Grace for the Race

Often when I ask the students I’m working with what their favorite verse in Scripture is, they’ll quote “Jesus wept” (John 11:35).I think that may well be because that’s the shortest verse in the Bible and thus the easiest to remember!No matter; it is also a verse you and I should have firmly planted in our minds and hearts, because it holds outvirtually limitless comfort to the Christian.

Imagine for a moment: the Son of God—our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the creator and sustainer of all things—weeping!The question we have to ask is,Why?Why was Jesus weeping?John11 relates the story of the death of Lazarus, a man whom Jesus loved.Lazarus’ sisters sent word to Jesus that Lazarus was ill.But Jesuscame too late; Lazarus was dead and buried when He arrived.And Jesus wept. All hope was lost!

Or was it? In just a few minutes Jesus was going to raise Lazarus from the dead.Lazarus would soon be breathing again . . . walking again . . . talking again.Jesus had known for days what He was about to do; He had purposely arrived after Lazarus had died in order to glorify His Father.

But He wept anyway!Why?Why would Jesus weep if He knew Lazarus would be alive again in mere moments?The answer is that Jesus hated what sin and death had done to this world.The great enemy of all mankind is death.Some spend a lifetime trying to push this truth out of their minds.Others delude themselves into thinking death is just an illusion. And some are held captive by their fear of death, right up until they breathe their last (Hebrews 2:15).

There is no one who has walked the face of this earth who hated death more than Jesus.No one ever grieved over death more than our God.No one ever felt death’s horrible implications more profoundly than our Lord.

Not only did Jesus taste the sting of death, He tasted the forsaking of His Father.Though they had been together for all eternity, while Jesus was hanging on the cross, taking our sins upon Himself, the Father could no longer look upon His precious Son.Jesus hated death so much that He Himself became the death of death by suffering death Himself . . . death, the last enemy to be destroyed.

Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.The last enemy to be destroyed is death.(1 Corinthians 15:20-26)

Jesus wept “tears of truth,” and we should weep too.But we must alwaysremember that a day is coming when there will be no more death (Revelation 21:4).Because of the resurrection of our Lord—which is the guarantee of our own resurrection—we can sing . . . We can shout! In our weeping we still know that death no longer has any hold on us.“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).

How remarkable that Jesus wepttears of truth!And consider the words said by the Jews who saw Him: “See how he loved [Lazarus]!” That’s how much He loves you too!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

If God is so pleased to give to us another year of life, what will it look like when we get to the end of 2013? What will the landscape look like after we have walked through it?

To be sure, we can all relate to the phrase, “2 steps forward and 1 step back!” Life is a series of forward movements . . . and, at times, backward movements. The ultimate goal is to move forward farther and more frequently than we move backward! Here is the sacred key that unlocks the forward movement door:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2)

Here Paul gives us the only motive for consistent forward movement in the life of the Christian: THE GOSPEL! Notice what Paul does not say. He does not say “in view of your trying harder” or “in view of your renewed resolve” or “in view of your consistent commitment.” Instead, Paul gives us the Gospel with these words: In view of God’s mercy.

The Gospel gives full testimony to God’s mercy, and God’s mercy is the key to forward movement throughout this New Year. You see, while we were enemies of God (Romans 5:10), God in Christ sought us, caught us, and bought us with His precious blood on the cross. Because of the cross-work of Christ, we have been liberated from the death grip of sin and slavery to Satan (Romans 6:6-7). And if all that was not enough, God sent the Holy Spirit to live inside of us to guide us, govern us, and grow us into the image of Jesus Christ!

It is “in view of God’s mercy,” not in view of our merit, that we are motivated to keep moving forward, no matter how many times we step backward. Keeping before our eyes of faith all that God has done for us is the key to getting up again and going after the prize again and again and again.

The Gospel’s stunning demonstration of God’s mercy is the motivation for never giving up and never giving in. The more we marinate in God’s mercy—we who deserved only His wrath and judgment—the more we will be motivated to keep moving in the direction He is calling us to go.

Nothing will motivate the Christian more than keeping the reality of the Cross in view. God refused to withhold His precious Son; He gave Him up for us!

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

Is there anything God will withhold from you this year that you need to live the life He is calling you to live? In view of God’s mercy, the Cross is proof that God has given us—and will continue giving us—all things. What greater motive could there be for forward movement?

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Here are textbook definitions of the word paralyze:

1. To make unable to move or act
2. To impair the progress or functioning of; make inoperative or powerless

At some level we are all “paralyzed people” when it comes to our walk with Christ. From time to time we seem to be unable to act; we behave as if we are powerless.

We are paralyzed by a variety of conditions. Here is a brief list; I could easily make it ten times longer!

• Unbelief
• Under-belief
• Shame
• Guilt
• Fear
• Failure
• Acceptance
• Approval
•  Religion and non-religion
• Obsessions, addictions, and disorders

Only keeping the Gospel in clear view will overcome our tendency to paralysis. The supernatural power of the Gospel is enough to counteract any attack made by the world, the flesh, and “the accuser of the brethren.” The Gospel truths bring healing and hope.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4)

“No condemnation” means no accusation. Marinate in that for just a moment, won’t you? “No condemnation” means no accusation—not today . . . not tomorrow . . . not ever! Jesus came to set the captives free (4:18), and that includes you and me. We are freed to repent and receive forgiveness . . . which further frees us to continue moving in the direction God is calling is to go.

A past littered with set-backs is simply a set-up for a comeback! Your past does not determine your future; the truths of the Gospel empower you to deal with your history so you can move in the direction of your destiny.

The Bible is full of stories of people who could have—and probably should have—lived paralyzed lives. But they did not, because they knew the God who had set them free. Abraham lied. Jacob schemed. David dishonored. Peter denied. Paul persecuted. The list goes on and on. Noah became senseless after drinking too much wine. Elijah became nerveless after hearing of Jezebel’s threats. John Mark became alienated from the apostle Paul after he left Paul in Perga. Yet in spite of a past that could have easily paralyzed, these men continued moving in the direction God was calling them to go. “For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again” (Proverbs 24:16).

So . . . how about you? Is there anything that has been keeping you paralyzed? Are you imprisoned by a problematic past? Remember to preach the Gospel to yourself daily and you will rise above paralysis to progress and productivity!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

For many who live in the cooler northern climes, this is the time of year for snowflakes—lots of them!  So I thought this would be a good time to talk about snowflakes and saints, because they have a great deal in common.  Here are a few facts about snowflakes.

The shapes of snowflakes are delicate and intricate.

Snowflakes are not always symmetrical.

Snowflakes have six sides, with almost an infinite number of possible variations.

Snowflakes are formed from moisture droplets held within clouds when the air temperature drops to 32 degrees or lower.

Air currents, air temperature, and the moisture content of clouds influence the size and shape of snowflakes.

AND no two snowflakes are alike . . . which brings me to the connection between snowflakes and saints: NO TWO SAINTS ARE ALIKE.

You are a one-of-a-kind creation, fashioned by the hand of the Almighty.  Created in the image of God, you are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13).  Nobody has the same set of fingerprints as you . . . nobody has the same foot prints as you . . . nobody has the same look or voice as you . . . nobody has the same genetic code (DNA) as you.

You are a one-of-a-kind masterpiece, held firmly in the hands of the Master, with a history that nobody else has—a history that God wrote before you were born! Yes, all the days ordained for you were written in God’s book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:16).

You are a unique image-bearer of God, with a never-before-lived past and a singular present.  You were made by God for God; because He has not made anyone else just like you, He has a special and specific purpose and plan for your life.

Now, if you are waiting for me to suggest just what your specific calling is in this life, you will be forever waiting!  I frequently meet people who hope I will tell them whether God has called them to be a butcher, a baker, or a candle-stick maker (to borrow from an old rhyme).  But I simply cannot do that.  Am I in the place of God? But what I can do is to share the general and universal call given to everyone who has ever been born and that is . . .

TO SERVE GOD!

You are uniquely qualified to serve God right where you currently are.  Whatever field you are in . . . whatever job you have . . . that is the place where you are to be serving God.  Your unique gifts, talents, and abilities will enable you to serve God right where you are, right now, today, in a way nobody else in the world can do.

What are you called to do? God simply wants you to prayerfully do all you can, with all He has given you to do it with, to the praise and glory of His name.

Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.  Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.  And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.  If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?  If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?  But in fact god has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.  (1 Corinthians 12:14-18)

Different body parts are designed by God to play different roles.  But they are all vital to the functioning of the body.  So too, the saints in the body of Christ have different roles to play that are vital to the functioning of the body of Christ—the church.  Regardless of where this finds you today—whether in a season of plenty or want, health or sickness—God is calling you to do your part in expanding the cause of His kingdom.

Will you answer the call?  If not you . . . who?  If not now . . . when?

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Bad news is all around us.  Bad news littered the landscape of the past year.  It certainly seems to get most of the headlines!  But regardless of how much bad news there was, there was more good news than there was bad.

Do you find that hard to believe? I’ll go further: the same thing will be true of the year that lies ahead of us.  A New Year of good news awaits us again this year.

As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”  (Romans 10:15)

There have been many, many beautiful feet which have brought the good news into a world full of bad news.  And experience has taught me that the best way to stay focused on the good news that’s all around us—rather than the bad news clamoring for our attention—is to be one of those who brings good news into the world.

So . . . just how beautiful were your feet last year?  Seems strange to think about feet as being “beautiful,” but the Bible says that those that bring good news really are!

The good news—and really I should write that Good News—tells us that the love of God in Christ sought us, caught us, and bought us.  The Good News tells us we were once in darkness but now we are in His marvelous light.  The Good News tells us we were once dead but now we are alive.  The Good News tells us we have been liberated by God’s grace, lavished by God’s goodness, and locked permanently into God’s grip.  The Good News tells us we have been forgiven and will never be forsaken.  The Good News tells us we are completely loved by God because of the completed work of Jesus on our behalf.

There really is no end to the Good News . . . and that is always the best medicine for dealing with the bad news.  The phrase “preach the Gospel to yourself daily” is a hugely important lesson to learn.  Far too many Christians mistakenly believe the Gospel is meant only for those who don’t know Jesus.  To be sure, the unbeliever needs the Gospel, but so does the believer; and the believer needs to hear it daily!

The Gospel not only saves, it also sanctifies.  The truths of the Gospel govern our Christian lives.  The truths of the Gospel grow us up into Christ.  The truths of the Gospel lift us up above the lies of this world and propel us into the perfect plan God has for our lives.

Yes, I recognize that the world is full of bad news; that’s because the world is broken.  But God has promised to make all things new.

This is the plan determined for the whole world;

this is the hand stretched out over all nations.

For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?

His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?  (Isaiah 14:26-27)

One day there will be a new heaven and a new earth . . . and a new you!  One day there will be no more tears or sorrow or pain or death.  One day you will be with Jesus forever and ever in eternal bliss, and that is the Good News that overshadows every bit of bad news you will encounter this year!

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Today is the final day of 2012.  How will you spend it?  For many, the focus is on college football and New Year’s Eve celebrations.  Well, before you get into all that, I’d like to encourage you to take a moment today to look back and reflect on all that God has done for you over the past 364 days of this year.

Obviously I can’t know all that will go on your list, but here is one universal blessing that we all received this past year, and it is one that we can easily overlook:

ANOTHER YEAR OF LIFE!

Would you have thought to put that on your list?  “God . . . holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways” (Daniel 5:23 NKJV), and He graciously chose to give you and me yet another year of life.  Life is one of God’s great gifts to all of us this past year; our gift back to Him is simply this: how we lived it.

The end of the year is a great time to reflect on the past year and examine just how we used—and at times, misused—the precious and unrepeatable time God gave us.

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.  (Ephesians 5:15-17)

Paul was telling the Ephesians, just as He is telling us today, that it is critical to make the most of the time God gives to us.  It’s so easy to major on the minor things of life that we can miss God’s best for us.  We must remember a few critical truths about life:

• When we spend a minute we have one less minute to spend.
• When we spend an hour we have one less hour to spend.
• When we spend a day we have one less day to spend.
• When we spend a week we have one less week to spend.
• When we spend a month we have one less month to spend.
• And when we spend a year we have one less year to spend.

There are many things we have been given in life that, if we lost them, we could get more of that thing back.  We can always get more money, more possessions, more jobs, more relationships, more opportunities.  But we cannot get more time.

Time is incredibly precious and limited; when something is precious and limited, the value increases.  Compared to eternity, we are here on earth for only a moment and none of us knows when that moment will come to an end.  And that is why we must make the most of every moment we have been given.

The devil will always try to convince you that you have more time.  Those who believe him will one day realize that much, much time—vast oceans of precious time—has been wasted.  The great Reformer John Calvin wrote, “There are so many allurements which can easily lead us astray.  Our society offers us an endless variety of allurements.  We need to be rid from these temptations and thorns.  We must abandon every hindrance and even hard work and toil may not be an excuse for neglecting the day of grace, or neglecting to do good.”

God tells us to redeem the time, which simply means we are to value the time we currently have by rescuing the opportunities God gives to us.  Opportunities to love unconditionally . . . opportunities to forgive completely . . . opportunities to do good . . . opportunities to serve others . . . opportunities to put God on display and advance the cause of His kingdom in this world.

So when opportunity knocks this year, will you be ready to respond to it and make the most of it?  Your answer, of course, will be a resounding YES . . . if you keep Jesus on the throne of your life and live in the light of eternity.  May God bless you throughout this New Year!

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

How would you evaluate the life you’ve lived throughout the past 12 months?  Were your days marked by shrinking back from all God was calling you into?  Or was it marked by stretching into God’s perfect plan for your life?  Here are a few examples from the Scriptures of a shrinking life:

Abraham shrunk the size of his life down to the size of his desire to save his own skin when he told the Pharaoh his wife was his sister.

Jacob shrunk the size of his life down to the size of his desire to receive his father’s blessing, regardless of the cost.

David shrunk the size of his life down to the size of his desire to satisfy his own sinful and self-absorbed lust for another man’s wife.

Peter, like Abraham, shrunk the size of his life down to the size of his desire to save his own skin when he told the servant girl and others that he did not know Jesus—3 times!

Now, here are a few examples of lives lived marked by stretching into God’s calling, even in the face of uncertainty, difficulty, and even death.

Abraham stretched the size of his life up to the size of God’s plan when he left everything behind to follow God into an unknown future.

Jacob stretched the size of his life up to the size of God’s plan when he wrestled with God all night and refused to let go until God had blessed him and renamed him Israel.

David stretched the size of his life up to the size of God’s plan when he fought the giant Goliath and refused to fight against King Saul, even though Saul was unjustly persecuting him.

Peter stretched the size of his life up to the size of God’s plan when he recovered from his courtyard denials and responded to the call of Jesus to “feed His sheep.”

No doubt you noticed that I used the same people in these examples . . . to show times when they shrunk their lives down to the size of their lives and times when they stretched their lives beyond what they could have ever imagined.

This should be a source of great comfort to you today!  It certainly is for me, because there are are those days when I shrink back . . . others when I stretch forward.  This is true for all of us.

We all live lives marked by advancing into God’s perfect plan and retreating from it.  The key is to keep getting up, by God’s grace, and keep moving in the direction God is calling us to go, regardless of how many times we fall down. “For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again” (Proverbs 24:16).

The Christian life is marked by shrinking and stretching, and it will be that way until the day we get home.  We all find ourselves living in moments when we care more about satisfying our own desires and meeting our own needs than we care about living for the glory of God.  The only cure is to keep our eyes fixed on the Author and Finisher of our faith.  The more we focus on Him and believe the truths of the Gospel, the more we will stretch for our Savior and the less we will shrink for ourselves.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

The title of today’s message echoes a question asked by many who celebrate Christmas, both believers and non-believers alike.  How would you respond to this question?  Or how did you respond?

Would Christmas still have come for you if it came looking like what those Whos down in Whoville woke to on one decidedly unusual Christmas morning? As the Grinch who attempted to steal their Christmas described it:

It came without ribbons!

It came without tags!

It came without packages, boxes and bags!!!!!

Now, please don’t misunderstand me.  Giving and getting gifts at Christmas is not a bad thing; it is a good thing.  We give gifts to commemorate the indescribable gift that God gave the world in His Son.

But good things become bad things when they become ultimate things.  When Christmas becomes all about what we get, rather than the One who has given us everything, we miss the real reason for the season: the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Listen to the words of the Narrator in the story of the Grinch:

He puzzled and puzzed, till his puzzler was sore.

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before!

“Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.

Maybe Christmas . . . perhaps . . . means a little bit more.”

Well, we know Christmas means notjust a little bit more; it means a whole lot more.  In fact, it means EVERYTHING!  Christmas is God’s promise fulfilled.  God promised to send His Son to pay the price for our sin (Genesis 3:15), and He kept that promise when the Light of this world was born as a baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger . . . because there was no room for Him in the Inn.

The Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.  (Isaiah 7:14)

The next time someone asks you “What did you get?” tell them you got IMMANUEL, God with us.  Immanuel is with you . . .

In your joy and in your sorrow

In your sunshine and in your rain

In your plenty and in your want

In your health and in your sickness

In your victory and in your defeat

In your life and in your death

He is with you now and forevermore, and one day you will be in glory with Him . . . and that beloved, means EVERYTHING!

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863) wrote the poem “Twas The Night Before Christmas” in 1822.  The first publication date was the 23^rd of December, 1823, and it was immediately and joyfully received by a wide audience.  It is a tradition in many American families to read the poem every Christmas Eve.  Here are the familiar opening lines:

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all sung in their beds,

While visions of sugar plums danced in their heads…

Kim and I read this poem to all of our children over the years.  As we were bringing out our Christmas decorations this year, I came across our copy of the little book we would read from each year.  As I looked at it, a thought came rushing over me: “Twas The Night Before Christmas” would make a great title for a Christmas message rooted in sacred Scripture.  I plan on preaching this message at our Christmas Eve candlelight service at Cross Community Church.

We hear all kinds of Christmas sermons at this time of year.  We are generally told to turn in our Bibles to the second chapter of Luke’s gospel and read about the foundation of Christmas.  But is it?  The first Christmas was not the foundation of Christmas; to find that we must return to the Garden of Eden.

You remember how Adam and Eve sinned against God.  It was not enough for them to be made in the image of God.  They wanted to be God and chose to believe in the lie of the deceiver, the devil himself.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. (Genesis 3:1-7)

From the time of the fall until the first Christmas we read about in Luke 2, we were living in the period of time I call “The Night Before Christmas.” We all know that the night is a time of darkness.  When Adam and Eve fell, we all fell, and the shadow of darkness covered the land.

The sin of Adam and Eve was punishable by death (Genesis 2:17).  The apostle Paul confirms this by telling us that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).  And God wasn’t making idle threats; upon eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve experienced an instant spiritual death—separation and alienation from God.

When they heard the sound of God walking in the Garden, they hid themselves from Him.  The intimate fellowship they had experienced from the day God created them was no longer.  Day had turned into night.  But in His great mercy, God promised that it would not always be night.  The Night Before Christmas would one day turn into Christmas Day.  God’s infinite grace would forever extinguish the dark and dreary Night Before Christmas by taking upon Himself the punishment for our sin . . . all our sin.   I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.  (Genesis 3:15)

This promise from God that a Savior was to come and rescue us is the foundation of Christmas.  This is the Good News of the Gospel.  But that Good News doesn’t make sense without the Bad News.  The glorious light of Christmas day doesn’t make sense apart from the long, dark night that preceded it.  But once we understand the dark night humanity was living in since the fall in the Garden of Eden, the light of Christmas Day truly brings “glad tidings of great joy.”

The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.  (Luke 2:10-11)

Jesus is the Light of the world (John 8:12), and on that first Christmas morning, His light extinguished the dark night.  The promise of God had been fulfilled; the Savior had come.  Night was over; day was upon us.

Is Jesus your Savior?  Have you trusted in Him alone for your eternal salvation?  If you have not, you are still living in that dreary, hopeless Night Before Christmas.  Acknowledge that you are a great sinner in need of an even greater Savior.  Repent of your sin and receive His promised forgiveness.  Receive Him by faith as your Lord and Savior.  Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead . . . and you will never again experience the Night Before Christmas.

Jesus is the reason for the season; He is the One who came to eternally extinguish the Night Before Christmas and shine the light of grace and truth into our hearts.  Merry Christmas!

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Today I’m going to take you through the final sermon that was part of our Advent series at Cross Community Church: “The WHY of Advent,” which is rooted in John 3:16.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Genesis 3:6

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

At first glance, the WHY of Advent might seem to suggest that it was the sin of our first parents, who were living in paradise yet chose to rebel against the Word of God, that necessitated the coming of Christ.  Not so fast!  Sin had already entered the world prior to Adam and Eve’s act of cosmic treachery.

Isaiah 14:12-14

How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”

Luke 10:17-18

The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” [Jesus] replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”

Sin had reared its ugly head long before Adam and Eve were in existence.  Adam and Eve were the first human sinners, but not the first sinners.  There was a sinful creature waiting for them in the Garden of Eden . . . one who had descended into a wicked, depraved, and fallen condition before God placed the first two humans there.

Adam and Eve followed the voice of the Serpent (fallen angel) and responded to God in the very same way the fallen angel did.  They centered their entire existence on the same “I” that the fallen angel did.  Notice that the same “I” is lodged directly in the middle of both SIN and PRIDE!  The angel was filled with sinful pride . . . and so were Adam and Eve after listening to him in the Garden.

Take a look at the five “I WILLS” of the fallen angel, as recorded by the prophet Isaiah:

• I WILL ascend to the heavens
• I WILL raise my throne above the stars of God
• I WILL sit enthroned on the mount of assembly
• I WILL ascend above the tops of the clouds
• I WILL make myself like the Most High

For Lucifer, it was not enough to be in the presence of God.  He wanted more than anything else to be in the position of God.  For Adam and Eve, it was not enough to be made in the image of God; they wanted to assume the position of God!  And all mankind has been vainly pursuing the same position ever since.

So if sin was already in this world, and God did not go after the first sinner—the fallen angel—there had to be something behind Adam’s sin that caused God to pursue the sinner.  And that, dear reader, was the special love God had for humanity.

God could have pursued the fallen angels . . . but He did not.  He chose instead to pursue fallen humanity.  God sent His precious Son because of His special love for those who were His special image-bearers.  This is the WHY of Advent, and this Gospel truth in all its glory makes it crystal clear that God’s love for us is unparalleled!

“I have loved you with an everlasting love,” the Lord says to His people; “I have drawn you with loving-kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3).

The love of God for you, expressed through Jesus Christ, is as measureless as it is fathomless.  It cannot be explained.  Paul declares that it “surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19).  The best we can do is simply receive God’s love by faith and respond with a heart of adoring gratitude to the One who showers it upon us—not only daily, but moment by moment.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!