26 December 2010

Psalm 93, 96; Isa. 62:6-7,10-12; Heb 2: 10-18; Matt. 1:18-25

We are to be the watchmen on the walls, looking for the coming of Christ. The church it seems has become more obsessed with the coming of the political messiah and has been disappointed time and again. The kingdom we need to focus on is the kingdom of God and it won’t be established on earth until the coming of Jesus but that does not mean that we aren’t to work at establishing it first in us and then extending it in our neighborhoods, our cities, and our world to the extent we can have influence, building up the highway. The world needs to see what it looks like for Christians to live distinctively Christian lives in order to get a glimpse of our expectations. Too often we seem to be longing for the same things the world does.

Joseph didn’t believe in virgin births. We hear that now that we have entered into the scientific age we can no longer believe in such things but the scientific age has discovered nothing that Joseph didn’t know. He knew better than this and had determined to put Mary away quietly so that her shame would be minimized and his would as well. He had the right to do so and her story didn’t hold much water but the angel that appeared to him convinced Joseph that her story was indeed true. This is God we’re talking about and He can do as He pleases and as He wills. If He could create everything that was, is or ever will be from nothing by fiat, could He not do this? We live in His kingdom and are filled by His Spirit, what is there in life that we believe is impossible that certainly is not? Is there some sin in our lives we can’t conquer, is there a dream He has given us that we tamp down because it is too grand?

We are favored over the angels. The Lord helps us in ways He does not help angels. We, or at least I, would like to avoid all the suffering in my life. I would prefer never to suffer at all but when I look back at my life I see the ways in which God has used pain and suffering in my life to shape me and change me, to cause me to lean on Him and to grow into a person who has more empathy with others. Jesus suffered too when tempted because the flesh did not want to suffer and yet by the Spirit He was able to pass through temptation without sin. Living by the Spirit is our only hope if we would see the kingdom established in us and through us.

Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns!
Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity."

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
let the field exult, and everything in it!