The Lyrics to Mary's Song - part 3

"The Mighty One has done great things for me; Holy is His name."

After getting the order straight and understanding (as I said last week) that we are bond-slaves of our God, Mary acknowledges the good God has done for her.   Note that the order IS important.  If we reverse it, we will wind up thinking that God has an obligation to us.  When we reverse it we tend to determine good for ourselves, but here Mary reminds herself that God has done great things for her. 

Note that these things are things that God "has done."  She is not primarily referring to what she is now experiencing, she instead looks back to the history of Israel and makes herself a part of all that God is doing.  She recognizes that she has a part in the much larger plan of God and as such, God has been faithful to all those before her and will continue to be faithful to her.  This is a great reminder especially when we are faced with difficult times. 

James 1 reminds us that we are to count it all joy when we face trials.  And, while I hope that no one is having trials at Christmastime, I know that many people are.  Reality is that people face difficulty every day.  And sometimes we need to say with Mary that God has done great things for me because we need to remind ourselves that God has our best interest in mind. 

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28, NASB)

We can only believe this when we believe that God has done great things for us in the past.  God has been faithful and will continue to be faithful because that is a part of the marvelous character of our God.  So, if you face difficulty, trust.  If you face hardship, hold on.  If you face pain, persevere.  God will see you through it because He has seen you through everything up to this point.  The Mighty One has done great things for me.  Holy is His name. 

The Lyrics to Mary's Song - part 2

As we continue to examine the song that Mary sang following her receipt of the announcement of the birth of Jesus, I want to focus in on verse 48 of Luke chapter 1.

"For He has regard for the humble state of His bondslave. . ."

This is another corrective in our day and culture.  In a culture that speaks of me first, during a time that everything cries out "Me first", Mary instead says, "I am a slave".  I recently received in the mail something that my kids absolutely loved - a toy catalogue.  They poured over each page thinking about what might be.  Then I received in the mail the CBD catalogue.  (For those not aware, this is Christian Book Distributors and it contains books and commentaries and everything that a nerdy pastor might want!)  I poured over it thinking about what might be.  We watch TV and both the toy and the car ads tell us that we need what they are selling and that if we want to be truly happy we will purchase from them.  We watch jewelry ads that tell us that if we love our wives and if we want them to love us we will buy them jewelry, and one stone is not enough, it has to now contain two diamonds - one for your wife and one for your best friend - one ring for the woman who is both. 

We tend to think of God sometimes like He is Santa.  He will bring us good things if we have been good and will bring us coal if we have been bad.  But, He is obligated to bring us something.  We give Him our lists categorized nicely into healings He can perform, blessings He can give to us, curses He can give to those we do not like (we may not verbalize these prayers but we all know they are there.)  And Mary sings the joys of servitude. 

No one thinks they want to be a slave.  But when we consider the Master, perhaps we should reconsider.  Mary rejoices that her Master has had regard for the humble state that the bondslave is in.  She will go on to recount how many blessings she receives from her Master and how He has fed her and exalted her even in her low position.  But perhaps most challenging is her earlier words in Luke 1:38:

"And Mary said, 'Behold, the bondslave of the Lord, may it be done to me according to your word.'"

This is a true servant.  God use me in whatever way you deem best - I will simply allow you to do what you need to do.  This Christmas are you willing to let God use you in whatever way He deems best?  Are you willing to give sacrificially to those less fortunate?   Are you willing to share His gospel with the people you come in contact with?  Are you willing to love that one irritating family member in the name of Jesus?  Christmas truly is the season of giving, but not the giving of gifts to others.  It is season of giving yourself wholly to your Lord and Savior.  Will you bless God with a gift that cannot be wrapped?  Give Him your life.  You will never regret serving Him as your Master.

The Lyrics to Mary's Song - part 1

It is the Christmas season.  No way around it, we are in full swing.  Thank goodness we have the stores to all remind us of this with flyers and emails and sales and all of the things that we do not need! 

It is during the materialism that I need the reminder that the season is not about the things that we spend the most time worrying about.  It is not about presents.  It is not about trees.  It is not about decorations.  It is not about a feeling of happiness.  It is not about family.  It is not about friends.  All of these things have their place, but none of their places is at the forefront of the meaning of the Christmas Event.  During the next few weeks I want to focus on the Christmas Event.  That one moment of God coming to earth that changed so much.  And when this was told to Mary, she sang a song.  This song captures the essence of the real purpose and meaning behind Christmas.  And so I want to examine the lyrics.

The song is found in Luke 1:46-55.   It begins like this:
"My soul exalts the Lord, my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior."

This is what it is about.  Recognition of a proper place and the fact that we exist for God, not the other way around.  What a corrective.  In the time of the greatest materialism we begin to think that the world revolves around us.  We buy gifts and wonder what people will get us.  We put together lists and we dream about the food that pleases us the most.  And this song that Mary puts together simply begins with the idea that we are here to exalt our God, not the other way around. 

But, this does not mean that there is no gift at Christmas.  No, we receive the greatest gift - because we can rejoice that God is our Savior.  This is in fact the meaning and the reason behind the name "Jesus" because He will save His people.  This expression implies that our greatest need was not anything to do with material goods, but instead a change in our relationship with God.  We needed saving.  We needed to be healed and helped.  But at our core, before we could be healed, before we could be helped, we needed to be redeemed.  And God sent His Son Jesus to do just that.  To save us.  But notice that this comes after exaltation.  Even our salvation is not solely for its own end, but instead to drive us to exalt our Lord all the more. 

This Christmas, let us not just talk about Jesus being the "Reason for the Season".  Let us talk in specifics about the fact that He came so that we could exalt Him.  He came to save.  And let us worship Him for all that He has done for us.

Thanksgiving 2016

This week we celebrate a national holiday.  Most of us have many things to be thankful for this week, including some time off of work.  Chances are someone may even be shopping for your Christmas present this weekend.  Facebook will be loaded with images and comments on what people are grateful for.  And we think of family, food, football and a lot of fun had together during this season. 

May I encourage those of us who are Christians to remember this season that we have far more to be thankful than these earthly blessings.  All of the earthly blessings that we possess can be taken away, and if we are counting on these things for our gratitude, we may find ourselves in a state of discontent at some point down the road.  Instead, when we focus on seeking first the Kingdom of God we receive true unending joy because the rewards we have by following Christ cannot be removed.

You have access to God the Father right now today.   You can go before Him in prayer and even ask Him for things because of the road paved by the blood of Jesus.  You can call Him "Abba" and you can talk to Him as though you were His child because you have become an adopted heir with Christ.  No one can ever take this away from you after you have placed your faith in Christ alone.  What a blessing.

You have the promise that Christ will never leave or forsake you.  God will always be with you no matter what you face.  And, this promise of presence extends to the very love that God has for you.  That love cannot be taken away.  It cannot be lessened.  God loves you in Christ with an everlasting love. 

You have the joy of knowing that death on earth is just the beginning of an eternity of joyous worship of our King.  That no matter what happens to you here, there is waiting for you a place with no pain, no suffering, no sin and the joy of seeing Jesus face to face.  

And I could go on, and on, and on.  But perhaps the thing we should be most thankful for is that God granted us the ability to respond to the gospel by the Spirit of God.  For the faith that we have in Christ.   For the work of Christ on the cross than enables our faith.  May our lives this week and beyond be a testimony of the gratitude that we have for grace.  And may our testimony of thanksgiving draw others toward a relationship with our glorious God.

To God be the Glory.

Philippians 1:27

The Bible does not let our Christianity be something passive.  Too often we think that as long as we have said a prayer and go to church on at least a semi-regular basis we will be good with God.  But the Scriptures have a way of reminding us that being a Christian has a lot to do with how we live. 

Allow me to be clear from the beginning - you cannot save yourself by doing anything.  When you are saved however, it is equally clear that you are saved to do things that will bring honor and glory to God.  Ephesians 2 talks about the grace that destroys our works but states that the purpose of this grace is to create us in Christ for good works.  There is another reminder of our need to live for God in Philippians 1.

"Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;"  (Philippians 1:27, NASB)

There are two words that I find interesting in this verse.  The first is conduct.  Our conduct is to be worthy of the gospel of Christ.  This is fascinating because apart from Christ we are not worthy.  But Paul tells us that when Christ does a work in us, our lives our now for Christ (see 1:21).  He goes on to describe some of what this conduct looks like - namely that we would stand firm in one spirit and with one mind strive together for the faith of the gospel.  He then in the beginning of chapter two fleshes this out a bit more.  Conduct worthy of the gospel is unselfish and points to the example of Christ in its humility and service for others.  And in 2:14 Paul reminds us that we are to do all of this without grumbling and complaining.  What a challenge. 

The second word that I am interested in for our purposes is the word "Striving".  Being a Christian can be tough.  It may require hard work.  In fact, it will require hard work.  It is hard work to set aside self and strive together with another group of people for the purpose of the faith of the gospel.  This will mean I will not get my way and I will be ok.  Because my purpose now is to work hard to make sure that the gospel is my priority.   Not myself.  Not my will.  Not my way.  The Gospel. 

I wonder if people see my life if they see that I am working hard for the gospel?  What about you?  Are you working hard for the gospel or are you working for something or someone else?  We are to conduct ourselves and strive together for the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Christianity is a very active endeavor!

Thanksgiving in Election Season

It seems to me that this election more than perhaps others that have gone before feels as though whomever wins the election - the country loses.  I will not tell you who to vote for, and I am not sure there is a "winning" candidate that is in the election this go-round.  I have seen and heard a lot of angst from Christians and wonder if we have lost sight of the truths of Scripture.  If you are wringing your hands this morning, be reminded of Psalm 2.  I will highlight a few of my favorite parts of this text.

It begins with nations in an uproar, trying hard to take a stand against God.  And the response of God to all of the efforts of man to thwart His perfect plan is recorded in verse 4. 

"He who sites in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them."

God sees all that is going on and all of the people fighting against Him.  God knows all of the contra-biblical attitudes that are out there.  He is aware of all of the legislation in the works that goes against morality and ethics.  He knows it all.  And He laughs.  Consider this today:  God takes all of the work of mankind to fight against His truth as one colossal joke.  In verse 5 He reminds us why - all He has to do is speak and it will terrify all who strive against Him. 

After a warning that all those in leadership on earth should tune themselves to Him, He reminds us of another truth we need to hear today. 

"How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!"

If you are relying on the election to give you peace and comfort, if you are going to be upset if your candidate doesn't win, if you think that it is over if the other person gets elected - perhaps you need to place your refuge in God instead of the president.   If you are worried that our economy will tank - put your refuge in God instead of your money.  If you are worried about the anti-God state of our world, place your refuge in the God who is the only one capable of fixing our broken world.  And remind yourself that He fixes this broken world through us - as we share Christ with those who need to hear.  Trump or Clinton will not fix anything- only Christ is capable of healing. 

And in the glorious truth that God is still in control we find thanksgiving.  Even in the midst of a nasty election cycle that ends today!

To God be the Glory!

Insight from our Singing - part 18

We come to the conclusion of our series on the hymnbook I have been reading.  The hymn that I close with is a simple one that many of us are familiar with but have gotten away from singing as often as we perhaps used to.  This is no fault of the hymn, but more a fault of the fact that we have moved away from hymns in general.  As we think about worship it is important to be reminded that content overcomes culture every time.  Or at least it should.  We are to worship in Spirit and Truth, not in the name of cultural sensitivity.  This is also not to say that change or all of the newer songs are bad - it is to say that we perhaps need a different way of evaluating our songs than simply what it "does for me."  Something far more objective is needed - and content provides that objectivity.  We should evaluate songs based solely on their biblical content and the contribution that biblical content makes not only to our Sunday service, but to our weekly worship. 

In this respect, the doxology perhaps stands unique.  So simplistic that a child can learn and sing it.  And yet this simplicity is bounded in the depth of truth as we allow this song to form our day it by the power of the Spirit of God can be used to transform our day.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

A reminder to us that all that we have we have from the hands of our heavenly Father.  A reminder that in Him is no evil, and that He is working for our good.

Praise Him all creatures here below.

A truth that we often forget - we are created and derivative.  He is creator and singular.  We are therefore bound by this distinction to honor his "otherness".  We are below God.  We must never get that mixed up and think ourselves His master.

Praise Him above ye heavenly host.

This reminds us of the world beyond the world that we see.  We get caught up in election cycles and news cycles.  We get bombarded by the reality of living in a sin stained world and we need to be reminded that this world is not our home.

Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

The deep theology of the trinity.  And perhaps aside from needing to update the word ghost (especially this close to Halloween), a good reminder that the God that we serve is indeed singular, but not alone - he is after all Three in One.  Triune.  Holy.  Praise be to our glorious God.

Amen

This word is perhaps the most critical.  Which is why in my favorite version of the song it is sung seven times.  The word simply means "so be it". It is a statement of agreement with the content of the song.  I agree that God gives me all good things.  I agree that I am to praise Him because He has created me.  I agree that there is something beyond this world to look forward to.  I agree that He is the triune God to be worshiped.  And in this agreement I submit to Him.  I obey Him.  I worship Him.  May all of us hear the words of Scripture be it read or sung and have the courage to say "Amen".