Prepare the Way!

Luke 1:5-25

In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.
Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.
After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”

Have you ever gone a long time without hearing from someone? You start to wonder if everything is okay. Maybe you even begin to panic. Maybe you wonder if the person even cares about you. Maybe you experience all these things. And then, you get that letter. Or than phone call. Relief! Joy!
This is the situation the people of Israel found themselves in. They hadn’t had a prophet or a direct revelation from God in 400 years. Some people call these the “silent years.” And a lot had happened to the people of Israel – conquered by the Greeks, a war for independence, and then conquest by the Romans. Where was God? Why wasn’t He helping His people out?
In light of this, I think we could agree that Zechariah’s skepticism is justified. But something great is happening. In all those silent years, God was at work, doing something bigger than anyone could imagine. The Greeks brought a common language to the empire. The Romans connected their empire through roads. The scene was set for news to travel easily. Good news.
So God breaks onto the scene here and, through the angel Gabriel, announces the coming Elijah (see Malachi 4). John the Baptist is coming, the forerunner to Messiah Jesus. John will prepare the way for Jesus to begin His redemptive work in the world. Between the Testaments, God was making the world ready. Through John, He would begin to make his people ready. Because redemption is coming. Glory is coming. Grace and truth are coming. Jesus is coming. Prepare the way!

Beholding His Glory

John 1:14–18

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

You've probably heard the story of the little girl who was getting ready to color in Sunday school. Her teacher asked her what she was going to draw, to which she responded, "I'm drawing God." Her teacher said, "But no one knows what God looks like." The little girl says, "They will when I'm done."
It's true that no one has seen God, but that doesn't mean we don't know what He is like. John tells us here that Jesus reveals to us the Father. He is, after all, the Word made flesh. Think about it – the diving Son, cosmic Creator wrapped Himself in skin and entered into creation with all the limitations we face. He had to learn to walk and talk. He got tired. He would need to take bathroom breaks. Jesus entered into the full human experience. And in so doing He brings us grace and truth. In fact, He was full of grace and truth. The grace and truth Jesus gives aren't from some limited supply, nor does He dispense them sparingly. He is full of it, and He overflows with it.
Jesus may not be physically on earth right now, but that does not mean we cannot behold His glory. Through His Holy Spirit given to us, we can still see His glory; we can still know the Father through Him. Also, the Scriptures from beginning to end testify to Jesus. By the Spirit and the Word, we can experience the glory of Jesus this Christmas. Look for Him. Behold His glory!

Who We Celebrate

John 1:1–5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Jesus wasn't born on December 25. I know, big shocker there, right? As you know, we really don't know when Jesus was born, but the Church has historically celebrated on this date, so that's why we continue to this day. But that's not what this post is about.


Jesus's life didn't begin at His birth. In fact, His life didn't begin at all. John 1 lets us know that. Refering to Jesus here as "the Word," John tells us that the subject of his gospel didn't start life as a baby in a manger. No, He has always been. He is divine, one with God and yet separate from God. And He hasn't sat in heaven twiddling His thumbs until He makes His grand appearance on earth. Jesus has been active since the creation.


John tells us that everything was made though Jesus, a truth also stated by Paul in Colossians 1:16. The earth, the sky, the stars, plants, animals, humans...EVERYTHING. Think about that. Jesus enters into the creation that He created. One of Jesus's names in the Bible is "Immanuel" which means "God with us." He truly is God with us.


So we don't just celebrate the birth of a baby. Not even just the birth of a noble or important baby. We are celebrating God coming into our world as a baby. Orient your hearts to this truth today. Worship Christ the Lord!

Being Berean: Search the Scriptures

Imagine the absurdity of a teacher entering the classroom and boldly declaring, "The world is flat. There is no need to look it up; I am the teacher and therefore I know what I'm talking about. Just trust me." Or perhaps the doctor who says, "All you have to do to cure your disease is eat a bag of peanut M&Ms every day for the rest of your life. I'm the doctor; I know what I'm talking about, so just do it." A teacher or doctor like this likely wouldn't be in that field for long. Why? We tend not to trust such absolutist claims that aren't grounded in something.
And yet in matters of faith, a very different phenomenon arises. Many people just simply trust the "Christian" label and say that we should accept it as valid. People might point to experience: "This helped me, so it must be good." "Other people have really benefited from this, so how can it be a bad thing?" Others might point to results: "So many people hear this guy's teaching, therefore what he is doing is good." He's helping so many people; we shouldn't reject him because of that." But should this be how it is?

A "New" Message from a Famous Jew
Paul traveled the ancient world preaching forgiveness and justification in Jesus (Acts 13:39). Many people believed Paul's message and trusted in Jesus. Paul's reputation was known: the former persecutor of the church was now proclaiming the very teaching he sought to wipe out. In Acts 17:10, Paul and his companions are sent to Berea, where Paul followed his usual pattern of preaching in the synagogue.
The Jews in Berea had likely heard reference to "the Way" (an early title for the Christians) and the Jesus who they claimed was Messiah and had risen from the dead. Now with Paul in their midst, they are hearing the clear gospel. The Bereans do not merely accept Paul's message though; they want to confirm it. And this, the Scripture says makes them more noble. But it wasn't the effects or the results that they examined. They examined the Scriptures to determine if it was true (Acts 17:11).

Being a Berean
As Chrsitians today, we need to not be "quick" to accept everything that claims to be from God as being from Him. Everyone who claims to speak for Christ may not be  from Him. The apostle John says of Antichrists that they "went out from us, but they were not of us" (1 John 2:19). Popularity, experiences, and results are not accurate indicators of a teacher's accuracy or credibility. The question before us is: Is what they are saying in line with the Scriptures? To answer that, we must search the Scriptures, study them prayerfully and carefully, to determine if the things we are hearing are accurate. Don't buy everything you hear; be a Berean, and search it out for yourself.

A Willing Spirit, a Weak Flesh

“The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41)

A willing spirit needs the power of the Holy Spirit in order to overcome temptation.

On the eve of His crucifixion, Jesus and His disciples went to the garden of Gethsemene to pray. Jesus is agonizing over what is about to take place, and he asks Peter James and John to pray in one spot while he went to another spot. Knowing what was coming, Jesus earnestly prays for another way, but surrenders to the Will of His heavenly Father. He comes back and find the disciples asleep, and tells them, “Watch and pray. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Just before this episode, Jesus predicts that the disciples will desert Him and that Peter will blatantly deny Him three times. Peter and the disciples proudly assert their allegiance to Jesus. It becomes abundantly clear where their confidence lies when Jesus rebukes them – they think they can do it of themselves, but He tells them they must watch and pray.

Likewise with me. I cannot trust in myself to refuse temptation. I must seek the Spirit’s help and power to operate in my spirit so that I may remain faithful to Jesus. Our flesh is too strong for us to overcome. We need to seek God to grant us victory over temptation.

Into the Light of Love

I am currently reading  The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges right now (a book I highly recommend to everyone). On page 80 of the book, Bridges offers the following questions for meditating on and applying the Scriptures:

1. What does this passage teach concerning God's will for a holy life?
2. How does my life measure up to that Scripture; specifically, where and how do I fall short? (Be specific; don't generalize.)
3. What definite steps of action do I need to take to obey?

I thought these would be handy to use in my own study of the Scriptures, so I applied it this morning as I read 1 John 2. In verses 9-10, God says, "Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling."

There are some pretty startling statements made here. The Holy Spirit grabbed my attention with these verses, so I decided to apply the questions above, prayerfully asking the Spirit to help me understand and apply it. What follows will be some of my thought process in these verses.

What This Passage Teaches Concerning God's Will for a Holy Life

This much seems obvious: love your brothers (and sisters). But then the question follows: who are my brothers and sisters? Like biological siblings? All of humanity? Someone else?
It's my understanding that John's use of the term "brothers" applies specifically to other believers. These are those who have been born of God and are therefore members of His eternal family. I'm not saying that we aren't supposed to love others, but this passage isn't addressing that specifically. Rather, this is talking about the way I am to relate to other believers who are united to Christ by faith. So this passage is calling me to love fellow Christians and not hate them.
How Do I Measure Up?
I think more highly of myself than I ought. So this is where I needed the Holy Spirit to shine His light into my heart and show me where I really stand. And my standing wasn't nearly what I thought it was.
First, I realized that there are many Christians that I am somewhat contemptuous towards. This exerts itself on social media many times and how I read stuff that people posts. I deem certain people as legalistic and others as not having as great a knowledge of the truth as I do. I typically don't comment on people's posts about stuff like that, but that hasn't stopped me from looking down on them nonetheless. It is wrong, and I found myself needing to repent about the way I have regarded others especially online.
But then something else came to light. Something that I know has been wrong, but I have treated it as "acceptably" wrong. I didn't feel bad about it even as I knew I probably shouldn't be doing it. And I realized that there are at least three people (that the Spirit immediately brought to mind) that I have shown outright contempt for. This has happened in terms of mocking them with a friend of mine. Sometimes I have mocked them with my wife as well. As the spiritual head of my household, subjecting my wife to this is unacceptable. My behavior is shameful in the way I have made fun of these people behind their backs with my friend. Again, I found myself repenting of the way I have been.
Steps of Action to Obey
The first course of action is, of course, repentance and prayer for the Spirit to cause me to be loving towards my fellow believers, not to be contemptuous, judgment, or cruel towards them. I ask that the Holy Spirit would grow me in love for them flowing out of God's love for me. And that love can be described as a gushing love (see Zephaniah 3:17 for an example of God's love for me). Christ died for them, just as he died for me, and I should likewise love them sacrificially, not judge them or mock them self-righteously.
Secondly, I need to confess my sin to my friend. Coupled with that is also "confronting" his sin of participating in the same thing. We have both been in the wrong, and we both need to stop. Both of us need to cease our mockery and instead speak well of those whom God has redeemed.
I also need to confess to my wife. I don't recall her ever participating in my hateful banter, but I must confess to her that I have been wrong to expose her to that.
Finally, I need to walk in love towards my friends. I need to not mock them and instead encourage them and pray for them. I need to give myself in service to them. I need to truly love them as God lays out in His Word. So I would pray for us all to grow in that more and more in our lives. 

I Am Haman

Photo Credit 

After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him. And all the king's servants who were at the king's gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage. Then the king's servants who were at the king's gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you transgress the king's command?” And when they spoke to him day after day and he would not listen to them, they told Haman, in order to see whether Mordecai's words would stand, for he had told them that he was a Jew. And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, Haman was filled with fury. But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus. (Esther 3:1-6)

When we meet Haman in Esther 3, he is immediately a dislikable guy. We get pretty quickly that he is the villain of the story, the one who will once again challenge God by plotting to destroy his people. So what's his grievance? Mordecai won't bow to him. This guy is willing to commit genocide over one man not showing him the respect he thinks he deserves. So it's easy to see why we don't like him. Why we can't like him. We can also be quick to assume that we are not like him. That is, until this morning.
As I stared into the mirror of God's Word this morning, I saw my reflection in the attitude of Haman. No, I'm not plotting to wipe out all who won't bow to me, but his "I deserve this honor and respect and you'd better give it to me or else" attitude? Guilty. As. Charged.
Working in public services can sometimes be a thankless job. Sometimes people ask for my help by snapping their fingers and calling me to them without a word. Sometimes I ask how they are doing and they ignore the question and make their request or they will just stand there and say nothing. And it bothers me to no end. I complain about it. I sometimes think about offering free "flying lessons" through the windows behind me. I mutter insults under my breath. I whine and complain. It's no less than the same attitude that drove Haman. I think I deserve respect that people aren't giving me. And that just makes me angry.
It sounds immature, but I wonder how many of us are any different. As I saw myself in Haman this morning, I felt broken. I couldn't believe that of all the characters in the story, I was more like the bad guy. And I found myself confessing and repenting.
And I also found myself remembering the One who did it right. Honored by His Father, Jesus came down into our world. Though He well deserve our service, He came to serve us. He deserved our bowing, our willing devotion, and our utmost respect. Instead, He received our unbelief, our insults, and our anger as He was crucified. He did this for you and me, so that if we believe on Him, our sins will be forgiven, and we will be His people.
The Bible tells us that we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). And so when our old Haman-like attitude creeps in and we are tempted to demand the respect of others, let's turn to our Savior and let His humility remind us of how to respond to others in love and service. I leave you with God's Words from Philippians 2:5-11:

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.