Christmas : Render Unto Caesar

Posted on by December 10, 2013
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Matthew 22:20-21 — And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem — how did that happen? Did you ever notice that it was all part of rendering Caesar his due? “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.”
Sometimes people throw around the idea that Christians should be social or political revolutionaries. Jesus didn’t see it that way … And nor did His closest followers, once they had Him figured out.
There were revolutionaries at the nativity though. It was a completely different kind of revolution. They were the ones who “rendered unto God the things that were God’s”:

  • And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
  • And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

    • The shepherds, Simeon and Anna, the Magi …they all went to worship a little baby — a little baby, in a stable. A little baby sleeping, as tradition has it, in a manger — a trough where cattle or horses feed. There us surely no more revolutionary idea than the notion that the King of the Universe, Almighty God, is embodied in the least powerful — the wholly dependent.
    So what do you think? Do you think the revolution changed anything? Shall we look at the ledger? How many people have suffered and died in the last two thousand years? How many Christian martyrs? Worse, perhaps … How many innocents have Christians slain in the misguided belief that they were, somehow, furthering Christianity?
    What about the plus side of the ledger? Did you know that there are reckoned to be more than two billion Christians in the world today? Maybe, since the birth of Christ there have been more than three billion ever. Where will they spend eternity. It’s a massive revolution – against the empire of sin! It’s a massive revolution, that’s only going to get bigger!
    Do you mind if I throw one sad spanner into the works …? “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s”. There is a prince — a Caesar — of this world. There are those who won’t join the revolution. They will always be Caesar’s. Unless, of course …
    What happens if we really turn revolutionary and refused to give the devil his due?

    Christmas : What’s New?

    Posted on by December 9, 2013
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    Revelation 21:5 — And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

    History changed direction about two thousand years ago. Now you might think things are going on pretty much as they always have done. Like the old preacher you might say “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.” Or perhaps you’re like the people that the Apostle Peter was talking about when he said “knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”
    If that’s how you’re thinking, pardon me but it’s not just the fathers who’ve fallen asleep, but you have too!
    “He that sat upon the throne” is Jesus. He told us that He makes all things new. Now, I’m ready to admit that it still looks like the world’s in a pretty rough shape. Still plenty of war, famine and plague. Not much sign of moral revival. So what’s going on? I think the secret lies in another text — 2 Corinthians 5:17:
    Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
    “If any man be in Christ” — if a man is of the body of Christ, body and soul in service to Christ, loving Christ and caring for nothing else he is “a new creation”. The old things have passed away; behold, all have become new. But all this serves for nothing without a vital pre-condition. The remaking depends on the breaking of the bonds of sin and payment for sins committed. Only one thing could accomplish that … Jesus’s death on the cross.
    Before the death, however, there had to be a birth. That birth that happened in Bethlehem, in the humblest of circumstances, when “He that sat upon the throne” “humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
    That was it … That was the moment history changed direction. From Eden to Bethlehem it was all downhill. Sin slunk in, in the form of the serpent and planted it’s seed one fateful day. No matter what God did the seed could not be weeded out. Then came that day when the Redeemer could restrain Himself no longer. God became man. The man crushed the serpent under His heel. Ever since then the course of history has been upwards. “He that sat upon the throne” has been making all things new, one life at a time. Now there will come another day, a day when He makes all creation new.
    Now we call it Christmas … “The mass of Christ” … But it celebrates the turning point, the moment hope stepped back into history.

    If You Can’t Say Something Nice …

    Posted on by December 8, 2013
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    Ephesians 4:29-32 — Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

    As many of you will know, our church has a major outreach going on at the moment — the “Living Christmas Trees”, a proclamation of the Gospel. Literally hundreds of volunteers have been investing time and talent for months. On Thursday we had a Dress Rehearsal, that went very well. For various reasons a few hundred people were watching. On Friday, as we prepared for the first performance, one of the choir members spoke of a comment from a friend who had been in the Thursday night audience. The friend, it seemed, had seen a number of Living Christmas Trees — and this was “the most boring ever”. The comment provoked two responses in me.
    My first reaction was one of sadness for someone who had not enjoyed our efforts. I’d spoken to enough other people to know that the response was not typical. Any theatrical or musical performance is a collaboration between audience and performers. When the performance is a Gospel proclamation, there is a third party — the Holy Ghost. If there is a negative reaction, one of the parties is not playing their part. In this case I think I know which one it was!
    My second reaction was to wonder what the point of the comment was, and I was reminded of a great English preacher — from the time of King Charles II. Isaac Barrow was born in 1630, and although initially handicapped by his (and his family’s) royalist sympathies, he prospered to such an extent that by his death he was one of the King’s chaplains and one of the leading scholars in England. He wrote and preached a splendid set of sermons that were published in 1678, just after his death, as “Several Sermons against Evil-speaking”. In the set he spoke against “Foolish Talking and Jesting”, “Rash and Vain Swearing”, “Evil Speaking in General” and “The Folly of Slander”.
    Central to the sermon on “Evil Speaking in General” is the thought that we should never speak without the intention of benefiting the hearer. It’s not exactly the instruction we had in our childhood to keep quiet if we had nothing nice to say — but it’s close. Here it is in Barrow’s own words:

    In fine, we should never speak concerning our neighbor from any other principle than that of charity, or to any other intent but what is charitable; such as tendeth to his good or at least is consistent therewith.

    I’d like to say to the person who spoke so discouragingly to my fellow choir member, “What good did you intend? How were you helping? Will your comment improve the production, so that others may be drawn closer to God?” I fear no very positive reply would be offered. I might, of course, hear the vicious lie about “speaking the truth in love” — so let me touch on that.
    “Speaking the truth in love” is a reference to Ephesians 4:15 — a little before the passage at the head of this devotion. It is NOT a blanket permission to say whatever you like, so long as it be true! It must be modified by the verses above and especially with the instruction “be Ye kind to one another”. Whenever I am about to say something to someone I know they will be hurt by, I try to ask myself “what positive good are you doing?” If the answer doesn’t spring immediately to mind, I try to shut up. (You may notice I say “try” — my track record is anything but perfect!)
    As James says, “the tongue is a raging fire”. Try a glass of living water, before you set anyone ablaze!

    Always Be Ready!

    Posted on by December 7, 2013
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    1Peter 3:15 — but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear:

    This verse came to mind today, and it’s caused me to take a break from my series of Christmas Devotions, although I expect to return to them.
    I’ve been reading a book by David Klinghoffer about why the Jews rejected Jesus. I’ve always wondered how they missed it. All the Jewish prophets … All the scriptures … What happened. Was it willful denial, or what?
    I really don’t enjoy reading books by those who are, in some ways, opposed to what I believe — but I think it’s something I should be prepared to do, to be ready to explain what I believe to someone who might really want to understand as they are seeking for God.
    To be honest, Mr. Klinghoffer does a very good job of explaining many reasons why the Jews of Jesus’s day rejected Him — for example:
    He puts Jesus in a historical and cultural context that suggests He might not have been so spectacularly different from other claimants to be the Messiah.
    He points out that a lot of the scriptures interpreted by Christians as pointing to Jesus originally had a very different context.
    He points out that Pauline promotion of Christianity looked to the Jews of his day to look very like trying to undermine Judaism from within.
    And so it goes on. One reason for the rejection is piled on top of another. And then Mr. Klinghoffer makes a stunning reversal. He says, “So far, we have discussed a number of the reasoned Jews have given for not accepting Jesus as their Messiah. The sheer variety of these is striking, even suspicious. If I ask a friend why he chose to act a certain way on a certain occasion, and if he proceeds to give me not one reason but thirty, I’m likely to doubt that He is being entirely frank with me or possibly with himself”. He goes on to suggest that the true, underlying, reason for the rejection is that if Jesus is the Messiah, and the claims of Christianity to be true, then the Jews unique position is undermined and their reason for being called into question.
    I learned a lot from reading David Kilinghoffer’s book. Honestly, there’s a lot in it that I can’t refute of my own knowledge. And that made me wonder. Peter says “always be ready to give an answer” … But what happens when the person I’m talking to is smarter, better educated, more knowledgable than I am? It’s a pretty large group …
    Here’s what I came to. This is what I say:

  • You’re plainly smarter than I am. How about I introduce you to someone smarter than me, who can help you out?
  • You know, you’re smarter than I am — but I’m betting God is smarter than both of us, so I’m going to let Him convince you.
  • I still have a lot of questions myself — but accepting Jesus Christ as my savior changed my life … So why don’t you hang on in, and see if He can do anything for you?
  • I’ve seen a lot if other people get a whole new life too. Isn’t it worth taking a closer look, just in case?

    • These might not be the greatest most comprehensive set of “reasons for hope” you’ve ever seen — and I’m hoping you can add some of your own. In the mean time, I’m grateful for people like David Klinghoffer who keep stretching me and reminding me of how little I know and how much more there is for me to learn!

    Christmas: About Those Three Kings

    Posted on by December 6, 2013
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    Matthew 2:1, 11 — Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

    It’s amazing how much has been added into the Biblical Christmas story.

    We three kings of Orient are; Bearing gifts we traverse afar, Field and fountain, moor and mountain, Following yonder star.

    Don’t you love that carol? I do. It’s one of my favorites. It’s just a pity that we don’t know how many wise men there were, and that they probably were not kings! Matthew says no more than “some Magi came to Jerusalem, from the East”.
    It might be that there is much more that we don’t know about these wise Men than we do know.
    We don’t know when they arrived. Jesus seems to have moved on from being a baby to a child.
    We don’t know who they were. The traditional names Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar have no Biblical support. It’s been suggested that each represented one of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth — but there’s nothing about that in the Bible. It’s not likely they were kings, either. “Magi” suggests they were astronomers, but really doesn’t tell us much else.
    We don’t know where they came from. Maybe from Babylon, or maybe they were Medes or Persians … But all scripture tells us is that they came from the East.
    We know they followed a star. They came “saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” We don’t know what star, and we don’t really know why they thought it was important although all sorts of people have come up with impressive sounding ideas.
    So how much does all this really matter? The way I look at it, not all that much. There are two parts to that thought.
    The first is that what we know, little though it might seem, is wonderful and important. John 1:11 tells us that “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” So it was at His birth and so it would be at his death — but these wise men, these strangers — foreigners — came and worshipped and bought gifts. And John goes on to say, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” True then, true now, and a glorious truth.
    The second reason why I think it’s not such a big deal that we have embroidered these beautiful details into the Christmas quilt is because I believe they support a deep truth about our desire to wonder and worship.
    Let’s keep on loving the three kings, and the shepherd boy, and the other non-scriptural characters in the Biblical story — without ever forgetting to go back to the Word for the details when we step out of the realm of wonder and back to our daily walk. So, I believe, will we preserve the true spirit of Christmas!

    Christmas Is A Time For Old People

    Posted on by December 5, 2013
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    Luke 2:25,36 — And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanel, of the tribe of Asher: she was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity;

    Myra and I watched one of those soppy Christmas movies last night. It’s a secret weakness … We’re both suckers for them. No sex, no violence, strong message and happy endings!
    Last nights movie had the Holy Family’s encounter with Simeon as one motif. It made me think about the focus on children in the modern Christmas, and somehow that led to these thoughts.
    We think about Christmas, usually, very much as it affects children. There’s a lot of talk of the baby Jesus, cribs, swaddling clothes and the like. But what about the older people (like me!)?
    There’s a couple of older people in the Christmas story that add another strand of gold to the beautiful tapestry.
    The first that comes to mind is Elisabeth, the wife of Zechariah, who became the mother of John the Baptist. Now Zechariah and Elisabeth “were now well stricken in years.” That is, they were old …and who did Mary go to when she needed to get away from it all? “And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah; and entered into the house of Zechariah, and saluted Elisabeth.”
    Then there’s Simeon. Who was there to give Jesus a blessing when Joseph and Mary took the baby, according to the law of Moses and brought him to Jerusalem to present him to The Lord? The old man Simeon.
    And then there was Anna. She was a widow of about fourscore and four years, “which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.” She, seeing the baby instantly “gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.” So often it is older people who possess the insight and wisdom to see what might be missed by others.
    So many unexpected threads in this years Christmas tapestry! I’d never expected to see older people come to the fore as I thought about Christmas this year. But there it is … A reminder that comfort, blessing and insight can be found with the old … And they hold the secret of many of the joys of Christmas too!

    Christmas : Trust and Obey

    Posted on by December 4, 2013
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    Luke 1:38 — And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.
    There are many threads of gold running through the Christmas story. One of them is the thread of submission and obedience.
    The central act of obedience, of course, that of Jesus Himself … The Son of God, one of the persons of the Trinity, condescends to be a baby, to grow from child to adult, to be crucified … to redeem us from sin. God Himself takes on flesh and comes to know obedience by experience, as well as by the completeness of Divine knowledge. There are many other elements to the story that tie into this thread:
    There’s Zechariah and Elisabeth. Zechariah was a priest in the order of Abijah. The whole priestly structure, or course, was built around the notion of consistent obedience to the service of the temple. Zechariah and Elisabeth were both “righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.” (Luke 1:6). “Righteous” means they revered God and showed integrity, according to the Jewish law, in all their dealings. But their righteousness was more than legal obedience — “before God” suggests that it was from the heart … not just some kind of “external righteousness”.
    Mary, of course, is the very model of trusting obedience to the will of The Lord, as the verse at the head of this devotion shows — but what about Joseph? Joseph, as a Jewish man finding his betrothed to be with child, had every right to put her aside. Indeed as Matthew tells the story, he was “minded to put her away privily” — until the angel of The Lord told him that he should have no fear in taking her — “Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:” (Matthew 1:24).
    Now you might be thinking “well, fine, but I expect Jesus’s close family to be pretty trusting and obedient” …but it wasn’t just them.
    The obedience of the shepherds might be the most remarkable of all. We have to remember … Shepherds were pretty much a despised underclass. Their only value was related to how well they took care of the sheep entrusted to them. Now they didn’t get a direct instruction from the angels, but it was clear what they were expected to do. And they did it. No thought about consequences — “let’s go” … And they went.
    Or consider the Magi. David Seal and Matthew Whitehead make the point excellently in the Faithlife Study Bible:
    The magi offer us a powerful lesson in faith. They traveled a great length through dangerous country in their desire to see the new King. Despite the humble setting in which they found the Christ child, they believed they were in the presence of Israel’s greatest king and presented Him with lavish gifts befitting that office. Warned by God not to return to Herod, they obeyed by taking a different route to their homeland, thus foiling Herod’s evil intentions. Do we pay such honor to Jesus? Do we go out of our way to seek Him and lavish Him with gifts? Do we demonstrate such obedience?
    And that’s where this meditation led me. I know I said yesterday that Christmas isn’t about giving. Maybe I should have said it’s not about giving things — because the Christmas story is about giving heartfelt obedience to God …

    Christmas Isn’t About Giving!

    Posted on by December 3, 2013
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    Ephesians 3:14-19 — For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

    Did that wake you up? “What, Christmas not about giving? Of course it is!” Well, maybe. We’ll see. At the very least it’s about a great deal more than giving, and the giving seems to come ever more to the forefront and the “great deal more” seems to get pushed further and further into the background. I’ve a feeling that this might be the first of a few Christmas devotions — but let’s start with this question of giving.
    Now don’t get me wrong. I love giving (and receiving!). What bothers me is that — even in our church — there are more and more “giving” programs. And again, please don’t misunderstand me — I’m not against those programs. It’s just that I don’t always see the connection made in the program that draws people to salvation, or helps those who are already saved to get closer to God.
    Now it’s completely possible that I’m confused (you knew that, right?) but I think that the foundation of the Christmas story is relational. God could have chosen so many ways to come to earth, but He came as a baby. And the Biblical Christmas story is really told about people. It starts with Zacharias and Elizabeth, and then there’s Joseph and Mary. There are shepherds and Magi … and even Herod the evil King. And all of those people, except Herod of course, are marked by their faithful obedience to God.
    There’s something in the Christmas story that should build faith, too. Jesus was promised long ago, and delivered just on time! The story of His lineage is wonderful. From the beginning of time the plan for redemption was in place.
    The relationships, and the lineage should draw our attention to another thing too. The Christmas story has family at its heart. Mary and Elizabeth were cousins. Joseph and Mary were parents. Bethlehem was the birthplace because Joseph came from David’s family.
    So please, participate in every giving program that you can. Have you children and grandchildren get involved in every way they can … But look, too, for every opportunity to look behind the giving to the family, the faith, and the relationships. Wouldn’t it be great if after this Christmas we weren’t talking about what we gave and got but, instead, who we met and shared with?

    How then can we know God?

    Posted on by December 2, 2013
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    Ephesians 3:14-19 — For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

    Over the past four days I have been thinking about God. More precisely, I’ve been thinking about God ever since I became a Christian, and even sometimes before that. It’s just been more focused recently, and I was pressed to write a few of the thoughts down.
    What I have known for a long time — perhaps forever — is that I will never get all of God into my brain. For someone like me, who sets great store on the process of thinking that was pretty depressing for a while. After all, God tells us pretty clearly in Hebrews 1, and other places, that His Word and His Son provide us the revelation we need.
    It turns out, though, that “thinking” about God is only a part of the story. The passage from Ephesians contains an important encouragement … “to know the love of Christ that passeth knowledge”. If you let your eyes just slip over the words I suppose it tells you that the love of Christ is wonderful — as it surely is. But the second look might make you pause; what does “which passeth knowledge” mean? Paul expresses himself in seemingly contradictory ways sometimes, and part of what he is saying here is that we can know something of Christ (and thence of God) but that Christ being infinite, we can never know all about Him.
    There are some other places in the Bible where we can get some clues about knowing God. Colossians 1:9-11 carries the idea that prayer is very influential. Paul prays that the Colossians grow in their knowledge of God. Then in 2 Peter 1:2, Peter makes it clear that grace and peace grow in the Christian through and increasing personal knowledge of Jesus.
    As I thought about all of this, and what I was discovering I came back to two things — Henry Blackaby’s classic work, “Experiencing God”, and my own history. In the end, I have returned to where I started. We have a God in three persons — people — and how do you get to know people? You get to know people by spending time with them, talking with them, watching them in action … And that’s how we get to know more about God!

    Last, The Spirit

    Posted on by December 1, 2013
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    John 3:8 — The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

    The Holy Spirit is, if not the most mysterious, certainly the least known and understood of the three persons of the Godhead. Consider this text (which talks of the Spirit’s work in the process of regeneration — or rebirth — of the believer). The Spirit is independent, irresistible and inexplicable.
    On the other hand, the Holy Spirit is our helper, our advocate. Jesus Himself declares this to be an office of the Holy Spirit (and the word He uses is only ever used of the Holy Spirit and of Jesus Himself). That word is sometimes translated as “Comforter” as well. Comforting is just one of the great things the Holy Spirit does for believers:

  • He comforts us, especially when all the world seems against us.
  • He is our conscience — first convincing us that we are sinners, and leading us to salvation, and then constantly prompting us when it seems we might stray.
  • The Holy Spirit rebuilds us (the technical term is regeneration). He remakes us, day by day, into the image of Christ.
  • He make us ready for the work God has planned for us. He gives us special talents and abilities — Spiritual gifts — and teaches us, helping us to understand God’s word in the Bible.
  • He helps us use the gifts He has given us and the things we have learned to produce fruit — the fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.

    • So, did the Holy Spirit somehow mysteriously come into being after Jesus’s crucifixion, when Jesus sent Him to the disciples at Pentecost? Not at all. Like the Father, and the Son, the Holy Spirit always has been and always will be. In fact it’s good to remember that the attributes of God are the attributes of God — if one person of the Godhead is all-seeing, all-knowing and all-powerful, so are they all.
    The Spirit was present at the creation. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” The Spirit was present — “Ruach” the Hebrew word that, just like the equivalent Greek word “Pneuma, means “Spirit” or “Wind”.
    The Holy Spirit empowered the leaders of Israel: “… the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon …” (Judges 6:34).
    And so it goes … the Holy Spirit, the ‘masked marvel”, the hidden superhero of the Trinity. No obvious physical presence, but pervasive … always with us and alway accessible.
    As with the Father, so with Son, and so with the Holy Spirit. There is so much that could be said, and any small piece by any one person can only scratch the surface. I hope, in a way, you are left feeling “but he left so much out”. If so, in a way, I have managed to meet one of the questions that was put into my mind. “How do we start expanding our understanding of God!?”. God is so much bigger than we will ever comprehend!