Brrrrrrr….it’s 15 degrees with a pretty strong wind blowing, making the wind-chill factor 8 degrees; it’s also totally black outside, and last night weather prognosticators were warning us about icy conditions this morning. That being said, my morning walk is being postponed until this afternoon – after I have this posted. Glenn and Cliff, however, are a bit distressed. They haven’t missed a morning walk as long as they have been part of the Presgrave family, and running around in our back yard doesn’t seem to do it for them…especially when it appears to be in lieu of their stroll. After all, they have their favorite spots to visit each morning, if you know what I mean. 🙂 So, here we go…coffee in hand, the boys reluctantly hanging with me, and the St. Louis Wind Symphony (STLWS) recording of “In the Christmas Mood” playing in the background. I’m feeling rather HO, HO, HO for 6am Monday morning.
Yesterday the STLWS did its annual Christmas concert at the Ivory Theatre in the Carondelet area. I always tell the audience at the outset, “This is a Christmas concert, not an all-inclusive concert or a politically correct concert, but a Christmas concert to celebrate the true reason for the season.” Our culture has obviously declared war on Christian principles and traditions with its attempt to remove Christmas trees, decorations, and nativity scenes from public places; forbidding Christmas events in public school; directing employees to say, “Happy Holidays” rather than the offensive “Merry Christmas”, and, to point out the obvious, the media hype for this season is all about shopping, buying and more shopping and buying. This would be a bit more palatable if it were tied in with the spirit of giving and helping others, but unfortunately that message seems to have slipped through the cracks. Therefore, every time I have the opportunity to put Christ back into Christmas and to talk about the true reason for the season, I feel honored AND compelled to do so.
As you know from previous postings, I believe that there are two fundamental principles that underlie everything else written in the Bible, and those two principles are (1) God is love and (2) God wants a relationship with us – an eternal relationship. There is only one obstacle that prevents this from happening: SIN. When God created man, the Bible tells us he created man in his image and for his pleasure (a relationship). Adam and Eve were placed in The Garden of Eden, and it was paradise. There was no sickness, suffering, poverty, war, famine, jealousy, fear, hatred…not even death. God communed with Adam and Eve; they were spiritually connected to him, and he provided for all their needs. It was perfect!
That changed when SIN entered the world, and that fatal act was disobedience to God’s directive. Genesis 2:17 describes the event: God told Adam and Eve, “do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For if you do, you will surly die” Bear in mind, sin can be used as either a verb or a noun. The act of sin, in this case “disobedience”, caused their spiritual nature to change. This produced a new state of being, “living in sin”, which means living for our self and our own pleasure rather than living for God and bringing honor and glory to Him. In the Book of Romans, the term “sin” is used 47 times: 41 times it is used as a noun, describing our state of being rather than a verb, describing an act or action. Because the original spiritual connection with God was severed at “the fall of man”, every generation after Adam until today has been born with a “sin nature”, meaning the focus is on ourself rather than on God.
If you doubt that, let’s look at the birth of a child. When the baby comes out of the mother’s womb, its first action is to cry. Why? Because he/she wants something; to be held, to be nursed; to feel safe; to get away from all those bright lights…something! In other words, the first thing a baby becomes aware of is “self”. The unfortunate truth is…man can go from the cradle to the grave living with the focus on himself rather than living in line with God’s will for his life. In Romans 6:23 we find both the consequence and the solution for that state: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.” Thank you God for your love! Thank you Jesus for your willingness!
As I stated earlier, the only thing that stands between us and an eternal relationship with God is SIN. 1 Peter 1:16 tells us, “we have to be holy because God is holy”, and to be “holy” means to have the same nature as God, to be without sin. In other words, we can’t come into the presence of God if we are stained with sin. One of my favorite passages in the Bible, Romans 3: 22-25, provides the solution to that dilemma: “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for all who believe, no matter who we are or what we have done. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares us NOT GUILTY. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood for us”. (added emphasis: underline and CAPS is mine).
Man had from Creation until 2013 years ago to wrestle with this issue of sin, but because of our “sin-nature” (or as our culture calls it, our “human nature”) man lived with the focus on himself; his goals; and his pleasures. The fact is…we don’t set out to sin; we don’t say, “humm, I think I’ll sin today”, we just do what comes naturally to us. Romans 5:6 tells us, “while we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.” While we were utterly helpless…that is powerful! God knew we could never save ourselves, that we were, and will be slaves to our sin-nature. And “at just the right time”…Wow! God doesn’t specify his criteria for this statement, but undoubtedly he knew that waiting was not going to improve our condemned status as “sinners”! And most importantly, because He is a God of love, he didn’t insist that we clean-up our act before he acted. No…while we were still sinners, He gave us his gift of grace – meaning we didn’t earn it, weren’t worthy of it, and certainly didn’t deserve it– to do for us what He knew we were “utterly” incapable of doing for ourselves. He gave us Jesus Christ as the sacrificial lamb to shed HIS blood for the forgiveness of OUR sins.
Blood has always been required for forgiveness of sin. Under the Old Covenant (before the crucifiction of Christ), the day of Atonement was set aside for a ceremony that designated the forgiveness of sins for God’s chosen people, the Israelites. The high priest would go from the outer room of the Temple, the Holy Place, into the most sacred place in the Temple, the Most Holy Place, with the blood of sacrificial animals to make an offering to God. Unfortunately this ritual had to be performed each year, not for the forgiveness of sins, but to cover the sins of the people. This had nothing to do with salvation, but was for cleansing their conscience.
The contrast between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant is presented in Hebrews 9:13-15, 26: “Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow could cleanse people’s bodies from ritual defilement. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our hearts from deeds that lead to death so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. He came once for all time…to remove the power of sin FOREVER by his sacrificial death for us”.
What this means for us is the price Christ paid for sin 2013 years ago is still good today. His sacrifice removed the “power of sin” forever. That’s why this is a gift of grace! We did nothing to earn it; we are not deserving of it, and we’re certainly not worthy of it. But when we are in Christ, meaning we have accepted God’s loving gift of grace – Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, God looks at us and no longer sees a sinner, but a Saint covered by the blood of Jesus. Romans 8:1 states: “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.” Now we are sin-free and worthy to come into His presence, not because of anything we did or didn’t do, but because of what Jesus Christ did for us. And because we are in Christ, we inherit eternal life and can look forward to spending eternity with God, Jesus, and all other believers. Eternity! Wow…our minds cannot begin to grasp the incredible magnitude of this. But suffice to say…it certainly beats the alternative.
That, my friends, is the reason for the season and the best Christmas gift any of us will ever receive. If the gift of grace is not at the top of your Christmas list, what are you waiting for? It’s free; all you have to do is accept the gift, and it’s available to anyone who wants it…no matter who you are or what you have done!! It’s the only way to experience God’s plan for your life.
Merry Christmas to ya!
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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