This is my first Christmas as a senior pastor, and honestly it feels like any other week right now. About a month ago a man in the church was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. There is no known cure, and we know that God is able to work miracles, but in many ways this disease is a death sentence.
As I've sat and visited him, there is this feeling that I really can't describe. I'm not freaking out. I had an incident my second week on the job where I was at the hospital with a family that didn't know if husband/dad/grandpa was going to make it through the night. I'm by no means an expert, and probably never will be, but the overwhelming shock of the situation is gone. It's just a different feeling sitting with a man who knows that unless God does something, he is going to die from this disease. It isn't like cancer where there is a chance of beating it. It really is a final countdown.
As we talked last week he told me that he's a little afraid because he's never been through death before, none of us have, but Jesus has. And Jesus will walk with us every step of the way. I was looking through a catalog a few minutes ago and I saw something I had gotten my mom for Christmas a few years ago. Most people have a star or an angel on top of their Christmas tree, my mom has a crown of thorns from Jerusalem. This Sunday, Christmas day, my sermon text is Philippians 2.1-11. It talks about how Jesus humbled Himself to the point of death. He came, to die; not to wear a crown of gold, but one made of twisted thorn branches.
Before the sermon I'm using a clip from the Skit Guys called "Christmas Connection". In it two guys are discussing what happened to baby Jesus, and one finally realizes that the Jesus born in the manger is the same Jesus that died on the cross. Once he puts it all together he says, "I guess we should just try to view Christmas instead of one isolated event and more of an ongoing story about our salvation." It's important that Jesus came, but more important than that is why He came.
I talked with my mentor yesterday, and he said, "Often times we look at death as a failure, as a loss, 'He lost his battle with cancer.' 'I lost my father.' But with Christians it isn't that way. Death is a gain, not loss and failure." As he was talking my mind went to Paul's words in Philippians 1.21-23, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better;" For the Christ follower, death is gain. Death is the gateway to life that never ends, a perfect life with no sadness, sorrow, or pain. Paul said to depart and be with Christ is very much better.
Jesus came to make all of this possible. That is the point of Christmas. Jesus came to die on the cross, to defeat sin death and hell by rising again. He did this so that we can not only experience eternal life with Him in heaven, but so that we would be able to experience it now, and face the journey of death with courage and confidence. That is what Christmas is all about.
Peace be with you
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