Past Devotions

I was reading again this morning in Luke 1, focusing on Mary’s Song, “The Magnificat.” We are probably all familiar with her opening statement, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.” [vs 46-47]

Mary shows an abundant knowledge of the OT Scriptures. Her song is much like Hannah’s Song in 1 Samuel. In her song, Mary expresses God’s work in Israel, His character, His might, His care for the humble, His Holiness and His grace extended to her personally and to all of Israel.

One verse caught my attention. “His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.” [vs 50 NKJV]

God’s mercy isn’t unpredictable or haphazard. God’s mercy is an attribute – meaning it is what is true about Him. Just as God never changes, so His attributes remain secure in Him. As God displayed His mercy to the people of faith who came before Mary, Mary acknowledged that God’s mercy will continue to flow out to people of faith who will come after her – or as she says, “from generation to generation.”

Habakkuk reminded us that “God’s ways are everlasting.” [3:6]

What God has done before God will do again. Man’s ways are changeable … God’s ways remain as true as He is, as secure as He is, as amazing as He is. I think each of us one day will sing a “Mary’s Song” – one of very own that acknowledges that our souls, like hers, magnify the LORD and our spirit, like hers, rejoices in God our Savior.

Tomorrow morning’s message at The Way is the first of three parts, “Tell Me the Old, Old Story – Part 1 Mary.” It is about Mary’s humility, faith and obedience.

As I sat meditating, praying and studying over the message, a vivid image came to mind. A few years ago, I took my then 18-year-old grandson to Washington DC. One of the places we toured was the National Art Gallery. There was a display of an artist I particularly wanted to see in Gallery 50-something. Carter, however, wanted to start our tour in Gallery 1 and hit every gallery in between, which we did.

One thing I noticed was the way ancient artists displayed the Christ Child, usually with a halo, but always with a glorious light surrounding His face, or His manger. I’m not sure that’s what Mary saw that night. I think she saw a newborn baby, common in every way. There was no halo, no supernatural light in that stable or around that manger. That perhaps is the most miraculous thing about this child. God with us. Housed in a common body. Born in a common way. To common everyday folks.

But with that common birth, everything changed. Darkness was doomed. Light now broke through the darkness that had permeated the human race since Adam was banished from the Garden. Light, God’s light, would soon take up residence in the hearts of men and women who would come to Him through His grace by faith. For through this little common newborn, God would redeem mankind and give us light to behold His glory.

“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” [2 Cor 4:6]

We have prayer on Tuesday evenings. We pray for our country, for revival, for specific needs of specific people. We pray as the Spirit of the LORD leads. Last Tuesday, I listened as others prayed for me, for my specific health needs and for me as a pastor. May I say, that is a humbling experience.

I appreciated the prayer for my physical needs as I had just come from the doctor and had more questions than before I went. But on Tuesday they also prayed for me as their pastor, that I would have illumination of the Scriptures and hear and know the direction God wants our church to go, what messages for growth He wants brought. That was what humbled me.

It is an awesome and humbling responsibility to pastor a church, to know that you must hear what the Spirit is saying to the church today. It often takes my breath away to understand that spiritual growth for a congregation depends in part upon what I minister from behind the pulpit, and what I exhibit in my lifestyle in front of it.

Yes, I know we are all responsible for our own spiritual growth, but a pastor has so much influence to lead in a wrong direction. My greatest fear is to one day stand before the LORD our God, our Maker, and hear someone say that I led them down a wrong path, or I failed to warn them or tell them of the ways of the LORD.

To hear the prayer on Tuesday went straight to my heart. When Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15 that he was the least of the apostles and didn’t deserve that honor because he had persecuted the church, he also made a comment about what he and others preached … “this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.” [v11]

And that expresses exactly why this is so humbling … what we preach is what others believe. As pastors and teachers, we, I, better make sure that it is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

“God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary…. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.’” [Luke 1:26-32]

“You have found favor with God.” The word favor is charis in the Greek. It is usually translated as grace. Mary found grace in the sight of the LORD, just as so many before her had … people like Noah and Abraham, Moses and David. Grace. God’s good favor.

Grace is an attribute of God. In God grace and mercy are one, but as they reach us, they are seen as two. Mercy is God’s goodness confronting human misery and guilt (He doesn’t give us what we deserve, judgment). Grace is His goodness directed toward human debt and demerit (He gives us what we don’t deserve, salvation, redemption, love).

John 1:20 tells us that “…grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”

 The wonder of Mary finding favor/grace with God is that she is going to give birth to the very means by which grace is going to come to all mankind, including her.

Grace didn’t suddenly come into existence when Jesus Christ was born on earth. Grace, God’s good favor, has existed for all time in the heart of God. It is as boundless, as eternal, as He is. Everyone who has ever come to God has come though His Divine Favor/Grace, whether in the Old Testament or in the New. That included Mary. That includes us! What a wonder!

“O Tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy, oh tidings of comfort and joy.”

I wrote yesterday of my love of the Christmas carol God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. I especially love those words above that come at the end of every verse. Comfort and Joy.

David who wrote Psalm 23, which always brings comfort to my soul, also wrote Psalm 30. He concludes that song with these words, “You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.” [vs 11-12]

God turns our wailing (our mourning) into dancing. He removes our sackcloth (our grief) and clothes us with joy. He gives us songs in our silence.

Not only comfort, but joy. I remind people often, as I have done in these devotions, that the opposite of the “Joy of the LORD” is not sadness nor tears. It is weakness and defeat. Even amid our greatest losses, where we need God’s abundant comfort, we can have the “Joy of the LORD.” It is that joy which births songs in our hearts and allows us to come to our Blessed LORD with thanksgiving.

The chorus of “tidings of comfort and joy” expresses so much. With the coming of the Christ Child, God brought both comfort and joy to this fallen world. Now, while we walk our path through life, we are assured and reassured that He will give us songs in the night to comfort our souls. “Oh tidings [such great tidings] of comfort and joy, comfort and joy, oh tidings of comfort and joy” are ours.

One of my favorite Christmas carols is God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. While I love the words expressed in the many verses, I love the small “chorus” that comes at the end of each. “O Tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy, oh tidings of comfort and joy.”

I love that word comfort. God is our comfort. David expressed that wonderful truth in that most blessed Psalm 23. “I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” [vs 4]

I was a Hospice Chaplain in California before coming to Idaho. I did a lot of funerals. Too often, the elderly were unable to attend church and as churches changed pastors or congregations, they lost touch. As chaplain I was often called upon to conduct their services. I did some for others also who just never made a church connection. I tried to make each service as personal as possible, but I almost always recited Psalm 23 just prior to the closing prayer.

Our LORD is our comfort. Jesus identified Himself as the Great Shepherd. Because He is, we can fear no evil. He is always with us. His rod to protect and correct, His staff to lead and guide bring comfort to our souls.

Comfort. During the holidays we often reflect as much on what we have lost as what we have gained. Many have lost loved ones, family or friends. Some have lost income, or experienced divorce. Children have grown up and perhaps left the home. Christmas reminds us that what we used to have, may not be ours anymore.

That is when we need those “tidings of comfort and joy” that flow from the Nativity. God has come to comfort us. We have a LORD who knows what it is to experience loss and pain with us, who mourns with us, who weeps with us. In that I find the greatest of “comfort.”

Last Thursday we decorated the church for Christmas, and on Friday, Bob and I finished the outside decorations on our house. The one thing I noticed about both times was that our garland and lights in both places were a tangled mess when we took them out of storage. Apparently, we weren’t too careful when we put things away last year. Because of that carelessness, we had to sort through all the tangles and twists before we could decorate for the Christmas holiday season.

A tangled mess. Christmas itself has become a tangled mess. I asked Google what the most popular Christmas movies were; it listed 15 of the top holiday movies based on google search interest. They are from #1 to #15: A Christmas Story, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Polar Express, Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Elf, Home Alone, Love Actually, White Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, It’s a Wonderful Life, Bad Santa, Die Hard, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Jingle All the Way.

Somewhere in all that tangled mess is the truth of Christmas. It’s about the coming of a Savior, who is Christ Jesus the LORD. The Nativity cannot be separated from the Cross. The Cross cannot be separated from the Empty Tomb. The Empty Tomb cannot be separated from the Exaltation to the Right Hand of God.

Christmas is about the ultimate LORD-ship of Christ Jesus. The Book of Revelation reminds us that “All … will worship him …the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” [Rev 13:8 NKJV]

John reminded us that “grace and truth came through” Him. [John 1:17]

In our day, that grace and truth has become tangled up with elves and reindeer, santas and grinches. But when we untangle it, we will find the simple truth that Christmas is about Christ Jesus. As someone wrote, if you remove “Christ” from “Christmas,” all you have left is a “mas [mess].” A tangled mess.

A beloved family at The Way Assembly of God gave me a mug for my birthday that I absolutely adore. Inscribed on that mug are two words, “Grace Wins.”

I grew up in a denomination that incorporated the rite of confirmation. Confirmation was an acknowledgement of both adulthood and a “confirmation” of the vows taken by my godparents at my infant baptism. They acknowledged faith and rejected the work of the devil for me as a baby. At confirmation I acknowledged those vows as an adult (I was 12).

In this rite of confirmation, I was also to choose an additional name to add to my baptismal name of Teresa Kay. I chose the name of my sponsor. Her name was Grace. So now, at least according to that denomination, I am Teresa Kay Grace. Grace Wins!

I had no idea when I chose the name Grace, how much grace would mean to me. God took me to a small church in the little town of Loomis, California, a few years after I was saved. The pastor was a preacher of grace. He taught me well. I am now a preacher of grace.

I know in my heart that we are born again by the power of God’s grace, given in Christ Jesus. We live every day in the power of God’s grace, given in Christ Jesus. And one day when we stand before the LORD our GOD our MAKER, we will be there by the power of God’s grace, given in Christ Jesus. Yes, Grace Wins!

Zechariah 4:6-7: “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts. ‘Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”‘” [NKJV]

I came across a YouTube video from a Gaither Vocal Band and Janet Pascal rendition of a song called, “Tell Me.” (I love this rendition and put a link to it at the bottom of this devotion.)

“Tell me the old, old story. It shall be my theme in glory. Tell me once again about His love.”

After tomorrow there are two Sundays left before the Christmas holiday, and one Sunday directly after. Every year I’ve struggled with coming up with something new or different to say about the Christmas Story in my Sunday messages. Should I look at it from the viewpoint of the participants, or the songs or the genealogies in the Gospels? What haven’t we heard before?

Then I realized that it isn’t about what we haven’t heard before … it’s all about what we have heard before. It’s about that old, old story that never ever grows old. It’s about God’s love on display. It’s what I’ll, and you’ll be singing about in glory for all eternity!

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” [John 3:16 NKJV]

It’s about God’s loving so …. It’s about God’s giving …. It’s about everlasting life …. That’s the old, old story that shall never grow old. That’s what I want to focus on this year. I want to sing the old carols that have been sung for centuries. I want to read the Christmas story in Matthew and Luke, just hear the inspired words of the Scriptures and allow them to flow deep into my being. I want that old, old story to be my theme this year … after all, it shall be my theme in glory. Why not get a head start!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsPXZSSdaD4

I am reading the accounts of the birth of our Lord Jesus as I prepare messages for the Sundays leading up to Christmas. As I read the story in Luke, I came across a familiar announcement … it was spoken by the angels to the shepherds. “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” [Luke 2:11]

 The thing that struck me are two words, “to you.” A Savior has been born “to you” the angels told the shepherds. I would not damage the context I’m sure, if I said it this way, “A Savior has been born ‘for me,’ [or for us] he is Christ the LORD.”

This Savior, Christ the LORD, born to Mary in a humble setting in the city of Bethlehem, came to you, and to me. He came to us.

While the angels announced His birth, they will never experience what it is to know that God’s Son came to set them free from the ravages of sin and iniquity. They will never know the profound blessing of faith, of redemption, of salvation. They will never truly understand what it means to hear the chains of bondages fall to the ground because Christ the LORD has broken every chain that bound us.

This Savior has been born to us, to men and women, tainted by the fall, under condemnation of death. He has set us free, made us alive in God, and taken us by the hand leading us into the family of God. His coming to us allows us to come to our Father God, no longer enemies, but now as His beloved children.

I think I like those two words, “to you.” Thank you, my Blessed Savior.