December 18–Hebrews 1-6

In the 1st Century, Hebrew Christians faced a dilemma. Having received Christ, they encountered significant hostility from family and culture. Christianity was misunderstood and mistrusted. In contrast, Judaism was well known and well respected in Roman society. The temptation, for many Jewish converts, was to avoid persecution by turning back to Judaism. A concession. A path of least resistance.

The book of Hebrews was written to prevent this defection. “For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” pleads the writer in 2:2-3.

Neglect is serious offense! Human courts prosecute criminal negligence. In the same way, Heaven holds accountable those who receive truth but gradually shift their attention elsewhere.

Jesus is superior to Judaism, says the author with great clarity. The Son is a greater word from God. He is greater than the angels who delivered the truths of Judaism. He is greater than Moses. Greater than any High Priest who ever served in an earthly tabernacle.

PERSEVERANCE is, therefore, the normal and necessary work of the believer. We must courageously choose the higher truth! Remember the children of Israel? They followed Moses until things got hard and then wanted to turn back to Egypt! If Christ is the true, full and final word from God, He deserves our attention and loyalty to the very end of life.

Will you examine your heart, dear reader? Drift and discouragement are very real dangers. Not comfort, nor the approval of men, Jesus is our goal. “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it” (2:1).

“I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back”(S. Sundar Singh).

“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life” (James 1:12).

December 17–Titus and Philemon

Reader’s Notes: One of the remarkable things about the gospel is its ability to touch every aspect of human life. Titus is a small book written to a young pastor on the Island of Crete. Philemon is a letter written to a slave owner in Colossae. In both, Paul is helping his readers think through the implications of the gospel in their relationships with others.

“I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment. . .I have sent him back to you in person. . .no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother”(Philemon 10, 12, 16).

Great story! Gospel-inspired drama.

In prison in Rome, Paul leads a slave named Onesimus to faith. How they met, we do not know. Even so, new life began. Onesimus was born again.

Quickly, the dilemma became apparent. Slavery was a tense subject in Rome. Legally and morally, Onesimus’ duty was to return to Colossae and face his master, Philemon, also a believer.

The Bible consistently teaches obedience to laws of the state. When freedom from slavery was possible, Paul encouraged it. See 1 Corinthians 7:21. When, however, no lawful opportunity for freedom was present, the believer was to glorify God by submitting, even to the legal obligations of an unjust system. What about social justice? Spiritual justice is ALWAYS first.

In this case, in all cases, the gospel proved stronger than the system of slavery. Philemon was to receive Onesimus as, “more than a slave, as a beloved brother.” In Christ, the power of love and the essential equality of all men eventually erodes the foundation of the evil system. Politics and laws are too weak to conquer this evil. The transforming power of the gospel, however, is more than sufficient.

“Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother” (Adolphe Adam). As you sing these words on Christmas Eve, I hope you will think of Onesimus and Philemon.

I hope you will also consider the teaching of this small book in your own life. Like Onesimus, we are all to seek reconciliation when others have something against us. Like Philemon, we also are to freely forgive those who hurt us. We are to love them, treat them as brothers. The gospel changes the world by changing the human heart. Will you be a part of this great story?

“Therefore, if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering” (Matthew 5:23-24).

“Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).

December 16–2 Timothy

“For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline”(1:6-7).

Christmas is our reminder. Angels are our example. In all things holy, ENTHUSIASM is required!

Shouting their song above the Bethlehem skies on that first Christmas night, the angels were PASSIONATE advocates of the truth. Glory to God! Good news to all people! Nothing half-hearted about these glorious creatures.

The same is required of us. “You shall love the Lord with ALL your heart!” “ZEAL for Thy house has consumed me!” “The Lord loves a CHEERFUL giver!” Great truth must be embodied with great enthusiasm. Emotional stinginess is a denial of faith.

To maintain Spiritual enthusiasm, revival is a regular necessity for the people of God. The flame of zeal easily flickers out. People disappoint us. Material life distracts us. Busyness drains us. Truths that once stirred our hearts gradually leave us unmoved and complacent. “You have lost your first love,” Jesus warned the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2.

Like a campfire, the gift of Christ must be kindled afresh, stirred and refueled until it becomes hot and bright again. The Spirit of God is NOT TIMID. When we are, we have drifted from Him.

Friend, is the flame of Christ flickering and struggling in your heart? Do the coals of your heart need to be stirred? At Christmas, in every season, shouldn’t your heart be on fire?

Today is Holly’s birthday. Happy birthday, Sweetheart!. One of the things I admire most in you is your whole-hearted pursuit of Christ. Your enthusiasm inspires me and reminds me of the meaning of this season.

“Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. . .nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm”(Ralph Waldo Emerson).

“David strengthened himself in the Lord his God” (1 Samuel 30:6).

December 15–1 Timothy

Readers Notes: When Paul departed Ephesus, he urged Timothy to stay and serve as elder/overseer/pastor for this influential congregation. (See 1 Peter 5:1-3 for these three names used of one office.) In this short letter, we learn much regarding “the office of overseer”(3:1). As you read, will you think of your pastor? Will you pray for him? Stand with him?

“First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority. . .this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”(2:1).

Of all the urgent, daily demands on a pastor, none are higher (in potential for good, or urgency of need) than prayer. Prayer (in the pastor’s life and in the life of his congregation) is FIRST of ALL,” says Paul. To lead his people, every pastor has the duty to learn this daily discipline.

In prayer, our hearts embrace the purpose of God for all men to be saved. In prayer, the church is prevented from “circling the wagons” and becoming focused on its own safety. Remember Jesus, getting up from prayer saying, “we need to go to the next town”(Mark 1:38)? In prayer, the Lord Himself kept a clear focus on the work of evangelism and missions. Fields white for harvest! Paul held the hope that even kings might be saved! No reverse bias toward the rich and powerful allowed. “Pray for them,” he instructed.

In prayer, we exercise (keep vibrant) every part of our relationship with God. The Greek word for “entreaty” speaks of needs–honest feelings about urgent matters. “Prayers” is a more formal word referring to all things addressed to God. “Petitions” is a word that connotes informal conversation, “a visit” as we would say in the south. The plural form of the word “thanksgiving” is a reminder for gratitude to God in all things.

As I look back over years in the pastorate, one thing is clear. I never did anything more important than prayer. And I never prayed better than when the people of God were with me in this great task! For every pastor, prayer truly is FIRST of ALL.

“So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak”(Matthew 26:40).

“And since He bids me seek His face, believe His word and trust His grace, I’ll cast on Him my every care, and wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer”(William Walford).

December 14–2 Thessalonians

Readers Notes: The second letter to the Thessalonian church probably came a few months after Paul the first. See yesterday’s blog. False teachers were upsetting the believers. They claimed the “day of the Lord” (the glorious coming of Christ and the judgement to follow) had already come. An invisible reality rather than a visible one was their claim. Paul openly challenged and corrected this false idea.

Relevant words for us at Christmas. As the world waited for Christ’s first coming, we are to wait in vibrant faith for the day of His glorious return.

“The Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus”(1:7-8).

As Jesus was physically and visibly lifted into Heaven on the day of the Ascension, so He will return. Remember the words of the angel? “This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into Heaven”(Acts 1:11).

“The second coming of Christ is mentioned 318 times in 260 chapters of the New Testament”(Dr. Henrietta Mears). His coming was the final warning of our Lord to His enemies. “You shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of Heaven”(Mark 14:62).

God will not leave the rebellion of men unanswered forever. Mighty angels! Flaming fire! A great vindication. Even so, come Lord Jesus!”

The coming of Christ is the GREAT CERTAINTY that keeps a believer faithful in the face of injustice and pain. At times, life is very unfair. It will not always be so! A day of justice will come.

Friend, do you believe the end of the story? Have your friends and children and grandchildren heard a testimony from you to this great ending? Almost universally rejected in a secular age, the day of the Lord is a source of great motivation and hope for those who trust Christ.

In this hope, we work and wait. See 3:6-13. In this hope we keep ourselves pure. See 1 Peter 3:11.

“If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself”(John 14:3).

“When He comes, our glorious King, all His ransomed home to bring, then anew His song we’ll sing, ‘Hallelujah! What a Savior!’ “(Philip Bliss).

December 13–1 Thessalonians

“This is the will of God, your sanctification; that you abstain from sexual immorality”(4:3).

In the 1st century, Thessalonica was a prominent seaport and the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia. When Paul visited the city (2nd missionary journey-Acts 17) the power of God for salvation was evident. “Our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction”(1:4). Hearing the gospel, many in the city “turned from idols to serve the living God”(1:9).

Jealous of Paul’s success, the Jews of the city organized a mob to oppose the work. A Spiritual norm, actually. “A great door for effective service has opened up for me, and there are many adversaries” (1 Corinthians 16:9, italics mine).

In the chaos, Paul and Silas are forced to leave Thessalonica. The letter of 1 Thessalonians is written from Corinth a few weeks later to encourage the believers in the city.

Scripture teaches the importance of sanctification. Literally “holiness, the process of making something holy, like God in character.” Specifically, Paul’s focus was the damage and danger of sexual immorality.

As in the present day, the pull of sexual immorality (temptation away from God’s standard–chastity before marriage, monogamy in marriage, abstinence from lustful imagination) is ever present! Paul is, however, unequivocal. These boundaries are to be observed in respect for God, on the authority of Christ, and in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Notice his reference to every person of the Trinity in his argument.

We will leave for later the question of why sexual behavior matters to God as much as it does. For now, we must heed Paul’s sober warning. “He who rejects this teaching is not rejecting man but the God who gives the Holy Spirit to you”(4:7). No old fashioned or legalistic standard, sexual morality is rooted in the very will of God for the human race.

How sad and broken is our world for ignoring this holy law! Sexual practice without commitment. Pornography. Lustful imaginations and language. A grieved and quenched Spirit. May the clear words of the Apostle inspire us again to real repentance.

“Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body”(1 Corinthians 6:18).

December 12–Colossians

“To whom (His saints) God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory”(1:27).

The Bible says it many ways. Different pictures. Same truth.

Believers are IN Christ. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are IN Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). By faith, we are united with the person and merit and destiny of Jesus Christ. Our lives are enveloped, safeguarded IN His.

Christ is also IN us. Like clay pots, believers are filled with glorious treasure of Christ. The Lord Himself, all His powers and passion, dwells IN us!

Both describe the believer’s supernatural union with the Son of God! Both are necessary aspects of our redemption. God UNIONS our lives with the sufficient Savior. What was forfeited in the fall is restored. We are His partners. His friends. We are one with Him.

Those who search for meaning or significance apart from Jesus Christ are destined to failure. “It was the Father’s good pleasure (deliberate and wise choice) for all fullness to dwell in Him” (today’s text, 1:19). Time and history will only tell one story! Nothing separate or independent from Jesus will stand. The Son of God is man’s ONLY hope of finding and experiencing GLORY.

Believing friend, will you find this great Savior again, today? Will you again join your life to His in glad surrender and genuine love? He in us is our hope of glory.

“O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in, be born IN us today. We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell; O come to us, abide IN us, our Lord, Immanuel”(Phillips Brooks).

“So that I may gain Christ, and may be found IN Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which comes through faith IN Christ” (Philippians 3:8-9).

December 11–Philippians

“He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him”(2:8-9).

No part of Scripture is more joyful or optimistic than Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Doubly inspiring because it is written despite the dangers and discomforts of prison, this short epistle radiates Paul’s confidence and hope!

“I am CONFIDENT,” he writes in 1:6. “In this I REJOICE,” he says in 1:18. “I KNOW that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit,” he says in 1:19. All-conquering optimism! Paul’s focus is not on discomfort or danger. His eyes are on Christ!

It is a lesson he insists for all believers. If joy is a noun, rejoice is a verb! An action. A choice. A safeguard. As Nehemiah said to the beleaguered wall-builders, “the joy of the Lord is your strength”(Nehemiah 8:10). We are not joyful when we are strong. We are strong when we are joyful.

The door to joy is HUMILITY. 2:5-11 is the great “kenosis” passage in the Scripture. (kenoo is the Greek word, “to empty”). Christ emptied Himself of divine privilege and prerogative in order to be made a man. By gladly accepting the limitations placed on Him in this God-given assignment; by not claiming His rights, Christ became a victor. Through humble obedience, not resistance or complaint, He found joy on the journey and victory at the end of his path. This is our same assignment, says the Apostle!

Proud people never know true joy. They (we) are too determined to point out injustice, too prone to feel slighted or insulted. Humble people, on the other hand, embrace the goodness of God’s plan. Accepting this “low place” (the literal translation of the word humility) they (we) find supernatural joy and energy for living.

As Christmas comes, the Babe in a manger teaches an eloquent lesson. Humble yourself! Don’t fight against God or the parts of His plan that seem unfair or painful! Trust! Be small! Let God be large! Take the assignment He gives you! Obey! Rejoice! At the end of this path, and every step along the way, the joy promised by angels in their song will be yours.

“Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you”(James 4:10).

December 10–Ephesians 1-6

“Now unto Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen”(3:20).

To see a thing, you sometimes need to get away from it. Get some distance and perspective.

The Letter to the Ephesians was that opportunity for Paul. For years he had been busy and challenged in his missionary work. Enemies and friends, joys and sorrows.

Now, he was in prison. House arrest in Rome. See 6:20. Rather than be frustrated or frightened, the old apostle used the “down time” to rethink the gospel, the things he had seen, the lessons he had learned. Much needed time to reflect.

The longer he meditated, the more the beauty of God’s plan appeared to him. In the relative quiet of prison, he gazed at “the heavenly places” (1:3), saw the “spiritual blessings” that are already true for believers. The BEAUTY and REALITY of heaven. “Unseen things above,” sings the old hymn. In the “heavenlies” Paul found sweet hope and encouragement.

As he reflected, Paul saw God’s eternal purpose to, “sum up all things in Christ. . .to the praise of His glory” (1:10, 1:14). In the end, no one will honor mankind. The glory will be God’s alone.

Paul also saw the great role of the church! (1:22, 3:10, 3:21). God’s elect will be His vindication. His redeemed children will be undeniable proof of His grace and His justice. “His inheritance in the saints,” Paul writes in 1:18. Saved people will be what the Father treasures above all other accomplishments.

Sometimes the failure and blindness of the visible church discourages us. Not true for Paul. In eternity, we are already what we will be. Glorious in robes of white, with grateful hearts and joyful songs, we are (and will be) a glorious church!

Friend, are you ever so busy with church that you lose perspective? If, like Paul, you took some time to be quiet, to look into the heavenly realities (hopefully without a stay in prison), would your vision change? Would you arrive at a greater confidence for the future and God’s great purpose for His people?

“You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling, as lovely as Jerusalem, as awesome as an army with banners.” (Song of Solomon 6:4. As the bridegroom spoke to his bride, so Christ speaks to His church.)

“After these things I looked, and behold a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb’ ” (Revelation 7:9-10).

When Paul saw the church standing in eternal reality, he was encouraged. You?

December 9–Galatians 4-6

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things you please”(5:16-17).

Paul is concerned for the Galatian believers. They were weakening under intense intellectual and political pressure.

Judaism was known and respected in Rome. Religio licita (a legitimate religion) was the official Roman classification. A more “Jewish” form of Christianity, therefore, would have been less divisive in the Empire. The pressure was intense for the Christians to strike a truce with Judaism.

A return to Judaism, however, would be a rejection of the gospel. Even a partial concession would be a contamination of God’s message. Paul stood in strong opposition!

He knew the arguments. His opponents claimed that without the Jewish Law individuals and society would dissolve into immorality, “Nonsense!” said the bold Apostle. The Spirit is God’s new life-principle! Much stronger than the sinful tendencies of man.

As believers walk in the Spirit, a new virtuous humanity emerges. Flesh (Paul’s word for humanity apart from the Spirit, limited to self, and controlled by sin) can never produce the same result. Flesh and Spirit are opposite systems, says Paul. All of us must choose one or the other.

Friend, do you know the Spirit-led, Spirit-empowered life Paul is describing? In the words of J. I. Packer are you, “keeping in step with the Spirit?” Does He fill you? Do you walk daily with Him?

“God with us,” is the promise of Christmas. In the Holy Spirit believers experience the joy and power of this promised life!

“If I were Satan and my ultimate goal was to thwart God’s kingdom, one of my main strategies would be to get churchgoers to ignore the Holy Spirit” (Francis Chan).

“Will the Father not give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” (Luke 11:13).