Daily Devotions - Entries from December 2011

Then the LORD said to Moses: “Set up the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, on the first day of the first month. Place the ark of the Testimony in it and shield the ark with the curtain…Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. (Exodus 40:1-2, 34-35)

When Paul says, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,” he is drawing on images that bring to mind the Tabernacle, the “Tent of Meeting” established in Exodus. This earthly tent was, for a time, the place where the glory of God rested amongst His people. Later, after the Temple was established in Jerusalem, God’s glory filled that space. Indeed, it was highly symbolic that at the time of the Exile God’s presence left the Temple, never to return. This was a catastrophic moment in the history of Israel. Yet, the promise was that one day things would be different.

 “‘My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. Then the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.’” (Ezekiel 37:24-28)

It’s this prophecy that John alludes to when he says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). And it’s this same imagery which Paul uses to emphasize Christ’s supremacy over all things. Previously God had only been able to dwell amongst His people in a temporary, tentative manner, easily disrupted by the sins of His people. Yet, in Jesus He comes fully and completely, confronting our sin and rebellion head-on, simultaneously just (punishing sin) and the justifier (paying the debt on our behalf). This is what makes Christmas so amazing. It’s the moment when God came to be with us once more.

 “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.” (Matthew 1:20-23)

Yes, Jesus is fully God. That’s an incredible truth affirmed here by Paul. But, perhaps more significantly for us is the fact that He is Immanuel, God with us. 

And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (Colossians 1:15-20 ESV)

What is the Church? Is it the specific building we happen to meet in every Sunday? Or is it my particular denomination? And who is in charge? My senior pastor? Or someone else?

While these may be questions some Christians struggle with today, they obviously were not a concern for Paul as he wrote to the church in Colosse. However, his letter is nonetheless a powerful reminder that in some way, despite all our differences, those who have been born again in Christ are united with him as part of one single body, the Church (with a capital “C”).

Paul assumes as his starting point that all believers are joined together as part of one single body, the Church. In a world divided by thousands of different denominations, such unity defies comprehension. Yet, when we consider the expansive and all-encompassing nature of Christ that Paul sets forth in this hymn, it has to be true.

This is not to preach any kind of blanket universalism. Certainly we will continue to argue for orthodoxy and battle against heresy. Indeed, part of Paul’s letter is intended to fight heretical and misleading beliefs within the Colossian church. However, at the same time we have to remind ourselves that Jesus is above and beyond even all this.

Jesus is the head of the Church. He alone is the ruler, the director, the principal agent and primary actor. He is the one who sustains the Church, not the other way around. He alone directs and controls the Church’s reach and effectiveness. Insofar as we have any impact on the world at all, it is because He is working to produce it. We exist to serve Him and to worship Him and to be led by Him.

As we come out of a Christmas of worshipping Him as the baby born in a manger, let us also revel in Him as the Lord of all things, the head of the Church we have all been adopted into. 

But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." (Gal. 4:4-6)

--Read Revelation 4 and 5. What an amazing picture of the risen Lord! May our worship today be inspired by this vision of the holiness and majesty of Christ our Lord.

"In Jesus the promise is confirmed, the covenant is vindicated, salvation is brought near, sacred history has reached its climax, the perfect sacrifice has been offered and accepted, the great priest over the household of God has taken his seat at God's right hand, the Prophet like Moses has been raised up, the Son of David reigns, the kingdom of God has been inaugurated, the Son of Man has received dominion from the Ancient of Days, the Servant of the Lord, having been smitten to death for his people's transgression and borne the sin of many, has accomplished the divine purpose, has seen light after the travail of his soul and is now exalted and extolled and made very high."

(F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Development of Old Testament Themes (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1968), 21. Quoted in the IVP Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, Copyright 1998 by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA)

But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." (Gal. 4:4-6)

-- Read 1 John 4. Although TV shows and movies generally like to paint a picture of Christmas as an idyllic time of year with perfect decorations, perfect food and perfect families, the reality can often fall far short of the Christmas card "standard." How does this passage speak to you and the way your Christmas is going so far? What is convicting? What is encouraging? How do you sense God calling you to interact with people differently?

-- Pray for the love of Christ to dwell richly within your heart today and every day this week. Pray for personal healing from the wounds and concerns and troubles that have plagued you so much this year. Pray for Jesus to give you a sense of His great love for you. Pray for God's presence to be a tangible reality for you this week. Pray for God's love to drive out the fear and replace it with His peace.

But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." (Gal. 4:4-6)

 The last few days before Christmas can be stressful and difficult for many of us. Since the temptation may be to skip our devotional time in order to make room for something else, we have kept the devotionals short--focused on the Word and prayer.

 -- Read John 1:1-18. Take a few moments to reflect back on your notes from the sermon yesterday. What struck you most about Pastor Rob's message? How do you think God is calling you to live differently as a result?

 -- Pray today for those who are struggling financially this Christmas. Pray that those who are without full-time employment would find a job in the New Year. Pray that God would sustain and strengthen them through this time of financial drought. Finally, pray for provision to come from unexpected places and for God to raise up a community of caring and supportive friends and family members who can provide assistance in the time of waiting.

I love this passage of Scripture. Jesus performed many miracles during his ministry, but there’s something about this one that stands out. Let’s read Luke 8 together, and then we’ll see how it connects with Colossians 1.

 One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.

 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”

   He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples.

   In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” (Luke 8:22-25)

Every summer we go to the beach with our children and every summer we build endless sand castles. Of course, the castles need protecting, so half the time is spent creating intricate walls of defense and complicated drainage channels, all in an effort to keep the ocean from washing all our hard work away. However, after watching the inevitable collapse of every single sand-castle, I have to admit that our pathetic attempts at holding back the rising tide are laughable. Who are we kidding? There’s no stopping the sea.

Paul says in Colossians 1 that “all things” were created in and through Jesus. But what does that really mean? We catch a glimpse of that in the story of Him calming the storm. I have heard all kinds of creative explanations for how Jesus managed to heal so many people, and I have even read some “scientific” explanations for the resurrection, but I have yet to read of anyone or anything that has the power to stop a storm dead in its tracks. It’s not that it’s something rare, or that it could happen under the right circumstances. It just does not happen. We can barely keep the sea at bay under the best of conditions. When a storm brews, all bets are off.

Yet, here we have an account of Jesus not merely protecting the disciples (which was appreciated, I am sure), but commanding the very wind and the waves. Rather than the typical, yawning, “I’ve-read-this-passage-a-hundred-times-before-you-better-show-me-something-new,” our response should be the same kind of “fear and amazement” that struck the disciples. After all, “Who on earth can do THAT?!”

Fear of Jesus is not something we typically think of at Christmas time, but Paul reminds us that the same Jesus whom we worship and adore at Christmas is the one in whom “all things hold together.” Our “Prince of Peace” is the Creator of the Universe and as such has absolute control over all things. As we draw near to Him this December, let us stand in awe of His great power and majesty. 

Today we start back again reading from Colossians:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (Colossians 1:15-20, ESV)

These verses can be a bit of a mind-bender at this time of year. During the Christmas season we are inundated with images of the beautiful baby Jesus, lying quietly in a manger. Yet in Colossians Paul talks about this same Jesus as being the one by whom and through whom all things were created. That means everything—every organism, every rock and every particle. Even light itself was created by and through Jesus.

            In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

           And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

(Genesis 1:1-5, ESV)

I am overwhelmed trying to wrap my head around these verses. The size and scope of what they suggest is at the outer reaches of my understanding. God is not just big. He is not just awesome. He is way above and beyond anything we could even imagine. Which makes the birth of Jesus that much more remarkable, for this baby is God Himself, come to earth. “All things” were created through this baby and for this baby. And one day all things will be restored and made new through this same baby.

What makes Christmas so amazing is that for a brief period of time the vastness of the Universe was condensed down into a single person. In a tiny village, in a tiny country, God came to dwell with us. And changed the world forever. 

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. 

"You are my Son,
today I have begotten you"?
Or again,
"I will be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a son"?
And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,
"Let all God's angels worship him."
(Hebrews 1:1-6 ESV)

How can we "put Christ back in Christmas"? By reminding ourselves who "Christ" is. He is the Messiah; our Savior. Jesus, the image of the invisible, "the exact imprint of [God's] nature" is "the radiance of the glory of God." He is the one who paid for our sins. He is the one who now sits "at the right hand of the Majesty on high." Remember, this is the throne room a vision of which caused Isaiah to cry out in fear for his life.

Putting Christ back in Christmas means reminding ourselves that this baby Jesus is both fully and perfectly human and fully and perfectly God. He is the beginning and the end of all things, eternal, holy, without comparison. He is the "firstborn;" the rightful "heir of all things." This is the One we come to worship. May our hearts be humbled by His glorious presence as we prepare for His arrival this Christmas.

Paul's affirmation that Jesus is "the image of the invisible God" invokes imagery that takes us all the way back to Genesis 1:26-27 (NIV):

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth,and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

The Bible opens with this foundational assertion that we were made in the very image of God. We were made to carry forth God's image and bear His likeness as we ruled over His creation. Sadly, of course, we failed in that task, falling into sin and corrupting the image.

Here at Christmas we celebrate the arrival of the one who is the perfect image of God. Not merely a representative of God, not merely something made to reflect some part of God's likeness, Jesus was God in flesh, the perfect image of God. This has dramatic implications for us, as Paul draws out in his letter to the Corinthians:

All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

   If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. (1 Cor. 15:39-49, NIV)

What an incredible promise this is! Whereas once we were lost and without hope, dead in Adam, we are now made alive in Christ. This is the joyful promise we have the privilege to celebrate at Christmas. Whatever our circumstances may be, we can be glad knowing that whereas we once bore the likeness of Adam, we now bear the likeness of Jesus.

I love singing Christmas carols. "Away in a manger," "Holy Night," "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." In many respects it's just not Christmas without them. However, much as I relish these traditions, I find I have to work even harder at this time of year to remind myself who Jesus really is. We focus so much on this cherub-like baby, "so tender and mild," who lays down his sweet head on the straw in the manger, never crying or fussing, that we can forget that Jesus is God made flesh. The sweet little baby was involved in the creation of the entire Universe.

It is appropriate then that we should use this time of Advent as an opportunity to focus our attention on the supremacy of Jesus. As such, we'll be spending the next four weeks (three before Christmas, one after) studying what some have called the "Christ hymn" in Colossians 1:15-20 (quoted below from the NIV):

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

We will all spend a lot of time over the next 19 days racing around putting up decorations, buying gifts and preparing for big celebrations. The pace of life seems to increase exponentially at this time of year. But how might this passage change your perspective on Christmas? 

Set aside the fact that our economy is in turmoil, even in the best of times the “holiday season” can be a stress-inducing nightmare for many people. Compound that with under-employment, unemployment, medical bills, physical illnesses and relationship problems and you have a recipe that almost always cooks up anxiety, fear and depression.

Against this all-too-common picture Paul paints an alternative for the Colossians, praying that they would be “strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience” (Col. 1:11).

Such a heavy emphasis on their need for strengthening implies that there was a significant feeling of weakness. Paul probably didn’t need to know the specifics; he was undoubtedly extrapolating from his own experiences and indeed the experiences of all humans everywhere. While we like to maintain the illusion of control, the reality is that we live in a scary and unpredictable world where anything could, and sometimes does, happen at any time.

The solution is not to buck up and try harder. The solution is not to work at being less stressed out and afraid. The answer comes from completely outside of us. God, Paul argues, is the one who will strengthen the Colossians (and by extension, us), with HIS power, according to HIS glorious might. It is entirely a work of God in and through the Holy Spirit at work in us.

As you enter into Advent, perhaps uncertain about what the future holds, pray with Paul that God would strengthen you too, “with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience.”