A Word about Repentance on the Road to the Cross

Today I want to share a word about repentance on the road to the cross as I comment on Matthew 3. We will begin by reading verses 1-6:

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’” Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

Introduction:

One thing that bemuses foreign visitors to the USA is that we have so many legal jurisdictions. Each one of our 54 states and territories have their own legal statutes and traffic regulations. Much of them are the same, but the differences can trip up a driver.

For example, in many places in New Orleans it is almost impossible to make a legal left-hand turn. The usual routine is to go a block beyond where you want to turn left and then make three right turns until you are facing the direction that you wanted to go.

Also, it is now illegal to make a right turn on a red light in Washington DC. And if you drive your car into downtown Manhattan, you will have to pay a $9.00 per day tax.

It is very common for jurisdictions to ban U-turns. This is very inconvenient and irritating when your car’s navigation system instructs you to make one and then continues to fuss at you because you can’t!One interesting thing about the road to the cross is that it began with someone insisting we must make a U-turn.  

First, Let’s See the Preacher of Repentance:

We understand situations based on our perspective. Each of us has a role to play in God’s Kingdom. This is reflected in our spiritual gifts, and it is also reflected in our individual callings. 

Like a football player who plays only in certain game situations, we too have specific roles to play in God’s Kingdom. Paul taught the Corinthian church about this in 1 Corinthians 3:1-10 and this fact still applies to the church today:

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 

One very important but very difficult role is that of prophet. Prophets forth-tell the Word of God, and they confront sinful humanity with the truth of God. This is not a particularly pleasant task at times, as we see in1 Kings 18:17 & 18: 

When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?”  And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father's house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals.

It is a pretty tense day when the leader of your country calls you a troublemaker to your face! Still, Elijah did not back down, and he continued to share God’s truth!

In our passage today, we see that John, too, was a prophet of repentance. He was only the next in a long line of prophets. Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel and many others had come before he did, and each one made calls to repentance. 

Like Jonah, however, John specialized in this task. He knew his calling from God and the task that he was required to perform, and he engaged it with every fiber of his being, regardless of the cost to him. In the end it cost him everything.

We must remember that God does not call everyone to live and serve in the manner that John did. John had a specific calling and a specific mission that required him to live in the manner that he did. We probably will not be asked to do that.

However, each of us needs to ask the questions, “What is my Calling?” and “What are my spiritual gifts?” Then, when God answers those questions, we need to be willing, like Elijah and like John, to fulfill that calling using our gifts.

We Also Must See the Need for Repentance: 

Matthew 3:7-12 reads,

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Why was John sent to call people to repentance? Because repentance is necessary for salvation. Without repentance there is no salvation as Jesus taught in Luke 13:1-3, which reads:

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

In Acts 3:19 Peter told the Sanhedrin, the Jewish leaders in the Temple and Jerusalem, the same thing: 

Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.

But what does it mean to repent?

• It does not mean to just feel sorry, nor to do penance.
• It means to make a decision of the will to do right.
• It means that we agree with God about our sin, and we have decided to seek His help in blotting it out.
• It means deciding to make a “U-turn” in our lives.

Another vital question to ask is, who needs to repent? To answer that, we must consider the Biblical record which would include:

• The people who know that they are sinners, like the woman who anointed Jesus with oil.
• The people who aren’t sure if they need to repent, like the woman at the well.
• People who don’t think they need to repent, like the Pharisee who prayed arrogantly.

In short, all people need to repent, Romans 3:9-12 tells us:

What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Human pride rejects the concept of repentance. Our opinion in this matter doesn’t matter, however. The Holy God of the Universe says that we must, and He wants us to show the world that we have.

Next, We See the Symbol of Repentance: 

Matthew 3:7-12 reads,

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented.

Symbols are important, even if they are not important in themselves. They are important because they represent a deeper meaning, like the symbols on a road sign or the symbols on the controls on a car. The symbol of repentance is baptism.

Baptism was a relatively new practice at this time. Converts to Judaism were often baptized as a rite of passage and this might be why many synagogues were located near water. The Essenes, producers of the Dead Sea Scrolls, also conducted water baptism by immersion. Without the right meaning though, baptism has no effect.

Baptism is an audio-visual symbol of repentance to illustrate that people have decided to repent and allow Jesus to become their Savior and Lord. When you go under water it shows you died to your old life. When you come up it shows you have a new way of life. It is also a symbol of being washed clean of our sin by the shed blood of Jesus.

The proper meaning of baptism is a symbol of repentance and new life in Christ. If there is no internal change in your life before being baptized, then all you have done is gotten wet! However, if you have repented and received new life and are baptized, you have preached a powerful sermon to all who watched!

Finally, Let’s See the Example of Repentance:

Matthew 3:15-17 reads,

But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Jesus came to the earth for many reasons:

• He came to seek and save that which was lost.
• He came to defeat sin, and death, and hell. 
• He came to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. 
• He came to bring light to people walking in darkness.
• He also came to be a model for our lives, which is why Paul said, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ”

Jesus, being fully God and fully man, lived a sinless life, and he did not need to repent. John the Baptist knew this and tried to prevent Jesus. Jesus never sinned and was one with the Father. There was no need for Him to repent because He’s never done wrong. So, what was Jesus doing?

Jesus was leading by example.

Jesus was baptized because it was the right thing to do in His ministry as our spiritual leader. Leadership by example is the best form. The motto of a good leader is, “Follow me and do as I do.” The motto of a bad leader is “Do as I say, not as I do.”  Such is a poor leadership model. Jesus was baptized to show us what to do. We all need to follow His example.

Conclusion:

Jesus showed us what we need to do by His example of obedience, but before we can follow Him on the road to the cross, we must repent.

Just like the traffic codes that inhibit or prohibit making U-turns, many factors in our culture may inhibit us from repenting. As a country that began in rebellion, and which has promoted both rugged idealism and cultural conformity, taking a stand for Biblical truth is often difficult. 

The fact remains, however. The only way we can join Jesus on the road to the cross is by beginning with a U-turn.

Have you repented of your sin and become a child of God? If you are a child of God, do you have a besetting sin that is holding back your spiritual growth? In either case, Jesus has shown us what to do in these situations, and like John the Baptist, His counsel to us today and forever is: 

Repent!

A Word about a Vision of a New Beginning

Today I want to share a word about a vision of a new beginning as I comment on Luke 3: 1-20. We will begin by reading verses 1-3:

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Introduction:

Sometimes in life, we just need to start over. I remember a time when that happened in my childhood. It was painful at the time, but I learned from it.

I was in upper elementary school when I had an assignment to write what I thought was a very long paper. It probably wasn’t that long, and I don’t remember the subject. However, I do remember how long it took me to get that paper about 90% complete using pen and paper.

I have always been a slow writer and that evening it took me until nearly bedtime to get as far as I had. Then disaster struck!

My mom gave me a glass of milk as a snack to help me finish strong. I promptly tipped it over onto my paper. The paper was soaked, the ink ran, and all my efforts were ruined.

I began crying. I was literally crying over spilled milk!

I wanted to give up and go to bed, but my mother would not let me. Lovingly but forcefully, she told me to buckle down and start over.

I don’t remember if she said it on this occasion, but in similar circumstances she often told me to, “Straighten up and fly right.”

So, I dried my tears and got back to business. In the end, in a fraction of the time that I took during my previous efforts, I produced a better product.

In the same way, at the beginning of the 1st Century, God’s people needed a new beginning. They had made a mess of their relationship with God, they had neglected their mission from God, and they needed some forceful love from God. 

Our scriptures for today show us John the Baptist introducing this new beginning to the people of Jerusalem and Judea.

A Vision of the Present:

To be able to move forward in life, we must know where we are in the present.

On February 29, 1966, NASA astronauts Elliot See and Charles Bassett flew from Houston to St. Louis to undergo simulator training for their upcoming Gemini space mission. Lambert Field was experiencing clouds, rain, and fog. During the instrument landing, they became disoriented and started their approach from the wrong place. When they emerged from the clouds, they saw they were to the left of the runway and they tried to adjust, but crashed into a building and they both were killed.

If you start from the wrong place, it is very hard to end at the right place. This is why we reconcile our bank accounts, and why businesses take periodic inventories. You must know where you are and what you have before you move forward.

At this time, God’s people were in a messy situation. Rome was in control, but that control was exercised in different ways in different places.

Jerusalem and Judea were ruled directly by Rome through Pontius Pilate. He was only concerned with collecting taxes for Rome and keeping the peace, often with a heavy hand.

Herod the Tetrarch, also known as Herod Antipas, was ruler in Galilee. He was the son of Herod the Great, and he was no more righteous or ethical than his father was. He had stolen his brother’s wife from him, and he imprisoned John when confronted with his sin. Later, when Antipas had the chance to free Jesus on the night He was betrayed, he just sent Him back to Pilate. From that moment he and Pilate became friends of like mind.

The Jews were divided into the Sadducees and the Pharisees. Worship took place in the synagogues as well as in the temple. Annas was the high priest by right, but he had been deposed by Pilate and replaced by his son-in-law, Caiaphas, who was officially the high priest, but Annas was still very influential.

In the middle of all of this turmoil, the Jewish faith had degenerated into liberalism and fundamentalism, and neither branch was interested in God’s mission for Israel.

If this is where Israel was in the 1st Century, where are we today? We live in an increasingly secular society, in which people are increasingly frustrated and equally vocal about their frustrations. We are increasingly polarized in many areas of life, including politically, economically, and socially. 

Where are we personally? Are we committed to God’s mission for us? Or, are we engaged in self-centeredness and pride? John saw the clear need for Israel to repent. What about us, today?

Before we can have a new beginning, we must realize where we are. We must also realize from where we have come. 

Let’s continue by reading verses 4-6:

As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

A Vision of the Past:

One issue we have today in our churches and in our society is that our leaders often act as if history began when they took office. Our past is the foundation upon which we have built today, and today is the foundation upon which we build the future.

The New Testament was built upon the Old Testament. The New Covenant makes no sense to us without understanding the Old Covenant. The New Testament writers quote the Old Testament over 280 times, and this is what Luke was doing in our passage for today.

Like me in elementary school, Luke was writing a research paper. He had researched the Gospel story, and his books of Luke and Acts are his report of it to Theophilus. My report was spoiled, and I needed a new beginning. Luke’s report was that people had spoiled the Old Covenant and that they needed a new one.

The main thing to note is that the Old Covenant was a good one. The problem was that while God kept it, humans did not. And they were suffering because of it.

What about us? What have we spoiled in our lives? John’s answer for that is to repent and move forward. What have we done right? The Biblical answer to that is to build on them moving forward. How can we do these things?

We can find that answer in verses 7-9 and verses 15-18. Verses 7-9 tell us:

He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Verses 15-18 also tell us:

As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap   whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. 

A Vision of the Power:

When something is not working, we need to try something else. Doing what you did before without making any changes means you will get the same result. As one pundit said, “The only time hitting your head against the wall feels good is when you stop!”

Many times, when something is not working, is because it has no power. The first step in most trouble shooting check lists asks, “Is the power cord plugged in?” The second step is often, “Is the device turned on?”

A key problem with the Old Covenant was that people lacked the power to comply with it. Sin is addictive. The tagline from the potato chip commercial applies here: “You can’t eat just one.” People in their natural state can’t avoid yielding to sin. We can’t sin just once. It is literally and spiritually impossible.

It does not matter who you are, it doesn’t matter who your parents are, it doesn’t matter who you know, it doesn’t matter where you are from, no one can resist sin without help. And John was explicit about the results of sin:

First, sin separates us from God. No one can withstand God’s wrath. Also, God is like the farmer who is winnowing his wheat. He is separating the wheat from the chaff. The wheat is His harvest, but the chaff is blown away and discarded. Unrepentant sinners are left with no hope and no joy.

Sin also brings to us punishment. Sinners are cutdown like worthless trees and they are burned in fire. Unrepentant sinners are risking an eternal damnation in torment. Consider Luke 16:19-25:

There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.

The answer for this terrible problem, of course, is Jesus. John prophesied that Jesus, and here he is really saying only Jesus, can give people the power to overcome sin and avoid the desolation that was coming.

  

Sinners without Jesus remind me of a car sitting on a railroad track with a train coming. The train cannot and will not stop, but some sinners are oblivious to that fact, and they sit there until the train hits them.  Other sinners see the train coming, but try as they might, as desperate as they are, they can’t get their car started and the train hits them. Sinners who are hapless, helpless, and hopeless just throw up their hands in resignation, and the train hits them. Some may even get out of their car and dare the train to keep coming, and, of course, the train hits them.

The effects of sin hit like a freight train unless we get help. The only one who can help us, of course, is Jesus! He is the only one with the power and will to satisfy both sides of the Covenant! 

Finally, verses 10-14 show how His power will make a difference in our lives:

And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”

A Vision of the Possibilities:

John told the crowds that Jesus had the power to make the difference in their lives. Jesus also was righteous, which meant He not only could make a difference, but also that He was willing to do what it took to make a difference. He was willing and able to give us new beginnings.

New beginnings means that there are new possibilities. Old patterns are restrictive, and they often don’t support growth. This is why vintners in Jesus’s day did not put new wine in old wine skins. The old skins are hard and set in their pattern, but new wine needs to find its own shape, so to speak.

One way to make unproductive trees or vines more productive is to prune them. When we lived in the country, my wife wanted a muscadine vine, so I built an arbor and planted a male and a female vine at both ends. The vines grew and were productive for a season or two, but then they grew so big and matted that they no longer had the capacity to produce. The next winter I pruned them severely to the point that I was afraid I had gone too far, but I had not. The next summer they produced more than ever before.

Likewise, iron ore, silver, and gold are not very attractive in their natural state. When they are refined, however, and they are placed in the hands of a craftsman, they can be transformed into useful, beautiful, or beautiful useful objects.

Even more appropriate is the analogy of recycling aluminum cans or glass bottles. When one of these items is used, they become soiled, and then they are discarded. How much more like unrepentant sinners can an object be? Yet, these items can be rescued from the trash, melted, and then reformed into new, unused and unsoiled products.

In our passage for today, John gave some specific guidance to some specific people about their specific issues. Many other issues exist beyond these, and we might ask the question, what about us? What about my growth issues?

Paul wrote almost half of the New Testament and about half of all he wrote consisted of practical counsel about growing and maturing in the Lord. We cannot cover all of that at this time, but the message of our focal passage is clear:

• In Christ we can have a new beginning
• In Christ we have the power to grow and mature and change
• In Christ we can experience transformation
• In Christ we can avoid separation, desolation, and eternal damnation
• In Christ we can break out of our destruction patterns and find a new way of life

Conclusion:

When I looked down upon my ruined school paper, I wept, because I had lost hope.

When God looked down upon His ruined creation, He wept, and then He sent us the Source of Hope, Jesus.

John told the unrepentant sinners who came to him that they could have a new beginning. So can we today!

Happy New Year,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

A Word about a Vision of Devotion

 

Today I want to share a word about a vision of devotion as I comment on Luke 2:21-38. We will begin by reading verses 21-24:

And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord  (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” 

I have a friend in ministry who always corrects people when they say that they plan to give a “devotion” at a meeting. He is usually not very pedantic, but in this case, he correctly states that “devotion” refers to one’s commitment to another through love and loyalty, while “devotional” is a presentation for the purpose of motivating people for greater devotion to God.

Devotion as attitude and action is our topic for today, and as I was preparing this message, I was reminded of the time when the barnyard animals decided to show their devotion to their farmer on his birthday.

The cow, the pig, and the chickens debated the issue with many grunts, clucks, and moos, until finally the cow said, “We will serve him breakfast in bed. The menu will be eggs, and bacon, and milk.” Although the chickens agreed immediately, the pig objected violently. “For you other animals, that menu is an offering,” he protested. “For me it will be a real sacrifice!”

The story of Christmas did not end with the birth of Jesus. In fact, His birth was just the beginning of the story. The devotion to God which was exhibited by Zechariah and Elizabeth, and Mary and Joseph, and even the heavenly host and the shepherds was a continuing part of the Biblical vision of Christmas

The Parents’ Devotion:

The devotion of Mary and Joseph to God is what sustained them during the difficult and yet exciting process of the birth of the Baby Jesus. Luke clearly recorded Mary’s devotion before Christ’s birth:

• She was willing to risk scorn and ridicule and even banishment.
• She had the attitude of a servant, willing to do anything that God asked her to do.
• She accepted a high-risk birth in some very primitive conditions.
• She believed God had a higher purpose for all that she endured, and she kept looking for what it was and what God was about to do.

Joseph is often seen as a supporting character in these dramatic events, but he was as equally devoted to God and equally accepting of God’s will. Luke does not reveal much about Joseph before the first Christmas, but Matthew does. Matthew 1 tells us that,

• Joseph was a righteous man who loved and served God. 
• Joseph was a caring man who loved Mary, and he did not want to destroy her life.
• Joseph had determined to do the right thing (that was to divorce Mary), but in the most gentle way possible. He trusted that God’s Word was the right source of guidance for His life.
• When he was told to take Mary as his wife he did so, unhesitatingly. He also abstained from intimacy with her so as not to confuse the issue.
• Joseph named the baby boy Jesus, just as he was told to do.

The devotion of Mary and Joseph did not diminish after the birth of Jesus. Not only did they circumcise and name Him when they should have, they also took Him to the Temple in Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord and to offer the appropriate sacrifice.

A saying among teachers is, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” It has also been said that attitudes are, “Caught, not taught.”  Mary and Joseph were models of devotion for their children, including Jesus.

What about us?

Let’s continue by reading verses 25-35:

Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” 

Simeon’s Devotion:

Simeon is the first person we have seen in the Christmas story who lived in Jerusalem. Zechariah, though a priest, lived in Hebron, and he was only in Jerusalem during the days when his section of priests served in the temple.

Living in Jerusalem in those days would be like living in London today, or maybe New York or Washington DC. Jerusalem was the political, religious, and economic center of Israel. Culturally, Biblical Israel was 180 degrees out of phase with modern American society. In New Testament times, it was the people in northern Israel (i.e. where the Disciples came from) that were thought to be backwards hillbillies who “talked funny.” The intelligent, sophisticated people lived in Judea, and more specifically, Jerusalem.

Jerusalem was not what it used to be, however. In Hebrew, its name came to mean “the City of Peace” or “the Place of Peace.” However, it was not a peaceful place in the First Century.

The Romans controlled Jerusalem and had installed Herod as king. Herod was not Jewish, he was not chosen by God, he was not properly anointed, and he was not accepted by the majority of the people. Besides that, Herod was a murdering sociopath.

The Sanhedrin, the religious council of the Jews was divided along party lines. The Sadducees were religious liberals and politically aligned with Rome. The Pharisees were religious fundamentalists and bitterly opposed to Rome.

The Zealots were a group that advocated for the ejection of the Romans by force. Today they would be called freedom fighters by those they wanted to liberate, or insurrectionists by those they were fighting. Whatever you called them, they used the tactics of urban guerillas in the streets of Jerusalem. Collateral damage often occurred.

Roman military presence was extensive and heavy-handed. They even built a fortress that overlooked the temple that not only gave them the ability to overwatch it, but also remined the Jews of their subjection.

The people were heavily taxed by corrupt tax collectors, and they tried to live quiet lives in the midst of all this turmoil.

Simeon, like many in Jerusalem, prayed for peace. Unlike almost anyone else, however, Simeon had been filled by the Holy Spirit which allowed him to recognize the Baby Jesus as the one sent to save Simeon, Jerusalem, the Jews, and indeed, all of the world from their sin and the torment that sin brings in its wake.

Simeon did not let all of the noise and turbulence in society distract him from his devotion to God. When Jesus was born, the shepherds left the most important things in their life, their sheep, to go see the Baby Jesus. Simeon did not let all the cares of life drown his devotion to God. In return Simeon was in the right place at the right time to discover Jesus, the One who was the answer to all of his prayers.

Simeon was in the right place at the right time because he was doing the right thing for the right reason. 

What about us?

We conclude by reading verses 36-38:

And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. 

Anna’s Devotion:

Women are key players in the Christmas story, and they provide for us a vision of true devotion to God.

Some of these women, Mary and Elizabeth for example, expressed their devotion to God as they lived out normal, everyday lives. They had husbands or fiancées, they lived among their families, they worked their daily tasks, and in general, there was nothing particularly special about their lives. Still, despite this, they were truly devoted to God as they lived their private lives.

Anna, however, was different. She was one of the last people alive who could remember an independent Israel. In fact, some scholars believe that she may have been what we would call today a Gold Star widow. It seems likely that her husband of seven years was killed in battle during the time when Israel was fighting to stay free from outside control. 

After her husband’s death, God called her to be a prophetess and to devote herself to worship of Him. This included daily worship of God in the temple as well as fasting and prayer. You have heard of people who are at church every time the doors are open? This was Anna. Unlike Elizabeth and Mary, her life was one of public devotion to God.

There was no difference in the fact that Anna, Elizabeth, and Mary were all equally devoted to God. The difference was in the manner of their devotion, not the fact of it.

Paul told the church at Corinth that he was happy and content to devote all his life to God’s service, just like Anna. He was glad to be free from the concerns of everyday life so he could devote his entire life to Christ. Paul also realized that his calling was not one that God gave to everyone. Just as there are many spiritual gifts so are there many ways to express our devotion to Christ.

Anna’s devotion brought her to the temple every day. She too, was in the right place at the right time to discover Jesus. When she saw Him, like the shepherds and like Simeon, she praised and thanked God, and shared the news of Christ’s birth to all who would hear her. 

What about us?

Our Devotion:

Our Scriptures for today give us several different visions of devotion to God.

First, we see a vision of ordinary people being so devoted to God that they eagerly embraced extraordinary challenges.

Next, we see a vision of ordinary people being so devoted to God that they continued to worship and serve Him after the extraordinary challenges were over.

We also see a vision of people being so devoted to God that they could discern God’s way forward among all the hue and cry and confusion of a turbulent and conflicted world.

 In Anna we see a vision of people being so devoted to God that they left behind their former life to serve Him daily and continually.

The key element for each of the characters in the Christmas story was not the mode of their service, but their devotion to God and serving Him. 

What about us?

Conclusion:

Many years ago, before we had children, my wife had a PTA meeting one evening at the school where she taught. Left alone and unsupervised, I decided to make a copy of a song that had been playing on repeat in my head for several days.

This tune was the theme song of a movie I had watched on VHS tape the weekend before. This was before the internet and digital downloads, and I had a mixtape of songs I listened to in the car, and I wanted to add this song to it.

The process involved a TV and a VCR, a tape deck, a couple of extension cords, a couple of audio cables, and a lot of trial an error. I went at it hammer and tongs for a couple of hours at least. I had just succeeded when I heard the lock on our apartment door turn and the door swung open.

Our small living room looked like a bomb had gone off in a radio station. Geri was aghast but I just looked at her and smiled. I had done it! 

But I had been so devoted to my task that I was oblivious to the passage of time and the mess I had made. I came to my senses and realized I had to clean up the mess before it was the last thing I ever did!

Have you ever been so devoted to something that for you the rest of the world seemed to disappear? Could that be a model for our devotion to Christ?

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

A Word about a Vision of Glory

 Today I want to share a word about a vision of glory as I comment on Luke 2:1-20:

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”   When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”  And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Our Scripture for today portrays a glorious event. What we see is the population of heaven giving the Baby Jesus a standing ovation. The word picture that is presented here reminds me of an Independence Day fireworks display. And like a fireworks display, this evening started small and slow but then ended in a crescendo of noise and light.

In many ways this night was both the culmination of a long journey and the beginning of another one. It was a time of celebration, but I think it is good for us to remember the events that led up to this glorious moment.

Glory in Life’s Hassles:

In Verses 1-5, we can see that Mary and Joseph experienced the same kind of everyday hassles that we experience. The saying is that all we can count on is this world is death and taxes, but in truth we know that some people don’t pay taxes. However, everyone must endure the hassles of life.

As I write this, my wife and I are currently in the midst of moving from Alabama to Illinois. That has involved selling our home, cleaning out our possessions, packing and storing the items we will be using here, changing our address on numerous accounts, establishing a relationship with a new bank and new doctors; the list of details seems endless.

In the hassles of life, we can take comfort in the care and concern of God. As Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 10:13,

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Glory in Crisis:

In Verses 6-7 we see that Mary and Joseph experienced a crisis. This crisis was unique, but what I have discovered in 17 years of disaster relief ministry is that all crises are alike, but they are all different as well.

A few months ago, my wife and I were on a once-in-a-lifetime overseas vacation. We were enjoying it and it was a blessing to us. One morning, however, as I was dressing for breakfast, I could not find my wallet. We searched the room high and low but couldn’t find it. We had scheduled a local guide to meet us after breakfast and so we decided to search again that evening. Then, a few minutes after we drove off in the van with our guide, a cap came off one of my molars! Everything turned out fine, but that day did not start off well at all!

Mary and Joesph had a much larger crisis to deal with. Giving birth under those circumstances was truly a life-or-death situation. If Mary, humanly, was not supposed to have a baby, she certainly wasn’t supposed to have it in strange town in a cattle stall!

Again, in the crises of life, we can take comfort in the perfect will of God. As Paul taught us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18,

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Glory in the Mundane:

In Verse 8, Luke tells us about the shepherds out in the field. Shepherds and sheep are common themes in the Bible, and we tend to romanticize their relationship. In truth, shepherds lived like the animals they tended, they were poorly paid but given great responsibility of caring for and protecting a valuable commodity.

I once met a soldier who was formerly a paniolo, a Hawaiian cowboy. He chose a soldier’s life over being a paniolo, and he said it wasn’t a hard decision to make. He told me, “People think being a cowboy is romantic, but in truth it is hard dirty work. I would come home every day cold, wet, and covered with manure and I was paid peanuts.”

Most of life is mundane. Even flying fighter planes and bombers has been charactered as “Hours and hours of boredom, punctuated by a few moments of sheer terror.”

Mary was a young girl who probably spent her days helping her mother keep house. Joseph was a carpenter, which is a satisfying career but one in which, if any excitement occurs, things have gone very wrong! Like them, in the mundane things of life, we can take comfort in serving God. As Paul said in Colossians 3:17,

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Glory in our Response:

In Verses 15-20, we see that glory is not found in our circumstances but in our response to them. As a former pastor taught us, “Effectively dealing with the circumstances of life is a case of ‘mind over matter.’ If you don’t mind, it don’t matter!”

In the Christmas story we see people responding in a way that brought glory to God.  The shepherds did not recoil in fear, but went immediately to see the child, entrusting their sheep to God because the child was more important.

The shepherds did not keep the good news to themselves, but they testified to all who would listen, and they praised God as they went back to their charges.

Mary treasured all of these things. Really? 

• She treasured the risk that she and Joseph took to get to this moment? 
• She treasured the laborious journey to Bethlehem while nine months pregnant? 
• She treasured giving birth in a cattle stall? 
• She treasured having her first moments with her son interrupted by a mob of smelly shepherds? 

The short answer to all of these questions is yes, because she had yielded her will to God, and she was just watching God do His thing.

Conclusion:

It is great to share the glory of God in the big moments. I believe, however, that it is more important to share His glory in the small ones. They happen much more often.

Yes, there are other times in the Bible when angels appeared with grand pronouncements. Most of the time, however, we see God working through His still small voice.

Let us purpose in our hearts to bring God the glory He is due as we live our everyday lives together in this place.

Merry Christmas,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

A Word about a Vision of Redemption

Today I want to share a word about a vision of restoration as I comment on Luke 1:67-79. This passage reads:

And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us  in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us  that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;  for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Introduction:

The last time we saw Zechariah, in the Christmas story, the angel had told him that he and Elizabeth, even though they were old, would have a son whom they would call John. As a proof of God’s power to accomplish the unusual and unexpected, Zechariah was made to be unable to speak until the boy was born and named John. 

When his power of speech was returned to him, Zechariah burst out into praise. The key thing to see here is not his excitement over what might easily be called the miraculous birth of his son. No, the focus of his riff was not John, but God and His redemption of His people.

Redemption is the process in which you exchange one thing for another. For example, when I was a young boy, my mother collected S&H Green Stamps. This was a customer rewards program in which a retailer would give customers a number of stamps based on the value of their purchase. Customers would paste these stamps into booklets, and when they had accumulated enough stamps, they could exchange or redeem them for items out of a catalogue.

As an aside, I never collected the green stamps, but I did enjoy browsing through the catalogues. This gave me many hours of diversion that browsing on-line commerce sites just can’t replicate.

Today, retail loyalty programs don’t give out physical stamps, but they do offer digital credits that can be redeemed by customers to buy items. My wife and I make most of our routine purchases each month with a credit card that has a cash-back provision which is another version of that concept.

Zechariah’s outburst of praise describes a number of aspects of God and His redemption of His people that still resonate with us, today.

A Vision of an Active God:

In Verses 67-69, Zechariah praised God for being an active God.

Although fewer today than before, the vast majority of people believe in God. As we saw last time, Paul in Romans 1 asserted that God’s existence and personality is apparent to all in the natural world. Belief in God is so universal that even self-proclaimed atheists will use the phrase, “Oh, my God!”

Although many people believe in God, many fewer believe that God is active in their lives. Even those who believe that God created the world may not believe He is active in the world today. Formally, this theological position is called Deism. Paul saw this tendency developing among people as far back as the first century. In 2 Timothy 3:1-5 he wrote:

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

Zechariah proclaimed a much different vision of God. Instead of a distant, hands-off God who is “way up there somewhere,” Zechariah knew that the Scriptures reveal that our God is active in His creation.

First, He created the world and everything in it, including people. He didn’t stop there, but when Adam and Eve sinned, God proactively protected them from living in sin for eternity. Later He called out Abraham to create a missionary people to take God’s love and Word to the peoples of the world. He preserved them from famine by taking them to Egypt, and then He redeemed them from slavery by sending Moses to take them back to Canaan.

In the history of the nation of Israel, God rescued His people many times from outside oppression and from internal decay. Ultimately as a part of that process, He sent His only begotten Son to exchange His life for the souls of humanity.

Even at the beginning of Zechariah’s praise, Luke stated that God had filled him with the Holy Spirit so that he could fully understand all these events. Later, God sent the Holy Spirit to all His people and fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah that foretold that God would write His Word on our hearts.

Hebrews 4:12 tells us, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” God’s Word emanates from His very being. If His Word is living and active, so is God.

Our God is an active God, but what does He do?

A Vision of a Saving God:

In Verses 70-74, Zechariah praised God for being a saving God.

Retailer loyalty programs, like the S&H Green Stamps were not developed for altruistic purposes. They did not issue those stamps out of the goodness of their hearts. In fact, such loyalty programs are very transactional, along the lines of, “If you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.” Retailers want customers to continue to shop with them, and customers want to think that they are getting something for free. Both have something to offer to the transaction, and both gain something from it.

When God acted to redeem His people, when God sent His Son to save us from our sin, there was nothing transactional about that process. We had nothing to offer God. He had everything to offer us. 

In saving us, and redeeming us from our slavery to sin, God exchanged His perfect, righteous, Holy Son for people who are a hot mess. Unlike Esau, who flippantly swapped his birthright for a bowl of Jacob’s soup. God deliberately and with a clear eye exchanged Jesus for us because of His perfect love for us. What an amazing love!

John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace, had experienced such love. He had been both a captain of slave ships and an investor in the slave trade. Interestingly, he had also been a slave himself in Africa for a short time. He was notorious for being one of the most profane men who ever lives. Even his fellow sailors were offended by his language, which is saying something!

When he realized his own sin, and when he had found himself redeemed by the blood of Jesus, he wrote, “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.”  None of us today are slavers, but our sin is just as scarlet before God, and yet He deliberately and in full awareness of the poor exchange rate, offers us salvation.

God’s loving is amazing, but His fidelity is also. God not only saves us because of His love, but also because of His faithfulness to His Word. 

God made many covenants with the Old Testament saints. He always kept His side of them, but His people could not or would not keep their side of these covenants. Time and time again He saved His people from the troubles that they got themselves into. He never gave up on His promises, and He has always kept them.

Have you ever had someone make a promise to you that they failed to keep? Many years ago, I had a requirement to submit some documents to an agency about an issue that would have had a significant impact on my work and my family. I completed the forms well in advance of the due date, and I entrusted them to a staff member of the agency who, knowing how vital they were to me, had promised that the documents would be processed and submitted forthwith. 

After I had not had any communications from the agency in several weeks, I called to confirm all was well. Sadly, all was not well. The staff member had failed to take any action on my submission, even after promising so earnestly that he would do so. I am glad to report that another staff member was able to retrieve the documents, and they were processed on time. I later found that the fellow who promised he would take care of me took his annual leave instead!

Our God is faithful to His Word and to His people. If He says it, He will do it, regardless of what is might cost Him!

A Vision of an Encouraging God:

In Verses 74-75, Zechariah praised God for being an encouraging God.

What kind of expert help do you prefer? For example, do you prefer a doctor with a great bedside manner but who is not very competent? What about a very competent doctor who has a terrible bedside manner? I must have a competent doctor, but I would prefer one who also has a pleasant manner as well.

Zechariah has told us that God is an active God and a saving God, but our God is also an encourager as well. He is the best of both worlds: He acts lovingly on our behalf. Because He does, we can serve Him without fear.

Previously, I asserted that hurt people hurt others, and that scared people scare others. The fact that we can serve God without fear helps us to serve Him and each other in holiness and righteousness.

The parable of the unforgiving servant is a perfect example of this dynamic. In Matthew 18, Jesus told of a servant who owed his master an unimaginable sum of money. In an act of grace and mercy, the master forgave the man. Instead of confidently resting in that act of redemption, the servant demanded a colleague pay him back a small amount of money. When that colleague could not, the servant had him thrown into jail. This sequence of events did not turn out well for the unforgiving servant!

The Scriptures do not say why the unforgiving servant acted the way that he did. However, knowing human nature, I suspect he was acting out of fear. I believe he was afraid that his master would revoke his forgiveness so he needed to accumulate as much money as he could, even though he would never be able to repay his master. He basically hurt his colleague for nothing.

We can fully trust God. We don’t have to be afraid that He will renege on His promises. Psalm 103:11-12 assures us, “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”

In Ephesians 3:11-13, Paul also assured us that, 

This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.

The writer of Hebrews 4:16 encouraged us to not be afraid to approach our Lord, saying, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Our God not only solves our problems, but He does that in a way that gives us confidence in Him. We don’t have to scramble or to lie, cheat, and steal to address issues that God has ready resolved. Therefore, we can as Paul said in Romans 12:18, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”

A Vision of an Enlightening God:

In Verses 76-79, Zechariah praised God for being an Enlightening God.

In his preamble to Zechariah’s praise of God, Luke reported that Zechariah had been filled with the Holy Spirit. We must not overlook this simple statement because it shows us a vital difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

Christians criticize the children of Israel in the Old Testament and for good reason. They were spiritually hapless, helpless, and hopeless, and often they were “rebels without a clue.” They could not keep God’s Law, they were addicted to sin, and they made bad decisions. They had little internal ability to honor God with their lives and so they either fell into worshiping idols and other false Gods or they became rigidly legalistic. Neither position was very mature, spiritually.

We who are not Jews should not boast, however, because Paul, In Ephesians 4:17-24, said that the Gentiles were just as hapless, helpless, and hopeless without Christ.

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

This is a dismal picture of how people are in their natural state. The good news is that, in Christ, we have power and abilities that natural people don’t have. When we are saved, the Holy Spirit inhabits our soul and brings light to our darkened understanding. This is one of the key differences between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

• The Holy Spirit gives us an understanding of the Truth so that we are no longer hapless and confused.
• The Holy Spirit gives us the power and ability to grow and mature, so that we are no longer helpless.
• The Holy Spirit gives us a witness to our spirit of the presence of God and the assurance of salvation in Christ, so we are no longer without hope.
• The Holy Spirit also gives us gifts for ministry, so that we can bless God and others with our words and our actions. 

With the Holy Spirit in our lives, we are not only redeemed from our sin, but we are also redeemed to live an abundant and productive life for our Lord!

Conclusion:

There can be no questioning that fact that our redemption in Christ is an unfair exchange. In return for God giving us His perfect and Uniquely Begotten Son, the one human who never sinned and who even faced down the Devil face-to-face and hand-to-hand, God received a bunch of rag-tag, helpless, hapless, and hopeless rebels. 

God redeemed because of His love and because of His righteousness. In doing that, He totally transformed our lives. If you have not let Him do that for you yet, there is no better time to let God have His way than Christmas!

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

A Word about a Vision of Blessing

Today I want to share a word about a vision of blessing as I comment on Luke 1:26-45. Let’s begin by reading verses 26-33:

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

The pastor of a church I know begins their worship services with asking the congregation how they are. They all reply in unison, “Blessed and then some!” The church has been blessed with a good pastor and a good ministry together, so their reply is more than just a slogan. It is the truth for them.

Sometimes, however, blessings come in unexpected ways. A young couple had been unsuccessfully trying to have a child for several years, when their doctor encouraged them to adopt. Just after their adoption of twins was finalized, they conceived themselves. Everyone involved was surprised, but the couple felt blessed.

Mary, the mother of Jesus also received an unexpected blessing as we will read in our focal passage for today.  Along with the news of being the mother of the Uniquely Begotten Son of God. Mary also experienced blessings that we also can enjoy today!

The Blessing of Revelation.

Uncertainty is troubling to our souls. We don’t have to feel like we know everything, but to feel like we know nothing is very disturbing.

During the Victorian Era, people in England were supremely confident that they knew the truth and they knew the right way to do everything. So, when the Titanic was built, it was proclaimed far and wide to be unsinkable. When, in 1912, it hit the iceberg and sank, one of the survivors lamented, “I will never feel certain about anything ever again.”

A saying we all know is, “Ignorance is bliss.” Another is, “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.” I have found out that what you don’t know can hurt you. A simple example of that is when you don’t realize your car’s wheels are out of alignment. Most of won’t know that is the case until we must purchase a new set of tires.  Such things are not usually dangerous, but they can be expensive.

In terms of our spiritual lives, we have been blessed by God because He has revealed Himself and His truth to us. In Romans 1:18-23, Paul taught us:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Paul taught us that God revealed enough of Himself in the natural world that humans should seek Him out. Instead, they deceived themselves and allowed Satan also to lead them astray.  God also revealed Himself to us in more explicit ways as well, as the writer of Hebrews 1:1-4 tells us:

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he inherited is more excellent than theirs.

God is not playing hide-and-seek with us. He is not playing peek-a-boo. He wants us to know Him. Not only is he revealed in His creation and in His word, but He is also revealed in His Uniquely Begotten Son, who is the “exact imprint of His nature.”

It is a blessing to access the revelation of God, in His Word, as well as in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. It good to know the truth and to not flounder in the darkness. On the other hand, His Word can also rock our world as we see in the next section of our Scripture for today. Verses 34-38 tell us:

And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”  And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.  And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

The Blessing of Challenge.

We saw last week that Zechariah and Elizabeth were challenged because they could not have children. This was a huge burden for them and a painful one also. 

Mary’s situation involved giving birth, but her situation was 180 degrees out of phase with Elizabeth’s. Mary could give birth, but she shouldn’t be giving birth. This could have been huge burden for her and a painful one also. 

Mary was a virgin, and she was betrothed to Joseph, but they had not been intimate. In fact, up to this point I doubt that they had ever been in a situation in which they had the opportunity to be intimate. Jewish girls of that day grew up in a very protected environment. Joseph would be certain of the fact that he was not the father, and everyone around would be certain of that fact also.

The message that Mary received rocked her world. She would be glad, even blessed to bear a child, but not yet! This was an unexpected, unwelcome, and an unexplainable situation. Her life going forward was going to be a challenge.

By their very nature, challenges are not easy, and they are not always welcome. Challenges, however, build our strength and our confidence, and they give us the opportunity to achieve more.

In the month that I became pastor of my first full-time church, our VBS director retired from that position. VBS was only two months away, and very few preparations had been made. A lady who had never before been the director of any event or group in the church felt the Lord calling to take on that task. She came to me admitting that she felt inadequate, but that she could not refuse God’s call. I promised her that I would help her and encourage her, and I did. 

The first year we were behind the power curve, and we spoke almost daily. The second year, she got an early start, and she didn’t need as much help or encouragement. The third year, we met at the beginning, and she told me what the plan was. Then she went on to execute the plan. She had been challenged, but God helped her to gain confidence and competence, and we conducted excellent schools. 

What Mary learned, and what we must learn is that blessings are not chosen, but they are presented to us by God. Not only that, but God will finish what He starts in our lives if we will present ourselves to Him.

Let’s continue by considering verse 38 again, which says, And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

The Blessing of Faith.

It is easy to travel a known and well-travelled path. It is much harder to navigate around a new and unknown land.  It is easier to walk through a lighted room than a darkened room. In fact, that is what Isaiah said about the coming of Jesus in Isaiah 9:2-3:

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy, they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.

Sometimes, however, you have no choice but to travel unknown paths or in times of darkness. This was the case for Joshua and the Children of Israel when the fought the five kings of the Amorites in Joshua 10. The Gibeonites had tricked Joshua into making of covenant with them, and the five kings of the Amorites made war against them. The Gibeonites called for help, and this is what happened in Joshua 10:7-10:

So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you.” So Joshua came upon them suddenly, having marched up all night from Gilgal.

In those days people did not travel at night but went home or found another secure place to sleep. Joshua and his fighters had no GPS, or night vision goggles, or even flashlights. All that that had was their faith and God and each other, and they acted on that faith. And they won.

Mary was stepping out in faith. She was risking ridicule, rejection, and worse because of this message from God. She was only the latest personality in the Scriptures to put her trust in God. Among these, the writer of Hebrews identified:

• Abel
• Abraham 
• Isaac
• Jacob
• Moses
• Rahab
• Gideon
• Barak
• Samson
• Jephthah
• David
• Samuel
• The Prophets

Rahab the harlot is an interesting case, because she was the opposite of Elizabeth and Mary in terms of her righteousness and her reputation, but she put her faith in the God of Israel, and that made all the difference in her life and the life of her family.

The blessing of faith does not come from exercising it, but in the fidelity and righteousness of the one in whom you are investing your trust. I have known of more than one case of a traffic accident caused by bad data in a car GPS system. People have lost their lives because they trusted a system that failed them.

God will never fail us. He is the only source of guidance and help that is perfect and infallible and in whom we can place our unalloyed trust in the same way that Mary did.

Finally, let’s read verses 39-45:

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

The Blessing of Confirmation.

Have you ever thought how many important documents are put into mailboxes without any confirmation that they actually arrived at their intended location? If a bill is paid by check, the sender isn’t notified when it arrives or doesn’t. The same is true for a business or utility that mails bills to their customers. They have no idea if the envelope went astray or not.  If taxpayers submit their tax returns by mail, they get no confirmation that the return was received by the IRS. Unless you get a tracking number or if you pay for a return receipt, a great deal of uncertainty exists if a letter actually arrives on time or at all.

In the same way, how do we know if a message to us from God was really from God or not? God often asks people to do things that are challenging and even difficult. How do we know if that was God speaking or some other, less benevolent or less reliable source? Fake news is a thing, as are the wiles of the Devil who can appear as an angel of light?

First, God confirms His call on our lives through the moving of the Holy Spirit. As Romans 8:16 tells us, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.” Good parents will not lead their children astray, and God is the greatest parent of all.

Also, God confirms His call on our lives through the counsel and approval of others.  It might be an ordination counsel or a church nominating committee that confirms God call, or it might be a pastor or a parent or a trusted Christian friend. When Paul and Barnabas believed God was calling them out on the first missionary journey, the church at Antioch confirmed their call by the laying on of hands and sent them out. The kings of Israel were anointed by prophets.

Even Jesus presented Himself to John for baptism, and He was also affirmed by the voice of God from heaven and the coming of the Holy Spirit like a dove.

Have you ever left home and wondered if you had left the stove on? Have you ever left home and wondered if you locked the door? How much more troubling if you left home for a ministry and began to wonder if God had called to go?

God will not let you wonder in doubt. He will never ask you to do something that violates Scripture or violates what the Scriptures reveal about His character and being. He will never call you without confirming it through the counsel of the Holy Spirit and the counsel of other God people.

We should beware of anyone who says that they are on a mission from God without other’s recognizing that mission.  Conversely, we should also beware of failing to answer God’s clear call upon our lives, because if we do, we will surely miss the blessing of serving Him!

Conclusion.

Our lives are infectious, and our manner of life affects others. 

A true saying is that hurt people hurt others. It also true that scared people scare others. This is the view from the negative side of life. On the other hand, blessed people bless others. Forgiven people forgive others. Discipled people disciple others. Restored people restore others. Joyous people enjoy others.

Christmas is a time when we celebrate and remember the blessings of God on our lives. Let’s enjoy those blessings and also determine to be a blessing to others asl well!

Thanks so much for visiting with me today! I'll be back soon with another word from the Bible that we can share together.

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

A Word about a Vision of Joy

Today I want to share a word about a vision of joy as I comment on Luke 1:5-25. Let’s begin by reading verses 5-7:

In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.

Last week, I shared how important vision is. Our vision of something shapes our expectations and the ways we attempt to achieve those expectations. In the poem “The Night Before Christmas,” visions of sugar plumbs danced in the head of the children nestled all snug in their beds, but what is our vision of Christmas?

In the 21st Century, if we don’t have an intentional vision of an issue, there are plenty of sources in our society who will provide one for us. Therefore, I think it is vital that we have a Biblical vision of the issues of life, and that includes Christmas. 

We also saw last week how God gave Jeremiah a vision of the restoration of Israel. Today, I hope we will see a vision of joy in the Christmas story.

The Joy of Righteousness.

In our society today, as with many societies in history, concepts like righteousness and diligence are seen and boring and irrelevant. How many social media videos are made on these subjects?

In truth, however, concepts like righteous and diligence are central to successful lives, successful families, and successful communities.  A great example of diligence is the mother or older sister who packed the lunch of the 5 loaves and 2 fishes that Jesus used to feed the five thousand. I will unpack that at another time, but it I found that idea to be very thought provoking.

More to the subject of our passage for today was when David and Saul were alone in a cave, and David decided not to kill Saul, even though David had been anointed to replace him. He cut off a piece of Saul’s robe instead, and yet he realized even that was a sin, and he repented of his actions.

Every school child has been corrected by a parent for some misbehavior, only to claim, “All of the other children are doing the same thing.” And how does that parent reply? “I don’t care what the other children are doing. I am your parent, and care about what you are doing!”

A former boss had a watchword: “Do what is right even when no one is looking!” Another would say, “There is no right way, to do the wrong thing.”

Pursuing righteous does not guarantee that we will never have problems. Joseph did nothing wrong, and yet he wound up in prison. So did Paul and Silas in Ephesus. In fact, let’s consider what Paul told the church at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 11:22-28:

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.  Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;  on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;  in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

The leadership of more than one church have tried to do the right thing by maintaining their property only for disaster to strike. For example, the Cathedral of Notre Dame caught fire during renovation work. The same thing happened at First Baptist Church, Columbus, GA during the 1990’s. Twenty-plus years of their pastor’s sermon manuscripts were lost among all of the other damages.

A wise Southern Baptist leader once counseled pastors to remember who their audience was as they exercised leadership. It was not the society in general, or the news media, but it was their congregation. We, too, need to remember who our audience is. God is our audience, and we find joy in pleasing Him. Olympian Eric Liddell said, “God made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure.” We may not be fast, but we can pursue righteousness and feel God’s pleasure as we do.

Let’s continue by reading verses 8-10:

Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, 9 according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.

The Joy of Service.

Selfishness or self-centeredness is a common trait among humanity. The pastor that officiated at our wedding often said that “People try to get all that they can, put it in a can, put a lid on the can, and then sit on the lid.” 

Another commentator joked about Americans gather so much stuff that we fill up our garages and our expensive cars must sit outside in the weather.

A common problem American advisors had when working with the Afghan army during the Global War on Terror was that their supply officers didn’t want to issue equipment and supplies to the troops. That material represented power and influence only as long as it was in their warehouses or on the shelves of their supply rooms. Supporting the troops in the fight or being a servant of others did not give them the same cultural benefit as holding on to vital supplies and other materials. This is not the way it works in God’s economy.

Jesus taught God’s vision of servant leadership in Matthew 20:25-28, saying,

But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

We all have talents and spiritual gifts. We can hoard them for ourselves or we can follow the guidance of Peter, who taught this in 1st Peter 4:7-11:

The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Some of the most blessed times of my life was when I was involved in service. As an example, when my disaster relief team responded in the aftermath of a storm. Or, even last week, I heard the testimony of a team of volunteers that travelled to another state to build a church. 

In Romans 12, Paul us that becoming a living sacrifice was a form of worship of God. For Zechariah his service literally was worship, but again, we must remember our audience. God sees service as a wonderful blessing to Himself and to humans as well. We need to capture that vision!

Let’s continue by reading verses 11-17:

And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.  And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

The Joy of Prayer.

One mistake Christians make is to overlook the power of prayer.  A younger minister once came to me for advice. He had been counseling with a young lady who had intractable problems both at work and in her private life as well. He had tried to find practical solutions, but none were apparent. He had felt defeated, and then he said, “All I could do was prayer with her.”

At that statement, I rebuked him. I did so kindly, but firmly. I told him, “We must never discount the value of prayer. When you prayed, you took that young lady to the Throne of Grace and into the very presence of God. We can never do more for someone than to bring them into a relationship of any fashion with God.”

We should pray constantly and find joy in that relationship. Because Jesus is our High Priest, we can personally come before God with our wants and our needs, our troubles and our joys, our big deals and our insignificant issues.

• We can pray with joy because we know our Father hears us. 
• We can pray with joy because we know our Father wants to hear us.
• We can pray with joy because we know our Father not only hears us, but He pays attention to us.
• We can pray with joy because we know our Father acts upon what He hears.

One thing I miss is not being able to talk with my mom or dad. If I needed someone to advise me about life, I would call my mom. She was always a great encourager and counselor as well. If I needed to know how to do something, I would call my dad. He was a jack of all trades, and he always gave me great practical tips. YouTube just isn’t the same . . .  If I just needed to talk, I would call and talk to either of them (usually my mom because my dad was a man of few words, and he would give my mom the phone).

We need to pray constantly, but also confidently. If we are having a prayer meeting asking God for rain during a drought, we need to bring umbrellas! We need to remember our audience. What a joy it is to have some who listens to us and who acts for us. That is who God is. 

Let’s continue by reading verses 18-25:

And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” 19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”

The Joy of Grace and Mercy.

We should not underestimate the power of prayer and the importance of prayer, but we also, in this case, should not underestimate the pain being experienced by Elizabeth and Zechariah. We can observe that by the reaction of the both of them to this news.

Zechariah echoed Sarah when she and Abraham entertained the visitors who prophesied that she would have a child. Time comes for us all, and both Zechariah and Sarah understood the ravages of time.

Elizabeth reacted in a different way. She hid herself for 5 months. Why would someone do that? The Bible does not say, but I think that she just wanted to make sure that it was real. Maybe she was afraid of a miscarriage, we don’t know. What we do know is how she responded when she finally realized what God had done in her life. She was overwhelmed with gratefulness.

Zechariah and Elizabeth experienced God’s grace and His mercy. These are separate but related concepts. God’s grace opens the way for us to experience His mercy.

Grace is the unmerited favor of God. We must remember that God owes us nothing, for all have sinned and fallen short of His glory. Our righteousness is like filthy rags compared to the greatness of God. Even Zechariah and Elizabeth, as determined as they were to honor God, could not compare with the glory of God.

Blessedly for us, God is not only perfect and righteous, He is also loving and benevolent toward us. He loves His creation, and He loves people, His highest creation, more than anything else. Out of God’s love for us, He gives us the good things that we don’t deserve. 

• He offers us forgiveness of sin, and a relationship with Him through Jesus.
• He offers us an abundant life in the here and now as well as in the hereafter.
• He offers us mercy, so that we can find peace in a fallen and dying world.

If grace is the unmerited favor of God, mercy is the action of God to find peace in this world of sin and imperfection. Even when we don’t see a practical or physical solution to our situation, we can still experience God’s mercy. As Paul taught us in Romans 8:26-28,

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

We need to remember our audience. The truth is, it is precisely when we see no way out that God acts. If we could handle things ourselves, why would God need to do anything? God can handle everyday problems, but He is the only one who can handle God-sized problems!

Conclusion.

This Christmas we can experience the joy of our relationship with God.

We can experience the joy of righteous through a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

We can experience the joy of service through serving others but also by worshipping Jesus Christ in the special ways that we do during this season.

We can experience the joy of prayer by bringing to Jesus Christ all our joys and sorrows, and all our wants and needs and victories. Christmas is a time for family gatherings and Jesus is our Brother, the church is His bride, and God is our Father. God wants to hear from us this Christmas!

Finally, we can experience God’s grace and mercy because He loves us. Not just during Christmas, but all year around as well.

In our mind’s eye, how do we see Christmas? If we have a Biblical perspective, we can see it as a time of joy because of our relationship with God.

Thanks so much for visiting with me today! I'll be back soon with another word from the Bible that we can share together.

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt