And when these things begin to come to pass,
then look up, and lift up your heads;
for your redemption draweth nigh.
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March 20, 2008:Traditions | Just a few more weary days and then... I'll fly away... And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. |
| December 29, 2007:New Year's 2008 | ||
| November 3, 2007:How To Be Successful in Christian Ministry | ||
| October 23, 2007:Salmon |
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| The Word William H. Haller |
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The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. This is the message the quarterly writers proclaimed in this joyous Christmas season. It is the message we are to declare by our daily lives and by our mouth as Christians.
I'm going to be brief today, as I know that everyone wants to get home to spend more time with family and friends on Christmas Eve.
Who was this Word that John speaks of. It is none other than Jesus, the Christ, the eternal living God who created everything, the Light shining in the darkness, the one foretold of the prophet John the Baptist, crying out in the wilderness, the true Light that came so that all could receive salvation and be reconciled to God the Father, having their sins swept away in God's sight.
It is this Word, that was rejected by so many of the Jews to whom He was first sent. It is this same Word that provided a reconciliation to the Gentiles - the "every man" that is spoken of in verse 9. To those who received Him, he gave power - "exousia: delegated power; the liberty and right to use power" to be saved and to go forth to spread the news of His birth, life, and death for all mankind.
Today, I would ask that our church, and indeed every church who may read this message, ask themselves what Christ would do if he was living today? What would His work look like? Clearly, our individual and corporate ministries will not be identical to that of Christ, were He to be alive today. But we should be conformed to Him closely enough that even though there would be differences, to be sure, they would be seen as similar.
We need to set aside our personal and denominational fiefdoms. Christ came to be the saving propitiation for the sin of mankind, to be sure. But, as was prophesied in Isaiah, he also came to preach good tidings unto the meek, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and to release those who are bound (probably to release the souls from paradise where they were held and to take them to heaven, but perhaps also to free us from the things that keep us figuratively bound.)
He did not come 2,000 years ago to create a personal empire on Earth or to take down the Empire that was oppressing His people. That will be the purpose of His Second Advent, His second coming to Earth after the tribulation. Too many individuals are using Jesus to create personal empires for themselves and make themselves rich. They preach an easy, feel good, inclusive message, that everyone likes to hear, rather than the message the Christ preached. What were some of the words that the Word told us about how we were to live.
One day, all the work that everyone has done, whether good or bad, will be brought to light and judged. We should all look for the eternal rewards in Heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt instead of building personal kingdoms. (Mt 6:19-21) It is said that when Christ finished His "Sermon on the Mount" that people were astonished at His doctrine. I suspect that people, even those in the Christian church today, would be just as astonished at His doctrine if He were to come and speak out to us today.
When you look at Christ's message in His day, he was critical of few people. He didn't criticize the government - in fact He said people should render to Caesar the things that were Caesars. He didn't criticize the sinner - in fact He said let whoever is without sin among you cat the first stone, while quietly writing on the ground. The only real group that the Word, the Light of the world was critical of was the very group that was rejecting Him - the religions leaders of His day.
Christ Himself taught an inclusive Gospel. All could come to Him and receive forgiveness of their sins. But that was where the inclusiveness ended. Sin cannot be counted among believers in Him. To come to Him and ask for forgiveness was a good thing. But you can't continue in sin. That is where the inclusiveness in the church today has gone astray. All must be welcome to come and learn how to become Christians - how to accept God's saving grace. But they must turn from their sins and their wicked ways. They must accept Christ as Lord in their lives. Repentance is hard. Sometimes repentance costs. But God expects us to turn from our evil past when we accept Christ as our Savior. Heaven is not an inclusive place. Those who commit sin will never live there (Rev. 21:6-8; 22:12-20).
Today, in the Christmas season, I would ask that each of us see what we can do to be better than the religious leaders of old. Because Christ came, lived and died, and returned to Heaven to sit on the right hand of God, He has sent the Holy Spirit to us, to be our parakletos on Earth. Much of the Jewish religious world rejected Christ in His day. Today, much of the Christian religious world rejects the work of the Holy Spirit beyond His help in leading one to salvation and convicting of sin. Yet we need his power in us to live our lives for Christ and to do His work.
It is the power of God, through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, that made the apostles' ministries stand out and be effective. I pray that today, each church that calls itself Christian would have the Holy Spirit poured out afresh upon its members and that Christians who are attending other churches or perhaps not attending any church, would feel a renewal of the Holy Spirit's power in their lives and find a church to help work for God in in the coming year.
I had a dream this Christmas Eve morning. I normally don't share my dreams, but this one was worth sharing. I and my wife had tickets to see the opening of a play. This was a special theater where you could sit behind the stage if you had a special ticket and look out on the actors as they did their work instead of sitting in the audience. We would normally set in the audience, but this night we decided to set in the backstage area. There weren't many non-performers there. There weren't any assigned seats, but we found a place we could lay down and watch. When the lights went up, it was blinding, but we could make out the full house out watching the stage. The players started saying the parts they knew, and the special effects started running, complete with flying cameras over scale models of towns and everything. But nobody in the audience could hear what the actors were saying because the sound system wasn't working.
The actors were trying to figure out what to do, because they could see the people were getting restless. The actors were pleading with the people to stay and saying that they would get the technical problems figured out. Just give the technical staff some time. The engineer was looking all around with his equipment searching for the problem, way down below where the model village was at, gradually working his way up to where I was standing.
There was this great big cable coming out of the wall and every time I would touch it the sound would come on and people could hear what was being said. But the sound men were looking everywhere but the cable. I tried wiggling the cable and showing them that when I touched it the sound system worked. But they didn't seem interested. They were sure they could find the solution without listening to someone who wasn't part of the crew.
The people were starting to leave the theater and we were leaving as well, making our way out to where the cars were parked along with the rest. Some were asking if there would be a make up performance, but most were just driving off, having never seen the fantastic show that could have been there.
You wonder why I harp on being baptized in the Holy Spirit, and why I pray that this day, this Christmas Eve, that God will pour out His Holy Spirit again? It is just this. The Holy Spirit is Christian's power cord. It is power from up above, not the most glorious technical special effects that we can create down in our model villages below that let the Word be heard. Christ commanded His followers to tarry in Jerusalem till they be baptized to overflowing in the Holy Spirit. Having the Holy Spirit do His part to get us saved is important for us, to be sure. So is His corrective work that He plays via what is called our conscience in correcting us. He comforts us when we are down and discouraged.
But the baptism in the Holy Spirit was given so that those actors, tarrying without power in Jerusalem, would have power to become witnesses for Christ, both in Jerusalem, and in Judaea, and in Samaria, and to the utmost parts of the Earth (Acts 1:8). We can be saved and go to Heaven by just accepting Christ as our Savior, repenting of our sinful ways. But Christ Himself told us that we cannot be powerful witnesses for Him without the baptism in the Holy Spirit. We need a power pipeline from God Himself to let our voices be heard and let His play be properly acted so that the people in the audience will be able to hear.
Tomorrow, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Christ, over 2,000 years ago. It should never be just another Holiday gathering of Christians. Let us always remember what He came and did for us. But let us also remember that He left us with a challenge, with work to do, and the promise of the power to carry it out through the Holy Spirit. Let us not be like the Jews of Jesus time who rejected Jesus!
If He comes again in the clouds to take those who have accepted His promise of Salvation to heaven, let Him find us about His business. We need to work together to accomplish that business. We need all the power that He promised us to be successful against the enemy. We can do nothing effective on our own. Let us seek His help, in all of Its manifestations and band together with one another to carry out His work.
P.S. This is the season of giving. The gift of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is promised to all believers without exception. It is a gift. You can't earn it. You can't buy it. It is freely given by the Father to those who seek it. All that is required on your part is that you receive it! Seek the gift and receive it when it is freely given to you. You'll never be the same again.
