By Bob Beanblossom
28 December 2020
Christmas is over. The frantic energy of preparation has given way to the less enjoyable chore of cleaning up, packing up, and returning our lives to normal. Perhaps now is the time to reassess what “normal” should look like since we currently live in a world of fear that seems to be controlled by a virus 1/30th to 1/400th the diameter of a human hair—or by those who have the definitive “answers” to help us survive the pandemic that has disrupted families, closed churches, and business, all while drastically expanding the practical powers of government over all aspects of our lives.
The traditional assault on public expression of Christmas as a religious institution in general, often targeting highly visible nativity scenes, was expanded this year as the Corona virus became a vehicle to keep media and entertainment figures in the limelight, sports profitable, and extend the control of government. Constitutional protections have been thrown to the wind as executives, legislators, and courts exercised powers not enumerated in overt anti-God mandates, taking advantage of opportunities that attacks on single nativity scenes did not afford. Corona became the vehicle to control the church with inequitable prohibitions against worship always given as measures to “protect” the constituency from the dreaded disease were imposed even as the various elites disregarded their own mandates. Interestingly, the attack also shifted from private humanist organizations to overt actions by their often-silent ultra-wealthy sponsors who strongly influenced government actions. All, of course, had become instant “experts” on the disease and the best plan to counter its spread. On the family level, it remains to be seen whether old family-oriented traditions have been merely disrupted or the seeds of un-family practices initiated. We have yet to have the new normal defined for us, but preliminary glimpses reflect former President Obama’s promise to “fundamentally change” America. It is interesting that Karl Marx said, “My object in life is to dethrone God and destroy capitalism.” As I write this, additional mandates are being promised to close small businesses and continue church closures while discouraging or prohibiting family gatherings. All the while government is promising free money to take care of the poor struggling masses.
Back to Christmas. The nativity scene is an endearing part of Christmas for many. It is a visual reminder of Jesus’ birth and a summary of that story: His birth into a humble family; angels leading local shepherds to worship the newborn King. Then came wise men from far away, following a great star, bringing gifts of great value for the King of the Jews, a young child by that time, and departing quietly in direct disobedience to the Roman king. The timeline is compressed and the details are somewhat popularized, but the gist is there. Many of our children can tell us that the baby in the manger is Jesus who loves us. But there is a missing element: Why is this baby different from all others? Why did God’s messengers, the angels, announce the birth to local shepherds and exotic foreigners? A significant clue can be found in many of the paintings of the nativity scene: the Christmas star radiates its guiding light ringed by the shape of a cross. This cross is the Why that God the Son came to live and die among man. The cross leads mankind to the answers of life’s ultimate questions: why do I exist; why is there evil in the world. The cross illuminates the answers that have puzzled the wise men of all ages who looked for those answers within themselves rather than to the Person who died on that bloody instrument of torture and death. Life is not controlled by governments, or a pandemic, but by personal choices. For the Christian, choices are determined by a relationship with this Jesus Christ who is a personal Savior (Luke 19:10) who informs through His Word, the Bible (John 17:17),and comforts through the Holy Spirit (John 14:16). For those who have not yet accepted Him as their Savior, the message of the cradle, the cross, and the resurrection are hidden: “But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost” (2 Corinthians 4:3). But it doesn’t have to remain hidden, for at some level, every man, woman, and child is aware of Him (John 1:9).
Christmas is over and the cross looms large: In God’s plan it is the next big event with eternal consequences for mankind following a brief interlude as God incarnate walks among men, one in which He was not recognized but by a few (John 1:10-14). The angel told the shepherds: “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” What was that Good News? What could possibly be so important that the heralds of heaven came to earth to make the announcement? It was this: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” (see Luke 2:8-11). Savior? What do we need to be saved from? Why is that important, or even helpful? The answer is simple, but intensely and personally offensive, for the Scripture (see Romans 3:20-30 for the following discussion) says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (v. 23). It is important to understand here that this is not a pronouncement on society but on individual man: we can read the “all” as “each,” and be spot-on the condemning truth. “It is certainly conceivable,” some might argue, “that others are sinners, for the news is full of violence and greed. But—I am a good person. I take care of my family and work hard: I’m a good citizen.” That may well be true. But it misses the point. God gave Moses the Law in the wilderness to be a guide for the Israelites, to point out the vast wall between the righteousness of God and man’s best behavior. Our failure—yours and mine—is characterized by the first and last commandments: rejection of God as Sovereign, without peer or even contender (Exodus 20:23); and greed (Exodus 20:17). The Word, in this same passage acknowledges the inability of man—you and me—to meet God’s standards on our own: “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (v. 20). Let’s not argue with that. It doesn’t take much reflection to realize that we are not righteous in the sense that God demands. My actions and thoughts are often less than desirable, even by my own standards. Paul, the great evangelist, wrote about this problem in his own life: “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.” (Romans 7:19). Paul was a Christian, an Apostle, writer of several books of the New Testament. And he still had problems with sin. Was he a misfit, a failure? No. He was a man. And, even with his ongoing fight against sin, he—like you and me—was one of the “whosoever” that God loves (John 3:16).
Paul had an essential resource that he shared with the Roman Christians. He said: “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets” (v. 21). Let’s unwrap that a bit. Applied to you and me today, Paul said that the law set the standard of behavior and attitude that God expects, but man could not reach that standard on his own. God’s righteousness is outside of, beyond, the Law. Therefore, when Jesus came and became the sacrifice for our sins, the law was set aside for something better and more effective. He continues, “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon them that believe; for there is not difference” (v. 22). The solution, the new way that Jesus brought to you and me by His death and resurrection on that bloody cross, is the gift of God’s righteousness to each man and woman, boy and girl, who choose to believe upon Him, to accept Him, as their personal Savior: “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (v. 24). What is God’s grace that it can do what the law couldn’t? It is the unlimited love that God has for you and me. Love big enough to allow His only Son to become man and suffer the agony of death on the cross that we might live. Living in this sense means coming back into a relationship with our Creator that Adam and Eve gave up when they chose to disobey their Creator. Paul explains, “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare righteousness for the remission for sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” (v. 25). Jesus is our propitiation, our stand-in who alone gains each believer forgiveness of sin and a personal relationship with God. This redemption is obtained by faith in Jesus and His sacrifice on the always-present cross, by which God declares us righteous by His standard when seen through the blood sacrifice of His Son, all through His forbearance, or grace.
Here is an essential part of Paul’s explanation: “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (v. 28). He brought this same thought to the Christians at Ephesus: “For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). As Jesus replaced the Law with His own sacrifice, He showed us that there is nothing that man can do to satisfy the requirements of God’s righteousness: hard work, good deeds, charity: all are completely inadequate to make man presentable to God. However, the Good News of the Gospel is that “by grace are you saved.” This is achieved by the faith we looked at above. The faith of Jesus Christ (v. 22) that God would honor His sacrifice was proven as Jesus cried from the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Jesus’ death on the cross was accepted by God as the only act possible to achieve the propitiation for our sins. The formula is simple: By the grace of God we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ; it is the gift of God, not the result of anything that we can possibly do except accept His offer of eternal life. It is also unique: there is no other path to salvation. This is contrary to the predominant worldview that says that all paths lead to God. The problem is that this is only what man says. God says that worship is reserved for Him alone, not for our pet causes, hobbies, political and social activism, sports figures, or anything else. Worship in this case is anything that places that object above the time and energy we spend in our relationship with Him: “”For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God” (Deuteronomy 4:24).
Some may point out that Jesus was a Jew, and many of us are Gentiles, that is, not Jewish, or that for some other reason God’s offer of salvation by through faith through God’s grace is limited somehow. Paul addressed that issue, too: “Is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith” (vs. 29-30). There is but one God, Paul says, who justifies both Jew (circumcision) and Gentile (uncircumcision) through faith by His grace. John quotes Jesus’ answer to a Pharisee named Nicodemus: “whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:15-16).
If you have never accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, now is a good time. There will be no better time. Just open your heart to Him, acknowledge that you are a sinner unable to save yourself, and ask Him to forgive you and come into your heart and soul. Jesus said numerous times to those who by faith accepted His healing power: “thy faith hath made thee whole” (Matthew 9:22; 15:28; Mark 5:34; 10:52; Luke 8:48; 17:19). Your exercise of that same faith is no different, for He does hear and answer the prayer of a sinner seeking salvation. The next step is to diligently read your Bible to learn what He says, not what others say He says (2 Timothy 2:15), and to join yourself with a Bible-preaching local church: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).
The biblical advice is not much different for the discouraged or struggling Christian. Remember that even as Christians, we are still indwelt with our old sin nature that won’t be removed until we join Jesus in heaven. But we are promised, “But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe” (Galatians 3:22). The next step is to intentionally study your Bible, again not relying on what others say the Bible says, but learn from the Book directly. Then, make sure you are involved in a Bible-preaching church as Hebrews 10:25 states.
The cradle was the beginning of the current phase of God’s relationship with man. It is known as the Church Age. Christ’s death on the cross, His resurrection, and the coming of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, at Pentecost (Acts 2) ushered in the Church, itself. Sinlessness, wealth, comfort, and the like are not promised by Jesus, but the trials of life and even persecution cannot break our tie with Christ: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Romans 8:35).