Romans 3:30-31 There is only one God, and there is only one way of being accepted by him. He makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law. Let me start by saying that I don’t want to get into a debate over this issue. Obviously there are many sides to this and I’m not a religious scholar, so I don’t pretend to know them all. I’m just writing my thoughts…. I know there is some confusion over whether people are saved because they believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus and His forgiveness of sins or whether people are saved by doing good things and being good enough. I’m not sure why though. This verse seems pretty clear about what God wants. He makes people right with himself only by faith. It doesn’t matter your color or your background or any of that. All that matters is faith. The second thing here speaks to the questions I had about the Old Testament law and how we seem to pick and choose the parts of it that we follow today. I’ve had some great comments about how Jesus’ death and resurrection did away with the old rules and regulation because, as I mentioned above, we are made right with God through faith not through following rules. However, here it says that the law cannot be forgotten and tossed out just because we have faith! On the contrary, faith emphasizes our fulfillment of the law! So faith and the law somehow fit together. The law isn’t totally invalidated because of Jesus. Obviously, we still adhere to many of the ten commandments (particularly the ones like don’t commit murder), and some people still adhere to other parts of the law given to Moses such as not piercing or tattooing themselves. Yet, it’s interesting that people who adhere to this part of the law have no trouble wearing polyester or eating bacon, which is also forbidden just one verse earlier than the piercing and tattooing bit. Sorry, getting off topic! Anyway, I just thought it was interesting that Paul says not to throw out the law just because we are made right with God through faith. Faith should emphasize our ability to truly fulfill the law… perhaps by truly loving other people and loving God (which I believe is what Jesus said summed up the entire law anyhow).
Luke 2:23 The law of the Lord says, “If a woman’s first child is a boy, he must be dedicated to the Lord.” In the Old Testament, according to the Law, the firstborn son had to be dedicated to the Lord. It was basically a tithe of your family. I don’t know if it was described that way, but it was very much similar to the the tithe. It came from the first fruits of the harvest, in this case the first child of the family. How very fitting that Jesus was this tithe (or maybe gift would be a better word). He would be that tithe in every sense of the word, even down to His death on the cross as a sacrifice. He was dedicated to the Lord, and He would spend several years prior to His death telling Israel about the Lord and what He was truly like. And, like all tithes, He was sacrificed, given away. But it wasn’t us giving to God, it was God giving to us. In the same way that Jesus was Mary’s first born and dedicated to the Lord, Jesus was also God’s first and only Son who was dedicated to the Lord. In our selfishness and pride, we would have kept Him among us because we didn’t understand the full weight of our sin. But in God’s love and humility, He sacrificed His Son, His tithe, His gift, for us, to give us a new gift of forgiveness and hope. Merry Christmas!
Matthew 2:2 “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We have seen his star as it arose, and we have come to worship him.” There are several things that I find amazing about the three wise men. 1. They were persistent! They followed a star for two years! They must have come from very far away because they tell Herod that they first saw the star 2 years ago (that’s why Herod has all the boys two and under killed – this makes me want to cry because both my boys are around that age and I can only imagine the pain that order caused). I wonder how often we never find the prize at the end because we fail to follow the star for the time needed to get all the way there? 2. They weren’t as wise as I’d have thought. They asked the current king where the new king was. Did it ever occur to them that maybe he wouldn’t be happy about the thought that he was going to be dethroned? Of course, if they thought a new king had been born, it would be rather logical to look in a palace first rather than in a barn. So, maybe the two cancel each other out and make it a neutral point. 3. They kept their eyes on the bigger picture of who Jesus was. They were giving gifts to a two-year-old… I’d have given him a ball. But they remembered that he was a king, and they gave Him gifts that were worthy of a king. They didn’t lose sight of what and who Jesus was just because of a set of temporary circumstances – that he happened to be a two-year-old. That’s a good lesson for me. I need to remember who Jesus is and not get so stuck on the circumstances surrounding me that will change over time. Ultimately, Jesus is in control and is God and is faithful and is my Rock. The changing circumstances, whatever they may be, don’t change the fact that He is King over everything, even my craziness! Cool stuff from 3 kings!
Luke 1:11 Zechariah was in the sanctuary when an angel of the Lord appeared, standing to the right of the incense altar. In church on Sunday the pastor talked about the song the angels sang to the shepherds and it got me thinking about this whole angel thing. 1. Why did God make people if he already had angels? I mean, angels are beautiful and perfect. Was it because they couldn’t choose to love Him or something like that? I mean, really, humans are messy and disobedient and fickle. God knew full well that when He made us He’d have to come save us from ourselves. Why bother? Why not have a relationship with the angels instead? Or is it more fun to have unpredictable, crazy humans? 2. In the book of Daniel the angel tells Daniel that he was sent by God the minute Daniel started praying but that he was delayed by demonic forces. I wonder how often God sends us an answer but it is delayed by demonic forces. I think I’ve covered this in a previous post. 3. Were the angels jealous when God created man? It’s kind of like the older sibling thing. They had been created but it wasn’t enough. Did they ever wonder why they weren’t enough or why God felt the need to have a relationship with something as problematic as humanity? Just sayin’… 4. When the angel appeared to the shepherds in the fields after Jesus’ birth he calmed them down and told them about what had happened. I wonder if the angels were extra bright that night because they were so excited and awed about what God had done. Anyway, the shepherd finally start breathing again and suddenly a vast host of angels appears in the sky. They have another heart attack. I didn’t think about it until the pastor mentioned it but a vast host is something like millions of angels. I always pictured 20-30 angels, but this is a whole different picture. Can you imagine?! Millions of angels singing in the sky! Did anyone else see this?! Seriously, a million, brilliantly shining angels appear in the sky singing the Hallelujah Chorus… That had to light up the fields like the day! Of course, I suppose they could have only been visible to the shepherds… But, wow! That had to be incredible! 5. When Zechariah questions the angel on the validity of him and his wife having a child when they were way too old for that to happen (sounds like Abraham and Sarah!), the angel says, “I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was he who sent me to bring you this good news!” (Luke 1:19) Dude! I’m an angel! Why would I lie about this?! In this translation, and several others I’ve read, Gabriel sounds like he’s just smacked his forehead in shock that this guy is questioning an angel. It shows some emotion from the angel and is an interesting reminder to me that the angels did have feelings and emotions. I wonder how many times they shook (and still shake) their head at humanity wondering how on earth we could be so monumentally stupid and so incredibly loved by God. So, those are, randomly arranged of course, some of my thoughts on angels. I’m sure there are other thoughts running around in my head, but these are the ones I can remember at 5:00 in the morning.
Matthew 13:57 And they were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his own family.” I wonder if the people in his hometown were jealous of Him? Here is says they were offended that Jesus could teach so well. Did they feel like He was acting “above his station”? How often does my jealousy or resentment keep me from doing things or believing a point that Jesus made? For example, I know Jesus can do things but I often have a hard time believing that He will do it for me. I see how He’s done it for others, but when I compare what they have with what I perceive that I have, I come up short. And since I don’t see that He’s done it for me, I have a hard time believing that He will do it for me. Even if He’s promised in His Word. Does that make sense? This is especially prevalent when it comes to money and God’s promises about that. I read Robert Morris’ book The Blessed Life when my church did a series on him and I struggled to believe that God would follow through on the promises that Robert Morris brings up in his book (they’re in the Bible, but Morris points to them for support of his points). I wonder if part of my struggle is that I read about all the stories he tells of times when God has followed through in amazing ways, but I fail to see God’s hand working in similar ways in my life (even though He’s working in more subtle ways, I think). So in my jealousy of their stories I disbelieve or discount that Jesus will do what He says He’ll do and then that hinders God’s work in me and in my life. That’s kind of confusing, but it makes me think…. On a completely unrelated string… It mentions Jesus 4 brothers and an unspecified number of sisters. That means that Mary must have had at least 7 children (including Jesus)! I always thought of her as having a couple of children and that’s it, but she had a lot of children! Can you imagine being Jesus’ sibling?! “James, why can’t you be perfect like Jesus?” LOL! I’m not sure if that would have been amazing or frustrating.
Matthew 12:21 And his name will be the hope of all the world. This is actually Jesus quoting from Isaiah (42:1-4) regarding a prophecy made about him. I thought it was fitting because during this time of year (Christmas) the name of Jesus is heard more often (since that’s the real reason we celebrate). His name is hope. Hope is good, especially right now when things are so decidedly bad with our economy, wars, government and all the little details that stress us out. Hope is that flickering flame that is the last thing to get extinguished. Hope, no matter how tiny, holds on through even the worst of times. Jesus is there all the time, even when there’s no money in the bank and no jobs to be had; when there’s corruption all around and no one to help you; and when the world has come crashing down and your heart is shattered. He is hope. His name brings hope because He is bigger than the storm. He has the power to calm the storm. He has conquered all these things and more. He is the rest of your heart, the quiet place to grieve, the safe harbor to weather the waves, the hand you can hold, and the champion of your cause. We all need hope to keep moving forward. Jesus is that hope. Have you tried Him lately?
Matthew 11:28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. How beautiful are these words! There are days when I am so tired that I’m not really sure how I’m awake. There are times when the budget isn’t working, the bank account is almost empty, my children aren’t well, my husband’s job is not going well, I have a huge project that’s overwhelming me and no time to do it in, and it’s almost too much to bear. I’m not made to carry all of that! I may be responsible for dealing with it, but God didn’t make me strong enough to carry it. At least, not all alone. That’s why I love this verse. It’s all about laying those things down. I can trust God to carry those things and to give me rest. I can put them down at His feet and trust Him to take care of all the details. His rest is more refreshing than any break I can find or make. But I have to come. He’s not going to chase me down and yank my burdens away from me. That’s rude. He allows me to make the choice to come and surrender. He’s waiting for me. And he’s really happy when I get there because He’s big enough for my issues. He’s bigger than my storms. He loves to help me. But He’s waiting for me to remember how much I need Him.