So, Why Was He Born?

Merry Christmas! Here we are in the middle of my favorite time of the year again. I love Christmastime. There is so much I love about it that if I started listing it, you wouldn't stay around to read the actual meat of the blog post. Have you ever noticed that there are a ton of things about the season that we just seem to accept? We accept December 25th as some sort of Holy Day. We accept the magi being in our nativities. We accept "oh how the angels sang" when the Bible doesn't record them singing. Not big deals to me or my celebrating. For the most part, it adds to the enjoyment of it all. However, there is one thing that has been recurring this year that I just can't accept anymore.

Why was Jesus born?

Short answer, heard in song and sermon alike, is "to die".

Nope. Nope. Nope. Well, not exclusively. He did come to die, for which I am ever grateful, but follow me for a bit here. For us to believe and promote that Jesus came to Earth to die, and some have said, "Just to die", is to imply that God wasted what we believe to be a little over 33 years of a wonderful life. I'm going to break the bonds of paragraph and give you some other reasons why He was born. I'm sure that this is not even close to an exhaustive list.

1. Matthew 5:17, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy but to fulfill." Our Bible is full of pages and pages of the law and the prophets and so much of it points to the purity and innocence of the Son of God. There is an inherent righteousness in the law of God and it is to be obeyed (Romans 8:4). The children of Israel said that they would fulfill it (Deut. 5:27) but they couldn't. No one can, not in our sinful flesh (Romans 8:3), so the Bible tells us that God sent his son in the likeness of sinful flesh to condemn sin in the flesh. So now, according to scripture, those who are in Christ are now able to fulfill the righteousness of God, His law, by virtue of the life of Christ and the reality of Christ in the believer. We need his life for ours. 
2. That was the "law" part of Matthew 5:17, now for the "prophets" part. I believe that, aside from creation itself, fulfilled prophecy is one of the greatest evidences of God's existence, as well as evidence of His inspiration. According to your source, you will find that Jesus fulfilled around 300 prophecies, and quite probably more. Without the years of His life being lived out, recorded, and even historically verified, where would your confidence in God's word come from? I know, I know...God said it, I believe it...yeah, me too. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, so let me copy in something here from somebody who has already done the math..."According to “The Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy” by J. Barton Payne, there are 1,239 prophecies in the Old Testament and 578 prophecies in the New Testament for a total of 1,817. These prophecies are contained in 8,352 of the Bible’s verses. Since there are 31,124 verses in the Bible, the 8,352 verses that contain prophecy constitute 26.8 percent of the Bible’s volume." Isn't it awesome that so many of them have been fulfilled already?
3. Speaking of confidence, look at Hebrews 4:15, "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." The Lord Jesus Christ has "been there" and can empathize with us. Salvation is not about our feeble or most pious efforts to reach out to a holy God. It is the story of how the holy God reached out to us in the most compassionate way, walking in our shoes, experiencing our hurts. No wonder the Bible can immediately say, "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." 
4. Enough for confidence. How about some comfort? John 16:33 says, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." Isn't that a wonderful comfort? Would it be found in a Bible that had no life of Christ in it?
5. You know what else would not be found in the Bible, without his life? His words. Luke 4:18 gives us the account of Jesus reading scripture from the book of Isaiah, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach..." and three verses later he said, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." Jesus used the years of life in ministry to preach with words and actions, which we now follow after, fulfilling the great commandment and the great commission.  

These are but a few, but I think the point is made. Jesus was born for much, much more than just to die. He was born to live and in living he gave us words to live by and preach, an example of servitude and righteousness, and great confidence to live for God for we know He is faithful and true to His word and wants to hear from us (I John 5:14, 15). So let me enjoy Christmas and the birth of my Savior. Don't get me wrong, I am glad that he died for my sins...but I'm also glad and privileged to strive to walk in the steps of a life well lived. 

And again I say, Merry Christmas!

p.s. Sorry it's been so long. I will try to do better.

Merry Christmas p.s.

Merry Christmas to you all! I love to say that and so is it any wonder that I am still saying that? And you do know what p.s. means, right? Just in case you don't, it means post script. It is commonly known as the piece of letter after the letter. So, my letter, or main message to you is Merry Christmas, meaning a couple things which I shall channel Gandalf in order to make them clear...

1. I wish for you a merry Christmas.
2. It is a merry Christmas, whether you want it or not.
3. I feel exceedingly merry this Christmas.
4. And yes, this is truly a Christmas to be merry on.

All of those speak to the relationship between my/your happiness upon the event of this holiday and I do wish to communicate every possible permutation of that hope for you and me. Christmas has brought and should always bring a great message of peace, joy, and good will toward men. At the risk of sounding elitist, I believe that the best people to carry such a message would have to be those who not only recognize the event as a Holy birthday, but have received the gift of salvation made possible by the coming of the Son of God. That brings me to my "p.s.".

I saw an advertisement during the holidays that stirred my thoughts and emotions. It was based on real events that took place on one Christmas day during World War I. I have posted the link in case you missed it. It is a powerful reminder of the real Spirit of Christmas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWF2JBb1bvM

This year, more than ever, I read, heard, and heard of more debate from those wishing to make Christmas a platform for disagreement. Whether it was about the use of a Christmas tree, the real date of Christmas, the reference to Santa Claus, the actual time the wise men arrived, and on and on and on, there seemed to be more concern for the defense of a position than the advancement of the authentic message of Christmas. In hind sight, I could have stayed out of the discussions. I could have taken a lesson from the soldiers on that Christmas day 100 years ago. I could have been more focused on sharing the good news, the angels called them glad tidings, of a Savior who was born to save us from our sins, to forgive us our unrighteousness, and to bring peace, an indescribable lasting peace. I realized, this year, how important it is to ever and always exalt Christ. Many illustrations from my past convince me that the best thing that I can do, and it is what I am called to do, is make Christ known, give Him all the glory, all of the preeminence. I have said from the pulpit of Franklin Baptist Church many times, "You don't sell a Ford by kicking a Chevy." I have gained nothing by disputing or insulting, but if I lift Christ up, he said he would draw all men to himself.

So here it is, my p.s...I hope you were able to celebrate Christ. It doesn't matter to me if you pretend there is a Santa; it's none of my business if you decorate a Christmas tree or not (either way, you are not violating scripture); and even if Jesus' actual birth was some other time of year and it took the wise men longer than a night to get there, I pray that you celebrated Christ. I pray that you rejoiced as the shepherds did when they witnessed the reality of the coming of Messiah, as the wise men did when they saw the Star, and especially as Mary when the Only Begotten of the Father was born in her. I hope you were able to celebrate Christ. And if you were, don't stop. If you didn't, it's not too late. It's never too late. Christ came to bring you salvation. That is a gift that is always available. Thanks for reading my Perspective.

The best view of the best shooting stars, ever

Season's Greetings and Happy Holidays! Oh forget that...Merry Christmas! It is my favorite time of the year. It is for a lot of people, but for me, Christmas highlights why I love to be a "family" man. Many will say that Christmas is just for children. Sorry, I'm not going for that. Because Christmas is about a person, not all of the stuff and fluff, everyone can and should enjoy the blessedness of the season. Anyway, with all of our traditions and their corresponding memories, I find it so easy to love being a husband and father. I so enjoy time spent together and giving of gifts, etc. etc.

Well, last night I was reminded how totally awesome it is to be a daddy and it really had nothing to do with Christmas. After getting home from coaching my son's basketball team (great stuff all by itself), and seeing on Twitter that many friends were out watching the meteor shower, we headed out the back door. Now, I have always loved where we live because we have always had a great sky view, but last night was perfect. The sky was cloudless and because we live in the boondocks, we have little to no light pollution. Before long, there were four bodies side by side by side, me and my three kids, laying flat on our deck with nothing but wide open sky and the Geminids straight up. All of us were sharing one huge quilt, and there we lay for over a half hour. We "Ooohed" and "Aaahed", counted, compared, and shivered. The only thing that hindered our view of the night sky was the thick clouds of our own breath. We scooched as tightly together as we could to keep warm and laughed at how cold and crazy we were.

In spite of the 27 degrees, I forgot how cold I was for a while as I laid there listening to the wonder and excitement of three people that bring the same to me. I was reminded of the great privilege I have had to be a part of God's great plan for three people who, I am sure, will change the world; three individuals with the awareness of a great God, His awesome creative power, and His ability and desire to create something wonderful in them. I was reminded how great it is to spend time together without a TV, DVD, Wii, or anything else; just each other, a blanket, and a God who loves us. It could be said that last night was exceptionally special for one of my kids who said, "Don't you know? It is my lifelong dream to see a shooting star?" Well, there was her dream come true, but from my Perspective, my dreams came true 19, 17, and 12 years ago, and I am reminded that they keep coming true as I watch my children, like shooting stars, burn brightly across the sky of my life, unfortunately far too quickly.