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Christmas, Incarnation, christlikeness
Christmas, Incarnation, christlikeness The Lesson of Christmas
Thursday, December 23, 2010 at 05:58PM 
Some things hide in plain sight. Others hide behind fancy names. And still others hide among the over-decorated trappings of tradition dressed up as garish holiday cheer. With the truth about Christmas it’s all three.
The truth about Christmas is that God became a man. The transcendent Creator of the Universe, the One who sits outside his creation submerged himself in the work of his hands. The Playwright walked on stage during the show. The Coach became a player. The King became a commoner.
He wasn’t a Poser, pretending to be something other than what he was: he was born, and he grew; he came of age and took his place among us; he embraced his purpose and fulfilled it completely. He wasn’t slumming among us like some impostor: he laughed, he cried, he sweat. When we struck him, he bled. When we pierced him, he died.
Something as grand and wonderful as Christmas certainly has many sub-themes: peace on earth, goodwill toward men, hope for tomorrow, salvation for all, and the fulfillment of promise. We should listen to each line of the symphony and enjoy the beauty of each one. Put them all together than they point to the grand melody, that God became man.
When God became man he demonstrated how to be human. His life, in the person of Jesus Christ, is the model of all lives, everywhere and in every time. Men from every age can look to Jesus has example. Women from every culture can discover fulness in him. God did not cheat the game by walking through life untouched by the trouble we face. He faced the same troubles we have faced, and indeed more, because to his trouble was added unique rejection of all mankind toward him. Humanity had never seen his type before, and the one encounter between us and Him ended with utter rejection by us, and unrejectable love by him.
You can have your shepherds, wise men, angels, and mangers. For me, the grandeur of Christmas is captured in the gospel which places its cards on the table right from the start:
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John tells us plainly, “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”
What does God look like? He looks like Jesus. God has described himself as the Word, and he spoke himself in Jesus. The countless words of every generation, arrayed in questions, arguments, songs and poems have been answered in the single Word, Jesus. The same Word that spoke creation into being speaks life into us today.
When God became man it looked like Jesus, and it still does. If we aspire to the presence of God in our everyday, we are really aspiring to Jesus. Because he is human we have the hope of his likeness. Because he is God, we have the certainty of his promise. All other messages flow from the Word made flesh. He was announced as Emmanuel, and he continues to reveal himself as such: God is forever with us because he has forever pitched his tent in the person of Jesus, the true lesson of Christmas.
Monday's Meditation: A Magical Baby?
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 10:23AM 
Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head,
The stars in the sky look down where he lay,
The little Lord Jesus asleep in the hay.
Who knew simple Christmas carols could raise important questions for anyone who wants to follow Jesus? The song celebrates the Incarnation, literally, the enfleshment of Jesus, when God Himself became man. It is a powerful song because any parent remembers well the beauty and mystery of their child asleep in the crib. We can relate to sleeping babies. But then . . .
The cattle are lowing, the poor Baby wakes
The little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes . . .
Right here--at the words, “no crying he makes” the song begins to depart from our personal experience. Most mothers would begin to worry about a baby who never cries. A baby who never cries? What kind of baby was this Jesus? Did he ever cry? Was he a real baby--who did all the things babies do--or was he a miracle baby?
This baby Jesus, God Incarnate: how did he receive the Magi when they came to worship? Did the infant invite them in and gesture for them to sit? Did the new-born child king say, “Please, come in. You must be exhausted from your journey.” Did he thank them for their thoughtful gifts? Or was he simply a baby, for the most part unaware of what was going on? Did his mother tell him years later of those strange visitors?
Fast-forward just a few years and imagine Jesus as a boy learning the family business at his father’s side: how did the sinless Son of God (perhaps, say, six years old) drive a nail into a board for the very first time? Did he hold the hammer correctly? Did he drive the nail straight and true? Or, like all children, did he gain his skill through experience? When the Perfect Human Being first held a saw and cut a piece of wood, did he cut the board correctly? And if he did not, what does this say of his divinity?
Behind such imaginations hide questions for anyone who would become like their Master. These questions comprise meditations worthy of the Christmas week:
- Was Jesus a real human being?
- If Jesus is our example in both behavior and ministry, how did he become the man he was?
- If Jesus modeled ministry for us by healing the sick, casting out demons and raising the dead, by what power did he do these things?
Questions like theses can help us celebrate the wonder of the Incarnation. More important, they can help us discover the life of a disciple and who we are as followers of Jesus.
What is Faith?
Thursday, December 16, 2010 at 11:42AM 
It may not have generated any comments at Students of Jesus, but one sentence from Monday’s Mediation on Faith garnered 20 comments over at Facebook. It was either a really poor sentence or we’ve got more to explore about the essence of faith.I use Facebook to promote Students of Jesus, so I posted a provocative statement along with a link to this blog. The offending statement?
“I want nothing to do with a definition of faith that requires agreement with propositions, I want everything to do with a faith that requires me to hope and trust in the Father's promise.”
Here’s a sampling of comments from people who lined up to take issue:
- I'm also having a tough time understanding your use of "propositions."
- I am wary of and adamantly against leapfrogging over propositions and intellectual understanding: Very strange ideas of "faith" tend to emerge as a result.
- I do not say this in rancor, but in honesty; I wonder at how you will maintain your denominational position.
- When you downplay the importance of intellectual pursuit and propositional truth, people just believe what they're told.
- Where do we see, scripturally, that "doctrine has very little to do with faith"?
Somewhere along the way, faith has morphed from knowing Jesus to knowing about him. I’m writing today to suggest a possibility: what if faith is relationship--relationship with a living, thinking, feeling, Person--what if faith is relationship with God?
The Apostle Paul points to Abraham as the father of our faith. Romans chapter 4 suggests that we come into right relationship with God by trusting Him: in Abraham’s case he placed his trust in God’s promises. In our case, we can place our trust in God’s gracious initiative to us in Jesus Christ. Abraham was not required to agree with any doctrinal statements about God. Instead, God invited Abraham into a relationship. And what a relationship they had! Based upon that relationship Abraham trusted God’s guidance with respect to where to live, how to plan his family, even whether to perform human sacrifice! In a society littered with a multiplicity of gods, Abraham turned his back on every god except some strange God without a name, a God without an image and without any religious structure. God invited Abraham into a relationship.
God spoke to Abraham about the stars in the sky, the sands on the seashore, and about how the two of them could become friends. Abraham had no religious traditions, dogma, or culture to which he had to subscribe. He was simply God’s servant, and eventually God’s friend. Faith and doctrine are two different things. What doctrines did Abraham agree with?
When Jesus called the twelve to follow him, he asked of them a great deal: within the only monotheistic religion in the history of the world, Jesus told his followers, “if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.” He said, in effect, to know him was to know the Father. The way to the Father was relationship with the Son, and it still is because the Son is the exact representation of God’s nature.
Hebrews 11 is faith's "Hall of Fame." What doctrines required agreement of those whom are lauded for their faith? Verse six says simply that "he who comes to God must believe that he is, and he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him." That's relationship, not information. In fact, relationship is the surest way to to know the truth about someone: No one can deceive me with “facts” about my wife because after 26 years together I know her: I know her ways, her words, and in many cases I know her thoughts before she thinks them. This is my guarantee that no one can deceive me about my wife, and the same can (and should) be true in our relationship with Jesus.
Faith and relationship will lead us to sound teaching, but teaching will not lead us to intimacy, relationship and faith. People who affirm correct doctrine are not guaranteed relationship with the Father, Son, or Spirit. “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life,” Jesus said in John 5:39. “These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”
One final Christmas example: when the Magi came to Jerusalem they inquired about the birth of the new king. The Scribes (masters of doctrine) answered the question correctly (Micah 5:2) yet not one went to bow before the new born king. Which would have been better that first Christmas: to know all the answers about Jesus, or to bow at his feet?
Monday's Meditation: A Person and His Promises
Monday, December 13, 2010 at 09:05AM Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact
that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. Romans 4:18-21
"He faced the fact that his body was a good as dead." I love this. It tells me that faith does not require that I ignore the facts. I can stare frankly at what is before me. At the same time there are things bigger than the facts. This passage teaches me I can acknowledge my doubts without celebrating them.
“Being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.“ Verses 20 and 21 tell me that Abraham's faith rested in God's promises, not a limited understanding of the situation. In fact, Abraham was persuaded that God could and would act. I suspect the reason faith is difficult for some people is that they’ve been told faith is believing a set of theological “facts” instead of trusting a person--a person fully capable and willing of acting on their behalf.
In another New Testament book Peter said that we become partakers in the divine nature through God's promises. His promises give us hope. That hope whispers to us, "go ahead--dare to to trust him, and to trust his promise!" I want nothing to do with a definition of faith that requires agreement with propositions, I want everything to do with a faith that requires me to hope and trust in the Father's promise.
Perhaps you could consider this during the week: faith is not agreeing with a set of propositions, it’s knowing a Person, hearing His promises, and trusting Him to fulfill them. Surely that’s better than celebrating my doubt, isn’t it?
Everyone's Entitled to My Opinion: About The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Sunday, December 12, 2010 at 12:48PM 
There are few things worse than bad Christian art: well-intentioned, communicating a “correct” message, and just plain bad. It’s like taking medicine: you know it’s supposed to be good for you, so why is it so unpleasant?
That’s why discovering well-done works of art that honor Jesus is an experience to be treasured. And one of those treasures is Walden Media’s Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Having regained creative control of the Narnia franchise from the Monolithic Corporate Mouse (who shall not be mentioned here) Walden gave director Michael Apted the freedom to adapt C.S. Lewis’ third book of the Narnia series for the screen. Good moves all around: this is a fine film.
The commercial performance of Dawn Treader will likely determine whether the rest of the Narnia stories find their way into film: the darkened Prince Caspian movie, tweaked by the Mouse to resemble a teenage action picture made a profit, but only a small one. Small enough to drive the Round-eared Corporate Creature away--thank God for small blessings. Christians interested in seeing the entire series should vote with their feet (and dollars) immediately and support this movie.
It’s the best of the series, true to the spirit of Lewis’ book while condensing the lengthy tale. Georgie Henley shines as Lucy--my favorite character. This movie deserves your support because it’s well-made. And since everyone’s entitled to my opinion, I think you should march down to the cine-mega-monster-complex and watch The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.