THE REAL REASON FOR THE SEASON

Good Morning, Meetpastordan Readers: Since it is December 24th , it seems only appropriate to turn our attention to the Christmas story…but not the story about Santa Claus, or the latest gadget developed by Apple, or the sale “to end all sales” at your favorite store, and not even the story about the opening of the latest version of “Star Wars”.  No!  This is the Christmas story that demonstrates God’s unconditional, unending, and unfailing love for us.  It is a story that had it beginning even before the world was created, as stated in Ephesians 1:4, 9. “Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God’s plan (for mankind) centered on Christ, and was designed long ago according to his good pleasure.”  But even before Christ entered the picture, God’s plan began to unfold.

God knew at the outset (at Creation) that giving his “proudest creation” (us) “free- will” would be a double edged sword, because we could use it for unintended purposes. But He gave us “free-will” anyhow, because more than anything else, he wanted us to love him back by entering into a “relationship” with him.  Since He is the author of “love” and “relationships” (ie. the unconditional, unending, unfailing love that exists in the Trinity), he knew that a “relationship” can only exist when two people “choose” to enter into such a bond. And  as God’s world continued to reveal itself, we can certainly see the abuse of “free-will” and the unintended consequences as forthrightly expressed by Apostle Paul in Galatians 5:19-21: “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these evil results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, out-bursts of anger, selfish ambition, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other kinds of sin.”  Do you see any of this in the world around you?

And Apostle Paul was absolutely right, because that was the state of Man when God chose to step in and do for us what we had proven from Creation to two-thousand years ago we could not do for ourselves.  And to clarify the stumbling block…we could not triumph over our sin-nature.  Romans 5:6 summed up our pathetic state: “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.”  We can only assume that “just the right time” was when we reached, not only the state of being helpless, but being utterly helpless.  Clearly, we were knee-deep in a quagmire of our own making!

The implementation of God’s plan – His solution for our problem  – began two-thousand years ago in a little town called Bethlehem in a dirty stable.  It certainly doesn’t sound like the perfect setting for the greatest event in human history, but that’s the way God works.  He “mocks the proud but exalts the humble” (Proverbs 3:34), and this was certainly a humble beginning.  The Jews had been looking for, and expecting, a “Savior” to set them free from the oppression of the Roman Empire, but never would they have thought to look in a stable for their Messiah.

So in keeping with the “mocking the proud, exalting the humble” theme, His choice for the honor of delivering the King, the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, the Son of God was not the Royal family, but rather an unknown peasant teenage girl named Mary. This is recorded in the Gospel of Luke, 1:26-38.  “The angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and said, “Greetings, favored woman.  The Lord is with you.  Don’t be frightened, Mary, for God has decided to bless you.  You will become pregnant and have a son, and you are to name him Jesus.  He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High.  And the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David.  And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”  Mary asked the angel, “But how can I have a baby.  I am a virgin.”  The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  So the baby born to you will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. For nothing is impossible with God.”  

This was the humble beginning of God’s unfathomable plan, conceived before the world was created, and set in motion two-thousand years ago to bring Mankind to himself through Jesus Christ.  Jesus lived among us for thirty-three years, modeling the Word of God and fulfilling the purposes for which he came: “to call sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17); “to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19-10); “to destroy the works of the Devil” (1John 3:8); “and to give my life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28)

“This is real love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” (1John 4:10)  Remember, God created us for a relationship; not just a here and now relationship, but for an eternal relationship.  But here is the rub.  We cannot come into the presence of God if we are stained with sin.  1 Peter 1;16 tell us, “You must be holy (set aside for sacred use; free of sin) because I am holy.”  Jesus provided the solution to this dilemma when he stated, “I am the way, the truth and life. No one comes to the father except through me.” (John 14:6)  Therefore, we rejoice in the truth of John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have everlasting life.” 

Now that we have come to believe the truth of Christ’s sacrifice for our sin, and have accepted him as our Lord and Savior, we are grafted into God’s family.  Now we are in Christ, and have assumed a new identity.  We are holy because our sin is forgiven; we have inherited eternal life; we are worthy and acceptable in God’s eyes; we are the righteousness of Christ, not because of anything we did, but because of what He did for us; we are heir to all the Spiritual blessings in the heavenly realm; and we are heir to all the promises in the Bible.

1Peter 2:9-10 tells us, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”   God spoke to his chosen people in Deuteronomy 7:6-8: “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God.  The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His treasured possession…the Lord set His Love on you and chose you, because the Lord loves you…   That scripture applies to us today because we are in Christ.   Today, we are his chosen people because we are covered with the blood of Jesus!

Thank you, God, for you beautiful plan to save us from our self-will.  Thank you, Jesus, for taking on the lowly role of humanity that, through your sacrifice, we can look forward to eternity with you, God, and all other Christ-followers.  This IS the reason for the season, and Jesus IS the greatest Christmas gift we could ever  receive.

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2016 TO ONE AND ALL!  Please feel free to “like” and share this posting with other social media friends.  Next posting will be 1/2/2017

Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)