Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Amen.
[00:00:02] Well, I already said it, but I'll say it again. Good morning, church.
[00:00:07] What a joy to be together today, to celebrate the Advent together.
[00:00:14] Guys, if you have a Bible with you, if you want to go ahead and turn it to Philippians Chapter two, it's where we're going to be today, man.
[00:00:21] Merry Christmas. It's Christmas weekend, right? Like, this is. It's exciting, it's fun, guys. We are rounding out our Advent series today as we lit the Love candle on our Advent wreath. And that is way less creepy than it sounds when you say that of context, that we went to church and lit the Love Candle. It's a completion of our Advent wreath. We're going to celebrate the amazing reality of the Incarnation. We're going to consider the. The wonderful gift that is the love of God. And we're going to do that from Philippians 2. If you don't have a Bible with you, we have house Bibles around the room. Just look under the chairs in front of you. I'm sure you'll find one. We really believe in the importance of access to God's Word here at Emmanuel. If you don't own a physical copy of God's Word, I'd strongly encourage you take one of the pew Bibles or talk to one of our pastors. We'll get you one that's nicer. While you turn to Philippians 2, I want to remind us kind of the setup here. Most Christians throughout history and throughout the world take the weeks leading up to Christmas to intentionally prepare our hearts for the celebration of Jesus birth and what Christians call the Incarnation of Jesus. That's a $3 seminary word. But at Emmanuel, we do that by engaging in tradition of the Advent Wreath. We light a candle of our wreath each week and discuss different themes connected to that that point us to Christ. There's a couple different traditions of what you connect to, but here at Emmanuel, we go through this progression. Hope, faith, joy, and love, culminating on Christmas Eve when we light the Christ Candle. I love that because it's a clear progression of thought and experience when one encounters the Gospel. Like, if you consider your own testimony and think about your own journey of coming to know Christ, you really can see this progression. When many of us, when we first encountered the invitation of the Gospel and we first heard this idea that God loved you so much that he was going to do something about the sin that ruins our hearts, it sparked some sort of hope, right? Like you had an awareness of your own brokenness and the brokenness of this world. And to think that there's a God who is powerful enough and loving enough to do something about that really does bring you to this place of going, oh, maybe God will fix what is broken in my heart and broken in this world. And as we grew in our experience of Christ and as we came to know him and trust him there, there was a moment where that hope turned to faith, where we said, I actually believe this God is who he says he is and that he will fix what is broken in my heart and in this world. And as we begin to experience the spirit of God working in us to sanctify us and forgive us of the weight of our own sins and move us toward holiness, the only appropriate response to that is joy, right? Oh, my goodness, God is fixing what's broken in my heart and he's fixing what's broken in this world. And all of that. All of that, I think, fuels us to where we're at today, to a place of love. When we have experienced the continuing, ongoing power of love of God, it overflows out of us and we go, oh, my goodness. As Christ has loved me, I am able to love the world around me. Because God is fixing what is broken in my heart, I can join with him in seeking to fix what is broken in this world. What a beautiful thing. And of course, it's all centered and rooted and grounded in the reality of the lordship of Jesus, the Christ at the center of the wreath. I love that. I love that tradition. It's so helpful and grounding for my own spirit in a season that, let's be honest, right? Like, we know Christmas is about Jesus. We're here at church the Sunday before Christmas. We know that Christmas is a Christian holiday, and yet it's such a huge deal in our culture and our society that it's just incredibly easy to be distracted and pulled into all the wonderful, fun, non Jesus things of the season, right? And none of those things are bad. Hopefully you are enjoying buying presents for family and grandkids and traditions and baking cookies and big meals and parties and all of those things. They're beautiful, they're wonderful. They're worth celebrating, right? But man, it's so easy to be caught up in the busyness of the season and to miss that center candle, that grounding truth. So I love this tradition. It's helpful for me, it's helpful for my family. I hope it's helpful for you. Today we've lit the love candle and we are going to talk about the gift that is the love of Jesus. I know that's as cheesy as a sermon illustration as anyone could possibly use the Sunday before Christmas for a pastor to talk about God's gift to you. But it's where we're at today. And so I'm just gonna ask you all to be. Can we just sit for a second? That's cheesy. Okay. Yep. Let's be in it together and let's dig into the word. Sound good? Awesome. Do you guys remember the best Christmas gift you ever got? Like, is it burned in your memory? I don't know about you guys. I know this isn't the experience for everyone, but my parents worked so hard and were so creative with Christmas. It always felt magical for me and my brothers as I was remembering and thinking about that this week while I was prepping, there's one particular Christmas that just popped in my head. I couldn't get away from it as I was prepping this year. It had to be either 1996 or 1997. But my parents got me and my older brother a Sega Saturn. And if you don't know what a Sega Saturn is, it's this.
[00:06:12] It's magical, guys.
[00:06:14] It's a wonderful thing. And my dad went full Christmas story on this. He waited till after we were done with everything else and said, oh, look, there's one more present. I don't know where this came from. Oh, there's no label. Who wants to open it? Like that whole deal. And we opened up and it's a synagogue. We were so just going nuts. I remember, man. Man, I remember playing Daytona usa. It's one of the games that came with it. And I was so floored by the amazing futuristic 3D graphics that look like this. And I told my older brother, this is too realistic. They can't make games like, this will mess up. It's so realistic, it will mess up your brain. You can tell looking at it, right? Like, just cutting edge technology.
[00:07:05] Oh, man. Why do I bring that up? I love that gift. It still sits. I have that Saturn. It's in my basement box. It still sits in my heart as one of the best gifts I've ever received. Today, as we talk about the love of Christmas and what it means for us as believers today, I think we're just going to really clearly be reminded of how generous God is in his gift to us as believers. We're going to be. We're just going to talk about Jesus birth. And when this is understood as connected to the larger truth of his life and his work. Right? You can't separate the manger from the entirety of Jesus incarnation. We can't help but see this amazing gift God has given us in his Gospel. It's actually one of the reasons I love that we do gift giving around Christmas. I know it can become incredibly materialistic, but I think gift giving is not just a magical tradition for kids. It's a really concrete way to ground our hearts in the gospel reality of Christmas each year, which is this, guys, Jesus life and his work. It is an amazing gift to us.
[00:08:25] Jesus's incarnation and the life and work that his incarnation produced. It's the greatest gift ever given and what we're going to see today. My main point today is this.
[00:08:36] Jesus's incarnation was an act of love that leads to our salvation. Yes. But also empowers our own love to the world. It's an amazing gift that changes everything, everything for us. So we're going to look at this through one of my favorite passages in Scripture. This is Philippians 2. I've talked about this actually several times from the pulpit. So if it sounds familiar, that's why Philippians is a book. It's a short book. The Apostle Paul wrote to a church that he planted in a city called Philippi while he was in a Roman prison. You can read about Paul planting this church in Philippians, in Philippi in Acts 16. It was during his second missionary journey. Philippi was a city known for its Roman patriotic passion. Right? This was a city outside of Italy proper, but was Roman to the core. The first converts Paul saw in the city were a wealthy business owner and a family of a Roman soldier. And the reason I say that, guys, is this. This was a city pretty much dedicated to the entire Roman system, the Roman culture and the Roman emperor, right?
[00:09:42] This is deeply like, go Rome. Rome is awesome in Philippi. And years later, when Paul writes this letter to this church, he's writing it from a Roman prison awaiting a trial before Caesar. And what it is essentially, guys, is a thank you letter. Like this church heard about Paul's arrest and his long standing imprisonment and they immediately sent aid. They sent a brother from the church, a guy named Epaphroditus, to bring a love offering to Paul. The church had collected to help take care of him and pay his bills and meet his needs. And Paul, when he sent Epaphroditus back to the church, sent them with this letter that we call Philippians. I share that because it helps us really understand what's about to happen in our text. Paul loves this church. God used him to plant this church he's seen tons of growth in them. They're actively serving him in a time of real need in his life. But he also knows this church really well. He knows their cultural temptation to find their joy and their identity in the things of the world, very specifically the Roman world.
[00:10:55] So the Philippian Letter is full of challenges for these believers to find their primary, their sole identity in Christ rather than in this world. In our text, Paul's actually going to break out into song and in quotes, what is believed to be a hymn of the early Christians, often called by theologians the Christ Hymn, about just how good Jesus is compared to the world. So pray with me. We're going to go through this text chunk by chunk. Jesus, we need you this morning. We ask, Lord, that you would be our discipler. Illuminate the text to us, Spirit. Let us hear from you. Let us be encouraged by you. Let us be challenged by you in a way that our heart needs, that each of us can leave this space today, can step into whatever our holiday celebration looks like, grounded in you. Lord, we need you. So we pray these things in your name, Jesus. We trust you for them. Amen.
[00:11:52] All right, Philippians chapter two. We're going to start in verse five. And we read this, adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead, he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
[00:12:28] We're picking up in this part of the letter where Paul is encouraging the Philippian Church toward unity. If you look at the very beginning of chapter two, he essentially says, look, if your faith means anything to you, stay unified. That's kind of how the setup for this. And then our text picks up the thought immediately after by saying, this is how you unify as a church. If you care about your faith at all, you'll be unified church. This is how you do it. Have the same heart and attitude as Jesus himself. Let Jesus be your example of how to consider yourself and others.
[00:13:09] And as we step into what theologians call the Christ Hymn, we get one of the most celebrated Christologies in the New Testament. Paul here describes the person of Jesus and the work of Jesus in this marvelously concise clarity, just a few short verses, he pulls together some of the riches of who Jesus is and the work he accomplished on this earth. And this is how it ties us Back to Advent and back to Christmas. When Paul tells us to have the same attitude as Jesus, he then describes Jesus attitude by talking about the incarnation.
[00:13:51] I already said this, but that's a $3 seminary word that really just means Jesus really was human. That's what we mean by that incarnation in the flesh.
[00:14:01] Jesus divinity was fully invested in his humanity. Jesus is God in human flesh.
[00:14:11] And Paul describes this by saying that even though Jesus is God, his divinity wasn't something he felt the need to cling to.
[00:14:21] He didn't grasp it tight. Rather, he was content to be emptied and take on the humble shell that is humanity. I think it's so important for us to consider this theological truth when we remember the Christmas story.
[00:14:38] Like, hopefully this week you will have a moment. By the way, it'll happen on Tuesday if you come hang out. Hopefully this week you'll have a moment where you sit in the quiet and you read Luke 2:1 through 8 and you remember the Christmas story and you consider it's a beautiful thing. It should be part of your Advent celebration, right? And when you do that, I would encourage you to take a moment to purposely reflect on this truth. On that night in Bethlehem, Yahweh was a human.
[00:15:11] That's nuts.
[00:15:13] That's crazy. Jesus went from the throne room of God to the womb in a manger. Jesus went from being the omnipresent God who was everywhere to being somewhere where.
[00:15:29] Jesus went from being the all powerful God who created the universe and sustains reality to being a helpless baby nursing with his mother, totally dependent on her care for him. He went from being the omniscient God who probes the depths of wisdom and knowledge to crying to be fed.
[00:15:50] As Paul says here, Jesus emptied himself. Now we can get really lost in the weeds of a theological debate here because Christians have talked about this text and what that word emptying means for a long time. What specifically is going on here? How do we understand the nuance between Jesus's divinity and his humanity? And was there a self awareness and was there an access to blah blah, blah, blah blah. And guys, that's. I say blah blah, blah. That stuff's interesting and nerdy and you should nerd out on it. It's worth your time. It is. It really is. But don't let that, don't let a debate about the nuance of theology push you to miss the point here. Because the point of this text, the point of this truth that Jesus emptied himself is beautiful and haunting. It's haunting to consider.
[00:16:44] What we should consider is this guys, the incarnation of Jesus, the advent of the Christ child was a massive sacrifice.
[00:16:55] The sacrifice, it was loss, it was pain. And Jesus willingly made this sacrifice for you and for me.
[00:17:06] That's an amazing gift. Like I don't want to move past that too quickly because what I mean here is the totality of Jesus incarnate experience was sacrifice. We tend to think of Jesus suffering as beginning with the Passion, right? We fast forward to Good Friday and we think about Jesus in the garden sweating blood and we go, yeah, that's really like. Jesus is suffering like man. It was powerful and beautiful. Like it, it started that night. But beloved, consider the sacrifice of Jesus to enter into human experience.
[00:17:45] That was loss for him. The Passion began in the manger.
[00:17:52] Its culmination is at the cross, as Paul reminds us here. But all, all of the incarnation, all of God in human flesh is a loving, sacrificial gift.
[00:18:06] And we do well to remember that. Look how Paul characterizes Jesus life on earth the way he summarizes the totality of his earthly life. He was humble and obedient.
[00:18:21] That's how Paul talks about Jesus life. Is that not insane to consider for a moment? I mean, put yourself in the shoes of Jesus to be the ultimate authority to be God, to be the creator and sustainer. Would you be defined by humility and obedience?
[00:18:47] Maybe I'm the only one here terrible enough to know that wouldn't be true, right? Like given the power and authority.
[00:18:54] But guys, this is the heart. This is the character of our Jesus.
[00:18:59] This is the mind that Paul is telling us to have.
[00:19:04] The mind of Jesus who had everything and needed none of it.
[00:19:11] Jesus who sacrificially poured himself out for the likes of you and me. Jesus who deserved all the praise and glory but chose to be humble and obedient to the point of dying a horrific death upon a cross for sinners like us. This is our Jesus, such is his love.
[00:19:33] And this is the heart we are called to.
[00:19:37] There's something to this heart of Jesus that we are to be like minded with him. Look how the text continues in verse 9. For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
[00:20:02] This humble, loving, obedient, sacrificial heart of Jesus has weightiness.
[00:20:11] It's because of this heart that the Father exalts Jesus.
[00:20:17] Look how the Text says it for this reason.
[00:20:21] God's kingdom is so upside down to our human earthly expectations. Jesus takes no authority or name for himself. But because he is the humble and loving servant of all the Father lifts him up to the supreme place.
[00:20:40] This is Paul's beautiful way of continuing the gospel story. Because the gospel story does not end at the death of Jesus. If Jesus had simply died an unjust sinner's death, it would be tragic but powerless. But we're told that the wonderful mysterious gospel plan of God moves beyond the loving sacrifice. God exalted Jesus. The very spirit of God rose Christ from the dead. Death and curse did not get to hold him. He rose and defeated the age old enemy of sinful humanity. Death itself is defeated by the humble sacrificial love of Jesus.
[00:21:23] And the Father then exalts the resurrected Jesus. The humble servant is now recognized as the revered deity he has always been.
[00:21:35] And Paul gives this amazing picture of Jesus return. Here you see Jesus life and his work did not end at the cross.
[00:21:46] It continued through his resurrection. It continued through his ascension back to heaven. And beloved. It will continue when he returns and judges and restores all things.
[00:21:59] Look how Paul describes Jesus Return at the name of Jesus. Every knee will bow.
[00:22:07] Every knee, every knee in heaven and on earth and under the earth. This is a poetic and beautiful way to say it, but it's a way of saying that when Jesus comes back, he will be recognized.
[00:22:23] When John talks about Christ's first coming, when he talks about the Incarnation in the first chapter of John, he says Jesus the creation didn't recognize the Creator. He was clothed in flesh. He was veiled from most of the creation. But we see in our text today that when Christ returns, there will be no questions of his identity.
[00:22:45] All of reality, all of existence will bow to the authority and power that is Jesus. All of it.
[00:22:57] That is beautiful and also terrifying, right? Because as Christians like we long for Christ's return. We long for his lordship. What a joy for those who in Christ to live perfected with the lover of our soul for eternity. Like that will be a joyous day when we confess along with the reality that Jesus is Lord. Amen.
[00:23:23] But for some, that day will be terror.
[00:23:26] That bowed knee, that declaration of lordship will not be from joy, but from begrudging submission.
[00:23:34] The demons in hell will bow low to King Jesus and acknowledge his lordship. But they will have no joy in that acknowledgment.
[00:23:44] Scripture is as clear as day here. Many people in this world will hold their hearts hard until that moment. And their declaration of the lordship of Jesus will be as the conquered army bowing to those who have defeated them.
[00:24:00] Make no mistake, Church.
[00:24:04] Jesus is Lord.
[00:24:08] Like, I know at most of our houses there's a little, like, nativity scene somewhere. And I know he's an adorable little baby, and I know we live in a world that tries to put every possible label upon him. He's a good teacher. He was a prophet of the Lord, but not the Lord. He didn't even exist. His followers made him up. He was a madman. He was a philosopher who told us how to love one another. He was a powerful spirit, but one that was created. He is just like us, but achieved a clarity of thought and a spirit that we can emulate. The list goes on and on and on and on. You can pick your poison, but do not be deceived. Beloved. Don't be distracted by these untrue messages. Jesus, incarnation. Absolutely mysterious. It's wild to think of God deciding to be born as a baby to a poor couple in Bethlehem. But God, do not get it twisted. Jesus is Lord.
[00:25:08] He is Lord of reality. He is Yahweh with flesh and bone.
[00:25:13] He is your creator. He made you. He designed you. He sustained your life in this very moment, beloved.
[00:25:22] He is the one who tells your heart to beat, who tells your lungs to fill. Beyond this, it is the continued pleasure of Jesus that tells your atoms to bind together.
[00:25:33] It is Jesus who declares that the law of physics need to remain constant, who tells the earth to spin, the sun to burn, gravity to pull time to flow and your dog to bark at your neighbor.
[00:25:47] Jesus is Lord, Lord of reality.
[00:25:53] He is your Lord, your God, your Creator. And hear this, beloved, your authority.
[00:26:02] One day your knee will hit the ground and your mouth will declare him as he truly is, King of everything.
[00:26:13] The only question is whether or not we will utter this truth from a place of joyful fulfillment or abject terror.
[00:26:21] That's how it goes.
[00:26:23] Is it not wonderfully mysterious to consider why this God, this Yahweh, who makes and sustains all things, would serve us as he does?
[00:26:37] I mean, think of it this way.
[00:26:40] How much consideration do you give to the comfort and fulfillment and joy of the ants in your yard?
[00:26:50] Or how about this?
[00:26:52] How much time and effort do you put toward the comfort and success of the amoebas on your bathroom sink?
[00:27:01] And yet Yahweh considers you and me.
[00:27:06] God thinks of us. And he doesn't just think of us.
[00:27:11] He loves us.
[00:27:14] He has affection for us, is generous to us.
[00:27:20] Beloved, that. That truth that Wild, that wonderful mystery, that incalculable reality that ought to create a response in our hearts, that ought to move something within us. Look how Paul continues in verse 12.
[00:27:40] Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now not only in my presence, but even more in my absence. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.
[00:27:59] Paul says the beautiful truth of the reality of Jesus, incarnation, his life, his work, the cosmic trajectory of Christmas morning, that it ought to bring out a real tangible response in our lives.
[00:28:13] Paul says we ought to live lives of spiritual obedience to Jesus, that we ought to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. This is a poetic way of speaking.
[00:28:25] Paul is working out his language from the hymn, right? Like he's still in that mode. He's not saying that you should literally be shaking in terror when you consider your salvation, although fear is a part of considering who God is, but rather you should genuinely consider your situation.
[00:28:46] The love of the Creator for the creation, affection for the bathroom amoeba, that ought to move you to take your faith seriously, to genuinely seek to attend to your faith and your growth in holiness. Are you actively, hear me church, right now, today? Are you actively, actively becoming more and more like Jesus?
[00:29:16] Remember, it's where this whole thought began.
[00:29:20] Your heart, your mind, should be like that of Jesus.
[00:29:24] Is that true of your heart today? Beloved, are you growing in love?
[00:29:31] Are you growing in humility? Are you growing in obedience? Are you seeking the heart of the Lord for this world?
[00:29:40] I'm here to tell you to stop for a moment and to consider the reality of your situation.
[00:29:48] It ought to drive you to this.
[00:29:52] But doesn't this bring its own sense of fear and inadequacy? Right? Like, I don't know about you guys, but I wrestle with this. I love Jesus and I think I mean that with my real heart. And yet in the last, oh, I don't know, 48 hours, how many times have I chosen sin?
[00:30:12] How many times was I selfish? How many times did I feed my flesh and ignore the prompting of the Spirit? How many times did I ignore the movement of the kingdom to seek out my own comforts and my own pleasures? And I'm pretty confident that's not just me. Yeah, that seems like such a hard reality to face.
[00:30:31] I know the gospel ought move me in these beautiful and powerful ways. And yet the fruit of my life shows just how self centered I actually am.
[00:30:43] This is why verse 13 is such a supreme comfort. To me, Jesus wonderful gospel, has thought of every consideration, including how bad I am at being blessed by God.
[00:30:56] It's mysterious and wild, but it is thorough.
[00:31:00] Because you see, beloved, God himself sanctifies you. God Himself works His will in your heart and mind to continually make us more like Christ as we engage the Spirit, as we do the work of growing in holiness as we are able, God fills the gap and works his will in us and makes us more and more like him, slowly and steadily drawing us from the flesh and toward his perfect eternity for us. Is our God not amazing in his generosity to give the gift he has given us through Christ and to see our lack of ability to respond to it appropriately and to accommodate even that, to take upon Himself and His own will to actually sanctify us and move us to engage the gift he's given us.
[00:31:56] Because Jesus life is the greatest gift ever given.
[00:32:00] His humble, obedient sacrifice not only pays the price for our sins, it secures our eternity. And it works here and now to grow and sanctify us toward what we should be.
[00:32:15] Jesus has given you and I such an amazing gift in His Gospel. Amen.
[00:32:20] And we must not overlook the truth that this gift is an invitation for us to respond and participate. It's not just something to celebrate, it's something to partake in. Because the plain reality is that Jesus is an example, a perfect example of what it looks like to live with love in this world.
[00:32:43] Jesus life shows us exactly what it looks like to live in the world within which we are. To live in this world with love.
[00:32:51] Jesus life and work were a gift he humbly gave of Himself for us. And because of this, because he moved first, because he interjected himself on our behalf, we get to offer ourselves and our lives up humbly for others.
[00:33:11] Why would we do this? Why? Why would this be the actual response we have to the gift we've been given? It's because we know what Paul just said. Christ is going to return one day and his return and his judgment will be real. And we want that day of judgment to be a day of celebration for everyone except Satan, right?
[00:33:33] Seriously, there is room for more at the wedding feast of the Lamb.
[00:33:40] We want that day to be a day of celebration. Jesus love is a gift we receive, beloved, and a gift we can freely give to the world around us.
[00:33:51] So to land us out today, I have three thoughts to take away from this. I think will help us engage this truth in a busy season. Right? Like, I know what it is. I know it's Christmas weekend. So three thoughts for you guys about the gift of Jesus. The love of Christ given to us. It goes like this. Receive the gift, live with gratitude, and give the gift to others.
[00:34:12] Romans 10:13 says, for everyone who calls the name of the Lord will be saved.
[00:34:17] I'm going to do it again. I shouldn't keep doing this because we should negativity in theology, but I don't want to get lost in the weeds of the theology here.
[00:34:25] Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Jesus has good for you. He has salvation and sanctification and blessing for you and for everyone who wants it.
[00:34:35] If you want Jesus, you get Jesus.
[00:34:39] He will not say no to you. So call upon Him. Beloved, I urge you. I urge you, if you are here in this room, if you are even watching this later, if you are someone who is still considering the invitation of Jesus, take this season to consider the invitation of Christ afresh.
[00:35:04] He loves you. He sacrificed for you. He has proven his love for you by his action. So come to Him. Call upon Him. He will not turn you away. You cannot gross him out or scare him away from your mess.
[00:35:21] He loves you. He is good for you. Call upon the Lord and be saved. And we see that our text doesn't end with receiving the gift there to those of us who have actively received the gift of salvation, beloved, continue to call upon Him. Continue to engage the wonderful gift you've been given. Do the actual work, like seek to obey him and to see how you become sanctified.
[00:35:47] Guys, you will become sanctified when you interact with the amazing gift God has given you. You will see the Spirit of God is faithful to grow you in your faith, to grow you in your holiness. You can engage this work, I promise. This is not earning your place before God. This is not earning your salvation. You have received the gift. It is yours. It is there for you. Christ saves. He gives Himself freely. And when you've received him, you can do the work digging into that gift.
[00:36:18] Here's how you do it. Dig into the Word, pray regularly and connect your heart with the family of faith. The regular meeting There is no substitute. Pray, engage the Word, commune with the Church. If you interact with the gift of the Gospel in these ways, beloved, you will absolutely see God work in your life and grow your faith. You will pray to him, engage His Word, connect with your family in faith. See what God does with that.
[00:36:46] He will grow you. He will sanctify you. 2. Live with gratitude.
[00:36:51] Colossians 3 is a whole chunk of scripture I love in verse 17 it's right at the end of Paul describing all these facets of the Christian life, like the gritty details of how we figure out being Christians together and how we step on each other's toe and relationship and friendship is hard. And at the very end of this whole chunk of instruction, he says this. And so whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Beloved, giving thanks is a choice we make day by day.
[00:37:25] It is so easy. It is so easy to live our lives with frustration and resentment for the hard things.
[00:37:36] It's easy to do that. It's easy to do that because life in this cursed world is hard.
[00:37:41] Jesus warned us that to live for the kingdom in a broken and sinful world would mean suffering, it would mean hardship. It is unavoidable. How much easier would it have been, beloved, if when you got saved, Jesus vacuumed your soul into heaven right then, so you got perfect, blissful eternity immediately? How easy.
[00:38:01] But he did not do that.
[00:38:04] He left us here. He left us here to grow in our faith and to join with him in the continued mission. And guys, that means hardship, it means suffering. It means facing the reality of a cursed and broken world. You and I, every single one of us, we can find a lot of things to be mad about, to be frustrated about, to be bitter about. Today I'm pretty sure we could all sit down with our journals and we could list out a lot of things that have made life hard and unfair.
[00:38:39] We could.
[00:38:41] But to choose to define our experience of life and faith by the hardships of the curse, the curse, by the way, that's already been defeated, that is in its final death throes, rather than the amazing gift of the gospel. Beloved, that is foolish and it is short sighted.
[00:39:00] Christ has already defeated the curse. The suffering, the hardship you experience, beloved, it is temporary, as Paul said, a light and momentary affliction. The curse is in its death throws. It doesn't get eternal rule over reality or over you.
[00:39:17] Beloved, choose to live this life with a sense of gratitude.
[00:39:21] God has included you in his gospel plan. Come on, church.
[00:39:26] God sees you and loves you and sought you and has included you. What a gift.
[00:39:33] So life is hard. Yes, life is hard. So the curse brings pain. Yes, the curse brings pain.
[00:39:39] But life in Jesus is a gift. It's a gift. It's a gift you can celebrate. And even better, it's a gift you can participate in.
[00:39:48] Thing number three, give the gift to others.
[00:39:52] This is both the invitation and the warning of our text. Jesus gave his life to us as a gift, and he invites us to find life and forgiveness in Him. But one day he will return, and when he returns, it will be to judge and to destroy everything that is evil and sinful. 2nd Corinthians 5:6 has this beautiful chunk of passage. I don't have time to read the whole thing, but it says this.
[00:40:17] Jesus left here, left us here on earth on purpose.
[00:40:21] He left us here specifically to join with him in this age to invite more and more people to receive his gift. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. Since God is making his appeal through us, we plead on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.
[00:40:41] Jesus left us here on purpose to engage his gift, to understand it with gratitude. And that will unavoidably lead us to invite others to the gift.
[00:40:53] To plead be reconciled to God. You can we are beggars who have found the good food.
[00:41:01] But when we found it, we realized there is too much.
[00:41:04] We can't possibly exhaust this amazing gift. There's too much. So what do we do?
[00:41:10] We go out and we find more beggars and tell them where the good food is because there's plenty to go around.
[00:41:17] We urge you be reconciled to God because you can.
[00:41:22] Now, as Paul says, guys, now is the acceptable time. Today is the day of salvation. We are ministers of reconciliation because today is the best day to come to know Christ.
[00:41:39] Eventually it will be too late, but today it is not.
[00:41:43] Today you can come to know Jesus. Today you can find Life Band if you want to come back up.
[00:41:50] It's Christmas and as cheesy as this may be, we already agreed we're in the cheese together.
[00:41:57] I want to end by asking you this.
[00:42:00] Who is on your gift list?
[00:42:04] I think one of the chief signs of growing up around Christmas time is the growing realization that it genuinely is more blessed to give than to receive. Yeah, like do you guys remember that as kids? That slow dawning realization that as much fun as it is to receive gifts like Sega Saturn's, it's more fun to give gifts to the people you love.
[00:42:30] What a beautiful part of growing up and celebrating.
[00:42:34] I think it's really worth considering today. Beloved, who is on your gift list?
[00:42:40] And I don't mean the transformer you still need to buy for a grandkid, although you have one day to do that, so get that done.
[00:42:49] I mean the amazing gift that Jesus gave you me and invites us to give to anyone who will possibly take it.
[00:42:58] What would it look like to consider those in your life and to actually offer them the amazing gift of Jesus you've been given.
[00:43:07] As this is a time of year and a season when people are more open to spiritual things, we're reminded of the truth that Christmas is drenched in Christian tradition. But also holidays are a time where a lot of people's pain and hurt comes right to the surface.
[00:43:22] And a lot of people are experiencing increased expressions of loneliness and loss.
[00:43:27] And they're open to considering something better. God might have for them the hope of the gospel, that God might actually be willing to fix what is broken in their heart and broken in this world. Beloved, what might it look like for you to join with Christ in these next few days leading up to Christmas Day? Who is on your list?
[00:43:50] Who. Who might you reach out to? And what would it look like for you to spread the love, the gift of Jesus to those in your life? Maybe a card, you write them, a conversation, you have some time together, an invitation to a Christmas Eve service.
[00:44:06] How can you join with Jesus in this season?
[00:44:10] How can you love as you have been loved, even today?
[00:44:14] So here's what I want to invite you to do. Let's take just a minute and I want to invite you to find some way for you to be alone with Christ in this space. If you can do that in your chair, that's awesome. If you want to get on your knees, if you need to move around, whatever that looks like, I want to invite you to find some space for you to be present with Christ.
[00:44:33] I want you to talk to him about this.
[00:44:36] What does it look like for you to approach God with gratitude today?
[00:44:41] To remember where you stand, to remember the gift you've received, and to consider what it looks like to join with him in being generous this Christmas season. Beloved, take a few minutes to pray and then we'll continue with communion.
