Making Much of This Christmas

It’s Christmas time.  Is anyone else excited about this?  
Here are a few things I love about Christmas:

•  It’s an excuse to drink coffee and tea ALLLLL the time! (because it’s socially acceptable when the weather’s actually cold)

• Christmas lights make me really happy.  Inside. Outside. On trees. Everywhere.
• Christmas music speaks to my heart.
• Merry Main Street. A classic Frisco Tradition.
• Christmas Eve candlelight service
• Movies such as: Holiday Inn, Christmas Carol (especially the Muppet’s version), A Christmas Story, and The Year Without A Santa Clause
• Christmas cookies and Gingerbread houses
• Christmas Parties.
• Tacky Christmas sweaters

But the thing I love most about Christmas is the excitement that comes with knowing that we’re celebrating the coming of Christ.  I mean, let’s be real, everyone loves the gifts and Christmastime does makes people a lot nicer.  But to me, I get excited about the Christmas story but not just because a baby was born in a manger.  Because we’re anticipating an event that happened 2,000 years ago, as a precursor to the event that we’re still anticipating.  Christ came on a quiet night in a backwoods town to a couple who were nobody.  They had wed and were turned out of the “inn,” or better known as their families’ homes, because the coming of the Messiah was uncomfortable and unconventional to normal society.  But God gave up His heavens – which cannot contain Him – to be held in a tiny hand.  The infinite God becomes infant.  

And I love this story.  That Christ was born to a mother and carpenter.  That Shepherds were the first to know.  And then foreign kings came to worship.  But that’s not what gets me giddy at Christmas.  It’s that He came, and He saves!  That Jesus was born so that this aching world might have hope.  And as we look at the Christmas tree, we can be reminded of another tree 2,000 years ago that was hung upon, just as we hang lights upon ours, so that we might be able to celebrate today.  Jesus came and lived a perfect life, a life that was coming to a completion on the cross.  So that we can have life and freedom to celebrate Christmas this season.

One Christmas when I was in elementary school, we had a little store at the school.  You know the school store, right? All the leftover prizes or bad toys that teachers didn’t want were dumped on a table in the hall.  So it was pretty much a junk-sale.  We could bring money and get gifts for people.  So I was so excited to pick something out all by myself.  So I bought Brandon this hot pink monster truck Hotwheels car.  And I brought it home, wrapped it, and knew he would love it!  (We used to play Hotwheels all the time.)  Well, in between the school store and Christmas was at least a week. And when you’re in 3^rd grade, that’s the longest time ever to keep a secret.  So because of my excitement, I showed Brandon what I got him but told him not to let mom or dad know I had showed him.  Well the stinker, on Christmas day, did a horrible job of masking his lack of surprise.  He loved it, and my parents found out that I had shown them.  But I was just too excited to give him a gift to keep it to myself for any amount of time.

Sometimes I think that’s how it ought to be with Christ.  You know?  God was so willing to send Himself for us.  He couldn’t just leave us where we are.  There’s excitement there in saving His people.  And in that, he invites us to meet Him.  He’s reaching for you to have a relationship with him.  We find full satisfaction when this relationship is right.  

So where are you?  Some of you, of us, are reaching back for that relationship, striving to walk with Him daily.  Some of you, of us, might not fully grasp what that means, what Christmas means.  God is inviting you to Him today.  And then some still are wanting to be used, to be called even deeper than we are, to make the most of this Christmas season. 

In Philippians 3, Paul talks about a race.  Like an Olympic footrace.  He’s talking about how he’s grasped salvation, as many of us have, but he says he hasn’t yet grasped perfection.  Paul, who wrote so much of the NT.  Who healed people, planted churches, who I consider such a spiritual giant.  He says he still hasn’t got it yet.  Woah.  So in those times that I think I’ve “arrived” I am reminded that even Paul, in all his knowledge and faith, has not yet arrived.  He says that only Christ can make him perfect.  He is covered in Grace, but then this is what he says: “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”  So think of a track star: they strive for that finish line, right?  The Sprinter sees that 100 meter finish line and pushes with all their might towards that line.  They forget everything around them and look toward that goal.  He also says that his prize is the “upward call of God.”  I’ve always viewed this word as God picking you.  Like “you’re called so you better do it,” type of thing.  But here, Paul’s talking about salvation, and the call is more of an invitation to a banquet feast.  Like a giant royal banquet feast with the best guests, the best food, the best entertainment. This is what God’s calling you to.  And just like a wedding invitation, you can choose to accept or to not.  But wouldn’t it be a shame to miss it? 

So I challenge you not to miss it this Christmas season.  To make much of this time.  And I think I’m challenging myself too.  Because I get so caught up in the busyness of life that I forget to slow down and remember the excitement of life and of the Gift that God’s given.  And then God reminds me in the red of the changing tree or through His Word.  So let’s celebrate the season with gifts and silly movies and great traditions, but let’s also be excited that Christmas marks the coming of Christ and that He is returning to make all things new, that he gives hope and he has defeated death & sadness & pain.  He has come this Christmas, and He is coming soon! Come, Lord Jesus, Come!

What do you do to make the most of this season?

Fighting Culture

Dear Christian,

My heart hurts for you tonight.  And not in the way you probably want it to.  But my heart hurts at the way you’ve been responding to culture, to the world.  I’m not writing this to you for a guilt trip or to be another voice among the many calling for a response to our world lately.  But I needed an outlet and wanted to shed what I hope and pray is truth.

Because you see I’m fed up.  It’s been one of those days and I’m sick of it.  I’m ready to go to the mats.  Others (or Office Space) may see it as a bad case of the Mondays, but I think it’s been coming long before Monday hit.

I’ve been watching Christians and non-Christians, alike, for a while now and have the strongest desire to fight both cultures.  And I strongly feel that Jesus wants to fight both as well.  And I want what Jesus wants; I want to do what Jesus did.  If we look at His life, really look at it, we’ll see that He came into conflict with both worlds – the Jew and the sinner.  For the non-Christian the problem is simple: the need Jesus.  They don’t know that they don’t know; they aren’t alive in Christ. Tonight it’s the Christian trends that are keeping my mind reeling.

The trends I see are two-fold.  First, I see Christians becoming more and more closed-minded and ignorant of the world around them.  And then to combat that, if Christians aren’t trying to stay as clean as possible and removed from the culture and world around them, they are in it so deep that one may not even be able to see Jesus in them.  I want to fight for a happy medium.  I want us to be followers of Jesus who can have a conversation with a non-Christian, while upholding a holy life.  I want to live as Jesus lived, and if you look at His life you’ll see that He was perfect yet still shared meals with the worst of the worst; He touched the sickest of the sick, called out the self-righteousness of those deemed most righteous, and set the example of a life lived inside of God’s statutes.  If He did that, and still died for our sins, how can we be so self-righteous that we see ourselves as too mighty to get messy.  Life is messy.  And the more we separate ourselves from the call God has for us, the messier it will get.  

I wish it wasn’t that I had to fight the mess Christians have found themselves in, and that I could just fight for those who don’t know Christ to come to know Him.  However, we’ve messed ourselves as Christians up so much that it’s hard to tell what we’re living for anymore.

I ask, dear Christian, that you step out of the close-minded, ignorant, self-righteous mindset and culture that you’ve set up around yourself.  I ask that you become open to the opinion of other’s, that you are aware of what is going on around you, and that you step off the pedestal that you’ve placed yourself on and see that it is only because of God’s grace that you are anything.  You’re no better than anyone else; you’re just saved by Grace.  

In saying that, however, I also ask that you live holy lives. That you live “in the world, but not of it.”  Which means abstaining from sex before marriage, not smoking pot with the kids next door, watching language, or speaking truth instead of lies.  However, it means that you are connected to those around you so that you may relate to them, show them how you live, and share Jesus with them.  But if we’re separating ourselves so much from the world, we risk never encountering anything.  We risk being able to connect or have a normal social conversation, which in turn is a lost opportunity to have a conversation about knowing God.

This culture we’ve set up for ourselves as Christians is toxic.  Reactions to movies such as Noah don’t help our cause. (See my thoughts here).  Don’t you see, dear Christian?  These reactions are the very reason the unchurched won’t dare to step inside of a church.  We are portrayed as uneducated, close-minded, and not open to any opinion or view other than our own.  Have you ever stopped to think that maybe our perceptions at times might be off? That Noah really was a dark man or that a Christian organization should allow people of all kinds – saved or unsaved, gay or straight – to work for them in hopes of being light to them?

Reactions such as these make me cringe.  And maybe I’m writing to myself tonight more than anyone else.  Or maybe it’s that I don’t want to conform too much to one way and I’m in the wrong.  But I truly believe that if we are to reach a lost world for Christ we need to be quick to listen and slow to speak.  We need to have an educated basis for which our opinions are based.  If not the world will eat us up!  

So here’s what I ask, and maybe my heart will stop hurting for you: I ask that you stand for what Scripture calls us to stand for.  I ask that you open your minds to new ideas.  You don’t have to agree with every one of them, but at least be open.  I ask that you allow other people to make up their own minds.  Stop throwing your opinion around so that it prevents others from finding out and learning for themselves.  Just because you hated Noah doesn’t mean that you should tell others not to see it.  I ask that you change your culture, Christian.  Change your culture to fight self-righteousness, to get in the world, and to live as Christ lived – how He really lived.

I ask that you fight the culture that we’ve created over centuries of “church” so that we may focus instead on fighting the culture of the lost world.

Sincerely, a concerned fellow Christian.

Thoughts On Noah

Today I talked and listened about Noah. All day.  Seriously, all day long.  Sure I had a million other things to do, but Noah was the discussion of the day.  And if I’m not mistaken, I think it’s been the discussion for a few weeks in my world. Let me back up and get some perspective and then maybe you’ll understand why we should fight…or at least feel like fighting. Or you'll understand why I'm tired of talking about Noah. So let me get it out there then I'll shut up.

A week ago this little movie called “Noah” made its way to the screen.  Critics and Hollywood probably saw it a few weeks before last Thursday.  So naturally the buzz began.  People were writing and posting and talking about this movie.  Many had yet to see it, many had already seen it.  Mixed reviews were had by all: some love it, some hate it.  But there was talk!  There are some pretty good reads out there, and if you want to spend some time thinking and listening, I would encourage you to read reviews of both sides about Noah.  

 

When I saw the preview about a year ago, I began to get excited.  I have thought for some time that the story of Noah in Scripture is over-glamorized.  We take the awesome story of God bringing justice and mercy to the earth through destruction of all but one family and reduce it to a happy, little children’s song.  “God told Noah to build him an arkey arkey…the animals came in the arkey by twoseys twoseys…” But we forget that GOD DESTROYED THE EARTH.  Death and destruction are the pivotal point of the story.   It’s a beautiful story of hope and mercy because the world was corrupt and evil, yet God choose to begin anew with Noah, a righteous man, bringing about the salvation of mankind through Noah and then eventually through Christ.  So when I saw the previews for this movie I got excited that a realistic view was going to be shown.  Besides, a live-action film on the story of Noah has not been on the big screen since the 1920s (Wikipedia.com).  

Well, apparently the Christian community began to get excited as well.  For the past month, people have been posting their opinions about the film.  Great, share your opinions.  However, please have a basis for which those opinions lie.  Dear Christian, it hurts to see ignorant opinions thrown about.  At least wait until the film has been released to say why it is unbiblical or not.  And can I just point out that Hollywood is making a Biblical film!  If anything, be excited that the story of Scripture is becoming a source for movies, as it should be for it is the greatest story of all and the format for how storytelling begins.

Anyway, Thursday I went to see the film with some friends.  I had mixed expectations because we had been reading the buzz.  I knew a few things though:

1. The makers are not believers.
2. The story of Noah in the Bible is short. There isn’t much to it, so we knew that the writers of the film had to take some liberties. It takes about fifteen minutes to read, so naturally it would be a bit more elaborate to expand a two hour movie.
3. It was said to be dark, but we weren’t sure how dark.

Well, I think the film was great.  A bit too “Lord of the Rings-like” for me, but I enjoyed it.  (Plus I really like Russell Crowe…)  Is it my favorite movie of all time? Probably not; there are better produced movies out there.  But I still enjoyed it a great deal.

Here’s why:

1. For the most part, the liberties taken were not blasphemous, anti-God, or blatantly unscriptural.  They all pertained to inter-character relationships, which are not mentioned in the Bible.
2. I think that non-Christians are very likely to see it and start asking questions.  What’s it mean that God destroyed the earth?  Who is this Creator?  Why Noah? Etc.  Whereas a movie like God’s Not Dead or Facing the Giants appeal primarily to the Christian crowd, being a bit “too-in-your-face” for non-believers.
3. It raised good topics: In the telling of Creation, evolution is hinted at or not hinted at – it’s pretty vague, and I think that opens questions and conversation; there are many mentions to free will, which leads people to the predestination/free will debate; Noah questions why God choose him, and what to do with that responsibility, and I feel that that leads people to ask what task they are given in life and can lead to the understanding that we must do the task God calls us to.
4. It is an awesome conversation starter.  I had to re-read Genesis once I saw it to fully grasp the whole biblical truth and purpose of the Flood.  It raises lots of questions and I think people will seek truth because of the visual representation of the Flood.
5. It gives a real look at Noah as a person and what it means for God to destroy the earth.  He was dark.  And while the Bible doesn’t explicitly say that Noah was a dark person, if we think about his life, it makes sense.  He was selected to build an ark that took 120 years, watch all of humanity except his family die, and then to start over.  To spend 120 years building an ark is neurotic enough, but to add on watching destruction makes it pretty believable that he was messed up.  Which Scripture says, right?  Noah then grew a vineyard and got drunk.  If he has a drinking problem, he is probably in a dark place.

I didn’t super like:

1. The Nephilim are portrayed as “Watchers” and are weird.  The Nephilim are the “fallen angels, the warriors of old” who begin to have relations with humans and creates more wickedness among humans, one of the main reasons God sends the Flood. These are shown as rock-creatures – weird – and are given grace to help Noah and it is implied that the Creator forgives them.  The only part of it that is in Scripture is that the Nephilim were real fallen angels.  But maybe my interpretation is off, it’s a weird and confusing thing in the Bible.  One of my Old Testament Profs said that the verse about the Nephilim is the “most confusing verse in Scripture.”
2. There is a man who slips onto the ark, which is not biblical.  Only Noah’s family were saved from the Flood.
3. The story between the family is dark.  Noah threatens to kill his granddaughters because he feels that humanity should not continue.  It’s a drastic twist to show almost killing little babies, but gives a good foreshadowing-type feel to Abraham and Isaac and good insight into the questions plaguing Noah.

So what do we do with Noah?  Well, we take it as a movie. A movie.  It’s not a documentary, it’s not the Bible.  It’s one man’s interpretation of Noah.  And the man did his homework.  The ark was constructed exactly to Scripture’s specifications.  There were theologians on set helping with interpretation.

We take the movie, the questions raised and compare them to the truth.  We seek God’s Word for answers.  And then we have conversations.  I think that this tool is an awesome conversation starter.  I think that it is a great opportunity to take a friend who does not know God and have a conversation afterwards about what it means that God would destroy the entire world. 

Because in the end, the story of Noah is awesome in that it ends in hope.  God is still merciful and is creating a people for Himself.  Through Noah salvation comes, for Christ comes from the line of Noah.  Grace is shown to one family so that life may happen again and we might know the character of God and be saved.