Merry Christmas? Happy New Year?
Family is usually a great time during the holidays, but this year there was an “elephant in the room” at each parent’s home. At my parents, it came in three separate forms: 1) my oldest niece, who’s been dating a new young man for about 10 months, is unable to graduate, is living (part-time) with her boyfriend (she still has a place of her own); 2) her sister, my younger niece, has been living with her boyfriend for over 3 1/2 years now and she just got engaged (hard to find the excitement in this, but it’s a slight improvement); and 3) my dad wants to run for the Iowa senate again (at age 75!). While he seems quite excited about the possibilities, my mother, on the other hand, definitely does not want him to run. These three situations at the elder Sorensen household put a damper on much of the holiday cheer.
At Ann’s family’s gathering, we knew there was great potential for disaster: her sister, who had just divorced her husband this past fall, was going to be there with her 7-year-old daughter and new boyfriend (why does that sound so odd when they’re 50-years old?). There had been a great deal of conflict earlier this year and we didn’t know if this would all blow-up again, if the new guy would cause further issues, or just what might happen? That “elephant” made things tense. There were no major scenes caused by anyone, but when the day was over, it was a great relief. However, the “hang over” from this is still upon us, even though we’re home.
Sunday morning was a great stress-producing event for me as well. There were several situations that accumulated to give me a tremendous headache and backache. Fortunately, I could simply go home that afternoon and rest. But people personality issues are weighing very heavy upon me now once again. Either the old year isn’t ending well, or the New Year isn’t starting well.
Christmas & Gratitude
One of the things I did not do was blog... or even read a blog yesterday. However, I did satisfy the craving by mid-afternoon today, just around 3 PM. My goodness, that was nearly 48 hours without even looking at a blog entry. It actually felt quite good to know I'm free from the "bondage" to blog every day, even on holidays. It was a bit saddening to know that, of the 31 blogs I read on an almost daily basis, 20 had at least one post yesterday, if not more. I'm not sure why this saddens me, but I'll have to think that over and get back to you on it. I noticed this over Thanksgiving as well. Maybe a good posting about blogging and resting will come out of this.
Anyway, I want to stay on track, now that the day of rest is done (even though our travels are not: to Iowa tomorrow for two & half days with relatives there). So, here's my usual Wednesday post on Jerry Bridges' book.
Unthankfulness
It would be difficult to imagine how anyone
could not be thankful during this holiday season.
Beginning with Thanksgiving, we had plenteous
opportunity to give thanks for God’s abundant
providence and blessing in our lives. And if you’re
not thankful for the multitude of gifts you probably
received over the Christmas season, then how can you
be thankful for the gift of Immanuel, God with Us, in
Christ Jesus?
Jerry Bridges, in Respectable Sins:
Confronting the Sins We Tolerate, deals with the sin
of unthankfulness in chapter 10. Basically, this is a
sin of taking for granted all that God gives us,
whether material or spiritual blessings. It’s clear
that this is a sin we must deal with, for how many of
us take God’s command as seriously as we ought in 1
Thessalonians 5.18? Do we not forget that
[God] himself gives to all
mankind life and breath and everything (Acts 17.25,
ESV)? It’s not just all the material possessions for
gifts we receive that should be the subject of our
thanksgiving. What about the air you’re breathing as
you read this post? What about the clothing that is
keeping you warm (if you’re in Minnesota) and the
energy to run that furnace system which keeps your
toes all nice and toasty? Have you given thanks today
that your heart keeps on beating, when with but a
word, it could stop and eternity would no longer be
the future for you, but a reality? Even the ability
to read or my ability to type and blog is something
for which I am to be thankful.
We who live in a prosperous culture find this
sin particularly easy to accommodate in our lives. We
just have so much that comes so easily or that can be
disposed of so easily when it ceases to function
properly (or just because we want a new one). Bridges
reminds us that the warning to the Israelites ought
to be ours as well:
|
|
Take
care lest you forget the LORD your God by not
keeping his commandments and his rules and
his statutes, which I command you today,
lest, when you have eaten and are full and
have built good houses and live in them, and
when your herds and flocks multiply and your
silver and gold is multiplied and all that
you have is multiplied, then your heart be
lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out
of the house of slavery,
|
|
|
|
|
|
Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. (8.11-14, 17-18, ESV) |
How about you, have you found it far too easy to simply accept your ingratitude toward God and all that He bestows upon you? Have you accepted it as almost a part of your (missing) daily routine to not give “thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5.20)? I find this all too common in my life. I take for granted that which ought to provoke me to utterances of gratitude throughout the day. I neglect that discipline to start and end my day with notes of praise for God’s good providence in each moment of my life. I am too easily frustrated instead of thankful, too easily provoked toward ingratitude, far too readily accepting of an overall lack of appreciation. May the Lord work in my heart to carry out His will. Thank you, Lord
He Is Full of Grace
Sermon Notes
December 23, 2007
“He Is… Full of Grace”
Text:
John 1.16
Theme:
Introduction:
he was born in 1725 to a very godly mother & very
ungodly father
• his mother sought to raise him according to God’s
Word
• however, she died when he was six, leaving him to
his father and eventually, to a new step-mother, who
knew nothing of God & His Word
• he only went to school for two years, & at age
11 began sailing with his father, making many trips
to the Mediterranean by the age of
18
• his father was a harsh, stern man; of him he wrote:
"I am persuaded he loved me, but he seemed not
willing that I should know it. I was with him in a
state of fear and bondage. His sternness . . . broke
and overawed my spirit."
• at 18, he was forced to join the
navy
"The
companions he met with here completed the ruin of his
principles." Of himself he wrote, "I was capable of
anything; I had not the least fear of God
before my eyes, nor (so far as I remember) the least
sensibility of conscience. . . . On one of his visits
home he deserted the ship and was caught,
"confined two days in the guard-house; . . . kept a
while in irons . . . publicly stripped and
whipped, degraded from his
office."
When
he was 20 years old he was put off his ship on some
small islands just southeast of Sierra Leone,
West Africa, and for about a year and a half he lived
as a virtual slave in almost destitute
circumstances. The wife of his master despised
him and treated him cruelly. He wrote that even the
African slaves would try to smuggle him food
from their own slim rations. Later in life he
marveled at the seemingly accidental way a ship
put anchor on his island after seeing some smoke, and
just happened to be a ship with a captain who knew
Newton's father and managed to free him from his
bondage. That was February, 1747. He was not
quite 21, and God was about to close
in.
Just
a bit over a year later, while this ship was finally
headed for home, he had a powerful
experience
He awoke in the night to a violent storm as his room
began to fill with water. As he ran for the deck,
the captain stopped him and had him fetch a
knife. The man who went up in his place was
immediately washed overboard.[14] He was
assigned to the pumps and heard himself say, "If this
will not do, the Lord have mercy upon us."[15]
It was the first time he had expressed the need for
mercy in many years. He worked the pumps from three
in the morning until noon, slept for an hour, and
then took the helm and steered the ship till
midnight. At the wheel he had time to think back over
his life and his spiritual condition. At about
six o'clock the next evening it seemed as though
there might be hope. "I thought I saw the hand
of God displayed in our favour. I began to pray: I
could not utter the prayer of faith; I could
not draw near to a reconciled God, and call him
Father . . . the comfortless principles of infidelity
were deeply riveted; . . . . The great question
now was, how to obtain faith."[16] He found a Bible
and got help from Luke 11:13, which promises the Holy
Spirit to those who ask. He reasoned, "If this
book be true, the promise in this passage must be
true likewise. I have need of that very Spirit,
by which the whole was written, in order to
understand it aright. He has engaged here to give
that Spirit to those who ask: I must therefore
pray for it; and, if it be of God, he will make good
on his own word."[17] He spent all the rest of
the voyage in deep seriousness as he read and prayed
over the Scriptures. On April 8 they anchored
in Ireland, and the next day the storm at sea was so
violent they would have surely been sunk.
Newton described what God had done in those two
weeks:
Thus
far I was answered, that before we arrived in
Ireland, I had a satisfactory evidence in my
own mind of the truth of the Gospel, as considered in
itself, and of its exact suitableness to answer
all my needs. . . . I stood in need of an Almighty
Savior; and such a one I found described in the
New Testament. Thus far the Lord had wrought a
marvelous thing: I was no longer an infidel: I
heartily renounced my former profaneness, and had
taken up some right notions; was seriously
disposed, and sincerely touched with a sense of the
undeserved mercy I had received, in being
brought safe through so many dangers. I was sorry for
my past misspent life, and purposed an
immediate reformation. I was quite freed from the
habit of swearing, which seemed to have been as
deeply rooted in me as a second nature. Thus, to
all appearance, I was a new
man.
This
was the beginning of his conversion… it wasn’t yet
complete
• for six years after this experience he had no one
to counsel him in the things of God or the ways of
Christ
• he became the captain of a slave-trading ship was
at sea for another year
• he married his sweetheart, Mary, in
1750
• a few months later, he learned his father drowned
while swimming in the Hudson Bay
• during the course of a third, long voyage, in 1754,
he had an epileptic seizure and never sailed
again
• upon returning home & to land permanently, he
entered into ministry
• he became the pastor of a church in Olney,
England
• he became great friends with the likes of George
Whitefield, William Carey, Charles Simeon and John
Wesley
• he pastured William Cowper, one of England’s
greatest poets and a hymnwriter, God Moves In a
Mysterious Way, There Is a
Fountain
This
man died, December 21, 1802, at the age of
82
• God had truly blessed him with grace upon
grace
• he never ceased to be amazed at this: that such a
wretch should not only be spared and pardoned, but
reserved to the honour of preaching [the] Gospel,
which he had blasphemed and renounced…. This is
wonderful indeed. The more God exalted him, the more
abased he felt he should be
He
wrote a hymn in the early 1760s
• he said, I know not that I have ever since met so
daring a blasphemer
• his text for the hymn was 1 Chronicles
17.16: Then King
David went in and sat before the LORD and said, “Who
am I, O LORD God, and what is my house, that you have
brought me thus far?
• these are the words to a fairly well-known hymn,
sung for the first time, New Year’s
Day,
• Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a
wretch like me
• I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but
now I see
John Newton
wrote his own epitaph, just prior to his
death
• clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of
slaves in Africa, was by the rich mercy of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored,
pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had
long laboured to destroy
I.
From His Fullness We Have Received
• John Newton knew the fullness of God in Christ
Jesus
• he had received it, experienced it, knew it
intimately
• John, the disciple & evangelist, as he wrote
these words, knew it
• he had seen it, heard it, even touched the very
fullness of God in Christ
• most of you here this morning have received of the
fullness of God in Christ
• what is this fullness?
1. literally:
means not lacking anything, complete, perfect, filled
up
• there is no lack in Jesus Christ; no shortage of
anything good
• Jesus was perfect: He is God and man both,
perfect
• Colossians 2.9 tells us: for in him the whole
fullness of deity dwells bodily
• everything that God is, Christ is: In the beginning
was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word
was God
2. we have
received
• time simply does not permit to go long on
this
• however, we know that it means
this:
• Col 2.10
• it is part of God’s great purpose for us as
Christians & as His church: Eph.
4.12-13
• again, we read of this: Colossians
1.19-22
• the very fullness of God is ours in Christ
Jesus
• it is the Apostle’s great prayer for us as well:
Ephesians 3.18-19
• and we have received it: a gift, a grace gift,
undeserved, unearned, all of God’s
grace
3. Christ is
everything for us
• His salvation is complete; His forgiveness is
total; His love is overwhelming; His presence is
everlasting
• when anxious about what tomorrow might bring: He is
complete in His love & care & provision for
all that you will need tomorrow
• when you’ve been hurt deeply by someone: He brings
the fullness of His compassion & healing to your
heart
• when you’re tempted to lust and covetousness: His
fullness is there for you, bringing you a delight
& satisfaction no person, picture, image or
possession can ever bring
• when anger with your spouse makes you think
unspeakable thoughts, even only for a moment: He is
there, with all the fullness of deity, waiting to be
brought to bear for healing, forgiveness, love
restored, and a peace that passes
understanding
II. Grace Upon Grace
• if you and I were to sit down and begin to recount
the graces we’ve received thru Christ, we could sit
here for a long time
• John piles his words up here in this attempt to
convey the fullness of Christ’s
grace
• it’s simply like saying: you cannot exhaust His
grace
• just when it appears that one might be running out
or complete, another comes along
• there is grace upon grace upon grace upon grace for
us in Christ Jesus
• and we’ve received it, right here, in Christmas,
Christ’s advent
• He is the Word who was with God and who was God:
fullness of grace that is
never-ending
• He didn’t consider staying there in heaven with God
as a thing to be grasped as His
alone
• He willingly, humbly let it go and took on flesh
and dwelt among us, the very fullness of God, in
order to bring us Himself and His amazing grace upon
grace upon grace
• this fullness of deity brought light into this dark
world
• but not only that, He brought light into our
sin-darkened heart, wretched sinful creatures that we
were – or still are, He brings His light to bear upon
you, even now where you sit
• oh, and this fullness is as of the only Son from
the Father; He is with us & by us & in
us
• and to speak of grace in this is glorious; it is
amazing
• consider that He came unto His own – His own what?
People, the Jews? Yes, but more
• He came unto His own creation, His own creatures –
He came to men & women
• but we didn’t receive Him, we didn’t want Him; like
John Newton, we were infidels and blasphemers and
sinners so reprehensible that there should be nothing
we deserved but everlasting
judgment
• but grace upon grace upon grace is ours in Christ
Jesus: to those who did receive Him, who believed on
His name, to them, grace upon grace, He gave the
right to become children of God
• oh how I pray that we’ll get this, this Christmas:
to see His fullness which we have
received
• to know that this is grace & to know it’s power
to deliver & forgive & heal &
comfort
• and that we’ll live it! Yes, live it before the
world and before the church
Conclusion
– one more story, if I may, about a man who knew this
fullness of grace
• it’s been nearly three months now, since Bill
died
• many things written & said about him & his
life & his testimony to Christ
• one of God’s graces He gave me this morning at 4.30
am was a blog entry from one who had only met him
days before he died. He writes:
Back
on that evening when I met Bill for the first, and
last, time, when he offered to tell me his life
story, he started it by saying it would only take a
few minutes. Lying on his back, he then raised
his arm above his head to look at his watch to see
the time. Here was a man whose life’s story was
about to end, timing the life story he was about to
begin. He’s dying, but he doesn’t want to waste
my time. In this seemingly inconsequential
wordless act was packed a lifetime of wisdom.
It’s an image with the words “Don’t Waste Your Life”
written all over it. It’s the image from that evening
that is etched in my memory. It is pure
gold.
And
what does a doctor looking at his own death in the
eye write in an internet farewell posting? How does
he conclude his life? What is the last paragraph, the
last words, chosen to say to his family and friends?
How does he say goodbye?
As
I look back on my life story, I am thankful for
family, friends, and a career I enjoyed. But most of
all I am thankful that God has given me hope in
Christ for an eternal life that I do not deserve.
Although I may appear to be a good person, my own
goodness could never earn me a spot in heaven. My sin
merits God’s wrath, but Jesus came and took that
punishment for all who will believe. Instead of the
wrath we deserve, God offers the free gift of eternal
life to all who trust in Jesus. To God be the glory
forever. Love to all, Bill
On
that day when Bill left here he found himself before
a holy, majestic, and glorious God. And what did Bill
do? From his farewell writing, it is clear he did not
stupidly start gabbing about who he thought he was
better than as for why he deserved heaven not hell.
He did not stand there, sin-drenched, before a
sinless God, his back to Christ, holding up his
pathetic list of do-goodies and think the Father
would nullify the death of his Son for someone who,
by standards he made up, considers himself “good”.
These are not the words of a man who would be so
audacious as to tell God how to do
God.
These
are, rather, the words of one who knew God to be
sinless and knew himself to be sinful. He recognized
the fact that a sinner could never dwell with a
sinless, holy God. Only an act of God, doing the
impossible, making the sinful sinless, could bring
God to dwell with man.
Thus when Bill
came into that place where Christ, the one who became
the act of God and who, in that act, made Bill
sinless, was sitting, Bill could not stand. He could
only fall on his face and worship. It’s the only
response that comes close to what hell-deserving-sin
forgiveness means.
And from
His fullness we have all received, grace upon
grace.
Discontentment
Usually, when we talk about discontentment, we discuss matters financial and material. "I wish I had ...." or "I don't have enough..." However, Bridges goes the path of unchanging circumstances, which probably gets closer to the heart of what Paul meant when he said he'd learned to be content in whatever circumstance he found himself (Philippians 4.11-12). Drawing from his experience of a long-time single prior to marriage, Bridges lends very credible advice anecdotally.
So, how do we fight this sin (and remember, discontentment is a sin, which must be put to death)? Grim resignation is not a solution. That's simply acceptance without a heart's change. We must truly trust the Lord, that He knows what's best for us in every single circumstance. We must accept His sovereign providence, His goodness toward us and His unfailing mercy, even if those situations seem so difficult for us.
There's a moving response from a friend sent to him after the death of his first wife which helps:
Lord, I am willing to –
Receive what you give,
Lack what you withhold,
Relinquish what you take.
The powerful truth of God's Word can come to bear in killing this sin. Psalm 139.13 says, "For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb." And Job is also helpful "Naked I came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job 1.21, ESV) I've already mentioned Philippians 4.11-12: "Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need."
So, I trust no matter what circumstance you find yourself in during these special holy days, that you'll find yourself laying hold with great dependence upon God who knows what's best for you, has planned nothing but good for you and is with you all along the way. He is Immanuel.
This Past Lord's Day
Our opening hymn of praise was "Lead On, O King Eternal", not your typical Advent/Christmas carol. But that's good; we need a frequent reminder in the midst of the world's crush of economic stupor that Jesus is King; that He only came once as a baby, but He'll always reign as King.
From there, our voices cried out, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"
| O
come, Thou Rod of Jesse,
Free Thine own from Satan’s tyranny; From depths of hell Thy people save And give them victory o’er the grace. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel! |
My sermon was from John 1.14: "He Is... With Us" Oh the wonder of that statement: the eternal Word, ever-existing with the Father, one with God, the great Three-in-One, took on flesh. Praise be to Immanuel, Jesus Christ, "... who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." (Philippians 2.6-7, ESV) God was and is among us. Jesus told us it would for our good that He go away, for then the Father would send His Spirit, who would "tabernacle" within each of His children.
We have also seen His glory, although not like the disciples. They beheld Hm with their eyes, heard His authoritative teaching with their own ears, and with their very hands, touched His resurrected body. We have seen His glory through the written Word, through the eye of faith. Some might say that we see Him in each Christian. While that is true, only to the extent the Holy Spirit has taken up residence within each believer, I'm very uncomfortable with that expression. I, like Paul before me, want to live in such a way that I can say, "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11.1, ESV).
This glory is tremendous; if we could see it, feel it, experience it, it would be weighty. And it is the glory of the One and Only Son, sent from the Father above. He, the Deliverer, has come
Lord willing, next Sunday, we'll take a closer look at the fullness of His grace. He is grace entirely, but not exclusively. He is truth, God's truth, spoken and revealed in God's Word.
Conclusion – 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. Do you see and know the power, the glory, the weight of Immanuel, God with us? Have you come to embrace that reality: Jesus, the Son of God, took on flesh and lived among mankind, in order to bring God’s grace to us? And more than just understanding a doctrinal truth – the Incarnation – have you seen the daily glory of that truth? Do you have the comfort of knowing that Jesus understands your physical ailments and maladies just like you, because He took on a body just like yours or mine? Do you have the peace deep within you, knowing that Jesus identifies with all your temptations? He was tempted like you and me, but He never gave in, He overcame them: He has power. Do you have the joy in realizing that Jesus was among us, and is even now, through His Spirit? You don’t go through your days alone, without notice; He is there with you, beside you.
And have you also laid hold of the glory that because He became man, He would also die? He came to live in perfect obedience to God’s laws and commands, and He did just that. But He also came to die as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, and He did that, too. Unless God became a man, He could not die as that sacrifice. Unless He took on flesh, we could never have offered enough sacrifices to cover our sins. His becoming flesh is a glory, for by it, we can be saved.
This Christmas, let your eyes be fixed on Him, the One who came to live & die for you. Push out the world’s screaming voice to follow; instead, look to Jesus, the Perfecter of our faith. Cast your gaze upon Him, who suffered and died so that we might live in glory. May we see Christ, today, on Christmas day and every day. He is Immanuel, God with us