Mary is carrying the Messiah. As evidence of the Spirit’s presence, John the Baptist leaps for joy in his mother’s womb. From here it seems Mary is moved to worship the Lord in prophetic song, a song reminiscent of Hannah’s song in 1 Samuel 2. The song is not quiet or reflective but is again representative of the Spirit’s consistent message of redemption from sin and judgement against the proud, mighty, and the rich. This consistent message of judgment over sin and eventual righteousness imparted upon the forgiven has a dominating quality.

This revelatory announcement from the Spirit continues through Jesus’ birth into His circumcision rite in encountering the elder Simeon. This elder has the marks of a prophet and is described not only as righteous and devout, but specifically: “… and the Holy Spirit was on him.” (Luke 2:16). The Holy Spirit is mentioned three times in the narrative concerning Simeon’s life and activity: The Holy Spirit was upon him, The Holy Spirit gave him a promise concerning his witness of the Messiah, and he was guided by the Spirit into the Temple. Even this case presents a rarity concerning a simple, faithful elder living in Jerusalem, and not a high religious leader of the day. Again, consistent with the Holy Spirit’s message since the fall of man, Simeon’s spirit-filled song announces that this boy’s act of redemption will not only affect Israel, but all of the world, fulfilling the Abrahamic covenant of all nations being blessed: “A light for the revelation to the Gentiles and glory to your people Israel.” (Luke 2:32).

Illumination

Finally, the beauty of Jesus’ incarnation through the Spirit is that we are finally given the privilege of illuminative witness to the Trinity themselves. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians beautifully accounts that this work of adoption for all who believe has always been a harmonious activity of the Trinity together. The Father has chosen us, the Son has purchased us, and the Spirit has sealed us by the gospel of salvation, in which we have believed. Paul writes, “The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.” (Eph. 1:1-14).

Malcolm B. Yarnell explains it in this way, “God the Father is the originating subject of the blessing; the Lord Jesus Christ is the active eternal agent that brings the blessing into history through the incarnation and the cross; and the Holy Spirit is the blessing made continually present to humanity. Where the metaphysical hymn of Ephesians 1 demonstrates the descent of divine grace, Ephesians 2:18 demonstrates the ascent of humanity to God … Incorporated with Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, the new humanity is brought before the Father. ‘For through him [Jesus Christ; v. 13] we both have access in one Spirit to the Father’. Ephesians 1:3–14 evinces both the descent of blessing from God and the ascent in glory to God.”^[4]

Holistically Presenting the Incarnation and Nativity Story

In conclusion, if the three Persons of the Trinity are harmoniously involved in the creation, redemption, and consummation of all things, then we are charged as shepherds and teachers to holistically present the incarnation and the Christmas story as a harmonious Trinitarian act as well. We have access to the blessing of illumination as we invest in a more trinitarian perspective as we preach. Consequently, a broader trinitarian perspective leads us to preach even more. Specifically, when we focus on the activity of the Spirit, and we make obedient action concerning a deeper submission to His present active work in our lives, we find we preach Christ more authentically, because the Spirit proclaims the ultimate work of Jesus as being one that brings glory to the Father. Ultimately, it is the Spirit that bears witness of Jesus as John the Gospel writer attests, and He will take what is Christ’s and declare it to us. We simply need to have our ears open to hear and be illuminated (Jn. 16:14).

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

References

^[1] Christopher J.H. Wright, Knowing God Through the Old Testament (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2014 ), Kindle Edition, 412.
^[2] I. Howard Marshall, “Luke” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, 4th ed., ed. D. A. Carson et al. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1994), 982.
^[3] Frederick Dale Bruner, Matthew: A Commentary Volume 1: The Christbook Matthew 1-12 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 2007), 27.
^[4] Malcolm B. Yarnell, God the Trinity: Biblical Portraits (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2016 ), Kindle Edition.

Part 2 of 3

* This article is adapted from a series of papers written for Western Seminary.

Continuing this three-part celebration of Advent, this article centers around the coming of the Son of God in the flesh—the redemptive plan of God the Father accomplished through the working of the Holy Spirit. Specifically, my intention is to focus on the involvement of the Son, the second Person of the Trinity. As a result, we will better understand the means of our justification as well as the pattern we can follow toward sanctification and formation.

The Incarnation

While debated by some—(The ancient Arians asserted that Jesus wasn’t equal with the Father, and the modern Jehovah’s Witnesses and Muslims make similar claims)—the doctrine of the Trinity, at its core, asserts that Jesus is as much divine as is the Father, with both sharing the sovereign will, power, and authority that belong to God alone. As a result, the doctrine of the Trinity asserts that the one who came forth from Mary in human flesh was, in the language of the Nicene Creed, “very God,” not some lesser divine being, or a would-be God-in-the-making. Unless Jesus is one with the Father, He can’t really be Emmanuel and the doctrine of the Trinity provides the core root that supports and sustains the season we celebrate as Advent. As Douglas Wilson explains it in God Rest Ye Merry: Why Christmas is the Foundation for Everything,

Christ came to “ransom captive Israel” and to “disperse the gloomy clouds of night.” In our insolence, we were “doomed by law to endless woe” and were necessarily and justly consigned to “the dreadful gulf below.” But this darkness we had created was invaded by the heavenly host, “Rank on rank the host of heaven spreads its vanguard on the way,” and the night above the shepherds lit up as though a lightening bolt had refused to go out, had refused to stop shining. The road was weary, but now we may urge others to “rest beside the weary road, and hear the angels sing.” We needed this salvation just as He gave it. “O Savior, King of glory, who doest our weakness know.” The God who knows our frame timed it perfectly.^[1]

Immanuel, God with Us

While the incarnation is an event that encompasses the entirety of the Trinitarian community, it is most profoundly an event that concerns the second Person of the Trinity: God the Son. The Father and the Spirit are active in the sending of the Son, but the Son alone is changed, humbled or “incarnated.” The English word incarnation comes from the Latin caro: “flesh,” so the Christmas event is the “en-flesh-ment” of God. This is the teaching of the New Testament at several key points. For example, Matthew 1:23 states, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us)” (ESV). Here we see the redemptive plan, which was prophesied in the days of the prophets, has come to pass. The virgin is bringing forth a male child, and this child shall be called God with us!

There are many stories of unlikely and miraculous births throughout the lives of the patriarchs and Old Testament saints, but each of those surprising and miraculous pregnancies resulted in an ordinary child being born. This was often a child who ended a lifetime of barrenness for the mother, and who would often go on to be a notable character in the following chapters—but an ordinary, human child nevertheless, with strengths and weaknesses, flaws and virtues, just like every other boy or girl on the playground. But there is something different and notable about THIS miraculous birth. This child shall be called Immanuel, which means God with us. The introduction of Jesus in the opening chapter of the New Testament makes it clear that He is God, enfleshed. John 1:14 states, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

The Word, Logos

The beginning of John’s gospel reaches back to the beginning and speaks of the Word (Logos), who is with God, and yet is God Himself as well. Jack Kilcrease writes, “John begins his Gospel by stating that Jesus is God’s eternal Word, who created the universe (John 1:1–2). The Word is the self-expression of God, His active force in the world.”^[2] In the beginning He spoke and the world existed. As Psalm 33:6 reveals, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.” And Psalm 107:20 reveals, “He sent out His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.”

For us today, words are an essential part of our communication. (Not all communication is verbal, but a lot of it is!) Autism parents often use the phrase “use your words” in an attempt to help silent neuroatypical children express to the outside world what is going on in their secret interior mind. Likewise, God’s Words are expressions to others revealing what His interior life is like. In time, the Word became incarnate and dwelt among humanity allowing them to behold the glory of God. My seminary professor Gerry Breshears explains it like this: “The Logos is one of the strongest arguments for the deity of Jesus as the personal, eternally existing creator of the universe, distinct from yet equal with God the Father, who became incarnate (or came in the flesh) to demonstrate His glory in grace and truth to reveal life and light to men.” ^[3]

Fully God, Fully Man

For the second Person of the Trinity, the events of Christmas were deeply experiential, with real and profound implications on His life, from that point onward. He left the comforts and adoration of heaven to become a human with all the accompanying frailties and limitations. He was born into a country, culture, and people. He was born into a family and subculture, thus destined to wear the same clothes that everyone else wore and participate in the same traditions. He ate and slept. In short, He became one of us. Not God masquerading as a person, but Jesus dwelling bodily. As Breshears puts it, “Therefore, by incarnation we mean that the eternal second person of the Trinity entered into history as the Man Jesus Christ.”^[4]

How could God become a man? The Heidelberg Catechism summarises the incarnation in these words: “The eternal Son of God, who is and remains true and eternal God, took upon himself true human nature from the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary, through the working of the Holy Spirit” which is based on the truths of the Chalcedonian Creed. The Chalcedonian Creed states that Jesus Christ is “truly God and truly man, of a rational soul and body; coessential with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin.” In sum, the creed declares that Jesus Christ in one person with two natures (human and divine) who is both fully God and fully man.

The change implicit in the incarnation (as mentioned above) was not a change of subtraction, but of addition. Augustine puts it succinctly when he writes that the second Person of the Trinity “was made what He was not, without losing what He was. The man therefore was added to the God, that He might be man who was God, but not that He should now henceforth be man and not be God.”^[5] How should this effect us today? Chiefly and foremostly, the coming of Jesus is to deliver sinners from judgement and to establish His kingdom on earth. The hymn “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus” poetically summarizes it in this way:

Born Thy people to deliver,
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now Thy gracious kingdom bring.

Unparalleled Humility, Then and Now

In addition to the rescuing of sinners and the establishment of His kingdom, His birth, way of life, and even the manner of His death are exemplary for Christians. Jesus exemplified unparalleled humility in lowering and emptying Himself of the comforts, power and glory of the independent exercise of His divine attributes in exchange for a life of humility. Philippians 2:5-11 describes the cascading levels of lowering and humility that Christ underwent in order to accomplish His mission: coming as a human, and not only that, but as a serving human. Then He comes to die, and not only that, but even death on the cross! Paul uses this example to call Philippian Christians to a humble lifestyle and to develop habits of preferring others above self. As Breshears states, “In his incarnation, the Creator entered into his creation to reveal God to us, identify with us, and live and die for us as our humble servant.”^[6] The humble incarnation of God the Son has provided the means by which we are justified and sets a pattern for our sanctification and formation as well. In humility we were saved, and in humility we should follow in His footsteps.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

References

^[1] Douglas Wilson, God Rest Ye Merry: Why Christmas is the Foundation for Everything (Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2012), 15-16.
^[2] Jack Kilcrease, “Jesus’ Incarnation,” in Lexham Survey of Theology, ed. Mark Ward et al. (Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2018).
^[3] Gerry Breshears and Mark Driscoll, Doctrine: What Every Christian Should Believe (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2010), 214.
^[4] Breshears and Driscoll, Doctrine, 20.
^[5] Augustine, “Tractates on the Gospel of John, Tractate 21” https:/www.newadvent.org/fathers/1701021.htm.
^[6] Gerry Breshears and Mark Driscoll, Doctrine: What Every Christian Should Believe (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2010), 231.

Part 1 of 3

* This article is adapted from a series of papers written for Western Seminary.

The celebration of Advent centers around the coming of the Son of God in the flesh in the redemptive plan of God the Father through the powerful working of the Holy Spirit. As such, this three-part advent series is intended to celebrate this glorious work of the triune God by examining the involvement of the three Persons of the Trinity. In this artice, my goal is to focus on the Father of the eternal Son, who finds his very identity, his fatherhood, in loving the Son and in giving out his life and being in love to the Son—and through him to the world.

Celebrating this glorious work of the triune God, and reflecting the sermon series we are currently preaching, my colleagues Mike Neglia, Conor Berry, and I wish to present a series of articles with an intentional focus upon the nativity through the lens of scripture, looking at the Father of the eternal Son, who finds his very identity, his fatherhood, in loving and giving out his life and being in love to the Son—and through him to the world. We will also observe the coming of Jesus, the second person of the trinity, God with us, proclaimed by the Angels and Prophets, who alone is worthy to be the propitiation for the sins of mankind and through whom we see the Father. And finally, we will present the work of the Holy Spirit and his role in both the conception of the Christ child and in the multi-generational working through the Old Testament prophets and the Gospel Narratives.

Additionally, we will present how the Holy Spirit works with and through Jesus to declare that a distinctly personal relationship with the triune person of God is not only possible, but promises an intimacy of relationship which informs our conduct. Rather than being a distant force, the Spirit, the third person of the trinity, through faith in the person and work of Jesus, can live IN us, revealing Christ and the Father to us—and more than that, the Spirit then empowers us to live united with the godhead in eternal fellowship with Father, Son and Spirit. Thus, we can abide with and in the God who is himself with and in us.

The Overflow of the Father’s Love

Understanding who God is on a trinitarian level shapes how we relate to him and respond to his gospel in every imaginable way. God has revealed himself to be, firstly, a Father. Such relationship reveals many things about the very nature of God, showing him to be familial, relational, life-giving, and loving. Therefore, it is unsurprising that this love then radiates outward to creation which is altogether characteristic of an outward-focused God who both created and conforms the elect into the likeness of Christ. Far beyond mere behavior, the trinitarian God of love is calling mankind into union with himself to be partakers of his goodness as beloved children. This divine love abides within the triune Godhead as the Father loves the Son in the Spirit.

As Michael Reeves observes, however, while God the Father could not be love were there no one to love, nor could he be Father were there no Son, his creation is not driven from some divine need to create in order to BE who he is. Rather, from eternity, God is the eternal Father of the eternal Son and finds his very identity in loving and giving-out his life and being to the Son. This distinguishes God not as first and foremost Creator and Ruler, but rather as first and foremost Father, which precedes creation. Mankind therefore, created in God’s image and conformed into the likeness of his Son, is the continuation of the outgoing movement of the God who is love. Reeves concludes, “The God who loves to have an outgoing image of himself in his Son loves to have many images of his love (who are themselves outgoing).”^[1]

The Outward-Focused, Outgoing Movement of the Father’s Love

This others-centered love stands in strong opposition to the self-focused love of Satan who, in contrast to the God who gives his life to set mankind free, instead seeks to take life and enslave mankind (cf. John 10:10). Therefore, the triune, superabundant, generous, radiant, and self-giving God determined that the Son would come to earth in the likeness of man to “ransom captive Israel” and to “disperse the gloomy clouds of night.” Douglas Wilson has observed “the irony of power” in the overflow of God’s love in the advent of Christ, commenting that “God overcame the world and its evil forces by setting aside His omnipotence, and becoming a helpless baby. The Incarnate One now had pitiful limbs, had tiny arms and legs, but even they were bound up tight in the swaddling clothes. … God was taking on what Martin Luther once called ‘lefthanded-power,’ the authority that arises from willed helplessness.”^[2] The Apostle Paul spoke of “… the great mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit … [and] received up into glory” (1 Tim. 3:16b).

This work of the triune God is the foundation of the salvation of mankind.

Wilson asks, “How could the eternal Word of the eternal Father take on limits? How can infinitude and finitude marry? The doctrine of the Incarnation proclaims frankly and without embarrassment the most stupendous miracle that can be imagined. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the Incarnate Deity … our Savior, Jesus of Nazareth, was and is one person, but a person with two natures—divine and human.”^[3] As human, Jesus knows our every weakness (cf. Heb. 4:15); as divine, Jesus is the sinless sacrifice uniquely qualified to atone for the sins of man (cf. 1 Pet. 3:18; 1 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 10:14) and to receive both glory and honor. However, the glory that the Son received is not limited to heaven. It is freely given by the outward-focused, outgoing movement of the Father’s love. In the same way that the Father chose to include and to share with the elect in his love for the Son, the Son also chose to include man in his love for the Father. Indeed, we have been created that we may know the love of the Father, manifested in the power of the Holy Spirit, through the Son and thereby know the love of God in all its fullness.

The Divine, Self-Sacrificial Aspect of the Father’s Love

The very nature of this triune God is manifested in the divine love we experience and celebrate in the advent season as, regardless of denominational affiliation, many are inspired to acts of charity and service of others in reflection of our charitable God who condescended to embody human flesh and to dwell with his creation (cf. Isa. 7:14), and to give his life in loving sacrificial service of others (cf. Mark 10:45). R. Alan Cole, in the New Bible Commentary, notes the backdrop of the occasion which prompted Jesus to declare this service-hearted mission to the world in Mark 10:45: “If it had not been recorded we could have hardly believed that [after hearing of Jesus’ impending sacrifice and service that] James and John could have come with their ambitious and selfish request. … Jesus patiently explained to them once more the totally different pattern of God’s kingdom, where true greatness is humble service.”^[4]

Such divine, self-sacrificing love which we experience and celebrate during the Advent season is nothing short of this—God is with us in the Son, and the doctrine of the Trinity factors largely in this truth, telling us that it is God himself who is with us. The familiar Christmas carol “O Come, All Ye Faithful” reminds us of this trinitarian truth: “God of God, light of light / Lo, he abhors not the Virgin’s womb / Very God, begotten, not created / O come let us adore him—Christ the Lord.” This stanza agrees with the Nicene Creed from AD 325: “We believe … in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father … Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.” As Millard J. Erickson proclaims, “That God was able to work the seemingly impossible in the matter of the virgin birth symbolizes his ability to accomplish the seemingly impossible task of granting a new birth to sinners. Jesus himself said, in regard to salvation, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible’ (Matt. 19:26).”^[5]

Indeed, the Father is the administrator of salvation, and he oversees the process from beginning to end (cf. Eph. 1:3-6). The Father chose us before the foundation of the world and predetermined our adoption as his children through Jesus Christ. God’s covenant promise to Israel (and through Israel to all the nations)—reiterated through the Prophet Isaiah (cf. Isa. 41:10)—emphasizes both his abiding presence with his creation and his everlasting promise to strengthen, help, and uphold his chosen. Indeed, before creation, the Bible reveals a Father who loved his Son before the foundation of the world (cf. John 17:24). This relationship, Reeves observes, informs every other relationship: “… the shape of the Father-Son relationship (the headship) begins a gracious cascade, like a waterfall of love: as the Father is the lover and the head of the Son, so the Son goes out to be the lover and the head of the church. … And therein lies the very goodness of the gospel.”^[6]

The Father’s Love Informs Every Other Relationship

One can only agree with Reeves that such understanding of God the Father revolutionizes mankind’s perception of him and opens the door for a genuinely intimate relationship anchored in love, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Reeves states, “… for eternity, the Father so loves the Son that he excites the Son’s eternal love in response; [and] Christ so loves the church that he excites our love in response; [and] the husband so loves his wife that he excites her to love him back. Such is the spreading goodness that rolls out of the very being of this God.”^[7]

The Advent season, therefore, is about the gift of God to mankind in the Father’s sending of his Son into the world. This is Emmanuel, God with us (cf. Matt. 1:23). However, it should be noted that God certainly had not been entirely absent prior to this point in human history. Indeed, he had spoken through the prophets and had also manifested his presence both in the wilderness tabernacle as well as the temple in Jerusalem. Even so, the Gospels reveal something uniquely new regarding the presence of God in the infant child of Mary in Bethlehem. This is now God’s presence in human form: God “with us” who steps into world history in human likeness, not only showing his solidarity with us, but coming to die for us in order to rescue and redeem fallen man.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

References

^[1] Michael Reeves, Delighting In The Trinity, An Introduction to the Christian Faith (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2012), 43.
^[2] Douglas Wilson, God Rest Ye Merry: Why Christmas is the Foundation for Everything (Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2012), 19.
^[3] Douglas Wilson, God Rest Ye Merry, 22.
^[4] R. Alan Cole, “Mark” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, 4th ed., ed. D.A. Carson et al. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1994), 966-967.
^[5] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing, 2013), 691.
^[6] Michael Reeves, Delighting In The Trinity, An Introduction to the Christian Faith (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2012), 28.
^[7] Michael Reeves, Delighting In The Trinity, 29.

“Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth, peace to men on whom God’s favor rests.” (Luke 2:14).

There is still quite a bit of mystery in this well-known Christmas passage. Studying it brought me back to a funny incident when one of my children asked me a long time ago: “Daddy is it true? Is it true, like it says in the song, ‘God is bigger than Frankenstein?’” I remember being stunned by the question. Of course, God is bigger and greater. But what song? As it turned out, the song was “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” and the line in question was “God and sinners reconciled.”

Decades later, I still laugh when I think about that because it’s so human and such a mirror to my own misconceptions. Sometimes we hear or read Scripture as we listen to a song. The melody fills our minds, and our first impressions are the joy of what strikes the imagination. Then we think through what we’ve heard. But if we haven’t gone deep enough, if we haven’t seized the meaning, we might be wondering about imaginary menaces, when God would rather speak to us about His salvation. This is where I’d like to take things back and concentrate on this one verse.

Glory to God

Glory to God in the highest is the perfect place to start about Christ coming to earth. The angels are operating in a top-down pattern as they proclaim the greatness of God and His plan for salvation. Glory to God in the highest place, not necessarily referring to geography though using a spacial term. God is enthroned in a place that can’t be accessed by any mortal. No one has seen His face and lived, as YHWH told Moses. He is above all and yet perfectly close. God is Spirit and holds all things together. All glory, honor, and praise rightfully belong to Him for all eternity for who He is. Before He does anything, He is perfection. His greatness, thoughts, love, goodness, and power are truly beyond comprehension; thus, He in Himself is perfectly worthy that all should fall down and worship Him.

But this song speaks of impenetrable wonders still, glory to God the Son who though knowing true divinity, took upon Himself humanity and allowed Himself the humility of being born. He, through whom all things were created, had to be cleaned of blood and the placenta just like any other baby, and have the umbilical cord cut that once was necessary for His survival in utero. Glory to God, for as the Nicene Creed states, Christ, “Who, for us men and for our salvation, Came down from heaven, And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, And was made man…”

Grace from God

The worship song continues with a blessing from the incarnation: Peace on earth to those on whom His favor rests. The coming of Messiah was seen, and still is among some branches of Judaism, as the coming of a period of world peace. Isaiah offers some of the most remarkable verses about this: Isaiah 2:1-4; 9:6; 26:3; 40:1-5, etc. By the mere fact of His presence, as implied by the angels who sing at the Saviour’s birth, a moment when He is physically incapable of uttering an intelligible word or acting in righteousness, peace has come. But how? At the time, wars, oppression, violence, and all types of injustice were being committed—probably even in the city of Bethlehem—that very night.

Where was the peace? The song tells us. The peace flows from Heaven to those on whom God’s favor rests. For a long time, scholars have debated about the word “favor” and how to translate it. The oldest texts supported by the Vulgate have it in the genitive case which gives the sense God’s favor rests on those in whom the goodwill is found. Meaning, they are good people. We aren’t surprised to find the Reformers, notably Calvin, disputing this interpretation by claiming favor should rather be in the nominative case. This emphasizes a good God that graces non-deserving people. This is the reading most accepted today based on findings in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Greek New Testament scholar and translator, Bruce M. Metzger explained why he supports this view:

“The meaning seems to be not that divine peace can be bestowed only where human goodwill is already present, but at the birth of the Saviour God’s peace rests on those whom he has chosen in accord his good pleasure.”^[1]

This means that the angel’s song speaks of God’s grace. It’s those He chose out of this world that are to know His peace. Yes, they responded to His call, but their peace flows from His throne. Their peace was at that very moment breathing oxygen in through his lungs for the first time. He would wait some thirty human years before He would accomplish all justice and become the peace of atonement through His death on the cross. Christ is our peace, taking away all enmity with God the Father, and allowing us to be adopted as sons and daughters—those on whom His favor rests.

Human Power Struggles vs. Our Reason for Living

With this in mind, when we read our social media feed, or hear of the various debates on podcasts or news sources, why is there a lack of peace upon those on whom God’s favor rests? That is an ominous question that must be addressed in all humility. We aren’t just speaking about our Lord, but His Bride. So, what I write is not a critique, but rather admitting fault.

I believe the beginning of the answer lies in the angel’s song. With close reading, we can see that the subjects are glory and peace, rather than God and Man. I believe therein lies the first response. I can say that often in disputes (lack of peace) there is a struggle for power (glory). Do those in whom rests God’s favor, lack peace for the pursuit of power, honor, or reputation (all possible translations for our word “glory”)? I can say that’s been the case in my life. I can’t say that all conflict comes from a displaced sense of glory or struggle for power, but I’ve always been amazed by how James 3 puts it, “But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.” (Jas 3:14-15).
Maybe this is why good people slander each other, or as my friend Aaron Salvato said in the Workshop on Social Media,^[2] “everyone is out to defend their ‘digital honor.’” I find that somewhere along the way we can even become convinced we were doing the Lord’s work in denouncing sin or evil. We can have this feeling of righteous certainty even though what we said might have been truly out of context, not matching the complexity of the given situation. Maybe in the end, as Salvato observes, we are just protecting our self-interest or confusing our message with what is truly being said. “Yes, of course, God is bigger than Frankenstein,” we might say, but do we say it in a way that respects the person asking the question? In the end, have we responded to the depth of their question?

Emulating the Humble Shepherds

What the angels teach us is essential and brings us back to the place of the humble shepherds who were first amazed by the chorus. Glory to God in the highest. It resounds the heavenly disinterest in human power struggles and brings us back to our reason for living. Christ the Saviour was born; through Him, we can know peace with God. Peace then on earth, awaiting the Prince of Peace’s return in glory.

References

^[1] Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament; a Companion Volume to the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament (2nd Ed.). Hendrickson Pub, 2006.

^[2] Aaron Salvato, The Way of the Peacemaker, https://vimeo.com/569172158/20490f81b8
^[

What better time to reflect than on Thanksgiving God’s remarkable faithfulness. It is a reminder to all of us of how the Lord has been there for us from the beginning of Calvary Chapel in 1961. For those of us who were there in the very beginning, and there are only a few of us left, we need to share with the following generations of what GOD has done.

I wonder if the generations that have followed us realize what a rich heritage they have. Psalm 145:4 says, “One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts.”

Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa began with a couple of mere 20-year-olds joining hands with about 10 seniors in a little trailer court recreation room on Newport Blvd. in Costa Mesa, CA. Little did we know that God had an amazing plan. We soon grew out of that small place and rented the Girls Club building in Costa Mesa. We thought “this is getting serious” as people wanted to donate money to pay the rent and buy hymnals. It was necessary that we incorporate as a non-profit organization…but it came to our attention that we didn’t have a name. Lois Nelson, the wife of the then leader Floyd Nelson, called my husband Hal and asked, “What would you think if we named our little church Calvary Chapel?” Hal immediately thought, “This sounds like a great name since we were a small group of about 25 and could never think of ourselves as being anything more.” So, Calvary Chapel it became!

As we invited family and friends to join us, we grew and had to find another place to meet. A gentleman in the group heard that a little church on Church Street in Costa Mesa was for sale… for over $24,000. That was an impossibility; we could barely pay our rent and small expenses. By this time, though, we did have a small savings account. The board was presented with the idea that with a $10,000 down payment we could purchase the little church. Miraculously, an elderly woman in our congregation said she would make up the difference between our savings and the necessary down payment. Within a few months, we were sitting in our own little church that seated a whopping 100 people; we filled barely half of it, but we were up and running with a Sunday school room, nursery and pastor’s office. But we needed a pastor for this little congregation.

The services were led with the help of professors from Southern Bible College and others for several years. Another miracle was about to take place when Pastor Chuck Smith agreed to speak on a Sunday morning. We then asked him to speak again; we loved the teaching we heard. We brazenly asked if he would consider being our pastor. It took a lot of nerve because we couldn’t begin to pay him as much as he was then receiving. Yet, we witnessed another miracle when Chuck said he was feeling led to come back to the area. The board then asked the congregation to vote, and they unanimously voted Chuck Smith to be our pastor.

Once again, through an act of God, our congregation grew until we outgrew our precious little chapel. Toward the end of 1965, a few hippie types attended our services, and another miracle was about to happen. They accepted Jesus into their lives and left their drugs and old lifestyle behind them and began telling others about Jesus. They came by the hundreds and then by the thousands…

This posed a difficulty. We had to sell the little chapel and rent a larger church, yet the miracles kept happening. Pastor Chuck made a low-ball offer on a school in Santa Ana; surprisingly, it was the only offer. The old school had to be torn down, and our new church on Sunflower and Greenville was built….and that was even too small. Cars filled the parking lot and parked up and down the streets. Costa Mesa police officers offered their off-duty time to help with the hundreds who came early to get in line, in order to find a place to sit or stand when Pastor Chuck began teaching. I saw a picture of Chuck with a pensive look on his face observing the congregation of people, young and old, crammed into the church, maybe what he was sensing and asking himself is, “What just happened?” He was simply teaching God’s Word, and we were all absorbing it like sponges.

Miracles were still on the horizon. We erected a huge circus type tent on the 20 acres that God miraculously made available to us, to accommodate the thousands of young and old alike. In retrospect, it was a roller coaster ride we could not have imagined, and it got the attention of the media. Out of those early years, young men rose up to pastor Calvary Chapels, and to this day, there are Calvary Chapels around the world.

Just as the church was built on the Apostles and the Prophets with the cornerstone Christ Jesus Himself (Ephesians 2:22,21), we at Calvary Chapel modeled that same foundation by the simple teaching of God’s Word. We have inherited a great legacy. From my memories of those early years, how can I not be so thankful this Thanksgiving? And how can I not share it with those generations that are following behind, with the encouragement that God is still doing the miraculous? We shouldn’t expect anything less. To God be the glory; great things He has done this Thanksgiving and beyond.

^{Originally published in 2020}

On our wedding day, as my wife was walking down the aisle, she looked at me intently, and the big question in her mind was, “Is he going to do it?” Her friend’s husband had done it at their wedding, and she wondered if I would too. But much to her dismay, I did not cry when she walked down the aisle. She asked me later on why I had not cried. “Why would I?”, I asked. “That was a moment to celebrate, not to cry!”

And yet, the Gospel of Luke tells us, that on Palm Sunday, when everyone else was celebrating and rejoicing, Jesus was crying. Why? The answer draws us into the heart of the gospel.

God’s Promise of a True King

Israel had many kings throughout their history, but, as we see in the books of 1-2 Kings, each one was a disappointment. Some were better than others, but none of them fulfilled their potential, and all left the people hoping for more.

God had promised that one day, He would send them a true king, who would rule in righteousness. He would be a liberator, who would set the people free from all oppression and establish a kingdom of peace and justice, which would have no end. And yet, no governing administration ever produced what they hoped it would.

Jesus, the True King & Promised Messiah

Rumors had been swirling for years that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the true king, but Jesus had refused to allow people to revere him as such, until Palm Sunday. On Palm Sunday, with the city of Jerusalem full of people who had come to celebrate Passover, Jesus affirmed publicly that he was indeed the Messiah, and he rode into the city on a donkey, fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9.

The people waved palm branches (John 12:13), laying them on the ground, along with their cloaks, before Jesus to create a “red carpet” for the rightful king. The significance of this act is found in 2 Kings 9:13, when Jehu became king of Israel, overthrowing the wicked dynasty of the Ahab and Jezebel. At that time, the people laid their cloaks on the ground before him. Additionally, some 200 years before Jesus was born, in the Maccabean Revolt, Israel had successfully cast off their Syrian overlords and gained their independence — at which time, the people celebrated with a parade, in which they waved palm branches. The palm branch, stamped on Jewish coins, was a symbol of deliverance from oppression.

Jesus Goes to the Temple, Failing to Meet Their Expectations

And yet, upon entering Jerusalem, instead of going to the Antonia Fortress to put the Romans on notice, Jesus went to the Temple, where he drove out the money changers and healed the sick (Matthew 21:12-14). Clearly, many of the people were disappointed that Jesus did not give them a political solution that day. Perhaps some of the same people who shouted, “Hosanna,” on Palm Sunday were even amongst the crowd shouting, “Crucify Him,” on Good Friday, having been disillusioned that Jesus hadn’t done what they expected him to do.

Perhaps they should have read Zechariah’s prophecy again. “Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he” (Zechariah 9:9). Jesus, the true king, came to meet our greatest need. The unrighteous, the Bible says, will not enter the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). Jesus, the only truly righteous person who has ever lived, came to meet our greatest need: so that through his life, death, and resurrection, we might be justified by his grace, and thereby be saved from judgment!

God’s Plan: Better Than What They Hoped For

The people in Jerusalem had an expectation of what Jesus was going to do for them, but when Jesus didn’t do what they expected He would, some of them turned away — and yet, what Jesus was doing for them was better than what they had hoped for, and was what they truly needed!

May that be a lesson for us this Palm Sunday, so that we would walk with God by faith, trusting in His character, His love, and His plans. Rather than a genie in a bottle, who always gives us what we want, we have a Father in Heaven, who loves us and gives us what we need — and that is infinitely better!

Jesus Wept With Us So That One Day We Might Rejoice With Him Forever

In Luke 19:41, we read that as Jesus was riding into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, as the crowds were cheering, Jesus was crying.

Shouldn’t He have been reveling in receiving the recognition that He rightly deserved? The reason Jesus cried is because, as He looked over Jerusalem, He knew that the current enthusiasm would not last, and He would soon be crucified as a criminal by the people He had come to save.

Yet, with tears streaming down His face, Jesus continued into Jerusalem. Why? Because, Hebrews 12:2 tells us of the joy that was set before him.

Jesus wept with us for a moment, so that one day, we might rejoice with Him forever.

In the Book of Revelation, we are given this preview of Heaven: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with “palm branches” in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9-10).

Palm Branches – The Symbol of Deliverance, Again

In Heaven, we see palm branches, the symbol of deliverance from oppression, because Jesus, the true king, has liberated us from that which is at the root of all oppression! Whereas on Palm Sunday, people shouted “Hosanna!” (“Save Now”), the great multitude in Heaven declares that Jesus has saved them.

Palm Sunday points us to the heart of the gospel: The true King came to meet our greatest need, and He wept with us so that one day we might rejoice with Him forever.

Fiction

We love fiction, don’t we? We love to see how in the middle of the fight between good and evil, when evil seems to prevail, a savior comes who defeats the enemy, rescues people, and makes life prosperous again.

Lately, there has been an increase in fiction movies and TV series, with plot lines which foretell the coming of a Savior who can deliver people from their oppressors. Usually the story goes like this: the characters are suffering, they’re fighting an enemy too strong for them, but they’re awaiting someone who can save them and defeat the enemy.

Saviors

That someone is usually pictured as the savior, whose birth is foretold and whose power is greater than anyone else’s, even the enemy’s, no matter how powerful the latter might be. Word of his existence, of his come into being, brings hope to a people who’s lost all hope, subjugated and despairing of life, with no way out. Hope that someone can help them, save their land and bring restoration and joy again.

The story then goes on showing a process through which the savior goes, of acceptance – of his purpose and power – and of action – fighting the evil forces and crushing the enemy, delivering the people and bringing joy to the land.

Why do we love the picture of a Savior? What makes it so attractive? I believe the answer is this: our own longing for a savior. Our heart’s cry is to be loved in spite of our flaws, to be accepted in spite of our imperfections, to be forgiven in spite of our mistakes. And most of all, to be forgiven our sins. We long for a savior.

Reality

We love this picture because spiritually we are in a helpless and hopeless condition. But a Savior has come in our dark world to be that! Jesus is the great Light that pierces our darkness! Look at this prophecy of old:

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone (Isaiah 9:2).

We are those who walk in darkness, who dwell in a land of deep darkness, but on whom the Light has shone!

The Son of God, incarnated, holy and pure, came into a world of hatred and sin, which was once perfect but now is tainted by sin. The Light has shone on us! And the good news is that Jesus wasn’t just a man who was born, who suffered and died, but He suffered, died and rose again, who now has immeasurable power to rescue us and all those who walked before or will walk ahead of us. He is our Savior! He is the One whose birth was prophesied long ago:

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).

I pray this Christmas you’ll rejoice in the reality of the great wonder brought by the coming of the baby in the manger, who pierced our darkness and now lives victoriously! He can bring light into every corner of our being.

—

Oh come Emmanuel,
Come and fill
the void I feel,
the void that is too real
and always cries: “I’m here, I’m here!”
Oh come Lord Jesus,
For too long I sought
a place
to find that kind of love
that overflows
even in my darkest nights,
but could not attain its heights.
Oh come and take
my sinful thoughts
and what I cannot overcome,
the inner evil that comes out
because I’m a mortal one.
Oh come Emmanuel,
into my little world
and be the Savior
who can redeem and fill
what’s been lost for real.
Come and be my Light, my all,
Oh Savior of the world!

It’s at this time of year that we celebrate the Incarnation of Jesus, or to put it another way: the coming of God to earth as a human. The Nativity scenes that lie in churches across the world, and find themselves on the front cover of many Christmas cards, rightly depict Jesus as the helpless baby in a manager. Paul, however, paints Jesus in a completely different light and challenges us to remove all small thoughts about Jesus.

This is what the Apostle Paul wrote about Jesus in Colossians 1:15 – “He is the image of the invisible God”. Or, in the words of the carol: “veiled in flesh the Godhead see.”

The Most Real Thing

“Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see”. So said the train conductor in one of the most famous Christmas animations of all time: “The Polar Express.”¹

If we ever read only the Nativity story, it’s easy to imagine Jesus as more human than God. And yet, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that the same human Jesus who is in the manger is also “the image of the invisible God”. Although “veiled in flesh”, Jesus really is “the most real thing in the world”. Jesus said “whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). The writer of Hebrews wrote that Jesus is “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3).

No small thoughts allowed: The most real thing in the universe, the invisible God, put on flesh for all to see. That is who Jesus is.

Higher than High and Lord over All

Paul writes: He is “the firstborn of all creation” (Colossians 1:15).

Firstborn means “priority” and “sovereignty”. So Paul says that Jesus is first in order. In the Old Testament the idea was used for the eldest son in a family, the one who carried the family name. There was no one like them who was able to carry out the wishes of their father. This is why the psalmist wrote: “And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth” (Psalm 89:27). We shouldn’t understand “firstborn” to mean that He is the first one created; It simply means that He is not outranked by anyone.

The second thing the word “firstborn” means is the idea of sovereignty. Paul says that He is sovereign over creation. He is not part of creation but sits outside of it and rules over it. J.I. Packer wrote: “The really staggering Christian claim is that Jesus of Nazareth was God made man [that the second person of the Godhead became the “second man”] … determining human destiny … and that He took humanity without loss of deity.”²

No small thoughts allowed: He is the One who is the highest of high and Lord over all. That is who Jesus is.

Never Out of Reach

Paul then writes: “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17).

Are you starting to get a picture of who Jesus is? May I tell you something that will blow your mind? Paul is saying that Baby Jesus was not only the instrument by which creation was made but that everything that was made, was made from within Himself. For example, we take pigments of colour and blend them and organise them and call it a painting. We haven’t created anything. We take audio frequencies and organise them into patterns and call it music but we haven’t created anything. Even the most glorious Beethoven symphonies are just organised audio frequencies.

But all that exists, everything visible and invisible, Jesus made out of nothing.

Let me tell you why this is important: Paul wrote to the church in Rome and reminded them that since Jesus is the firstborn of all creation and the sovereign creator of all things that “neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). Why? Because Jesus is sovereign over all those things. These things are all within the reach of Jesus … and so are you.

No small thoughts allowed: The moments and situations that seem out of control have Jesus sitting sovereignly over them. He is not out of reach and none of the things that seem to us out of control are ever out of His reach, or out of His control. Everything is held together by Him. That is who Jesus is.

To Reconcile Us To Him

Paul writes: “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (Colossians 1:19-22).

Frank Cross (Bill Murray), in the hit film, Scrooged, said this: “It’s Christmas Eve. It’s the one night of the year when we all act a little nicer, we smile a little easier, we cheer a little more. For a couple of hours out of the whole year we are the people that we always hoped we would be.”be.”³

Maybe C.S. Lewis sits better with you. In his book, Miracles, Lewis puts it like this: “In the Christian story God descends to re-ascend. He comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity … But He goes down to come up again and bring the ruined world up with Him…”⁴

All that God desires in saving people from their sins and the brokenness of this life was made possible through Jesus. The little baby that was born in a manger 2000 years ago was God Himself coming to break the power of Satan and forgive people of their sins.

“Sam lay back, and stared with open mouth, and for a moment, between bewilderment and great joy, he could not answer. At last he gasped: “Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue? What’s happened to the world?”

“A great shadow has departed,” said Gandalf.”⁵

Perhaps this Christmas we’ll join in with Sam’s bewilderment and great joy as we look to Jesus: the image of the invisible God who is higher than high, Lord of all. Who has all within His reach. Never out of control. Come to reconcile us to Himself. “Born that man no more may die” says the carol. “Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth”.

No small thoughts allowed: Paul calls to us this Christmas to throw ourselves into the “life and light [that] He brings” and to join in with everything that is visible and invisible to exalt and glorify Jesus … with no small thoughts allowed.

_Notes

_{¹ Robert Zemeckis and William Broyles Jr, The Polar Express, directed by Robert Zemeckis (2004, Burbank, CA: Warner Bros. Pictures), DVD.}

_{² J.I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1973), 45-46.}

_{³ Mitch Glazer and Michael O’Donoghue, Scrooged, directed by Richard Donner (1988, Los Angeles, CA: Paramount Pictures), DVD.}

_{⁴ C.S. Lewis, Miracles (New York, NY: Touchstone, 1996), 148.}

_{⁵ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of the Lord of the Rings (Boston, MA: Clarion Books, 2020), ch. 4.}

One of my favorite Christmas carols is “O Holy Night,” mostly because I love the first verse:

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
‘til He appeared and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!

The Weary World

If there is one word that accurately describes the feeling in the world right now, it is probably “weary.”

We are weary from two years of pandemic. We are weary of restriction and new variants. We are weary of our friends and family members getting sick, and even dying. We are weary from the divisiveness in society. We are weary of inflation, tragedy, tension, and strife.

But, as this song reminds us, the coming of Jesus into the world is good news for the weary world. It gives us weary people a reason to rejoice. Why? Because it tells us that, “yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.”

The Day Dawns

One of the greatest metaphors the Bible uses to describe where we are at currently in the big picture of human history is: Dawn.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. – John 1:9

Dawn is an interesting period; *it is a time when night and day, darkness and light, exist simultaneously in the same space, yet neither are in full force*.

At dawn, the darkness that formerly ruled the night is broken by the light, but it is still dark out … though not as dark as it used to be. However, at dawn, even though light has come, the light is not yet present in its full form, because although the light has appeared, it has not yet broken over the horizon to fully dispel the darkness.

Peter expressly uses this metaphor of dawn in his second letter:

We have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until *the day dawns* and *the morning star* rises in your hearts. – 2 Peter 1:19

The Morning Star

Jesus is called “the morning star.” The “star” known as the morning star is not actually a star, but the planet Venus. The reason it is called the morning star is because it is the last “star” that is visible in the sky once the dawn has come.

The meaning and message of Christmas is that the true light has come into the world, and the dawn has begun. The beginning of dawn is an irreversible occurrence; once the first light of dawn has broken the darkness of night, it is only a matter of time before the sun crests the horizon, totally dispelling the darkness, bringing about the full light of the new day.

We live in a time right now where there is darkness in the world. It touches our lives, and we groan, along with all of the fallen creation, under the weight of the curse of sin and death. And yet, with the coming of Jesus into the world in His first advent, dawn has come: The light of life has come into our world in the person of Jesus Christ. We have the light of God’s Word to guide us … as we wait with eager expectation for Jesus’ second advent when He comes again!

For our world, covered in the shroud of darkness, a darkness which permeates even our own hearts, the message is clear: The advent of Jesus is the death knell of darkness and the guarantee that a new day is on the horizon.

Let us look to the morning star to give us hope until that day comes!

I imagine the disciples could sense something was different that evening. They had shared countless meals together, and often those meals would be the stage in which their rabbi performed. They had seen Him eat with elite dignitaries and social pariahs. They had heard Him forgive the sins of tax collectors and seen Him turn jars of water into wine at a wedding feast. They had witnessed Him turn a small boy’s offering into enough food to feed a hillside of thousands. That evening, when they celebrated the Passover together, it likely seemed different and particularly void of miracles and grandiose teachings. That evening, He told the disciples that one of them who had loyally followed Him for years, and had heard His teachings with his own ears, would betray Him. The tension in the room had to have been amplified by the growing hostility that they experienced from the religious elite, who were tired of hearing about this itinerant rabbi some were whispering might actually be the Messiah, the Son of Man.

In the midst of all this, Jesus reached for bread, unleavened bread that had no yeast because the Israelites’ escape from slavery left no time for bread to rise. Again, this evening, the bread would represent escape and redemption. Jesus held the bread and gave thanks, and then broke the bread so that all could share in it. He told those young men, who were wondering what life-changing message their teacher would share with them, that the bread was His body broken for them. After their meal was finished, He took the cup full of wine, and gave thanks for it. He shared it with His friends, after He told them that this cup was a sign of the new promise He was making with humanity. It was His blood, shed for them. A broken body and shed blood.

An inexplicable feeling of grief likely filled the room as those men, who had left their nets to follow this man, were wondering what would happen next. However, Jesus had left them a wonderful gift that they likely had no appreciation for until the events of the next three days were over.

He had taught them a way to give thanks and to remember.

Over the course of the 2000 years since that fateful evening, Christ’s followers have hotly debated what this meal was really all about. Some have wondered if His real flesh and blood is present in the elements of what we might call the Lord’s Supper. In the ritual of the modern Evangelical Church, we often find a simple loaf of bread and grape juice used for the elements. Despite the disagreements that stem from as far back as the early church fathers, what Christians seem to agree on is that the purpose of the meal can be found on the pages of Scripture itself. We are to give thanks and to remember.

Catholics, and many mainline Protestants, still refer to the meal by its ancient name, the Eucharist. It is a shame that many evangelicals refuse to use the word now, likely due to feelings of ritual that surround it, because the word is an appropriate label. The Greek word eucharisteo literally means to “give thanks.” It is the word used by Matthew and Mark to describe what Jesus did both in the Passover celebration and on the hillside where He multiplied those fish and loaves. It is the word Paul would use all those times he would tell a faithful church that he gave thanks to God for them, and the testimony he had heard about them. It is this word that serves as our reminder that before Christ gave the bread and wine to His disciples, He first gave His Father the small gift of His appreciation for the provision of bread and wine. It is the best translation of our English phrase “thank you.”

We too, when we take the bread in our hands, are to first simply give thanks to God both for the bread and for what it represents. Christ tells us that we are to remember Him when we eat. That includes remembering the events that followed this meal, i.e., the suffering He experienced at the hands of Roman guards, at the feeling of stark loneliness on the cross, at the death of the Son of Man, and at the victorious resurrection that gave us life. Yet we also forget to remember other things. There is the sermon He gave on the mountainside when He told His followers to love their enemies, the moment when He first forgave the sins of the paralyzed man before making him walk again, and the tears He shed with those who were grieving over the death of His friend Lazarus. We are to remember these things too and to give thanks for them.

To “give” thanks is an expectation we likely forget we have for others.

We expect a small wave from the driver of the car we allow to cut in front of us. Some of us struggle to find the right words to express gratitude when we are opening Christmas gifts in front of loved ones. That is because, ultimately, we are simply bad at saying, “thank you.” It is no wonder then that what humanity values so much, yet struggles to perform, would be something God desires to see us exercise and grow in. The habit of gratitude is one that escapes even the most “mature” Christians, yet I challenge you to think of someone who constantly practices it, who is not also the most encouraging Christian you know.

A change of mind is necessary to see this change in a believer’s life. We must realize that there is a reason the Biblical authors so often phrased this charge as to “give” thanks, and not simply to “say” thanks. Our gratitude is itself a gift regardless of how much it pales in comparison to the gift that provoked it. In the case of the parent on Christmas who has given their child something they desperately hoped to receive, that child’s “thank you” is the only thing the child could possibly give back to their parent. We are in the same position with God as He bestows eternal riches and gifts beyond our wildest imaginations. The life of obedience for the Christ follower begins with a simple “thank you” in response to the work of the cross and resurrection.

This habit of gratitude leads us to remembering as well. As we face the temptation to shipwreck our faith at every turn, we can remember that on the night in which He was betrayed, Christ took bread and broke it to symbolize His body that would be broken.

In light of this, it is easier for us to abstain from a trivial and temporary temptation that has consequences far surpassing the fleeting pleasure it might give us. Entering an American holiday season, which forces our consumerist muscles to get stronger every year, the cup which Christ gave thanks for, before explaining that His blood would give us all we could ever need, allows us the liberty to remember that we, in fact, do not need all we are told we do. God does not leave us with vague esoteric teachings that we must memorize by rote, but instead gives us bread and wine. As we look upon these all-too-common objects, He asks that we remember Him and all He has done for us.

The Church is to be a called-out-group that is defined by being eucharistic.

That is to say, we are to be both grateful and generous. Paul’s charges to the church at Corinth in his first letter implied that one of the catalysts of their many problems was a sinful view of the Eucharistic meal. It is around the table, remembering Christ, that the Church becomes one body and the Corinthians had horribly missed that. It is not foolish to say that we too have missed the mark on being known as a group defined by the broken body and shed blood of Jesus. How much more flavorful the earth would be if we, the salt, turned our minds more often to that night 2000 years ago? How much more light would our city on a hill give if wanderers were met more often with the ever-present glow of the upper room instead of the wild flashes of our modern strategy and salesmanship? How much easier would it be to persuade the world that our physical bodies were designed and sanctified by God if we regularly bowed our heads and pointed them to how Christ used His?

We can remedy this by first making more time to pause and remember, and to give thanks. Pastors can lead their congregations to the table more frequently and cease allowing the meal to be an addition to a service or a transition between a sermon and an invitation. Parents can bring their children to experience the life-giving story of the time when the disciples thought all might be lost, but Christ knew better, and so He gave them reminders to hold in their hands. Bread and juice can be in the cabinet, waiting to be brought out for a weekly remembrance.

If we desire our generosity to be cheerful and not obligatory, understanding the practice of the Eucharist, of giving thanks, is a fantastic place to start. If we want the center of our daily lives to be the redeeming work of Jesus on the cross and in the resurrection, then choosing to live a life of gratitude and memory is the only place to start. So, take the bread and cup in your hands, say, “thank you,” and then pause to remember.