Show me your faith #13

IF IT IS THE LORD’S WILL…

Many grade 12 students are asked a similar question as graduation approaches: What are your plans for after high school? Some say “work;” some say “university” or “college.” Some even have a plan that is worked out in detail – at least in their minds: Go to university, get a good job, get married, buy a house, have four kids and…

            Graduation is a transitional moment for young people. Likewise, retirement is an equally momentous transition for the agedly-challenged. What are you going to do after retirement? That is the question facing the sixty-plus crowd. Some plan to volunteer at ministries like the Thrift Store or at Resthaven; others plan to tinker in their shops. Some plan to dote on their grandchildren or take extended vacations in Arizona.

            But let me ask you this, both the high-school grad and the prospective retiree and everyone in between, when you made your plans, did you commit those plans to God? Have you wondered whether those plans are actually God’s will for your life?

            My sense is that when we were younger we thought much more about whether we were in God’s will. We wondered if marrying that girl or guy was God’s will for us. We wrestled with what God’s will was for our vocation. We really wanted to get it right.

            As I got older my theology changed and I didn’t worry so much about decision-making and the will of God. I realized that there wasn’t just one path for my life and if I didn’t follow it I would be out of God’s will. But as we got older we got used to making our plans without consideration of God’s will. We made plans and they succeeded – it must be God’s will, we said.

            How about when plans failed? What did that mean? Life is unpredictable and plans will fail. In our passage today (4:13-17), James wants us to know that because life is unpredictable we ought to humbly submit ourselves to God’s will. What that involves is our study this morning.

1. When our plans fail

It appears that in the church James was addressing, perhaps the Jerusalem church he was the pastor of, there were some businessmen who were planning out their lives. They had plans to travel, to stay in a city, to set up a business and make money. But note the tone of their plans:

            “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city and we will spend a year there and we will do business and we will make a profit.”

            We can assume that these businessmen were strong believers in the existence of God, but James implies that they lived as if God did not exist. They did not consider his will for their daily decisions. They lived as if their lives were in their own hands and made plans without the thought of God. However, what we plan and what actually happens may be two different things.

            James responds to this attitude saying, “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes,” (4:14).

            This is the truth: we don’t know what will happen tomorrow. We don’t even know what will happen when we walk out those doors after the service. If we make our plans for today and tomorrow assuming all will be as we imagine it, we are actually living in arrogance.

            Here’s a humbling thought: your life is a mist. The word “mist” can be translated “a puff of smoke.” Just as our homes give off a trail of steam in the -30 weather and it is blown away by the wind and is gone, so is your life. What James suggests with this imagery is threefold:

Life is frail – As I watch what Leukemia does to my mother I have a clear picture of how weak the body can grow.

Life is short – In Psalm 90, Moses writes about the brevity of life. He compares life to the grass of the field that grows in the morning, and by evening has faded in the hot sun. Someone remarked that life is like a roll of toilet paper – the closer you get to the end, the quicker it goes.

Death is certain – It is not probable, it is definite. This is not a pleasant thing to say but it is undeniable.

            You are a mist.

            What happens when our plans fail? We might blame God for abandoning us (yet again?). Or we might grow depressed wondering how to find the elusive will of God for our lives.

            I think what James is trying to tell us is simple: Our lives do not always go according to our plans. And it is arrogant to think that our plans should always succeed. To get mad at God or to be sick of life because it is not going our way indicates that we have a problem.

2. Who is Lord in your life?

That problem is summed up in the question: Who is Lord in your life? If the answer is “you” then you are at odds with the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe who sits upon the throne of heaven and rules all things. God is sovereign. There is no other ruler. We are not sovereign.

            Elizabeth II is the sovereign of the Commonwealth, including Britain, Canada, Australia and the rest. God is sovereign over all creation. To be sovereign means to be the supreme ruler. God is God and thus he is sovereign.

            Now when you make plans and do not consider God in the making of those plans we act defiantly. Not that we are outright rebelling but we are ignoring the Lord who made us, cares for us, and is a tremendous resource of wisdom and guidance.

            Should we not make plans at all? If my life is a mist should I bother even planning for the future? The point is that for James, and for God, it matters whether a true view of life informs and shapes the way you think and how you speak about your plans. It is your attitude that matters. You do not have to dwell on the image of your life as mist and stop planning. What matters is how you talk about your life, your plans, your future.

            Why does this matter? Because God created us not just to do things and go places with our bodies, but to have certain attitudes and convictions and verbal descriptions that reflect the truth - a true view of life and God. God means for the truth about himself and about life to be known and felt and spoken as part of our reason for being. You weren't just created to go to Denver and do business; you were made to go to Denver with thoughts and attitudes and words that reflect a right view of life and God.[i]

            This is why James says, “Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that,’” (4:15). We don’t need to repeat this phrase mindlessly every time we decide to go to Steinbach. We also don’t need to be fatalistic about it and ignore our responsibilities (Katy – “I’ll take you to the concert…if the Lord wills”). Rather it is a sincere appreciation for God’s control of affairs and for his will for us. We need to acknowledge that God is the Lord of our lives.

            Paul had this attitude in his planning, and yes, he did use the expression. When Paul was at Ephesus and was about to leave, he promised the believers there, “I will come back if it is God’s will,” (Acts 18:21). And when he wrote to the Roman Christians he said, “I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you,” (Ro 1:10). That is the attitude James is teaching: God permitting we will do such and such….

            Even if we don’t say it, we should think it. “If the Lord wills it.” This is a very basic lesson: God is God; I am not God. He is sovereign; I am not sovereign. If we confess that he is our Lord and God, he is also Lord and God of your family, your business, and your recreational life.

3. Pride’s Blinding Effect

If, however, we confess that Jesus is Lord of our lives, but we live as if we are our own lords, we fall into the same trap as these people to whom James writes. These believers were not operating their lives and businesses as James thinks they should. They were proud of their plans and their prosperity, taking all the credit for their success.

            Pride like this can blind us to God’s sovereignty.

            James is quite harsh when he writes to them, “As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil,” (4:16). These people are bragging about their ability to plan their own lives independently of any divine guidance. They didn’t commit their plans to God in prayer. They are like, or are very possibly the same people, who “have not because they ask not.” They would say, you pray while I get things done.

            If we are in a hurry to get things done so much so that we don’t have time to pray, you may just fail in your plans. I am not saying “every time,” but I do believe more and more that all things need to be committed to God in prayer.

            Then we can boast in what God has done. Boasting is evil when it is boasting in our own achievements. But there is another kind of boasting. Paul wrote the Corinthians saying, “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness…Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me,” (2 Cor. 11:30; 12:9).

            Pride will blind us to the hand of God in our daily successes or achievements. But the person who confesses his or her helplessness to God invites the Spirit of the Lord to work in our lives and do more than we can imagine.

            I experienced this again last weekend at our Ministerial Retreat. Sunday morning I felt slightly ill and mentally unprepared. I confessed my helplessness to God as I began to lead the morning session. The result was so impactful that I knew the Lord had done something that I could not take credit for in the least.

4. Living in the Will of God

We might think that v. 17 is a detour from the theme that James has been writing about. He says, “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them,” (4:17).

            However, since James has urged us to take the Lord into consideration in all our planning, we have no excuse in the matter – we know what we are to do. To fail to do it, James says, is sin.

            What is he talking about? In all your planning acknowledge God; if you don’t you are deliberately sinning. This is called the sin of omission. Jesus refers to this in Luke 12:47 where he says that the servant who knows his master’s will and does not do it will be punished.

            Now the question is: What is the Lord’s will? Many go down the wrong path with this question. They think that God has someone specific for them to marry, a specific job or ministry they should be in, or even a specific plan for each day. But the mystery is not in finding God’s will for your life – the mystery is why we ignore what God’s will so clearly is.

            If we see God’s will as a bull’s-eye and we are supposed to hit it dead center with our decisions every time, we will be out of God’s will more times than not. God’s will is not a bull’s-eye, though it may be a target.

            Jesus said that, “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother,” (Mk 3:35). As Jesus taught his disciples and followers, it became clear that “loving one another” was God’s will for us. John clearly taught this when he wrote, “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?” (1 Jn 2:17). Loving others is the prime directive for being in the center of God’s will.

            Paul also weighed in on finding God’s will when he said, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus,” (1 Thess 5:16-18).

            Humble obedience to God’s will is the only way to live as a believer in Christ. And his will is not hard to figure out. There is no mystery to God’s will. First he wants you to include him in the consideration of your plans. Then he wants you to make his will a priority. The truth is, when measured against God’s will for you, you may have to change your plans.

Show me your faith

We have to confess that we plan a great many things as a church without pausing to include God. We assume that some of these are amoral (not have a right or wrong to them) and so they don’t matter to God. If we think that, we are wrong.

            Perhaps you are sitting here today wondering what God’s will is for your life after high school. Maybe you are wondering what God’s will is for your retirement that is coming soon or you are already engaged in. What does God want for you? Where does God want you to be? How can you serve him? You may be frustrating yourself unnecessarily.

            What God desires is for you to have an attitude like James is prescribing, to say “if it is the Lord’s will I will…” Pray about it. Make it a matter of prayer – no matter how trivial you think it might be.

            And what God wants you to know is that his will is for his Son, Jesus Christ, to be glorified in your life. How do we do that? By looking into the gospels and obeying the commands Jesus gives us. Do that and you will be dead center in the will of God. Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven,” (Mt 7:21).

            Life is unpredictable. We do not know what tomorrow holds for us and so the best course of action is to humbly submit ourselves to God’s will.

                                                            AMEN

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[i] John Piper, sermon: If the Lord Wills. Education for Exultation: Humbly Under God

Show me your faith #10

DID YOU GET WHAT YOU WANTED?

A commonly asked question after Christmas is, “What did you get?” After a pause to think about it, we recite a list of gifts and the people who gave them. A follow-up question is occasionally asked, “Did you get what you wanted?” For some this is a cause of conflict, especially if you were hoping for a specific item.

            A wife and mother who worked as a receptionist at a dentist’s office found her chair did not give very good support. So in anticipation of Christmas, she asked for the Lumbar Support 3000, or some such thing, in yellow. She told her husband. She told her three children to remind their dad of her request. But as is the case in some households, neither the dad nor the children were paying close attention.

            When the time came to purchase a gift for the wife and mother, the dad could not remember what she wanted. He asked the children. They had a vague idea. At the mall the husband actually noticed the yellow lumbar support item but thought it too practical and assumed he would catch fire for such a gift. Instead, he bought a pair of yellow pants for his wife, remembering somehow that yellow was part of the request.

            Opening the gift later, the wife and mother freaked out. She had specifically told them all what she wanted. Times like this are a source of conflict in families. We want what we want and when we don’t get it, we are disappointed, disillusioned and frustrated. We may even get angry.

            This wife did get angry but she also found a solution: she took the yellow pants, rolled them up, and made a lumbar support out of them.

            When we don’t get what we wanted out of our relationships we experience conflict. This is true in our families and in our church. Church conflict, frustration with the way we worship or operate, is a common conflict in all churches. It is clear that James had to address conflict in a church that was only twenty years old. Chapter 4 of James is all about resolving conflict in the church.

            A summary of James 4:1-12 looks like this:

1-3       To resolve conflict, evaluate your motives.

4-10     To resolve conflict, turn from the world and submit to         God.

11-12   To resolve conflict stop judging others and submit to           God’s Word.

Today we want to look at verses 1-3 and identify the source of conflict and what we ought to do about it.

1. Identifying the source of your conflict

a) The cause of all conflict begins with the self – Church conflict is not unique. We know the Corinthian church had divisions over several issues; Paul singled out two women in Philippi who were at odds; Galatian believers were biting and devouring each other. So it is not surprising that James had to write about conflict to this church.

            He asked, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?” (4:1). Another translation says it a bit better: “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?” (NASB).

            The difference is the expression “in your members.” This could mean “members” of the church, or the different parts of your own body. Likely, James means that the conflict is found in your very own “self.” As long as we live in these bodies, though we are saved by grace through Christ, we still have those sinful inclinations that war within. The fight is greater now that we believe.

            Tasker wrote, “What (James) asserts is that the human personality has, as it were, been invaded by an alien army which is always campaigning within it. The verb [wage war] implies that these pleasures are permanently on active service; and the expression “in your members” means that there is no part of the human frame which does not afford them a battleground. Human nature is indeed in the grip of an overwhelming army of occupation.”[i]

            The source of conflict is then in your “self.” It is important to recognize this and admit it whenever you face conflict.

            World War I involved 32 nations and it is said that 30 million lives were lost. Though the causes were complex, if simplified we could say it started with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand on June 28, 1914. I propose that those who killed Ferdinand did so out of some frustration at not getting what they wanted. Some injustice was fired up in them and they were going to take what they didn’t get. Where did this desire begin? In the “self” of one or two individuals who stirred up others to their cause. A world war erupted because someone didn’t get what they wanted.

            James uses a word for “desires” which is the root of our word “hedonism.” Hedonism is the principle of self-gratification. In the soul it is pride, longing, thirst for honor, rivalry; in the body it is indiscriminate eating and indulgence. Hedonism is the ultimate serving of self – and when that drives us in our motivation, conflict will follow.

b) Your unresolved conflict is destructive – What results from unfulfilled expectations is not pretty. When you don’t get what you wanted, people will hear about it and pay for their refusal to give you what you want.

            James wrote, “You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight,” (2a, b). Were people killing each other in the Early Church when they didn’t get what they wanted? Scholars agree that James was not being literal, but used strong language to wake up the believers to the reality of their situation.

            Some feel that James echoed Jesus when he said, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment…” (Mt 5:21-22). Jesus thus effectively equated anger with your fellow believer as murder.

            Unresolved conflict is that destructive. So when we are upset with a brother or sister in the Lord, or with spouse or children, or anyone close to you for that matter, we must be cautious not to unleash our fury on them when we have unrealized expectations. Worse for you and me, we cannot grow in our Christian life and bear fruit if we allow unchecked anger to cause conflict in the home or in the church.

2. The role of prayer in reducing conflict

a) Why we don’t pray – This may surprise you, but James writes that the key to resolving conflict in the church and in the home is prayer. He said, “You do not have because you do not ask God,” (4:2c).

            Prayer is often scoffed at, even among believers. It is not the first thing we do. Why do we not pray?

            A story is told of a boy who loved the Lord and prayed often. His parents were not as devout and also tended to be slow in getting ready in the morning. Because of his parents, the boy was made late for school one morning. So he prayed that he would not be late. However, he left home at the same time he was supposed to be at school. This is unthinkable – how could he pray such an impossible thing? It turns out the principal had arrived to open the school and had jammed his key in the lock. Between this time and calling a locksmith to open the door, the boy arrived just in time to go in with the others.

            Is this how prayer works? We tend to be cynical and skeptical and call this “coincidence.” God does not answer prayers this way, we say, and so we do not pray.

            Spurgeon, speaking of a hypothetical man, says, “Pray? No, I want to work. I cannot waste time on devotions; prayers are not practical. I want to fight my way. While you are praying, I shall have beaten my opponent…”[ii] We are self-reliant, in other words, and before we pray we want to see if we can solve our own problems. If that doesn’t work, we might pray.

            We have a problem accepting the word of Jesus when he says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks the door will be opened,” (Mt 7:7-8). Paul said, “pray without ceasing,” and “present your requests to God.”

            The problem of conflict is rooted in part in this: you have not because you ask not.

b) Praying…but praying selfishly – James then moves on the next issue on prayer, that when we do pray we pray wrongly. “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives…” (4:3a).

            This also contributes to why we don’t pray. We have experience praying and praying and receiving no answer to our prayers. James sticks a finger in our wound and says that the problem is not God answering but in our asking. What is the motive of our asking? For selfish gain?

            Craig Blomberg wrote, “it is much harder to admit that our own seemingly more noble requests for good health (so we can serve Christ better), good finances (so we can care for our families properly or give more away), or a good job (so we can exercise our spiritual gifts best there) can easily wind up being motivated by the even more fundamental yet ultimately selfish desires to feel good, to be able to buy whatever we want, or to gain some good reputation with others.”[iii]

            Jesus clearly taught that prayer is not to get our will done on earth, but to see God’s will done: “Your kingdom come, your will be done…” Prayer is not so that we can use God; it is so that God can use us.

c) Evaluating the focus and purpose of your prayers – Admittedly there is very little positive in what James is telling us in these few verses. The last phrase of our passage will seem disjointed in this regard: “…that you may spend what you get on your pleasures,” (4:3b).

                Let this be a catalyst for your own self-evaluation. Why do you pray? If you pray in order to receive something to increase your own pleasure (hedonism) you need to reconsider your prayers. Perhaps you need to consider what your pleasures are and what you really need to pray for. John Piper promotes what is called “Christian Hedonism.” This is the goal of every Christian: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

            Jesus wants to be the source and the aim of our pleasure as Christians. Our desire must be for Jesus in a world that desires everything else. He is the One we ask for; he is the One we seek; it is on His door that we knock. To treasure Jesus above all else is the task of prayer. Asking him for all kinds of requests in a humble spirit is our way of acknowledging that he is God and that he cares for us.

            In Luke’s gospel, Jesus tells the story of the persistent widow who goes to an uncaring judge to find justice. He ignores her but she keeps coming. Finally the judge relents and gives her what she wants because she is bothersome. Then Jesus says, “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?” (Lk 18:7).

            Now the key points here are 1) that Luke explains that Jesus told this parable to his disciples that they should always pray and not give up, and 2) that God is NOT like the uncaring judge, but will surely answer QUICKLY (v. 8) those who seek him day and night.

            So evaluate the focus and purpose of your prayers. What do you want? Do you want God and what God wants?

Show me your faith

The source of conflict is in us, in our “self.” The reason we are in conflict in our families and in our churches is that we do not go to God with everything that concerns us. You have not because you ask not.

                “The difference between spiritual and unspiritual community is not whether conflict exists, but is rather in our attitude toward it and our approach to handling it. When conflict is seen as an opportunity to draw more fully on spiritual resources, we have the makings of spiritual community.” – Larry Crabb[iv]

            The short answer to conflict in any situation is to go to prayer. We have a God who wants to hear our requests and we ignore a great spiritual resource when we try to solve our issues in our own wisdom and strength. God wants to help, why not let him help?

            Blaise Pascal was a Christian philosopher in the 17^th century. I want to close with his prayer as a model for prayer for all of us in light of James 4.

            Yea, Lord, I confess that I esteemed health as a good, not because it is a means of serving you, but because with it I could exercise less restraints and self-discipline to enjoy the things of this life and to better relish its fatal pleasures. Grant me the grace to rectify my reason and conform my feelings to your ways. So may I account myself happy in affliction, so that while I am incapable of external actions, you may so purify my thoughts that they may no longer contradict your own. Thus may I find you within myself, while my bodily weakness incapacitates me from seeking you without…I pray neither for health or sickness, life nor death. Rather I pray that you will dispose of my health, my sickness, my life, and my death, as for your glory, for my salvation, for the usefulness to your church and your saints, among whom I hope to be numbered. You alone know what is expedient for me. You are the Sovereign Master. Do whatever pleases you. Give me or take away from me. Conform my will to yours, and grant that with a humble and perfect submission, and in holy confidence, I may dispose myself utterly to you. May I receive the orders of your everlasting, provident care. May I equally adore whatever proceeds from you.”  - prayer by Blaise Pascal (19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662).

                                                            AMEN

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[i] R. V. G. Tasker, The General Epistle of James, TNTC, p. 85.

[ii] Charles Spurgeon’s sermon Ask and Have, #1682

[iii] Craig Blomberg & Mariam J. Kamell, Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: James, p. 199.

[iv] Larry Crabb in "The Safest Place on Earth," p. 40.

Advent #5

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE:

CELEBRATE IT

December 25, 2013

How should we celebrate Christmas? Even in Charles Spurgeon’s day, the 19^th century, Christmas was marked with company parties, gifts, carols, eggnog, large family meals, decorated trees and gatherings. These are good things in and of themselves and we are free to enjoy them.

            The idea of celebrating the coming of Christ into our world is a good one. Some might complain about the commercialization of Christmas and the materialism that accompanies it. People tend to drink too much during this holiday season prompting Operation Red Nose and police checks. But despite these aberrations, Christians should celebrate Christmas. The question is: How?

            How we celebrate depends on how we understand Christmas. For George Bailey, in the movie It’s a Wonderful Life, Christmas coincided with his renewed appreciation of the life God had given him.

            After George had wished he had never been born, the angel Clarence showed him what his world would look like without him in it. Slowly George began to understand how blessed his life really was and he wanted it back.

            Let’s watch how George celebrated this realization:

< Play chapters 26-28 from It’s a Wonderful Life >

This joyful exultation is in keeping with the joy of Advent. The Christ of God has been born, entering our world as a baby in a manger. There is an interesting parallel of sorts between this old movie and the even older story of the Nativity.

            Luke 2:17-20 describes four responses of those who first heard the news that Christ had been born. Each is a different response that together tells us how to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus.

1. Proclaim it

A baby has been born. What do you do? You tell people about it. You proclaim it.

            How many of us fathers went to the phone when our babies were born? We went with joy to tell our families and friends that our child was born. Did anyone say to you, “Big deal”? Or, “That’s fine for you, but I choose not to believe it”? No, everyone rejoiced with you. Very few people would reject your good news that a baby has been born. That’s why Christmas is relatively easy to accept.

            Now it was to shepherds that the birth announcement was given. Shepherds were out in their fields at night tending the flock. Shepherds were the least likely witnesses in all of Judea. They were considered vagabonds and shifty. If a court case required a witness, no one called on a shepherd. They were uneducated, illiterate, and inconsequential.

            Yet to these “vagrants” angels appeared and gave a message of cosmic significance. “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find the baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger,” (Lk 2:10-12).

            How did they respond? They said, “Let’s go see…” Likely other babies were being born at that time (see Mt 2:16). But they had a clue: the baby will be in a barn or stable, lying in a manger. And they found him!

            Something about this encounter with the infant Christ so impacted the men that they felt compelled to tell everyone they met. “When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about his child,” (2:17).

            The shepherds needed no authority, no permission, and no special training to share what they had seen and heard. Spurgeon wrote, “I imagine if I saw a fire, and heard a poor woman scream at an upper window, and likely to be burned alive, if I should wheel the fire escape up to the window, and preserve her life, it would not be so very dreadful a matter though I might not belong to the regular Fire Brigade.” Do you need authority to proclaim that Christ is born? Spurgeon exhorted his congregation that anyone who hears the gospel and has drunk from the water of life is authorized to tell others about it. The shepherds very naturally shared what they had seen. You need not be a preacher to share this good news. In fact, it may be better that you are not.

            Good news is for sharing. Proclaim it.

2. Wonder at it

“And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them,” (2:18).

            It is safe to say that the people were amazed in a low-level sense that the shepherds actually had something to share. We might be amazed in the same sense if the Winnipeg Jets made it to the playoffs this spring. That is not the kind of amazement that we speak of here.

            Rather, we should think of “Holy Wonder” and a sense of awe that God would come near to us in such a manner. Many devout people who loved God yearned for God to come and rescue them from darkness and bondage. To think that God would come near as an infant was beyond their imagination.

            Here we have “Immanuel” – “God with us.” Not just “God for us” or “God in heaven” – we have “God with us.”

            As George Bailey wondered at the impact of his life on his family and community, we wonder in holy wonder that the life of God should be wrapped in flesh to become a man. Christmas is a time for Holy Wonder that the King of kings was born in a feeding trough. What sort of God comes into the world like this?

            We ought to be amazed at Christmastime. If we go through this Christmas season without pausing to wonder at the Nativity, then we have missed the reason we celebrate Christmas in the first place.

3. Ponder over it

Mary, the mother of Jesus, enters upon this scene of response with her own reaction to the birth of God’s Son. “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart,” (2:19).

            The word “treasured” carries the idea of counting things up, like making a list so that you won’t forget anything. When you have been through a remarkable day and you don’t want to forget any part of it, you count the moments.

            And the word “pondered” goes deeper than “wondering.” It means to take the events as you have laid them out in your memory and then go beneath the surface to try to understand what it all means and why it happened the way it did.      

            Mary, exhausted from giving birth, almost asleep, but recounting her visit to her relative Elizabeth, must have ruminated over the birth of John. Then the visit from Gabriel telling her that she would bear God’s Son; she must have pondered how God could have chosen her.

            We are called to ponder, like Mary, the wonder of Immanuel. Some celebrities are best known from afar; not Jesus though, we are to get as close to him as possible. He is to be studied, adored and considered, loved and imitated. Mary held him in her arms; we hold him in our hearts.

            Mary pondered over what God was doing in her life. I believe we are to ponder, like Mary, what God is doing in our lives. This is the time of the year for reflection, to look back and count the moments where God has shown himself to us. It is a time to ask God to reveal to us where we did not notice his work of salvation and redemption in our lives. And it is a time to look ahead to what God will yet do and ponder that as well.

4. Glorify God for it

The final verse tells us that the shepherds were profoundly changed by what they saw and heard. “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told,” (2:20).

            On the day before Christ was born, they were in the fields tending their sheep. Having seen the Christ-child they rushed off to the temple to worship God, right? No, the day after Christ was born, they went back to their sheep in the fields. Only now their hearts were filled with praise and glory to God.

            James Montgomery Boice said that the word “glorify” come from “glory,” which originally meant “to have an opinion,” and ultimately to estimate the true worth of something. You “glorify” anything when you recognize its true value. To say that the shepherds “glorified” God means that when they saw Jesus in the manger and beheld the awesome revelation of God’s incarnation, they were overwhelmed with his power and grace, his loving-kindness and his wisdom. They just could not stop talking about what they had seen and heard.

            What is amazing and truly transforming is where they glorified God. As I said a moment ago, they did not go to the temple to worship God; they went back to where they came from. They went back to the tedious, thankless, monotonous job of looking after sheep. But now everything was different. Joy filled their hearts so that the mundane radiated with new light.

            George Bailey returned to the same life he had left but came back with a new attitude. Consider that when his life was returned to him, he was filled with a new spirit that changed his view of things:

            He was excited that his lip was bleeding…

            He found the dead petals of his daughter’s flower…

            His car was crashed into the tree (a symbol of his old life returning)…

            He ran through Bedford Falls proclaiming Christmas, a town that had been his prison, which refused to release him – now he rejoiced in it…

            He blessed the Building and Loan, the chain that kept him from leaving Bedford Falls…

            He wished his enemy a Merry Christmas, startling old Mr. Potter…

            When the bank examiner was at his home looking for the missing 8000 dollars, he exulted in it, “Isn’t it wonderful?” he said…

            The sheriff was there to arrest him and that was wonderful too…

            The old drafty house, a symbol of his poverty and failure, now appeared to him as an oasis…

            Christmas changed everything for George. He returned to the same problems and issues that were there before, but now he realized what was before him. That is, I think, how the shepherds felt as they returned to their fields.

            As we wonder and ponder that Jesus was born in Bethlehem – Glory to God – we too, return to our routines, to our jobs, our fields, our work, our homes -  following our Christmas festivities. What we want to do though, is return with a glow in our hearts having revisited the incarnation of Christ, having beheld the manger scene in our hearts. Our Savior has been born to us. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Merry Christmas!

            And that is what we mean when we say “Merry Christmas!” It is a celebration that God came near. When Christians say it, we proclaim that Christ is born to humankind. So proclaim it in the stores and on the streets and in your homes. This simple proclamation is a testimony to the world that Jesus is the Savior born to set the people free from sin. Merry Christmas!

            Proclaim it!

            Wonder at it!

            Ponder over it!

            Glorify God for it!

                                                MERRY CHRISTMAS!