“Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. By his own choice, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
I’m away chaperoning camp this week with some of our awesome kids. I’ll still plan to post something each day, but it is going to be short and not about Exodus. Instead, I’ll give you a look into what we will be talking about this week. The theme for the week is Wow Factor, and we’re talking about the kind of things God does for us that make us say, “Wow!” First up and as we talked about tonight, God gives us good gifts.
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
Here we are in the season of Advent. This is a season known for many things. I don’t know that I have the time to even try to list out most of them. But one of the things that sits prominently on the list is gift-giving. I suspect that you will spend more time this month than you care to admit racing around trying to find the perfect thing to give to a special someone. In that spirit, as we journey through this Advent season together this year, I thought we might give some attention to some of the gifts God gives us to help us get the most out of this time; the gifts God gives to help us learn to live more fully in His kingdom. Today, we’ll talk about one gift that is perhaps our most needed by the time we get through it: rest.
“He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
Have you ever received a gift that wound up being even better than you imagined it would be? When you get married, you receive all kinds of different gifts. Some people are really good at picking out practical or meaningful gifts. Other folks…mean well. My parents still laugh at a wedding gift they received. It was a serving dish shaped like a Weiner dog and you could pull out its tail to find a little knife for spreading dips. On the other hand, we received a set of basic utility knives from a friend’s mom that we used for fifteen years before they were finally so dull (and had been sharpened so many times they wouldn’t maintain an edge anymore) that we had to replace them. The gift of salvation is a little like our knives (not so much like the Weiner dog serving dish). In our verses yesterday, Paul told us about the salvation we have available in Christ. Here, he invites us more fully into it to see the real riches our God has in store for us.
“Jesus replied, ‘Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a noble thing for me. You always have the poor with you, and you can do what is good for them whenever you want, but you do not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body in advance for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)
Have you ever been the victim of unfair criticism? That’s never a fun place to be. I once had someone come sit down with me in my office to offer “constructive” criticism. He came prepared a 4×6 note card filled front and back with everything he thought I was doing wrong. His complaints were all rooted in personal preferences of pastoral style rather than anything biblical, but he was convinced, as he told me, that I just didn’t preach the Gospel. Maybe you’ve been through something similar. Much to this man’s credit, he did not air his grievances publicly nor share them with a small group of others in an effort to build a coalition against me. And when it became clear we were not going to find common ground on some of them, he left quietly and found a church more to his liking. Other folks with less character and genuine intent to honor Christ with their life would have made a production of leaving. I respect him for that. Being criticized, no matter the source, is hard. When a woman made an incredible gesture of worship to Jesus, she faced intense criticism for it. Fortunately, she had Jesus in the room to defend her actions. Let’s look at the results this morning.
“These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another; make true and sound decisions within your city gates. Do not plot evil in your hearts against your neighbor, and do not love perjury, for I hate all this” — this is the Lord’s declaration.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
Have you ever been offered a gift with conditions? Those are always hard to accept. On the one hand, the gift may be really good, but, on the other hand, the conditions may be really hard to live with. While God offers us unconditional love, the gift of His presence does come with conditions. The decision we have to make is whether or not we are willing to live with those. It was the decision Zechariah was offering to the Israelites here.
The Nexus 