Merry Christmas!

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich." ~ II Corinthians 8:9

This is not going to be a long post. I just wanted to wish everyone a merry Christmas and remind you of the real reason for the season.

By His Grace,
Taylor

God's Sovereignty in Lewis

"Thus we see Lewis’ purpose in The Horse and His Boy. His aim throughout the whole story with almost every character was one and the same: to expand and display the reality present in Romans 8:28, 'And we know that God causes all things to work together for good, to those that love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.' Aslan, as you have seen, has this kind of encounter with Shasta and many other characters. All of the characters, even Bree the horse, seem to be down and out when Aslan comes to them with sovereign encouragement one by one." ~ Adam Powers

One of my friends, Adam Powers, is writing a series of entries on his blog about C. S. Lewis's Narnia series. Today's post is about The Horse and His Boy. Adam shows how one of Lewis' main points in this work is to show us the comfort of the sovereignty of God. He makes a great point and it is very encouraging. Read more here.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Fourth Advent Sunday

"The astounding truth is that in Jesus Christ, humanity encountered God in a real, personal, historical, and tangible way." ~ Kenneth Samples, Without a Doubt

Today was the last Sunday in Advent. The time of anticipation is coming to an end because the celebration is near. When we truly reflect upon what we celebrate in Advent we cannot help but be astounded. Listen to the expressions of wonder from a couple of the greatest minds in Church history:

He by whom all things were made was made one of all things. The Son of God by the Father without a mother became the Son of man by a mother without a father. The Word Who is God before all time became flesh at the appointed time. The maker of the sun was made under the sun. He Who fills the world lay in a manger, great in the form of God but tiny in the form of a servant; this was in such a way that neither was His greatness diminished by His tininess, nor was His tininess overcome by His greatness. ~ Aurelius Augustine, "Sermon 187"

The next thing that I would observe concerning the incarnation of Christ, is the greatness of this event. Christ’s incarnation was a greater and more wonderful thing than ever had yet come to pass. The creation of the world was a very great thing, but not so great as the incarnation of Christ. It was a great thing for God to make the creature, but not so great as the for the Creator himself to become a creature. We have spoken of many great things that were accomplished between the fall of man and the incarnation of Christ: but God becoming man was greater than all. Then the greatest person was born that ever was or ever will be. ~ Jonathan Edwards, "Of Christ's Incarnation" from A History of the Work of Redemption

Soon we will celebrate the birth of the "greatest person... born that ever was or ever will be", God "great in form... but tiny in the form of a servant." It truly is the "season to be jolly", but not because of presents, time off work, or even family celebrations. Those are good things, but they all pale in comparison to the celebration of He who created joy becoming like us so that we could experience joy in Him.

 Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, "Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven." But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test." And he said, "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

~ Isaiah 7:10-14

By His Grace,
Taylor

Third Advent Sunday

"...Go back eighteen centuries before that. Who could have cared about the birth of a baby while the world was watching Rome in all her splendor?... Palestine existed under the crush of Rome's heavy boot. All eyes were on Augustus, the cynical caesar who demanded a census so as to determine a measurement to enlarge taxes.... What could possibly be more important than Caesar's decision in Rome? Who cared about a Jewish baby born in Bethlehem?
"God did. Without realizing it, mighty Augustus was only an errand boy for the fulfillment of Micah's prediction... a pawn in the hand of Jehovah... a piece of lint on the pages of prophecy. While Rome was busy making history, God arrived. He pitched His fleshly tent in silence on straw... in a stable... under a star. The world didn't even notice. Reeling from the wake of Alexander the Great... Herod the Great... Augustus the Great, the world overlooked Mary's little Lamb." ~ Charles Swindoll, Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life (43)

Today is the third Sunday in Advent. The Church continues the age-old tradition of celebrating Advent so that we do not make the same mistake the Romans and Jews made 2,000 years ago. It is easy to get caught up in the excitement of Christmas and forget about the reason behind Christmas. Even though I myself and kind of a Christmas Scrooge, there is nothing wrong with celebrations, presents, and family traditions. In fact, they are good things, but it is easy to get caught up in them and forget about the good news of Christmas.

"And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end."

~ Luke 1:31-33

"Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

~ Luke 2:10-11

By His Grace,
Taylor

And the Word Became Flesh and Dwelt Among Us...

I just wrote a post about the second Advent Sunday and truly how incredible the incarnation, which we celebrate at Christmas, really was. Then, while procrastinating and not studying for a Greek exam, I read the latest letter by my friend Steve (whom you have probably seen me quote before), which is posted on his website: www.keylife.org. It is about Christmas, which is about "a boatload of problems that we can't fix and a God who came 'at the right time' to love us, forgive us and call us, and to tell us about Home. Christmas is a celebration of our helplessness and God's antidote." I really liked it so I thought I would share it:

I once said on a Key Life broadcast that a famous author had died. That's when I started getting letters informing me that he was very much alive. One friend even said that he had talked to this particular author that morning.

I thought I should correct that, but because I record the broadcasts a couple months ahead and because this particular author was so old he didn't even buy green bananas, I thought better of it.

There was a chance that if I said on the broadcast he was alive and kicking by the time it aired, he might have "assumed room temperature"...dead. So I just let the original mistake stand.

There are other problems with doing things so far in advance, particularly if one is a Scrooge. I'm writing this in October yet need to say something about Christmas because you will receive it in December. Not only that, I just came out of the studio after recording the Key Life Christmas programs. That would be no problem for you, but for a Scrooge it is painful. Between looking like Santa Claus and writing about Christmas before we even get to Thanksgiving, I hope you appreciate how I'm suffering. Please pray for me.

I wouldn't do this for anybody except you and Jesus...

You can read the rest of it here and I highly recommend it.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Second Advent Sunday

"When we open the package of Christmas we find that God has given us many gifts--vulnerability for intimacy, comfort for suffering, passion for justice, and power over prejudice... In the gift of Christmas, the unassailable, omnipotent God became a baby giving us the ultimate example of letting our defenses down... There is no way to have a real relationship without becoming vulnerable to hurt. And Christmas tells us that God became breakable and fragile. God became someone we could hurt. Why? To get us back." ~ Tim Keller, "The Gift of Christmas" in Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas

Today was the second Sunday in Advent. If you attended a church in almost any Christian tradition you probably saw the second candle of the Advent Wreath lit and heard one of the prophecies about the coming Messiah read. Many of us who have been "churched" for most of our lives have heard these before so it is sometimes difficult to remember how incredible the subject of Advent is. The "unassailable, omnipotent God became a baby". "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..." (John 1:1, 14a) The Word that is God became flesh. When we really stop and think about it that is an incredible. The sovereign God became a vulnerable baby. Why? "To get us back." To redeem the relationship. That is the celebration we anticipate with Advent. That is what Christmas is about. As my friend Nathan said this morning while he was preaching, "The most important gift of Christmas is not under any tree."

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"

~ Luke 2:8-14

By His Grace,
Taylor