Hapy Year End! (W.o.W. Rewind)

 The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.

Ecclesiastes 7:8

As we close one year and begin another, we tend to focus more on setting resolutions for the upcoming year than we do considering the year just past. Often these new year's resolutions take the form of pride rather than patience. Pride says "I will accomplish this." Patience says "I have accomplished this." Are you already considering all you will accomplish in 2024? Why not stop and consider 2023 first? 

"The end of a matter is better than its beginning." At the end of a matter, all the striving is done. There is time not only to rest and take joy in one's accomplishments, but also to glean wisdom from the experience. At the beginning of a matter, however, there is often busyness and ceaseless fretting over all one has to do. At the outset of a new undertaking, there is too much to do to stop and enjoy one's work or to gain understanding. When we focus only on what we will run after in the new year we rob ourselves of the pleasure of a good end and the possibility of wisdom gained.

So as you prepare for a new year, hold off making resolutions for 2024 just yet. Don't allow yourself to become engulfed in new undertakings until you have properly enjoyed and considered those just finished. Stop. Pause a moment and enjoy what was accomplished this year. What accomplishments do you need to praise God for from 2023 before you move on and forget them? Consider what wisdom can be gleaned from your experiences this past year. What have you learned from 2023? What or who do you need to close the book on in your life as you move into 2024? What mistakes do you need to learn from? How were you deceived and led into sin? If you can pinpoint it, then you can avoid making the same mistakes and falling for the same temptations again. 

For further reading...

• Ecclesiastes 7- Read the whole chapter.
• Psalm 119:71-72, Proverbs 19:25, & 24:30-34- Wise persons learn from what they see and experience.

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

A person’s name can tell you a lot about them, but their nicknames can tell you even more. Cause with nicknames there’s often a story, some reason why they received that nickname. Let's look at two of the nicknames Isaiah 9:6 gives to Jesus, and let's see what they reveal to us about the baby in the manger.

‌The first title Isaiah gives this baby is “Wonderful Counselor.” Most kings had counselors or wise men whose job it was to give the king sound advice. But Isaiah tells us that the Messiah will be a king who won’t need any counselors because He will be the wisest counselor of all. Isaiah says that the people will call Him “Wonderful Counselor” because they will gladly listen to and heed His counsel. [John A. Martin, “Isaiah,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 1053.]

I can’t help but wonder though, how true is that in your life? Colossians 2:3 says that “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ.” No one teaches or gives wise counsel like Jesus! But do you receive His counsel? Do you listen to His advice? Or have you gone your own way? Live your life according to Jesus' wise counsel and you will not regret it. 

The next title the people will give to the Messiah is “Mighty God.” Shockingly, Isaiah reveals way back in the Old Testament that this Messiah, this child in the manger, is the one and only Mighty God in the flesh ruling over His people. Jesus is our Mighty God!

‌But so many believers think of Jesus only as their friend and Savior. Jesus is both our friend and our Savior, but He is more. He is the Mighty God and we must receive Him and respond to Him as such. Jesus came not only to save you but also to be your God. Do you remember what the wise men did when they found baby Jesus? "They bowed down and worshipped Him" (Matthew 2:11). Jesus is our mighty God. As you celebrate Christmas this year, treat Him like it.

The Light Dawns

And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;

for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,

to give his people the knowledge of salvation

through the forgiveness of their sins,

because of the tender mercy of our God,

by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven

to shine on those living in darkness

and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

Luke 1:76–79

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These verse give us a beautiful metaphor for thinking about Jesus. They present Him as the Sun dawning on those who live in darkness. The idea here is that apart from Jesus, all people live in darkness. 

Apart from Jesus, we are all enslaved, chained by sin. All of us can relate to Paul’s words in Romans 7. “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do...For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing...What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?”(Romans 7:15, 19, 24)

‌That is the experience of every person apart from Christ. We are locked in dungeons of our own making… chained to sins we have chosen. And the sentence against us is death. We are condemned to not only die but to face His wrath for all eternity.

But into this dark condition shines the light and hope of Christmas. Jesus’ birth is like the dawn shining its light through the bars of our cell. More than that, because of Jesus we don’t have to be chained to sin anymore. We don’t have to be condemned to death or God’s wrath. We can be set free! 

Jesus came to save us from our sins and to offer pardon and forgiveness. In other words, the light of Jesus doesn’t just shine into our cells and give us hope, it becomes a beacon that lights the way out of our prison and guides us in the paths of peace. 

‌The question before you this Christmas is the same question that Zechariah implicitly put to his hearers in the first century. Will you receive this salvation? Will place your faith in God’s Messiah, in Jesus? Will you accept the tender mercy of God shown in the Christmas story? Or will you continue to rebel and go your own way.

Some of you know what it means to be chained to sin. You know what it means to feel trapped in a dungeon of your own making, and God is offering you a way out right now. He is offering you salvation. But you have to accept it. You have to confess of your sins. You have to place your faith in Jesus, and ask Him to forgive you. And you have to surrender yourself to Him to serve Him all the days of your life. Are you willing to do that right now?

Some of you have already done that, but you have left the paths of peace. You have wandered into the highways and byways of this world, and this Christmas Jesus is once again shining His light into your life and showing you the way you should go. Will you repent and return to the path of peace this morning?

Revolutionary Christmas

He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;

he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

He has brought down rulers from their thrones

but has lifted up the humble.

He has filled the hungry with good things

but has sent the rich away empty.

Luke 1:51–53

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Theses verses from Mary's Song in Luke 1 highlight the great reversal of fortunes that is inherent in the Christmas story. I don’t know if you've ever thought about it before but the Christmas story is inherently revolutionary. For a baby to be born who will become king, necessarily implies that God is taking someone’s throne away.

‌‌Add to that the fact that this baby wasn’t born to a member of high society but to a low-born girl, a social outcast, and the revolutionary theme gets even stronger. Mary was almost certainly a plain-looking 12-15 year old girl from a poor family in Nazareth. But God chose her, a nobody from nowhere town, to be the mother of His Son!

‌‌Christmas and the Christmas story is about a great reversal of fortunes. It’s about God’s desire to exalt the humble, and cast down the proud. James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Mary’s song reminds us of this truth that God shows mercy (kindness and gentle goodness) to those who fear Him, to those who are humble and hungry. But not so with the proud. God performs mighty deeds against those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He scatters them with the strength of His arm. He brings them down from their thrones and He sends them away empty handed.

‌‌This means that Christmas is a time for humbling ourselves… for rooting pride out of our hearts. It’s a time for making sure we are on the right side of this great reversal that is still going on. ‌‌Humble yourself and live in the fear of the Lord this Christmas. Don’t exalt yourself. Don’t make it all about you and what you want.

‌‌Think about what we find God the Father doing in the Christmas story. He is remembering those in humble circumstances and lifting up the poor. You should do the same.‌‌ Who’s hungry that you can feed? Who’s lonely that you can visit? Who’s discouraged that you can encourage? Who’s cold or doing without that you can help keep warm and well-fed? Think about them. Do for them.