Yesterday I had the opportunity to be part of a wonderful group of people who understand and were willing to display the value of giving. We came together under the banner of “concerned musicians for the restoration of Ferguson”, and forty three of us went to Ferguson with the sole intention of bringing the joy of the season and the true spirit of Christmas to a community that has been ravaged by the ugliness of anger, frustration and hatred.
The collective spirit of “good will” was sky-high among the musicians. Smiles were plentiful and the attitude of “compassion and the desire to serve” could not be contained. Even after an hour of playing (in “chilly” weather, I might add), the comments center on how great it felt to be part of the experience. One member wrote in a note to me last night, “frozen fingers but warm hearts. I was thrilled to be there!”
That, my friends, is the true meaning of Christmas. It’s a time for giving and for sharing. Jesus certainly exemplified “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35) through his actions, and he wasn’t necessarily referring to material gifts. Giving and serving others reflects the state of our heart, and if we have the teachings of Jesus in our heart, we intuitively have the desire to serve our fellow man. And what did Jesus teach? Love, compassion, mercy, forgiveness and service to others.
In our culture the term “love” has gotten watered down to the point of being almost meaningless. For instance, we love our pets; we love our jobs; we love this song or that song; we love ice cream. In fact, sometimes we even love the Rams? (an example of conditional love!) But in the original Greek language of the Bible, there were four words to designate four different levels of love.
The term Eros indicated a physical attraction, a sensual-type of love. That is the root word for our term “erotic”. Philia indicated a deeper love; a friendship; valuing the “whole person”. That is the root word for our term “Philadelphia”, meaning “city of brotherly love.” Storge indicated a familiar-type love between parents and their children or between siblings. It is sometimes referred to as a “natural love”. But Agape love is the highest form of love. It is self-sacrificial love, the type of love Jesus demonstrated when he was here on this very earth. Apostle Paul shared with us the true meaning of agape love in 1 Corinthians, 13: 4-8.
“Love is patient, love is kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice, but rejoices whenever truth prevails. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever.”
Wow! How powerful are those words! And Wow! again…those words do indeed set the bar particularly high. Higher in fact that I am capable of achieving. But truth be told…higher than any of us are capable of achieving.
Through the world’s view, these same words sound “nice”, but in fact are pure jibberish, as substantiated by the astronomical divorce rate. (Sidebar: depending on where you or I look for this statistic, that number will vary based on a myriad of factors. But based on a fair amount of snooping, I am comfortable saying is it is between 52% and 61%) The point is, in our culture, when there is trouble or something has “run its course”, it’s easier and certainly more acceptable today to bail because after all, we have every “right” to search for that perfect “soul mate” so we can be “all we can be!” Need I point out that we live in a self-serving culture?
But as Christ-followers, we are called to strive toward agape love, the same way we are called to live up to the Beatitudes as pronounced by Jesus in his “sermon on the mount”. Now talk about impossible! Geeeesh.
I have pointed out many times before, as Christ-followers we can begin experiencing Heaven on Earth right here and now because we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to empower us to do what we absolutely could not do of our own volition. That is how we can be humble yet powerful; how we can bite our tongue when we want to lash out; how we can forgive our enemies; how we can live up to the standard of agape love.
But this is a process. Our goal is to strive to become more Christ-like each day. And will we fall short? Absolutely! But as long as we get up and keep asking the Holy Spirit to empower us to be the person God created us to be, we can continue to strive toward becoming the “masterpiece” Paul refers to in Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
Whether one has the teachings of the world or the love of Jesus in their heart is blatantly obvious. Paul points out the glaring difference in the Book of Galatians. “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature (our culture refers to this same state as “human nature”), your lives will produce these evil results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, hatred, out-bursts of anger, selfish ambition, envy, drunkenness, wild parties and other kinds of sin.” He then warns us, “Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” (5:19-21)
He then compares that sinful state to a Spirit-filled state. “But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce in us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (5:22-23)
What Ferguson witnessed three weeks ago and what they saw yesterday was the previous two paragraphs playing out. The contrast is undeniable. One event brought a smile to God’s face; the other brought a tear to his eye. One heart was filled with worldly teachings; the other heart was filled with the teachings of Jesus. Therefore, in my humble opinion, the state of our heart determines who we are.
My Christmas wish for this season is that everyone reading this would pray for a revelation in our culture to the age-old proclamation: “Repent. Turn from your sins and turn to God”. I believe the solution to our culture’s downward spiral does not rest in such terms as Republican, Democrat, liberal or conservative, but only the revelation of our need for a loving, powerful God.
Merry Christmas to one and all, and let’s pray for a better New Year.
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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