A Christmas Selah

I know there is a small faction of us who are tired of and don't really enjoy Christmas anymore. It is just so full of busyness, planning, and spending money that there seems to be no time to breathe and be still. However, now that it's over, I want to do just that. I invite you to pause with me, breathe, and focus on why we needed God to become flesh. It is a little lengthy as it was written for a Christmas program, so, feel free to pace yourself.

In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was empty, a soup of nothingness. An inky blackness. God’s spirit hovered there like a fog over the lake on a cool fall day. All at once, he spoke, and almost sang, “turn on the lights”. And so it was.

He spoke and so it was. He separated sky from waters and told the water to gather into one place. He called for green lush plants to grow up and bear fruit to sustain life. He flung the stars into their places and set them in motion, each with a position of purpose on a predictable path to mark seasons and days and years. To tell us a story. To give us consistency. He called for the sun to oversee earth by day and the moon to oversee it by night.

Then God spoke and there was life: atoms, DNA, skin, bones, all sorts of colors and patterns, noises and smells, sights and sounds.

It was so good but he wasn’t done.

“Let’s make man in our image, make them reflecting our nature so they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle and yes, earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.”

So God formed the man from dirt, molding him thoughtfully, crafting his body and then blew into his nostrils the breath of life. And proclaiming that it wasn’t good for man to be alone, that we were designed for relationships, he gave Adam a helper, a partner, his Ezer Kenegdo, to walk side by side with and to care for each other.

And it was good, It was so very good! And God dwelt with his creation. They were together, unseparated, unhindered. And this was His design and His intention.

We all know how this story goes from here. A serpent slithered into the story, whispering deception and seducing the pair. She succumbed and he didn’t stop her.

This disobedience, this trusting in the serpent, after being warned by God not to do the very thing they did, caused the devastation of humanity: to be separated from God.

God is so holy and perfect, completely sinless, that they could no longer dwell with him the way they had prior to this fall. Once sin was heaped on them they were repelled like magnets with the same pole facing each other. A chasm separated creation from it’s all-loving, almighty God and Creator.

And so, telling them the consequences of their choices, He dressed them in leather clothing (better than the fig leaves they fashioned for themselves) and sent them on their way. His heart breaking as He watched them go. But we know God’s crazy love for us. This story is far from over.

HOPE AND A GLIMPSE OF SALVATION (by Krystal Kotesky)

God loved his creation as they continued to grow and continued to see into their lives. Slowly the ones he loved started turning to wickedness. They were fading away and God was losing them to sin. His heart grieved so much. But there was a glimpse of hope in the midst of the violent world.

His name was Noah. He and his family still loved God and followed His commands. When God saw them, He was moved so much that He decided to save all of mankind through Noah. God told Noah His plan of destroying the corrupt world and told him to build a safe place that the waters would not touch him and his family. God told him exactly how to build the ark and what to put in it. Noah obeyed every command and detail out of love, obedience, and commitment to God.

The rains came bursting forth washing away all the evil and corruption away leaving only Noah and his family safe in the ark. As the waters rose, the ark stood strong and floated above the damaging waves. Those outside of the ark were swept away. Sin always leads to destruction but God brings life to those who follow Him.

It was a long 40 days that had passed and Noah was grateful that God decided to save him and his family. It may have been easier for God to have given up on humans altogether. It would have saved Him so much heartbreak. The same heartbreak that He continually faces when we turn to sin instead of accepting His love for us. The waters slowly faded around the ark and once it was safe, God told Noah and His family they could leave the ark and start anew.

This is a story of salvation. When the evil around us tries to corrupt us, God gives us strength and guidance to overcome sin. He saves us when we need rescuing because He doesn’t want us to be lost to him. His love is so great that He promised that He would never give up on us again. No matter how deep you have sunk into sin, He is always ready to throw you a life raft when you look to Him.

GOD HEARD OUR CRIES

Have you ever had the experience with your children, if you have them, where they do something that could potentially hurt them and you respond with a reprimand? Our kids might not know that our response isn’t actually anger. It’s in that split moment when they fall off the couch or being silly and slip in the bathtub, you realize what could’ve happened, or might happen in the future. That your precious child is breakable and that you fear seeing them broken. And your heart breaks.

Imagine the broken heart of God when He watched His most cherished and loved creation break and that there was a real divide between us and Him: sin. Imagine the heart of a father whose children were kidnapped and held captive by the things they did and fear. How that would enrage a loving God! How it broke His heart!

God, in His never-tiring long-suffering love, is in the business of repairing and reconciling. And like the good Father that He is, He never left us.

He devised a plan to repair the damage that was done. He spun the stars into motion like a clock in the sky, each tiny point on a path with a purpose to tell us a story, and He got to work. He chose a people to be the witness and to live under the law as a guardian. He raised up leaders and showed us miracles, showing us His power and might. He spoke to His people over and over, through story after story: how He will never leave us, even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. He spoke to the prophets, and breathed His plan into their minds so that it could echo throughout the generations. And all this so we would know, we can know with our whole hearts, that He is still here with us. He hasn’t left us and never will and that He has a plan.

Isaiah 9:6-7 [6] For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. [7] Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. ...

Isaiah 42:1-4, 6 [1] "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. [2] He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. [3] A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; [4] he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope." [6] "I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles,...

When God Got personally involved.

This is where all the pieces come together and it gets really exciting. All of humanity is waiting in eager anticipation of a Savior. Someone to ease their suffering, just as God had promised. Our gracious and loving Father saw our suffering and got himself physically and personally involved. Of course, it was the plan since we had to leave the garden. I imagine God saw the course of time like a long film strip. He could see the beginning and the end and He knew at what point in time He would have to enter to make it right. And it was the perfect time.

So when God flung the stars into their precise clockwork-like motion, He began to tell His story. Our Creator, the maker of the bear and Orion, the Pleiades and all the constellations. Our God who performs wonders that cannot be fathomed and miracles that cannot be counted, pulled the curtain for a planetary performance.

Just like the poet He is, He moved Regulus, the King star, to the right position and told Him where to go. He wound Venus to her position in the starry play so they would align with Leo the lion. All of this to tell us the story of how a virgin would conceive the King of Kings from the line of Judah.

And at the right time, the exact right moment, there was a star shining in the east. So bright any star watcher couldn’t miss it. And if that wasn’t enough, a host of angels sang out “glory to God in the highest and peace and good will toward men”. Listen! Listen to what he is telling you. Listen to what God has done for you.

Selah

LUKE 2:25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,you may now dismiss[c] your servant in peace. 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”

33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him.34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

36 There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four.[d]She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

And by this child we have been redeemed, bought out of slavery. Because this child, God in flesh, made the choice to dwell among us and willingly laid down his life, the garden could be restored. Our relationship was repaired and a pathway to the presence of God was made so that we could dwell with Him for eternity.

Part of gospel story

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

John 1:12 but yet to those who receive Him, to those who believe in His name He gives the right to become children of God.

Let’s go back to the begging of this program.

[Romans 5:12-14] You know the story of how Adam landed us in the dilemma we’re in—first sin, then death, and no one exempt from either sin or death. That sin disturbed relations with God in everything and everyone. But Adam, who got us into this, also points ahead to the One who has got us out of it.

15-17 Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin. If one man’s sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God’s gift poured through one man, Jesus Christ, did! There’s no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, life-giving gift. The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life sentence. If death got the upper hand through one man’s wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man Jesus Christ provides?...

20-21 And sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.

This is the all powerful, star-moving, mountain shaking, crazy love of our good good Father! And we are all a part of this story. God reconciled what was broken and offered it to us as a free gift.

GOD HAS GIVEN US THE LIFE-LIGHT

John 1:1-2 The Word was first, the Word present to God, God present to the Word. The Word was God, in readiness for God from day one.

3-5 Everything was created through him; nothing—not one thing!— came into being without him. What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by. The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out.

6-8 There once was a man, his name John, sent by God to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light.

9-13 The Life-Light was the real thing: Every person entering Life he brings into Light. He was in the world, the world was there through him, and yet the world didn’t even notice. He came to his own people, but they didn’t want him.

But whoever did want him, who believed he was who he claimed and would do what he said, He made to be their true selves, their child-of-God selves. These are the God-begotten, not blood-begotten, not flesh-begotten, not sex-begotten.

AMEN