The Challenge Of A New Year

In Joshua 3:1-11 we are told that as Joshua and the people of Israel stood on the brink of Jordan, they faced a new beginning. The generation of their forefathers who had fallen in the wilderness because of disobedience was now history. Moses, the great leader of the fledgling nation, had been given a private funeral and burial on the mountain by Jehovah. Their new leader, Joshua, was the man of the hour as he stood ready to lead them into the land promised to their forefathers. God’s presence was symbolized by the Ark of the Covenant that would go before them. Joshua challenges them to go in and possess the land. Joshua tells of the wonders God will perform and reminds them of the victory promised to those who would walk faithfully, courageously and obediently into the new land. His statement, "You have not passed this way before," seems to sum up the challenge involved in stepping out by faith into a new and unknown land. There will be vast uncharted waters ahead. There will be many new and unexplored paths to walk. There will be risks be faced, challenges to be confronted and a high price to be paid, if success is to be achieved in the new land.

As we see the old year out and usher the New Year in, we should understand that we stand on the verge of a new spiritual venture; a new calling to serve the Lord in the land of a new year. In a sense, the challenge of a new year is like stepping out on the beautiful, sparkling, trackless surface of new fallen snow. It is like standing on the edge of the fresh sand of a wave swept beach. Or a child contemplating a clean sheet of paper or a clean slate. All are free of the contaminating touch of man. There’s an old bit of verse that speaks of this challenge:

He came to my desk with quivering lip, the lesson was done.

"Have you a new leaf for me, dear Teacher?, I’ve spoiled this one."

I took his leaf all soiled and blotted and gave him a new one, all unspotted.

Then into his tired heart I smiled, Do better now my child."

I went to the throne with trembling heart. The year was done.

"Have you a new year for me, dear Master? I’ve spoiled this one.

He took my heart, all soiled and blotted and gave me a new one, all unspotted.

Then into my tired heart he smiled; "Do better now my child."

Yes, we are like a those who walk in a new land. We have not passed this way before. Our footprints are yet to be made in the sands of time of the New Year. Yet it is a great blessing to know that as we ring out the old and ring in the new, we can immerse the failures of yesteryear in the sea of God’s forgiveness. We can face with a great expectant faith the challenges of a new year. By the grace of God, if He wills it, we can cross over boldly into the land of the new year with an expectant faith based upon the precious promises of God.

A Christmas Message

Why has the story of the wise men who traveled far and brought gifts to the baby Jesus come to represent real wisdom throughout the ages? It’s unlikely these wise men were university graduates with Ph.D.’s. We have no record of their academic pedigree, yet we know they were wise men. Their wisdom is not necessarily reflected by the enormity of their intellect or accumulative knowledge, but by their simple act of seeking to know and worship Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

So it is today. Many in our world are seeking many things. Some seek riches, and upon accumulating them, find the need to accumulate more an all consuming passion. They finally conclude that there are not enough riches in the whole universe to satisfy man’s desire for more affluence.  Inevitably, at the end of life’s way, they find the acquisition of riches has no eternal value or significance.
The words of our Saviour about the temporal nature of riches are all too apt. No matter how much a man may accumulate, when he leaves this world he leaves it all behind. As someone said, “Have you ever seen a hearse pulling a trailer?” Those seeking fortune always find it cannot buy the simplest joy or real happiness.  Some seek fame, and upon achieving it, find the fleeting fragility of fame and fortune. Just a surface survey of the tragic stories of some recent and contemporary politicians, entertainers and entrepreneurs, will easily confirm the illusory nature of imagined fulfillment through fame and fortune.

How many spend their last days amid the ashes of decaying memories of fleeting moments spent in the fading spotlight of public adulation and popularity? It is sometimes sad to see how the mighty have fallen as a result of man’s cruel propensity to cut down the tall poppies.  Some seek power as the ultimate high of human experience. Only those who have experienced power over the lives of others can really know how seducing this temptress can be. As it is said, “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts, absolutely.” But one only has to consider the end of some of the most powerful men of history to realize the futility of such seeking. Nebuchadnezzar, the Ceasers, Hitler and more recently, the tyrants of the totalitarian communist world, vividly demonstrate the vanity of the quest for ultimate power.  But others, real wise men such as these, seek Christ. Real wise men seek Him as the eternal God of eternal spiritual salvation. After all, it was the Christmas angel that said, “They shall call His name, Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sin.” When real wise men bow their knee before Him in true repentance and faith, they discover eternal and abundant life in all its fullness
and eternal significance. Why not be wise and seek Him with all your heart during this Christmas Season?

A Blessed And Joyful Christmas And
A Happy And Prosperous New Year
From The White’s House To Yours!

Making Room For Jesus

The world has always marveled at the paradox of the Creator of this universe being born in a lowly manger. But instead of condemning the inn keeper for saying, "There is no room in my inn," perhaps we should remember that he did show compassion for the tired travelers. After all, he was asked to entertain royalty unaware on that first Christmas Eve.
But what a great blessing he missed! Perhaps he thought there were many "more important" people in his inn. The worldly elite and VIPS would all soon be gone and forgotten. But the busy inn keeper had turned away the Eternal God of the universe. Opportunity passed him by. Instead of being remembered as the man who seized his moment in history, he became just another footnote to the folly of leaving the Lord out of one's life.
But does our world respond any differently today? In the mindless milling of the masses and the maddening crowd in the market places of our world, how many pause to consider the place of prominence Jesus should have in the observance of His birthday? In the frantic rushing, pushing and shoving that characterizes the season, who will pause to peruse the priority He should have in the affairs of men? Does the world have any more room for Jesus today than did the lowly innkeeper of long ago?
Thousands of invitations and gospel messages have gone out this Christmas Season. We have joined our voices to the great chorus of Christians who will literally beg and implore millions to make room in their heart for Jesus the Savior of the world. But sadly, millions will still say, "We have no room for Him! " Perhaps there has never been a time when people are more powerfully proclaiming by word and deed that they have no room for Jesus in the affairs of family, community or culture.
But Christmas without Christ is like an engine without fuel. This birthday without the only begotten is like a banquet without bread. This holiday without the high and holy is like the heavens without stars. This celebration without spiritual elaboration upon the God of salvation is like an ocean without water. This season without the reason is like a garden without flowers. Without the Christ of Christmas people at best only exist.
Is there room in your heart for the Christ of Christmas? He will only come into the hearts and lives of those who invite Him. Those who really make room for Jesus this Christmas are those who receive the Christ of Christmas into their hearts and homes the whole year through - and eternally. The Bible says, "But as many as receive Him, to them gave He the power to become the Sons of God, even to those who believe on His Name. "

I Like Christmas

Christmas is always a very exciting time of the year. I like Christmas. I like the songs and carols that fill the air. I like the hustle and bustle of the crowds as they jostle through the busy shopping malls, looking for that special gift for that very special one in their life. I like the excitement and anticipation of it all. The expressions of good will that many seem inclined to share. The smiles and the sincerity of those who say: “Have a good Christmas” I like to reply in kind. I guess the season tends to bring out the child in many of us. Some of us have never completely outgrown our childhood love for the days of Christmas.

But more than anything else, I like the true meaning and message of Christmas. A message so simply and succinctly expressed by the angels who heralded the birth of the God-man who would forever change the course of history. The One who would truly make history - “His story.”

I like Christmas because it reminds us that His birth was announced as: “Good news to all people.” The good news of Immanuel. God with us. Our world is filled with those who feel lonely and unloved. Einstein once said, “It’s strange to be known so universally and yet be so personally lonely.”  The message of Christmas is that God sent His Son to earth to embrace each of us with His love.   Augustine placed it so beautifully when he said, “He loves each one of us, as if there were only one of us.”

I like Christmas because it is much more than tinsel, ribbons, presents and parties or a hectic rushing to and fro; giving and getting temporal gifts that will have no real value in eternity. Christmas is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who came to give us the greatest of all gifts, eternal life and a home in heaven with Him. Christmas reminds us once again of this greatest gift of all: God giving His Son, His Son giving Himself, that we might be able to exclaim once more with the apostle Paul, “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift!”.

God Became Flesh

John 1:1-14, Isaiah 7:14

Our study of the Biblical account of the birth of our Savior should not be seasonal. Our thankfulness for His unspeakable gift should permeate our life throughout the entire year. We should live our entire life in the light of the glorious truths that normally only momentarily illuminate a few days of the Christian calendar each year. The story of the incarnation of God into the flesh of man is a vital foundation stone of the very gospel of Jesus Christ and should undergird our faith year round.

Two great philosophers who pre-date the birth of Jesus had this to say about the necessity of the incarnation, "God will never be known unless He reveals Himself in human form." "Oh, that someone would arise, man or god, to show us God." (Socrates) You do not have to be an intellectual to recognize the logic of the philosophers' argument. The proof is always in the pudding. The ultimate illustration is in the reality.

When God chose to become man He put paid to the long awaited proposition prophesied by the Old Testament prophets. The concept that Isaiah posited when he said, "Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name, Immanuel (God with us)"

When God chose to come in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ to flesh out His eternal purpose of redemption for those who would be eternal sons of God, He not only personified an absolute selfless love, but He demonstrated the ultimate in communicating such love to those who were to be the objects of it. Can you imagine the infinite God of a limitless universe, condescending to imprison His infinite being in the finite flesh of man, on a tiny ball of mud, in a far off corner of a very mundane sort of solar system, in a less than spectacular galaxy that man calls the Milky Way?

Why would He do such an unlikely deed? Evidently, in order to say to His rebellious and ungrateful creature, man, "I love you with an infinite love and will make it possible for you to love me with such a love in return! In order to give you the privilege and capacity to do so, I am not only willing to live in your dirty, stinking, sinful and rebellious environment, but to die unjustly at your hands that you might, in turn, mercifully live forever in an environment fit for a Child of the King!"

If Jesus had not been born of the virgin Mary, God incarnate in the flesh, there would be no gospel, salvation, forgiveness or life eternal. We would be yet without Got, without Christ, and eternally lost in a dark and sin cursed earth. Is it any wonder the apostle Paul was moved to exclaim, ''Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift" (II Cor. 9:15) 

Should We Be Men-Pleasers Or God-Pleasers?

Christians are often faced with the alternative of pleasing God or man. It is all too obvious that many times it is impossible to do both. God’s ways are not man’s ways. The paths that lead to a position of popularity with God and man do not often run parallel. It was Jesus Himself who spoke of their divergence. He pointed to a broad way and a narrow way. He made it obvious that the broad way that leads to eternal destruction is man’s way. He also said, “Woe unto you when all men speak well of you.” It was the wise man who gave us the proverb, “There is a way that seems right unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

How true the statement, “A man who wishes to lead the orchestra must first turn his back upon the crowd.” So it is with spiritual leaders and Christians who wish to please God. The desire to be liked, accepted, popular, and comfortable, compromises and destroys the witness of many today. Perhaps this is the primary reason we see those who once were looked upon as sound and scriptural preachers of the Word falling away from the truth and departing from the faith. The one thing that seems to be common among them is a seeking for popularity with the world and the approval of the powers that be in the world.

Some marketing organizations exist today for the purpose of determining just what churches and pastors can do to please and attract the world around them. Whole movements are focused upon the concept of structuring and implementing ways of worship that titillate the senses of the lost. Methodology and music are adopted in order to appeal to the tastes and attitudes of the unregenerate mind.

The Christian should seek the approval of God above all else. He should determine to be popular with Him, no matter what the cost. But so many today are like those in the day of our Saviour. He described some very religious folks as men pleaser's rather than God pleasers. He said of them, “For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” (John 12:43)

These same difficulties sometimes face New Testament Churches today. The world’s view of a with it church has never coincided with God’s view of a church that glorifies Him. The choice today seems to be much the same as it has been in every age. Should a church seek to be in the mainstream of religious activities and be accepted by the world or strive to be in the center of God’s will?

A person who pleases God is a person God will bless. A church that pleases God is a church that is after God’s own heart. Why? Because the praise of man is at best fickle and fading. It means nothing in God’s economy. Its echoes in time will not even penetrate God’s eternity. But it will be sweet music to the ear when the sound of our Savior saying, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant,” fills His heavenly universe. The harsh sounds of some worldly church music and the words of praise and accolades spoken by men will have long since faded into trivial insignificance!