Meditations

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. Jeremiah 23:5

“In the days of this promised king there will be a royal obedience that will make public life possible. One can see here exilic anticipations for the restoration of a valid public life, the very anticipations that the Christian community has found embodied in Jesus of Nazareth.”

Walter Bruggeman in A Commentary on Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998) 207.

About 600 years before Christ, God’s people find themselves in exile, waiting, anticipating, the restoration of life as they know it. They long for righteousness in the land. Jeremiah proclaims that the Lord will raise up One whose rule will be characterized by wisdom, justice, and righteousness. This Branch from the family tree of David points to Jesus.

What’s it have to do with generosity?

Notice the gravity of the language in the prophecy: “The days are surely coming…” This prophecy represents a generous reminder that those who “wait on the Lord” will not be disappointed.

While we wait, or perhaps, while we learn to wait in the first week of Advent, we often expect God to work in a certain way. I am learning that anticipating is not telling God how to work but trusting Him to work. When I take such a posture I see how faithful and yet how unpredictable He is.

Think about it: The One who is goodness, righteousness, and generosity would sprout from the place known for nothing good, Nazareth (John 1:46). That’s just how God works!

Waiting in anticipation is not a posture filled with worry, it’s a peaceful place of trust in a faithful King who is the only one that makes life possible.

Today I am attending a CBMC breakfast in Orange County, California. During the day, I get to fellowship with two faithful disciples: pray that I can encourage them to grow in the grace of giving. Later, I get to teach a group of EFCA pastors and marketplace leaders. It’s a full day. I’d appreciate your prayers.

But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. Micah 5:2

“Bethlehem may have been young among the clans of Judah, but was certainly “small” in physical and social stature, and hence insignificant for leadership in government and prowess in war. Although the word is not used in 1 Samuel 16, where David, Jesse’s youngest son, is unexpectedly chosen before his elders, the theme is the same. Micah probably intends to note a striking coincidence between David’s lowly place of birth and his social position, a coincidence that matches Messiah’s career. Only divine intervention can account for the transformation of David and the Messiah into greatness.”

Bruce Waltke in A Commentary on Micah (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007) 268.

Consider the generosity of God at work in this prophecy linked to the birth of Jesus Christ. The birth of the Messiah will not come from a mighty clan, but rather, a lowly one.

Have you ever felt insignificant? Perhaps your physical or social stature or your place of origin has led you to believe you won’t amount to much of anything. This is precisely where the generosity of “divine intervention” comes into view.

Though David was the least of his family, God chose him to lead His people. God transformed a proverbial nobody into greatness. Likewise the Christ would rise up from insignificance, He would come from a tiny town, Bethlehem. And because God is so generous, He let everyone know this would happen 700 years in advance.

What’s this mean for you and me this Advent?

If we ever find ourselves in lowly places, remember that God has done His best work there. It’s called divine intervention. Wait on Him to show up, even if it feels like 700 years. Just wait, you’ll see!

Learning to wait is what the first week of Advent is all about.

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

“Who among all the humans would know all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge? All we can know is that they’re hidden in the wealth of Christ’s heavenly folds and concealed in the poverty of His fleshly folds…

When He came to assume mortality and consume death, He looked like one of us. That’s to say, considering all the articles in His heavenly haberdashery, He stood in tatters. No matter, He said; such riches as I have aren’t lost forever; they’ve merely been put into a blind trust.

The Psalmist’d know what He was talking about. For those who are genuinely afraid of Him, He’s put away millions in the bank. However, of those who’re converting their fear into hope, the payback has already begun. How sweet it is (VUL 30:20; NRSV 31:19).

Paul put it this way in his first letter to the Corinthians. “We know only part of the story now, and we won’t know the rest until He comes again.” (13:9). This is why we have to upgrade our readiness.”

Augustine (354-430) bishop of Hippo in Sermons to the People: Advent, Christmas, New Year’s, Epiphany, ed. William Griffin (New York: Random House, 2002) 117-118.

Our fear is converted into hope during the Advent season because of the generosity of God toward humankind. The child wrapped in rags, whose birth we celebrate, is all we have ever needed, all we currently need, and all we will ever need.

Let’s “upgrade our readiness” by re-reading Isaiah’s words (above). Take five minute and reflect on one or more of the names ascribed to Jesus and consider the implications for you and for those with whom you are journeying through Advent.

I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the people of Sheth. Numbers 24:17

“Balaam, a wicked man, shall see Christ, but shall not see Him nigh; not see Him as Job, who saw Him as his Redeemer, and saw Him for Himself. When He comes in the clouds, every eye shall see Him; but many will see Him, as the rich man in hell saw Abraham, afar off.

He shall come out of Jacob, and Israel, as a star and a scepter; the former denoting His glory and lustre; the latter His power and authority. Christ shall be King, not only of Jacob and Israel, but of all the world; so that all shall be either governed by his golden scepter, or dashed in pieces by his iron rod.”

Matthew Henry (1662-1714) excerpt from his Complete Bible Commentary on Numbers 24:15-25.

How will you see the coming Messiah, Jesus, this Advent?

The star that will come from Jacob and the scepter that will rise from Judah point to the coming of Jesus. Henry notes that the wicked man in the text, Balaam, sees Christ like the rich man in hell sees Abraham, afar off (cf. Luke 16:19-31), and he rightly contrasts him with Job, who experienced Him as his Redeemer.

What does this have to do with generosity?

Here’s the connection. Because God is generous, He foretold the coming (“advent”) of the star and scepter, Jesus. Some people will miss the sign of His coming and not submit to His reign, because, like Balaam, they think they have things under control. I am speaking of the rich. Consequently, they will only see Him from afar. To behold him as near, we must seek Him and submit our lives to Him.

The Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’). Isaiah 7:14

“Let us contemplate with faith the mystery of the divine incarnation and in all simplicity let us simply praise Him who in His great generosity became man for us.”

Maximus the Confessor (580-662) Christian monk, theologian, and scholar, in “Various Texts on Theology, the Divine Economy, and Virtue and Vice” 13 in The Philokalia: The Complete Text, compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarius of Corinth, Volume 2 (London: Faber & Faber, 1981) 167.

The OT prophets did not announce that God would send help. They proclaimed that God would come to us! And, so that all would know how God would arrive, Isaiah prophesied that a miracle would happen: a virgin would have a baby boy! The divine incarnation is a mystery that would change the course of human history, and it must be accepted by faith.

Why recount it from the perspective of Maximus the Confessor as the season begins? Monks, who are known through church history for their daily routines and annual traditions, would anticipate the arrival of Jesus with activities on four Sundays before Christmas. This pattern took root in the church during the days of Maximus and is observed by many in the Christian church to this day as Advent.

How should we approach this season? Since “Advent” means “coming” in Latin, let’s prepare our hearts for the “coming” of our Savior with simplicity and faith. Practically speaking, consider fasting from some form of noise in your life (such as TV or technology) for a block of time today (that’s the simplicity part) and contemplate how the divine incarnation (which can only be fathomed by faith) reflects God’s great generosity.

“The Christian year begins with Advent…Advent highlights self-giving sacrifice as a great mark of Christian giving, through the lives of the prophets, John the Baptist, and Mary, as well as in the Advent themes of hope, peace, wisdom, and joy. Supremely this self-giving love is demonstrated in the coming of Christ.”

Robert Warren in Developing Healthy Churches: Returning to the Heart of Mission and Ministry (London: Church House Publishing, 2012) 96.

This year I plan to explore the theme of generosity through the season of Advent. Whether or not the meditations end up published in an Advent devotional, I pray they are a blessing to you and anyone with whom you share them.

Get ready! Advent starts tomorrow. May God’s love fill our hearts so that our living, giving, serving, and loving reflects self-giving sacrifice for His glory this season and throughout the year.

“A genuinely impossible ideal would be to do what so many, including Christians, in wealthy cultures do: practice piling up wealth and extravagant possession while at the same time claiming to give as generously to the needy as they “can”; and, for that matter, to live extravagantly while at the same time not being affected by such spending choices in their “hearts” [cf. Matthew 6:19-24]. Jesus’ teaching is far more realistic; invest your possessions generously in God’s reign of justice and mercy and you will find your heart invested there as well…

Disciples do not live simply and give generously in order to be counted worthy of being disciples. Instead, because they are disciples of Jesus and are invested in his eschatological project it naturally follows that they reorient their lives in every area, including economic life. This claim fits with the theme that kingdom ethics is grace-based, rooted in an invitation to participate in the inbreaking of God’s reign through Jesus Christ. Disciples are those who believe the story of Jesus the Messiah, enter it, and live accordingly.”

David P. Gushee in “The Economic Ethics of Jesus” in Faithful Economics: The Moral Worlds of a Neutral Science, ed. James W. Henderson and John Pisciotta (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2005) 122.

Don’t miss the heart of Gushee’s comment: piling up wealth and giving as you “can” is not an option for Jesus. It reflects an attempt to serve both God and mammon, and according to Jesus: it is not possible.

Obedience to Jesus with regard to the handling of money requires a reorientation of our economic lives. We no longer work to pile up treasures, buy extravagant possessions, and give as we “can” to the needy.

We live like we believe the gospel is true. As disciples of Jesus, who have received all we have because of God’s grace, we become conduits of material and spiritual blessing through living simply and giving generously.

Today, for us, it means we shop on Black Friday. We don’t do it, however, for the the intoxicating consumerism.

Jenni and Sophie, my wife and daughter, will get things we planned to purchase at some point for reduced prices (cf. Proverbs 31:10-31). This means that we will have more money for Giving Tuesday. Sammy will chill at home with Joy, our dog.

Meanwhile, Tom Assmus, my good friend and prayer partner, and I will get coffee and then visit Home Depot around 6am to buy poinsettias (at 99 cents each) to share with friends, widows, and neighbors to celebrate the Christmas season.

As we approach this time of year, if you have not already done so, reorient your economic life, as Gushee concludes: “Disciples are those who believe the story of Jesus the Messiah, enter it, and live accordingly.”

“One’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Luke 12:15b

On Thanksgiving Day, we acknowledge God’s blessings and the bounty of our land. In a spirit of thanksgiving we approach our God for what we need.

For a deeper awareness of God’s goodness. (pause)
May we gladly acknowledge the goodness of our God and the many gifts we receive at God’s hands, recalling the kindness God has shown to our communities and to our nation. Lord hear us.

For an attitude of thanksgiving in our lives. (pause)
May we be people who give thanks for the favor of God and the fellowship of Christ. May our strength be in the gospel and our lives witnesses to its teachings. Lord hear us.

For a sense of what is important in life. (pause)
As a nation and as a community, may we know what is of ultimate value in life, not consumed by a desire for wealth but eager to live by the gospel through lives of moderation and gentleness. Lord hear us.

For a desire to be rich in God’s sight. (pause)
As God’s people in God’s world, may we learn from the example of Jesus, who lived not for Himself but for others; and may we so live by His teaching to be rich in the sight of God. Lord hear us.

God of the promises, you are generous in your gifts to us. Help us to be faithful disciples of Jesus in our nation and our communities. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Hugh McGinlay in Prayers of the Faithful: For Sundays, Feasts, and Seasons (Mahwah: Paulist Press, 2006) 139.

The advertisers are bombarding us with “Happy Thanksgetting” messages! We must tune out their messages and tune in to the gospel. To live different from the world and consistent with the teachings of Jesus we need God’s help.

Father, hear our prayer and make it so by your Holy Spirit in each of our lives for your glory, we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen. 

Happy Thanksgiving! And I hope you like the new banner image for my daily meditations. My wife took this picture yesterday on the way back from Kremmling, CO, where we cut down our Christmas tree.

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

“We ought to give thanks for all fortune: if it is “good,” because it is good, if “bad” because it works in us patience, humility, and the contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country.”

C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) in 10 August 1948 letter to Don Giovanni Calabria as recounted in The Quotable Lewis ed. Wayne Martindale and Jerry Root (Carol Stream: Tyndale, 1990) 579.

As we approach Thanksgiving, Lewis reminds us why Paul would exhort us to give thanks in all circumstances. Such a perspective transforms us and ensures that we live for and long for “our eternal country.”

Jenni and I give thanks that Sammy and Sophie will be home from college for Thanksgiving. They both loves C.S. Lewis so that’s why I explored the idea of “giving thanks” in his thinking. I am so glad I did!

As a family, we will discuss what is good as well as what is bad in our world together. We will give thanks for it all, knowing that in so doing, God will transform us, filling us with humility, hope, patience, and perspective.

Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done. Proverbs 19:17

“When you give in Jesus’ name you are giving to Jesus. The Lord is the righteous recipient of your good and generous gifts. Would your giving amount and motivation be any different if you gave to Jesus in person? Would your heart and posture bow in holy reverence and gratitude? Yes, giving is an act of worship to holy God—not because He needs anything—but because we need to recognize our need for Him and His reward.”

Boyd Bailey in Wisdom Hunters daily email “Out Give God” dated 23 November 2015.

Let’s do this. As we enter a season of giving, let’s envision every gift we give as if we are giving it to Jesus in person, and let’s share with at least one person how it shaped the amount of our giving and our motivation. Consider it exercise for our hearts. Giving is for our growth!