Every year on my son’s birthday, we find special ways to celebrate his life.  One of the common things we will do is have a birthday party.  When we have a party, one of the critical questions to answer is “who will we invite to the party?”  Some years, the guest list has consisted of only family.  Other years, we have invited only a couple of friends.  Still other years, we invited all the boys on a team or in his class. 

Whatever the determined guest list, the next step is to invite those guests to attend – so an email, phone call, or post card heads in the direction of friends and family.  Those who receive the invite then have a choice, will they attend?  Are they able?

I was thinking about this dynamic as I look over the lyrics of one of my most beloved Christmas Carols, “O Come All Ye Faithful.”  This song recounts the birth day of Jesus Christ.  At His birth, a “party” broke out near the manger.  Of course Mary and Joseph were there, but soon others began to make their way to the gathering.  God the Father went out of His way to invite two very different (and unlikely) groups to attend the party – shepherds and Magi (see Luke 2:8-20, and Matthew 2:1-12).  The shepherds represented common Jewish people – a class of citizens that would normally NEVER have been invited to a religious ceremony or royal birth.  The Magi were Gentiles from a faraway land who would have had no expectation of inclusion in the plans of the God of Israel.  Yet, at Jesus’ birth day party, God sends an angelic invite to the shepherds and a starry message to the Magi inviting them to come.

When these invites come, the shepherds and Magi have a choice.  Will they attend?  Are they able?  Both groups move toward the manger.  Both groups decide that they cannot miss the opportunity to be included in this special moment.  As a result, both are incredibly blessed.  They were not able on their own, but by God’s grace, they find their stories find meaning in Christ.

Now, I want you to think about your own life for a moment.  By virtue of you reading this devotional, knowing these songs, reading the Christmas story, you have received an invitation from your Heavenly Father.  An invite to come to Jesus and find your hope in Him.  

This invitation from God is not based on our performance but on His grace.  It is sinful people like you and me, like the shepherds and wise men, who get the invite to come to Jesus and find our hope and forgiveness and life in Him.  God desires that we open this invitation by faith and trust in Jesus as the Son of God who takes away the penalty of our sins through His death on the cross.  Have you placed your faith in Jesus?  If not, hear the words of today’s song as an invite from God to come and adore Him and place your faith in Jesus.

O Come All Ye Faithful

O come, all ye faithful

Joyful and triumphant

O come ye, oh come ye to Bethlehem

Come and behold Him

Born the king of angels

 

Oh come let us adore Him

Oh come let us adore Him

Oh come let us adore Him

 Christ the Lord

Sing, Choirs of angels

Sing in exultation

Sing all ye citizens of heaven above!

Glory to God

Glory in the highest

 

Oh come let us adore Him

Oh come let us adore Him

Oh come let us adore Him

Christ the Lord

 

Yea, Lord we greet thee

Born this happy morning

Jesus to Thee be all glory given

Word of the Father

Now in flesh appearing

 

Oh come let us adore Him

Oh come let us adore Him

Oh come let us adore Him

Christ the Lord

 

 

 

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Matthew’s Begats

I am the son of Dick and Beverly Robinson . . . the grandson of Don and Boonetta Davis and Glen and Alice Robinson . . . and so on, and so on.  These facts are personally very meaningful.  They describe my earthly heritage and contain the names of people who have shaped my life in profound ways.  

Every person reading this ALSO is a part of a family tree.  Though my experience as a descendant of the “Robinson” and “Davis” families is very positive, your experience may have been rocky.  For good or for bad, we are still connected to and marked by our lineage.  Personally, it bears great meaning to each of us.

However, there are some people whose family trees are not just PERSONALLY interesting, but have implications that impact the world.  Think about members of the British Royal Family.  Their blood lines bring with them responsibility and authority that impacts the society around them.

In Matthew 1:1-17, we see the family tree of Jesus Christ.  This family tree lets us know a few things:

1)  It shows us that Jesus (the Son of God) became fully human at His earthly birth.  He did not just become “human-like,” He PERSONALLY took on flesh and dwelt among us.  Therefore, we do not have a Savior who cannot relate to us, but we have One who knows what it means to live in this world.  His lineage is a reminder of that.

2)  It shows us that Jesus genealogy sets Him up for a WORLD-WIDE impact.  He is a descendant of Abraham, reminding us that He is ethnically a Jew, thus continuing the fulfillment of God’s promises to His people long ago.  Also, we see that Jesus’ great, great, great, great, great Grandpa was David – a reminder that Jesus would be the promised descendant of David to sit on the throne of God and reign forever.  His family tree supports and qualifies Him for not just personal influence.

At Christmastime, we sometimes skip the beginning verses of Matthew 1:1-17 and begin our Scripture reading when the Angels show up in 1:18ff.  When we do that, we miss the blessing of generations . . . reminding us of the PERSONAL and WORLD shaping reality of Jesus life.  Today’s song takes this long lineage and places it to music in a fun and memorable way. 

Matthew’s Begats

Abraham had Isaac

Isaac, he had Jacob

Jacob, he had Judah and his kin

Then Perez and Zerah

Came from Judah’s woman, Tamar

Perez, he brought Hezron up

And then came

Aram, then Amminadab

Then Nahshon, who was then the dad of Salmon

Who with Rahab fathered Boaz

Ruth, she married Boaz who had Obed

Who had Jesse

Jesse, he had David who we know as king

David, he had Solomon by dead Uriah’s wife

Solomon, well you all know him

He had good old Rehoboam

Followed by Abijah who had Asa

Asa had Jehoshaphat had Joram had Uzziah

Who had Jotham then Ahaz then Hezekiah

Followed by Manasseh who had Amon

Who was a man

Who was father of a good boy named Josiah

Who grandfathered Jehoiachin

Who caused the Babylonian captivity

Because he was a liar

Then he had Shealtiel, who begat Zerubbabel

Who had Abiud who had Eliakim

Eliakim had Azor who had Zadok who had Akim

Akim was the father of Eliud then

He had Eleazar who had Matthan who had Jacob

Now, listen very closely

I don’t want to sing this twice

Jacob was the father of Joseph

The husband of Mary

The mother of Christ

 

 

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Mary Did You Know?

In 1991 Buddy Greene and Mark Lowry wrote a modern Christmas song that has become a contemporary “classic.”  In its short history, this song has been recorded by many contemporary artists, and sung in many church services.  

The song asks a simple rhetorical question:  Mary, did you know who your Son was?  The question is expanded throughout the song citing both the salvation Jesus would bring and the miracles He would work.  Did Mary know while holding Him in Bethlehem’s barn who Jesus really was?

This song is musically beautiful, but it also shines a spotlight on the paradox of the Sovereign God becoming a dependent baby.  But for all of its beauty, is it accurate?  Did Mary know?  If so, what did Mary know?

From the very beginning, Mary certainly knew that Jesus was not a normal baby.  Take a moment and read Luke 1:26-38.  In these verses, Mary finds out she is pregnant through a conversation with the angel Gabriel.  In this conversation she would come to know:

• She had found favor with God (1:28-30)
• She was pregnant with a Son, even though she was a virgin (1:31)
• Her Son would be the Son of God (1:32a, 35)
• Her Son would be the promised Messiah (1:32b)
• Her Son’s Kingdom would know no end (1:33)

For nine months Mary carried Jesus with the words of the Angel (no doubt) reverberating in her ears and echoing through her heart.  Then, when Jesus was born, angels and shepherds, and Magi show up and remind her of the supernatural nature of her Son.  As He grows up, she continued to know that Jesus was unique.  She even had an expectation that He could do miracles (like turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana – John 2).  

So, based on these verses, did Mary know?  Yes.  I think she knew.

However, let’s not make Mary into more than she was.  She was certainly favored by God, but she was still human.  At one point, she (and Jesus’ half brothers) openly questioned His methods (Matthew 12:46-50).  After Jesus’ crucifixion, Mary was not sitting outside the tomb on the morning fo the third day expecting to see the stone rolled away.  She (like the other disciples) thought the Dream died on the cross.  

So, in one sense Mary knew, but in another sense she didn’t.

So, the question asked in this song reminds us that at times we can KNOW a truth about God, but still have questions about how it looks in our lives.  Can you relate?  Allow this tension to encourage you today in the areas of your life where you know, but in another sense don’t know.  

 

Mary Did You Know?

Mary did you know that your baby boy would one day walk on water?

Mary did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters?

Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?

This child that you’ve delivered, will soon deliver you

Mary did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?

Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?

Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?

When you kiss your little baby, you kiss the face of God

Mary did you know? Mary did you know? Mary did you know?

Mary did you know? Mary did you know? Mary did you know?

The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the dead will live again

The lame will leap, the dumb will speak, the praises of the lamb

Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?

Mary did you know that your baby boy would one day rule the nations?

Did you know that your baby boy is heaven’s perfect lamb?

That sleeping child you’re holding is the great I am

Mary did you know? Mary did you know? Mary did you know?

Mary did you know? Mary did you know? Mary did you know? Oh

Mary did you know?

 

 

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Breath of Heaven

Do you want a “blessed” life?  Of course you do!  Who doesn’t, right?  Only a hardcore atheist that does not believe in a “Bless-or” is repelled by the concept of being blessed by their Creator.  However, what does the blessing of God look like, and how do we get on the blessed list . . . these are questions we often debate or question.

After Mary is visited by Gabriel and told she was carrying the Son of God, she goes to visit her relative Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-45).  At that time, Elizabeth declares to Mary that she is indeed “blessed” by God (Luke 1:42).  Of course, the blessing Elizabeth was referring to was the Baby Mary was carrying in her womb . . . but a closer reading of this passage (in context) also reveals to us another way Mary was blessed in Luke 1.

After being visited by the Angel Gabriel, Mary was left to ponder her new found pregnancy in (somewhat) isolation.  Her parents would have been concerned.  Her betrothed (Joseph) was considering a divorce.  Who would believe her?  Did she really hear the Angel correctly?  These were probably some of the questions Mary was asking.  

So, where does she go?  How does God provide and bless Mary in the midst of her situation?  The Lord has Mary walk 50-70 miles to the hills of Judah to visit Elizabeth:  the only other woman in the world who would understand miraculous pregnancies (see Luke 1:5-25)!  The Lord blessed Mary through another person – her cousin Elizabeth’s company!

That said, here are two thoughts:

1. Can you imagine what Mary may have been thinking as she walked to Elizabeth’s house?  The song “Breath of Heaven” shares a fictionalized perspective from Mary as she made that walk.  Listen to this song today as you relate to her circumstance.
2. Realize that the “Breath of Heaven’s” blessing that fell on Mary at that time was not a second angelic visit, but a cup of coffee with her cousin.  

Where in your life right now are you longing for the supernatural provision of God?  Have you ever stopped to think that the blessing of God . . . the breath of heaven . . . may be coming to you by another member of the Body of Christ who lives down the street, or is in your small group, or is just a phone call away.  The supernatural blessing of God is often wrapped in natural paper.

Breath of Heaven

I have traveled many moonless nights

Cold and weary with a babe inside

And I wonder what I’ve done

Holy Father, You have come

And chosen me now to carry Your Son

I am waiting in a silent prayer

I am frightened by the load I bear

In a world as cold as stone

Must I walk this path alone?

Be with me now, be with me now

Breath of Heaven, hold me together

Be forever near me, breath of Heaven

Breath of Heaven, lighten my darkness

Pour over me Your holiness for You are holy

Breath of Heaven

Do you wonder as you watch my face

If a wiser one should have had my place?

But I offer all I am

For the mercy of Your plan

Help me be strong, help me be, help me

 

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Elizabeth

When Luke picked up a pen and began to write about the birth of Jesus, he did not begin with Mary . . . or Joseph . . . he began with a man named Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth.  Their story (not Mary and Joseph’s) kicks off Luke’s Gospel, and it is the conception of their son John (not the immaculate conception of Jesus) that is the first reason to celebrate in this book.  This makes sense, because Zechariah and Elizabeth’s son (John the Baptist) would be the one who would “go before Jesus in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready for the Lord a people prepared (Luke 1:17).”  By definition John would come first because he was the forerunner to Jesus.

Even knowing that, it is still striking how much space Luke gives (under the direction of the Holy Spirit) to the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth.  You can read the account for yourselves in Luke 1:5-25, 39-45, 57-80.  What does God want us to see in this account?  Well, here are a couple of thoughts:

1. The angel Gabriel appears to Zechariah and promises Zechariah and Elizabeth a child.  Zechariah and Elizabeth were “advanced in age” and well past their child conceiving days.  Upon hearing this news, Zechariah doubts its veracity.  Because of this doubt, Zechariah is struck silent for the duration of the pregnancy.  Zechariah’s silence mirrors the 400 years of silence that the nation of Israel had in the days leading up to John the Baptist’s birth.  For those 400 years, God did not speak to His people through the prophets.  The extra nine months of silence that Zechariah experiences mirror the silence the nation had endured before God as they wandered in the darkness of unbelief.  When John is born, however, God begins to speak again to His people . . . and Zechariah is the first of a new order of prophets that would continue to share God’s voice to His people through the writing of the New Testament — all “making ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
2. If we see the voice of God returning through Zechariah, we see something else in the account of his wife Elizabeth.  Elizabeth was an older woman . . . well past child bearing days, and yet her womb was barren.  Over time, her empty arms had become a heavy burden.  While all the other moms were getting cards on Mother’s Day and a visible legacy to shape, Elizabeth’s childlessness had become (in her words) a “reproach among people (Luke 1:25).”  The birth of John was not just about what the Lord was doing in the world, it was an act of compassion and kindness to Elizabeth.  Her womb opened.  The promise of God turned into a person . . . a gift. 

Keith Getty wrote a beautiful tribute to the emotion of this historical account in the song, “Elizabeth.”  The ache of Elizabeth’s empty arms were filled with the life that only God can bring.  This is a reminder to all who come after that in Christ, God can do “far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us (Ephesians 3:20).”  

What are you “aching” about today?  Lay your head upon His promises and find your rest in Jesus Christ.

 

Elizabeth

Elizabeth, There’s an echo in your voice I’ve heard before,

Such emptiness

All the years of crying out for something more,

But you have lived to see

That joy comes in the morning

Come and lay your head

On His promises

Oh, find your rest, Elizabeth

Elizabeth, Feel the baby dance for joy within your womb,

Magnificent, Mary’s Son is sent to overcome the tomb,

But you have lived to see

That joy comes in the morning

Come and lay your head

On His promises

Oh, find your rest, Elizabeth

Woman after woman who will follow

Will carry beauty and a longing of their own

But when I hear the rhythm of your name

Oh, I remember once again

That none of us will ache without a living hope

Elizabeth, Oh, blessed is the one who has believed

In the Rising Son Who will guide our feet into the path of peace

For we will live to see That joy comes in the morning

Come and lay your head

On His promises

Oh, find your rest

Come and lay your head

On His promises

Oh, find your rest

Elizabeth

Elizabeth

 

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Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

The very first churches I knew were Methodist.  Most every Sunday for the first 18 years of my life you could find me somewhere around East Cross United Methodist Church in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.  Of the many blessings I received from that heritage was a knowledge of John and Charles Wesley.  Though the Wesley’s never set out to start “Methodism” God used them to reform the Church of England and call it to both passion and application.  If Luther’s reform in Germany was about orthodoxy, the Wesley’s reform in England 200 years later was about orthopraxy . . . as much about what we do as what we believe.

While John Wesley was the preacher, Charles Wesley is best known for the hymns he wrote.  One of the 18 Christmas carols Wesley wrote was “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus.”  This song not only laid out sound theology and Scriptural references, but called followers of Jesus to act in certain ways.

The first verse points out Jesus has released us from our “fears and sins” (Romans 6:5-11).  This is a theological truth . . . but the application of this truth is that we would find “our rest in Thee.”

In the second verse, Jesus is described as “a child, and yet a King (Isaiah 9:6-7).”  Charles takes the next line, though, and drives it home, saying that Jesus was “Born to reign in us forever . . . Rule in all our hearts alone.”  The application is not just to say that Jesus is the “King of Kings,” but to have Him be our King – the ultimate authority in our lives.  

This Christmas, as you sing Wesley’s song, may you have a reformation of your practice.  May you find your rest in Jesus, the ultimate authority in your life!

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

Come, thou long expected Jesus
born to set thy people free
from our fears and sins release us
let us find our rest in thee
Israel’s strength and consolation
hope of all the earth thou art
dear desire of every nation
joy of every longing heart

Born thy people to deliver
born a child and yet a King
born to reign in us forever
now thy gracious kingdom bring
By thine own eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone
by thine all sufficient merit
raise us to thy glorious throne

You draw the hearts of shepherds
You draw the hearts of kings
Even as a baby
You were changing everything
You called me to Your Kingdom
Before Your lips could speak
And even as a baby
You were reaching out for me

And now we are awaiting
The day of Your return
When every eye will see You
As heaven comes to earth
Until the sky is opened
Until the trumpet sounds
The bride is getting ready
The church is singing out

Come, thou long expected Jesus
born to set thy people free
from our fears and sins release us
let us find our rest in thee
Come Thou long expected King

 

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O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Some songs are old, having been sung for decades.  Then there is “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”  This song has a history that goes all the way back to the eighth century – over 1,300 years ago!  The words were originally written as a poem and not arranged to music as a Christmas carol until the twelfth century.

Have you ever wondered what causes a song to endure for that long?  Why are we still singing it?  Though the music is beautiful, there are many beautiful songs.  I think the enduring nature of this song is found in its message of hope.  

The song is really a beautiful expectation.  In fact, the poem on which it was based is arranged as an acrostic that spelled out the phrase “ero cras” which translates to “I will be with you tomorrow.”  The underlying theme of the song is that the world is not yet what it will be.  Drawing its imagery from the nation of Israel in the Old Testament days waiting for the arrival of the promised Savior, these lyrics talk about how the arrival of God the Son (Jesus — “Emmanuel” means God with us), began to make good on a number of promises God had made to His people.  

Today as we sing this song we still have a sense of expectation.  The world still is not yet what it will be.  We still live in a world of sin, pain, violence, illness, etc.  We long to see this world change . . . to be redeemed and restored.  As Romans 8:19-25 says, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.  For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.  For in this hope we are saved.  Now hope that is seen is not hope.  For who hopes for what he sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” 

So as you sing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” this Christmas, may you remember the first fruits that came from Jesus’ first coming at Bethlehem.  May that give you hope that “He will be with us tomorrow.”  And, when Jesus comes back, our bodies will be redeemed and the world will be restored.  Therefore, we sing (and wait) with a patient hope.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

O come, O come, Emmanuel

And ransom captive Israel

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear

Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel

 

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free

Thine own from Satan’s tyranny

From depths of Hell Thy people save

And give them victory o’er the grave

Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, o Israel

 

O come, Thou Day-Spring

Come and cheer

Our spirits by Thine advent here

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night

And death’s dark shadows put to flight

Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, o Israel

 

O come, Thou Key of David, come

And open wide our heavenly home

Make safe the way that leads on high

And close the path to misery

Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, o Israel

 

O come, O come, Thou Lord of might

Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai’s height

In ancient times did’st give the Law

In cloud, and majesty and awe

Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, o Israel

 

 

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