The Christmas extravaganzas are in full bloom.
I can understand commercial hoopla to allure shoppers into stores.
But what makes me cringe is when churches produce musicals that rival something you’d see in Vegas.
Contrast it with what most people in the world have to celebrate the holiday with:
And now consider the lowly birth of Christ – the real historical narrative in all four gospels.
Where would you rather be?
The day after Christmas.
That’s when Letdown slips in.
Usually around 7 a.m.
It slithers under the door wearing grey.
“You dashed expectations for another year,” Letdown whispers in my ear.
I slice through the wrapping paper, limp bows, and empty boxes on the living room floor on my way to the kitchen for coffee.
Come to think of it, gifts and food and twinkling Christmas lights are appealing but there’s no magic in them. 
The magic comes in the shape of people, with one person in particular, and he was poor and marginalized from birth.
“I’m in good company. Jesus dashed all expectations, too,” I tell Letdown.
He has no response and slinks away.
Are you someone who has grown up in church where performance defined who you were?
Where most days you were a miserable failure?
And love and acceptance were foreign concepts?
I have good news for you.
You didn’t grow up with the gospel.
You grew up with moralism (law).
The law is harsh. It beats you up. It tells you what you must do in order to please God (and others), but has no power to help you get there.
So you looked at your life and said, “I can’t do this,” and got depressed.
Or you admitted your failure, got furious, and walked away.
Here’s what happened to you.
You came into the church by faith in Jesus. He loved you so much he died for you. And you accepted his gift of salvation with gladness.
Then week after week you listened to preaching about moral behavior and living, and in a flash you plunged into despair because you didn’t measure up.
Your joy in Jesus went up in a puff of smoke. You even went so far to say that this Christian thing doesn’t work.
If you can relate to this, then here’s a question to ask yourself:
Is the cross and blood of Jesus sufficient to save you even while you are still sinful? Even while you continue to fail at living the Christian life?
You know what?
Heaven is filled with Christian failures! There aren’t any other kind of people there!
Jesus’ death on the cross and his shed blood for you is all you need.
Jesus himself will welcome and embrace you!
How’s that possible? It’s because God has given you the gift of the righteousness of Jesus. You had it the moment you came to faith.
It’s the only performance that counts!
Grab a hold of it and never let it go!
All world religions, no matter which one, have three words in common:
Get to work.
That is very bad news.
It means the responsibility is entirely on you to appease the god, to win his approval, to satisfy his demands.
And the worst news of all is:
You never know if you’re doing enough.
You have no confidence, no peace, no rest in your own work because you know it’s not perfect.
And the deity doesn’t help you either.
In fact, he’s silent.
In contrast, the gospel is utterly unique.
Christ’s three words are:
It is finished.
What is finished?
Everything you need in order to be reconciled to God the Father.
That is Good News!
1) Christ paid for all your sins so you could be forgiven. All your sins – the ones yesterday, the ones today, and the ones you’ll do tomorrow.
2) Christ appeased God’s wrath by becoming the sacrifice to atone for your sins.
3) Christ closed the enormous gap between you and God so now you have a Heavenly Father.
4) Christ, with his own life, paid for all your disobedience, transgressions, deliberate and unintentional sins, unbelief, and willful denial of God.
5) Christ satisfied God’s law by dying a death you should have died.
6) Christ paid the debt you owed God. You are now free from it.
Christ is the only true solution for your sin problem.
He did it all.
The job is done.
Why would you ever want to settle for anything else?
In the last post, Part 1, one of the things we covered was what not to do when you’re suffering. If you’re suffering through no fault of your own, then don’t waste your time trying to ask why. It will make you turn inward and brood. That’s heaping misery upon misery, which is exactly what the devil wants because then you will be paralyzed and ineffective.
So send the devil packing.
Both Jesus and Peter explicitly stated that tribulation is part of the journey of living in this world until we get to heaven.
Nobody escapes it.
So don’t be shocked by it.
Paul, who never did anything half-way, took it a step further. He said he wanted to share in the sufferings of Christ.
There is a deep fellowship to be had with Jesus when we suffer.
Paul mentions three advantages:
1) Paul said he suffered the loss of all things in order to gain Christ. He gave up his Jewish lineage and education and status for the richness of knowing his Savior.
2) Paul no longer counted on his law-keeping to gain God’s approval. Instead, he threw that away for a life of faith in Christ because he wanted the Lord’s righteousness as his garment, and not anything he conjured up.
3) Paul’s life of faith depended on the power of Jesus’ resurrection and with that came suffering. Suffering the death of all things that the world esteems dear. Suffering persecution, rejection and humiliation for the sake of Christ. And finally, suffering in death itself.
There is a deep mystery in all of this and few enter into this circle.
If God calls you to this, you are indeed on sacred ground.
Suffering is a fact of life.
Some people suffer more than others, but nobody is exempt from suffering. The bible says so, and universal experience confirms it:
“Man that is born of woman is few of days and full of trouble.” – Job 14:1
Suffering in a world made by a loving God is not easy to explain or understand.
Some have tried, however. The Stoics grit their teeth. The Optimists whistle in the dark. The Mind-Over-Matter types dismiss it. Until they break a leg.
None of these positions really help. But before we look at how the gospel changes suffering, let’s be clear about 3 things the gospel does NOT do:
1. It does not prevent suffering – Christians suffer like non-Christians do
2. It does not minimize suffering – the gospel is not an anesthetic – it does not numb your heart, your body, or your mind
3. It does not remove all pain – the gospel does not promise relief in this life
Then how does the gospel change suffering?
1. By taking it seriously – by pointing you to Christ on the cross who felt intense agony in his body (physical pain), who reeled from the abandonment of his Father while he was left dying (emotional pain), who writhed in fear and shed drops of blood in the garden (spiritual pain), who lived his life in sorrow and grief and rejection from the very people who were his kin (social pain).
2. By not telling you lies that your suffering will soon be over, that it’s just for a little while – how do you know?
3 questions to avoid that add to your suffering:
1.”Why me?”
2. “What did I do wrong?”
3. “What am I supposed to learn from this?”
All three add to your misery. They make you turn inward instead of trusting God.
Instead, this is the question to ask when you’re suffering:
Q: “Where is God in my suffering?”
A: Right there with you.
How do you know God is there when you are in so much pain?
Because of the cross. It was there that Christ suffered all your pain.
Keep the big picture focus:
One day there will be an end to all your suffering. It’s the day of Christ’s return when he ushers in the new heavens and the new earth. And you’ll be there in a resurrected body that will never feel any pain ever again.
And that’s a promise.
You’ve heard stories about the underground church in China. You’ve also read stories about Christians who have risked their lives for the gospel in foreign countries.
This is a true story that is a little closer to home. It’s from a man who teaches a bible study in a federal prison in Northern California.
“We had six baptisms today. We have a tank outside the church and they fill it up when we do baptisms. One white man and two black men and three Latino men were baptized. One of the inmates told me that these men’s faith was genuine. I asked him, ‘How do you know?’ He said, ‘Because they were all baptized in the same tank.’
“You see, in this prison, everything is segregated by race. Each race has its own shower and toilet, sink and place to eat. You never eat or shower at the other race’s area. It can get you stabbed or killed. These men, of different races, were being baptized in the same tank. That can get them in trouble with their own race group. All they really have now is the church body.
“In our day, and in our country, I never thought that a baptism could get you killed.”
Here is risk for the sake of the gospel.
Here is also a beautiful picture of how Christ tears down the separation of the races and creates one new race in himself.
Those who belong to Jesus Christ are now brothers with the same Father, who share in the same inheritance, and look forward to the same eternal destiny.
Do you know that Christ is happy in his exalted state in heaven?
Every day, if that is how time is measured in heaven, he looks around and sees the results of his death on the cross for his people.
First, he sees the conversion and the salvation of sinners.
Second, he looks over the amazing expanse of heaven and sees it populated with the people he died and shed his blood for.
Third, he looks down on our world and sees so many coming into faith, taking baby steps in grace, others advancing in their faith, and still others strong as warriors in their faith, and this brings pleasure to his soul.
Fourth, he sees those arriving in heaven, having finished the race, and he rejoices!
Jesus is fully satisfied with his own sacrifice!
And if he’s satisfied, so is God the Father, and the Holy Spirit.
They rejoice together!
There is joy in heaven over you!
Are you fussy, small-thinking, so engrossed in following the rules that your heart is brittle?
Of course not! Nobody wants to admit to that.
The truth is you and I are like that. It’s called Pharisaism and it’s a real problem. In some people it’s obvious, in others not so much, but all of us are affected by it.
6 Symptoms Of A Pharisee
1. Pharisaism is subtle. You don’t notice it so you don’t do anything to kill it.
2. It’s self-righteousness. Thinking better than other people.
3. It’s contempt for others who don’t live up to your standards. Looking down on others who aren’t as good as you.
4. It’s wrong priorities. Majoring on the minor details while missing the big picture of God’s grace and love in the gospel.
5. It’s not having a tender conscience. Being religious is more important than loving God.
6. It’s loving to tell others how to live. Then jumping all over them when they fail.
If you see yourself in these descriptions, you’re not alone! And you’ll want to know what to do about it.
3 Things That Won’t Help A Bit
1. You can’t learn your way out of it.
2. A good scolding won’t do it.
3. Being threatened until you quake won’t help either.
These three are aspects of the law and the law does not change the heart.
The solution lies elsewhere – in the gospel.
4 Ways To Fight Pharisaism With The Gospel
1. The Gospel tells us how bad we were. How much did Jesus suffer on the cross? His sufferings were infinite. Why did He suffer so much? Because He died in our place. What does this mean? It means our sin is infinite. ‘Sins’ can be counted—I lied once, stole twice, committed adultery three times. But ‘sin’, that native rejection of God, defies all calculation. The Gospel means we are thoroughly bad—not decent people in need of a hand, but sinners in need of a Savior!
2. The gospel tells us how needy we are still are. Where did Jesus go after dying on the cross and rising from the dead? He went to heaven. What’s he doing there? Hebrews 7:25 says he’s gone there to—
Make intercession for us.
He’s there praying for us. Why do you pray for someone? You pray for him because he needs something. This is why Jesus never stops praying for us, because we’re always in need. Now, it’s hard to square being in constant need with being proud of yourself or looking down on others, whose needs are no more than your own. The gospel means we are deeply and always dependent on God’s grace, and believing that will keep you from being a Pharisee.
3. The gospel reminds you that Jesus laid down His life as a ransom for many. That means you’ve got to love and respect your brothers and sisters in Christ, and let Jesus be the Lord of their consciences! Counsel them? Of course, but nitpick and micromanage them? No, not if the gospel has gotten into your heart.
4. The gospel saves you from being a Pharisee by telling you:
God loves you as you are, and thus you don’t have to pretend to be better than you are, and you don’t have to hunger for the praise of men.
That’s freedom!
If it’s been a while since you’ve read the book of Romans, I recommend a re-read. Especially chapter 1, although the entire book will change your life.
Verses 1 through 7 is one large, explosive sentence that will rock your world.
Paul, who wrote the book, calls himself a slave of Jesus Christ. Where was his self-esteem?
He was called to be an apostle (a sent-one). Who called him? God did. Paul didn’t appoint himself like so many do today.
Paul was set apart for the gospel of God. That was his job description. He didn’t have to forge a career path, or construct a vision for his ministry.
And what gospel was this that Paul was set apart for?
The same gospel that the prophets preached in the Old Testament concerning Christ, the Messiah. This gospel was not a new message for New Testament people, but an ancient message promised to God’s people from Genesis all the way through to Revelation.
Jesus Christ was both God and man. His human lineage came from David and his identity as the Son of God was declared according to the Spirit when Jesus was resurrected from the dead.
It was this gospel that Paul was commissioned to preach to the Gentiles.
Have you been called to belong to Jesus Christ? Has God revealed his Christ to you as the solution to your sins and separation from God?
If the answer is no, re-read Romans 1: 1-7. Then pray this prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank you for paying my debt, bearing my punishment on the cross and offering me forgiveness and new life. Knowing that you have been raised from the dead, I turn from my sins and receive you as my Lord. Amen.
If the answer is yes, you do know him as your Lord, know this: it is God who loved you to this. It is God who called you to be a saint (set-apart one).
This was God’s idea, not yours!
Go out and tell someone!
Leave me a comment if you prayed to receive Jesus today.
Messy Christians 