Romans 1:24-25 The Message
24-25 So God said, in effect, “If that’s what you want, that’s what you get.” It wasn’t long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them—the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!
Word of God for the Children of God
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
In the 18th century, Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon called “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”
This sermon included vivid illustrations of hell and declared only the mercy of God—a God furious about our sin—keeps any of us sinners out of hell.
People who heard that message were so gripped by it that they sat on the edge of their seat; they held the bench in front of them so tightly that their knuckles turned white.
Even before the sermon was finished, people were hanging heads, moaning and crying out, “What shall I do to be saved?”
How to celebrate holidays is always a difficult decision in our household.
To various degrees my wife and I both grew up in a home where God was at the center. In general, both our families, at their core, shared the same values, but their ideological approach to life, and specifically holidays, was quite different.
One of the most significant discrepancies is I was raised in a Jewish home from about the age of 7 with a half hearted belief in Santa Claus – not God nor Jesus. From the of 14, I angrily walked away from anything that hinted at religious. If anyone either floated or preached the notion of God, church, I’d instantly rebel.
In an attempt to keep the holiday focused on the birth of Jesus, my wife’s own parents made it clear there was a big jolly man in a red suit bringing gifts but only in department stores or riding on top of fire trucks looking like her father.
Truth is God gave us centuries ago the only gift we need, in the form of a baby conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin in a manger in Bethlehem of Judea.
And, any other material presents we received are as a result of God’s providence (as stewarded by parents). Conversely, my wife’s family celebrated Santa Claus, the “musical magic of Christmas,” and played St. Nick on Christmas morning.
Neither way to celebrate Christmas is wrong; both can promote the message of the gospel and provide a fun seasonal experience. However, it created a bit of a dilemma when we had reconcile, when deciding how to approach the holiday.
Through much deliberation, we reached a compromise that worked well for our family, allowing children to believe in Santa while also engaging in Scripture daily that focused the prophetic readings pointing toward the birth of Christ.
And, just when we thought we had it down, God blessed us with our grandchild. I share this detail because, while we tried to mitigate the focus of Christmas being on presents, it became increasingly complex when we had a child who cherished gifts by the bushels with a bright culturally commercial holiday tree.
And so, if your family, if like mine, is trying to keep the Christ in Christmas, as well as engage in celebrations with family, church members that involve gifts, let me offer the “solution” that the Lord had laid on my heart a few years ago.
Romans is a book filled with profound theology and an abundance of practical wisdom for living a godly life.
Paul begins his letter to the Christians in the Roman church by calling out the ways that they have allowed the culture to distract them from worshiping God.
Specifically, they were worshiping the created over the Creator.
God hates idolatry to the extent that the first and second commandments focus on the concept that God is the only one deserving of our worship.
He tells us we should have no other God before Him, and we shouldn’t make idols.
What’s an idol?
Tim Keller explains it well in his book Counterfeit Gods,
“An idol is anything more important to you than God. Anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God. Anything you seek to give you what only God can give. Anything so central and essential to your life that you should lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living.”
Paul tells us the early church “exchanged the truth of God for a lie.”
We do the same thing today; the culture tells us that the answer to our problems is one click away. Yet, when once we get that shiny new toy, it’s not long before that emptiness is felt again. The creation can’t give what only the Creator can.
This holiday season, think less about how you celebrate, more about the why.
What is your heart’s posture?
Are you using stuff to fill a void, to mask your emptiness?
Or, are you stewarding God’s blessings over your life well?
As we approach this season, may we be mindful, no matter how we choose to celebrate, we must always place God first.
Intersecting Faith & Life:
Psalm 139:23-24 Amplified Bible
23
Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart;
Test me and know my anxious thoughts;
24
And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.
Take a moment today to pray the Lord to search your heart and give you clarity and guidance on how your family should celebrate the holidays, so that you and the Body of Christ may avoid a trap: worshiping the creation over the Creator.
Many churches today will purposely avoid teaching about the wrath of God and his judgment and punishment for sin. God is too often portrayed as easygoing and excessively tolerant of our offenses. But that is not the God of the Bible.
As in Jonathan Edwards’ day, we too need a reawakening to recover a right understanding of the wrath of God.
Edwards stated that if we are outside of the new life in Christ, a dreadful storm with the soul quaking shaking thunder of God’s wrath hangs over our heads.
Unsaved sinners are holding on by just a thread over the great furnace of hell’s punishment. If we have no interest in praying for a Mediator, we can do nothing to save ourselves. Our only true hope is to believe in the Lord Jesus for salvation.
Romans 10:9-13 Amplified Bible
9 because if you acknowledge and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord [recognizing His power, authority, and majesty as God], and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart a person believes [in Christ as Savior] resulting in his justification [that is, being made righteous—being freed of the guilt of sin and made acceptable to God]; and with the mouth he acknowledges and confesses [his faith openly], resulting in and confirming [his] salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him [whoever adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Him] will not be disappointed [in his expectations].” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile; for the same Lord is Lord over all [of us], and [He is] abounding in riches (blessings) for all who call on Him [in faith and prayer]. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord [in prayer] will be saved.”
God can rescue us and can turn away evil.
God can spread a lavish banquet even in the presence of our enemies.
God can bring salvation—shadow of light in darkness, comfort in grief, peace in bitterness, healing in brokenness, and strength in weakness, authentic wisdom.
Why should we hope?
Because we have a shepherd who will lay down his life for his sheep in order to protect us.
Because we have a Savior who can travel down into the deepest, darkest hell any of us can imagine and come out alive.
Because there isn’t a single valley in the shadow of death that our shepherd cannot walk us through.
Because he claims us as his own and will never let us go.
That is why we can hope.
That is why we are prophets.
We have been given the message of hope and are told to share it.
How will others believe the good news unless they hear it, and how will they hear it unless they are told?
We have our assignment—go and bring the good news of Jesus Christ so that others too can have this hope.
Do you have that hope of Salvation?
Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ as your only Lord and Savior?
In the name of God, the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Praying …..
Psalm 15
A Description of the Godly
A psalm of David.
1 Lord, who can dwell in your tent?
Who can live on your holy mountain?
2 The one who lives blamelessly, practices righteousness,
and acknowledges the truth in his heart—
3 who does not slander with his tongue,
who does not harm his friend
or discredit his neighbor,
4 who despises the one rejected by the Lord[a]
but honors those who fear the Lord,
who keeps his word whatever the cost,
5 who does not lend his silver at interest
or take a bribe against the innocent—
the one who does these things will never be shaken.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 