Tag: The Gifts of Advent

The Gifts of Advent: John 3:16

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“For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (CSB – Read the chapter)‬‬

When the apostle Paul was trying to capture the overwhelming significance of the spiritual gift of love and its foundational importance for the other gifts Jesus gives His church for its proper health and functioning, He penned these famous words: ”Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love — but the greatest of these is love.“ Love is indeed the greatest, and as we celebrate one last gift of Advent together today, love is appropriately where we land.

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The Gifts of Advent: Luke 1:13

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“But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever prayed for something and didn’t get it? That can be a disheartening experience. We pray, and pray, and pray, and…nothing. Eventually we start to wonder why we should even bother. I mean, we’ve been praying for minutes and nothing has happened. Or maybe you’ve been praying a bit longer than that. But then we find all kinds of encouragement in the Scriptures to turn to prayer. The various authors obviously considered prayer to be quite a gift. Let’s talk about this next gift of Advent and if it really is.

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The Gifts of Advent: Philippians 2:5-8

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“Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death – even to death on a cross.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

In our increasingly pagan culture, one of the gods we worship most supremely is the god Autonomy. Autonomy seems like a wonderful god at first glance. There is a reason our culture has become so taken in by him. He assures us that we should be able to be and do whatever and whoever we want. Whatever whim we have should be fulfilled. Whatever identity we want to embrace should be recognized and even celebrated. Autonomy insists that he only wants for us to be in charge of ourselves. The only thing Autonomy really opposes is someone else’s telling us what to do. In the face of this new-old god and his demands on our life, one of the gifts the God of the Bible offers us and which we can celebrate at this time of year is the gift of submission to someone else, namely Him. This sounds like a rather strange gift. Let’s talk today about why it is so good.

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The Gifts of Advent: John 1:14

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*I’m recovering from a cold this week and my voice just isn’t there. You’ll have to accept just reading this one today. Happy Monday!

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever been around one of those people who were just different in the best possible way? Something about them – and you never could quit put your finger on exactly what it was – just drew you in. You wanted to be near them. At the same time, you never quite felt like you deserved to be near them. The closer you got, the more you became aware of just how much you fell short of their goodness and you didn’t really like that. The odds are pretty good that what you experienced from that person was a taste of the glory of God. As we get closer and closer to Christmas Day, let’s reflect today on one of the greatest gifts of God’s coming near in Christ: glory.

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The Gifts of Advent: Matthew 1:24

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“When Joseph woke up, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him. He married her.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Think about the last time you got a gift that you didn’t want. While I can’t remember the gifts specifically, I remember a few Christmases when I opened something and had to swallow my disappointment so as not to hurt the feelings of the giver. Sometimes gifts that seem hard in a moment, though, prove later to be among the best we have ever received. This next gift of Advent we are going to talk about this morning doesn’t feel like a gift at all at first. Sometimes it feels more like a curse. Yet if we will receive it, it will prove to be utterly transformative in our lives. Let’s talk today about the gift of obedience.

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