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A Gospel Shaped Christmas…

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Stephen Altrogge had a great post over at Crossway entitled When the Gospel Transforms Your Christmas Expectations. Here’s how he began to engage:

I have certain expectations when it comes to Christmas. I expect to drink egg nog, even though I don’t really like it. I expect to listen to hours upon hours of Christmas carols. I expect to watch the movie Elf. I expect to drive around with my family and look at Christmas lights. And I expect to get some gifts. Twenty-eight years of Christmas experience has taught me what to expect.

But how would I feel if some of my expectations weren’t met? What if I didn’t get to do the things that I so look forward to? No Elf. No Christmas lights. No nog. No gifts. Could I be happy? Could I be content? Could I rejoice in what I have instead of what I don’t have?

He then goes on to show all that we have received in the Gospel: namely, Forgiveness, Fellowship with God, Freedom. How about you? if all the “stuff” of Christmas was tossed, would you still have joy? Great question. Allow this article to shape you.

On Nativity Scenes, Christian Liberty, Etc.

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I love reading Mark Lauterbach’s Gospel Driven Life site. Today, he had a post entitled Liberty, legalism and Christmas which answered the question offered by some religious zealots that having a nativity scene is a violation of the 2nd commandment (to not make any “graven image”). Here’s a section I especially enjoyed:

So, hear me clearly — to walk with God we must make those choices and do it knowing that we are pleasing to God. But Romans 14 says we dare not step into the role of law-giver and judge — despising or judging. I am personally tempted to despise men who add to the Word of God. That is sin in my heart.

Read Romans 14 carefully — stew in it, soak in it — it is remarkable. In it, God answers ten thousand secondary questions that would rise in all the cultures of the world where the Gospel is believed. Paul was wise — he knew that when we start into the answering of all those questions and application and start developing a list of appendices to the Law, we are on a path of diversion from the purposes of God and the freedom of the Gospel.

Why don’t you check out the post for yourself.

Weekend Recap – Joy

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This weekend’s sermon from Sunday AM is now online. It is entitled Joy from Luke 2:8-12. The sermon sought to reason how the Gospel is good news of great joy.

After the AM service, we had our Annual Member’s meeting, affirming one lay elder and 4 men as deacons. We also approved the 2011 Budget.

In the PM, the joy continued as Ben Cornish shared with us of the Gospel’s advance in Australia. We are rejoicing in his partnership with us in the Gospel. Awesome day.

So what about Santa?

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Mark Driscoll gives three options:

‘Tis the season . . . for parents to decide if they will tell the truth about Santa.

When it comes to cultural issues like Santa, Christians have three options: (1) we can reject it, (2) we can receive it, or (3) we can redeem it.

Since Santa is so pervasive in our culture, it is nearly impossible to simply reject Santa as part of our annual cultural landscape. Still, as parents we don’t feel we can simply receive the entire story of Santa because there is a lot of myth built on top of a true story.

Read the rest of the post for info on how the Driscoll’s seek to redeem this.

Weekend Recap – Love

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Today, the second week of Advent featured some great singing and reveling in God’s love for us through a very familiar place. The sermon, Love, from John 3:16 is now online. During one part of the sermon, I was pressing how many times our appreciation for the Gospel is much like our appreciation for “black socks”. We really do need them, but it really isn’t what we want. Similarly, most Christians know they need the Gospel but what they really want is for God to make them healthy, wealthy and blessed. Being passionate for those things over and against the Gospel is treating the amazing gift of love in Jesus like “black socks.”

It was a great morning. Just got out of Missions Committee meeting, much to be excited about there with potential opportunities for ministry soon. Anticipate rich fellowship tonight in small group as well. Hope you had a great Lord’s Day.

Christmas Traditions

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Here’s a great post from Life2gether on Our Christmas Traditions with lots of practical tips for families. I sent this to Meg last season and we plan on doing some of these things this season.

* Advent Calendar – This has been a fun way for our family to count down the days in anticipation of Christ’s coming. The kids take turns as we talk about the Christmas story. Be sure to choose a calendar that centers on the birth of Jesus!

* What God Wants for Christmas – This is a great interactive kid-friendly nativity – with seven gift boxes, a colorful pop-up, and an illustrated poem that we’ve used for the last couple years. It’s a fun way to talk about the Christmas story together. (available at FamilyLife.com)

* Christmas Devotion Jar – Looking for devotions to do with your kids? All you need to do is cut out red, green, and white little strips of paper and write Christmas verse(s) to read together, or craft/activity to do together, or creative ways to reach out to others. Put the slips of paper in a jar, decorate the outside, and set it on the dinner table to pick one out each night.

* Christmas Cookies – We take an evening and let our kids help us make cookies that they themselves deliver to teachers, neighborhood friends, special babysitters, people in need, etc.

* Scripture Memory – The best way we’ve found to memorize a passage of Scripture is by putting it to song. Thankfully the folks at SEEDS Family Worship have done just that. On the Seeds of Encouragement CD, the song Joy is taken right from Luke 2:8-14. Great song!

* Listen to Christ-Centered Christmas Music – As we travel, we try to have a few good CD’s that exalt Christ during this Christmas season. Our kids seem to like Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man by Sovereign Grace Ministries the best.

* Re-enact the Christmas story – Every year we have fun acting out the story from Luke 2. We actually do it with Jaime’ sister and family and video the whole thing. It’s pretty funny!

* Serving and Giving Together – Christmas is a time of giving. This year we made and delivered Thanksgiving baskets to needy people in our community and hope to deliver Christmas baskets as well. We also gather our old clothes and toys and give them to Goodwill. Our kids really enjoyed it.

What are some of your Christmas traditions? Feel free to share.

Weekend Recap – Advent Week 1

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After the holiday week last week (which involved me traveling to Illinois), it was great to be back with the saints at Crestview yesterday. We started a series on Advent, focusing in on the word HOPE in a message from Malachi 4:4-6. In the sermon, I tried to show how God was working in these final words of the OT to prep us for Christ and His coming.

After the AM service, we had the 1st of 2 information meetings on the 2011 budget. These meetings allow the congregation to gather and discuss the budget with leadership. We did one yesterday, will have one December 5th and then will ask for congregational affirmation on the 12th. Big changes in this year’s budget are some monies to update our web page, monies to help us achieve our goal of a safe children’s area through background screenings on workers, and monies reallocated in our international missions line items.

In the PM, we gathered to serve one another by “decking the halls” or “hanging the greens” with lots of great fellowship.

This weekend was also busy for me serving the May family. Fred May passed away last Friday, November 26th. I was privileged to serve the family today, encouraging them from Jesus’ words in John 11:25-27.

It’s been a full weekend, but a great time to find hope in Christ.

Merry Christmas

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May your day be filled with praise to Jesus for His coming and taking on human flesh so that we might be redeemed far as the curse is found. Let’s praise God today for the Gospel! Here’s a link to listen to or download Advent Songs by Sojourn Music:

The song “Glory Be” is my favorite.
At the height of the song, we hear:

Hallelujah, the Lord of life has come
To reconcile the nations to their God
Hallelujah, he’s coming back again
To finish what began in Bethlehem.

This is what we celebrate today.