God,
I love this season.
It is such great opportunity for us to spend time reflecting upon the
anticipation of the birth of Christ – the thousands of years the universe sat
and waited. It held its breath, waiting
for the coming of the Messiah – the promised one, the great redeemer! Creation had been waiting and longing for
something.
We all have known that something is not right. All kinds of terrible things have plagued our
world: Pestilence, drought, famine, war, cruel dictators, self-centered corrupt
governments, mean and hateful people, thieves, liars, murderers, cancer,
debilitating diseases, death. The effects
of the fall list could go on and on. The
story of life on earth is very much one of pain, suffering, and death. And we all contribute to this death in our
own ways. We dismiss our own sins, and
being not that serious, thinking that they hurt no one of consequence.
But when we look at Scripture, we see that you are
holy. Not even the slightest degree of tainted
flesh can stand in your presence. If the
only sin we ever committed, was a single covetous thought like, “I wish that
money or house or car were mine,” we would have become tainted with sin enough
that we could not stand in your presence.
So, we, your creation, year after year sin not simply
against each other, but against you, the most real, most honor-worthy being in
the universe. You deserve all of our
admiration and respect, but get rebellion and hatred as a whole.
And yet, throughout history, you have forgiven us. Instead of instant and immediate destruction
you have allowed us to live, and provided good things to us in the midst of our
rebellion. You would pass over the sins
of your people. In the midst of death,
there has been a constant testimony of your mercy and forgiveness.
The universe has seen this injustice, and begged to have
your perfect righteousness recovered.
How could the creator simply endure ongoing outright rebellion from his
creation? He created them, and deserves
all respect and obedience. Instead, from
these tiny insignificant creatures were coming all kinds of nipping and biting,
like a little ant. It bites, but could
be smashed instantly at your choice. Yet
you loved us undeservingly and sacrificially. You continued to endure our biting and
rebellion, despite the apparent defamation of your character.
The heavenly host shouted, “God that’s not just. How can you do that? Those creatures deserve destruction for what
they are doing to you, you are the most infinitely holy God.”
But you said, “wait and watch.”
In your infinite wisdom, you had a plan to solve all these
problems. With the coming of Jesus, his
death and resurrection, you spoke in response to this cry for justice, and to
the longing for an end to suffering!! You
said, “I will take it. I will satisfy
my infinite wrath, and desire for justice… by pouring it upon myself, and thus
I will ultimately redeem the creatures united to me, and justly give them full
life and happiness evermore.”
God, we worship you this morning, because there is no one
like you. You are gracious and
compassionate, slow to anger, rich in love, and absolutely just. All the wrath which we, your people, deserve…
you have taken all of it upon yourself, and given us a righteousness which we did
not earn, but have been given.
The birth of Jesus signifies to us, something amazing, God. The long awaited, Messiah, has come. He is the one we and the universe has longed
for, the woman’s seed who would crush the head of the serpent, bring justice to
your majesty and glory, the one who would ultimately end all the terrible
things in this world – making the sad things come untrue. This person – He has been born. We worship
you, our serpent-crushing, majesty-redeeming, suffering-ending God!
Today, we look forward to our celebration of Christmas,
because of what you have done. Not
because of material gifts we will receive and give, or the wonderful blessing
of spending quality time with friends and family.
No, we look forward to our celebration of Christmas today,
because you are an overflowing fountain of mercy and kindness, because you are
full of jaw-dropping-shocking wisdom, because You promised the serpent’s head would
be crushed, and you always keep your promises.
We look forward to Christmas because you came to us in human
flesh, in the person of Jesus, fully God and fully man. You did not come as a king, you came as a humble
baby born in a barn to a poor family.
Then, lived a life of poverty and suffering in perfect obedience to the
Father – the life we should have lived.
Then you, Jesus, died a painful and shameful death on the cross – the
death we should have died.
Our lives revolve around the most perfect and special gift
that YOU gave at the incarnation. You
gave us yourself, in the person of Jesus, and changed humanity forever.
Father, as our hearts prepare to hear from your Word this
morning. Empower Michael in his
speaking, soften our hearts, open our ears.
Give us understanding, and draw us into worship. We want more of you God. You alone are what we have come for, so by
your Holy Spirit, give us more. Not only
for our sake, but for the sake of our city.
We want your kingdom to advance here.
We desire our neighbors and co-workers to know you and become
participants in your overflowing love and joy with us. Use us as conduits to bring the people with
whom we have contact into your kingdom.
Finally, in this season, God bring us, our families, and our
friends into joyful anticipation of Christmas, not be cause of the gifts and
family, but into the celebration of the coming of our Messiah – Our King Jesus.
In His name we pray, Amen
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