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Living with the End in Mind

Last Sunday Connie and I heard a brilliant exposition of 1 Peter 4:7-11. My friend Pastor Mike Philliber talked about how we are to live in uncertain times. As he taught, my mind went to some of the uncertainties of our day: the threat of war in Eastern Europe, the ongoing pandemic, the divisions in our nation, and recent increases in violent crime.

“The end of all things is near,” wrote Peter. The apostle’s readers may have had in mind the changing social and political norms in the first century Roman Empire. They may have thought of the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jewish people in AD 70. Their world was in a state of upheaval. Also, it is possible, even probable, that readers of Peter’s letter would have associated his words with the imminent return of Jesus. The New Testament writers (including Peter) continually emphasized the return of Christ to influence the believers’ attitudes, actions and relationships.

Pastor Mike carefully explained Peter’s words written to the first century church. They are relevant to our present time too. If we take seriously the possibility of “the end of all things,” then it will certainly influence how we live. “Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray,” said Peter. “Be steady,” said Pastor Mike. “Let there be no panic, no hysteria, no alarm. Instead be self-controlled and prayerful.” Good words to American Christians who are tempted to surrender to anxiety.

Peter wrote, “Above all, love each other deeply. . . . Offer hospitality to to one another without grumbling.” Pastor Mike explained that this kind of generous Christian community must be a priority: “Above all!” Some of the people to whom Peter was writing were persecuted, suffering refugees (1 Peter 1:1, 6). Their very survival depended on the willingness of other church members to take them in and to care for them. This kind of love is being practiced in places around the world today where believers in Jesus are persecuted for their faith.

Peter went on the say that, in light of “the end of all things,” believers should invest their lives in serving God using the abilities and opportunities God has given them. He wrote, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” Every Christian has been endowed with some spiritual gifts (abilities). Some of our Lord’s parables about his second coming remind us to stay faithful in serving him by serving others as we anticipate his coming (Matthew 25:14-30).

Doing this is an act of worship to God. “So that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.” This is to be our motivation as we live in expectation of the second coming of Jesus and live today in a world where life as we know it is ending and changing before our eyes.

The present troubles of the world do not prove that the Lord’s return must be near. The scriptures have always taught that the Lord’s return could be near (at any time. This is the meaning of the word “imminent.”) And there have always been troubles in the world. But today’s troubling circumstances remind us that this world is not the Christian’s final home. We are to live in anticipation of Christ’s return. Peter’s letter is telling us how to do that and do it well.

John Macarthur wrote, “That’s why it’s so important to cultivate a watchful expectancy for the imminent coming of Christ. The point is not to make us obsessed with worldly events. In fact, if your interest in the return of Christ becomes a consuming fixation with what is happening in this world, you have utterly missed the point. The knowledge that Christ’s return is imminent should turn our hearts toward heaven, ‘from which we also wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ’ (Philippians 3:20).”

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Why Worship on Sunday?

Christian practice has been to worship God on Sunday, the first day, not on the Sabbath, the seventh day. Why?

The Sabbath principle has always been a part of God’s law and the law has not changed. Indeed, all of the requirements of the moral law as summarized in the Ten Commandments are reaffirmed in the New Testament, except one, the requirement to keep the Sabbath.

There is no evidence that the first century Christians were required to worship on the Sabbath, as the Jews had done. The scriptures indicate that very early in the Christian era, followers of Jesus began to worship on the first day of the week, rather than on the seventh. Yes, the apostle Paul attended Jewish services on the Sabbath. He did this as a part of his policy “to become all things to all people” in order to influence his fellow Jews to believe in Jesus (1 Corinthians 9:20).

When he wrote his letter to the Colossians, Paul made it clear that Christians are not obligated to observe the Sabbath, any more than any other of the dietary laws or religious observances of the Jews. “Therefore, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ (Colossians 2:16-17).

When Paul wrote to the church in Corinth he was writing to Jews and Gentiles who shared a common faith in Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 he told these believers how they were to support the Lord’s work financially. “On the first day of the week” they were expected to bring their offerings which had been set aside for this purpose. Presumably these offerings were to be collected when they came together for worship on Sunday.

In Acts 20:7 Paul and his travelling companions met with the Christians at Troas where they stayed for seven days. “On the first day of the week” they gathered to break bread. This is no doubt the observance of the Lord’s Supper, a vital part of Christian worship. This meeting also included a long discourse by Paul, as he taught the word of God.

Christians gather to worship the Lord on the first day of the week in honor of Christ’s day of resurrection (Matthew 28:1, John 20:1). The church of Jesus Christ was born on the first day of the week. The Holy Spirit descended on the Day of Pentecost, which always fell on the first day of the week, exactly fifty days after the Passover Sabbath (Leviticus 23:15-16).

Sunday worship is a Christian celebration before a week of work, symbolizing that we are saved by grace and not by works. Hebrews 4:9-10 says that believers cease from all efforts to gain salvation by  their own works and rest in the finished work of Christ on the cross. He is our Sabbath rest. “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for any one who enters God’s rest also rests from their works. . . .”

The Jewish Sabbath, on the seventh day, always followed a week of work. This may be seen as symbolizing obligations of the law that had to be fulfilled before an individual could experience rest.

The first day of the week has become, in Christian practice, “the Lord’s Day” (Revelation 1:10), a voluntary setting aside of one day in seven for the glad praise and worship of God,  for instruction in the word, and for faithful service to Jesus.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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Self-giving Love

With St. Valentine’s Day approaching, our thoughts turn to love. Many thinkers have offered opinions on the subject. Ambrose Bierce said it is “a temporary insanity.” Jeremy Taylor described love as “friendship set on fire.” It is “a hole in the heart,” wrote Ben Hecht. John Ciardi said love is “the word used to label the sexual excitement of the young, the habituation of the middle-aged, and the mutual dependence of the old.”

It is “not getting, but giving,” said Henry Van Dyke. Peter Ustinov described human love as “endless forgiveness.” Ralph Waldo Emerson said love is “a synonym for God.”

Perhaps Emerson was alluding to the New Testament where we read that “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). Love may be the most basic of the moral attributes of God by which we understand and define him. Love is God’s eternal self-giving, self-sacrificing action.

I believe that the love of God is one of the best evidences for the Trinity, or the tri-unity of God. Love, to be expressed, must have an object, or recipient. So in eternity, before time and creation, God was love. The Father loved the Son and the Spirit. The Son loved the Father and the Spirit. The Holy Spirit loved the Father and the Son. Each of the persons of the Godhead reciprocated in the giving and receiving of pure, joyful, eternal love. For this giving and receiving God needed nothing and no one outside of himself. God was love before there were any created beings.

The act of creating the heavens and the earth was an act of self-giving love. “The earth is full of his unfailing love. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made. . . . He spoke and it came to be; he commanded and it stood firm. . . . But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love” (Psalm 33:5-6, 9, 18).

To say that “God is love” is not to say that “love is God.” Love is much more than abstract thought or mere emotion. C. S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, “The words ‘God is love’ have no real meaning unless God contains at least two Persons. Love is something that one person has for another person. If God was a single person, then before the world was made, he was not love.” Lewis went on to describe the eternal love of God as “a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, almost a kind of drama. Almost, if you will not think me irreverent, a kind of dance.”

The giving and receiving we call love is possible for and in us because God loved us first. “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we ought to also love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

“This is how we know that we live in him and he in us; He has given us of his Spirit And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us” (1 John 4:9-16).

There it is, the self-giving, sacrificial love of the Trinitarian God. The act of sending his Son Jesus into the world to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins was an act of God’s self-giving love. Those who receive his love in receiving Jesus Christ, are said to be capable of giving Christian love to others. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

On St. Valentine’s Day as we give and receive expressions of love, let’s remember where love originated.

Pasto Randy Faulkner

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Science and Faith are Friends

There exists in the popular imagination a cultural divide between science and faith. The rants of the new atheism have convinced some that science and the Bible are incompatible, that religion is a dangerous influence, that blind chance has replaced God, and that science has somehow disproved Christianity. So it is not surprising that some are suspicious of science.

Some are seemingly afraid of science because they feel ill equipped to engage in conversations about it. Debates about creationism, the origin of matter,  and the age of the universe are beyond them. They’d rather avoid getting caught up in discussions that are best left to physicists and philosophers.

The coronavirus pandemic has not only killed thousands of my fellow Oklahomans, but it has messed with the minds of many others. The same people who will trust science when it comes to boarding an airplane or submitting to anesthesia are skeptical of public health professionals’ recommendations. Many people (some of them are Christians) are unwilling to trust the science.

How might the church respond? First, by boldly declaring the truth that God is the creator and sustainer of the physical universe. Science supports the teaching that the universe is designed and fine-tuned for life to flourish. Belief in a creator God is a better foundation for science than is atheism. The only basis for valuing human life (as expressed in human rights declarations, for example) is a biblical understanding of human dignity. The scientific method was discovered and promulgated by scientists who believed in God. The history of science provides many examples. These facts should be emphasized in Sunday School lessons and sermons. True science is not in conflict with biblical faith.

Second, the church might respond by appreciating its members who are engaged with science in their work every day. It is easy to forget that there are faithful Christians in our churches who are engaged in scientific research, teaching, medicine, engineering, and agriculture. They should be encouraged as they integrate their faith with their vocations in the sciences.

Third, churches should be willing to explore how to help Christians engage in creation care. Environmental issues are in the news every day and are at the top of the cultural agenda. Just yesterday I was reading about a village on the North Sea coast of The Netherlands where industrial pollution from a steel plant is introducing hazardous materials into the soil, air, and surface water. This is endangering the health of the local people. Surely situations like this are a call to Christian advocacy when local circumstances are in conflict with biblical ethics. This is one way churches can help people understand how to apply spiritual principles in the physical world.

Fourth, Christians may set an example of humility and grace when it comes to difficult questions and controversies. We may take our stand on the authority of scripture and the gospel of Jesus Christ without demonizing those who disagree with us. For example, differences of opinion about the proper role of government in the current public health emergency have taken on the features of a culture war. They have found their way into churches, political platforms, and families. Sometimes they have exploded into open conflict. This is not the result of an honest discussion about science. It is prejudice.

Should Christians trust science? Not if it is pseudo-science. Not if it makes claims about God that lie outside the realm of science and cannot be demonstrated scientifically. But if scientific knowledge advances human civilization, health, and prosperity, it may legitimately be said to be a gift from God, and should be appreciated as such. Science and biblical faith are not  incompatible.

Science and biblical faith are not enemies. One of the key figures in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic has been Dr. Francis Collins, soon to retire as the director of the National Institutes of Health. About fifteen years ago I read his book, The Language of God. In it he told of his work as the head of the Human Genome Project which has laid the foundation for many beneficial applications in science and healthcare. He also gave his testimony as a Christian. He became a believer when he began an exploration, as a scientist, which led him to put his faith in Jesus as savior. In the book he said that he now believes that “the God of the Bible is also the God of the genome.”

Christian writer and apologist Rebecca McGlaughlin lives a short distance from the campus of MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She has friends who are teachers and researchers there. In her book Confronting Christianity, she said that “the roll call of Christian professors at MIT is impressive.” She named several of these distinguished individuals, along with their scientific and scholarly credentials.

She wrote, “The list goes on. And it extends far beyond MIT to leading Christian scientists across the world. If science has disproved Christianity, no one has thought to notify them!”

Science and biblical faith are friends.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Heart Knowledge over Head Knowledge

As a boy growing up in the 1950s, I felt the fear that many of my contemporaries felt when we were reminded of the threat of atomic war. I had nightmares. Sometimes tears flowed. The reminders were pervasive. Preachers described doomsday in terms of nuclear annihilation. Our teachers told us to hide under our desks. Newspapers calculated the travel time for missiles coming from Russia. Little wonder I was a scared little boy.

That is until I read a verse in the good old King James Bible, “The fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe” (Proverbs 29:25). I memorized that verse. I recited it to myself over and over. I cannot explain how it happened, but those childhood fears evaporated. I can only attribute it to the power of God’s word planted deep within.

Christian counselor K.J. Ramsey attributes this to “heart knowledge.” She described her own battle with fear when she had a serious illness. Writing in Christianity Today she said, “In that suffering the word hidden in my heart started countering my fear. I was confused and craving comfort, but God’s story was alive inside of me, welcoming me into the wonder that I am loved at my weakest.”

She quoted researchers in neuroscience and education who describe memory in two ways. “Heart knowledge” is embodied, autobiographical memory. “Head knowledge” is less related to lived experience. It is like the difference between rote learning and applied knowledge. She said, “The word has to be experienced and embraced as living, active and relational to become a lasting part of our autobiographical memory.”

This may be what Paul had in mind when he wrote to the believers at Colosse, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16). “The word” is God’s revealed truth, his message, holy scripture. “Dwell” means to live in or to be at home inside of us. “Richly” could be translated abundantly, or overflowing.

If I do this, it means that my Bible reading and memorization will be a response to the living God, hearing from him and treasuring his word. I will then learn his word with heart knowledge by applying it in my decisions, behavior, and thoughts. I will put to use the scriptures I am reading and memorizing, by praying them, sharing them and living them.

If Ramsey is right, there may even be a redemptive quality in my frustrations, anxieties, and pain. She cites brain research which tells us that learning is optimized in suffering. “When we come up against the limits of our knowledge of God and life, when we realize we are not in control . . . God has wired us so that our bodies release the very hormone we need to form new neural connections.” It is then that the implanted word is “rooted in our autobiographical memory,” our lived experience.

Proverbs 19:25 is still precious to me. It is a part of God’s word which has helped to shape my spiritual autobiography. Now when I am fearful or anxious about world events, it is comforting to remember the promise I hid in my heart over 65 years ago. “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe” (NIV).

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Why I Read the Bible

This year I have decided, once again, to read the Bible through in a year. I intend to follow the reading plan in the One Year Bible, The New Living Translation. The advantage to this plan is that every day includes readings from the Old Testament, the New Testament, and from the Psalms and Proverbs.

When I have done this in the past, I have been impressed by the Bible’s consistency of emphasis, even though it was written over a period of 1500 years in three languages, by about 40 different human authors. It has 66 books of several different literary genres. Yet its singular theme and central personality is Jesus Christ, and how to know God through him.

I believe it is important for every Christian to read the Bible as a regular part of daily life, whatever reading plan is adopted. (I do believe it is important to read systematically, and to have some kind of a plan, or method. I recently spoke to a man who said he selected Bible verses at random, reading wherever he happened to open the Bible. Generally, I do not recommend this approach. It is better to read the Bible as it was written, book by book, paying attention to the author’s purpose and theme.)

God speaks through the scriptures.

There are many good reasons to read the Bible. I want to emphasize just two of them. First, the Bible is God’s chosen method for communicating with his people. As we read his word, God is speaking to us. It is vital for us to pay attention to what he is saying about himself, what he wants us to believe, and how he wants us to live.

In Nehemiah 9:13-14 NLT the Jews were worshipping and praising God because he “came down on Mount Sinai and spoke . . . from heaven.” This illustrates a truth that is found elsewhere in scripture: God wants us to think of him as speaking to us through his holy word, the Bible. For example, as King David, the writer of psalms lay dying, he said, “The Spirit of the Lord speaks through me; his words are on my tongue” (2 Samuel 23:2 NLT). The Lord told Jeremiah the prophet, “See, I have put my words in your mouth!” (Jeremiah 1:9 NLT).

The apostle Paul said something similar to this in  1 Thessalonians 2:13 NLT. “When we preached his message to you, you didn’t think of the words we spoke as being just our own. You accepted what we said as the very word of God — which, of course, it was. And this word continues to work in you who believe.” This is a good reason for us to read the Bible. It is God communicating with us.

God feeds us though his word.

Just as our physical bodies need nourishment to survive and to thrive, our spiritual lives need the spiritual food of God’s word. Reading the Bible on a consistent basis, in an attitude of reverence, contributes to a believer’s spiritual growth and health.

The writer of Hebrews used this imagery to illustrate the importance of growing to maturity in the spiritual life. “You have been Christians a long time now, and you ought to be teaching others. Instead you need someone to teach you again the basic things a beginner must learn about the scriptures. You are like babies who drink only milk and cannot eat solid food. . . Solid food is for those who are mature” (Hebrews 5:12-14 NLT).

I am 75 years of age. But I do not want to stop growing in my Christian life. I want to receive the daily nourishment of God’s word for wisdom, discernment, and spiritual endurance. This will equip me to live the way God wants me to live throughout the coming year.

I want to listen to God every day as he speaks though his word. I want to communicate back to him in prayer. Relationships grow though good communication. I want to know God better throughout the coming year.

That is why I want to read the Bible through again in the coming year.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Confession of a Recovering Racist

With Martin Luther King Day approaching, I am thinking about the lily-white world in which I was reared. The adults in my life would have abhorred racial hatred. They would have never admitted to being racists. Yet bigotry was all around us. White supremacy was the air we breathed.

As a youth, I did not have the wisdom, maturity, or the vocabulary to challenge the institutionalized racism in that Southern culture. I live now with a sense of shame because of my lack of empathy at that time for black Americans. I have confessed this to some of my African American friends who have been exceedingly gracious, more understanding to me than I deserve.

I have just finished reading the excellent memoir by Philip Yancey, Where the Light Fell. This spiritual autobiography tells about his growing up in the racist South, one strand in his complex story. He grew up in a fundamentalist subculture that preached racial segregation and practiced ecclesiastical separatism.

Yancey’s background was similar to my own: a fundamentalist church, authoritarian leaders, the cultural milieu of white supremacy, and attempts to justify it theologically. His spiritual and social awakening paralleled mine: frustration with a rule-based religious life, a spiritual crisis while in college, and a growing understanding of the inherent dignity of people of all races, created in the image of God.

Yancey wrote about how he has attempted through his writings and personal relationships, to promote racial harmony and understanding. Throughout my ministry, I have tried to preach against racism and to promote inclusion. I have learned, instead of wallowing in regret, to accept God’s forgiveness for the racism of my youth.

More than that, I am called to take positive action. I serve as a volunteer chaplain in the Oklahoma County Detention Center. Most of the inmates I meet with are African American. It is a joy to bring God’s word and God’s love into that environment. My wife ministers as a tutor to an African American schoolboy and his family.

I am called to confess and openly acknowledge the stupidity and wickedness of racism. Several years ago I wrote a letter to my adult children in which I attempted to lay out my concerns about white supremacy and racial bigotry in our nation. I wanted them to know that I believe these have no place in the life of a Christian. I encouraged them to actively oppose structural racism.

I am called to recognize and support the legitimate concerns of my black neighbors: policing, voting rights, housing, health care. I will vote for and support political candidates who take seriously these concerns.

I am called to seek understanding. I may never fully appreciate how it feels to grow up as part of a racial minority group in this country. But that doesn’t mean I should not try to understand. That means I will listen. I will cultivate friendships. I once asked an African American friend, what I could do to promote racial harmony. His answer was simple. “Show up,” he said.

So that is what I am called to do. On this coming Sunday afternoon I plan to do what I have done for several years now. I will show up at the annual Martin Luther King Memorial Service at Saint John Missionary Baptist Church, where my friend Dr. Major Jemison serves as pastor. I will be a racial minority in that environment.

But I will gladly join the congregation in singing a song written by James Weldon Johnson that carries deep meaning for the African American community. I will sing enthusiastically as an act of love for my brothers and sisters: “Lift every voice and sing/ till earth and heaven ring/ ring with the harmonies of liberty/ Let our rejoicing rise/high as the listening skies/ let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

“God of our weary years/ God of our silent tears/ Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way/ Thou who hast by Thy might led us into the light/ Keep us forever in the path we pray/ Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee/ Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee/ Shadowed beneath Thy hand/ may we forever stand true to our God, true to our native land./ Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us/ Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us/ facing the rising sun of our new day begun/ let us march on till victory is won.”

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Jesus Shows God’s Care

Impassibility: The belief that God is incapable of suffering or of experiencing pain, that he is inaccessible to injury.

A friend of mine died recently. He suffered in a hospital for weeks before his passing. What did God know or feel of his pain? And what of the emotional pain of his wife and family who have lost a good husband and father?

The ancient Greeks taught that the deity cannot change, suffer or be affected by what happens in the material world. To them, divine transcendence means that God is absolutely separate and different from the evil world. If we understand impassibility as Greek philosophy explained it, then God could never expose himself to the experiences of our human life, not to mention suffering and death.

Yet Christianity teaches precisely what we have just celebrated in the Christmas message. The incarnation reveals how an infinitely holy God could and did enter humanity, uncorrupted by sin. God in Christ did not merely seem to be human. His physical nature was not an illusion. He was not an apparition. Jesus was a human being as well as a divine being.

His mother the virgin Mary was more than a passive vehicle though whom the holy child passed at birth. From her Jesus received a human nature. He had human ancestors. He possessed the full range of human emotion, including sadness, loneliness, joy, compassion, and love.

This means he was capable of suffering and identifying with our sufferings.
“Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4). In the words of Millard Erickson, “Jesus can truly sympathize with and intercede for us. He has experienced all that we might undergo. When we are hungry, weary, lonely, he fully understands for he has gone through it all himself” (Hebrews 4:15).

If we wish to know what God is really like, our best source of information comes from Jesus. God reveals himself in the divine-human Jesus. The apostle John put it this way: “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known” (John 1:18)

Although we may not be able to see God with natural vision, Jesus has made him known to us. His close relationship to the Father speaks to us of his previous existence at the Father’s side before he came to earth. He reveals God though his perfect human life, his teachings, his miraculous signs, his death and resurrection and his present ministry representing us to the Father.

My friend who died recently was a follower of Jesus. That means that there in the gloomy half-light of his hospital room, in the lonely hours of the long night, he was not alone. God was there to comfort him with the presence of the compassionate Jesus. This means that God feels the sorrow of his family. This means that they may know by experience God’s merciful and faithful care. Jesus has made the Father known to us.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Jesus and You in 2022

Recently I read the claim, put forward by a clergyman, no less, that Jesus never stated that he was the divine son of God. This writer would have us believe that what we have are Jesus’ “daily and constant declarations about how to be human and how we are to imitate him in his humanity.”

Jesus was most certainly human. But to imply that this cancels his claim to deity is is to misread the New Testament and to misunderstand Jesus’ plain words about his divine nature. If we take the Bible seriously we cannot escape the conclusion that it teaches us that Jesus is both God and man.

Even our Lord’s favorite name for himself, “Son of man,” is a messianic title taken from the Old Testament. It implies his ideal and perfect humanity. It also teaches his lordship, kingship, and ultimate rule over the whole world in a divine kingdom that will never be destroyed (Daniel 7:13-15).

So as we enter a new year let it be with the intention of keeping Jesus in the central place in our lives. “In all your ways acknowledge him” (Proverbs 3:6). “Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:11). Jesus even said that we are to honor him in the same way that we honor the Father in heaven. “Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him” (John 5:23).

In responding to his critics in John chapter 8, Jesus repeated the claim that he came from the Father, God, who sent him. “I stand with the Father who sent me” (v.16). “My other witness is the Father who sent me” (v. 18). “He who sent me is reliable” (v. 26). “The one who sent me is with me” (v. 29). “I have come from God” (v. 42). “He sent me” (v. 42).

Jesus also stated that his teachings came from God. “What I have heard from him I tell to the world” (v. 26). “I speak just what the Father has taught me” (v.28). “I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence” (v. 38). “I know him (the Father) and keep his word” (v. 55).

In John 14 Jesus said that we are to believe in him with the same faith that we reserve for God. “You believe in God; believe in me” (v. 1) “No one comes to the Father except through me” (v. 6). “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (v. 9). “I am in the Father and the father is in me” (v. 10). “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).

These are astounding claims. If they are true then in this new year of our Lord 2022 we must respond with some resolutions. With the disciple Thomas we must worship him as “my Lord and my God” (John 20:28). We must obey him as he told his followers, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching” (John 14:23). When we pray to God, we must approach him in the name (on the authority) of Jesus. “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete” (John 15:24). Added to these is the great commandment: “Love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12).

Many African American churches have “watchnight” prayer services on New Years’ Eve. There is testifying, singing, preaching and, and as midnight approaches, fervent prayer for the new year that is ahead. What a great way to acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus in the new year! It would not be a bad idea if every new day in 2022 began with our heartfelt declaration: “Jesus Christ is Lord!”

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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God’s Christmas Tree

Writing in the December issue of Christianity Today, Timothy Larson reminds us that the origin of the Christmas tree was medieval European sacred plays performed at Christmastime. These plays told the biblical story of redemption and included a decorated evergreen tree which represented the Tree of Life. This became a symbol of the season.

I have read that it was the German reformer Martin Luther who added candles, their lights representing starlight shining through the branches of the Christmas tree. Most of us have memories of being charmed by the mystical beauty of the decorated and lighted Christmas trees of our childhood. Perhaps it is the desire to recover that innocent joy that prompts us to decorate the tree again each year at Christmas.

As you enjoy your Christmas tree, consider the fact that there is another tree. It has no ornaments. It has no lights. It is not a thing of beauty. Rather it is a stark testimony as to the reason why Christ came to earth. Older English translations of verses like Acts 5:30 tell us that our Lord died on that tree.  “He himself bore our sins in his body on the the tree so that we might die to sins and live unto righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24). 

The latest edition of the New International Version translates “tree” as “cross.” The meaning is the same. The Greek word xulon in this context means a wooden pole, beam, cross, or gallows; a cruel means of execution. The cross upon which Jesus died may be thought of as God’s Christmas tree.

Romans 5:1-11 emphasizes the death Christ died for sinners. It repeats the words “death,” “died,” “die,” and “blood,” to explain why the Lord Jesus came to earth at Christmas. He died on that tree for a reason, in fact, for several reasons! Think about this as you gather with your family around your Christmas tree this year.

Here are some of the reasons Jesus died on the tree. These are like Christmas presents we receive when we trust in Christ as savior.

Peace with God. The Lord’s sacrificial death for us sinners makes possible a new relationship to God. Where once we were enemies (v. 10), now believers are at peace with God. “Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:14).

Access. Jesus, through his death on the tree, ushers us into the very presence of God where we may enjoy fellowship with our heavenly Father every time we draw near to him in prayer.

Hope. Christian hope is confidence that the purposes of God will be fulfilled in our lives according to his word. This hope never disappoints. One of the themes of this Advent season is hope. “We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God” (v. 3).

Love. God demonstrated his love for us in the death of Christ on the tree. He “poured out” his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to every believer.

Joy. Believers in Jesus may have joy because they are reconciled to God by the death of his Son. Indeed, they are justified though his blood and saved through his resurrection life. Joy to the world!

All of these gifts are real and attainable for those who will have faith in the Christ of Christmas. The manger is not the end of his story. In the words of Hannah King, “Jesus came down from heaven and then went further still: to the very depth of human shame and suffering. He did this for our sake.” He was born to die on the tree.

That tree, the cross, may be for you and me the Tree of Life.

Pastor Randy Faulkner