First Buck with Bow

First Sundy of Advent- Receive and Give

This was from the First Sunday in Advent

        This Sunday is the First Sunday in Advent. Advent is the season known for waiting. All of us understand this very well, for we were all once children.  The anticipation of Christmas builds during these weeks. We slowly build up to one of our highest points of the year, the celebration of the birth of Jesus.

          It is good that we look forward to Christmas so eagerly.  We really want it to come. For some of you, you want it to get here so you can get your presents. For others, you want it to get here so you can see the smiles on the faces of those that you brought presents for.

          These are both good reasons. It is a blessing to receive presents but it is even a greater blessing to give them. 

          Of course, we all know why we are celebrating and that is because God is the greatest giver of all. The Father gave the Son to the World. The Son gave His life to save sinners. The Spirit gives Himself to dwell with us always.

          Our part in all of this giving from God is to receive it gladly and then to learn to give to others the way that God gives to us.

          If you have held yourself back from receiving God’s gift of Jesus to you. Or, if you have refused to give yourself away to others in Jesus’s name, then there is room for repentance so that God’s gifts will flow to and through you.

Advent- Look Forward

        Advent is about looking forward. We anticipate what God will do. But this is partly just a reenactment of what God has already done. Christmas is about remembering Jesus’s birthday. But it is not simply looking at Jesus as a baby. It is good to remember the day of birth. We often do this on our children’s birthdays. But then we move on and we admire how they have grown up and become all that we had hoped they would be.  We then look forward, anticipating all the good things that God will do in their lives in the future and how they will honor Him.

          We should also do this at Advent and Christmas.  In Advent, we look forward to celebrating the birth of Jesus, remembering the Angels’ declaration, the Appearance to Mary, the Virgin birth and the Wise men who worshiped a baby. And we also remember that Jesus grew up, became a man, lived a perfect sinless life, died on the cross, rose again, ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of God.

And having done all that, we can then look forward to what God in Christ is going to do. The knowledge of the Lord will cover the world as the waters cover the sea. The Kingdoms of this World have become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. The Lord will rule until all enemies are subdued. The last enemies subdued will be sin and death. After that, He will raise our bodies in perfection, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, to live and reign with Him world without end, Amen.

          That is a lot to look forward to. And this we do as we eat and drink in the name of Jesus.

Exhortation- Bow to Jesus

         It is December now, the Christmas month. It seems we fill the entire month with anticipation, waiting for Christmas, decorating, buying presents, thinking about menus, wrapping, putting presents under the tree.  Although it may be true that some who are alone feel sadder during this time of year, the universal feeling of the anticipation of Christmas is one of joy, celebration, hope for a better world, a longing for peace.

          Of course, we who are Christians, indeed, know that this longing is only realized in the person of Jesus Christ. This glory involves death, even for the Son of God, the little baby who arrived so joyously from the womb of the virgin.

          But we do lay hold of hope in Jesus. Our sins are crucified in Christ and through Him we have redemption.  That is glory. And we realize that we can do nothing to save ourselves but are in need of the Savior to save us from our sins. We gladly confess and forsake them and take the offered peace of Christ, a costly peace and a peace that spreads from man to man until there are no more enemies and the peace of Christ fills the earth, world without end.

          Our only job is to lay hold of Christ. We do this by bowing before Him in humility, confessing our sins regularly and trusting that God is faithful and just to forgive us all our sins through Jesus.