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The Greatest Gift of All – Greg Laurie

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I heard that someone actually tried to calculate how much it would cost to give the gifts named in the classic Christmas song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” The grand total came to about $15,000.

Some items were affordable, like a partridge in a pear tree for $34.99. Six turtledoves will run you somewhere around $50. Six geese-a-laying will cost around $150.

But the price soars when you add 11 pipers piping. That is $1,000 right there. Then there are the 12 drummers drumming. With current union scale for musicians, they will run you another $1,000.

The price really soars when you get 12 lords-a-leaping. We are talking $3,000 for them. Granted, I don’t know where you would find them, but they are very expensive.

But the real message of Christmas is not the gifts we give each other. Rather, it is a reminder of the gift that God has given to each of us. It is the only gift that truly keeps on giving, so I want to point out four things about it.

First, it is surprising. When Christmas rolls around, you often try to figure out if certain people have bought that gift you really wanted. Maybe you already know what they bought, because they didn’t hide it very well. Or maybe you uncovered it by accident—or maybe not. But when the day comes and you open the present, you have to pretend you’re surprised. Yet all along, you knew what it was. God’s gift to us, however, was a complete surprise. It was not expected and, as you examine it more carefully, you realize how great a gift it actually was.

Second, God’s gift came to us in the humblest of wrappings. What would you think if you saw a gift under your Christmas tree that was wrapped in newspaper and tied up with string? At first, you would probably assume that a guy wrapped it.

But think about God’s gift to us. Jesus was not born in a palace of gold; He was born in a stable. He was clothed in rags. He was laid in a feeding trough. Yet these things do not, in any way, diminish the story of Christ’s birth. If anything, they help us realize the great sacrifice God made for us. God’s gift to humanity, the ultimate gift of eternal life through His Son, Jesus Christ, came in the simplest and humblest of wrappings.

Third, we don’t deserve this gift. At Christmas, we give gifts to the people we care about, the ones who have been kind to us over the past year, or the ones who have given us a gift first. We don’t give gifts to the person who has been slandering our name, or to the angry neighbor who never has a kind word to say. Yet God gave us His gift when we were His enemies. He didn’t give this gift to us because we deserved it. In fact, it was just the opposite. The Bible tells us, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 NKJV).

Fourth, the gift tells us something about the giver. When you want to give someone a gift, you start thinking about it ahead of time. Hopefully, you try to find what that person wants or needs. When God decided to give us the gift of eternal life, it wasn’t something that He just thought of on the fly. Long before there was a town called Bethlehem, a garden called Eden, or a planet called Earth, a decision was made in eternity that God would send forth His Son, born of a woman, to redeem those who are under the law.

The Bible says that He was slain from the foundation of the world (see Revelation 13:8). Make no mistake about it: this gift that God has given to us was the most sacrificial thing He possibly could have offered.

So Christmas isn’t about those gifts that you have under your tree right now. All of those things will be gone one day. All that will be left after this life is the human soul, and that will live forever. We will put so much stock in what we have, but this is all going to pass away.

Life is about what happens beyond the grave. Life is about knowing the God who made you and who gave you the greatest gift you will ever receive.

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The Power of the Gospel – Charles Stanley

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Romans 1:16-17

Lightning storms captivate me; they are a visual display of God’s amazing strength. Even more powerful, however, is something He has entrusted to us—the gospel.

This term comes from euangélion, the Greek for “good news,” which was translated as godspel in Old English. Salvation in Christ truly is good news, for though sinfulness reigns in men’s hearts, God can overcome the darkness and redeem our souls.

This is the message of the entire Bible, from creation to eternity. In Genesis, we see the love of God for man, but we are also shown how His heart broke when sin entered the human race through Adam and Eve. Mankind was lost until Jesus took our sins upon Himself. As our substitute on the cross, He endured the penalty we all deserved, and then defeated death with His resurrection. This is triumph, indeed.

Think about the strength of the gospel. God’s Word isn’t simply ink on a page; it is living, active, and sharper than a sword (Heb. 4:12), with power to change anyone—even the vilest of sinners. Even us.

Think about what divine truth is able to do: it can break the chains of sin, heal brokenness, and change hearts. It also guides us into wisdom and choices that bring life. Friend, we have access to the most powerful message in existence.

What’s your response to the gospel? Are you grateful for being entrusted with God’s life-giving Word? The Lord tells us to meditate on Scripture daily and to obey eagerly, as it is the life-source for our souls. He also instructs us to share the wonderful news of salvation with a hurting, hopeless world.

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Cynical Christmas – Ravi Zacharias

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It is the task of marketing departments of all varieties to keep a calculating finger on the pulse of culture, particularly when it comes to consumer trends. The entertainment industry alone has a multi-billion dollar reason to keep their fingers close—which means their research into the entertainment needs of the world is essential. For those of us fascinated with cultural studies, it also means their research into what the public will respond to favorably or unfavorably offers an interesting glimpse into the current cultural landscape.

But even the researchers are getting confused, and especially during the holidays. They find we are sending mixed signals. An article in The New York Times quotes one researcher describing “a curiously widespread contradiction in modern American pop culture—the desperate, self-negating need to be both cynical and sentimental at the same time.”(1) Film historian David Thomson notes of film in general, “One of the main problems in the industry is that young kids do not take the story material seriously. They think it’s mocking.” As a result, “the things we once took very seriously, we half-mock them now.”(2)

 

By and large, the cultural trend marks a growing distrust and rejection of story and meaning and a general embrace of cynicism. And yet, in recent market research, executives found that audiences of all ages reacted badly to advertising that too sharply dismissed or disrespected the notion or story of Christmas. There is quite measurably a greater desire for storylines with hopeful implications in December. Apparently, we want to joke about life’s meaninglessness, but only 11 months out of the year. The typical cynicism governing the production and marketing of motion pictures is entirely toned down at Christmastime. It seems we want to argue the cake doesn’t exist and eat it too.

I have always appreciated the brave confession of C.S. Lewis that he was once living in a whirl of contradictions. This is a difficult thing even to notice of one’s life, let alone to admit it aloud. Self-deception is always one of the more powerful forces of interpretation; the general human ability to see the lives of others far more critically than our own is another. Yet Lewis observed of himself, “I maintained that God did not exist. I was also very angry with God for not existing. I was equally angry with Him for creating a world.” Our own contradictions often exist glaringly amongst our thoughts, even as they go unnoticed.

Yet there is a promise for those who will seek, for those willing to confront their own contradictions, and it comes near in the Incarnation we celebrate in December—the event remembering God’s willingness to reach humanity by becoming human, exaltating humanity into the life of God. Indeed, this exalted one who knows what it means to be human is continually at work flattening our altars of inconsistency, uncovering our contradictions, urging us into eyesight, and leading us into humanity as God intended. The child we welcome in December remains among us every month thereafter. In the momentous words of a hymn that speaks much to the hope Christmas:

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!

Let earth receive her King…

Let men their songs employ…

No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make his blessings flow

Far as the curse is found.

Perhaps we are right to exchange cynicism for hope this Christmas. Might we learn to employ its songs long after the season.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) As quoted in the New York Times, (Dec. 14, 2004).

(2) Ibid.

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Christ’s SuperiorNature – John MacArthur

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“Of the angels He says, ‘Who makes His angels winds, and His ministers a flame of fire.’ But of the Son He says, ‘Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever'” (Heb. 1:7-8).

People today who claim that Jesus was just a man, an angel, a prophet, or some inferior god are in error and bring upon themselves the curse of God. The Bible, and especially the writer of Hebrews, are clear about who Christ is.

First, the writer deals with the nature of angels when he says, “Who makes His angels winds, and His ministers a flame of fire.” “Makes” simply means “to create.” The antecedent of “who” is Christ. Therefore it is obvious that Christ created the angels.

They are also His possession: “His angels.” They are His created servants, who do not operate on their own initiative, but on the direction of Christ.

But the greatest difference between the nature of angels and Christ is that He is the eternal God. The Father says to the Son, “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.” That is one of the most powerful, clear, emphatic, and irrefutable proofs of the deity of Christ in Scripture.

Jesus throughout His ministry claimed equality with God. He said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). The apostle John closed his first epistle by saying, “We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20).

God the Son came to help us understand that God is truth and that Christ Himself is the true God. Our faith is based on the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Suggestion for Prayer: Ask God to give you a greater understanding of the reality that Jesus is in fact God.

For Further Study: Read John 1:1-18 and mark the verses that define Christ’s relationship to God. If an unbeliever were to ask you what that passage means, how would you answer him or her?

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Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

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Morning  “They go from strength to strength.” / Psalm 84:7

They go from strength to strength. There are various renderings of these

words, but all of them contain the idea of progress.

Our own good translation of the authorized version is enough for us this

morning. “They go from strength to strength.” That is, they grow stronger and

stronger. Usually, if we are walking, we go from strength to weakness; we

start fresh and in good order for our journey, but by-and-by the road is

rough, and the sun is hot, we sit down by the wayside, and then again

painfully pursue our weary way. But the Christian pilgrim having obtained

fresh supplies of grace, is as vigorous after years of toilsome travel and

struggle as when he first set out. He may not be quite so elate and buoyant,

nor perhaps quite so hot and hasty in his zeal as he once was, but he is much

stronger in all that constitutes real power, and travels, if more slowly, far

more surely. Some gray-haired veterans have been as firm in their grasp of

truth, and as zealous in diffusing it, as they were in their younger days;

but, alas, it must be confessed it is often otherwise, for the love of many

waxes cold and iniquity abounds, but this is their own sin and not the fault

of the promise which still holds good: “The youths shall faint and be weary,

and the young men shall utterly fall, but they that wait upon the Lord shall

renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run

and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.” Fretful spirits sit down

and trouble themselves about the future. “Alas!” say they, “we go from

affliction to affliction.” Very true, O thou of little faith, but then thou

goest from strength to strength also. Thou shalt never find a bundle of

affliction which has not bound up in the midst of it sufficient grace. God

will give the strength of ripe manhood with the burden allotted to full-grown

shoulders.

 

Evening   “I am crucified with Christ.” / Galatians 2:20

The Lord Jesus Christ acted in what he did as a great public representative

person, and his dying upon the cross was the virtual dying of all his people.

Then all his saints rendered unto justice what was due, and made an expiation

to divine vengeance for all their sins. The apostle of the Gentiles delighted

to think that as one of Christ’s chosen people, he died upon the cross in

Christ. He did more than believe this doctrinally, he accepted it confidently,

resting his hope upon it. He believed that by virtue of Christ’s death, he had

satisfied divine justice, and found reconciliation with God. Beloved, what a

blessed thing it is when the soul can, as it were, stretch itself upon the

cross of Christ, and feel, “I am dead; the law has slain me, and I am

therefore free from its power, because in my Surety I have borne the curse,

and in the person of my Substitute the whole that the law could do, by way of

condemnation, has been executed upon me, for I am crucified with Christ.”

 

But Paul meant even more than this. He not only believed in Christ’s death,

and trusted in it, but he actually felt its power in himself in causing the

crucifixion of his old corrupt nature. When he saw the pleasures of sin, he

said, “I cannot enjoy these: I am dead to them.” Such is the experience of

every true Christian. Having received Christ, he is to this world as one who

is utterly dead. Yet, while conscious of death to the world, he can, at the

same time, exclaim with the apostle, “Nevertheless I live.” He is fully alive

unto God. The Christian’s life is a matchless riddle. No worldling can

comprehend it; even the believer himself cannot understand it. Dead, yet

alive! crucified with Christ, and yet at the same time risen with Christ in

newness of life! Union with the suffering, bleeding Saviour, and death to the

world and sin, are soul-cheering things. O for more enjoyment of them!

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True Seekers – Greg Laurie

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Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”  —Matthew 2:1–2

The story of Christ’s birth is one of the Bible’s most famous and loved stories, probably one that most people who are not even familiar with Scripture have heard at one time or another. And certainly a story we hear repeated every Christmas is the account of the wise men being led by the star to the place where the King was to be born.

Matthew’s Gospel tells us these wise men came from the East (see Matthew 2:1). Skilled in astronomy and astrology, these men were highly revered and respected in their culture and were especially noted for their ability to interpret dreams.

Because of their knowledge of science, mathematics, history, and the occult, their religious and political influence grew until they became the most prominent and powerful group of advisors in the Medo-Persian and Babylonian empires. More than just soothsayers and magicians, they were dignitaries. And though they weren’t kings, they were men of tremendous importance.

But even with all their knowledge, these wise men still had not found the answers they had been looking for in life. You might say they were seekers. We know they were true seekers, because God revealed himself to them in a special way when the star led them to the place where they could find Jesus: “When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy” (Matthew 2:10). Then they offered Him their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

God tells us in Jeremiah 29:13, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” If you are also a true seeker, if you want to know the true God, then He will reveal himself to you too.

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Entrusted with the Gospel – Charles Stanley

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1 Thessalonians 2:1-12

Imagine standing by a pool, watching your children get ready to swim. The youngest asks you to hold something—a dirty plastic pail. The oldest makes a similar request, and then hands you an heirloom opal necklace that had been her grandmother’s. Most likely, you wouldn’t worry too much about protecting the toy, but you’d probably guard the jewelry with great care. The way we handle a possession reveals the value we attach to it.

We see this principle in Jesus’ parable about the master who, before going away, entrusted his workers with various sums of money. The two who invested theirs were later commended for wise use of the funds. Their efforts showed that they valued both the treasure and their master. A third worker, however, simply buried his portion in the ground, and all he “earned” was a harsh rebuke and loss of what little treasure he had.

Like these men, we are responsible for something of great worth—far greater, in fact, than money. God has placed in our keeping the most powerful and precious message in existence, the gospel of Jesus. And we are accountable for what we do with it. Our “investment” involves both how we apply its truth to our own life and whether we share it with others.

Do you feed on God’s Word daily, and are you obeying all that He says? He has commanded us to share His life-saving message with a hurting and needy world—and to make disciples in every part of the globe. Whether we listen and obey reveals how much we value the gospel.

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Beyond the Words – Ravi Zacharias

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I would like to begin by telling a story about an event that took place some years ago when I was beginning my studies in apologetics, an event that has had a major impact on my approach to the ministry to this day. I had a neighbor who was deeply committed to a version of the New Age movement. He and I had many conversations about God in the course of several months. He was a highly educated man with a couple of PhDs to his name, and so he provided me with an opportunity to test my training. But the training I was receiving in apologetics was good, and I soon realized that I could not only answer the questions he was asking about my faith in God, I could also poke holes in his worldview in a way that forced him to check books out of the local library to try and put his worldview back together. And I was feeling very good about myself. I was actually getting get it!

Finally I decided to challenge him to consider giving his life to Christ. His reaction surprised me; he did not seem to care at all about what I was telling him. So I said to him, can you please explain to me what is going on? You don’t seem to care about what I am telling you. His answer was even more baffling to me. He said to me, “Listening to you asking me to become a Christian is like listening to a naturalist asking me to become a naturalist.”

I said to him, “What in the world do you mean. I just asked you to consider giving your life to the God who created you, and you are accusing me of being an atheist? What do you mean?”

He said to me, “All you Christians have are statements and creeds. You think that if people accept those statements and creeds, everything will be okay. When I pray, I get in touch with powers that you know nothing about.”

And that was one of the most convicting things anyone has ever said to me. Because what this man was saying to me was essentially this: “Yes, you can say a lot of very convincing things about your faith, but does your faith really rise beyond well-argued propositions?”

In his book, Beyond Opinion, Ravi Zacharias says that the greatest obstacle to the reception of the Gospel is not its inability to provide answers; it is the failure on the part of Christians to live it out. J. I. Packer writes similarly in his classic book, entitled, Knowing God: “From current Christian publications you might think that the most vital issue for any real or would-be Christian in the world today is church union, or social witness, or dialogue with other Christians and other faiths, or refuting this or that -ism, or developing a Christian philosophy and culture… it is tragic that…so many in our day seem to have been distracted from what was, is, and always will be the true priority for every human being—that is, learning to know God in Christ.”(1)

Whatever your position of faith, it is helpful to occasionally step back and ask a similar question of priority. Whatever your calling in life, what is the ultimate goal of all that you do?

The Bible addresses this question in many places, in both the Old and New Testaments, but none so much as in the person of Christ himself. If there is a message we hear loudest in his coming to earth it is this. The primary call of God is to know God, to be near God, not to serve God or to argue on God’s behalf. Apologetics is important, but it is only a means to an end, and the end is knowing God. Even the scriptures were given to us a means to that end. For when all is said and done, when the dust settles, it is the eternally incarnate Son of God who lies behind that hauntingly inescapable question, “Who do you say that I am?” It is a question we must answer, with our words and with our lives. There is no neutral ground.

But how wonderful it is when the curtain is pulled back, and we see God for Who God truly is, and we are able to say with Peter, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God?”

No, we don’t have only statements and creeds. We stand on holy ground, before a holy God, and it is this God that we present to the world.

J.M. Njoroge is a member of the speaking team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993),  279.

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Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

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Morning   “Salt without prescribing how much.” / Ezra 7:22

Salt was used in every offering made by fire unto the Lord, and from its

preserving and purifying properties it was the grateful emblem of divine grace

in the soul. It is worthy of our attentive regard that, when Artaxerxes gave

salt to Ezra the priest, he set no limit to the quantity, and we may be quite

certain that when the King of kings distributes grace among his royal

priesthood, the supply is not cut short by him. Often are we straitened in

ourselves, but never in the Lord. He who chooses to gather much manna will

find that he may have as much as he desires. There is no such famine in

Jerusalem that the citizens should eat their bread by weight and drink their

water by measure. Some things in the economy of grace are measured; for

instance our vinegar and gall are given us with such exactness that we never

have a single drop too much, but of the salt of grace no stint is made, “Ask

what thou wilt and it shall be given unto thee.” Parents need to lock up the

fruit cupboard, and the sweet jars, but there is no need to keep the salt-box

under lock and key, for few children will eat too greedily from that. A man

may have too much money, or too much honour, but he cannot have too much

grace. When Jeshurun waxed fat in the flesh, he kicked against God, but there

is no fear of a man’s becoming too full of grace: a plethora of grace is

impossible. More wealth brings more care, but more grace brings more joy.

Increased wisdom is increased sorrow, but abundance of the Spirit is fulness

of joy. Believer, go to the throne for a large supply of heavenly salt. It

will season thine afflictions, which are unsavoury without salt; it will

preserve thy heart which corrupts if salt be absent, and it will kill thy sins

even as salt kills reptiles. Thou needest much; seek much, and have much.

 

Evening   “I will make thy windows of agates.” / Isaiah 54:12

The church is most instructively symbolized by a building erected by heavenly

power, and designed by divine skill. Such a spiritual house must not be dark,

for the Israelites had light in their dwellings; there must therefore be

windows to let the light in and to allow the inhabitants to gaze abroad. These

windows are precious as agates: the ways in which the church beholds her Lord

and heaven, and spiritual truth in general, are to be had in the highest

esteem. Agates are not the most transparent of gems, they are but

semi-pellucid at the best:

“Our knowledge of that life is small,

Our eye of faith is dim.”

Faith is one of these precious agate windows, but alas! it is often so misty

and beclouded, that we see but darkly, and mistake much that we do see. Yet if

we cannot gaze through windows of diamonds and know even as we are known, it

is a glorious thing to behold the altogether lovely One, even though the glass

be hazy as the agate. Experience is another of these dim but precious windows,

yielding to us a subdued religious light, in which we see the sufferings of

the Man of Sorrows, through our own afflictions. Our weak eyes could not

endure windows of transparent glass to let in the Master’s glory, but when

they are dimmed with weeping, the beams of the Sun of Righteousness are

tempered, and shine through the windows of agate with a soft radiance

inexpressibly soothing to tempted souls. Sanctification, as it conforms us to

our Lord, is another agate window. Only as we become heavenly can we

comprehend heavenly things. The pure in heart see a pure God. Those who are

like Jesus see him as he is. Because we are so little like him, the window is

but agate; because we are somewhat like him, it is agate. We thank God for

what we have, and long for more. When shall we see God and Jesus, and heaven

and truth, face to face?

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Worship of Distinction – John MacArthur

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“When He again brings the first-born into the world, He says, ‘And let all the angels of God worship Him'” (Heb. 1:6).

Even though Jesus Christ humbled Himself and was made lower than the angels for a time, angels are still to worship Him. Since angels are to worship Him, then Christ must be greater than them.

Angels have always worshiped Christ, only they worshiped Him as God. It wasn’t until His incarnation that angels were commanded to worship Him as God’s Son. It is a sin to worship anyone or anything but God–in fact, note how sternly the apostle John was rebuked for worshiping angels (Rev. 19:10; 22:8-9). So the very fact that angels are to worship Christ verifies that Christ is indeed God.

At present, the angels don’t fully understand the entire picture of God’s redemptive plan. Peter tells us that the prophets didn’t understand all that they wrote, “seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow” (1 Pet. 1:11). Then he added, “Things into which angels long to look” (v. 12). They are still trying to figure out things they don’t understand.

But that won’t always be the case. Notice that Hebrews 1:6 says, “When He again brings the first-born into the world” (emphasis added). God already brought Christ into the world once–at the second coming He will bring Him into the world in blazing glory. Then the fullness of the prophecy of Psalm 97:7 quoted in Hebrews 1:6 will come to pass: “Let all the angels of God worship Him.”

In His second coming Christ is revealed in full glory as the Son. More than ever we have reason to join the heavenly chorus in declaring, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing” (Rev. 5:12).

Suggestion for Prayer:   Thank God for His wonderful plan of salvation. Ask Him to make it more real to you every day.

For Further Study:  Read Revelation 5:1-11 and note the reactions of the angels to the Lamb of God. What specific event motivated their response?

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No Room in the Inn – Greg Laurie

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She brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.             —Luke 2:7

In these days of modern technology, we never miss a thing with TiVo, voice mail, DVD recorders, and camera phones. But even though our toys keep us from missing a phone call, they can also cause us to miss the real reason for the holiday season.

You can watch Christmas disappear in front of your eyes, in a heap of shredded wrapping paper, and find yourself saying, “I was so busy shopping, so busy attending this, going to that, that I think I actually missed the point of Christmas.”

It might be surprising to know that the majority of people missed the very first Christmas as well. People just carried on with business as usual, paying no attention to what was happening just a few feet away.

In Luke chapter 2, we are introduced to an innkeeper who had no time for Christmas. In this familiar story, Mary and Joseph came to the innkeeper for a room, but because his inn was full, he turned them away.

The only place he had for this young pregnant woman and her husband was a stable, a cold, dark, and damp stable—which was more than likely a cave. He was too preoccupied with other things to make the time for Christmas.

There are people like this in the world today. They don’t necessarily oppose or hate God outright. They are simply preoccupied. God and spiritual things do not concern them. Their interests lie more in what can immediately satisfy their own physical needs. The innkeeper was too busy to make room in the inn for the soon coming Messiah.

Let me ask you this: have you made room for Jesus this Christmas? If not, there is still time to refocus and make room for Christ this Christmas, today!

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The Real Heaven – Charles Stanley

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Matthew 25:14-30

I’m not sure how this misconception about heaven got started, but I can assure you that the Bible doesn’t support the idea that we’ll be lying around on clouds, strumming harps. We have been gifted, equipped, and enabled to fulfill God’s purpose in this life. And He will still have a purpose for us in the life to come.

In today’s passage, Jesus described the kingdom of heaven in the context of a wealthy man giving his servants money to invest. The men who served their master faithfully were heartily congratulated and given greater responsibility. When we reach Christ’s judgment seat, our foremost reward will be to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matt. 25:23 niv). I can’t imagine words that could please me more than a commendation from the Savior I love above all.

We will also receive our new assignment in God’s heavenly kingdom. This is the part of the reward that corresponds to the words, “You were faithful in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things” (v. 23). There will be no lazing about for us! We will have a renewed heaven and earth to live in and enjoy (2 Peter 3:13). In our perfected bodies with hearts and souls attuned to the Lord, we will serve Him and each other.

God has a plan for every believer to pursue, and He has gifted each of His children specifically for that purpose. There is no place for laziness now or after we reach our eternal home. This world is our training ground for the greater life to come, so let’s prepare like good and faithful servants.

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Is There a Cure? – Ravi Zacharias

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The “doorknob phenomenon” is an occurrence many physicians know well. Doctors can proceed meticulously through complete examinations and medical histories, taking care to hear a patient’s questions and concerns, but it is often in the last thirty seconds of the appointment that the most helpful information is revealed. When a doctor’s hand is on the doorknob, body halfway out the door, vital inquiries are often made; when a patient is nearly outside the office, crucial information is shared almost in passing. Many have speculated as to the reasons behind the doorknob phenomenon (which is perhaps not limited to the field of medicine), though a cure seems unlikely. Until then, words uttered on the threshold remain a valuable entity to the physician.

If I were to speak on behalf of patients (and perhaps I’ve been a perpetrator of the phenomenon myself), I would note that the doorknob marks our last chance to be heard. Whatever the reason for not speaking up until that point—fear, discomfort, shame, denial—we know the criticalness of that moment. In thirty seconds, we will no longer be in the presence of one who offers healing or hope. At the threshold between doctor’s office and daily life, the right words are imperative; time is of the essence.

One of the many names for God used by the writers of Scripture is the Great Physician. It is curious to think of how the doorknob phenomenon might apply. Perhaps there are times in prayer when the prayer feels as if we are moving down sterile lists of conditions and information. Work. Finances. Mom. Jack. Future. Of course, where bringing to God in prayer a laundry list of concerns with repeated perseverance is both necessary and helpful, perhaps there are times when we have silenced the greater diagnosis with the words we have chosen to leave unspoken. Can a physician heal wounds we will not show, symptoms we will not mention?

Thankfully, yes. The Great Physician can heal wounds one cannot even articulate. The Scripture writers speak of a God who hears groanings too deep for words. On the other hand, choosing to leave out certain toxic symptoms is hardly helpful before any doctor. Can God begin the work that needs to be done if we refuse to come near as a patient? Is there a cure for those who do not seek it?

The prophet Jeremiah once cried, “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? No healing for the wound of my people?” Jeremiah lived during one of the most troublesome periods of Hebrew history. He stood on the threshold between a people sick with rebellion and the great Physician to whom they refused to cry out in honesty.

“I have listened attentively,” the LORD declared, “but they do not say what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?’ Each pursues his own course like a horse charging into battle” (Jeremiah 8:6). His words are weighted with behavior a doctor might recognize. A patient who complains of a cough while a fatal wound is bleeding will neither find respite for the cough nor her unspoken pain, and of course, a good physician would not treat the cough until the bleeding has been stopped.

In Jeremiah’s day as in our own, the promise of a painless remedy was not left unspoken. Of these prophets of deceit God uttered, “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace” (8:11). Their promises are easy to stand beside but crumble under the weight of us. To stand in honesty before the Great Physician is more difficult. It is to admit we need to be made well, however painful the remedy or costly the cure.

The great Christmas hymn places before us a powerful resolution:

No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground

He comes to make His blessing flow

Far as the curse is found,

Far as the curse is found.

The woundedness of humanity is serious. It cannot be bandaged as anything less than a mortal wound. Let us not wait until we have reached the threshold of life and death to address the indications of our illness. But let us in hope and honesty come into the presence of one who imparts healing. In the coming of Christ, God offers a cure that extends as far as the wound has festered.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

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Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

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Morning  “His ways are everlasting.” / Habakkuk 3:6

What he hath done at one time, he will do yet again. Man’s ways are variable,

but God’s ways are everlasting. There are many reasons for this most

comforting truth: among them are the following–the Lord’s ways are the result

of wise deliberation; he ordereth all things according to the counsel of his

own will. Human action is frequently the hasty result of passion, or fear, and

is followed by regret and alteration; but nothing can take the Almighty by

surprise, or happen otherwise than he has foreseen. His ways are the outgrowth

of an immutable character, and in them the fixed and settled attributes of God

are clearly to be seen. Unless the Eternal One himself can undergo change, his

ways, which are himself in action, must remain forever the same. Is he

eternally just, gracious, faithful, wise, tender?–then his ways must ever be

distinguished for the same excellences. Beings act according to their nature:

when those natures change, their conduct varies also; but since God cannot

know the shadow of a turning, his ways will abide everlastingly the same.

Moreover there is no reason from without which could reverse the divine ways,

since they are the embodiment of irresistible might. The earth is said, by the

prophet, to be cleft with rivers, mountains tremble, the deep lifts up its

hands, and sun and moon stand still, when Jehovah marches forth for the

salvation of his people. Who can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest

thou? But it is not might alone which gives stability; God’s ways are the

manifestation of the eternal principles of right, and therefore can never pass

away. Wrong breeds decay and involves ruin, but the true and the good have

about them a vitality which ages cannot diminish.

This morning let us go to our heavenly Father with confidence, remembering

that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him the

Lord is ever gracious to his people.

 

Evening  “They have dealt treacherously against the Lord.” / Hosea 5:7

Believer, here is a sorrowful truth! Thou art the beloved of the Lord,

redeemed by blood, called by grace, preserved in Christ Jesus, accepted in the

Beloved, on thy way to heaven, and yet, “thou hast dealt treacherously” with

God, thy best friend; treacherously with Jesus, whose thou art; treacherously

with the Holy Spirit, by whom thou hast been quickened unto life eternal! How

treacherous you have been in the matter of vows and promises. Do you remember

the love of your espousals, that happy time–the springtime of your spiritual

life? Oh, how closely did you cling to your Master then! saying, “He shall

never charge me with indifference; my feet shall never grow slow in the way of

his service; I will not suffer my heart to wander after other loves; in him is

every store of sweetness ineffable. I give all up for my Lord Jesus’ sake.”

Has it been so? Alas! if conscience speak, it will say, “He who promised so

well has performed most ill. Prayer has oftentimes been slurred–it has been

short, but not sweet; brief, but not fervent. Communion with Christ has been

forgotten. Instead of a heavenly mind, there have been carnal cares, worldly

vanities and thoughts of evil. Instead of service, there has been

disobedience; instead of fervency, lukewarmness; instead of patience,

petulance; instead of faith, confidence in an arm of flesh; and as a soldier

of the cross there has been cowardice, disobedience, and desertion, to a very

shameful degree.” “Thou hast dealt treacherously.” Treachery to Jesus! what

words shall be used in denouncing it? Words little avail: let our penitent

thoughts execrate the sin which is so surely in us. Treacherous to thy wounds,

O Jesus! Forgive us, and let us not sin again! How shameful to be treacherous

to him who never forgets us, but who this day stands with our names engraven

on his breastplate before the eternal throne.

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A More Excellent Name – John MacArthur

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“He has inherited a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did He ever say, ‘Thou art My Son, today I have begotten Thee’? And again, ‘I will be a Father to Him, and He shall be a Son to Me’?” (Heb. 1:4-5).

In our culture, the names we pick for our children don’t have much connection with the child’s character. But in the Bible, God chose specific names that related to some character quality of the individuals who bore them.

The writer of Hebrews was well aware of that when He asked this rhetorical question: “To which of the angels did [God] ever say, ‘Thou art My Son, today I have begotten Thee’? and again, ‘I will be a Father to Him, and He shall be a Son to Me’?” quoting Psalm 2:7 and 2 Samuel 7:14. Of course, the answer is no angel.

The title Son refers to Jesus Christ in His incarnation. Though His sonship was anticipated in the Old Testament (Prov. 30:4), He did not become a Son until He was begotten into time. Prior to that He was eternal God with God. Presenting Jesus as the Son is God’s analogy to help us understand the relationship between the First and Second Persons of the Trinity.

Christ became a Son in two different ways. First, He was not a Son until He came into the world through the virgin birth (Luke 1:35; 3:22). But second, His sonship came to full bloom in His resurrection (Rom. 1:3-4).

The Old Testament prophesied that Christ would come as a Son. In the New Testament He came as a Son in His virgin birth and was declared to be the Son by His resurrection from the dead. Don’t ever get trapped into the heresy of those who claim that Jesus Christ is eternally subservient to God. For a temporary period of time, He set aside what was rightfully His and humbled Himself to become a Son for our sakes.

Suggestion for Prayer:  Thank God for His amazing plan to redeem man through the incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity.  Praise Him that He became Man to redeem you.

For Further Study: Read Acts 13:33 and Romans 1:3-4 noting the reason that Christ can be considered God’s Son.

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Our Heavenly Appointment – Charles Stanley

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2 Corinthians 5:1-10

Each tick of the clock brings us one second closer to our heavenly appointment with the Lord Jesus. As believers in Christ, we will stand before Him one day and give an account for our lives. At that time we will be held accountable for our actions and recompensed for the choices we made while on earth, whether good or bad (2 Cor. 5:10).

This is not a judgment of condemnation. At salvation, when we acknowledged Christ as our Savior, all blame was removed from us (Rom. 8:1). In taking our place on the cross, Jesus bore our sins and experienced the wrath of God against our iniquity (1 Peter 2:24). As a result, the penalty for our sin has been fully paid.

When we stand before our Lord, He’ll look to see which of our choices were in keeping with His will. Every act of obedient service, whether large or small, will be remembered and rewarded. At the same time, I believe there will be loss and tears when our actions of selfishness and unrighteousness are considered.

Colossians 3 gives us a picture of who we are to be and how God wants us to live: our minds should be focused on things above, not earthly matters (v. 2). And we are to get rid of anger, malice, and slander, clothing ourselves instead with compassion, kindness, and patience (vv. 8, 12).

Since the Lord holds us accountable for our actions, it is urgent that we replace ungodly patterns with righteous ways. Both inward attitudes and outward behavior matter to Him. When facing decisions each day, seek scriptural guidance and godly counsel. Then reflect on which choice would please God.

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A Name and a Face – Ravi Zacharias

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In our contemporary world, a great deal of cultural discussion revolves around the nature of human dignity and human rights. Sadly, there is not a day that passes in which news concerning human trafficking, gross negligence, or large-scale violent oppression/suppression of human thriving arrests attention. International organizations like Human Rights Watch make it their mission to expose and bring to justice all those who would jeopardize the rights of the weakest members of human society. They act, in part, as a result of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948 as a result of the experience of the Second World War. This Declaration called the international community to a standard that sought to prevent atrocities like those perpetrated in that conflict from happening again.

Unfortunately, conflicts and atrocities committed against the citizens of the world continue in our day. Yet, this standard assumption of basic human rights enables the international community to act when those rights are violated. And indeed, human rights—for most people—are a basic assumption in the concern for and treatment of others. One might ask from where the deep concern for human rights comes? How is it that the concern for human dignity has become a conversation—welcomed or suppressed—in all cultures? Is it simply the result of the Second World War?

In seeking to answer these questions, many would be incredulous if the suggestion came that the Judeo-Christian tradition grounds the concern for human rights today. After all, the pages of the Bible are filled with narratives of slavery and oppression, bloodshed and violence. How could this tradition be the ground for human rights?

Sadly, even those most familiar with the pages of the Bible often fail to see the significance of commands to care for the “foreigner and stranger” issued to the people of Israel. Sojourners or strangers in Israel were included in the law, and they were not to be oppressed or mistreated.(1) Given the brutalities present in the ancient world, these commands to care for strangers and sojourners are most remarkable. Indeed, Israel was to be distinctive in its treatment and care for the least in their midst: orphans, widows, and slaves.(2)

In the Roman world of Jesus’s day, slaves and servants of any kind, men and women, were classified as non habens personam—not having a persona, or more literally, not having a face.(3) Before the law, a slave was not considered a person in the fullest and most proper sense. Author David Bentley Hart notes, “In a sense, the only face proper to a slave, at least as far as the cultural imagination of the ancient world went, was the brutish and grotesquely leering ‘slave mask’ worn by actors on the comic stage: an exquisitely exact manifestation of how anyone who was another’s property was (naturally) seen.”(4) Simply stated, anyone without a noble birth was not given consideration with regard to human dignity or fair treatment as a fellow human being.

Given this reality for the weakest members of societies in Jesus’s day, it is striking that the gospel writers would record the name of a poor, blind beggar as in the case of Bartimaeus. Furthermore, a concern for human dignity shows up in the choice by the gospel writers to detail the immense grief and remorse of Peter—a common fisherman—over his betrayal of Jesus. This event is recorded in not just one, but all three Synoptic gospels.

Whether we like it or not, our modern world assumes and has inherited this Judeo-Christian morality. As a result, we moderns often miss the significance of the gospel writers caring to name a blind beggar or give such intimate details of grief from a common, uneducated fisherman. “To us,” Bentley Hart argues, these details “ennoble it, prove its gravity, widens its embrace of our common humanity….To the literate classes of late antiquity, however, this tale of Peter weeping would more likely have seemed an aesthetic mistake; for Peter, as a rustic, could not possibly have been an object worthy of a well-bred man’s sympathy, nor could his grief possibly have possessed the sort of tragic dignity necessary to make it worthy of anyone’s notice….When one compares this scene from the gospels to the sort of emotional portraiture one finds in great Roman writers, comic or serious, one discovers…the image of man [sic] in the highest and deepest and most tragic sense.”(5) In contrast to the prevailing norms of the ancient world, the Judeo-Christian tradition gives dignity to the weakest, lowest members of society. Here, in the pages of the gospels, we find a revolution in human rights. Naming beggars, detailing intimate portraits of the grief of a rustic fisherman, keeping company with prostitutes, tax-collectors, and others among the “undignified” tells the story of human value and worth.

The Advent Season anticipates the coming of the One who is the King of all Creation. Yet, this king wore the robes of human weakness and dependence. His “wearing” of human flesh shows the value and dignity of human life. Jesus is, Emmanuel, God with us. Indeed, as Christians around the world live into the reality of Advent, all are invited to honor this King—born a tiny baby, born to poor peasants—who gave dignity and upheld the rights of those who would otherwise remain nameless and faceless. We are invited to honor those whom God has honored recognizing that being made in the “image of God” is not just an abstract concept, but has a name and a face.

Margaret Manning is a member of the speaking and writing team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Seattle, Washington.

(1) Deuteronomy 24:14. See also Exodus 22:21; Exodus 23:9; Leviticus 19:33–4; Deuteronomy 23:7.

(2) See for example Exodus 21:1-6, Deuteronomy 23:15-16, Exodus 22:21-27; 23:1-9, Deuteronomy 15:15.

(3) David Bentley Hart, Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009), 168.

(4) Ibid., 168.

(5) Ibid., 167.

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Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

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Morning   “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” / 1 Thessalonians 5:24

Heaven is a place where we shall never sin; where we shall cease our constant

watch against an indefatigable enemy, because there will be no tempter to

ensnare our feet. There the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at

rest. Heaven is the “undefiled inheritance;” it is the land of perfect

holiness, and therefore of complete security. But do not the saints even on

earth sometimes taste the joys of blissful security? The doctrine of God’s

word is, that all who are in union with the Lamb are safe; that all the

righteous shall hold on their way; that those who have committed their souls

to the keeping of Christ shall find him a faithful and immutable preserver.

Sustained by such a doctrine we can enjoy security even on earth; not that

high and glorious security which renders us free from every slip, but that

holy security which arises from the sure promise of Jesus that none who

believe in him shall ever perish, but shall be with him where he is. Believer,

let us often reflect with joy on the doctrine of the perseverance of the

saints, and honour the faithfulness of our God by a holy confidence in him.

May our God bring home to you a sense of your safety in Christ Jesus! May he

assure you that your name is graven on his hand; and whisper in your ear the

promise, “Fear not, I am with thee.” Look upon him, the great Surety of the

covenant, as faithful and true, and, therefore, bound and engaged to present

you, the weakest of the family, with all the chosen race, before the throne of

God; and in such a sweet contemplation you will drink the juice of the spiced

wine of the Lord’s pomegranate, and taste the dainty fruits of Paradise. You

will have an antepast of the enjoyments which ravish the souls of the perfect

saints above, if you can believe with unstaggering faith that “faithful is he

that calleth you, who also will do it.”

 

Evening   “Ye serve the Lord Christ.” / Colossians 3:24

To what choice order of officials was this word spoken? To kings who proudly

boast a right divine? Ah, no! too often do they serve themselves or Satan, and

forget the God whose sufferance permits them to wear their mimic majesty for

their little hour. Speaks then the apostle to those so-called “right reverend

fathers in God,” the bishops, or “the venerable the archdeacons”? No, indeed,

Paul knew nothing of these mere inventions of man. Not even to pastors and

teachers, or to the wealthy and esteemed among believers, was this word

spoken, but to servants, aye, and to slaves. Among the toiling multitudes, the

journeymen, the day labourers, the domestic servants, the drudges of the

kitchen, the apostle found, as we find still, some of the Lord’s chosen, and

to them he says, “Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not

unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the

inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.” This saying ennobles the weary

routine of earthly employments, and sheds a halo around the most humble

occupations. To wash feet may be servile, but to wash his feet is royal work.

To unloose the shoe-latchet is poor employ, but to unloose the great Master’s

shoe is a princely privilege. The shop, the barn, the scullery, and the smithy

become temples when men and women do all to the glory of God! Then “divine

service” is not a thing of a few hours and a few places, but all life becomes

holiness unto the Lord, and every place and thing, as consecrated as the

tabernacle and its golden candlestick.

“Teach me, my God and King, in all things thee to see;

And what I do in anything to do it as to thee.

All may of thee partake, nothing can be so mean,

Which with this tincture, for thy sake, will not grow bright and clean.

A servant with this clause makes drudgery divine;

Who sweeps a room, as for thy laws, makes that and the action fine.”

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“Having become . . . much better than the angels” (Heb. 1:4). – John MacArthur

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Man is a wonderful and amazing creation–higher than plants, animals, and any other material creation in this world. But there are created beings even higher than man–angels.

Hebrews 2:9 shows this to be the case because when Jesus became a man, He was “made for a little while lower than the angels.” After the fall of the rebellious angels under Lucifer, the angels in heaven were no longer subject to sin. These angels are holy, powerful, and wise. They are special beings created by God before He created man.

The Jewish people understood the exalted position of angels because they knew that the Old Covenant was brought to men and maintained by angelic mediation. Galatians 3:19 says, “Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed should come to whom the promise had been made.”

Because of this high regard for angels by his readers, the writer of Hebrews was faced with a problem. If he was to show that Christ was the mediator of a better covenant, he would have to prove that Christ is better than angels. To do so, he used seven Old Testament passages to verify his claim.

If he had tried to prove from Christian writings that Christ is a better mediator, his unbelieving Jewish readers would have said, “We don’t accept these writings as being from God.” So in effect he wisely replies, “Open up your own Scriptures and I’ll prove my claim from them.” It results in a powerful and irresistible argument.

For the next several days, we’ll see in what ways Christ is superior to angels and how He could mediate a better covenant for us.

Suggestion for Prayer:  Because much of our understanding of the New Testament is based on the writings of the Old Testament, thank God for how He has brought His complete Word to us intact throughout the centuries.

For Further Study:  Read Galatians 3:8, Romans 9:15, and Matthew 4:4.

What Old Testament verses to those passages quote?

What truth does each of them verify?

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What’s Jesus Doing Now? – Charles Stanley

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Hebrews 1:1-3

The New Testament tells us what Jesus did while He was on earth, but what is He doing now that He has ascended to the Father in heaven? His physical absence does not mean that He has abandoned us. Though we cannot presently see Him, His Word assures us that He is always acting on our behalf to empower, lead, and complete us.

He gives us abundant life (John 10:10). Christ enables us to live with peace, joy, and the strength and determination to persist in accomplishing whatever He calls us to do.

The Lord makes intercession for us (Rom. 8:34). Jesus hears our every prayer and is seated at His Father’s right hand, presenting our requests to Him.

Christ reveals the Father. By seeing God through the Son’s eyes, we understand that He’s our loving heavenly Father, who is personally interested in every aspect of our lives. Scripture invites us to follow Jesus’ example of ongoing intimate conversation with God.

He’s preparing a place for us and will one day come to take us home to heaven so we can be with Him forever (John 14:2-3).

The Lord Jesus is also preparing for His return to rule and reign on earth as King of kings and Lord of lords.

“Out of sight, out of mind” is definitely not a phrase that describes Christ’s relationship with us. He never forgets us and is continually working to complete His plans for both our lives and the entire world. His constant care should motivate us to make sure that He’s not out of our sight and mind.