Disheartened

I just received an email from the River City Sports and Social Club to come to their Christmas party. Admission: a wrapped toy, $10 value to help "Sergeant Santa." Ok, hanging out with friends, providing presents for underprivileged kids, these seem like legitimate reasons to have a party. But the poem that came with the invitation really got me, consider the following lines:

Twas the end of the year, when all through the bar
not a player was sober, not even the "star."

No thought about sleeping, there's kegs to be tapped,
And Sudsy is looking for more than just a night cap.

The players were nestled face first in the keg
while seasons of football replayed in their head...

He whistled, and shouted, and called them by name,
"On football, now dodgeball! Now wiffleball & volleyball!" "On kickball"

And somewhere I heard on this eventful night,
"Just do it for the kids and give it all your might!!"

Picture a typical Nativity scene ... get that scene in your head, all that is represented there... what part of this party has anything to do with Christmas? Nothing. "But wait, the magi brought presents to Jesus ... and Jesus was God's gift to the world! So giving gifts lines up, right?" Yes, but the magi brought gifts to honor and worship the King of Kings ... and Jesus was a gift given to sacrifice himself for the sins of humanity. No parallels there. But, wait there is one big parallel: worship. Worship is the common denominator in this party and the first Christmas. But the worship offered by shepherds and magi (even though I realize the magi weren't there the night Jesus was born) and declared by angels was appropriate worship; it was directed to the One who is worthy of being declared worthy. The worship that will take place at this party will be given to idols, to the false gods of alcohol and recreation, and ultimately, to the false god of self. And this saddens me.

We live in a world of idolatry, where people seek to fill their emptiness with false promises of fulfillment, and the quicker the results the better (i.e. - a couple beers equals decent buzz in a matter of minutes). Now, this particular event also includes buying a gift for a poor kid, which will inevitably serve to ease whatever conscious may be left in those that are worshiping alcohol. The faulty system of moral balances ("I did something good by bringing a present, so I earned a night of drunkenness") will ensure that all the beer is consumed. But this Christmas party is particularly interesting (read sad) because it is all done in the name of the One who deserves worship, and yet, He will get no recognition, no worship... in fact, He will be blasphemed by practices of false worship.

I know I can't be mad at the world for being the world, but I think it is highly appropriate to be disheartened, and broken, at the thought of a club like this with a substantial following, whose gods are sports and beer. This should drive all true worshipers to brokenness and prayer, and give us open hearts to share truth with those living far from God. In this season especially, may we have our eyes and hearts open to share with those whose hearts are empty. I think I'll be attending this party ... and bring a Gift.

The Reason He Came

Matthew 1:21 says "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Our sins were always in view when Jesus left glory to reveal God's love. So not only did He leave the glories of Heaven and enter into the existence of a human being subjected to the same pain, sickness, temptation, hunger, and trials of humanity ... He did it for an undeserving helpless people. The valor of doing something heroic and self-sacrificing seems to be accentuated when it is done for a sweet little child, or someone who deserves the efforts made to save them. But what valor is there for He who gives His life for His enemies? None, for he seems foolish to the world. But in this foolishness we are saved, saved from the foolishness of our sins and foolish attempts to get to Him on our own. He came to us, to save us from our sins, and bring us to Himself.

Isaiah's Perspective ... Shepherds' Perspective

Continuing this theme of understanding just how far it is from Heaven to earth ... consider what Isaiah saw and what the shepherds saw.

John said Isaiah saw Jesus' glory. When did that happen? Well, in the context of the passage we see John quoting a portion of Isaiah 6 ... so what happened in Isaiah 6? If you read 6:1-5 you see a pretty intense description Isaiah has of a King, a King on a throne ... in the temple. And this King is wearing a robe so majestic if fills up the entire temple. And there are angels, weird looking angels, declaring the glory of this King ... "holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty ... the whole earth is full of His glory." And as if that wasn't intense enough, the place starts to shake and fills up with smoke. That guy, that King, that's King Jesus ... in all His glory.

Now ... how does this same Jesus look in Luke 2? He's tiny. Helpless. Wrapped in strips of cloth, not robes of majesty. He's surrounded by animals and their food ... both pre-digested and post-digested I'm sure ... not smoke and shaking doorposts and six-winged flying worshippers. It's a different scene folks. Same Jesus. Emptied. Stepped out of glory into humility. Hebrews 2 says that he shared in our humanity, that "He had to be made like his brothers in every way." (v. 17) Jesus gave up more in the incarnation than we realize. And the reason He had to stoop so low? Our sin, our guilt, our need. He was born a little baby, helpless. He became helpless because we are helpless.

Now, there were some similarities in what happened in Isaiah 6 and in Luke 2. Consider the difference in the message of the angels. Isaiah 6 - declaring his holiness and glory, no mention of peace or good news. Luke 2 - these angels also declare his glory, but then ... “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (v. 14) A declaration of peace. The journey from Heaven to earth brought the hope for peace on earth.

Another similarity is in the effect the encounter had on Isaiah and on the shepherds. Re-read these accounts and see for yourself. Good stuff.

More Distance Than We Think

I'm sitting here in our family room, tree lit, kids asleep, Joanna reading her Bible, and a pretty clean house. The house wasn't so clean earlier; it took a little work throughout the day to get it this way. But the distance between a dirty house and a clean house wasn't so great today, b/c the house wasn't in terrible shape. Exactly UNlike the world Jesus was born into. It was a wreck ... and the distance He came to get here was enormous ... we were literally worlds apart. The distance from dirty to clean wasn't much for us today because we were kinda close to clean already, but the distance from dirty to clean for humanity is enormous. And it's because this distance is so great that Jesus came to earth. But the fact that we don't realize just how far from clean we are is the reason we don't realize just how far from earth Heaven is. It's the reason we aren't as amazed as we should be at the incarnation. The distance covered in the incarnation was more than we think.

I fear that we underestimate just how great a distance it was. Often because we don't think we're really that bad; we don't live with an honest assessment of how desperate we are without Christ. Or we tend to think we deserved a Messiah; God's ultimate plan was my salvation and so of course Jesus came (and if it's such a given that He would come ... then it probably wasn't too big of a deal for him to get here). These presumptuous thoughts lead us to misunderstand that the life of Christ was defined by sacrifice, even in the incarnation. Jesus stepped out of glory, as Paul said in Philippians 2 ... "he emptied himself." He didn't slightly alter himself; He didn't forgo some of his glory; He didn't pretend to hurt while all the while maintaining a god-like resistance to human pain. We think we sacrifice when we go on a one week mission trip to a lesser developed nation ... for one week. How bout out of the glory of Heaven into a feeding trough ... to begin a 33 year journey. He went the distance, a whole lot of distance ... to get to us ... so we could get to Him.

John 12:41 offers some insight for understanding the great distance from Heaven to earth: "Isaiah said this because he saw His glory and spoke about him." What is John talking about? When did Isaiah see Jesus? More tomorrow.

The Christmas Bug

I got it early this year. So did Joanna. In fact, we bucked tradition and put our tree up today (instead of the day after Thanksgiving, which would be tomorrow). I know it's only one day, but we feel like we got in a whole extra week of Christmas celebration by our early start. This early Christmas excitement also comes with a fresh hunger for deeper insight into the all too familiar Christmas story, which coincides nicely with my desire to post more regularly. So, here we go ... it's November 25, a month til Christmas ... and this is the first of a month's worth of posts that will ultimately center around the miracle that sets the scene for my salvation ... the incarnation. God ... in the flesh. Here. On this earth ... from Heaven. I think my complacency with the story stems from a lack understanding about just how far it is, the trip from Heaven ... to earth. More tomorrow.