Why Christmas is Love

I think the Incarnation is loving.  If you're not familiar with the term, Incarnation is a technical theological term for God coming in the flesh in Jesus Christ.  The second person of the Trinity actually became a human.  The equation goes something like this:  100% God + 100% Man = 100% Jesus.  It's a little mind-boggling, but so it goes with God.

And I think that's an incredibly loving thing for God to do.

Here's why:  the Incarnation was loving because the Crucifixion was coming.

If God, in Jesus, didn't take on flesh, then no human could be saved.  There's an old theological maxim that goes like this:  what is not assumed cannot be saved.  In other words, God had to become a human to save humans.  That's reflected in the passage I preached Sunday - "He had to be made like his brothers" (Heb. 2.17).  Another translation says, "It was necessary for Him..."

Beautiful.  God became one of us to save us.

The Incarnation was loving because the Crucifixion was coming.

Sermon Notes from Sunday, 12.22.13, on Hebrews 2.14-17

Here are the sermon notes from Sunday, 12.22.13, the last Sunday of Advent.  You can get these notes in PDF and the sermon audio at sermons.heritagepark.org.  You can also download the audio via our podcast on iTunes.

Love at Christmas

Hebrews 2.14-18

Christmas shows God’s love.

·      You cannot separate the incarnation and crucifixion of Jesus

·      God’s love gets focused at the cross

·      The cross is God’s permanent answer to the ongoing question

Christmas means the fear of death is destroyed (v.14-15).

·      Because of the cross, we can live forever

·      Death is no longer a curse – it is release

·      The cross is God’s permanent answer to the unknown of death

Christmas means the distance is spanned (v.17).

·      The high priest mediated the relationship between God and His people

·      Propitiation:  turning away God’s wrath by just destruction of the offense

·      The cross is God’s permanent answer to the question of forgiveness

Christmas means help is certain (v.16,18).

·      There is nothing you go through that Jesus doesn’t know

·      The cross is God’s permanent answer to the question of care

He loved us so much that He…

Destroyed our greatest fear

Dealt with our greatest problem

Decided never to leave us alone

The Irony of Affluenza

If you have had your head under a rock for the past few days, you missed the Affluenza Defense set out by the defense attorneys of 16-year old Ethan Couch, who was found guilty of going for more beer (they had already stolen some from Walmart) in his dad's pickup whereafter he crashed and killed four people.  Here's a NY Times piece on it.

It's terrible.

Here's what's worse.  The judge in the case bought the defense's argument for a lesser sentence because poor Ethan Couch hadn't had a mommy and daddy who snatched him up and busted his tail every so often when he got mouthy or out of line.  Because his parents didn't set boundaries, they argued, Ethan Couch didn't know how to act in society.

And the judge bought it.  Judge Jean Boyd sentenced him to probation and a stay at a long-term rehab facility.

And the irony:  by letting the kid off with probation and rehab, the judge has participated in and perpetuated whatever state of stupidity and irresponsibility Ethan Couch lives in.

And that's just wrong.  Four people are dead.  And a rehab facility has another celebrity-ish client.

Wrong.  Wrong.  Wrong.

Praying for Adoption Stuff

We have some great friends.  Seriously.

I have a couple of friends in the doctoral program I'm in that have emailed to say they're praying for us and how to pray more specifically.  Tons of folks on Facebook have prayed, bought shirts, and asked how to pray specifically.  People at church who aren't on Facebook have done the same.  Ministry friends from Kansas and Missouri have jumped in on the prayer and support thing.  Friends, family, and friends who pretty much are family have rallied and prayed and shared.  The adoption community has shared our situation and opportunity and many have emailed to say they're praying and some have bought shirts.

On and on I could go.

So just in case you're wondering, here are some specific prayer requests:

1.  We're waiting on a key piece of paperwork called the Letter of Acceptance/Approval (I've heard it both ways, but the key is LOA).  The short reason why it's important:  it readies us to begin the visa and travel process.  We've asked for expedited everything.  It's a mountain.  But God moves mountains.

2.  We're praying for health for Maggie Mei.  Her diagnosis is pretty severe.  But heart conditions bend to the authority of Jesus.  Even now, God can send forth His word and heal her (Psalm 107.20).  It's a mountain, but mountains were formed by and they relocate at the Lord's bidding.

3.  Monday the Queen is meeting with a cardiologist.  You can pray we get good information and get answers to any number of questions we have.  Again, a mountain.

4.  We're praying and invite you to pray along with us for a travel date for January 17th.  If not, we get stuck behind Chinese New Year and offices being closed and so forth.  This is an Everest.  But since we're asking for big things, we figured we go ahead and put that out there.

Thanks for praying.

Sermon Notes for Sunday, 12.15.13, on Hebrews 12.1-3

Here are the sermon notes from Sunday, December 15th, on Hebrews 12.1-3, as part of the third Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Joy.  You can get these notes in PDF and the sermon audio at sermons.heritagepark.org.  You can also download the audio via our podcast on iTunes.

Christmas 2013

Third Sunday of Advent:  Joy

Hebrews 12.1-2

God is after our JOY

·      God desires your JOY for His glory

·      God commands JOY for all sorts of people

·      God pursues JOY for all sorts of people – Beatitudes

Jesus acted for His JOY

·      Jesus made the trade of heaven for earth in the Incarnation

·      Jesus endured the trial of the cross in His crucifixion

Application

The promise of joy helps us make good trades (v.1)

Two Good Trades:

1.     Trading for something we need (whether or not we know it)

2.     Trading for something we want

Two Good Reasons:

1.     What He Promises

2.     Who is Promising

The promise of joy helps us endure hard trials (v.2-3)

·      With Jesus as our example, we are called to endure trial

·      Staying faithful in the trial is possible because we know the joy promised

·      Joy of Lord is strength

Fear, Accountability, and stuff like that

I'm writing a paper for my most recent class on the theology of accountability in Jonathan Edwards.  Sound like a snoozer?  It's not.  Frankly, it's scared me more than a little bit.

I believe (and I think Edwards did too) that we must give an account to God for our lives.  It's not that we won't be covered by the blood of Jesus for our sin.  It's that we must give an account.  Edwards' last official sermon to his people at Northampton after they fired him was about how they and he must stand before God on Judgment Day to give an account for how the ministry was done and how the minister was treated.  That's courage.  Or conviction.  Or both.

Consider these verses, see if they place an appropriate amount of fear in you:

He who made the ear, does He not hear?  He who made the eye, does He not see? (Ps. 94.9)

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil (2 Cor. 5.10)

And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account (Heb. 4.13)


And there are many, many more.  Sin is tempting, but remember that accountability is real.  And that kind of fear is good in preventing us from sin and pushing us toward holiness.

Raising Funds for Our Adoption

To all faithful blog readers and lovers of our family:

We have great news on the adoption scene and it is moving forward as fast as things move like this.  Paperwork is being processed and we hope to have even more news in the coming weeks.  Unless God intervenes in a New Testament Miracle kind of way, it doesn't look like our Maggie will be home by Christmas.  There's some hurt in that but some trust too.  Hopefully the latter outweighs the former in our hearts.

Because things are tracking on along quickly, we're asking for anyone who wants to help out to help out.  There are two basic reasons we're reaching out like this now:

First, with our Peanut, we had 18+ months to work to save.  That allowed us to more or less pay cash for the fees, etc., that went along with the adoption.  We obviously don't have that luxury of time here.  We're at 18 weeks in the process with about 8-12 more to go.  But that doesn't add up to 18 months.  Our capacity to work and save is hindered by the calendar.  As a brief aside, some may want to know why are we pushing so hard on getting her home.  The answer is because of her heart condition, she needs immediate medical attention.  We could burn through our savings to get her, but we also anticipate needing substantial money for her medical needs.  So we're asking for help.

Second, we want to invite people into the process with us.  So many celebrated Peanut's homecoming and dedication in 2009.  But not many got to participate in the earlier stages.  This is an opportunity to do so.  The things we have done and are doing (like the garage sale that many of our friends and neighbors jumped in on) are designed to help people feel like they are working with us, participating with us in the project to Bring Maggie Home, our rallying cry.

So, the calendar and participation.  That's our heart.  So here are the details:

Our estimation of total expenses for the adoption is around $35,000.  We're about $12,000 into that already and have been able to meet all our expenses from working, garage sale, and a few donations.  We're not trying to cover all the rest, but as much as possible.

One big way you can help is purchase a t-shirt.  You see the link in the top right of this blog and here is a link to my wife's post about it.  Husbands, it's a great Christmas idea for the wife.  Trendy and stylish and with a good cause attached.  Again, we're about participation - we want you to know (and others to know too!) that you're helping do something that changes the world.

The other big way you can help is by sharing the info about it.  If you run a blog, you can copy the code in the text box and put that in your blog.  Please tweet info about it.  Please share it on Facebook.  Everything you can do to help is a huge blessing to us.  100% of the proceeds go to Bring Maggie Home.

Snakes are Scary: Antisocial Technology

Thoughts for a Thursday

Quotable:

"Sweeping generalizations about the poor act like a a cancer that destroys our compassion and generosity...Often, we figure they don't deserve our help, but that is not the issue.  After all, Jesus loves us and died for us even though none of us is deserving of it...Here's the irony:  we judge families who get government help while we fail to help those very same people.  On top of that, we often advocate shutting down the very social programs that keep their kids from starving.  If the government discontinued all welfare programs tomorrow, I'm not sure we would be ready, willing, or able to help all of the people in need in our communities."  ~ Johnny Carr, Orphan Justice, p. 93

Something worth thinking about.


P.S.  As a quick note, I am finding that posting thought-provoking quotes like the one above out of a book or article I'm reading or have read is a worthwhile conversation starter.  Agree or disagree with anything in the quote, I hope it provokes thought and conversation.

A boring part of the Bible

Admittedly, not every part of the Bible is miracles and awe-inspiring.  I'm currently in the part that's not.  I use the M'Cheyne reading plan and I'm plowing through the Chronicles right now.  The first several chapters of 1 Chronicles are genealogies and, if I can be honest and still remain a pastor, ridiculously boring.

And so I was laying out the boring nature of these genealogies for God and reminding Him of how good a Christian I am that I don't skip these parts and He reminds me of two things...

First, the genealogies are roots.  They locate the story among a people.  Real people.  Real histories.  Real families.  Real happenings.  Real connections.  Real stories.  This is not some disconnected, golden tablet, angel revealed craziness.  The events happened in a real context with real people.  All of the stuff following in 1 Chronicles happens, at least in part, because Shimea met and married a nice Jewish girl and had Berechiah.

Second, the roots remind me that God uses real people.  None of them were perfect.  All of them failed the good and faithful servant test at some point.  But these were the people who perpetuated the Jewish lineage.  And, more specifically, these were the people who perpetuated the Messianic lineage so that another Jewish boy would meet and marry another nice Jewish girl, and though it didn't look like they thought it would, Joseph and Mary would be earthly parents to the One who would rescue us all.

When God reminded me of that, I had a little less attitude and a little more perspective.  Here's hoping you do too.

Comments on happenings (nothing profound)

So much is happening!  It's hard to comment on it all...

Apparently, you can plagiarize if you're a pastor who has a substantial following.  

As bad as plagiarism is, letting yourself (if you are a journalist) become the story instead of telling the is pretty bad too.  Janet, are you listening?

If you can find a better ending of a football game on any level by any team than the Alabama v. Auburn game from this past Saturday, please send it to me.  Are you kidding me?  All they needed was for that Chris Davis kid to take out a guy playing trombone in the end zone.

My alma mater, Baylor, needs a mind-jarring, fog-clearing, confidence injection.  Ever since Bryce Petty got tripped up by that piece of turf and Shock Linwood tried to do something only a freshman would do, they're heads are not screwed on tight.  And Texas is coming to town.  Please, wake up Bears.

Advent is here.  It's my favorite church season.  Don't get me wrong, I love the message of Easter.  But I love the season of Advent.  There's a rhythm to it that helps people connect to something bigger than themselves if they let it.  And as a Baptist, we didn't do that as a kid nor until I really came to pastor at Heritage Park.  Honestly, I think we did it on a whim the first time.  We'll call that divine intervention.

This is an interesting piece of satire from Stephen Smith regarding some popular preachers and how hard and fast they draw the lines on men's and women's roles in the church.  An interesting piece, indeed.

I had a theology professor completely misrepresent another theologian in an email.  What the professor didn't know was I was sitting with someone who knew the other's material so well that there was chapter and verse quoted about just how wrong the professor was.  Dang I hate it when that happens.  It's like an academic beatdown.

If you haven't seen or heard the Christmas stuff from Pentatonix, you're missing pretty cool stuff.

That's all.  Enjoy.

Spot it! Game - family fun

If you haven't encountered the Spot It! game by BlueOrange games (what are they, Florida Gators?), you need to.  And now.

It's crazy affordable. ($12 or so)

It's hilariously fun.

My 6-year old has dominated both of her brothers and dad at some point.  Genuinely.

You get to play about a billion different games with it.  Tower is our favorite.

Did I mention it's fun?

Go grab it, and grab it now.  And laugh hysterically tonight as you enjoy hot cocoa and getting whooped by a 6-year old.

Enjoy - and you're welcome. :-)